Month: August 2019

US Warns Al-Qaida ‘as Strong as It Has Ever Been’

Posted by Worldcrew On 02/08/2019

Despite the reported death of the son and heir apparent of al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials warn the global terror group remains a significant threat to the United States.

The officials refused to confirm the death of Hamza bin Laden, said to have been killed in a U.S.-involved operation sometime in the past two years. But they warned Thursday that regardless of his status, al-Qaida should not be underestimated.

“What we see today is an al-Qaida that is as strong as it has ever been,” State Department Counterterrorism Coordinator Ambassador Nathan Sales told reporters during a briefing intended to focus on the terror group’s main rival, Islamic State, also known as IS or ISIS.

“Al-Qaida has been strategic and patient over the last several years,” Sales said. “It’s let ISIS absorb the brunt of the world’s counterterrorism efforts while patiently reconstituting itself.”

“They’re very much in this fight and we need to continue to take the fight to them,” he added.

The U.S. assessment of al-Qaida is in line with a recent United Nations report, which described the terror group as “resilient.”

“Groups aligned with al-Qaida are stronger than their ISIL counterparts in Idlib, Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen, Somalia and much of West Africa,” the report said, using another acronym for Islamic State.

Like the U.N. report, Sales focused U.S. concern on a series of  “active and deadly” al-Qaida affiliates, including al-Shabab, which has been operating in Somalia and Kenya, as well as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

AQAP, in particular, has repeatedly been cited as perhaps the most threatening of all al-Qaida affiliates by U.S. officials for its advanced bomb-making capabilities and its desire to strike the U.S.

“No one should mistake the period of relative silence from al-Qaida as an indication that they’ve gotten out of the [terror] business,” Sales said.

In this image from video released by the CIA, Hamza bin Laden is seen as an adult at his wedding. The never-before-seen video of Osama bin Laden’s son and potential successor was released Nov. 1, 2017, by the CIA.

Still, some counterterrorism analysts caution that despite al-Qaida’s savvy long-term planning and relative strength, the reported death of up-and-coming leader Hamza bin Laden, if confirmed, would be a severe blow.

“The death of Hamza, particularly as Osama bin Laden’s son, removes what could have been a powerful voice for the global jihad from the scene,” said Katherine Zimmerman, a research manager with the Critical Threats Project. “Hamza had begun to pick up his father’s mantle to carry on the legacy.”

At the same time, Zimmerman and others warn al-Qaida leadership is more than capable of recovering, even with evidence that current leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is in poor health.

Hamza bin Laden “was not going to be the successor to Zawahiri,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a counterterrorism analyst and CEO of Valens Global.

“While there’s not a great deal of high-profile leaders in al-Qaida, at least in respect to those who are recognizable in Western press reporting … they have a fairly deep bench,” he said. “I think it would be very foolish to think that Hamza bin Laden is the only one, even though he’s very identifiable.”

Talk about a possibly weakened al-Qaida began gaining momentum Wednesday, after NBC News reported U.S. officials had intelligence that Hamza bin Laden had been killed.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday refused to confirm the death, or possible U.S. involvement, when questioned by reporters on the White House lawn.

“I will say Hamza bin Laden was very threatening to our country. And you can’t do that,” Trump said. “But as far as anything beyond that, I have no comment.”

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«Схеми» показали, як Баришівський суд використовують за однією і тією самою схемою

Posted by UAcrew On 01/08/2019

Суддів Баришівського суду використали за однією і тією ж схемою – для ухвалення рішень, які можуть бути вигідні олігарху Ігорю Коломойському. Зокрема, пов’язаних між собою людей журналісти програми «Схеми: корупція в деталях» (спільний проект Радіо Свобода і телеканалу «UA:Перший») виявили у резонансних справах щодо відсторонення першої заступниці голови Національного банку України Катерини Рожкової та справи щодо ПАТ «Укрнафти». Про це йдеться у розслідуванні – «Ляльковод Баришівського суду».

​Баришівський районний суд заборонив Катерині Рожковій виконувати свої обов’язки в межах справи про захист честі, гідності та ділової репутації.

​Підставою для такого позову став компліментарний текст на адресу Рожкової, опублікований у червні мешканцем Баришівки Антоном Лук’яненком на одному з інтернет-ресурсів. Інший мешканець Баришівки Андрій Барташ начебто не погодився із опублікованим, що одна з керівниць НБУ є «взірцем державного управлінця» – і пішов до суду. У свою чергу 11 червня суддя Костянтин Коваленко зрештою ухвалив рішення відсторонити Катерину Рожкову – для «забезпечення позову».

Згідно з даними Міністерства юстиції, позивача Барташа і співвідповідача Лук’яненка пов’язує одна компанія – товариство з обмеженою відповідальністю «Нібіру Х», де Барташ до середини 2018 року був засновником, а Лук’яненко і досі значиться директором. Нині засновником у «Нібіру Х» замість Лук’яненка вказаний Олександр Колос.

«А він – ще один мешканець Баришівки, який також задіяний у суперечливих справах баришівської Феміди», – йдеться у розслідуванні.

​Як з’ясували журналісти, Олександр Колос, як і директор його фірми «Нібіру Х»​ Лук’яненко, у грудні 2018 року також розмістив коротку замітку на одному з інтернет-ресурсів, де згадав про компанії ПАТ «Укрнафта»​ та ТОВ «​Котлас»​. У публікації йшлося про неналежне розслідування подій 2015 року, коли компанія «Укрнафта», контрольний пакет акцій якої належить державі, а решта – структурам Коломойського, не отримала коштів за поставлену сировину. 

«Детективи Бюро дійсно здійснюють розслідування у кримінальному провадженні за фактами заволодіння майном та грошовими коштами «Укрнафти» низкою службових осіб. Станом на сьогодні слідство у цьому провадженні триває, про підозру нікому не повідомлялося. Зазначу, що розслідуються кілька фактів в рамках цього провадження. Вивчаються і досліджуються ймовірні факти заволодіння посадовцями «Укрнафти» у змові з представниками комерційних структур, серед яких є товариство «Котлас», грошима на суму 6,4 мільярди гривень», – розповідає керівниця управління зовнішніх комунікацій НАБУ Світлана Оліфіра.

У компанії «Котлас», про яку згадав мешканець Баришівки у своєму тексті, подали на нього до суду – також на захист честі, гідності та ділової репутації. Як виявили «Схеми», з цим позовом компанія зверталась двічі до двох різних суддів Баришівського суду. Внаслідок першого позову «Котлас» отримала доступ до висновків експертизи у серії кримінальних проваджень по «Укрнафті» та, зокрема, ТОВ «Котлас». А внаслідок другого – призначення нової експертизи. Зокрема, суддя Костянтин Коваленко доручив провести експертизу Державному науково-дослідному експертно-криміналістичному центру МВС України.

«Тобто через Баришівський суд у компанії «Котлас» попросили те, що фактично ніяк не пов’язано із позовами. І, зрештою, це отримали» – розповідають у розслідуванні журналісти.

Читайте також: ВРП взялася за баришівську суддю із розслідування «Схем», яка зупинила ліцензію SkyUp​

«Виходить, що для отримання рішень Баришівським судом у двох справах – щодо заборони виконувати свої обов’язки Катерині Рожковій та експертизи по діяльності «Укрнафті», була задіяна схожа схема: коли один мешканець Баришівки пише текст, другий до нього позивається, а суддя ухвалює необхідне рішення, кінцевим вигодонабувачем якого може бути Ігор Коломойський» – мовиться у матеріалі.

«Схеми» звернулись за коментарями до усіх вищезгаданих осіб. Позивач у справі Рожкової Андрій Барташ не з’являвся вдома після того, як до нього навідалися журналісти. Антон Лук’яненко, який є відповідачем у цій же справі, відмовився її коментувати. Олександр Колос, який написав текст про контракти «Укрнафти» та фірми «Котлас», не захотів спілкуватися із журналістами, пославшись на зайнятість. 

Не вдалось зв’язатися і з представниками компанії «Котлас». За адресою реєстрації в Харкові офісу компанії журналісти не знайшли.

Судді Олена Литвиненко та Костянтин Коваленко, які ухвалювали ці рішення, не захотіли коментувати свої справи по суті. 

Ігор Коломойський у коментарі «Схемам» заявив:

– Чи у ваших інтересах діяли люди, які відсторонювали Рожкову?

– Ні, не в моїх.

– А про експертизу «Укрнафти»? 

– А про «Укрнафту» ось ви мені тільки сьогодні сказали. Я взагалі не в курсі був. Ви ж бачили по моїй реакції, що я був здивований. 

– І товариство «Котлас» не має стосунку до групи «​Приват»​?

– Ні, жодного!

Раніше журналісти програми «Схеми» виявили опосередкований зв’язок з олігархом Ігорем Коломойським в історії з позовом до SkyUp Airlines в Баришівський районний суд, який 24 травня вирішив призупинити ліцензію авіакомпанії на перевезення пасажирів. Про це йдеться у розслідуванні «Таємниця Баришівського суду».

«Схеми» також знайшли позивачку до SkyUp і виявилося, що заяву до Баришівського суду вона не писала.
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Trump to Impose 10% Tariff on $300 Billion of Chinese Goods

Posted by Worldcrew On 01/08/2019

The U.S.-China trade war intensified Thursday after President Donald Trump said he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on some Chinese products, one day after the two superpowers agreed to continue trade talks next month.

“Trade talks are continuing, and during the talks the U.S. will start, on September 1st, putting a small additional Tariff of 10% on the remaining 300 Billion Dollars of goods and products coming from China into our Country, Trump tweeted. “This does not include the 250 Billion Dollars already Tariffed at 25%.”

Trump also accused China of failing to purchase more U.S. agricultural products and halting the sale of opioid fentanyl to the U.S. “China agreed to … buy agricultural product from the U.S. in large quantities, but did not do so,” he said. “Additionally, my friend President Xi said that he would stop the sale of Fentanyl to the United States — this never happened, and many Americans continue to die.”

While the previous rounds of tariffs have primarily targeted industrial products, the new round of tariffs will target consumer products such as cell phones and apparel.

Trump’s latest salvo came one day after the latest round of trade talks between U.S. and Chinese negotiators ended in Shanghai with an agreement to meet again in September in the U.S.

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Зеленський призначив головою ДУС чоловіка депутатки від «Слуги народу», яка має бізнес у Криму

Posted by UAcrew On 01/08/2019

Дружина Сергія Борзова Ірина перемогла на парламентських виборах на 14-му одномандатному окрузі
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Справа Гандзюк: чому активісти пішли до СБУ? (відео)

Posted by UAcrew On 01/08/2019

Під будівлю Служби безпеки України прийшло кілька десятків активістів із ініціативи «Хто замовив Катю Гандзюк?». Вони прийшли нагадати новому керівництво СБУ про справу, яка триває уже рік – вбивство херсонської чиновниці та активістки Катерини Гандзюк. А на лаві підсудних досі немає замовника злочину. Лише виконавці та організатори. Активісти запалили фальшфаєри та обписали тротуар перед входом у будівлю по вулиці Володимирській.
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Hard-Won Budget, Debt Deal Clears Senate, Advances to Trump

Posted by Worldcrew On 01/08/2019

A hard-won budget and debt deal easily cleared the Senate on Thursday, powered by President Donald Trump’s endorsement and a bipartisan drive to cement recent spending increases for the Pentagon and domestic agencies.

The legislation passed by a 67-28 vote as Trump and his GOP allies relied on lots of Democratic votes to propel it over the finish line.
 
Passage marked a drama-free solution to a worrisome set of looming Washington deadlines as both allies and adversaries of the president set aside ideology in exchange for relative fiscal peace and stability. The measure, which Trump has promised to sign, would permit the government to resume borrowing to pay all its bills and would set an overall $1.37 trillion limit on agency budgets approved by Congress annually.

 It also would remove the prospect of a government shutdown in October or the threat of deep automatic spending cuts.

The administration and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., played strong hands in the talks that sealed the agreement last week, producing a pragmatic measure that had much for lawmakers to dislike.
 
Trump did step back from a possible fight over spending increases sought by liberals, and achieved his priorities on Pentagon budgets and the stock market-soothing borrowing limit. Pelosi won remarkable Democratic unity in pushing the bill through the House last week despite Democratic divides on issues such as impeachment and health care.

 Democrats in the GOP-controlled Senate delivered most of their votes for the deal. Many of the more solidly conservative Republicans said it allowed for unchecked borrowing and too much spending.

The measure was an epitaph to the 2011 Budget Control Act, which came about due to a tea party-fueled battle over debt limit legislation during the run-up to President Barack Obama’s re-election. That law promised more than $2 trillion in deficit cuts through 2021, including automatic spending cuts that were put in place after the failure of a so-called deficit supercommittee.

“It’s not just Democrats. Republicans are also guilty. At least the big-government Republicans who will vote for this monstrous addition of debt,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “Many of the supporters of this debt deal ran around their states for years complaining that, `President Obama’s spending too much and borrowing too much,’ and these same Republicans now, the whole disingenuous lot of them, will wiggle their way to the front of the trough.’”

The bill would lift the debt limit for two years, into either a second Trump term or the administration of a Democratic successor.

 It would reverse scheduled 10 percent cuts to defense and nondefense programs next year, at a two-year cost of more than $200 billion. An additional $100 billion over two years would add to recent gains for military readiness, combating opioids and other domestic initiatives, and would keep pace with rising costs for veterans’ health care.

Follow-up legislation would fill in the line-by-line details of agency budgets when the Senate returns in September.
 
 Those increases, assuming they are repeated year after year, promise to add $2 trillion or so to the government’s $22 trillion debt.

But the measure would deliver wins to a coalition of GOP defense hawks, Democrats seeking to preserve gains in domestic accounts, and the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

It also would be a triumph for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. He initiated the negotiations and was deeply invested in bringing order and relative predictability to the budget and debt deadlines.

“We have to invest in improved readiness to help our military commanders plan for emerging challenges, in research and development to support the U.S. military of the future, and in rock-solid support for our alliance commitments,” McConnell said. “This deal is an opportunity to do exactly that. This is the agreement the administration has negotiated. This is the deal the House has passed. This is the deal President Trump is waiting and eager to sign into law.””

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Lazy and Entitled? Why the Struggle is Real for US Millennials

Posted by Worldcrew On 01/08/2019

Millennials often get a bad rap from older generations who think young adults had it too easy growing up, which prompted them to become lazy and entitled. 

However, experts say the struggle is real for U.S. millennials because they are the first generation to feel the full impact of decades of rising inequality in America.

These young Americans in their 20s and 30s earn less money without a college degree, and are more likely to die young from suicide or drug overdoses than the generations that came before them, according to a new report.

Millennials are first generation to really feel the social economic problems of our time, according to David Grusky of Stanford University’s Center on Poverty and Inequality.

The problems plaguing millennials are the result of economic decisions made in the late ’70s and early ’80s, according to sociologist David Grusky, director of the Center on Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University, and one of the report’s authors.

“This is when income inequality starts to take off. This is when we lost a lot of the middle income, typically manufacturing jobs, but without thinking once about trying to take care of those people who lost out by virtue of globalization and trade and outsourcing and the like,” Grusky says. “That period, late ’70s, early ’80s, when we decided to fashion our economy in a new way … was the starting of this set of forces that, in the end, hurt millennials so much.”

The millennial disadvantage began as soon as they entered the job market which, for many of them, was during the Great Recession. Lasting from 2007 until 2009, the downturn was the most severe U.S. economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. That meant a delayed entry into the job market for some, and those who did get work often accepted positions for which they were overqualified.

“We know that has been a long-run scarring effect, not just an immediate shock, but a long-run deterioration in their prospects, because that point of entry was so traumatic,” Grusky says.

Millennials earn 20% less than baby boomers did at the same stage of life, despite being better educated, according to a 2017 analysis of Federal Reserve data.

To make matters worse, public schools were receiving less funding because states had less money during the recession. Public colleges often responded by increasing tuition, which meant more students graduated with both a diploma and high student debt. 

“They couldn’t get employed in a way that past generations could, so they couldn’t pay off their loans,” Grusky says. “They get hammered on both. Then, they had to take out more loans, and then they didn’t have the resources to pay them back.”

Among the hardest-hit millennials are those who didn’t go to college.

A 25-year-old millennial man with a high school degree or less makes an average of $29,000 per year. That’s about $2,600 less than the generation before them, the Gen Xers, people aged 38 to 53, and almost $10,000 less than baby boomers, those aged 54 to 72, earned at the same age.

African American millennials are also struggling more. The racial gap in young adult homeownership is now larger than it was before the civil rights period of the 1960s, according to Grusky.

“We know that the Great Recession hit African Americans who were homeowners harder than other homeowners because they had bought later and under less favorable terms and in less desirable neighborhoods,” he says.

Eddie Davis stands beside the gravestone of his son Jeremy, furthest left, who died from the abuse of opioids at the age of 35, July 17, 2019, in Coalton, Ohio.

All of these obstacles may be the cause of more premature deaths. Death rates of people aged 25 to 34 shot up 20% between 2008 and 2016. Most of that increase was the result of rising suicides and drug overdoses. The mortality rate was highest — 27% — among non-Hispanic whites.

“I find it troubling that so much of the journalistic commentary on millennials adopts a bit of a blaming tone,” Grusky says. “I like to think of millennials as canaries in the coal mine that tell us how toxic this new economy is. The canaries aren’t faring well, and we don’t typically blame canaries when they die in a coal mine full of toxic fumes. We blame the coal mine and the fumes.”

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Venezuelan Politician on US Immigration’s 10 Most Wanted List

Posted by Worldcrew On 01/08/2019

U.S. immigration officials have added a senior Venezuelan government official to their list of the 10 most wanted fugitives.

Tareck El Aissami is Venezuela’s former vice president and is currently its industry minister.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement posted a picture of El Aissami on its Twitter account Wednesday, captioned, “Have you seen this most wanted fugitive? He’s wanted for international narcotics trafficking.”

The photo comes with a warning to civilians against trying to arrest him or anyone else on the most wanted list.

The U.S. accuses El Aissami of overseeing or partially owning “narcotics shipments of more than 1,000 kilograms from Venezuela on multiple occasions, including those with the final destinations of Mexico and the United States.”

He is also accused of avoiding various U.S. sanctions imposed on Venezuela because of the country’s dire political situation.

The United States and about 50 other countries back opposition leader Juan Guaido’s efforts to drive President Nicolas Maduro from power.

Guaido accuses Maduro of stealing last year’s election for another term and helping drive Venezuela to economic ruin through corruption and failed socialist policies.

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Jordan’s King: Two-State Solution Key to Middle East Peace

Posted by Worldcrew On 01/08/2019

A U.S. delegation led by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner held talks Wednesday with Jordan’s King Abdullah II about ways to revive the Mideast peace process. 

The Americans are seeking to finalize details of a proposed $50 billion economic development plan for the Palestinians, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt and Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran and senior adviser to the U.S. secretary of state, are part of the delegation, which will also visit Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

In Amman, Abdullah reaffirmed his position that the establishment of a Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, alongside Israel is the only way to resolve the long-simmering crisis, a statement from Jordan’s royal court said.

The king also said that any peace plan needed to be implemented in accordance with the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which called on Israel to pull back from all land it occupied in 1967 in exchange for normalized Israeli-Arab relations. 

Presidential advisers Jared Kushner, center left, and Jason Greenblatt, third left, meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, center right, and his advisers, in Amman, Jordan, May 29, 2019. 

Jordanian political analyst Osama al-Sharif said that while Jordan’s position is clear, it isn’t yet known what Kushner is offering on the political front. 

“We only know the Jordanian position. We don’t know what Kushner has proposed with the king,” al-Sharif said.  “Jordan’s position as reiterated by the king is very clear. It is the same position as the rest of the world — Russia, China, EU and Arab countries — in their latest Arab summit resolution. They reaffirmed their Arab Peace Initiative as the benchmark, as well as the U.N. resolutions. We know what the Jordanian position is all about.

“We don’t know the political component of what Kushner has to offer. We know bits and pieces from the unilateral decisions that [U.S. President Donald] Trump had taken from two years with regard to Jerusalem, attempts to defund UNRWA [the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East], the right of Palestinians return to Palestine. These unilateral positions have preempted the political component because they are final-status issues that need to be negotiated between the Palestinians and the Israelis. If these issues are no longer on the table … then what is there to be discussed?”

Arab observers have viewed the U.S. economic plan proposed by Kushner with suspicion, possibly signaling trouble for Jordan because it fails to address key issues, such as an independent Palestinian state, Israeli occupation and the Palestinians’ right to return to homes from which they fled or were expelled after Israel’s creation in 1948.

Jordan hosts millions of Palestinians who poured into the country in two waves, after Israel’s creation and following the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

The largely desert country  which has few resources and relies heavily on international donors, including $1 billion a year from Washington, is home to 9.5 million people, more than half of them of Palestinian origin.

Abdullah also has repeatedly ruled out a confederation with the Palestinians, or giving up custodianship of Jerusalem holy sites, calling them “red lines.”

FILE – Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi listens to Jordan’s King Abdullah II, left, during a group picture ahead of the Islamic Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, June 1, 2019.

Al-Sharif said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi will present Kushner with similar concerns when they meet in Cairo. Abdullah visited el-Sissi recently to make sure both Arab leaders are in agreement. 

“The joint statement after the king met with Sissi in Cairo two days ago: Jordan and Egypt are on the same page with regard to the Palestinian issue,” al-Sarif said. “At least for the time being, Egypt has sent a couple of messages that it does not want to be involved in the Trump peace plan at this stage and reiterates the common Arab position that there has to be a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. Kushner will meet with Sissi and we don’t know what kind of message will come out from the Egyptian side.”

Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab countries that have signed a peace treaty with Israel. In Amman, recent protests have been staged against what has been dubbed Kushner’s “deal of the century.” 

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Johnson Faces First Electoral Test in Welsh Vote

Posted by Worldcrew On 01/08/2019

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could see his working majority in parliament reduced to one when voters in a rural Welsh parliamentary seat go to the polls Thursday in his first electoral test as leader.

The pro-European Union Liberal Democrats are the bookmakers’ favorites to win the vote in Brecon and Radnorshire, triggered when Conservative lawmaker Chris Davies was ousted by a petition of constituents after being convicted of falsifying expenses.

Brecon is a region where sheep outnumber people many times over and where the prospect of steep EU tariffs being slapped on its Welsh lamb exports in a no-deal Brexit have prompted widespread concern among farmers.

Wafer-thin majority

Johnson’s government already relies on the support of a small Northern Irish party for its wafer-thin majority, with just a handful of rebels in his own Conservatives needed to lose key votes, as his predecessor Theresa May repeatedly found.

May stepped down after her Brexit deal with the EU was rejected three times by parliament.

Johnson has said he plans to renegotiate that deal but that Britain will leave the bloc Oct. 31 with or without an agreement, potentially setting himself up for a fight with parliament, which has pledged to try to block a no-deal exit.

The Liberal Democrats held the seat of Brecon from 1997 until 2015 when it was won by Davies. In the 2017 snap election he held the seat with a majority of just more than 8,000 votes and is running again for the Conservatives Thursday.

Splitting the pro-Brexit vote

Wales, and the Brecon area, voted to leave the EU at the 2016 Brexit referendum but the pro-Brexit vote is likely to be split between the Conservatives and the Brexit Party, which won the United Kingdom’s European Parliament election in May by riding a wave of anger over the failure to deliver Brexit.

In contrast, in a bid to boost the Liberal Democrats’ chances by concentrating the support of ‘Remain’ voters, other pro-EU parties including the Greens and Plaid Cymru are not standing in the election.

Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds has also sought to focus her campaign on local issues.

“I believe we deserve better from our politicians and the Westminster government. I’ll be a strong voice for everyone who feels let down by those in power,” Dodds, who is also the Liberal Democrats’ leader in Wales, said on her website.

The Conservatives, who have seen their national poll ratings jump since Johnson took over in what has been dubbed a Boris bounce, will be hoping for a last-minute boost from their new leader, who visited the area Tuesday.

But the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) in Wales has warned Johnson of the potential consequences for lamb producers of leaving the EU without a deal.

“The prime minister must prioritize the protection of this core market through securing continued, unfettered access,” its president John Davies said. “The EU is our nearest and largest export market and any interruption to this trade will have catastrophic impacts for Welsh farming.”

The result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning.

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