Today, Republicans consider a Biden impeachment probe Cambodia's longtime leader resigns after nearly 40 years, Ecuador declares a state of emergency amid prison violence and an investigation is launched into the EU's border agency. From TLDR News, this is your daily briefing for Wednesday 26th July 2023. Over in the states today, it's been reported that Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy believes that President Joe Biden could soon be subject to an impeachment vote. He made a comment during a TV appearance on Fox News with Sean Hannity on Monday, claiming that when Biden ran for office, he said that his family has never received a dollar from China, which we prove is not true.
He went on to say that we've only followed where the information has taken us, but this is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry, which provides Congress the strongest power to get the rest of the knowledge and information needed. McCarthy that Biden's administration had sought to deny Congress its oversight abilities, adding that this is something we haven't seen since Richard Nixon. In the interview, McCarthy referenced Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers who claim that Hunter Biden, the son of the President, has received preferential treatment from the Justice Department over his tax affairs. Previously, Hunter pleaded guilty to two minor tax offenses.
Republicans have claimed that this was a sweetheart deal that helped him to avoid prosecution on a gun charge. Republicans have recently launched a string of investigations into the President and his relatives in recent months. These include investigations into Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine, China and elsewhere. Defending the President the White House has insisted that Mr.
Biden had no involvement in Hunter Biden's business dealings and that there's no evidence of wrongdoing on his part. This doesn't seem to have convinced McCarthy though, who may well be on the precipice of bringing forward an impeachment inquiry, the first step towards articles of impeachment. Interestingly, McCarthy has actually headed off a previous attempt by ultra right wing Republicans to bring forward a resolution against Biden. About this, he said, we won't use impeachment for political purposes.
It seems that McCarthy believes the situation has changed enough to think that an impeachment vote would now be legitimate. There's more than a way we be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to make the daily briefing part of your daily routine or just search for us on your podcast app to listen along. After nearly 40 years in power, Cambodia's authoritarian leader Hun Sen has announced his resignation just days after securing another turn in Sunday's non competitive election. As had been widely anticipated.
Hun Sen announced that he would be transferring power to his son Hun Manet over the coming weeks, but added that he himself would remain the head of the ruling party and a member of the National assembly. Hun Sen, now 70 years old, became Prime Minister back in 1985 and has gradually consolidated power around himself, cracked down on opposition and has become increasingly authoritarian over time. The election last Sunday was criticized as being more of a coronation than an election, after the only viable opposition party, the Candlelight Party, was disqualified. Hun Sen's son Hun Manet, who will take over in a couple of weeks, was until now the commander of the Cambodian army and has long been groomed as his father's successor.
He previously studied at New York University, the University of Bristol and the US Military Academy at West Point. Little is known about Hun Mana's vision for the country, though his father said that the new government will see a new generation take over many of the top ministerial jobs. So that's the latest from Cambodia. Let's move and discuss what's happening in Ecuador.
Ecuador's president, Guillermo Lasso has declared a state of emergency in the country's prison system, lasting 60 days amid a wave of violence that has left 31 inmates dead and a number of guards held hostage. Prison violence has long been a problem in Ecuador due to fighting between rival gangs and the poor conditions in many prisons. Crashes erupted on Saturday in the Gaia Swan prison in the west of the country, with gunfire and explosions being reported. Authorities say they've regained control of the prison after some 2,700 soldiers stormed the facility and seized weapons and ammunition.
Elsewhere, prisoners in 13 other prisons are reportedly holding hunger strikes and holding nearly 100 guards hostage in demand of better sanitary conditions and food. The state of emergency is the second that President Lasso has issued in a matter of days after the mayor of the city of Manta was shot dead. On Sunday, Lasso declared an emergency in three of the country's provinces. All of this comes as the country prepares to snap elections on 20 August, triggered by President Lasso's dissolution of the national assembly ahead of an impeachment process.
A European Union watchdog has launched an investigation into Frontex, the EU's border agency, and its role in one of the worst migrant shipwrecks in recent years. On 14 June, a boat named the Adriana was carrying as many as 750 migrants seeking to reach Europe from Libya when it sank off the coast of Greece. 104 people survived and 82 bodies were recovered while the remain missing. The Greek Coast Guard's response has already come under criticism and is the subject of investigation in Greece.
But the EU's ombudsman Emily O'Reilly says Frontex's role in search and rescue operations also need to be clarified, adding that her office will focus on the role of Frontex as we try to piece together the events that led to the capsizing of the boats and the deaths of at least 500 people. Frontex, along with the Greek Coast Guard, has been accused by NGOs and others of violating rights by pushing back migrant boats at sea or turning a blind eye to pushbacks. A leaked report last year by the EU anti fall office uncovered multiple incidents of pushbacks and illegal returns carried out by Greek authorities and covered up by Frontex. Frontex's chief resigned in response and his successor vowed to end the practices.
Reacting to the new EU watchdog investigation, Frontex said it looked forward to fully cooperating to explain the role Frontex play in search and rescue operations. In positive news today, Ghana will abolish the death penalty following a vote in the West African Countries Parliament to amend the Criminal Offences Act. It means that the 170 men and six women on death row will have their sentences replaced with life imprisonment. Despite the fact that no one has been executed In Ghana since 1993, the death penalty remains the mandatory sentence for murder and other serious crimes.
Just last year there were seven new death sentences handed down in the country. According to the Death Penalty Project, Ghana becomes the 29th African country to abolish the death penalty and the 124th country globally to do so. The MP who tabled the bill, Francis Javier Sousu, said, this is a great advancement of the human rights record of Ghana. That's all we have time for on YouTube.
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