Australian voters have judged Jacqui Lambie to be the nation’s most likeable federal politician, backing the Tasmanian senator ahead of major party leaders in an exclusive new survey. Lambie, an outspoken independent who often rails against the major parties, has a net likeability rating of 14 per cent and is considered one of the most recognisable people in politics. Ups and downs: Lidia Thorpe (left), Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Jacqui Lambie and Barnaby Joyce. Credit: Michael Howard But voters have ranked Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe as the least likeable in federal politics, giving her a net rating of minus 41 per cent after her protest in Parliament House during the visit of King Charles in October. Thorpe, the Indigenous firebrand who quit the Greens in early 2023 and now sits on the crossbench, has seen her rating deteriorate from minus 29 per cent one year ago. The survey, conducted for this masthead by research company Resolve Strategic, is based on questions to 1606 voters nationwide about whether they have heard of a politician and whether they have a positive, neutral, or negative view of that person. “The most striking feature of this analysis is that there is only one politician with double-digit positive net likeability,” Resolve director Jim Reed said. “There’s nobody to follow, or who inspires or gives hope right now.” Nationals senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has emerged as the second most likeable leader, with a net rating of 8 per cent, reflecting her prominence as the Coalition’s key opponent of the Indigenous Voice in last year’s referendum. She was followed by Liberal senator and former trade minister Simon Birmingham, a party moderate who has chosen to leave politics, and independent senator David Pocock, the former rugby champion who now represents the Australian Capital Territory in parliament. While voters were mildly positive about Birmingham and Pocock, giving them ratings of 7 per cent and 5 per cent respectively, they gave strongly negative views about some of the most recognisable names in politics. Voters gave an equal net rating of minus 13 per cent to two leaders on opposite ends of the political spectrum, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Greens leader Adam Bandt. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was given a net rating of minus 17 per cent, down from minus 3 per cent one year ago, coinciding with the federal government’s slump in popular support. The prime minister’s result has worsened from his “honeymoon” net likeability of 34 per cent at the end of 2022. His result was eclipsed, however, by the net rating of minus 22 per cent for Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, although voters scaled back their dislike from his net result of minus 27 per cent last year. This meant Thorpe was almost twice as unpopular as Joyce. The findings show Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has climbed ahead of other political leaders to post a net rating of zero, better than the result of minus 12 per cent one year ago. More than a dozen politicians shared the “net zero” outcome, including deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley, Nationals leader in the Senate Bridget McKenzie, Education Minister Jason Clare and Industry Minister Ed Husic. Some key members of the Coalition team emerged with positive ratings, albeit with lower levels of name recognition compared with Dutton. Voters gave shadow treasurer Angus Taylor and defence spokesman Andrew Hastie net ratings of 4 per cent. Education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson received a 2 per cent rating. The Resolve Political Monitor was conducted from December 4 to 8 and put questions to 1606 respondents selected to reflect the broader population by location, age, gender and other factors. Voters were shown a list of 60 political figures and asked whether they had a positive, neutral or negative view of each of them, generating a net likeability rating by subtracting the negative number from the positive one. “Likeability is not the same as electability – you can still be respected without it, but it helps in getting a fair hearing from voters,” said Reed. “Instead of competence, likeability is about authenticity and alignment. “Politicians such as Lambie and Price are real – raw even. You get what you see, the kind of honesty and trust that is a rare commodity in politics. “Thorpe has that to a certain extent, but most voters think she’s misaligned with their own attitudes and values.” Many of the political figures were not known to more than 30 or 40 per cent of the respondents, a key factor for independent MPs such as Kate Chaney, Helen Haines and Monique Ryan. The most recognisable politician with a positive rating was Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who was known to 89 per cent of voters and gained a net likeability result of 2 per cent. Wong led the list one year ago with net likeability of 14 per cent. Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek was given a net rating of minus 5 per cent in the December survey, after a year of criticism from the Greens over decisions to approve some gas and coal projects and the Senate’s objections to her draft law to set up Environment Protection Australia. Her net likeability was 3 per cent one year ago. Treasurer Jim Chalmers was known to 71 per cent of respondents and had a net rating of minus 7 per cent, a decline from a zero rating one year ago during a period when voters reported increasing anxiety about the cost of living. The treasurer had a positive rating of 11 per cent at the end of 2022. Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter .One of the key strengths of the 3D World Low-Code Platform is its seamless integration of three-dimensional elements into the application development process. Users can easily incorporate 3D models, animations, and visual effects into their applications, adding a whole new dimension of interactivity and engagement. This opens up a world of possibilities for industries such as architecture, gaming, virtual reality, and e-commerce, where immersive visual experiences are paramount.
Huawei, renowned for its innovative telecommunications solutions, recognized the potential to transform the lives of the residents of the Zhoushan Islands through improved connectivity. In partnership with local authorities and telecommunications providers, Huawei embarked on a mission to bridge the digital divide and enhance the quality of life for the islanders.By Kareem Chehayeb | Associated Press BEIRUT — Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the militant leader whose stunning insurgency toppled Syria’s President Bashar Assad, has spent years working to remake his public image , renouncing longtime ties to al-Qaida and depicting himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance. As he entered Damascus behind his victorious fighters Sunday, he even dropped his nom de guerre and referred to himself with his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa. The extent of that transformation from jihadi extremist to would-be state builder is now put to the test. Insurgents control Damascus, Assad has fled into hiding, and for the first time after 50 years of his family’s iron hand, it is an open question how Syria will be governed. Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious communities, often pitted against each other by Assad’s state and years of war. Many of them fear the possibility that Sunni Islamist extremists will take over. The country is also fragmented among disparate armed factions, and foreign powers from Russia and Iran to the United States, Turkey and Israel all have their hands in the mix. Hours after Damascus’ capture, the 42-year-old al-Sharaa made his first appearance in the city’s landmark Umayyad Mosque, declaring Assad’s fall “a victory for the Islamic nation.” A senior rebel commander, Anas Salkhadi, appeared on state TV to declare, “Our message to all the sects of Syria, is that we tell them that Syria is for everyone,” Al-Sharaa, who has been labeled a terrorist by the United States, and his insurgent force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS – many of whose fighters are jihadis — now stand to be a major player. For years, al-Sharaa worked to consolidate power, while bottled up in the province of Idlib in Syria’s northwest corner as Assad’s Iranian- and Russian-backed rule over much of the country appeared solid. He maneuvered among extremist organizations while eliminating competitors and former allies. He sought to polish the image of his de-facto “salvation government” that has been running Idlib to win over international governments and reassure Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities. And he built ties with various tribes and other groups. Along the way, he shed his garb as a hard-line Islamist guerrilla and put on suits for press interviews, talking of building state institutions and decentralizing power to reflect Syria’s diversity. “Syria deserves a governing system that is institutional, no one where a single ruler makes arbitrary decisions,” he said in an interview with CNN last week, offering the possibility HTS would eventually be dissolved after Assad falls. “Don’t judge by words, but by actions,” he said. Throughout his rise through extremist ranks, al-Sharaa was only known by the jihadi nickname he adopted, Abu Mohammed al-Golani. His ties to al-Qaida stretch back to 2003, when he joined insurgents battling U.S. troops in Iraq. The Syrian native was detained by the U.S. military but remained in Iraq. During that time, al-Qaida usurped like-minded groups and formed the extremist Islamic State of Iraq, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In 2011, a popular uprising in Syria against Assad triggered a brutal government crackdown and led to all-out war. Al-Golani’s prominence grew when al-Baghdadi sent him to Syria to establish a branch of al-Qaida called the Nusra Front. The United States labeled the new group as a terrorist organization. That designation still remains in place and the U.S. government has put a $10 million bounty on him. As Syria’s civil war intensified in 2013, so did al-Golani’s ambitions. He defied al-Baghdadi’s calls to dissolve the Nusra Front and merge it with al-Qaida’s operation in Iraq, to form the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Al-Golani nonetheless pledged his allegiance to al-Qaida, which later disassociated itself from ISIS. The Nusra Front battled ISIS and eliminated much of its competition among the Syrian armed opposition to Assad. In his first interview in 2014, al-Golani kept his face covered, telling a reporter for Qatari network Al-Jazeera that he rejected political talks in Geneva to end the conflict. He said his goal was to see Syria ruled under Islamic law and made clear that there was no room for the country’s Alawite, Shiite, Druze and Christian minorities. In 2016, al-Golani revealed his face to the public for the first time in a video message that announced his group was renaming itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham -– the Syria Conquest Front — and cutting its ties to al-Qaida. “This new organization has no affiliation to any external entity,” he said in the video, filmed wearing military garb and a turban. The move paved the way for al-Golani to assert full control over fracturing militant groups. A year later, his alliance rebranded again as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham -– meaning Organization for Liberating Syria — as the groups merged, consolidating al-Golani’s power in northwest Syria’s Idlib province. HTS later clashed with independent Islamist militants who opposed the merger, further emboldening al-Golani and his group as the leading power in northwestern Syria, able to rule with an iron fist. With his power consolidated, al-Golani set in motion a transformation that few could have imagined. Replacing his military garb with shirt and trousers, he began calling for religious tolerance and pluralism. He appealed to the Druze community in Idlib, which the Nusra Front had previously targeted , and visited the families of Kurds who were killed by Turkish-backed militias. In 2021, he had his first interview with an American journalist on PBS. Wearing a blazer, with his short hair gelled back, the now more soft-spoken HTS leader said that his group posed no threat to the West and that sanctions imposed against it were unjust. “Yes, we have criticized Western policies,” he said. “But to wage a war against the United States or Europe from Syria, that’s not true. We didn’t say we wanted to fight.”
AP News Summary at 9:17 p.m. ESTThe pig market is highly cyclical in nature, with prices fluctuating based on a variety of factors such as supply, demand, government policies, and external market conditions. The recent price rebound can be attributed to a combination of factors, including the recovery of pig production following the African swine fever outbreak, increased demand for pork products due to festive seasons and improving economic conditions.
Young holds 3-shot lead over Scheffler in Bahamas
The Steam brand festival for "Assetto Corsa" showcases the latest additions and updates to the game, including new cars, tracks, and features aimed at enhancing the overall gameplay experience. Players can look forward to test-driving a variety of high-performance vehicles on meticulously recreated race tracks, each designed to challenge their skills and push them to their limits.The European Union's antitrust regulators have launched a formal investigation into Google's advertising activities, following complaints from competitors and concerns over potential anti-competitive behavior. The investigation will focus on whether Google has been unfairly favoring Meta in ad deals, giving the social media company an unfair advantage in the digital advertising market.One of the key pillars of the discussion was the imperative of expanding domestic demand. Participants underscored the need to stimulate consumer spending, boost household income, and promote the consumption of domestic goods and services. By empowering consumers and strengthening their purchasing power, China can create a virtuous cycle of economic growth that benefits both businesses and consumers alike. The emphasis on expanding domestic demand aligns with China's broader strategic goal of rebalancing its economy towards greater consumption-led growth.
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Young holds 3-shot lead over Scheffler in Bahamas