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Brazilian emergency crews on Saturday recovered the remains of the 62 victims aboard an airliner that plunged to the ground in the town of Vinhedo, near Sao Paulo the day before, killing all on board.
The bodies of most of the victims – 34 males and 28 females – had already been moved to Sao Paulo’s police morgue for identification. The bodies of the pilot and co-pilot were identified earlier in the day, said Dario Pacheco, mayor of Vinhedo.

Authorities are using seat assignments, physical characteristics, documents and belongings such as cell phones to identify the victims, firefighter Maycon Cristo said at the crash site earlier on Saturday as the bodies were being pulled from the wreckage.

Authorities are using seat assignments, physical characteristics, documents and belongings such as cell phones to identify the victims, firefighter Maycon Cristo said at the crash site earlier on Saturday as the bodies were being pulled from the wreckage.

Relatives of the victims were brought to Sao Paulo to provide DNA samples to aid in identification of the remains, said state civil defense coordinator Henguel Pereira.

The plane’s so-called “black box” containing voice recordings and flight data was undergoing analysis, said Marcelo Moreno, the head of Brazilian aviation accident investigation center Cenipa, at a press conference in Vinhedo.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/removal-bodies-begins-brazil-plane-crash-that-killed-62-2024-08-10/

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, while addressing the weekly briefing said that the two spoke about the developments in Bangladesh and West Asia.

Amid reports of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s plans to seek asylum in the UK, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday, received a call from UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

EAM Jaishankar and his UK counterpart discussed the situation in Bangladesh and West Asia.

“Received a call from UK Foreign Secretary @DavidLammy today. Discussed the situation in Bangladesh and West Asia,” EAM Jaishankar said in a post on X.

Over the past week, watched by the world’s media, the top leaders of Hamas descended on Qatar to choose a new political leader for their group.
Delegates flooded in from across the Middle East after almost a year of fighting between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.
Some arrived shaken, having woken just days before to the news that the group’s previous political leader – Ismail Haniyeh – had been killed in a blast in Tehran, allegedly by Israel.
Haniyeh, who had overseen his group’s negotiators in talks with Israel, played a crucial role in Hamas, balancing the militant wing’s desire to take the fight to Israel with calls from some to reach a settlement and end the conflict.

Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October last year, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back into Gaza. Since then, Israel’s military retaliation has killed more than 39,600 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and wounded tens of thousands more. More than half the buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed and almost the entire population has been displaced. Dissent against Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, has been growing. The group itself has taken severe losses.
On top of this, the killing of Ismail Haniyeh on 31 July in Tehran – a place he had always felt to be a safe haven – was a real shock for the organisation.
Hamas is convinced that Haniyeh was killed by an anti-personnel missile while he was browsing on his phone. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have said a projectile with a 7kg warhead was used. Some Western media reports say he was killed by a bomb planted in the room beforehand.
Back at Haniyeh’s mourning ceremony in Doha, one man in his mid-60s with white hair and a short beard stood in a corner away from the spotlight.
“Pay close attention to him,” a Hamas media officer told me. Who was he? “He is the shadowy man, Abu Omar Hassan,” he said.
Abu Omar Hassan, or Mohamed Hassan Darwish, is the head of the Supreme Shura Council, the top consultative body in Hamas. According to Hamas’s constitution, he was in prime position to be the organisation’s interim head until elections which had been scheduled for next March.
“He is the man of the big missions,” I was told.
As the mourning ceremony ended, these leaders’ real work began. For two days, the movement’s veteran faces and shadowy figures held meetings in Doha, which has hosted Hamas’s political bureau since 2012, to elect a new leader.

They chose Yahya Sinwar, already the group’s leader inside Gaza since 2017. The choice may come as a surprise to many, but anyone following his career since Israel released him in the 2011 exchange deal for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit knew he was always likely to lead Hamas one day.

No political leader in Hamas has ever been closer to the group’s armed wing. His brother Mohammed leads the largest Hamas military battalion, while Mohammed Deif – the elusive Hamas veteran who led its armed wing for two decades until Israel said it killed him last month – was his neighbour, friend, and classmate. The pair grew up together in Gaza’s sprawling Khan Younis refugee camp.

Despite all this, many may see appointing him to the most important position in Hamas as madness. Israel’s security agencies believe Sinwar planned and executed the attack on southern Israel, and he is top of their wanted list.

“Not all of the people inside Hamas leadership were in favour of the decision,” a senior Hamas official told me. “Some leaders raised their concerns, others pushed for a more moderate person. But in the end he got the majority of the votes.”

Another Hamas official who attended the meetings said the movement felt unable to choose the powerful shadow operator Abu Omar Hassan because he had little public profile and was unknown outside the movement, whereas the 7 October attack had given Yahya Sinwar global notoriety.

“Sinwar has become a trademark after 7 October and he has great popularity in the Arab and Islamic worlds,” the official said. “He enjoys close relations with the axis of resistance supported by Iran, and his appointment in the midst of the war sends a message of defiance to Israel.”

The “axis of resistance” is a network of armed groups backed by Iran. Other members such as Lebanon-based Hezbollah also present threats to Israel.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyl3yg7wzzo

The government has decided to withdraw the Waqf Properties (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants), Bill, 2014 which was introduced in Rajya Sabha in February 2014, when the Congress-led UPA government was in power.

The BJP-led government is slated to introduce the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 in the Lok Sabha on Thursday to amend the Waqf Act, 1995. The bill seeks to “effectively address issues” related to the powers of the State Waqf Boards, registration and survey of waqf properties and removal of encroachments.

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 is listed for introduction by Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju in Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Samajwadi Party will oppose the Waqf Bill in Parliament, according to the party sources.

The government has decided to withdraw the Waqf Properties (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants), Bill, 2014 which was introduced in Rajya Sabha in February 2014, when the Congress-led UPA government was in power.

The Waqf Properties (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants), Bill, 2014 is listed for withdrawal from Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

Thousands of anti-racism protesters have rallied in cities and towns across England after a week of anti-immigrant rioting and disorder.
Gatherings in locations where anti-immigration protests had been expected – including north London, Bristol and Newcastle – were largely peaceful, with counter-protesters chanting “refugees are welcome here” forming the bulk of the crowds.
Police had been braced for further violence, with thousands of officers deployed and more than 100 events anticipated.
Rioting was sparked by misinformation online that the suspect in the fatal stabbing of three little girls in Southport on 29 July was a Muslim asylum seeker.

Bangladesh’s incoming interim leader Muhammad Yunus appealed for calm Wednesday and urged all parties to help the country rebuild after weeks of violence that killed hundreds and prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to India.

Yunus, a Nobel peace laureate, was in Paris for the Olympics when he was named interim leader following talks among military officials, civic leaders and the student activists who led the uprising against a prime minister seen as increasingly autocratic. Yunus made his first public comments in the French capital Wednesday before boarding a plane to return home.

He congratulated the student protesters, saying they had made “our second Victory Day possible,” and appealed to them and other stakeholders to remain peaceful, while condemning any violence since Hasina’s resignation Monday.

“Violence is our enemy. Please don’t create more enemies. Be calm and get ready to build the country,” Yunus said.

Bangladesh’s military chief, Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman said in a televised address that Yunus would be sworn in Thursday night and that he expected him to usher in a “beautiful democratic” process. The military leader said that those responsible for violence since Hasina’s resignation would be brought to justice.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus was named chief adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government on Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following a violent crackdown on a student-led uprising.
Yunus was appointed to the post by Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin after he held meetings with student leaders and chiefs of the three military services, local media reported late on Tuesday, citing a statement and officials from the president’s office.

Yunus, 84, and his Grameen Bank, a microcredit organization, won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for work to lift millions out of poverty by granting small loans of under $100 to the rural poor of Bangladesh.
The student leaders had said they wanted Yunus as the chief adviser to the interim government and a spokesperson for Yunus said he agreed. Yunus is in Paris for a medical procedure and is expected to return to Dhaka soon.

Student protesters had threatened more demonstrations if parliament was not dissolved.

Shahabuddin had said earlier that an interim government would hold elections soon after it takes over. Nahid Islam, a key organiser of the campaign against Hasina, said in a video message: “Any government other than the one we recommended would not be accepted.”

The movement that toppled Hasina rose out of demonstrations against public sector job quotas for families of veterans of Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war, seen by critics as a means to reserve jobs for allies of the ruling party.

About 300 people were killed and thousands injured in violence that had ripped through the country since July.

After demonstrators stormed and looted the prime minister’s lavish residence on Monday, the streets of the capital Dhaka were again peaceful on Tuesday, with traffic lighter than usual and many schools and businesses that shut during the unrest still closed.

Garment factories, which supply apparel to some of the world’s top brands and are a mainstay of the economy, will reopen on Wednesday after being shut due to the disruptions, the main garment manufacturers’ association said.

Hasina’s flight ended her 15-year second stint in power in the country of 170 million people, which she had ruled for 20 of the last 30 years at the helm of a political movement inherited from her father, state founder Mujibur Rahman, after he was assassinated in 1975.

Since the early 1990s Hasina had feuded and alternated power with her rival Zia, who inherited her own political movement from her husband Ziaur Rahman, a ruler himself assassinated in 1981.

‘SECOND LIBERATION DAY’
Yunus, who was indicted by a court in June on charges of embezzlement that he denied, told Indian broadcaster Times Now that Monday marked the “second liberation day” for Bangladesh after its 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
But he said Bangladeshis were angry with neighbour India for allowing Hasina to land there after fleeing Dhaka.
“India is our best friend … people are angry at India because you are supporting the person who destroyed our lives,” Yunus said.
Protests against Hasina were fueled in part by poverty. After years of strong economic growth as the garment industry expanded, the $450 billion economy struggled with costly imports and inflation, and the government had sought a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
Hasina was accused of becoming increasingly authoritarian, with many of her political foes jailed. Her resignation was greeted by jubilant crowds, who stormed unopposed into the opulent grounds of her residence and carried away furniture and TVs after she fled on Monday.
Hasina flew to India and is staying at a safe house outside Delhi. Indian media reported that Hasina may travel to Britain, where she has family including a niece who is a government minister.
Reuters could not confirm her plans. Britain’s Home Office declined to comment.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/bangladesh-awaits-interim-government-army-chief-meet-protesters-2024-08-06/

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her newly selected vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, campaigned for the first time together on Tuesday in Philadelphia, kicking off a multi-day tour of battleground states aimed at introducing Walz to the national stage.
In his remarks to a raucous crowd of more than 10,000 at Temple University, Walz described his upbringing in a small Nebraska town, his 24 years serving in the Army National Guard and his prior career as a high school social studies teacher and football coach.

Ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visa has been revoked by the United States, according to insider sources close to the opposition in Bangladesh. This development comes amid reports that Western nations, including the US, sought her ousting from power.

Hasina, who resigned and fled to India following violent protests in Bangladesh, is currently at Hindon Airbase in Ghaziabad. While she is exploring options for asylum in European countries, reports indicate that the UK is not prepared to grant her refuge. Sources suggest that her sister, Rehana, who holds UK citizenship, may leave for the UK shortly.

On Monday, the military arranged Sheikh Hasina’s departure from Dhaka after weeks of mounting pressure due to anti-government protests against her reservation policies. The protests escalated into violent unrest, resulting in over 440 deaths in recent weeks. Hours after her resignation, Hasina’s residence was stormed by protesters, leading to widespread vandalism.

A U.S. judge ruled on Monday that Google violated antitrust law, spending billions of dollars to create an illegal monopoly and become the world’s default search engine, the first big win for federal authorities taking on Big Tech’s market dominance.
The ruling paves the way for a second trial to determine potential fixes, possibly including a breakup of Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, which would change the landscape of the online advertising world that Google has dominated for years.

It is also a green light to aggressive U.S. antitrust enforcers prosecuting Big Tech, a sector that has been under fire from across the political spectrum.
“The court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, Washington, D.C., wrote. Google controls about 90% of the online search market and 95% on smartphones.

The “remedy” phase could be lengthy, followed by potential appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. The legal wrangling could play out into next year, or even 2026.
Shares of Alphabet fell 4.5% on Monday amid a broad decline in tech shares as the wider stock market cratered on recession fears. Google advertising was 77% of Alphabet’s total sales in 2023.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country on Monday after hundreds of people were killed in a crackdown on demonstrations that began as protests against job quotas and swelled into a movement demanding her ouster.
Jubilant crowds stormed unopposed into the opulent grounds of the presidential residence, carrying out looted furniture and TVs. One man balanced a red velvet, gilt-edged chair on his head. Another held an armful of vases.Elsewhere in Dhaka, protesters climbed atop a statue of Hasina’s father, state founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and began chiselling away at the head with an axe.
The flight into exile ended a 15-year second stint in power for Hasina, who has ruled for 20 of the last 30 years as leader of the political movement inherited from her father, assassinated with most of his family in a 1975 coup.
Hasina had left the country for her own safety at the insistence of her family, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy told the BBC World Service.

Hasina was “so disappointed that after all her hard work, for a minority to rise up against her”, Joy said. She would not attempt to mount a political comeback, he said.
Earlier, army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced Hasina’s resignation in a televised address to the nation and said an interim government would be formed.
He said he had held talks with leaders of major political parties – excluding Hasina’s long-ruling Awami League – and would soon meet President Mohammed Shahabuddin to discuss the way ahead.

“The country is going through a revolutionary period,” said Zaman, 58, who had taken over as army chief only on June 23.
“I promise you all, we will bring justice to all the murders and injustice. We request you to have faith in the army of the country,” he said. “Please don’t go back to the path of violence and please return to non-violent and peaceful ways.”
The military spokesperson’s office said that a curfew would be in force from midnight on Monday until 6 a.m. on Tuesday, after which all schools, factories, colleges and universities would be open.
Hasina’s government had imposed an indefinite curfew from Sunday evening and a three-day general holiday from Monday.
ARRIVES IN INDIA
Hasina, 76, landed at a military airfield Hindon near Delhi, two Indian government officials told Reuters, adding that India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met her there. They did not elaborate on her stay or plans.
There was also no official comment from India, which has strong cultural and trade links with Bangladesh, on the events in Dhaka.
Hasina would leave Hindon for London at 1930 GMT, Indian broadcaster Times Now reported citing sources. Reuters could not immediately verify the information.
Bangladesh has been engulfed by violence since student protests last month against the quotas, which reserve some government jobs for families of veterans of the country’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, seen as favouring allies of Hasina’s party.
The protests escalated into a campaign demanding the overthrow of Hasina, and were met by a violent crackdown in which about 250 people have been killed and thousands injured.
The country, once one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, has been plagued lately by slow economic growth, inflation and unemployment.

Hasina’s son Joy defended her record: “She has turned Bangladesh around. When she took over power it was considered a failing state. It was a poor country. Until today it was considered one of the rising tigers of Asia.”
She had won a fourth straight term only in January this year in an election boycotted by the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of her nemesis Begum Khaleda Zia.
Zia, 78, who has twice been prime minister, has been in jail since she was convicted in a graft case in February 2018. Her health has been deteriorating and she was moved to a hospital in 2019.
President Shahabuddin had ordered the release of Zia, French news agency AFP reported. But a BNP spokesman told Reuters she was in hospital for treatment and “will clear all charges legally and come out soon”.
U.S. STRESSES INCLUSIVE INTERIM GOVT
Hasina had ruled since winning a decades-long power struggle with Zia in 2009. The two women each inherited political movements from slain rulers – in Hasina’s case, from her father Mujib; in Zia’s case, from her husband Ziaur Rahman, who took power after Mujib’s death and was himself assassinated in 1981.
“Hasina’s resignation proves the power of the people,” said Tarique Rahman, the exiled eldest son of the two Zias who now serves as acting chairman of the opposition party.
“Together, let’s rebuild Bangladesh into a democratic and developed nation, where the rights and freedoms of all people are protected,” he posted on X.
The United States urged the interim government formation process to be democratic and inclusive and encouraged all parties to refrain from further violence and restore peace as quickly as possible.
Sabrina Karim, associate professor of government at Cornell University who specialises in the study of political violence, said the interim government should ensure there is rule of law during the democratic transition, no revenge killing and destruction.
“There is perhaps some optimism for a democratic transition even if the military is involved in the process,” Karim said, adding that Dhaka was one of the top troop contributors to UN peacekeeping operations and could not risk its reputation.
Student activists had called for a march to the capital Dhaka on Monday in defiance of a nationwide curfew to press Hasina to resign after clashes across the country on Sunday killed nearly 100 people.
On Monday, at least 56 people were killed in violence across the country, AFP reported. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Sunday’s death toll, which included at least 13 policemen, was the highest for a single day from any protests in Bangladesh’s recent history, surpassing the 67 deaths reported on July 19 when students took to the streets against the quotas.
Last month, at least 150 people were killed and thousands injured in violence touched off by student groups protesting against the job quotas.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/bangladesh-protesters-call-march-dhaka-defiance-curfew-2024-08-05/

The clashes between student protesters, police, and ruling party activists in Bangladesh led to 91 deaths and hundreds of injuries. 14 police officers have also been killed in Sirajganj, Bangladesh government sources said.

Bangladesh Protests:

• The clashes broke out Sunday morning when protesters attending the non-cooperation programme under the banner of the Students Against Discrimination with the one-point demand of the government’s resignation over a job quota system faced opposition from the supporters of the Awami League, Chhatra League, and Jubo League activists.
• At least 91 people have been killed in clashes, shootings and counter-chases across the country surrounding the non-cooperation program. The government imposed an indefinite nationwide curfew at 6 pm on Sunday, marking the first such step since the protests began last month. Indian officials in Bangladesh have advised citizens to “remain alert” due to the unstable situation.
• 14 police officers were killed in Sirajganj and the total death toll now has now reached 91, Bangladesh government sources said.
•  The internet has been snapped and Facebook and WhatsApp have been blocked, sources said. The nationwide ban on social media platforms was imposed by the Bangladesh government on August 2.
•  According to the sources, 14 policemen have been killed across the country. Of them, 13 were killed in Sirajganj’s Enayetpur police station. One person was killed in Comilla’s Elliotganj, the paper said. More than 300 policemen were injured.
•  “All Indian nationals including students living in the jurisdiction of the Assistant High Commission of India, Sylhet are requested to be in touch with this office and are advised to remain alert. In case of emergencies, please contact +88-01313076402,” the Assistant High Commission said in a post on X.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/india/91-dead-including-14-policemen-over-200-injured-in-fresh-bangladesh-clashes-between-protesters-and-ruling-party-10-points-article-112268822 

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the country should honor President Biden by adding him to Mount Rushmore.

The 81-year-old commander in chief is “such a consequential president of the United States, a Mount Rushmore kind of president,” Rep. Pelosi (D-Calif.), 84, claimed in a clip aired on “CBS Sunday Morning Show.”

“You have Teddy Roosevelt up there. And he’s wonderful. I don’t say take him down. But you can add Biden,” she insisted when pressed about whether the incumbent president is really worthy of the honor of getting his massive mug engraved in rock at the iconic South Dakota national monument alongside former Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Roosevelt.

Biden was born in 1942 — about a year after Mount Rushmore was completed.

Pelosi’s extolling of Biden came as she defended her machinations during the recent Democratic mutiny against the president, who she claimed “was in a good place to make whatever decision – the top of his game” — at the time.

Biden was forced to abandon his reelection bid last month after months of debate over his mental and physical ability to govern — a crisis that was rapidly speeded up by his disastrous debate performance against GOP foe Donald Trump in June.

Former President Trump, 78, has previously suggested he deserves to be on Mount Rushmore, quipping, “Sounds like a good idea to me” when asked about the possibility.

But he denied a report that his administration once reached out to Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to try to make it happen.

Trump has also likened himself to Lincoln and other iconic presidents as well.

Pelosi’s acclaim of Biden comes even as rumors have swirled that she pulled strings from behind the scenes to help orchestrate his downfall and withdrawal from the 2024 race.

Pelosi, who has a reputation for being a slick political operative, initially backed up Biden after his debate performance but then began to publicly declare he needed to make a decision about reelection — even after he initially made one, saying he was still in.

Two days after Biden even penned a letter to Democratic lawmakers in early July re-affirming that he was “firmly committed” to the race, Pelosi told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” “It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run.”

Some of her close allies in Congress, such as Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), also joined the chorus of calls for Biden to pass the baton.

There had been a report from CNN that Pelosi firmly told Biden that polls indicated he couldn’t win the Nov. 5 election — and when he suggested polls indicated he could pull it off, she had him put his longtime adviser Mike Donilon on the phone.

But Pelosi on Sunday denied fomenting the revolt against Biden.

“No, I wasn’t the leader of any pressure [campaign],” she said. “Let me say things that I didn’t do: I didn’t call one person. I did not call one person. I could always say to him, ‘I never called anybody.’ ”

When asked about whether she felt Biden needed to step aside, Pelosi insisted she didn’t.

“No. My whole point was whatever he decides, but we have to have a more aggressive campaign,” she said.

“What I’m saying is I had confidence the president would make the proper choice of a country, whatever that would be — and I said that — whatever that is, we’ll go with,” Pelosi claimed.

Biden is rumored to be “furious” with Pelosi over her purported role from behind the scenes during the Democratic revolt against him.

Pelosi, asked Sunday about Biden’s mood toward her, said, “He knows that I love him very much.”

Source: https://nypost.com/2024/08/04/us-news/nancy-pelosi-says-us-should-add-biden-to-mount-rushmore/

Berkshire Hathaway’s cash pile swelled to a record $276.9 billion last quarter as Warren Buffett sold big chunks in stock holdings including Apple.

The Omaha-based conglomerate’s cash hoard jumped significantly higher from the previous record of $189 billion, set in the first quarter of 2024. The increase came after the Oracle of Omaha sold nearly half of his stake in Tim Cook-led tech giant in the second quarter.

Berkshire has been a seller of stocks for seven quarters straight, but that selling accelerated in the last period with Buffett shedding more than $75 billion in equities in the second quarter. That brings the total of stocks sold in the first half of 2024 to more than $90 billion. The selling by Buffett has continued in the third quarter in some areas with Berkshire trimming its second biggest stake, Bank of America, for 12 consecutive days, filing this week showed.

For the second quarter, Berkshire’s operating earnings, which encompass profits from the conglomerate’s fully-owned businesses, enjoyed a jump thanks to the strength in auto insurer Geico. Operating earnings totaled $11.6 billion in the second quarter, up about 15% from $10 billion a year prior.

Buffett, who turns 94 at the end of the month, confessed at Berkshire’s annual meeting in May that he is willing to deploy capital, but high prices give him pause.

“We’d love to spend it, but we won’t spend it unless we think [a business is] doing something that has very little risk and can make us a lot of money,” the investment icon said at the time. “It isn’t like I’ve got a hunger strike or something like that going on. It’s just that … things aren’t attractive.”

The conglomerate bought back just $345 million worth of its own stock in the second quarter, significantly lower than the $2 billion repurchased in each of the prior two quarters.

The S&P 500 has surged the last two years to record levels as investors bet the Federal Reserve would lower inflation with higher interest rates, while avoiding an economic recession. So far, that has played out with the S&P 500 up 12% in 2024. However, concerns about a slowing economy have been awakened recently by some weak data, including Friday’s disappointing July jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 600 points on Friday. Investors have also recently grown concerned about the valuations in the technology sector, which has led the bull market because of optimism surrounding artificial intelligence innovation.

Geico boosts earnings
Geico, the company Buffett once called his “favorite child,” registered nearly $1.8 billion in underwriting earnings before taxes in the second quarter, more than tripling the level of $514 million from a year ago.

Profit from BNSF Railway came in at $1.6 billion, in line with last year’s number. Berkshire Hathaway Energy utility business saw earnings fall to $326 million, nearly half of the $624 million from the same quarter a year ago. BHE continues to face pressure for possible wildfire liability.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/03/berkshire-hathaway-earnings-2024-q2.html

Democrats have unified with remarkable speed behind Vice President Kamala Harris as she has taken over the top of the party’s ticket heading into the November presidential election.

It may be another story when it comes to a running mate.

As Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly have emerged as among the possible finalists, both have faced criticism from some organizations and activists who might otherwise be supportive of Democratic causes, potentially undermining the party’s newfound unity barely two weeks after Harris entered the race.

The vice president’s team says she is interviewing six possible choices over the weekend before an announcement expected Monday. The next day, she and her running mate will appear together at a rally in Philadelphia, then visit six more swing states.

In addition to Shapiro and Kelly, Harris is said to be considering Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Walz changed his weekend travel plans, but his office didn’t answer a question Saturday about whether it was for an interview with Harris. “The governor’s schedule has changed, and he is no longer traveling to New Hampshire this weekend,” Walz spokesman Teddy Tschann said.

The US embassy in Lebanon urged its citizens Saturday to leave Lebanon on “any ticket available”, amid fears of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah and a broader regional conflict.

Despite flight suspensions and cancellations, “commercial transportation options to leave Lebanon remain available”, the embassy statement said. “We encourage those who wish to depart Lebanon to book any ticket available to them, even if that flight does not depart immediately or does not follow their first-choice route.”

The UK government on Saturday urged its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country immediately, amid fears of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah and a broader regional conflict.

“Tensions are high, and the situation could deteriorate rapidly,” Foreign Minister David Lammy said in a statement. “While we are working round the clock to strengthen our consular presence in Lebanon, my message to British nationals there is clear –- leave now.”

Sweden was the first to shut down its embassy in Beirut fearing an escalation of hostilities. It urged its citizens to leave Lebanon on Saturday. It also relocated its embassy to Cyprus temporarily.

“The foreign ministry has instructed its staff to leave Beirut and travel to Cyprus, and the foreign ministry is planning a temporary relocation of its embassy,” Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told Swedish Radio.

Tensions remain high in the region following the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh who Iran and the Palestinian militant group allege was killed by Israel. Israel has neither denied nor taken responsibility for Haniyeh’s death.

Source: https://www.news18.com/world/leave-using-any-ticket-available-us-embassy-uk-urges-citizens-to-leave-lebanon-immediately-8989362.html

Ilya Yashin, a Russian opposition activist freed from jail in Thursday’s prisoner swap, pledged to carry on his political fight against President Vladimir Putin from abroad, but expressed fury at having been deported against his will.
The prisoner swap, the largest since the Cold War, saw eight Russians, including a convicted murderer, exchanged for 16 prisoners in Russian and Belarusian jails, many of them dissidents. It was hailed as a win by Western leaders who feared for the dissidents’ lives after the death in jail last year of politician Alexei Navalny.

But Yashin, imprisoned in 2022 for criticising Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, said he had not given his consent to deportation and that others in more urgent need of medical care should have gone instead of him.
“From my first day behind bars I said I was not willing to be a part of any exchanges,” he said in an emotional news conference in Bonn on Friday during which he occasionally removed his glasses to blink back tears.

Angela Carini said she “preferred to stop for my health” after receiving a heavy blow to the face from a competitor who was banned from last year’s world championships.

An Italian boxer has said she “never felt a punch like this” after her fight against an opponent who previously failed a gender eligibility test was abandoned early in the first round.

Angela Carini quit the 66kg category bout against Imane Khelif and ended her Olympics dream after signalling she was unable to carry on due to pain in her nose.

The clash lasted just 46 seconds, and the match build-up was marred by controversy following the inclusion of Khelif.

The Algerian was one of two athletes cleared to compete in the women’s boxing in Paris despite being disqualified from last year’s world championships due to failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.

Khelif landed a few shots in Thursday’s fight, including a huge punch to Carini’s face, before the Italian fighter went to her corner and then pulled out of the bout.

Carini did not shake hands with Khelif and was pictured in floods of tears afterwards.

The Italian later said she quit because her nose “hurt so much” and insisted she was not making a political statement and refusing to fight Khelif.

She added: “I am not here to judge or pass judgement. If an athlete is this way, and in that sense it’s not right or it is right, it’s not up to me to decide.”

Carini also said after the fight: “I am heartbroken. I went to the ring to honour my father.

“I was told a lot of times that I was a warrior, but I preferred to stop for my health. I have never felt a punch like this.

“After the second blow, and after years of experience in the ring and a lifetime of fighting, I felt extreme pain in my nose.

“I said ‘enough’ because I didn’t want to… I couldn’t carry on in the match. I thought maybe it was better that I brought an end to the match.”

She added: “I went to my corner and raised my hand and said I’d had enough because my nose hurt so much.”

Khelif’s victory means she progresses to the quarter-finals.

The Algerian boxer was disqualified from the world championships in Delhi last year alongside Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting after the International Boxing Association (IBA) said a test found “both athletes did not meet the required necessary eligibility criteria”.

The IBA said the fighters “did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognised test, whereby the specifics remain confidential”.

It comes after the IBA was stripped of its status as the global governing body for boxing by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in June last year because it failed to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethical issues.

The IBA, which is not involved in the organisation of the Olympics, has questioned why Khelif and Lin have been allowed to compete in Paris.

IOC spokesperson Mark Adams had defended the decision earlier this week, saying: “I would just say that everyone competing in the women’s category is complying with the competition eligibility rules.

“They are women in their passports and it is stated that is the case.”

He added: “They have competed and they continue to compete in the women’s competition. They have lost and they have won against other women over the years.”

However, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Carini’s bout against Khelif was not a fight among equals.

“I think that athletes who have male genetic characteristics should not be admitted to women’s competitions,” Ms Meloni said.

“And not because you want to discriminate against someone, but to protect the right of female athletes to be able to compete on equal terms.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/paris-2024-boxer-who-failed-gender-eligibility-test-at-world-championships-wins-olympic-bout-in-46-seconds-after-opponent-quits-13188674

In the biggest such exchange since the Cold War, a number of high-profile individuals have been freed including dual UK-Russian citizen Vladimir Kara-Murza and US reporter Evan Gershkovich.

The family of a teacher not included in a landmark prisoner swap between Russia and the West have demanded “immediate action” from US President Joe Biden.

Some two dozen people from countries including Russia, the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus were involved in the biggest exchange between the West and Moscow since the Cold War.

British citizen Vladimir Kara-Murza and US reporter Evan Gershkovich were among those freed from Russia under the deal, hailed by Mr Biden as a “feat of diplomacy”.

Not included in the agreement was Marc Fogel, an American teacher serving a 14-year jail sentence in Russia for possession of 17 grams of medical cannabis.

The drug had been prescribed to him in the US, but was illegal in Russia. He was jailed in August 2021.

Mr Fogel’s family said it was “incomprehensible” he was not included in the prisoner swap and suggested he was forgotten by the Biden administration because he is “not rich, a celebrity, or connected to powerful patrons”.

They said it was a “glaring injustice” that US and Western partners managed to win the release of prisoners detained after Mr Fogel, calling it “wrong, unfair, and not the America we know and love”.

“All [Mark] has is his family, led by his 95-year-old mother, Malphine, who is fighting for her son’s rights,” they said.

“We refuse to remain silent and will continue to fight for Marc. We demand immediate action to secure Marc’s release.”

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran early on Wednesday morning, an attack that drew threats of revenge on Israel and fuelled further concern that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war.
The Palestinian Islamist militant group and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed Haniyeh’s death. The Guards said it took place hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for Iran’s new president.

Haniyeh, normally based in Qatar, had been the face of Hamas’ international diplomacy as the war set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 has raged in Gaza. He had been taking part in internationally brokered indirect talks on reaching a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.
Netanyahu made no mention of Haniyeh’s killing in a televised statement on Wednesday evening but said Israel had delivered crushing blows to Iran’s proxies of late, including Hamas and Hezbollah, and would respond forcefully to any attack.

“We are prepared for any scenario and we will stand united and determined against any threat. Israel will exact a heavy price for any aggression against us from any arena,” he said.
The latest events appear to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in the nearly 10-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and the Iran-backed Hamas.
Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement Haniyeh’s killing would “take the battle to new dimensions and have major repercussions”. Vowing to retaliate, Iran declared three days of national mourning and said the U.S. bore responsibility because of its support for Israel.
In Turkey, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through the streets of central Istanbul late on Wednesday to protest Haniyeh’s killing.
Protesters in Istanbul’s Fatih district held posters with Haniyeh’s photo, chanted “murderer Israel, get out of Palestine” and waved Turkish and Palestinian flags.
Washington expressed concern about the potential for escalation. But White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. did not see that as imminent or inevitable and was working to prevent it from happening.
The risks “are certainly up right now. They don’t make the task of de-escalation, deterrence and dissuasion – which is the goal – any less complicated,” he told reporters.
The U.S. advised citizens not to travel to Lebanon, and two U.S. airlines, United and Delta, paused flights to Tel Aviv.

The assassination occurred less than 24 hours after Israel said it had killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander in retaliation for a deadly rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Hezbollah confirmed that senior military commander Fuad Shukr was killed by an Israeli airstrike in a Beirut suburb.

Seven people were killed and 78 wounded in the Beirut strike, Lebanese network Tele Liban reported on Wednesday, citing the civil defence authority. Iranian state media said an Iranian military adviser was among the dead.

ISRAEL INVITES ‘HARSH PUNISHMENT’, KHAMENEI SAYS

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel had provided the grounds for “harsh punishment for itself” and it was Tehran’s duty to avenge Haniyeh’s death. Iranian forces have already made strikes directly on Israel earlier in the Gaza war.

Haniyeh’s most likely successor is Khaled Meshaal, his deputy-in-exile who lives in Qatar, analysts and Hamas officials said.

Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer told journalists that Israel was committed to Gaza ceasefire negotiations and securing the release of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Singapore, sidestepped a question on Haniyeh’s killing, saying a ceasefire deal in Gaza was key to avoiding wider regional escalation. He told Channel News Asia that the U.S. had neither been aware of nor involved in the killing.

Qatar, which along with Egypt has been brokering talks aimed at halting the fighting in Gaza, condemned Haniyeh’s killing.

“How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on other side?” Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on X.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-chief-ismail-haniyeh-killed-iran-hamas-says-statement-2024-07-31/

In early April, some residents of Kharkiv received a series of chilling text messages from government officials telling them to flee the city before Russian forces surrounded it.
“Due to the threat of enemy encirclement, we urge the civilian population of Kharkiv leave the city by April 22,” said one alert, which bore the logo of the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine and mapped out safe escape routes on a slick infographic.

Donald Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that the Paris Olympics opening ceremony was a “disgrace” due to its controversial moment involving a tableau that some viewers believed to be a recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” only the Olympics version replaced the painting’s religious figures with drag queens. However, organizers for the event have stressed the moment was not a nod to “The Last Supper” but to the feast of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine.

When Ingraham brought up how the opening ceremony mocked “The Last Supper,” Trump weighed in and said: “I thought it was a disgrace.” The Fox News host then asked if Trump will “have enough influence on the organizers that we won’t be insulting Christians” if he is elected president again, as his potential term would overlap with the 2028 summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Calif.

“We won’t be having a Last Supper, as portrayed the way they portrayed it the other night,” Trump answered. “I just think — look, I’m for everybody. I’m very open-minded. You understand me. You know me better than most people know me. I’m very open-minded, but I thought what they did was a disgrace.”

The opening ceremony tableau has also earned scorn from several Hollywood conservatives, including Rob Schneider and Candace Cameron Bure. Schneider said he would be boycotting the rest of the Paris games because the controversial tableau openly celebrated satan. Bure called the tableau “disgusting.”

Olympics artistic director Thomas Jolly spoke to French outlet BFMTV after the opening ceremony and denied that “The Last Supper” even served as a reference. Instead, Jolly said the idea was to “have a grand pagan festival connected to the gods of Olympus” as the tableau prominently featured a version of Dionysus.

Source: https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/donald-trump-olympics-disgrace-last-supper-tableau-opening-ceremony-1236090042/

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of the morning in Iran, the Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday, describing the strike as a “severe escalation” that would not achieve its goals.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, hours after he attended a swearing in ceremony for the country’s new president, and said it was investigating.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Haniyeh.
The news, which came less than 24 hours after Israel claimed to have killed the Hezbollah commander it said was behind a deadly strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, appears to set back chances of any imminent ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
“This assassination by the Israeli occupation of Brother Haniyeh is a grave escalation that aims to break the will of Hamas,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

After appearing to lose a substantial amount of weight in 2021, the North Korean leader has gained it back – with South Korean intelligence blaming his issues on smoking, drinking and stress.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is suffering from health problems caused by obesity, including high blood pressure and diabetes, South Korea’s spy agency has said.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS), South Korea’s main spy agency, told politicians in Seoul on Monday that Kim’s aides are trying to get new medicines from abroad to help the North’s leader.

Kim, 40, is known to be a heavy drinker and smoker and comes from a family with a history of heart problems.

Both his father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung, who ruled the secretive state before him, died of heart issues.

Kim, who assumed power in 2011 following his father’s death, is about 170cm (5 feet, 8 inches) tall and previously weighed 140kg (more than 22 stone), putting him in the obese category on the NHS Body Mass Index (BMI) chart.

In 2021, he appeared to have lost a substantial amount of weight, likely from changing his diet, but recent state media footage shows he has regained it.

The NIS said Kim’s weight is back up to around 140kg again, meaning he is in a high-risk group for certain diseases, according to Lee Seong Kweun, one of the South Korean politicians at the private meeting.

Intelligence officials told the meeting Kim has shown symptoms of high blood pressure and diabetes since his early 30s and that he will likely eventually suffer from heart disease if he fails to improve his health, Mr Lee said.

Park Sunwon, another politician who attended the South Korean intelligence briefing, said the NIS believes Kim’s obesity is linked to his drinking, smoking and stress.

North Korea is one of the most secretive countries in the world, and there are virtually no ways for outsiders to know Kim’s exact health conditions.

Kim’s health is the focus of keen attention outside North Korea because he has not formally decided who should succeed him and take control of the country’s growing nuclear arsenal.

His daughter, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and aged 10, appears to be in pole position, the NIS believes.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/kim-jong-un-north-korea-looking-for-medicine-abroad-to-help-leader-after-weight-gain-spy-agency-believes-13186836

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday emphasized the importance of a “just and enduring peace” for Ukraine in a meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the State Department said, opens new tab. The discussion came amid a visit being reportedly planned to Ukraine by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Modi is likely to visit Ukraine in August, various Indian media outlets have reported in recent days, which would be his first visit to the country since Russia invaded in February 2022 and would come just weeks after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had expressed unhappiness and disappointment with Modi’s visit to Russia.

While Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine, nations friendly with Russia such as India and China have continued to trade.
KEY QUOTE
“Secretary Blinken underscored the importance of realizing a just and enduring peace for Ukraine consistent with the UN Charter,” the State Department said in a statement on Sunday on the meeting between Blinken and Jaishankar.
Social media posts from both Blinken and Jaishankar on Sunday mentioned their meeting but did not specifically mention Ukraine.

CONTEXT
India has refrained from directly criticizing Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, while urging the two nations to resolve their conflict through dialogue and diplomacy. New Delhi has resisted pressure from the West to distance itself from Moscow since the invasion, citing its longstanding ties with Russia and its economic needs.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-discusses-with-india-need-peace-ukraine-amid-reported-modi-visit-plan-2024-07-28/

Kamala Harris’s election campaign said on Sunday it has raised $200 million and signed up 170,000 new volunteers in the week since she became the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, as Republicans continued to hammer Harris over her work as vice president.
President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday last week and endorsed Harris for the Nov. 5 vote against Republican former President Donald Trump.

Trump’s campaign said in early July that it raised $331 million in the second quarter, topping the $264 million that Biden’s campaign and its Democratic allies raised in the same period. Trump’s campaign had $284.9 million in cash on hand at the end of June while the Democratic campaign had $240 million in cash on hand at the time.
Harris has secured support from a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, likely ensuring she will become the party’s nominee for president next month.

“So our vice president is the presumptive nominee. We will have the official vote on August 1,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison told MSNBC on Sunday.
Biden withdrew from the race amid questions about his age and health following a faltering debate performance against Trump in late June. Biden pledged to remain in office as president until his term ends on Jan. 20, 2025.
Harris’ takeover has reenergized a campaign that had faltered badly amid Democrats’ doubts about Biden’s chances of defeating Trump or his ability to continue to govern had he won.

Polls showed that Trump had built a lead over Biden, including in battleground states, after Biden’s disastrous debate performance, but Harris’s entry to the race has changed the dynamic.

A New York Times/Siena College national poll published Thursday found Harris has narrowed what had been a sizable Trump lead while Trump had a two percentage point lead over her in a Wall Street Journal poll published on Friday. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on July 23 showed a two point lead for Harris.

Republican attacks on Harris, the first woman and first Black and South Asian person to serve as U.S. vice president, have intensified in the days since she became the Democrats’ likely presidential nominee.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who vied unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination before endorsing Trump, told Fox News that Harris was “incredibly vapid” and predicted Democrats would issue “a blizzard of lies” to distance Harris from the Biden administration’s policies on immigration and other issues.

“They have to whitewash Harris’s background to be able to make her palpable to the American people,” he said.

Some Trump allies, including some members of the “Black Americans for Trump” coalition, warn that disparaging Harris could hurt the former president in his outreach to Black voters, a crucial demographic in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Harris’s campaign had no immediate response to the DeSantis comments.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/kamala-harris-campaign-raises-200-million-one-week-2024-07-28/

A rocket attack on a football ground in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed 12 people including children on Saturday, Israeli authorities said, blaming Hezbollah and vowing to inflict a heavy price on the Iran-backed Lebanese group.
Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the strike, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since the start of the conflict in Gaza.
The attack sharply escalated tensions in the hostilities which have been fought in parallel to the Gaza war and has raised fears of a full-blown conflict between the heavily armed adversaries.

In a written statement, Hezbollah said: “The Islamic Resistance has absolutely nothing to do with the incident, and categorically denies all false allegations in this regard”.

Hezbollah had earlier announced several rocket attacks targeting Israeli military positions.

The Israeli ambulance service said 13 more people were wounded by the rocket that hit the soccer pitch which was filled at the time with children and teenagers.

“They were playing soccer, they heard sirens they ran to shelter.. it may take them like 15 seconds (to reach the shelter). But they couldn’t reach the shelter because the rocket hit the site between the ground and the shelter,” said Mourhaf Abu Saleh, a witness.
Footage posted on social media showed the moment the rocket hit. An air raid siren can be heard, followed by a big explosion and images of smoke rising. Reuters was able to independently verify the location with the buildings and road layout that matched the satellite imagery of the area.
Idan Avshalom, a medic with the Magen David Adom ambulance service, said first responders arrived to a scene of great destruction. “There were casualties on the grass and the scene was gruesome,” he said.
Netanyahu, already due to head back from the United States to Israel overnight on Saturday, said he would bring his flight forward and convene his security cabinet upon arrival.
The United States, which has been leading diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating the conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border, condemned it as a horrific attack and said U.S. support for Israel’s security was “iron-clad and unwavering against all Iranian backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah”.
The United States “will continue to support efforts to end these terrible attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority,” the spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in a statement. The Blue Line refers to the frontier between Lebanon and Israel.
IRANIAN MISSILE
The Israeli military said the rocket launch was carried out from an area located north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon.

Speaking with reporters at Majdal Shams, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that forensics showed the rocket was an Iranian-made Falaq-1.
Hezbollah had earlier announced firing a Falaq-1 missile on Saturday, saying it had targeted an Israeli military headquarters.
In a televised statement, Hagari also said that for now there was no change in Home Front Command instructions, indicating the army was not expecting imminent escalation across Israel.
Netanyahu’s far-right coalition ally, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, called for tough retaliation, including against Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
“For the death of children, Nasrallah should pay with his head. All of Lebanon should pay,” Smotrich posted on X.
The conflict has forced tens of thousands of people in both Lebanon and Israel to leave their homes. Israeli strikes have killed some 350 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and more than 100 civilians, including medics, children and journalists.
The Israeli military said after Saturday’s attack the death toll among civilians killed in Hezbollah attacks had risen to 23 since October, along with at least 17 soldiers.
Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the UNIFIL peacekeeping force which operates in southern Lebanon, told Reuters its force commander was in contact with authorities in both Lebanon and Israel “to understand the details of the Majdal Shams incident and to maintain calm”.
A senior diplomat focused on Lebanon said all efforts were now needed to avoid an all-out war.
ATTACKS FROM LEBANON
Hezbollah is the most powerful of a network of Iran-backed groups across the Middle East that have entered the fray in support of their Palestinian ally Hamas since October.
Iraqi groups and the Houthis of Yemen have both fired at Israel. Hamas has also carried out rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanon, as has the Lebanese Sunni group, the Jama’a Islamiya.
More than 40,000 people live on the Israeli-occupied Golan, more than half of them Druze residents. The Druze are an Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/nine-people-killed-rocket-hits-football-pitch-israeli-occupied-golan-israel-2024-07-27/

Donald Trump has told a rally in Florida that if they voted for him at the upcoming election in November, they wouldn’t have to vote again in four years’ time.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has told a crowd of Christians they won’t have to vote again if they vote for him in November, saying “we’ll have it fixed so good”.

The former president, who faces federal and state prosecution for his alleged attempts to overturn the US election result in 2020, was attending an event organised by conservative group Turning Point Action in West Palm Beach, Florida, when he made the perplexing remarks.

“Christians, get out and vote, just this time,” he said.

“You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians.”

He added: “I love you Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote.

“In four years, you don’t have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.”

US presidents are only allowed to stay in power for eight years in total. As Mr Trump has already served one term, he would only have four years left in the White House if he was re-elected in the 5 November vote.

It was not clear what Mr Trump meant by his comments in an election campaign where his Democratic opponents accuse him of being a threat to democracy and after his alleged attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat to US President Joe Biden.

Asked for clarification, Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, told Sky’s partner network NBC: “President Trump was talking about the importance of faith, uniting this country and bringing prosperity to every American, as opposed to the divisive political environment that has sowed so much division and even resulted in an assassination attempt.”

The race for the top job in the White House has suddenly narrowed since President Biden decided to drop his quest for re-election and vice president Kamala Harris became the likely Democratic nominee.

Recent opinion polls show Mr Trump’s significant lead over Mr Biden – who eventually quit the race amid widespread concerns over his health and age – has been largely erased since the torch was passed to Ms Harris.

During his speech in West Palm Beach, the former Republican leader attacked Ms Harris, calling her a “bum” and a “failed vice president” over what he said was her poor management of the southern border.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/trump-tells-christians-they-wont-have-to-vote-again-after-election-and-calls-harris-a-bum-13186076

North Korean hackers have conducted a global cyber espionage campaign in efforts to steal classified military secrets to support Pyongyang’s banned nuclear weapons programme, the United States, Britain and South Korea said in a joint advisory on Thursday.
The hackers, dubbed Anadriel or APT45 by cybersecurity researchers, are believed to be part of North Korea’s intelligence agency known as the Reconnaissance General Bureau, an entity sanctioned by the U.S. in 2015.

Rescue officials in Taiwan are searching for a cargo ship with nine crew members that has sunk off its southern coast.
The Tanzania-flagged freighter had been off the southern port city of Kaohsiung when Taiwan was struck by Typhoon Gaemi.
The storm has also brought relentless rain to the Philippines, where a tanker carrying close to 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel has capsized.
Sixteen crew members of the Philippine-flagged MT Terra Nova have been rescued while one remains missing, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.

Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall on Taiwan’s east coast on Wednesday, has killed three people and injured hundreds more on the island, officials said.
Before hitting Taiwan, Gaemi exacerbated rainy conditions in the Philippines, where eight people have died. It is expected to make a second landfall in mainland China after passing through Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Coastguard Administration said Fu Shun, the freighter that capsized off its coast, had nine Myanmar nationals on board.
They added that three other foreign vessels had run aground during the typhoon, but were safe.
In the Philippines, the tanker that had capsized in Manila Bay, was heading for the central city of Iloilo when it sank. It left an oil spill stretching several kilometres, authorities said.
Officials added that strong winds and high waves were hampering their response.
The MT Terra Nova “capsized and eventually submerged,” the Philippines coast guard said in a report, adding they were investigating whether bad weather was a factor.

The 81-year-old addressed the nation for the first time since announcing on Sunday that he would be dropping out of the presidential race amid growing concerns about his age and fitness.

Joe Biden has said he couldn’t let his “personal ambition” stand in the way of “saving our democracy” in a live address to the nation from the Oval office -his first speech since announcing his decision to drop out of the presidential race.

The 81-year-old president, who on Sunday abandoned his bid for a second term in the White House amid widespread concerns over his fitness, said it has been “the honour of my life to serve you as president”.

But the Democratic leader, who will be staying in power until the next president takes over in January, said: “The defence of democracy, which is at stake, is more important than any title.

“I draw strength, and find joy, in working for the American people. But this sacred task of perfecting our Union is not about me. It’s about you. Your families. Your futures. It’s about ‘We the People’.”

Mr Biden ended his bid to be re-elected as pressure mounted on him to step aside following a series of gaffes – including mistakenly referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Vladimir Putin.

He also performed disastrously in the first election debate against Republican nominee Donald Trump, leading to Democrats calling his performance a “slow motion car crash”.

“Nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy, that includes personal ambition,” Mr Biden said in his address.

“I have decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That is the best way to unite our nation,” adding the time for “younger voices” had arrived.

Mr Biden said leaving the race was “in the best interest of my party and the country”.

Mr Biden thanked his “great” Vice-President Kamala Harris, whom he endorsed on Sunday as Democratic nominee.

“She’s experienced. She’s tough. She’s capable. She’s been an incredible partner to me, and a leader for our country,” he said.

Mr Biden’s term in office ends at noon on 20 January 2025, but some have called for him to resign immediately.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/joe-biden-speaks-for-first-time-since-quitting-presidential-race-says-personal-ambition-couldnt-prevent-saving-our-democracy-13184541

Pregnant women and young children are said to be among the dead after a second landslide buried people trying to help others engulfed by the first. It’s not clear how many are missing.

At least 229 people have been killed after two landslides in as many days in Ethiopia, with young children and pregnant women reported to be among the dead, a government official has said.

Some were killed as they tried to rescue people, local authorities said, in what the prime minister called a “terrible loss.”

The first landslide followed heavy rain on Sunday, before a second buried others who had gathered to help on Monday – when the number of dead stood at 50 people.

“I don’t know when it will stop. We are still recovering bodies,” said Markos Melese, director of the disaster response agency in Gofa Zone.

“There are children who are hugging corpses, having lost their entire family, including mother, father, brother and sister.”

Dagmawi Ayele, a local administrator, said at least five people have been pulled out alive and pregnant women were killed with young children.

Footage shared by the local authorities showed people digging up bodies with shovels and bare hands.

Some women wailed as rescuers attempted to dig through the thick mud.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he was deeply saddened by the “terrible loss” and federal officials had been deployed.

The number of people missing is not clear.

The head of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is Ethiopian, said he was thinking of all the families affected and a WHO team has been dispatched.

Landslides are common during Ethiopia’s rainy season, which started in July and is expected to last until mid-September.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/at-least-229-dead-after-landslides-in-ethiopia-as-people-killed-while-trying-to-save-those-buried-under-mud-13183949

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after the agency came under harsh scrutiny for its failure to stop a would-be assassin from wounding former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally, the White House said on Tuesday.
The Secret Service, which is responsible for the protection of current and former U.S. presidents, faces a crisis after a gunman was able to fire on Trump from a roof overlooking the outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.

The Secret Service faces investigations from multiple congressional committees and the internal watchdog of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, its parent organization, over its performance. Biden, who has ended his reelection campaign, has also called for an independent review.
Cheatle faced bipartisan condemnation when she appeared before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee on Monday, declining to answer questions from frustrated lawmakers about the security plan for the rally and how law enforcement responded to the suspicious behavior of the gunman.

Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers had called on her to resign. NBC News was first to report that Cheatle would leave her post.

Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was grazed in the right ear and one rallygoer was killed in the gunfire. The gunman, identified as a 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.

Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers had called on her to resign. NBC News was first to report that Cheatle would leave her post.
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was grazed in the right ear and one rallygoer was killed in the gunfire. The gunman, identified as a 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.

“While Director Cheatle’s resignation is a step toward accountability, we need a full review of how these security failures happened so that we can prevent them going forward,” James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement. “We will continue our oversight of the Secret Service.”
Cheatle, who has led the agency since 2022, told lawmakers she took responsibility for the shooting, calling it the largest failure by the Secret Service since then-President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
House leaders said on Tuesday they planned to form a bipartisan task force to probe the shooting.
Much of the criticism has focused on the failure to secure the roof of an industrial building where the gunman was perched about 150 yards (140 m) from the stage where Trump was speaking.
The rooftop was declared outside the Secret Service security perimeter for the event, a decision criticized by former agents and lawmakers.
Cheatle held a top security role at PepsiCo when Biden named her Secret Service director in 2022. She previously served 27 years in the agency.
She took over following a series of scandals involving the Secret Service that scarred the reputation of an elite and insular agency.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-secret-service-chief-resigns-following-trump-assassination-attempt-media-2024-07-23/

Vice President Kamala Harris opened up a marginal two-percentage-point lead over Republican Donald Trump after President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign and passed the torch to her, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

That compares with a marginal two-point deficit Biden faced against Trump in last week’s poll before his Sunday exit from the race.

The new poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, followed both the Republican National Convention where Trump on Thursday formally accepted the nomination and Biden’s announcement on Sunday he was leaving the race and endorsing Harris.

Harris, whose campaign says she has secured the Democratic nomination, led Trump 44% to 42% in the national poll, a difference within the 3-percentage-point margin of error.

Harris and Trump were tied at 44% in a July 15-16 poll, and Trump led by one percentage point in a July 1-2 poll, both within the same margin of error.

While nationwide surveys give important signals of American support for political candidates, a handful of competitive states typically tilt the balance in the U.S. Electoral College, which ultimately decides who wins a presidential election.

A pollster with Trump’s campaign played down any polling showing an increase in Harris’ support, arguing that she was likely to see a temporary rise in popularity because of widespread media coverage of her new candidacy.

“That bump is likely to start showing itself over the next few days and will last for a while,” pollster Tony Fabrizio said in a memo circulated to reporters by Trump’s campaign.

Candidates often expect a bump after formally accepting their party’s nomination at stage-managed, televised conventions such as the one that Trump had last week. But the poll showed no sign of that.

Bump or not, the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll underscored the rationale for Biden dropping out of the race and for Harris replacing him on the ticket.

HARRIS SEEN AS SHARPER THAN BIDEN, TRUMP

Some 56% of registered voters agreed with a statement that Harris, 59, was “mentally sharp and able to deal with challenges,” compared to 49% who said the same of Trump, 78.

Only 22% of voters assessed Biden that way.

Biden, 81, ended his reelection effort after a debate with Trump in which he often stammered and failed to aggressively challenge attacks by Trump that included falsehoods.

Some 80% of Democratic voters said they viewed Biden favorably, compared to 91% who said the same of Harris. Three quarters of Democratic voters said they agreed with a statement that the party and voters should get behind Harris now, with only a quarter saying multiple candidates should compete for the party’s nomination.

When voters in the survey were shown a hypothetical ballot that included independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Harris led Trump 42% to 38%, an advantage outside the margin of error. Kennedy, favored by 8% of voters in the poll, has yet to qualify for the ballot in many states ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

Harris campaigned in the critical battleground state of Wisconsin on Tuesday. She won support from major party figures and attention has since turned to who she will pick as her running mate.

Many respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they knew nothing about the Democrats seen as potential picks to join Harris’ ticket.

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-harris-leads-trump-44-173532389.html

Joe Biden has made his first public comments since he announced on Sunday he would be quitting the 2024 White House race and endorsing his vice president.

Vice President Kamala Harris has secured enough delegates to earn the Democratic Party’s nomination as presidential candidate.

In a statement she said: “Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee, and as a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state’s delegation helped put our campaign over the top. I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon.

“I am grateful to President Biden and everyone in the Democratic Party who has already put their faith in me, and I look forward to taking our case directly to the American people.”

According to an Associated Press tally, Ms Harris had 2,214 delegates, well beyond the simple majority needed to clinch the nomination on the first ballot.

The survey is unofficial, as Democratic delegates are free to vote for the candidate of their choice and she will not be the official candidate until what is known as the roll call is completed, whether virtually or in person at the Democratic Party Convention from 19 August in Chicago.

It follows a ringing endorsement from Joe Biden who vowed he is “going to be working like hell” in his final months as US president to campaign for Ms Harris to be his successor.

He was speaking in a phone call to staff at the campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, in his first public comments since he announced at the weekend he would be quitting the 2024 White House race and endorsing his vice president.

Ms Harris also addressed the workers in Delaware, where she hit out at Republican Donald Trump.

The vice president, 59, is the only declared Democratic candidate so far to be the party’s nominee ahead of November’s election against 78-year-old Mr Trump.

Mr Biden will return to the White House later today from his home in Delaware where he has been recovering from COVID.

The 81-year-old leader said on Sunday he was no longer standing for re-election after weeks of pressure from within his own party amid concerns about his health and fitness to serve another four years in office.

Mr Biden told supporters on Monday: “I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to be out there on the campaign with her, with Kamala. I’m going to be working like hell. Both as a sitting president, getting legislation passed, as well as campaigning.”

Mr Biden added that even though “I won’t be on the ticket… I’m still going to be fully, fully engaged”.

“I’ve got six months left of my presidency, I’m determined to get as much done as I possibly can. Both foreign policy and domestic policy.”

On supporting Ms Harris, he said: “I’ll be doing whatever Kamala wants me or needs me to do… We’re still fighting in this fight together.”

He hit out at Mr Trump, saying he was “still a danger to the communities, a danger to the nation”.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/joe-biden-vows-to-work-like-hell-for-harris-as-vice-president-hits-out-at-trump-in-speech-13183365

Bangladesh’s top court has scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs that had sparked violent clashes across the country that have killed more than 100 people.
A third of public sector jobs had been reserved for the relatives of veterans from the country’s war for independence from Pakistan in 1971.
But now the court has ruled just 5% of the roles can be reserved for veterans’ relatives.
Law Minister Anisul Huq said the government would implement the ruling within days. Some student leaders have vowed to continue protesting.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Huq also denied that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina – who has been in power since 2009 – was losing her grip on Bangladesh.
“In that case you would have seen the mass population of the country to revolt. They have actually supported the government in this turmoil and they have said yes, the government should act to bring the violence to an end,” he said.
He blamed opposition forces for joining the protests and destroying “the symbols of Bangladesh’s development”.
Several protest movement coordinators have told the BBC that action would continue until the government took action.
“We applaud the court’s verdict,” said one coordinator, Nusrat Tabassum. “But our main demand is with the executive department. Until those demands are implemented, the ongoing nationwide complete shutdown program will continue.”
The students’ demands also include justice for protesters killed in recent days, the release of detained protest leaders, the restoration of internet services and resignations of government ministers.
Streets in the capital Dhaka are deserted as a second day of curfew is in force, but sporadic clashes continued even after the supreme court ruling.
About 115 people are known to have died but local media report a much higher casualty figure. At least 50 people were killed on Friday alone.
The Supreme Court ruling orders that 93% of public sector jobs should be recruited on merit, leaving 5% for the family members of the veterans of the country’s independence war.
A remaining 2% is reserved for people from ethnic minorities or with disabilities.
Scrapped in 2018 by Ms Hasina’s government, the quota system was reinstated by a lower court last month, sparking the protests.

The government responded with a harsh crackdown, including a curfew and a communications blackout.
Protest coordinators say police and the student wing of the governing Awami League – known as the Bangladesh Chhatra League – have been using brutal force against peaceful demonstrators. The government denies this.
Many people have been detained by the authorities.
Nahid Islam, a coordinators of the quota reform movement, alleged that he had been subjected to physical and mental torture.
He told the BBC he had been picked up by people who said they were detectives, handcuffed and transferred to a private car.
“After some time I was taken out of the car and taken to a room in a house. I was interrogated and subsequently subjected to torture. At one point I fainted. After that I have no memory,” Mr Islam said.
He says he regained consciousness on the street in an area of Dhaka in the early hours of Sunday morning. “I still have blood clots on both shoulders and left leg,” he said.
The police have not commented.

Kamala Harris could replace Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate if she gets enough support. So who is backing the vice president?

Former president Barack Obama has stopped short of endorsing Kamala Harris to replace Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.

Instead of backing the vice president, he said in a statement: “I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”

So who is supporting Kamala Harris?

After he stepped aside, Mr Biden backed Ms Harris to replace him, saying: “I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump.”

In response, Ms Harris said: “I am honoured to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.”

Soon after, former President Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton joined Mr Biden in throwing their support behind her, saying this was the best way to stop Donald Trump from re-entering the White House for a second term as president.

“We’ve lived through many ups and downs, but nothing has made us more worried for our country than the threat posed by a second Trump term,” their statement read.

“Now is the time to support Kamala Harris and fight with everything we’ve got to elect.”

Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor who was seen as a potential presidential candidate, endorsed Ms Harris on Sunday evening.

“The best path forward for the Democratic Party is to quickly unite behind Vice President Harris and refocus on winning the presidency,” he said in a statement on X.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also issued a statement backing Harris’ bid, saying he would “do all that I can” to help elect Ms Harris as the next president.

Long-term friend of Ms Harris, senator Chris Coons, is also backing the vice president and the Biden for President campaign has officially changed its name to “Harris for President” with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

A notification from the campaign said Ms Harris will be issuing new FEC filings soon.

“This letter is to inform you that Vice President Harris is no longer a candidate in the 2024 election for Vice President. Vice President Harris is now a candidate for United States President in the 2024 election,” the notice to the FEC said.

Adam Schiff, the Californian Democrat running for Senate, endorsed Ms Harris, saying she has the “judgment, experience, leadership, and tenacity to take on and defeat Donald Trump”.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/as-obama-stops-short-of-backing-kamala-harris-whos-throwing-their-weight-behind-vice-president-13183018

Joe Biden has pulled out of the presidential race, saying it is “in the best interest of my party and the country”. It comes after months of speculation about his age and fitness to serve another four years – amid a series of high-profile gaffes and a disastrous debate performance.

Joe Biden has withdrawn from the 2024 presidential race.

In a development that sends the contest into uncharted territory, the US president announced he will no longer be seeking a second term.

He has thrown his support behind Kamala Harris, urging Democrats to donate to her campaign as he pulled out.

In a letter addressed to “my fellow Americans”, Mr Biden said it had been the “greatest honour of my life to serve as your president”.

“While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term,” he said.

He endorsed Ms Harris as the Democratic nominee and, referring to his Republican rival, he added: “Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump.”

Mr Biden made the announcement in a statement posted on X, in which he said he would address the nation later this week to provide “detail” about his decision.

“For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me re-elected,” he said.

“I want to thank vice president Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me.

“I believe today what I always have: that there is nothing America can’t do – when we do it together. We just have to remember we are the United States of America.”

First Lady Jill Biden, whose loyalty to her husband has been unswerving, responded by sharing his statement on X with a simple heart emoji.

Ms Harris, who many are touting as the frontrunner to replace Mr Biden, said she was “honoured” to have the president’s endorsement, adding “my intention is to earn and win this nomination”.

She thanked Mr Biden for his “extraordinary leadership” and for making a “selfless and patriotic act” by stepping aside.

She said: “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party – and unite our nation – to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.

“We have 107 days until Election Day. Together, we will fight. And together, we will win.”

Mr Biden plans to serve out the remainder of his term in office, which ends at noon on 20 January 2025.

But questions are already being asked about whether he should stand down from the presidency as well as withdrawing from the re-election race.

The Republican House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson has called on him to resign, saying “if Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president”.

A sudden decision after long speculation

The seismic development comes after months of speculation about Mr Biden’s age and fitness to serve another four years – amid a series of high-profile gaffes and a disastrous debate performance.

Democrats described his debate with Mr Trump as an “unmitigated disaster” and “a slow motion car crash” after he appeared incoherent, stumbling over his words and freezing.

Mr Biden, 81, had previously insisted he was best placed to defeat Mr Trump in the upcoming election but had faced calls from within his own party to step aside.

As of Saturday night he had planned to stay in the race, but told senior staff on Sunday afternoon he was withdrawing, a source familiar with the matter said.

The decision caught many White House staff off guard, with several expressing shock the president made the announcement while recovering from COVID at his Delaware home.

Mr Biden spent the 48 hours before the announcement digesting large amounts of data and polls that showed his path to victory was largely out of reach, two sources told Reuters.

He spoke with Ms Harris several times on Sunday ahead of the announcement, according to a source familiar with the conversation.

He agonised over the decision – but once he made up his mind, he moved quickly, a senior White House official said.

He broke the news to his senior team at 1.45pm on Sunday, the sources said – and his bombshell announcement on social media came just one minute later.

A source close to the president recently admitted “we’re close to the end” after Barack Obama, the former president who picked Mr Biden as his vice president during his two terms in office, reportedly shared his concerns about his ally’s re-election bid.

Trump responds to rival pulling out

Donald Trump has reacted to the news, telling Sky News’ US partner NBC News Mr Biden “should never have been” in the race.

“Joe Biden is the worst president in the history of the United States by far,” he said.

“There has never been a president who has done such damage to our country. From energy independence to letting in millions and millions of illegal immigrants.”

Mr Trump said Ms Harris will be easier to defeat in the race for the White House than Mr Biden.

In a phone call with CNN minutes after Mr Biden’s announcement, Mr Trump said he did not know who he would face, but suggested the vice president would not pose him a bigger problem than the sitting president.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said: “Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve – And never was!”

Mr Trump claimed Mr Biden “attained” the job as president “by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement”.

Biden endorses Kamala Harris

Attention will now turn to who will succeed him, with the selection likely to happen at the Democratic National Convention in August.

Shortly after announcing he was pulling out, Mr Biden backed his vice president Ms Harris to take his place as the Democratic Party’s nominee for the presidential election.

He thanked her for being “an extraordinary partner” before backing her to take the party’s nomination.

In a statement on X, he said: “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.”

She appears to be the natural successor, in large part because she is the only candidate who can directly tap into the Biden campaign’s war chest, according to federal campaign finance rules.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/joe-biden-pulls-out-of-2024-us-presidential-race-13178802

Police imposed a strict curfew with a “shoot-on-sight” order across Bangladesh after 133 people were killed in nationwide civil unrest. The deadly clashes between police and university students were sparked by the future of civil service hiring rules, on which the country’s top court is due to rule on Sunday (July 21).

Soldiers patrolled parts of Dhaka on Saturday (July 20) after the protests snowballed into some of the worst in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s tenure. Not only students, but other citizens have also joined in demanding the resignation of the government.

The military has now taken over after riot police failed to quell the unrest, which started as being against politicised admission quotas for sought-after government jobs. Bangladesh has also been under an internet blackout since July 18, drastically restricting the flow of information to the outside world.

The reason behind the unrest, the civil service jobs allocation system reserves more than half of the posts for specific groups, including children of veterans from the country’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan. Critics have time and again pointed out that these quotas benefit those loyal to Hasina, who has ruled the country since 2009.

The 76-year-old leader won her fourth consecutive term in January after a vote without genuine opposition. Her government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to become more powerful and stamp out dissent, including by the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

The quota system reserves up to 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in the 1971 war. It is a source of resentment among the youth, who are facing an acute job crisis in a country unable to provide adequate employment opportunities to its population of 170 million. The demonstrations — called for mainly by student groups — started weeks ago.

In 2018, the government halted the quotas following mass student protests. But, in June, Bangladesh’s High Court nullified that decision and reinstated the system after relatives of 1971 veterans filed petitions. The Supreme Court suspended the ruling, pending an appeal hearing.

• The Supreme Court is meeting later in the day to issue a verdict on whether to abolish the contentious job quotas. Hasina, whose government has been accused of bending the judiciary to its will, has hinted that the scheme will be scrapped. But, amid the severe crackdown and rising death toll, a favourable verdict is unlikely to mollify public anger. “It’s not about the rights of the students anymore,” business owner Hasibul Sheikh told AFP. “Our demand is one point now, and that’s the resignation of the government.”
• Hasina inflamed tensions this month by likening protesters to the Bangladeshis who had collaborated with Pakistan during the country’s independence war. She was due to leave the country on Sunday (July 21) for a diplomatic tour to Spain and Brazil but cancelled her plans.
• The US has recommended that its citizens do not travel to Bangladesh and allowed the voluntary departure of its non-emergency government employees and family members. This comes a day after it issued a new travel advisory, urging Americans to reconsider their travel to the strife-torn country. The US Department of State raised the Travel Advisory Level for Bangladesh to Level 4 — ‘Do Not Travel’.
• Officials said the curfew was to quell further violence after police and protesters clashed in the streets and at university campuses in Dhaka and other cities. It began at midnight on Saturday (July 20) and was relaxed from noon to 2 pm for people to run essential errands. It is expected to end on Sunday. It allows officers to fire on mobs in extreme cases, said lawmaker Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League party.
• July 19 was likely to be the deadliest day so far; Somoy TV reported 43 killed, while an Associated Press reporter saw 23 bodies at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, but it was not immediately clear whether they all died on that day. On July 18, 22 others were reported dead as protesting students attempted to “completely shut down” the country. Bangladeshi authorities have not shared any official numbers of those killed and injured.

Source: https://www.news18.com/world/bangladesh-civil-unrest-strict-curfew-with-shoot-on-sight-order-imposed-as-133-die-in-deadly-clashes-top-points-8973177.html

As pressure mounts on Joe Biden to step aside, his party is now divided on who should replace him. Meanwhile, vice president Kamala Harris tells supporters the Democrats would “win this election”, as Donald Trump tells a rally he “took a bullet for democracy”.

As Joe Biden faces more calls to step down as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, division is growing in the party about who should replace him should he go.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, who previously ran against Mr Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, has said vice president Kamala Harris is “ready” if he bows out.

“What gives me a lot of hope right now is that, if President Biden decides to step back, we have vice president Kamala Harris who is ready to step up to unite the party, to take on Donald Trump and to win in November,” she told MSNBC.

Thirty-six Democrats are now calling for the president to step aside, although Ms Harris tweeted her support on Saturday.

If chosen to replace him, Ms Harris would be the party’s first black woman and first person of South Asian descent to be the presidential nominee but not everyone is behind her.

Officials from the highest ranks, including former speaker Nancy Pelosi, prefer an open process to choose a replacement, believing it would strengthen a Democratic nominee when they confronted Republican Donald Trump.

New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez told her Instagram followers on Friday: “If you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave… that they will support Kamala, vice president Harris, you would be mistaken.

“A lot of them are not just interested in removing the president. They are interested in removing the whole ticket.”

The vice president hit the campaign trail on Saturday, as Mr Biden was recovering from COVID in isolation.

She did not refer to the turmoil that has surrounded Mr Biden’s candidacy, instead focusing on positive messaging for her sold-out crowd in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

“We are going to win this election,” Ms Harris said.

“It’s not going to be easy, but we are a group of people that understand anything worthwhile takes hard work.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/democrats-split-over-who-should-replace-biden-if-he-quits-while-trump-says-he-took-a-bullet-for-democracy-13182145

As Lara Trump strode on to centre stage at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night, it was a moment that symbolised a change of guard in the Trump family that has taken place since his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
Wearing a black dress and a shimmering USA flag brooch, she used the primetime spotlight to sell voters on her father-in-law’s softer edges, focusing on his role as a grandfather to her two young children.
And the party faithful roared as she raised a fist and spoke about a gunman’s attempt on his life on Saturday, mirroring Trump’s actions on the rally stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, after a bullet narrowly missed his head.
“Maybe you got to see a side of Donald Trump on Saturday that you were not sure existed, until you saw it with your own eyes,” she told the crowd.
Ms Trump, 41 and now the co-chair of the Republican Party, was hand-picked by her father-in-law for that role as he runs for another White House term and stands atop a party apparatus firmly under his grip.
Ms Trump, her husband Eric and his older brother Don Jr have emerged as the family’s leading voices in Donald Trump’s campaign against US President Joe Biden, and they are some of the most influential figures in his political orbit.

Authorities had cut some mobile services on Thursday to try to quell the unrest but the disruption spread across the country on Friday morning.

New Delhi: Telecommunications were widely disrupted in Bangladesh on Friday amid violent student protests against quotas for government jobs in which nearly two dozen people have been killed this week.

French news agency AFP reported that the death toll in Thursday’s violence had risen to 32. Reuters had reported that 13 people were killed, adding to six dead earlier in the week, and could not immediately verify the higher number.

Authorities had cut some mobile services on Thursday to try to quell the unrest but the disruption spread across the country on Friday morning, Reuters witnesses in Dhaka and New Delhi said.

Telephone calls from overseas were mostly not getting connected and calls through the internet could not be completed.

Web sites of several Bangladesh-based newspapers were not updating on Friday morning and their social media handles were also not active.

Source: https://www.deccanherald.com/world/communications-widely-disrupted-in-bangladesh-as-student-protests-spike-3111881

Nearly a quarter of Japanese companies have adopted artificial intelligence (AI) in their businesses, while more than 40% have no plan to make use of the cutting-edge technology, a Reuters survey showed on Thursday.
The survey, conducted for Reuters by Nikkei Research, pitched a range of questions to 506 companies over July 3-12 with roughly 250 firms responding, on condition of anonymity.
About 24% of respondents said they have already introduced AI in their businesses and 35% are planning to do so, while the remaining 41% have no such plans, illustrating varying degrees of embracing the technological innovation in corporate Japan.

The search and rescue efforts were conducted under challenging weather conditions, with rough seas and strong winds hampering the operation.

The MV Prestige Falcon, which had a total of 16 crew members onboard (13 Indians and 3 Sri Lankans), capsized on the morning of July 16, 2024. The Indian Navy, in coordination with Omani authorities, promptly initiated SAR operations to locate and rescue the remaining crew members.

The ongoing search and rescue efforts are being conducted under challenging weather conditions, with rough seas and strong winds hampering the operation. Alongside INS Teg, the Indian Navy’s Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft P8I is also aiding in the search for survivors.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/india/indian-navy-rescues-nine-crew-members-from-capsized-tanker-near-oman-article-111814905

U.S. President Joe Biden, under pressure from fellow Democrats to drop his re-election campaign, tested positive for COVID-19 while visiting Las Vegas on Wednesday and is self-isolating after experiencing mild symptoms, the White House said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the positive test for the 81-year-old Democrat after Biden cancelled a speech due to the diagnosis.
“He is vaccinated and boosted and experiencing mild symptoms, Jean-Pierre said.

Minutes after the announcement, the president’s motorcade was on the move to the Las Vegas airport after taping a radio interview in the city.

Biden had greeted a couple of dozen people at a Mexican restaurant prior to going into the radio interview. He was running late to deliver a speech to Latino civil rights group UnidosUS when the organizer, Janet Murguia, announced he had tested positive for COVID.

There were groans in the conference room at the news.
“He said to tell my folks that we’re not going to get rid of him that quickly, we’re going to have a chance to hear from him in the future directly,” Murguia said.
Biden, who had spent two nights in Vegas on the campaign trail, is locked in a battle with some fellow Democrats who worry he is too old to seek re-election and want him to step aside in favor of another candidate.

He has been defiant in the face of the calls to quit the race, telling one interviewer that only the “Lord Almighty” could persuade him to go.
“He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” said Jean-Pierre.
Biden suffered a blow earlier on Wednesday when a prominent Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Adam Schiff of California, said it was time for him to “pass the torch” to someone else.
Some 40% of Democratic registered voters said Biden should drop his reelection bid, in a Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded on Tuesday. Some 65% of independent registered voters agreed with them.
Some 58% of Democratic registered voters told the poll they believed Biden is too old to work in government – 70% of independent registered voters agreed.
The White House cited Biden’s doctor as saying he had been suffering from upper respiratory symptoms earlier in the afternoon.
“He felt OK for his first event of the day, but given that he was not feeling better, point of care testing for COVID-19 was conducted and the results were positive for the COVID-19 virus,” the statement said.
The White House said Biden will be self-isolating in accordance with Centers for Disease Control guidelines.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-tests-positive-covid-19-unidosus-president-says-2024-07-17/

They were discovered in a room that had been locked from the inside, while a seventh person remains unaccounted for.

Six people have been found dead in a luxury Bangkok hotel after a suspected deliberate poisoning.

The three men and three women – four Vietnamese nationals and two Vietnamese Americans – were in a room locked from the inside.

There were no signs of a struggle and it’s not being treated as a robbery.

Police chief Thiti Sangsawang said room service food was untouched but drinks had been consumed – with “unidentified substances” in the bottom of all six cups.

Four of the bodies were in the living room and two in the bedroom, he added.

They were found by a maid after one failed to check out.

The case is being treated as a likely murder rather than suicide, said Mr Sangsawang.

He said all the victims arrived at the Grand Hyatt Erwan Hotel on 13 and 14 July and were staying in five different rooms.

It’s believed they could be related as their surnames are similar.

“We are tracing every step since they got off the plane,” Mr Sangsawang told reporters.

However, one person appears to be unaccounted for as the rooms were initially booked for seven people.

Police are trying to check if that person entered Thailand.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin visited the scene and told reporters the victims were found at around 4.30pm local time on Tuesday.

He said it was believed they had been dead for about 24 hours.

“From initial dead body inspection, the cause of dead could be from something they consumed,” said Mr Thavisin.

The waiter who delivered the food to the room at around 1pm on Monday is being questioned.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/thailand-six-people-found-dead-at-hotel-in-bangkok-13178740

According to the Maritime Security Centre, the Comoros-flagged oil tanker, named Prestige Falcon, capsized southeast of Ras Madrakah near the port town of Duqm.

After an oil tanker capsized off the coast of Oman on Monday, its 16 crew members, including 13 Indians, went missing, according to the Sultanate’s Maritime Security Centre (MSC) in a release on social media.

The other three crew members were from the neighboring country of Sri Lanka.

According to the MSC, the Comoros-flagged oil tanker, named Prestige Falcon, capsized southeast of Ras Madrakah near the port town of Duqm.

The MSC stated in a post on X that the Comoros-flagged oil tanker capsized 25 nautical miles southeast of Ras Madrakah near the port town of Duqm.

Oman’s maritime security centre informed Reuters that the oil tanker was “submerged and inverted.” However, they did not confirm whether the vessel had stabilized or if oil or oil products were leaking into the sea.

According to LSEG’s shipping data, the vessel is a 117-meter-long oil products tanker built in 2007.

Source: https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/13-indian-3-sri-lankan-crew-members-missing-after-oil-tanker-sinks-off-oman-coast

Donald Trump’s former leading rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, offered full-throated endorsements of his candidacy at the party’s convention on Tuesday, a display of unity three days after Trump survived an assassination attempt.
Haley, who had described Trump as unelectable and unfit for office during her campaign, nevertheless urged her supporters to vote for him over Democratic President Joe Biden “for the sake of our nation.”

“You don’t have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him,” the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor said, after taking the stage to a mixture of cheers and boos. “Take it from me.”
DeSantis, the conservative Florida governor whose campaign sputtered early in the year, received a warm welcome from the crowd as he attacked Biden as too old for the job.
Trump smiled and applauded from his box in the arena, where he sat alongside the running mate whose selection he unveiled on Monday, U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, himself a former fierce Trump critic who has become a staunch supporter.

The show of harmony was intended to contrast with the Democratic Party, which has spent weeks mired in intraparty tensions over whether Biden, 81, should abandon his reelection bid after his halting June 27 debate performance against Trump, 78, raised fresh questions about his age and mental acuity.
Many of the evening’s speeches in Milwaukee – centered on the theme of law and order – were infused with Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, with speakers angrily denouncing Biden’s southern border policies as putting the country’s security at risk.

Kari Lake and Bernie Moreno, who are running in high-profile U.S. Senate races in Arizona and Ohio, respectively, and U.S. senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas all called the flow of migrants an “invasion.”
While border crossings reached record highs during Biden’s tenure, arrests dropped sharply in June after the president implemented a broad asylum ban.
Anne Fundner, a mother whose teenage son died from fentanyl poisoning, said she held Biden and other Democrats responsible for his death. The family of Rachel Morin, a Maryland woman who authorities say was raped and killed by a Salvadoran immigrant who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally several times, blamed Democratic policies as well.
Trump has highlighted Morin’s death on the campaign trail, where he frequently demonizes migrants as violent criminals. Studies show immigrants do not commit crime at a higher rate than native-born Americans.
Trump has vowed to crack down on illegal immigration and pledged to launch the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, including the use of federal troops if necessary.

Trump entered the arena around 8 p.m. local time (0100 GMT on Wednesday) to a raucous ovation, just as he did on Monday in his first public appearance since a gunman tried to assassinate him on Saturday at a Pennsylvania campaign rally. He was more ebullient than the night before, when he seemed emotional and more subdued than usual. A heavily bandaged ear served as a reminder of how narrowly he survived the attempt.
BIDEN IS ‘ALL IN’
Some of the heated attacks contradicted the message of national unity Trump had promised to deliver this week after the shooting.
But Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law and co-chair of the Republican National Committee, closed the night with a shift in tone, saying that Americans should remember “there is more that unites us than divides us.”
In the wake of the shooting, however, voter fears about the deeply polarized state of the nation ahead of the Nov. 5 election only seem to have deepened.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday found that 80% of voters – including similar shares of Republicans and Democrats – agreed “the country is spiraling out of control” in the wake of the shooting.
Authorities were still trying to identify a motive for the shooting. The 20-year-old gunman was killed at the scene by the U.S. Secret Service.
Vance, 39, the author of the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” will deliver the headlining speech on Wednesday. His presence on the ticket is likely to energize core Republican voters, but it is less clear whether he can appeal to more moderate voters, including independents.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll found 29% of U.S. voters, including 52% of Republicans, had a favorable opinion of Vance. By comparison, 42% of registered voters and 81% of Democrats had a favorable view of Biden’s running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-steps-into-republican-convention-spotlight-after-surviving-shooting-2024-07-16/

Donald Trump made a triumphant entrance during the first night of the Republican National Convention on Monday, receiving a raucous ovation from the party faithful two days after a would-be assassin’s bullet grazed his right ear.
Trump walked into the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee with a thick bandage over the ear as the crowd chanted “Fight! Fight! Fight” and pumped their fists, a reference to his reaction in the moments after he was wounded.

The former president mouthed the words “Thank you” and settled into a box with some of his children and U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, Trump’s choice for running mate announced earlier in the day.
Trump is due to formally accept the party’s nomination in a prime-time speech on Thursday and will face Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election.
The four-day convention began less than 48 hours after a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one supporter. The gunman was shot dead and his motive remains unclear.

During Monday’s session, the party gave speaking slots to six everyday Americans who highlighted the impact inflation has had on lower and middle-income families, while Republican leaders assailed the Biden administration as being out of touch.
Senator Tim Scott, who briefly ran against Trump for the nomination, said divine intervention spared Trump’s life.
“Our God still saves,” Scott said. “He still delivers and he still sets free. Because on Saturday the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle, but an American lion got back up on his feet and he roared!”

Vance, 39, was a fierce Trump critic in 2016 but has since become one of the former president’s staunchest defenders, embracing his false claims that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud.
Vance is deeply popular with Trump’s core supporters, but it remains to be seen whether he can broaden the ticket’s appeal. He shares Trump’s aggressive approach to politics, and his conservative statements on issues such as abortion could turn off moderate voters.
Soon after Trump’s afternoon announcement, Vance emerged on the convention floor with his wife Usha, shaking hands with and hugging delegates who swarmed the couple. He is scheduled to address the convention on Wednesday.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AT ISSUE
Biden told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that Vance is “a clone of Trump on the issues,” while other Democrats criticized Vance’s record on reproductive rights.
In an interview on Fox News on Monday night, Vance said he backed Trump’s position that each state should decide for itself whether to permit abortion.
Opinion polls show a close race between Trump, 78, and Biden, 81, though Trump leads in several swing states that are likely to decide the election. Trump has not committed to accepting the results of the election if he loses.
The head of the main fundraising super PAC supporting Trump’s campaign, Taylor Budowich, said on X that MAGA Inc had raised more than $50 million on Monday.
Billionaire Elon Musk is planning to donate around $45 million a month to a new pro-Trump super PAC, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with his intentions. Musk endorsed Trump after the assassination attempt on Saturday.

NO PLACE FOR VIOLENCE

Thomas Matthew Crooks has been described by classmates as a “loner” who regularly wore hunting outfits to school and was “bullied almost every day”. The 20-year-old lived in a well-off city in Pennsylvania.

Thomas Matthew Crooks has been named as the gunman in the assassination attempt against Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday evening.

Described as a “outcast” who regularly wore hunting outfits to school, Crooks lived in a well-to-do city an hour from scene of his assassination attempt.

Investigators say bomb-making material was found in a vehicle at his home.

Who was the gunman?

Law enforcement said Crooks was 20 years old and from Bethel Park in Pennsylvania, a predominantly white, relatively well-to-do city in the southern part of greater Pittsburgh.

The site of the rally, Butler, is about an hour’s drive north of Pittsburgh.

Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on 20 January 2021, the day Biden was sworn into office.

An “outcast” who wasn’t let onto the school rifle team

A high school classmate, Jason Kohler, 21, said Crooks was a “loner” who was “bullied so much in high school”.

He would regularly wear hunting outfits and was made fun of for the way he dressed, Mr Kohler said.

“He would sit alone at lunch. He was just the outcast,” Mr Kohler said. “It’s honestly kind of sad.”

Crooks tried out for the school’s rifle team but was turned away because he was “a bad shooter”, said Frederick Mach, a current captain of the team who was a few years behind Crooks at the school.

Michael Dudjak, 20, who went to school with Crooks for most of his life, recalled him as a relatively reserved and quiet classmate. He didn’t hear or see Crooks being actively bullied by their peers, Mr Dudjak said, but Crooks was “on his own a lot”.

He couldn’t recall Crooks ever being outspoken about politics or very active on social media. Mr Dudjak was with some friends and acquaintances from high school Saturday night when he learned that Crooks was the gunman.

They were all “in shock” and “couldn’t fathom” the news, he said.

“What the hell is going on”

Thomas Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, reportedly told CNN late Saturday that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” but wouldn’t speak about his son until after he talked to law enforcement.

Crooks used an AR-style rifle, which authorities said they believe was purchased by his father.

Kevin Rojek, FBI special agent in charge in Pittsburgh, said that investigators do not yet know if he took the gun without his father’s permission.

Crooks worked at a nursing home as a dietary aide, a job that generally involves food preparation.

Marcie Grimm, the administrator of Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation, said in a statement she was “shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement.”

Ms Grimm added that Crooks had a clean background check when he was hired.

He is believed to have won a National Maths and Science Initiative Star Award worth $500 (£393) on graduating from Bethel Park High School in 2022, according to local news site the Tribune Review.

Demolition Ranch

He also appeared to wear merchandise promoting one of YouTube’s most popular channels devoted to firearms during the attack, NBC News reported.

He was wearing a grey T-shirt with an American flag on the sleeve and block lettering that was partially obscured in photos from the scene.

The appearance and lettering on the shirt matches a shirt for sale by firearm YouTube channel Demolition Ranch.

After online speculation grew about the gunman, Demolition Ranch’s founder posted to social media, sharing photos of the shooting’s aftermath and writing: “Last night was crazy… I’ve got news stations calling me asking if I ever spoke with the shooter… what… the… hell.”

Demolition Ranch has over 11 million subscribers on YouTube, where the channel frequently posts videos about various types of firearms.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/trump-assassination-attempt-what-we-know-so-far-about-gunman-thomas-matthew-crooks-13177698

The US President called for unity in America after Donald Trump was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

President Joe Biden has stressed the need for divided Americans to come together as he addressed the nation, after Donald Trump was shot in an assassination attempt.

Mr Biden said “politics should never be a political battlefield or, God forbid, a killing field” as he spoke in a televised address from the Oval Office.

“We need to lower the temperature in our politics,” he added.

Former president Trump, 78, suffered a bullet wound to his ear in the shooting, which happened early on Saturday evening as he was giving a speech to supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh.

“There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions,” said Mr Biden in his address.

“We can’t allow this violence to be normalised. The political rhetoric of this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down.”

He said passions would run high on both sides and the stakes of the election were enormous.

“We can do this,” Mr Biden implored, saying the nation was founded on a democracy that gave reason and balance a chance to prevail over brute force.

“American democracy – where arguments are made in good faith. American democracy – where the rule of law is respected. Where decency, dignity, fair play aren’t just quaint notions, they’re living, breathing realities.”

The Republican National Convention opens in Milwaukee on Monday, and Donald Trump’s plane was seen touching down for the four-day event earlier on Sunday.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/politics-should-never-be-a-killing-field-biden-addresses-the-nation-after-trump-attack-13178000

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza on Saturday, the enclave’s health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it remained unclear whether Deif and another Hamas commander had been killed and promised to continue to target Hamas leadership, saying more military pressure on the group would improve chances of a hostage deal, even as three days of ceasefire talks separately halted on Saturday.

“Either way, we will get to the whole of the leadership of Hamas,” Netanyahu told a news conference.
The militant Islamist group Hamas denied Deif had been killed, according to a senior Hamas official on Al Jazeera TV. Hamas earlier said Israeli claims it had targeted leaders of the group were false and aimed at justifying the attack, which was the deadliest Israeli attack in Gaza in weeks.
Displaced people sheltering in the area said their tents were torn down by the force of the strike, describing bodies and body parts strewn on the ground.

Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a Saturday campaign rally, in an attack that left the Republican presidential candidate’s face streaked with blood and prompted his security agents to swarm him, before he emerged and pumped his fist in the air, mouthing the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
The shooter was dead, one rally attendee was killed and two other spectators were injured, the Secret Service said in a statement. The incident was being investigated as an assassination attempt.

BUTLER, Pennsylvania, July 13 (Reuters) – Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a Saturday campaign rally, in an attack that left the Republican presidential candidate’s face streaked with blood and prompted his security agents to swarm him, before he emerged and pumped his fist in the air, mouthing the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
The shooter was dead, one rally attendee was killed and two other spectators were injured, the Secret Service said in a statement. The incident was being investigated as an assassination attempt.

“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” Trump said later on his Truth Social platform following the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh. “Much bleeding took place.”
The shooting occurred less than four months before the Nov. 5 election, when Trump faces an election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden. Most opinion polls including those by Reuters/Ipsos show the two locked in a close contest.

Leading Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned the violence.
The Trump campaign said he was “doing well.”
Biden said in a statement: “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”
Republican U.S. Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas told Fox News his nephew had been wounded at the rally.
The shooting raised immediate questions about security failures by the Secret Service, which provides former presidents including Trump with lifetime protection.
It was the first shooting of a U.S. president or major party candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of Republican President Ronald Reagan.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said Trump has left the Butler area under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service with the assistance of the Pennsylvania state police. Republican U.S. Representative Daniel Meuser told CNN Trump was headed to Bedminster, New Jersey, where he has a golf club.
WITNESS ACCOUNT
Ron Moose, a Trump supporter at the rally, said he heard about four shots. “I saw the crowd go down and then Trump ducked also real quick,” he said. “Then the Secret Service all jumped and protected him as soon as they could. We are talking within a second they were all protecting him.”
The BBC interviewed a man who described himself as an eyewitness, saying he saw a man armed with a rifle crawling up a roof near the event. The person, who the BBC did not identify, said he and the people he was with started pointing at the man, trying to alert security.

The European Commission on Friday accused Elon Musk’s X of deceiving users and infringing digital content rules, putting the social media giant at risk of a hefty fine.

The commission, which is the European Union’s executive arm, started an investigation last year to assess whether X is in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) — a piece of landscape legislation requiring Big Tech firms to better police the content on their platforms.

The body’s preliminary view, published Friday, is that X has broken rules regarding dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers. So-called dark patterns are deceptive tactics designed to push people toward certain products and services.

X’s use of the blue checkmark for verified accounts does not correspond to industry practices, the commission said, as anyone can subscribe and obtain a verified status. It added that there was evidence of “motivated malicious actors” abusing the verified status to deceive users.

The commission also accused X of putting in place design features and barriers that hinder advertising transparency, and said it fails to allow researchers to access its public data, as is required by the DSA.

“In our view, X does not comply with the DSA in key transparency areas, by using dark patterns and thus misleading users, by failing to provide an adequate ad repository, and by blocking access to data for researchers,” the European Union’s antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager, said in Friday’s statement.

“The DSA has transparency at its very core, and we are determined to ensure that all platforms, including X, comply with EU legislation.”

X did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

In a post on X, Musk claimed that his company was offered an “illegal secret deal” by the commission that would have allowed it to avoid a fine “if we quietly censored speech.”

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/12/elon-musks-x-deceives-users-and-breaches-eu-online-content-rules-regulator-says.html

Seeking to revive his struggling reelection campaign, President Joe Biden held a rare rally in Detroit on Friday, telling a cheering crowd he wasn’t going to leave the race and warning that Republican Donald Trump poses a serious threat.
Biden, 81, is trying to shift the conversation from his mental sharpness and a growing number of Democratic defections to the impact of another Trump presidency, as he tries to reboot his campaign after a shaky debate performance on June 27.

Biden also laid out what he intended to do with his first 100 days of a second term, including codifying abortion rights, signing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, ending medical debt, raising the minimum wage and banning assault weapons.

These sweeping changes would be difficult or impossible without Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

While union and religious leaders attended, Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer and its Democratic senators, Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, did not.

Earlier on Friday, Biden made a surprise stop at a restaurant in a Detroit suburb, where he told diners he planned to “finish the job,” and said: “I promise you… I’m okay.”
Biden got a boost on Friday when two prominent Democrats – Representative James Clyburn and California Governor Gavin Newsom – said he should stay in the race.
On Friday afternoon, United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain, who had previously said he was worried about the president’s chances, praised Biden for standing “with the working class,” without using his name.
But there were signs that his support was weakening elsewhere, as two more lawmakers called on him to drop out.
“It is time to move forward. With a new leader,” Representative Mike Levin, from California, said in a statement. Levin, like many others who have called on Biden to leave the race, faces a competitive reelection battle of his own this year.
Since the debate, at least 19 lawmakers have urged Biden to step aside so the party can pick another candidate, as have some donors, Hollywood stars, activist groups and news outlets.
Biden retains support from key figures in the party, however, less than five months from the Nov. 5 election.
“I’m riding with Biden no matter which direction he goes,” Clyburn said on NBC’s “Today” program. Newsom likewise said he was sticking with Biden in an interview excerpt released by CBS.

Clyburn, 83, is a respected voice among Black Americans whose support is essential to Biden’s 2024 campaign, while Newsom, 56, is one of several younger governors who are widely seen as the future of the party.

While Biden courted Michigan voters, Trump challenged him on Friday to take a cognitive test, writing on Truth Social: “I will go with him, and take one also. For the first time we’ll be a team, and do it for the good of the Country.”

Trump will be in the national spotlight next week, when the Republican Party holds its convention in Milwaukee to award him the presidential nomination.

CRUCIAL CALLS

Democrats are worried that Biden’s low approval ratings and growing concerns that he is too old for the job could cause them to lose seats in the House of Representatives and Senate, leaving them with no grip on power in Washington should Trump win the White House.

As he worked to stem further defections, Biden held separate phone calls with groups of Hispanic, Asian and Democratic lawmakers, according to aides. While the Hispanic group’s top two leaders have endorsed Biden, some other members have not stated their positions.

Democratic officeholders, donors and activists are trying to determine whether Biden is their best bet to defeat Trump and serve another four-year term in the White House.

The New York Times reported that unnamed donors have told a pro-Biden Super PAC fundraising committee that roughly $90 million in pledges will remain on hold as long as he is in the race.

As Air Force One flew to the Motor City, campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler told reporters that donations “exploded” during Biden’s Thursday night press conference to seven times the usual level.

Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, said he met with Biden on Thursday night to convey the range of thoughts his 213-member caucus held about Biden’s candidacy. He did not say whether he personally thought Biden should stay in the race.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-faces-more-pressure-democrats-abandon-re-election-bid-2024-07-12/

According to the research, the populations of 63 countries—including China and Japan—peaked before 2024. India and the US are two of the 126 nations whose populations are predicted to peak in the second part of this century or later than 2100. Remarkably, one in four individuals worldwide currently reside in a nation where the population has reached its peak.

The study also showed that, since 2022, life expectancy has increased in almost every country to levels seen before to the COVID-19 pandemic. Global life expectancy at birth increased to 73.3 years in 2024 from 70.9 years during the epidemic, an increase of 8.4 years since 1995. By 2054, it is predicted that further mortality decreases would raise the average worldwide lifetime to about 77.4 years. It is projected that by the late 2050s, almost half of all fatalities worldwide would happen to those 80 years of age or older, a substantial increase from 17% in 1995.

It is predicted that by the late 2070s, there will be 2.2 billion people 65 years of age and above, more than there are children under the age of 18. More people than the number of newborns aged one year or under will likely be 80 years of age or older by the mid-2030s, with 265 million such individuals.

According to a news release from New York, 700 million fewer people will live in the world in 2100 than were predicted ten years ago, or a 6% decrease. The population peaked before 2024 in 63 nations and regions, making up 28% of the world’s total population in 2024. The population of this group, which includes nations like China, Germany, Japan, and the Russian Federation, is expected to decrease by 14% during the next thirty years. The population of 48 more nations, including Brazil, Iran, Turkey, and Vietnam, is expected to peak between 2025 and 2054.

The primary cause of the global population rise through the middle of the century, according to the research, is historical growth momentum. It is projected that the number of women in the 15–49 age group would increase from around 2 billion in 2024 to a peak of about 2.2 billion in the late 2050s. Even if the number of births per woman declines below replacement levels, this increase will still occur. 79% of the projected population growth until 2054—an additional 1.4 billion people—will come from the youthful age structure brought forth by previous expansion.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/world/world-population-to-peak-at-10-3-billion-by-2080-india-to-reach-1-7b-by-2062-article-111670188

Allies of Joe Biden have said there is widespread sentiment he should drop out of the US presidential election and allow another Democrat to run.

Joe Biden has mistakenly referred to Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin” at the NATO summit – just hours after his allies warned his chances of winning the US election are zero.

The US president was speaking in Washington at the end of the three-day summit and made the error while he was introducing the Ukrainian president.

“Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Mr Biden said, referring to Mr Zelenskyy before correcting himself.

“President Putin? I’m going to beat President Putin, President Zelenskyy. I am so focused on beating Putin,” he added.

“I am better,” joked Mr Zelenskyy in reply.

Latest updates from NATO summit

Mr Biden’s misstep at the summit comes just hours after some of his closest allies said they now see his chances of winning the US election as zero and that he will “never recover” from concerns about his mental fitness.

Several allies, including three directly involved in efforts to re-elect him as US president, told Sky News’ partner network NBC News that they believe he should drop out of the race.

Biden campaign ‘quietly assessing Kamala Harris’

The Biden campaign is “quietly assessing the viability of vice-president Kamala Harris’s candidacy against Donald Trump in a new head-to-head poll”, NBC News also reported.

Mr Biden has faced a torrent of questions around his suitability to run over the last two weeks following a disastrous debate against opponent former president Trump.

The White House was also forced to deny he was being treated for Parkinson’s disease following reports a specialist doctor had visited the president several times in the past year.

Mr Biden’s doctor released a letter on Tuesday saying he has shown no symptoms of Parkinson’s or any other neurological disease.

‘He needs to drop out’

The allies who spoke to NBC News said the sentiment that Mr Biden should allow another Democrat to fight the presidential election is widespread and includes aides, operatives and officials tasked with guiding his campaign to victory.

One Biden campaign official told NBC News: “He needs to drop out.”

A second person working to elect him said: “No one involved in the effort thinks he has a path.”

A third close to the campaign said the current situation was unsustainable and they couldn’t see how Mr Biden could win.

All spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be seen as further damaging a candidate they appreciate for his victory over Trump in 2020 and his policy wins in the White House.

Separately, a longtime Democratic presidential campaign strategist told Reuters news agency: “We have this window and the White House is just running out the clock, which is so selfish. We’re all waiting around for Joe Biden to f*** up again, which is not a great position to be in.”

Two others close to Mr Biden said they had not given up all hope of a turnaround but they saw it as an increasingly unlikely outcome, and they thought defeating Trump in November should take precedence over backing the president.

“The question for me, and a lot of us, is: Who is the best person to beat Donald Trump?” another person working to elect Mr Biden said. “There are a lot of us that are true blue that are questioning our initial thoughts on that.”

However, Biden campaign spokesperson TJ Ducklo told NBC News this was “patently false” and the team “stands with the president”.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/bidens-allies-warn-his-chances-of-winning-election-are-zero-as-he-calls-zelenskyy-president-putin-13176834

The decision over the use of Storm Shadow missiles, which has been welcomed by Ukraine, represents a hawkish shift in policy from the stance taken by the former Conservative government.

Sir Keir Starmer has told the Ukrainian president that British missiles can be used for defensive strikes against targets inside Russia.

The announcement came as the new British prime minister met Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in Washington DC on Wednesday.

The decision over the Storm Shadow missiles, which has been welcomed by Ukraine, represents a hawkish shift in policy from the stance taken by the former Conservative government.

Signalling the move, but declining to get into “operational arrangements”, John Healey, the new defence secretary, told Sky News that Britain “will do all we can to help Ukraine in their fight to repel Putin’s invasion”.

Speaking in Washington, Mr Healey said: “We provide weapons equipment where we can for them to defend themselves, and as we do for ourselves and any other nation in conflict, we require, because it’s international law, that war is conducted within those rules of the Geneva Convention.”

In a post on X after the meeting with Sir Keir, President Zelenskyy said: “This morning, I learned about the permission to use Storm Shadow miss­iles against military targets in Russian territory.

“Today we had the opportunity to discuss the practical implementation of this decision. I’m grateful to the UK for its unwavering support for Ukraine and our people.”

However, reacting to the news, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said: “If this is so then, of course, this is another absolutely irresponsible step towards escalating tensions and seriously escalating the situation.”

Dimitry Peskov told Reuters: “We will be watching this very thoroughly and respond accordingly.”

A NATO summit with distinct focuses

The significant announcement formed one strand of a NATO summit with many distinct focuses.

The gathering of the leaders of the 32-member states, concludes on Thursday, and marks the 75th anniversary of the defence alliance.

In a lengthy declaration, the alliance’s members announced that Ukraine was on an “irreversible” path to NATO membership, with wording important to the Ukrainian government, but likely to agitate Moscow.

“We fully support Ukraine’s right to choose its own security arrangements and decide its own future, free from outside interference. Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” the declaration said.

It continued: “As Ukraine continues this vital work, we will continue to support it on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership. We reaffirm that we will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met.”

Defence Secretary Mr Healey said that the UK should be “the leading European nation in NATO” and added that it must take the leading role in Ukraine.

In an unusual signal of political continuity concerning weapons supply to Ukraine, he said: “The Sunak pledge comes with the Starmer guarantee of delivery.”

Asked about the possibility of a second Donald Trump presidency, Mr Healey said more “heavy lifting” could be necessary, in carefully calibrated comments.

“Whoever is elected to the White House, we have to recognise that the American priorities are likely to shift increasingly to the Indo-Pacific and to other parts of the globe,” he said.

“The consequences of that are the European nations in NATO must do more of the heavy lifting and some of the leadership that traditionally we’ve been able to look to the Americans to do.”

Privately, Washington-based European diplomats are more candid, saying that the existing but gradual rebalancing of NATO’s power could morph into a brutal shift away from US dominance of the alliance in a Trump second term.

Summit overshadowed by concern for US leader

The summit has been overshadowed by the storm over President Biden’s agility and perceived cognitive decline. The call for him to stand aside as candidate by his friend and megadonor George Clooney added significant pressure.

Today, Senate Democrats will have lunch with top Biden advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, as well as the Biden-Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/keir-starmer-gives-go-ahead-for-british-missiles-to-be-used-in-strikes-against-targets-inside-russia-13176370

U.S. President Joe Biden faced fresh doubts on Wednesday about his re-election chances from heavyweights Nancy Pelosi and George Clooney, who may influence other Democratic lawmakers and financial donors, and two Senate Democrats.
Biden must decide quickly whether to stay in the 2024 White House race, former House Speaker Pelosi, a longtime Biden ally, said on MSNBC while declining to say definitively that she wanted him to run.

Hollywood star Clooney, a Democrat who co-hosted a star-studded fundraiser for Biden last month, withdrew his support with a damning opinion piece in the New York Times saying Biden was not the same man he was in 2020.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, has privately signaled he’s open to a Democratic candidate other than Biden, according to Axios. Schumer, though, reiterated his support for Biden in a statement following the Axios report.

The Abandon Biden Campaign, which has opposed Biden’s candidacy over his handling of the Israel-Gaza war, on Wednesday urged all Americans to call for Biden to step aside, although saying it also has no delusions about Trump and his “culture of hate.”
Pelosi’s remarks, which ignored Biden’s repeated insistence that he is staying in the race, appeared to be the harbinger of a fresh wave of calls from fellow Democrats to exit the race.
For nearly two weeks, the 81-year-old Biden has sought to stem defections by Democratic lawmakers, donors and other allies worried he might lose the Nov. 5 vote to Republican Donald Trump, 78, after his halting June 27 debate performance.
The president has said he had a bad night at the debate, insisting he will stay in the race and defeat Trump.
Pelosi said on MSNBC she was encouraging colleagues on Capitol Hill with concerns about Biden to refrain from airing them while he hosts NATO leaders in Washington this week.
“I’ve said to everyone: let’s just hold off. Whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately, but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see how we go this week,” she said, describing Biden’s strong remarks at the NATO summit on Tuesday as “spectacular.”
She declined to say definitively that she wanted Biden to run. “I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” she said. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.”

Biden’s campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and senior advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti will brief Senate Democrats at a lunch on Thursday, Biden’s campaign said.
Asked to comment on Pelosi’s remarks and Clooney’s article, Biden’s campaign pointed to a letter he sent Democrats in Congress saying he was “firmly committed” to staying in the race and beating Trump.
Asked at the NATO summit whether he still had Pelosi’s support, Biden responded by raising a triumphant fist.
Other Democrats echoed Pelosi on Wednesday, however, suggesting Biden’s efforts to quell dissent within his party had not succeeded. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said he was “deeply concerned” about Biden’s ability to win the race.
In Dallas, Vice President Kamala Harris, the party frontrunner to replace Biden if he were to step aside as the Democratic candidate, spoke to a group of some 19,000 people at an event of the historically Black Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
The election is the most “existential” and consequential of their lifetimes, Harris said to a crowd that chanted, “Four More Years!”
CLOONEY WITHDRAWS SUPPORT
In his opinion piece, Clooney wrote: “It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,” Clooney wrote.
“We are not going to win in November with this president. On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate.”
Democrats in Congress remain deeply divided over whether to fall in line behind Biden or to urge him to step aside because of persistent questions about his health and acuity.U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer on Wednesday became the ninth Democratic member of the House of Representatives to call for the president to end his re-election campaign.
Public defections remain a small segment of the 213 Democratic-aligned House members, and the party’s leadership has continued to back Biden publicly. No Senate Democrat had broken ranks until Welch’s op-ed on Wednesday, although Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado said on Tuesday he did not believe Biden could beat Trump.
Biden, eager to change the story, has surrounded himself with communities of his staunchest supporters, including Black Democratic lawmakers and voters. His campaign has framed sticking with Biden as a return of the loyalty he has shown them through his half-century of public life.
Biden was greeted with raucous applause when he met on Wednesday with a group of labor leaders, an important part of his political base, joining an AFL-CIO executive council meeting in Washington to discuss “their shared commitment to defeating Donald Trump,” the Biden campaign said.
Biden listed high rents, expensive groceries and a lack of housing as issues to be tackled going forward.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-meets-union-leaders-democrats-calls-exit-race-continue-2024-07-10/

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that decisive action must be taken before the U.S. presidential election in November to repel Russia’s offensive against his country, using an address on the sidelines of the NATO summit to press for greater support during a pivotal but tumultuous stretch in America’s political calendar.

“It’s time to step out of the shadows to make strong decisions to act and not wait for November or any other months to descend. We must be strong and uncompromising all together,” Zelenskyy said.

Speaking in Washington four months before an election beset by new uncertainty following President Joe Biden’s shaky debate performance, he aimed his message at Republicans, whose NATO-adverse leader looks to be in an improving position to win back the presidency.

The president of the United States, Zelenskyy added, must be “uncompromising in defending democracy, uncompromising against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and his coterie.”

Zelenskyy has proven to be an adept navigator of international relations in defense of his war-ravaged country, publicly cajoling and sometimes loudly complaining to get the military assistance it needs to defend itself against Russia.

This latest trip to Washington came against the backdrop of a fresh commitment of aid — Biden earlier Tuesday announced that dozens of air defense systems will be sent to Ukraine by NATO allies — but also ahead of an election that could yield a change in power. Zelenskyy said he hoped the race would not yield a policy overhaul.

The Ukrainian leader sought to minimize the potential fallout of a Donald Trump victory, who is a NATO skeptic and has criticized the Biden administration’s support for Kyiv during Russia’s war in Ukraine. Zelenskyy spoke at the Reagan Institute, named after Republican icon Ronald Reagan, and his appeal for support was directed at an audience of GOP heavyweights that included Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Zelenskyy will meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

“I hope that if the people of America will elect President Trump, I hope that his policy with Ukraine will not change,” Zelenskyy said in a question-and-answer session with Fox News host Bret Baier after his speech. “I hope that the United States will never go out from NATO.”

Otherwise, he said, “the world will lose a lot of countries” that “count on America.”

Zelenskyy, who will have a separate meeting with Biden on Thursday, said he doesn’t know Trump well but had good meetings with him when he was president. He noted, however, that they did not go through the Russia-Ukraine war together, and only during a shared experience like that can one understand “if you can count on somebody or not.”

As president, Trump was impeached in late 2019 by the House of Representatives after pressuring Zelenskyy to announce an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter, while withholding $400 million in military aid to Ukraine. Biden at the time was mounting a campaign to run against Trump in the 2020 election. Trump was ultimately acquitted by the Senate.

Despite the fresh aid announced Tuesday and the warm embrace he received from the Republican-dominated audience at the Reagan Institute, Zelenskyy finds that his most coveted prize — membership in the military alliance — remains elusive. The European and North American countries making up NATO are in no hurry to admit Ukraine, especially while it is engaged in active hostilities with Russia that could drag them into a broader war.

Zelenskyy, who was feted as a champion of democracy in Washington in the aftermath of Russia’s 2022 invasion but was forced to plead his case for aid to U.S. lawmakers just last year, found himself once again in the American capital as bridesmaid.

At the NATO summit, he is trying to navigate a turbulent American political landscape as Biden tries to show his strength on the world stage and ability to keep leading the alliance’s most important member, despite post-debate uneasiness among some fellow Democrats about his capacity to serve another four years.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/zelenskyy-ukraine-nato-summit-russia-war-7f6a042e323af10e0425239ea5a023c3#

As PM Modi’s two-day visit to Russia is coming to an end in a few hours from now, his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this time holds key importance in the strategic ties between the two countries. The bond between the two leaders appeared to have grown stronger despite several countries, especially the US, raising concerns over India and Russia’s ties.

Following his visit to Russia, the Prime Minister will visit Austria. PM Modi would be the first Indian leader in 41 years, after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to visit the European nation. However, it is important to note that PM Modi’s visit to Russia has three key takeaways:

PM MODI DISCUSSES UKRAINE WAR WITH PUTIN

During his bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, PM Modi highlighted the Russia-Ukraine war and said India is ready to cooperate in all ways to restore peace in both the countries.

“For restoration of peace, India is ready to cooperate in all ways…I assure you and the world community that India is in favour of peace. Listening to my friend Putin talk about peace yesterday, gives me hope. I would like to say to my media friends – Possible,” Prime Minister Modi said.

Joe Biden is not being treated for Parkinson’s disease, the White House has said, after reports that a specialist doctor had visited the US president several times in the past year.

Concerns around the president’s health have risen since Mr Biden’s poor showing in his debate with Donald Trump – with Democrats describing the US president’s performance as an “unmitigated disaster”, “a meltdown”, and “a slow-motion car crash”.

The performance also led to calls for Mr Biden to quit the race, but he said earlier on Monday he was “firmly committed” to his re-election campaign.

According to The New York Times, White House visitor logs show that Dr Kevin Cannard, a neurologist who specialises in movement disorders and recently published a paper on Parkinson’s, visited the White House eight times from last summer through to the spring of this year.

NBC News, Sky News’ US partner, confirmed that a Parkinson’s expert from Walter Reed hospital visited the White House at least eight times in an eight-month period, according to public visitor logs.

One of those included a January meeting with Mr Biden’s personal physician, Dr Kevin O’Connor. The nature of and reason for these meetings was unclear.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday Mr Biden was not being treated for Parkinson’s.

In a feisty exchange with reporters, she declined to confirm Dr Cannard’s visit, citing privacy reasons. But she said the president had seen a neurologist three times connected to his annual physical exams.

Ms Jean-Pierre told reporters the neurologists said they came up with “no findings” which would be consistent with any “central neurological disorders such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, or ascending lateral sclerosis”.

“That is from February,” she added.

The White House press secretary later told reporters: “Has the president been treated for Parkinson’s? – No.

“Is he being treated for Parkinson’s? – No he’s not.

“Is he taking medication for Parkinson’s? – No.

“Those are the things that I can give you full-blown answers on.”

White House spokesman Andrew Bates added: “A wide variety of specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat the thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds.”

‘Time to end it’

Meanwhile, US Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, used an interview with CNN on Monday to call on Mr Biden to drop out of the presidential race.

It comes after even some of Mr Biden’s closest political allies, including the former speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, have raised questions about his health.

In his letter to Democrats in Congress on Monday, the US president said he was “firmly committed” to his re-election campaign and vowed to remain in the contest against Trump.

“I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump,” Mr Biden wrote.

The president ends his letter by saying: “The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/president-biden-not-being-treated-for-parkinsons-white-house-says-amid-questions-over-doctors-visit-13175315

Russia blasted the main children’s hospital in Kyiv with a missile in broad daylight on Monday and rained missiles down on other cities across Ukraine, killing at least 41 civilians in the deadliest wave of air strikes for months.
Parents holding babies walked in the street outside the hospital, dazed and sobbing after the rare daylight aerial attack. Windows had been smashed and panels ripped off, and hundreds of Kyiv residents were helping to clear debris.

Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Zelenskiy said more than 100 buildings had been damaged, including the children’s hospital and a maternity centre in Kyiv, children’s nurseries and a business centre and homes.

“The Russian terrorists must answer for this,” he wrote. “Being concerned does not stop terror. Condolences are not a weapon.”

The Interior Ministry said there had also been damage in the central cities of Kryvyi Rih and Dnipro and two eastern cities.

The government proclaimed a day of mourning on Tuesday for one of the worst air attacks of the war, which it said demonstrated that Ukraine urgently needed an upgrade of its air defences from its Western allies.
Air defences shot down 30 of 38 missiles, the air force said.
An online video obtained by Reuters showed a missile falling towards the children’s hospital followed by a large explosion. The location of the video was verified from visible landmarks.
The Security Service of Ukraine identified the missile as an Kh-101 cruise missile.
Kyiv’s military authorities said 27 people had died in the capital, including three children, and 82 were wounded in the main missile volley and a strike that came two hours later.
DAMAGE ACROSS THE CAPITAL
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was one of the largest of the war, causing damage in seven city districts. The Health Minister said five units of the children’s hospital were damaged and children were evacuated to other facilities.
Eleven were confirmed dead in the Dnipropetrovsk region and 68 were wounded, regional officials said. Three people were killed in the eastern town of Pokrovsk where missiles hit an industrial facility, the governor said.

Zelenskiy, addressing a news conference in Warsaw alongside Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, called on Kyiv’s Western allies to give a firm response to the attack.
“We will retaliate against these people, we will deliver a powerful response from our side to Russia, for sure. The question to our partners is: can they respond?” Zelenskiy said.
The attack came a day before leaders of NATO countries were due to begin a three-day summit, with the war in Ukraine one of the focuses.
U.S. President Joe Biden said that Moscow’s deadly missile strikes in Ukraine, including on the children’s hospital in Kyiv, were “a horrific reminder of Russia’s brutality”.
In a statement released by the White House, Biden added that Washington and its NATO allies would be announcing new measures to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences.
Diplomats said the United Nations Security Council would meet on Tuesday at the request of Britain, France, Ecuador, Slovenia and the United States.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, deplored the attacks, saying: “Among the victims were Ukraine’s sickest children.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had launched strikes on defence industry targets and aviation bases.
Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, although its attacks have killed thousands of civilians since it launched its invasion in February 2022.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-air-defence-engaged-repelling-russian-missile-attack-kyiv-officials-2024-07-08/

Hurricane Beryl strengthened as it neared the Texas coast on Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, forcing the closure of major oil ports, flight cancellations and a warning it would be a deadly storm for communities hit.
Beryl, the earliest category 5 hurricane on record, last week swept through Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, toppling buildings and power lines and killing at least 11 people.