Top Democrats rule out replacing Biden amid calls for him to quit 2024 race

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden step off Air Force One upon arrival at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach, New York on June 29, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 01 July 2024
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Top Democrats rule out replacing Biden amid calls for him to quit 2024 race

  • “Absolutely not,” responded Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, one of several Democrats seen as a possible replacement for Biden

WASHINGTON: Top Democrats on Sunday ruled out the possibility of replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee after a feeble debate performance and called on party members to focus instead on the consequences of a second Donald Trump presidency.
After days of hand-wringing about Biden’s poor night on stage debating Trump, Democratic leaders firmly rejected calls for their party to choose a younger presidential candidate for the Nov. 5 election.
Biden, 81, meanwhile, was huddling with family members at the Camp David presidential retreat on Sunday.
The New York Times cited people close to the situation as saying that Biden’s family were urging him to stay in the race and keep fighting. The paper said some members of his clan privately expressed exasperation at how his staff prepared him for Thursday night’s event.
A drumbeat of calls for Biden to step aside has continued since Thursday and a post-debate CBS poll showed a 10-point jump in the number of Democrats who believe Biden should not be running for president, to 46 percent from 36 percent in February.
“The unfortunate truth is that Biden should withdraw from the race, for the good of the nation he has served so admirably for half a century,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said in an editorial on Sunday. “The shade of retirement is now necessary for President Biden.”
Democratic leaders rejected this.
“Absolutely not,” responded Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, one of several Democrats seen as a possible replacement for Biden.
“Bad debates happen,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press program. “The question is, ‘Who has Donald Trump ever shown up for other than himself and people like himself?’ I’m with Joe Biden, and it’s our assignment to make sure that he gets over the finish line come November.”
House of Representatives Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who could become speaker next year if his party can take control of the House in November, acknowledged that Biden had suffered a setback, but this was “nothing more than a setup for a comeback.”
“So the moment that we’re in right now is a comeback moment,” he told MSNBC.
Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a leading Biden surrogate, told ABC’s This Week program Biden needed to stay in the race to ensure Trump’s defeat.
“I think he’s the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump,” Coons said.

RASKIN SOUNDS LESS CERTAIN
With Democratic leaders rallying around him, it will be up to Biden to decide whether he wants to end his re-election bid.
But other Democrats held open the possibility of choosing a different presidential candidate.
Representative Jamie Raskin, a prominent Democrat in Congress, told MSNBC that “very honest and serious and rigorous conversations” were taking place within the party.
“Whether he’s the candidate or someone else is the candidate, he’s going to be the keynote speaker at our convention. He will be the figure that we rally around to move forward,” Raskin said.
During the debate, a hoarse-sounding Biden delivered a shaky, halting performance in which he stumbled over his words on several occasions. Some Democrats later said privately that the showing could prove to be a disqualifying factor.
For his part in the debate, Trump made a series of well-worn falsehoods, including claims that migrants have carried out a crime wave, that Democrats support infanticide and that he actually won the 2020 election.
Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, told Fox News that Trump was feeling “great” after “probably the best debate of his political career.”
Biden headed to Camp David after a frenzied run of seven campaign events across four states following the debate.
While the Camp David trip had been planned for months, the timing and circumstances of Biden being surrounded by family members who have weighed heavily in his past decisions to run for the presidency have added to the scrutiny around the visit.
Two people familiar with the scheduling said the gathering would include a family photo shoot. The attendees include his wife Jill, as well as the Biden children and grandchildren.
The New York Times said one of the strongest voices imploring Biden to resist pressure to drop out was his son Hunter, who on June 11 became the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of a felony after a jury found him guilty of lying about illegal drug use when he purchased a handgun in 2018.
DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez held a Saturday afternoon call with dozens of committee members across the country, a group of some of the most influential members of the party.
The call was part pep talk, part planning meeting for the upcoming national convention, according to two people who were on the call who requested anonymity to discuss private discussions. 

 


Several hurt in anti-migrant unrest in Spanish town

Updated 8 sec ago
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Several hurt in anti-migrant unrest in Spanish town

MADRID: Several people were hurt in a second night of anti-migrant unrest in the Spanish town of Torre Pacheco after a pensioner was beaten up, authorities said on Sunday.
Despite a major police presence, groups armed with batons roamed the streets looking for foreign-origin people, regional newspaper La Opinion de Murcia reported.
The regional government did not say how many people were injured but stated that at least one person had been arrested for the violence.
The unrest erupted after a 68-year-old man told Spanish media he was beaten up in the street on Wednesday by three youths of North African origin.
The attack was filmed and put on social media.
The town hall organized a demonstration on Friday that was intended to be peaceful but where far-right elements shouted anti-migrant slogans.
One group, named “Deport Them Now,” posted a message on social media calling for attacks against people of North African origin.
Spanish authorities launched an appeal for calm on Sunday in the town of 36,000 people.
“Torre Pacheco must get back to normal,” said the head of the Murcian regional government Fernando Lopez Miras in a message on X.
“I understand the frustration but nothing justifies violence,” added the conservative politician.
“I call on residents to be calm, for tranquility,” said Torre Pacheco mayor, Pedro Angel Roca Ternel, on RTVE public television.
Spain’s Youth Minister Sira Rego, a member of the extreme left wing party Sumar, condemned the violence against migrants in a message on Bluesky, blaming the role of the “ultra-right” in the unrest.


Russia takes new village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

Updated 44 min 25 sec ago
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Russia takes new village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region

  • Russian troops advance toward the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region
  • Russia’s defense ministry say troops had captured the village of Myrne

MOSCOW: Russia said on Sunday it took another village in the west of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, as its troops advance toward the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region.

Moscow’s offensive on Ukraine has lasted for more than three years, with attacks intensifying this summer and US-led negotiations so far yielding no results to end the fighting.

Russia’s defense ministry said Russian troops had captured the village of Myrne, calling the village by its Soviet name “Karl Marx.”

It lies close to the administrative border between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

The ministry claimed forces had moved “deep into the enemy’s defense” to take the village.

Myrne was one of two villages Moscow claimed on Sunday.

Russia has for months refused a ceasefire proposed by the United States and Kyiv.

Moscow launched its full-scale offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.


France says Australia defense ties repaired after submarine row

Updated 56 min 35 sec ago
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France says Australia defense ties repaired after submarine row

  • Paris expressed its “strong regrets” when Australia tore up a multibillion-dollar deal to buy a fleet of diesel-powered submarines from France

SYDNEY: France’s defense relations with Australia have recovered after their 2021 bust-up over a major submarine contract, the country’s ambassador said Sunday.
Paris expressed its “strong regrets” when Australia tore up a multibillion-dollar deal to buy a fleet of diesel-powered submarines from France, Ambassador Pierre-Andre Imbert said.
Since the 2022 election of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, however, the defense relationship had been “restarted,” he said.
“Now, the first pillar of our cooperation is defense and security, so we have a very good level of cooperation,” the ambassador told AFP as French forces joined major military drills around Australia.
When Australia ditched the French deal, it opted instead to acquire nuclear-powered vessels in a new three-way AUKUS pact with the United States and Britain.
But a US defense official last month revealed that a review of AUKUS was underway to ensure it “aligned with the President’s America First agenda” and that the US defense industrial base was “meeting our needs.”
Under the AUKUS deal, Australia would acquire at least three Virginia class submarines from the United States within 15 years, eventually manufacturing its own subs.
The US Navy has 24 Virginia-class vessels but American shipyards are struggling to meet production targets set at two new boats each year.
Asked if France would ever consider discussing a new submarine deal with Australia if the AUKUS agreement was torpedoed by the review, the French ambassador said he was reluctant to speculate.
“I would say it’s more an issue for Australia for the moment. And of course, we are always discussing with our friends of Australia,” he said.
“But for the moment, they have chosen AUKUS,” he said. “If this changes (and) they ask, we’ll see.”
More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join the three-week, annual Talisman Sabre military exercises, which started Sunday across Australia and Papua New Guinea.


Australia PM Albanese kicks off China visit focused on trade

Updated 13 July 2025
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Australia PM Albanese kicks off China visit focused on trade

  • Anthony Albanese is set to meet business, tourism and sport representatives in Shanghai and Chengdu
  • Albanese wants to reduce Australia’s economic dependence on China, a free trade partner

BEIJING: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese kicked off a visit to China this weekend meant to shore up trade relations between the two countries.

Albanese met with Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining on Sunday, the first in a series of high-level exchanges that will include meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman Zhao Leji of the National People’s Congress.

Albanese is leading “a very large business delegation” to China, which speaks to the importance of the economic relations between Australia and China, he told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN upon his arrival in Shanghai Saturday.

During a weeklong trip, Albanese is set to meet business, tourism and sport representatives in Shanghai and Chengdu including a CEO roundtable Tuesday in Beijing, his office said.

It is Albanese’s second visit to China since his center-left Labour Party government was first elected in 2022. The party was reelected in May with an increased majority.

Albanese has managed to persuade Beijing to remove a series of official and unofficial trade barriers introduced under the previous conservative government that cost Australian exporters more than 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year.

Beijing severed communications with the previous administration over issues including Australia’s calls for an independent inquiry into the origins of and responses to COVID-19. But Albanese wants to reduce Australia’s economic dependence on China, a free trade partner.

“My government has worked very hard to diversify trade … and to increase our relationships with other countries in the region, including India and Indonesia and the ASEAN countries,” Albanese said before his visit, referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“But the relationship with China is an important one, as is our relationships when it comes to exports with the north Asian economies of South Korea and Japan,” he added.

Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency, in an editorial Sunday, described China’s relationship with Australia as “steadily improving” and undergoing “fresh momentum.”

“There are no fundamental conflicts of interest between China and Australia,” the editorial stated. “By managing differences through mutual respect and focusing on shared interests, the two sides can achieve common prosperity and benefit.”


Apartment fire in Turkiye’s Ankara kills 3, including a baby

Updated 13 July 2025
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Apartment fire in Turkiye’s Ankara kills 3, including a baby

  • The blaze started late Saturday night on the fourth floor and spread rapidly, according to local media
  • Firefighters took four hours to extinguish the flames. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that 39 suffered light smoke inhalation, including seven firefighters

Istanbul: A fire at a 26-story apartment building in the Turkish capital, Ankara, killed three people, including a three-and-a-half-month-old baby, local media said.
The blaze broke out at around 10:00 p.m. local time Saturday night on the fourth floor and quickly spread through the structure, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. It took firefighters four hours to put out the fire.
The agency also reported that 39 suffered light smoke inhalation, including seven firefighters. Paramedics attended to 26 people on site, while 20 others have been hospitalized, one in critical condition.