WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden returns to the campaign trail on Wednesday, rallying the key constituency of labor leaders, as some fellow Democrats continue to persuade him not to run again.
For the past 13 days, the 81-year-old Biden has been working to stem defections from Democratic lawmakers, donors and other allies worried he might lose to Republican Donald Trump, 78, after his halting June 27 debate performance.
Biden will join the AFL-CIO’s executive council meeting in Washington on Wednesday to take questions from leaders of major US labor unions and discuss “their shared commitment to defeating Donald Trump this November,” the Biden campaign said.
Labor votes were key to Biden’s win over Trump in competitive states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada, in 2020.
Democrats in the US 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. Biden has said he is fit to serve but understands the questions.
On Tuesday, Representative Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey became the seventh House Democrat to call on Biden publicly to drop out of the race.
Many more Democrats have expressed concern that Biden continuing at the top of the ticket could cost the party the White House and both houses of Congress in November.
But public defections remain a small segment of the 213 Democratic-aligned House of Representatives members, and the party’s leadership continues to back Biden publicly. No members of the Senate have publicly said Biden should stand aside.
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’s first 2020 campaign rally, in 2019, was at a Pittsburgh union hall, and the president has made his thick-as-thieves alignment with Big Labor leaders a major pillar of his populist economic platform. Last September, he became the first sitting president to join a union strike when he met United Auto Workers asking for raises.
Labor leaders expected at Wednesday’s meeting include the national presidents of 60 unions, representing 12.5 million Americans, Biden aides said.
Also this week, Biden has used the NATO summit as a global stage, with a forceful speech denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Wednesday, he will hold meetings with NATO leaders and then host a dinner for heads of state. The dinner would not normally draw much attention, but concerns over whether Biden can handle the demands of the presidency for another four years have put every Biden event in the spotlight.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the party’s top alternative should Biden drop his candidacy, will speak to the Black Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. in Dallas after a Las Vegas campaign stop on Tuesday.
After the NATO summit ends, Biden will hit the road again, traveling to two of the competitive states, Michigan and Nevada, that he must sway to defeat Trump.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre faced another salvo of questions from reporters about Biden’s health on Tuesday. In a statement, the White House physician said Biden was not being treated for any neurological condition and had received a clean bill of health at his most recent physical examination in February.
Biden meets union leaders as Democrats’ calls to exit race continue
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Biden meets union leaders as Democrats’ calls to exit race continue
- US President has been working to stem defections from Democratic lawmakers, donors and other allies worried he might lose to Republican Donald Trump
- Democrats in the US Congress remain deeply divided over whether to fall in line behind Biden or to urge him to step aside
UK’s Starmer urges Middle East ‘restraint’ on Oct 7 anniversary
Addressing lawmakers in parliament, the UK leader said the region “cannot endure another year of this” and that “civilians on all sides have suffered too much.”
“All sides must now step back from the brink and find the courage of restraint. There is no military solution to these challenges,” Starmer told MPs in a somber House of Commons.
His comments followed a statement earlier Monday in which he paid tribute to the victims of those killed a year ago, saying: “We stand together to remember the lives so cruelly taken.”
Starmer, who took power in early July, added that Britain “must unequivocally stand with the Jewish community and unite as a country,” following a surge in reports of anti-Semitism across the UK.
“On this day of pain and sorrow, we honor those we lost, and continue in our determination to return those still held hostage, help those who are suffering, and secure a better future for the Middle East,” he said.
In his brief speech in parliament, Starmer said 15 British citizens were killed on October 7 in the attacks, and that another died while being held in captivity.
The Hamas onslaught left 1,205 dead on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official Israeli figures.
Some 251 people were captured and taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. Of those 97 are still held captive including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Starmer also noted that more than 41,000 Palestinians had also been killed in Israel’s military response, reiterating his calls for immediate ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza, and more aid to be allowed into the latter.
Again urging British citizens in Lebanon to leave, the UK leader noted 430 people had already left the country on government chartered flights over the last week.
Putin to meet Iran president in Turkmenistan Friday
- Leaders will meet in Ashgabat while attending an event celebrating a Turkmen poet
- Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iran last week for talks with Masoud Pezeshkian
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin is to meet Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian for talks Friday at a forum in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan, a senior aide said Monday.
Yury Ushakov, Putin’s aide on foreign policy, told journalists the leaders will meet in Ashgabat while attending an event celebrating a Turkmen poet.
“This meeting has great significance both for discussing bilateral issues as well as, of course, discussing the sharply escalated situation in the Middle East,” Ushakov said.
Leaders of Central Asian countries are meeting to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the birth of 18th-century poet Magtymguly Pyragy.
Putin’s attendance had not been previously announced.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iran last week for talks with Pezeshkian and First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref.
The talks come as Israel intensively bombs Lebanon, targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah and Russia has evacuated some citizens.
Russia has close relations with Iran, and Western governments have accused Tehran of supplying Moscow with drones and missiles, which it has repeatedly denied.
Pezeshkian will also hold talks with Putin during a visit to Russia this month to participate in a BRICS summit of emerging economies.
Russia says grain harvest hit by Ukraine war, bad weather
- Russia, the world’s top wheat exporter, has officially forecast this year’s grain harvest at 132 million metric tons, an 11 percent drop from 148 million tons in 2023
- However, after bad weather hit many grain-producing regions, the forecast is set for a downward revision
MOSCOW: Russia’s grain harvest will be hit by the impact of Ukraine’s attacks on grain-producing regions close to the border and by bad weather in many other regions, the RIA news agency cited Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut as saying on Monday.
Russia, the world’s top wheat exporter, has officially forecast this year’s grain harvest at 132 million metric tons, an 11 percent drop from 148 million tons in 2023 and a 16 percent drop from a record 158 million tons in 2022.
However, after bad weather, ranging from early spring frosts to drought and rain, hit many grain-producing regions, the forecast is set for a downward revision. The IKAR consultancy sees this year’s grain harvest at 124.5 million tons.
Concerns over Russia’s smaller-than-expected grain harvest supported international prices in recent months, with wheat reaching four-months high last week.
“We are currently calculating the figures, taking into account the bad weather in Siberia,” Lut was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.
“And on the other hand, unfortunately, considering the inability to harvest crops in regions where a counter-terrorist operation regime has been introduced,” Lut added in a first public acknowledgment of the war’s impact on the harvest.
Russia introduced the regime in Kursk, as well as neighboring Bryansk and Belgorod regions, following a major Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region, Russia’s seventh-largest grain-producing region, on Aug. 6.
Both Belgorod and Bryansk regions, major grain-producing areas, have become targets of regular attacks by Ukraine’s military. Ukrainian forces still control a large swathe of the Kursk region.
Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov said in September that after the attack, the harvesting of grains could not be completed on an area of 160,000 hectares. He estimated the damage from the attack at almost $1 billion.
Lut said the final estimate for this year’s harvest will be announced on Oct. 10. Sovecon consultancy earlier estimated that as of Oct.1, Russian farmers had harvested 111 million metric tons of grain.
Lut also said that winter crops sowing in many regions was difficult because of the continued drought. Sovecon consultancy said that no rains were expected in winter grain sowing areas until mid-October.
“The sowing is going very hard. We plan to sow 20 million hectares, as we did last year. But we are practically sowing in sand,” Interfax news agency quoted Lut as saying.
Nationwide protests in India demand stop to arms trade with Israel
- Protesters took to the streets of New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Lucknow in solidarity with Palestine
- Indian civil society calls on government to cease diplomatic, defense and labor ties with Israel
NEW DELHI: India’s largest civil society organizations staged protests in cities across the country on Monday demanding the Indian government stop arms exports to Israel, as they gathered to mark a year since the start of the war on Gaza.
Since the deadly onslaught on Gaza began on Oct. 7, Israeli forces have killed at least 41,870 Palestinians and wounded over 97,000 others, according to estimates from the enclave’s Health Ministry.
India’s leading civil society organizations, main trade unions and top lawyers have held rallies in solidarity with Palestine for the past year, demanding a ceasefire and more action from parties that have ties with Israel, including the government in Delhi.
“The main demand of the protest is that we want a complete arms embargo, we want the Indian government to stop sending arms to Israel because we know that it is resulting in the loss of life. It is only being used to bomb innocents,” Anjali, an activist with the India for Palestine collective, told Arab News.
“We want an immediate and permanent ceasefire. We want the Indian government to end all arms and trade deals with the Israeli government … This protest is important. We are fed up with being part of a country which is signing stronger ties with Israel.”
Indian arms sales to Israel came into the spotlight in May, following reports of two shipments loaded with weapons that originated from Chennai in southeast India, which was later prevented from docking in the Spanish port of Cartagena.
In June, Palestinian reporters released clips showing remains of a missile found after a deadly bombing with a label that read: “Made in India.”
Though support for Palestine was an important part of India’s foreign policy for decades, that support has visibly shifted toward Israel especially in the past year, which saw police stopping rallies held in solidarity with Gaza.
On Monday, activists took to the streets not only in the Indian capital, but also in the eastern city of Kolkata, the southern city of Bangalore and Lucknow, the capital of India’s largest state of Uttar Pradesh.
There were dozens of organizations represented at the New Delhi demonstration, including rights bodies, trade unions, student and youth associations, and women’s groups.
In a letter to mark one year since Israel’s war on Gaza, they called on the Indian government to cease all diplomatic ties with Israel. And to “vote against genocidal actions of the US-backed Israeli government,” while also urging a stop to all arms trade and labor ties with Tel Aviv.
“We are asking the Indian government to stop the military supply. It’s the same demand, which they are not listening to … therefore this is a tactic to put pressure on the Indian government,” Aban Raza, an artist who took part in the Delhi rally, told Arab News.
Prasenjit, a student leader in Delhi, said the Indian government should “take a position” and send the message to the world. “The barbaric attack on Palestine should stop,” he said.
In Kolkata, more than a thousand people showed up to participate in the Palestinian rally.
“This is not a war, but genocide, and the whole world is raising voice against this genocide. This attack on Palestine and Lebanon is being done with the help of the USA and NATO,” Nilasis Bose of the All India Students Association told Arab News.
“We demand that the genocide should stop, the UN should get proactive. We fear that the (Gaza) war will push the world into the third world war,” he said.
“We also want war criminals like Netanyahu to be tried and punished.”
Feroze Mithiborwala, an activist in Bangalore, was expecting over a thousand people to show up at the evening protest in the city.
“They are calling for the stoppage of weapon supply and trade deals with Israel and we are calling for the establishment of the Palestinian independent state. Israel needs to be tried for war crimes too,” he said.
“People can see the horror happening (that) Israel is committing. People are protesting to demand an end to the war. They are calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.”
Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Biden said “that history will also remember October 7 as a dark day for the Palestinian people because of the conflict that Hamas unleashed that day”
WASHINGTON: A somber US President Joe Biden lit a candle Monday at a Jewish ceremony of mourning to mark a year since Hamas’s attacks on Israel, as he and Kamala Harris stepped up what have so far been futile calls for peace in the Middle East.
Biden condemned the October 7 attacks but also criticized the civilian death toll in Gaza, underscoring the tightrope that he and Democratic presidential hopeful Harris are treading on a conflict that could impact next month’s US election.
In a short ceremony at the White House, the 81-year-old president and First Lady Jill Biden stood in silence as a rabbi chanted a prayer for the dead, before Biden lit a single candle in memory of those killed.
“Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden lashed out at the “unspeakable brutality” of the October 7 attacks and said he and Harris were “fully committed” to Israel’s security against Iran and its regional allies — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.
But he also described October 7 as a “dark day for the Palestinian people” and said he and Harris “will not stop working to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza.”
Harris said she was “devastated by the loss and pain of the Israeli people” but added that she was “heartbroken over the scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the past year.”
Both Biden and Harris said in their separate statements that a “diplomatic solution” as Israel pounds Lebanon to tackle the Hezbollah militia was the “only path” to a wider peace.
Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff will separately plant a memorial tree at the vice president’s residence in Washington, then deliver remarks at 4:00 p.m. (2000 GMT).
Republican Donald Trump, Harris’s rival in a tooth-and-nail election, was also due to take part in events in New York and Miami to mark the anniversary of the surprise attacks by Hamas, in which 1,205 people were killed, most of them civilians, and 251 taken hostage.
More than 41,909 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The United Nations has acknowledged these figures as reliable.
Protests against Israel’s war in Gaza were expected in New York and several US cities. A man set his arm on fire at a protest outside the White House on Saturday.
The Gaza war has caused political difficulties for Harris and Biden, with Arab and Muslim voters in key swing states and left-wing Democrats strongly opposed to the conflict.
The anniversary also underlines Biden and Harris’s apparent powerlessness to influence Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu’s conduct as the Middle East threatens to slide into full-scale war.
Israel is expected to retaliate imminently for a mass ballistic missile strike by Iran last week.
Biden has urged Israel not to attack Iran’s oil facilities, fearing it could push up oil prices, in turn hitting the US economy and harming Harris’s election chances.
Over the last year however Netanyahu has repeatedly ignored Biden’s calls for restraint.
Senior Democrats have questioned whether Netanyahu is trying to influence the election in favor of fellow right-winger Trump by holding off from any peace deal before the November 5 vote.
Biden said last week that “whether he’s (Netanyahu’s) trying to influence the election, I don’t know” but chided Netanyahu, saying that he “should remember” Washington’s strong support for Israel.
Trump has spoken little about the recent escalation in the Middle East in his campaign, although when he does he has blamed Biden and Harris for the crisis.
Last week Trump said he believes Israel should strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, after Biden advised against such an attack.
