WASHINGTON DC: President Joe Biden’s ability to run for reelection faced crucial tests Thursday as he prepared for questions at a highly anticipated press conference and his team met privately with skeptical senators on Capitol Hill. The outreach came even as more House Democrats called for him to exit the race.
The Biden campaign laid out what it sees as its path to keeping the White House in a new memo, saying that winning the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan is the “clearest pathway” to victory. And it declared no other Democrat would do better against Republican Donald Trump. Biden will head to Detroit on Friday.
It all comes as Democrats are facing an intractable problem. Top donors, supporters and key lawmakers are doubtful of Biden’s abilities to carry on his reelection bid after his recent debate performance, but the hard-fighting 81-year-old president refuses to give up as he prepares to take on Trump in a rematch.
“There is also no indication that anyone else would outperform the president vs. Trump,” said the memo from campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez that was obtained by The Associated Press.
The memo sought to brush back “hypothetical polling of alternative nominees ” as unreliable and it said such surveys “do not take into account the negative media environment that any Democratic nominee will encounter.”
Meanwhile, the campaign has been quietly surveying voters on Vice President Kamala Harris to determine how she’s viewed among the electorate, according to two people with knowledge of the campaign who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to talk about internal matters.
The people said the polling was not necessarily to show that she could be the nominee in Biden’s place, but rather to better understand how she’s viewed, particularly as Trump steps up his attacks against her. The survey was first reported by The New York Times.
Thursday is pivotal. Biden must show skeptics during his whirlwind day with world leaders at NATO, and the evening press conference that he is up for another four years. Voters are watching, and elected officials are deciding whether to press for another choice.
As the day unfolded, Rep. Hillary Scholten, whose district is in the battleground state of Michigan, and Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois became the 11th and 12th Democrats in Congress to call on Biden to step out of the race.
Scholten, a first-term Democrat, told The Detroit News that people can’t “unsee” Biden’s terrible debate performance and said in a statement that “it’s time to pass the torch.”
Top leaders in Congress have largely kept quiet as they meet privately with other lawmakers. But House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi opened the door this week to a continued conversation about Biden’s political future when she publicly said “it’s up to the president” to decide what to do — even though Biden had already emphatically told Congress he was staying in the race.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said talks among lawmakers are “candid, comprehensive and clear-eyed” as they discuss the path ahead.
Jeffries, who supports Biden and the Democratic ticket, said House and Senate Democrats remain unified on the agenda ahead that includes growing the middle class, fighting for reproductive rights and pushing back against Trump and the far-right Project 2025 agenda.
While Biden has expressed confidence in his chances, his campaign on Thursday acknowledged he is behind, and a growing number of the president’s aides in the White House and the campaign privately harbor doubts that the president can turn things around.
But they’re taking their cues from Biden, expressing that he is in 100 percent unless and until he isn’t, and there appears to be no organized internal effort to persuade the president to step aside. His allies were well aware heading into the week there would be more calls for him to step down, and they were prepared for it.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer invited Biden’s team to meet with senators privately at the lunch hour to discuss concerns and the path forward, but some senators groused they would prefer to hear from the president himself.
One Democrat, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, said afterward, “My feeling is still the same. And this is not a reflection on that meeting. My belief is that the president can win, but he’s got to be able to go out and answer voters’ concerns. He’s got to be able to talk to voters directly over the next few day.”
The fresh emphasis on the “blue wall” states by the campaign, which has heavily invested in other battlegrounds such as Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia, acknowledges that the path to defeating Trump in November is narrowing, even as the team insists the Sun Belt states are “not out of reach.”
Though senior campaign aides write in the memo that Biden could clinch 270 electoral votes in a number of ways, it also says those three states are critical and that is why Biden has prioritized the areas in his recent travels. including the upcoming trip to Michigan. He went to Madison, Wisconsin; Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania over the weekend.
It acknowledges “real” movement in the race, but argues that it was not a “sea change.”
Campaign leaders say they want to continue touting Biden’s achievements in office, drawing a contrast with Trump and his policies, and redoubling their grassroots efforts to engage voters — which were their goals anyway before the disastrous June 27 debate that left in question Biden’s cognitive capabilities and fitness to serve. Their internal research suggests that voters will make their decisions based on policies and issues, rather than Biden’s age, O’Malley Dillon and Rodriguez contend.
“What has changed following the debate is that the urgency and discipline with which we need to pursue them has kicked into high gear,” O’Malley Dillon and Rodriguez wrote. “We believe if we follow the roadmap below, we will win.”
It’s all part of a mounting effort from the president, who insists he is not stepping aside, and his allies to stop a potential flood of defections and end the turmoil tearing the party apart.
Polls conducted after the debate have largely agreed that Democrats nationwide have doubts about Biden’s ability to lead the ticket in November.
More than half of Democrats, 56 percent, in a recent Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll said that given Biden’s debate performance, he should step aside and let someone else run. But the Biden campaign points to this same poll to argue that despite the “increased anxiety” after the debate, his performance was not leading to a “drastic shift in vote share.”
More than half of Democratic voters in a CNN/SSRS poll said the party has a better chance of winning the presidency in November with a different candidate. And around 6 in 10 voters, including about one-quarter of Democrats, said that reelecting Biden as president this November would be a risky choice for the country rather than a safe one, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll.
Biden confronts crucial day in campaign, as team says no Democrat would do better
https://arab.news/zu3qk
Biden confronts crucial day in campaign, as team says no Democrat would do better
- Any missteps by Biden could turn the trickle of Democrats who have so far urged him to abandon his 2024 election bid into a flood
- His recent appearances have been joint appearances with foreign leaders restricted to two questions each
How a Muslim woman from Sulu made history as a Philippine Air Force pilot
- Rosemawattee Remo has flown more than 2,000 hours on critical missions
- She currently serves as deputy wing commander in 410th Maintenance Wing
CLARK AIR BASE, PAMPANGA: In 1998, when she sat in the cockpit for the first time, Rosemawattee Remo was not just fulfilling her dream — she was also making history by becoming the first female Muslim pilot in the Philippine Air Force.
Born and raised in Sulu, in the predominantly Muslim southern Philippines, Remo grew up in a traditional household where male and female roles were clearly defined.
Her decision to join the military, travel some 1,000 km away from home and fly aircraft was not initially welcomed.
“My father was a (school) principal then and he wanted me to follow in his footsteps,” she told Arab News.
“The day before my departure to Manila, I told him that I had a scheduled flight and he told me: ‘You’re way ahead of your brothers ... we’re still alive and you’re already making decisions on your own.’”
But she did not feel discouraged: “Those words keep ringing in my ears every time I’m at my lowest,” she said. “(They remind me) that I can’t give up.”
Holding the rank of colonel and currently serving as deputy wing commander of the PAF’s 410th Maintenance Wing, Remo started her military career in 1992 with the Women’s Auxiliary Corps under the Armed Forces. A year later, she enrolled in the Officer Candidate School.
Her graduation in 1994 coincided with the implementation of a landmark law that for the first time allowed women to hold combat and leadership roles in the army, navy, air force and police — positions previously exclusively for men.
“We were nearing our graduation. We were told to draw lots and, fortunately, I took the Philippine Air Force,” Remo said.
Four years later, she started her training as a pilot and soon specialized in helicopter rescue missions. Assigned to the PAF 505th Search and Rescue Group, she flew Bell 205 and Huey helicopters for disaster response and served as a co-pilot aboard a larger Sikorsky or Black Hawk for military transport and relief missions.
Married to a fellow PAF pilot, she has three children and has always found ways to balance her military service with motherhood — and even make them complement each other.
In the aftermath of deadly Typhoon Frank in 2008, when she flew relief operations in Central Mindanao in conditions suitable for flight, she had two major motivations that kept her going: the distressed people on the ground suddenly filling with hope as they heard the chugging sound of helicopter blades, and her own kids waiting for her at home.
“I always brought them along with me in the deployment area, so every time I got out of the aircraft I saw my kids waiting for me,” she said. “I needed to go back home right after the mission ... I had to do everything to survive.”
Col. Remo has flown more than 2,000 hours on critical missions — search and rescue, relief, rehabilitation. She also took part in skydiving exhibitions between 1999 and 2014.
The first Filipino Muslim woman in such a role, she tries not to see her achievements as anything extraordinary.
“I always keep my feet grounded,” she said. “If you have a dream, then you have to persevere and find ways to attain (it).”
EU lawmakers reject attempt to curb far right’s sway on climate talks
- A Patriots spokesperson said the group would not prioritize trying to meet a September deadline for countries to submit new climate targets to the United Nations
- Green lawmakers said they feared the target would now be watered down or face long delays
BRUSSELS: The European Parliament on Wednesday rejected a proposal to fast-track talks on the EU’s new climate target, scuttling a move by liberal, socialist and green lawmakers to try to limit the influence of climate skeptic lawmakers on the goal.
The far-right Patriots of Europe group, which rejects EU policies to curb climate change, on Tuesday took on the role of lead negotiators for the 2040 climate target, seeking to steer talks on the goal, which the group said it firmly opposed.
Lawmakers rebuffed a proposal on Wednesday to fast-track the negotiations, which would have skipped stages where the Patriots could exert most influence, and limited their ability to set the timings for negotiations.
A total of 379 lawmakers rejected the plan to accelerate the talks, versus 300 in favor and eight abstentions.
The vote puts the Patriots firmly in the lead for the parliament as it negotiates the final 2040 climate target with EU member countries. The Patriots will now draft an initial negotiating proposal for the parliament.
A Patriots spokesperson said the group would not prioritize trying to meet a September deadline for countries to submit new climate targets to the United Nations.
“What truly matters is achieving a deal that delivers real benefits for our citizens. Patriots have never negotiated under pressure like traders in a marketplace,” the spokesperson said.
The Patriots are the third-biggest lawmaker group in the EU Parliament and the group includes the political parties of France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The Patriots secured the lead negotiating role in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday by outbidding the parliament’s biggest group, the center-right European People’s Party, EU officials told Reuters.
Green lawmakers said they feared the target would now be watered down or face long delays. “There is an acute danger that the European Union’s climate target will be buried,” said German EU lawmaker Michael Bloss.
The attempt to fast-track the talks failed because it was not supported by the EPP — the party of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Dutch EPP EU lawmaker Jeroen Lenaers said the group did not deem the fast-track procedure necessary, and wanted to “improve” the Commission’s proposed target to cut emissions 90 percent by 2040, without specifying further.
Some EPP lawmakers have said a 90 percent target is too ambitious. Governments from Italy to Poland have pushed back this year on ambitious emissions-cutting goals, citing concerns over the costs for industries.
Palestinian family in Gaza ask UK court for help to join relative
- Family of six have been granted leave to join relative in UK
- Lawyers say three children fired upon when accessing aid
LONDON: A Palestinian family of six who are stuck in Gaza despite having permission to join a relative in Britain asked London’s High Court on Wednesday to make officials reconsider their refusal to ask Israel for help to leave the enclave.
Lawyers representing a Palestinian couple and their four children said the family were given leave to enter the United Kingdom to join the family member, who is a British citizen.
A London tribunal ruled earlier this year that the family should be permitted to enter the UK, in a decision which was publicly criticized by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and opposition leader Kemi Badenoch in February.
But the family’s lawyers say Britain’s foreign ministry is refusing to provide assistance because it will not ask Israel whether the family can leave Gaza to provide the biometric data needed to travel to Britain, as there is no operating visa center in Gaza.
Tim Owen, a lawyer representing the family, said they were asking the High Court to order the foreign office to reconsider its decision.
Owen said in court filings that three of the family’s four children had recently been fired upon when attempting to access aid, with one of the children also having been struck in the wrist by shrapnel from a tank shell.
He told the court that there was a “consular-level process which has been established by Israel” in order to evacuate people from Gaza, but that the foreign office “have not even made the request.”
The foreign office, however, says evacuating citizens from Gaza is incredibly complex and that Britain can only offer support in exceptional circumstances.
The department’s lawyer Julian Milford told the court that the foreign office was aware of 10 people in Gaza with unconditional leave to enter Britain and a further 28 with permission, subject to biometric checks.
Milford cited evidence from a department official urging caution over the “expenditure of political and diplomatic capital with Israel and others” in relation to such cases.
The family’s lawyers say they were, like nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million population, displaced by the conflict which began with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory war has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s health ministry says, and reduced much of Gaza to rubble. (Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Alison Williams)
He just wanted to play football: A family mourns a 15-year-old as Togo cracks down on protests
- Jacques Koami Koutoglo is one of several people who died during mass protests in the West African nation against constitutional changes that many fear will cement President Faure Gnassingbé’s grip on power
LOME: The family courtyard where Jacques Koami Koutoglo used to play football with his cousins in a working-class neighborhood in Togo ‘s capital now sits silent. The ball he once kicked around lies deflated beside a bundle of firewood.
“Jacques died for Togo,” his uncle, Koutoglo Kossi Mawuli, said quietly, eyes heavy with grief.
The 15-year-old is one of several people who died during mass protests in the West African nation against constitutional changes that many fear will cement President Faure Gnassingbé’s grip on power — and lengthen a ruling dynasty that has lasted over half a century.
The 59-year-old Gnassingbé, who has ruled since 2005 after his father’s death, was sworn in as president of the Council of Ministers in May. The executive body was created last year with little notice by a parliament whose term had just expired, and Gnassingbé swiftly signed off on the constitutional change despite public outcry. The new role has no term limits, and Gnassingbé can stay on indefinitely.
Local civil society groups and social media influencers had called for protests last month after the government announced a clampdown on demonstrations. Many young Togolese are drawing inspiration from recent uprisings across West Africa, where youth movements challenged entrenched regimes.
Koutoglo had just completed secondary school and was eagerly waiting for exam results. He had dreams of becoming a footballer and spent evenings practicing his moves. He often helped at his uncle’s cafeteria during school breaks.
On the morning of June 26, the day of the protests, he vanished.
“Since our family compound is large and full of cousins, we assumed he was with someone else,” Mawuli said. But when evening came and the boy hadn’t returned, unease turned into panic.
The next day, a fisherman discovered a body floating in the lagoon a hundred meters (yards) from their home. The family rushed to the scene. It was Koutoglo. His face was bruised, and blood had streamed from his nose.
“He didn’t go to any rally,” Mawuli said. “He must have panicked when he heard the tear gas and gunshots. He got caught up in the chaos.”
Civil society groups say at least five people, including Koutoglo, died during the demonstrations and dozens were injured, and accuse security forces of making arbitrary arrests, assaulting civilians with batons and ropes, and looting or vandalizing private property.
In Koutoglo’s neighborhood of Bè, a densely populated and historically restive part of Lomé, witnesses described security forces chasing down youth, even into private homes.
“They came into our courtyard. They fired gas. They beat people,” said a neighbor who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Koutoglo was buried swiftly, in line with local customs for those who die violently. The other victims were taken to the morgue.
Koutoglo’s uncle said the family intends to press charges and demand an independent investigation into his nephew’s death.
“You can’t just beat our children to death and expect us to be silent. We are tired,” he said.
Civil society groups said the justice system has made no arrests and has not requested an autopsy.
“These acts, marked by unspeakable cruelty, amount to a state crime. The perpetrators struck without restraint and killed without distinction,” they said in a statement.
In a statement read out on state television, Togo’s government acknowledged that bodies were recovered from the Bè lagoon and the Akodessewa lake but said the victims died from drowning. The government said there would be a further investigation.
Across Togo, Koutoglo’s name has joined a long list of young lives cut short during moments of national tension.
“This is not the first time,” Mawuli said. “Back in 2017, children died too. It’s like nothing ever changes. But this time, we refuse to stay quiet.”
In 2017 and 2018, mass protests challenged President Faure Gnassingbé’s long rule. A government crackdown left at least 16 dead, including teenagers.
To those still protesting, Mawuli sent a message of solidarity: “Don’t give up. This fight is for our children. For Jacques. For all of us.”
New protests are planned for July 16 and 17.
Fabien Offner, a researcher with Amnesty International, said Togo has a “repressive architecture” that has normalized arbitrary arrests, beatings and impunity.
“They’re routine now,” he said. “And the lack of global reaction only deepens the crisis.”
Government spokesman Gilbert Bawara defended the state’s approach. He told reporters the recent constitutional changes followed proper procedures, and dismissed allegations of systemic abuse.
“If there are grievances, let them be addressed through lawful channels,” he said.
But with opposition figures sidelined, institutions dominated by the ruling party and elections widely seen as flawed, critics say these channels offer little hope.
Russia attacks Ukraine with 700 drones after Trump vows to send more weapons
- Zelensky calls for for 'biting sanctions' on the sources of income Russia uses to finance the war
- Residents of Kyiv and other major cities spend night in air raid shelters
KYIV: Russia targeted Ukraine with a record 728 drones overnight, hours after US President Donald Trump pledged to send more defensive weapons to Kyiv and aimed unusually sharp criticism at Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The attack was the latest in a series of escalating air assaults in recent weeks that have involved hundreds of drones in addition to ballistic missiles, straining Ukrainian air defenses at a perilous moment in the war, now in its fourth year.
Kyiv’s military downed almost all the drones but some of the six hypersonic missiles launched by Russia had caused unspecified damage, air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on Ukrainian television.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will meet US envoy Keith Kellogg in Rome on Wednesday, said the strike showed the need for “biting sanctions” on the sources of income Russia uses to finance the war, including on those who buy Russian oil.
Trump said on Tuesday he was considering supporting a bill that would impose steep sanctions on Russia, including 500 percent tariffs on nations that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports.
“We get a lot of bull**** thrown at us by Putin ... He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting.
When asked by a reporter what action he would take against Putin, Trump said: “I wouldn’t tell you. We want to have a little surprise.”
Separately, Europe is working on a new sanctions package against Moscow.
Trump, who returned to power this year promising a swift end to the war in Ukraine, has taken a more conciliatory tone toward Moscow in a departure from the Biden administration’s staunch support for Kyiv.
But initial rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine to end the Kremlin’s February 2022 invasion have so far borne little fruit, with Moscow yet to accept an unconditional ceasefire proposed by Trump and accepted by Kyiv.
The US president’s promise to supply more defensive weapons appeared to reverse a Pentagon decision days earlier to stall some critical munitions supplies to Ukraine, despite increasing Russian attacks that have killed dozens in recent weeks.
Shortly after Wednesday’s attack, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that diplomatic means to resolve the war have been exhausted. He vowed to continue supporting Kyiv.
Following Trump’s new promise, Zelensky said on Tuesday he had ordered an expansion of contacts with the United States to ensure critical deliveries of military supplies, primarily air defense.
Residents of Kyiv and other major cities spent the night in air raid shelters including metro stations.
Part of Russia’s overnight strike was aimed at a western region close to NATO-member Poland. The northwestern city of Lutsk, some 200 km (125 miles) from Poland, was the main target, Zelensky said, listing 10 other provinces across Ukraine where damage was also reported.
Polish and allied aircraft were activated to ensure air safety, Poland’s military said.
In Lutsk, buildings were damaged but no deaths or injuries reported in what amounted to the biggest air strike of the war on the city of 200,000 people, regional authorities said.
A storage facility of a local enterprise and some parking structures were ablaze, said the city’s mayor, Ihor Polishchuk.
Ivan Rudnytskyi, governor of the Volyn region that includes Lutsk, said 50 Russian drones and five missiles were in the region’s airspace overnight.
