WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign on Sunday after fellow Democrats lost faith in his mental acuity and ability to beat Donald Trump, leaving the presidential race in uncharted territory.
Biden, in a post on X, said he will remain in his role as president and commander-in-chief until his term ends in January 2025 and will address the nation this week.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, 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,” Biden wrote.
By dropping his reelection bid, he clears the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to run at the top of the ticket, the first Black woman to do so in the country’s history.
Biden, 81, did not mention her when he announced his move.
It was unclear whether other senior Democrats would challenge Harris for the party’s nomination, who was widely seen as the pick for many party officials — or whether the party itself would choose to open the field for nominations.
Biden’s announcement follows a wave of public and private pressure from Democratic lawmakers and party officials to quit the race after his shockingly poor performance in a televised debate last month against Republican rival Donald Trump.
Biden, 81, pulls out of US presidential race, will serve out term
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Biden, 81, pulls out of US presidential race, will serve out term
- By dropping his reelection bid, Biden clears the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to run at the top of the ticket
- It was unclear whether other senior Democrats would challenge Harris, seen as pick for many, for party’s nomination
Man jailed for 9 years for setting fire to asylum seekers’ hotel in UK anti-Muslim riots
- The hotel was targeted by around 400 people during days of rioting involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks
- Thomas Birley, 27, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life
Thomas Birley, 27, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life after he stoked a fire in a bin by an entranceway to a hotel near Rotherham in northern England on Aug. 4.
Prosecutor Alisha Kaye said Birley added wood to an already-flaming industrial bin, which had been placed in front of a fire door of the hotel while staff and guests sheltered inside.
Birley, who had also pleaded guilty to violent disorder and possessing an offensive weapon, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court by Judge Jeremy Richardson, who said Birley’s actions were “suffused with racism from beginning to end.”
The hotel was targeted by around 400 people during days of rioting involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks, which followed the killings of three young girls in the northern English town of Southport on July 29.
The attack was initially blamed on an Islamist migrant, false claims based on online misinformation. An 18-year-old, Axel Rudakubana who was born in Cardiff, has been charged.
A protest in Southport the day after the killings turned violent and riots spread across the country in unrest not seen in Britain since 2011, when the fatal shooting of a Black man by police triggered several days of street violence.
Police and prosecutors have responded rapidly, with roughly 1,300 people having been arrested and around 200 people jailed – one for as long as six years’ imprisonment for violent disorder.
Others have been charged for inciting racial or religious hatred online.
Japan’s Kishida, South Korea’s Yoon call to sustain momentum in improved ties
- Relations between the two staunch US regional allies had sunk to their lowest level in decades
- Fumio Kishida emphasized the need to continue efforts to advance bilateral ties
SEOUL: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called on Friday at a summit in Seoul to keep up the momentum behind an improvement in relations, which will be tested by imminent changes of leaders in Tokyo and Washington.
Kishida’s final, whirlwind trip to his neighbor as prime minister came as the two leaders seek to seal their newfound partnership after orchestrating an about-face in ties, prodded by US President Joe Biden.
Relations between the two staunch US regional allies had sunk to their lowest level in decades amid acrimonious diplomatic and trade disputes over Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
Kishida emphasized the need to continue efforts to advance bilateral ties, once again expressing sympathy for Koreans who suffered during Japanese colonial rule.
“There is a lot of history ... but it is very important to inherit the efforts of our predecessors who overcame difficult times, and cooperate toward the future,” Kishida told Yoon at the meeting.
“I’ve also said here in Seoul that I feel heartbroken that so many people have had such difficult, sad experiences in such difficult circumstances,” he added, referring to his earlier comments during a visit last year.
Yoon also called for sustaining the positive momentum of cooperation built by the leaders, saying next year could provide “a turning point” for the relationship to take a leap forward marking its 60th anniversary.
“There are still difficult issues remaining in Korea-Japan relations. I hope that both sides will continue to work together with a forward-looking attitude so that we can continue to take steps toward a brighter future.”
The two welcomed the signing of an agreement to facilitate the evacuation of each other’s citizens from an emergency in a third country, which Kishida called a symbol of growing trust.
They also agreed to work together to simplify immigration procedures for travelers, and ensure that North Korea cannot utilize Russia’s backing to stage more provocations, according to Yoon’s deputy national security adviser, Kim Tae-hyo.
Kishida has announced he will step down this month and Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party will hold elections on Sept. 27 to choose his successor.
He is due to return to Tokyo on Saturday after dining with Yoon on Friday night, their offices said.
LOOMING ELECTION UNCERTAINTY
Yoon has made it a diplomatic priority to mend ties with Tokyo and improve security cooperation including with Washington to tackle North Korea’s military threats, which led to a historic trilateral summit at Camp David last year.
Ahead of looming elections in Japan and the US, however, there is a lingering question whether the Asian neighbors can maintain the kind of genuine rapprochement that will put their historic woes behind with new leaders in place.
Kishida told Yoon that the importance of bilateral ties would not change regardless of who succeeded him and pledged to help maintain the momentum even after leaving office, Kim said.
Washington is confident Kishida’s successor will be as committed to continuing the renewed alliance and that “all of these projects we’ve been working on together are going to continue at pace under new leadership” said Mira Rapp-Hooper, a senior official at the White House National Security Council.
“Both Prime Minister Kishida and President Yoon took on a great deal of personal risk and political risk to move forward the warming of their bilateral ties in ways that prior governments just hadn’t been able to accomplish.”
Kim Hyoung-zhin, a former South Korean deputy foreign minister, said Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took a more hands-off approach toward the partnership with Seoul and Tokyo when in office, while his Democratic rival Kamala Harris would likely keep Biden’s course if elected.
Pope arrives in Papua New Guinea for the second leg of his Southeast Asia and Oceania trip
- A cannon salute and marching band greeted the pope on the tarmac of the Port Moresby airport
- The country has more than 800 Indigenous languages and has been riven by tribal conflicts over land for centuries
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea: Pope Francis arrived in Papua New Guinea on Friday for the second leg of his four-nation trip through Southeast Asia and Oceania, becoming the second pope to visit the poor, strategically important South Pacific nation.
A cannon salute and marching band greeted the 87-year-old pope on the tarmac of the Port Moresby airport as he arrived after a six-hour flight from Jakarta, Indonesia. During the brief welcome ceremony the pope momentarily lost his balance while maneuvering from his wheelchair to a chair, but his security guards steadied him.
The packed three-day Indonesia visit culminated with a jubilant Mass on Thursday afternoon before a crowd that filled two sports stadiums and overflowed into a parking lot.
“Don’t tire of dreaming and of building a civilization of peace,” Francis urged them in an ad-libbed homily. “Be builders of hope. Be builders of peace.”
The Vatican had originally expected the Mass would draw some 60,000 people, and Indonesian authorities had predicted 80,000. But the Vatican spokesman quoted local organizers as saying more than 100,000 attended.
“I feel very lucky compared to other people who can’t come here or even had the intention to come here,” said Vienna Frances Florensius Basol, who came with her husband and a group of 40 people from Sabah, Malaysia, but couldn’t get into the stadium.
“Even though we are outside with other Indonesians, seeing the screen, I think I am lucky enough,” she said from a parking lot where a giant TV screen was erected for anyone who didn’t have tickets for the service.
While in Indonesia, Francis sought to encourage the country’s 8.9 million Catholics, who make up just 3 percent of the population of 275 million, while also seeking to boost interfaith ties with the country boasting the world’s largest Muslim population.
In the highlight of the visit, Francis and the grand imam of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, Southeast Asia’s largest, signed a joint declaration pledging to work to end religiously inspired violence and protect the environment.
In Papua New Guinea, Francis’ agenda is aligned with more of his social justice priorities. The poor, strategically important South Pacific nation is home to more than 10 million people, most of whom are subsistence farmers.
John Lavu, the choir conductor at St. Charles Luwanga parish in the capital, Port Moresby, said the visit would help him grow stronger in his Catholic faith.
“I have lived this faith all my life, but the coming of the Holy Father, the head of the church, to Papua New Guinea and to be a witness of his coming to us is going to be very important for me in my life as a Catholic,” he said on the eve of Francis’ arrival.
Francis will be traveling to remote Vanimo to check in on some Catholic missionaries from his native Argentina who are trying to spread the Catholic faith to a largely tribal people who also practice pagan and Indigenous traditions.
The country, the South Pacific’s most populous after Australia, has more than 800 Indigenous languages and has been riven by tribal conflicts over land for centuries, with conflicts becoming more and more lethal in recent decades.
History’s first Latin American pope will likely refer to the need to find harmony among tribal groups while visiting, the Vatican said. Another possible theme is the country’s fragile ecosystem, its rich natural resources at risk of exploitation and the threat posed by climate change.
The Papua New Guinean government has blamed extraordinary rainfall for a massive landslide in May that buried a village in Enga province. The government said more than 2,000 people were killed, while the United Nations estimated the death toll at 670.
Francis becomes only the second pope to visit Papua New Guinea, after St. John Paul II touched down in 1984 during one of his lengthy, globetrotting voyages. Then, John Paul paid tribute to the Catholic missionaries who had already been trying for a century to bring the faith to the country.
Papua New Guinea, a Commonwealth nation that was a colony of nearby Australia until independence in 1975, is the second leg of Francis’ four-nation trip. In the longest and farthest voyage of his papacy, Francis will also visit East Timor and Singapore before returning to the Vatican on Sept. 13.
Philippines’ deported ex-mayor Alice Guo arrives home from Indonesia
- Alice Guo, also known as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, was arrested by Indonesian authorities on Wednesday
- Guo, who says she is a natural-born Philippine citizen, has denied the accusations, calling them malicious
MANILA: Former Philippines mayor Alice Guo, accused of ties to Chinese criminal syndicates and laundering more than 100 million pesos ($1.79 million), arrived in Manila early on Friday after being deported from Indonesia.
Guo, also known as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, was arrested by Indonesian authorities on Wednesday after leaving the Philippines in July. She is wanted by the Philippine Senate for refusing to appear before a congressional investigation into her alleged criminal ties.
Philippine law enforcement agencies, including the anti-money laundering council (AMLC), have filed several counts of money laundering against Guo and 35 others with the justice department.
Guo, who says she is a natural-born Philippine citizen, has denied the accusations, calling them malicious. She was deported from Indonesia for violating immigration laws, Jakarta’s immigration office said on Thursday.
The former mayor arrived in Manila on a private plane flanked by Philippine law enforcement authorities, including the country’s interior minister, Benjamin Abalos Jr., who led her handover from Indonesian authorities in Jakarta on Thursday.
“I have received death threats and I am asking for the help (of Philippine authorities),” Guo told a press briefing shortly after her arrival in Manila.
Abalos committed to provide security for Guo, but urged her to disclose the truth. “Disclose all the names in order to serve justice and so all this ends. That is the only way we can help her,” he said.
The Senate launched an investigation into Guo in May after a raid in March by law enforcers on a casino in Bamban town, where she was mayor, uncovered what they said were scams run from a facility built on land Guo partly owned.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged Guo on Friday to disclose how these offshore gaming operators, locally known as POGOs, had branched out into crime. Marcos banned the online gambling industry in July.
“It will not help her at all to be evasive,” Marcos told reporters. Guo is set to appear before the Senate on Monday when it resumes its investigation.
Guo became mayor of Bamban town in Tarlac province in the northern Philippines in 2022. She ran as a Filipino citizen but her fingerprints were later found to match those of a Chinese national, Guo Hua Ping, the National Bureau of Investigation said in August.
In August an anti-graft office removed her as mayor on the grounds of grave misconduct over her alleged ties to illegal gaming operations in Bamban.
China stops foreign adoptions of its children after three decades
- More than 160,000 Chinese children have been adopted by families across the world since 1992
- It was not immediately clear what would happen to families who were in the process of adopting children from China
HONG KONG: China will no longer send children overseas for adoption, the government said, overturning a more than three-decade rule that was rooted in its once strict one-child policy.
More than 160,000 Chinese children have been adopted by families across the world since 1992, when China first opened its doors to international adoption.
Around 82,000 of these children, mostly girls, have been adopted in the United States, according to China’s Children International (CCI).
On Thursday, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning said the Chinese government had adjusted its cross-border adoption policy to be “in line” with international trends.
“Apart from the adoption of a child or stepchild of blood relatives of the same generation who are within three generations of foreigners coming to China to adopt, China will not send children abroad for adoption,” Mao said.
“We express our appreciation to those foreign governments and families, who wish to adopt Chinese children, for their good intention and the love and kindness they have shown,” she added.
It was not immediately clear what would happen to families who were in the process of adopting children from China.
The rule change comes as Chinese policymakers struggle to encourage young couples to get married and have children after the population fell for two consecutive years.
China has one of the lowest birth rates globally and has been trying to incentivise young women to have children. Many, however, have been put off by the high cost of childcare, worries over job security and their future outlook as growth in the world’s second largest economy slows.
China implemented a rigorous one-child policy from 1979-2015 to reduce its population. When families were restricted to having only one child, many opted to keep male children, who are traditionally expected to be the main caregivers for their families, and give up females for adoption.
China’s move to halt international adoptions comes after the Netherlands in May banned its citizens from adopting children from foreign countries. In Denmark, people will no longer be able to adopt children from abroad after the only adoption agency said it was stopping operations.
