WASHINGTON: Kamala Harris’ campaign for US president has hired an Egyptian American lawyer and former Department of Homeland Security official to help lead outreach to Arab American voters who hold sway in some states that could help decide the Nov. 5 election, two sources told Reuters.
Brenda Abdelall would be tasked with shoring up support from a community frustrated with US support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Harris, a Democrat, has already hired Afghan American lawyer Nasrina Bargzie for outreach to Muslim Americans.
Harris’ campaign had no immediate comment on Abdelall’s hiring. Abdelall did not respond to a request for comment.
Harris is in a tight race with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Votes from Muslim and Arab Americans could help decide the outcome in battleground states like Michigan, which has seen street protests over the Israel-Gaza war.
US President Joe Biden won a large share of the Arab and Muslim vote in 2020, but his support for Israel despite the huge death toll in Gaza has frustrated many community members. They launched an “uncommitted” campaign against him in the Democratic nominating contests.
Michigan, where Harris is due to visit next week, is home to one of the largest Muslim and Arab American populations in the US More than 100,000 voters cast their ballot “uncommitted” instead of Biden in the state’s primary.
Some activists say they hold Harris responsible for the Biden administration’s Israel policy and the crisis in Gaza. Following last week’s Democratic convention, pro-Palestinian activists said Harris had failed to demonstrate any break from the status quo.
Abdelall, Harris’ pick for Arab American outreach, most recently served as senior counselor to the Department of Homeland Security’s secretary. She joined the agency in January, 2021, shortly after Trump left office, to be chief of staff for the department’s civil rights office.
Abdelall, who grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, previously ran a food blog and website focused on Middle Eastern cuisine. She has taught Middle Eastern cooking classes at a culinary school in northern Virginia.
The war in Gaza began after on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants stormed from the enclave into southern Israel, killing 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s Gaza campaign has since demolished swaths of the enclave, displaced nearly all its 2.3 million people multiple times, given rise to deadly hunger and disease and killed more than 40,500 people, Palestinian health officials say.
Harris’ campaign hires Egyptian American lawyer for Arab voter outreach
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Harris’ campaign hires Egyptian American lawyer for Arab voter outreach
- Brenda Abdelall would be tasked with shoring up support from a community frustrated with US support for Israel’s war in Gaza
Congo court sentences 3 Americans and 34 others to death on coup charges
- The defendants, including a Briton, Belgian and Canadian, took part in a botched coup attempt led by the little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga in May
- Malanga was fatally shot while resisting arrest soon after live-streaming the attack on his social media, according to the Congolese army
KINSHASA, Congo: A military court in Congo handed down death sentences Friday to 37 people, including three Americans, after convicting them on charges of participating in a coup attempt.
The defendants, most of them Congolese but also including a Briton, Belgian and Canadian, have five days to appeal the verdict on charges that include attempted coup, terrorism and criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial, which opened in June.
The open-air military court in the capital, Kinshasa, convicted the 37 defendants and imposed “the harshest penalty, that of death” in the verdict delivered in French by presiding judge Maj. Freddy Ehuma. The three Americans, wearing blue and yellow prison clothes and sitting in plastic chairs, appeared stoic as a translator explained their sentence.
Richard Bondo, the lawyer who defended the six foreigners, disputed whether the death penalty could currently be imposed in Congo, despite its reinstatement earlier this year, and said his clients had inadequate interpreters during the investigation of the case.
“We will challenge this decision on appeal,” Bondo said.
Six people were killed during the botched coup attempt led by the little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga in May that targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Malanga was fatally shot while resisting arrest soon after live-streaming the attack on his social media, the Congolese army said.
Malanga’s 21-year-old son Marcel Malanga, who is a US citizen, and two other Americans were convicted in the coup attempt. He told the court that his father had forced him and his high school friend to take part in the attack.
“Dad had threatened to kill us if we did not follow his orders,” Marcel Malanga said.
Other members of the ragtag militia recounted similar threats from the elder Malanga, and some described being duped into believing they were working for a volunteer organization.
Marcel’s mother, Brittney Sawyer, maintains that her son is innocent and was simply following his father, who considered himself president of a shadow government in exile. In the months since her son’s arrest, Sawyer has focused her energy on fundraising to send him money for food, hygiene products and a bed. He has been sleeping on the floor of his cell at the Ndolo military prison and is suffering from a liver disease, she said.
The other Americans are Tyler Thompson Jr., 21, who flew to Africa from Utah with the younger Malanga for what his family believed was a free vacation, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, 36, who is reported to have known Christian Malanga through a gold mining company. The company was set up in Mozambique in 2022, according to an official journal published by Mozambique’s government, and a report by the Africa Intelligence newsletter.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Friday that the federal government was aware of the verdict. The department has not declared the three Americans wrongfully detained, making it unlikely that US officials would try to negotiate their return.
“We understand that the legal process in the DRC allows for defendants to appeal the court’s decision,” Miller said. “Embassy staff have been attending these proceedings as they’ve gone through the process. We continue to attend the proceedings and follow the developments closely.”
Thompson had been invited on an Africa trip by the younger Malanga, his former high school football teammate in a Salt Lake City suburb. But the itinerary might have included more than sightseeing. Other teammates alleged that Marcel had offered up to $100,000 to join him on a “security job” in Congo, and they said he seemed desperate to bring along an American friend.
Thompson’s family maintains he had no knowledge of the elder Malanga’s intentions, no plans for political activism and didn’t even plan to enter Congo. He and the Malangas were meant to travel only to South Africa and Eswatini, his stepmother, Miranda Thompson, told The Associated Press.
The Thompsons’ lawyer in Utah, Skye Lazaro, said the family is heartbroken over the verdict.
“We urge all who have supported Tyler and the family throughout this process to write to your congressmen and request their assistance in bringing him home,” Lazaro said.
Utah’s US Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee have not publicly urged the US government to advocate for the Americans’ release.
“My thoughts are with the families during this difficult time,” Lee told the AP on Friday. “We will continue to work with the State Department to receive updates on this case.”
“This is an extremely difficult and frightening situation for the families involved,” Romney spokesperson Dilan Maxfield said. “Our office has consistently engaged with the State Department and will continue to do so.”
Last month, the military prosecutor, Lt. Col. Innocent Radjabu, called on the judge to sentence all of the defendants to death, except for one who suffers from “psychological problems.”
Congo reinstated the death penalty earlier this year, lifting a more than two-decade-old moratorium, as authorities struggle to curb violence and militant attacks in the country. The country’s penal code allows the president to designate the method of execution. Past executions of militants in Congo have been carried out by firing squad.
From ‘Sleepy Joe’ to ‘Comrade Kamala,’ Republicans sharpen their tone
- Trump and his surrogates have portrayed Harris as far more radical than Biden, applying the labels “left” and “radical” to her twice as often as they did to him
PARIS: A “Marxist” and a “radical” who wants to “destroy” America: as Democrats rally around the candidacy of Kamala Harris, Republicans have begun employing significantly more negative and aggressive rhetoric than they had against Joe Biden.
An AFP analysis of the language used in nearly 120 hours of televised speeches and remarks by both parties’ candidates and their surrogates, from May 1 to September 1, reveals the strategies Republicans have adopted to undermine the Democratic candidate’s credibility.
After dismissing President Biden as “crooked,” “bad” and “sleepy,” Trump and his supporters now mock Harris as a “border czar,” for what they say is her badly failed work in curbing undocumented migration to the United States.
That nickname has popped up 80 times in rallies — once every 14 times the former California senator’s name is mentioned.
Republicans have repeatedly accused Harris of an “open border” policy, which they say allows “millions of illegal aliens” to flood into the country.
The negative rhetoric is much more prominent now — 30 percent more — than it was against Biden before he dropped out of the race on July 21. Trump supporters appearing on television associate her with negative words like “crime,” “destroy,” “suffer” and “bad.”
At the same time, Democrats have been using much more positive, enthusiastic language since Harris succeeded Biden as the Democrats’ flag-bearer, with words like “freedom,” “joy,” “win” and “care” being used 30 percent more often on talk shows and 70 percent more in rallies.
Trump and his surrogates have portrayed Harris as far more radical than Biden, applying the labels “left” and “radical” to her twice as often as they did to him.
And since July 21, their use of the term “liberal” in describing Harris has exploded — used eight times more in rallies and six times more in talk shows — while adjectives like “socialist” and “Marxist,” rarely applied to Biden, have become commonplace in Republicans’ vocabulary.
In the United States, the “Red Scare” — fear of subversion by far-left elements, including immigrants — hit its peak in the early 1950s. But years after the Cold War ended, any hint of communist sympathies remains anathema among US politicians.
This, presumably, was behind Trump finally settling on “Comrade Kamala” as his favored nickname for his Democratic rival — he has used that term at least 30 times in his rallies.
Through the entirety of Republican remarks analyzed by AFP, “Comrade” and the name of the vice president represent the seventh-most common pairing of words.
The two words most frequently linked, not surprisingly, are “Biden” and “Harris,” as Republicans seek to leverage Biden’s unpopularity — even after he dropped out of the race. The president’s name comes up every five or six times that Harris is mentioned.
By comparison, Democrats are only half as likely to link the names of Biden and their new candidate.
They describe Harris with words including “leader” and “ready” — ready to be president, that is.
Also among the top 20 terms used to describe her are “fight,” “freedom” and “believe” — reflecting the renewed sense of hope that her rapid ascension has brought to many Democrats.
Striking Boeing factory workers say they are ready to hold out for a better contract
- The workers rejected a proposed contract that would have raised their wages by 25 percent over four years
- The union said offer fell short of its initial demand for pay raises of 40 percent over three years, plus other benefits
- Boeing stock fell 3.7 percent Friday, bringing its decline for the year to nearly 40 percent
SEATTLE, US: Blue-collar workers from Boeing walked picket lines in the Pacific Northwest instead of building airplanes on Friday after they overwhelmingly rejected a proposed contract that would have raised their wages by 25 percent over four years.
The strike by 33,000 machinists will not disrupt airline flights anytime soon, but it is expected to shut down production of Boeing’s best-selling jetliners, marking yet another setback for a company already dealing with billions of dollars in financial losses and a damaged reputation.
The company said it was taking steps to conserve cash while its CEO looks for ways to come up with a contract that the unionized factory workers will accept.
Late Friday, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service said it would convene new talks early next week.
“FMCS has been in contact with both IAM and Boeing to support their return to the negotiation table and commends the parties on their willingness to meet and work toward a mutually acceptable resolution,” the agency said in a statement.
Boeing stock fell 3.7 percent Friday, bringing its decline for the year to nearly 40 percent.
The strike started soon after a regional branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers reported that in a Thursday vote, 94.6 percent of participating members rejected a contract offer that the union’s own bargaining committee had endorsed, and 96 percent voted to strike.
Shortly after midnight, striking workers stood outside the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, with signs reading, “Have you seen the damn housing prices?” Car horns honked and a boom box played songs including Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do.”
Many of the workers who spoke to reporters said they considered the wage offer inadequate given how much the cost of living has increase in the Pacific Northwest. John Olson said his pay had increased just 2 percent during his six years at Boeing.
“The last contract we negotiated was 16 years ago, and the company is basing the wage increases off of wages from 16 years ago,” the 45-year-old toolmaker said. “They don’t even keep up with the cost of inflation.”
Others said they were unhappy about the company’s decision to change the criteria used to calculate annual bonuses.
The machinists make $75,608 per year on average, not counting overtime, and that would have risen to $106,350 by the end of the proposed four-year contract, according to Boeing.
Under the rejected contract, workers would have received $3,000 lump sum payments and a reduced share of health care costs in addition to pay raises. Boeing also met a key union demand by promising to build its next new plane in Washington state.
However, the offer fell short of the union’s initial demand for pay raises of 40 percent over three years. The union also wanted to restore traditional pensions that were axed a decade ago but settled for an increase in new Boeing contributions to employee 401(k) retirement accounts of up to $4,160 per worker.
The head of the union local, IAM District 751 President Jon Holden, said the union would survey members to find out which issues they want to stress when negotiations resume. Boeing responded to the strike announcement by saying it was “ready to get back to the table to reach a new agreement.”
“The message was clear that the tentative agreement we reached with IAM leadership was not acceptable to the members. We remain committed to resetting our relationship with our employees and the union,” the company said in a statement.
Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West, speaking Friday at an investor conference in California, said the company was disappointed that it had a deal with union leadership, only to see it rejected by rank-and-file workers.
During the strike, Boeing will lose an important source of cash: Airlines pay most of the purchase price when they take delivery of a new plane. West said Boeing — which has about $60 billion in total debt — is now looking at ways to conserve cash. He declined to estimate the financial impact of the strike, saying it would depend on how long the walkout lasts.
Before the strike, new CEO Kelly Ortberg gathered feedback from workers during visits to factory floors, and he “is already at work to get an agreement that meets and addresses their concerns,” West said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden administration officials have contacted Boeing and the union.
“We believe that they need to negotiate in good faith and work toward an agreement that gives employees benefits that they deserve. It would make the company stronger as well,” she said.
Very little has gone right for Boeing this year, from a panel blowing out and leaving a gaping hole in one of its passenger jets in January to NASA leaving two astronauts in space rather sending them home on a problem-plagued Boeing spacecraft.
The striking machinists assemble the 737 Max, Boeing’s best-selling airliner, along with the 777 jet and the 767 cargo plane. The walkout likely will not stop production of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which are built by nonunion workers in South Carolina.
The strike is another challenge for Ortberg, who just six weeks ago was given the job of turning around a company that has lost more than $25 billion in the last six years and fallen behind European rival Airbus.
Ortberg made a last-ditch effort to salvage a deal that had unanimous backing from the union’s negotiators. He told machinists Wednesday that “no one wins” in a walkout and a strike would put Boeing’s recovery in jeopardy and raise more doubt about the company in the eyes of its airline customers.
“For Boeing, it is no secret that our business is in a difficult period, in part due to our own mistakes in the past,” he said. “Working together, I know that we can get back on track, but a strike would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together.”
Ortberg faced a difficult position, according to union leader Holden, because machinists were bitter about stagnant wages and concessions they have made since 2008 on pensions and health care to prevent the company from moving jobs elsewhere.
“This is about respect, this is about the past, and this is about fighting for our future,” Holden said in announcing the strike.
The suspension of airplane production could prove costly for beleaguered Boeing, depending on how long it runs. The last Boeing strike, in 2008, lasted eight weeks and cost the company about $100 million daily in deferred revenue. A 1995 strike lasted 10 weeks.
Before the tentative agreement was announced Sunday, Jefferies aerospace analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu estimated a strike would cost the company about $3 billion based on the 2008 strike plus inflation and current airplane-production rates.
A.J. Jones, a quality inspector who has been at Boeing for 10 years, was among the workers picketing on a corner near Boeing’s Renton campus. He said he was glad union members had decided to hold out for more pay.
“I’m not sure how long this strike is going to take, but however long it takes, we will be here until we get a better deal,” Jones said.
1 person shot during scuffle at pro-Israel rally in Boston suburb, authorities say
NEWTON, Mass.: A pro-Israel rally in a Boston suburb turned violent Thursday evening when a passerby was shot during a scuffle after confronting a group of demonstrators, authorities said.
Police were called at 6:40 p.m. to the scene of what they described as a small rally in Newton. Words were exchanged before a passerby rapidly crossed the street and tackled one of the demonstrators, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said.
“A scuffle ensued. During that scuffle, the individual who had come across the street was shot by a member of the demonstrating group,” Ryan said during a news conference late Thursday.
Scott Hayes, 47, of Framingham, was arrested on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and violation of a constitutional right causing injury. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Hayes, who works as a contractor for National Grid, was ordered to be fitted with a GPS monitor and to stay away both from the city of Newton and from the individual who had been shot and to not be in possession of a dangerous weapon.
Hayes, who appeared to have bruising to his face during his court appearance Friday afternoon, was also required to post a $5,000 cash bail and to abide by a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.
“This is a textbook case of self defense,” said Glenn MacKinlay, an attorney representing Hayes. “We’re confident that the investigation, when it’s completed, will clear Mr. Hayes of all charges.”
Prosecutors also told the court that an application for a criminal complaint has been applied for against the individual who was shot, identified as Caleb Gannon of Newton. He was being treated at a hospital.
They said they opted for an application for a criminal complaint instead of an arrest because the alleged assault and battery was not committed in the presence of a police officers.
Acting Newton Police Chief George McMains asked witnesses to provide investigators with photos or videos of the confrontation. He said police would provide extra patrols at “houses of worship” over the next several days.
Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller called the shooting a “frightening incident” and asked for everyone to remain calm as police investigate.
“I know people will have a lot of questions, and we will share information with Newtonians and the press when we are able,” Fuller said. “It’s really early stages of an active investigation.”
Biden, Starmer put off Ukraine missiles decision
WASHINGTON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden on Friday delayed a decision to let Ukraine fire long-range Western-supplied missiles into Russia, a plan that sparked dire threats from Moscow of a war with NATO.
Starmer told reporters at the White House that he had a “wide-ranging discussion about strategy” with Biden but that it “wasn’t a meeting about a particular capability.”
Before the meeting officials had said Starmer would press Biden to back his plan to send British Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine to hit deeper inside Russia as allies become increasingly concerned about the battlefield situation.
But the Labour leader indicated that he and Biden would now discuss the plan at the UN General Assembly in New York the week after next “with a wider group of individuals.”
As they met with their teams across a long table in the White House, backed by US and British flags, Biden played down a warning by Russian President Vladimir Putin that allowing Ukraine to fire the weapons would mean the West was “at war” with Russia.
“I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin,” Biden told reporters when asked about the comments.
But while Biden said it was “clear that Putin will not prevail in this war,” he is understood to be reluctant to grant Ukraine’s insistent demand to be able to use long-range US-made ATACMS missiles against Russian territory.
US officials believe the missiles would make a limited difference to Ukraine’s campaign and also want to ensure that Washington’s own stocks of the munitions are not depleted.
The two leaders said they also discussed the war in Gaza, with Britain having recently suspended arms deliveries to Israel over concerns that they could be used to violate international humanitarian law.
The US, Israel’s main military and diplomatic backer, has held off such a step.
Biden and Starmer agreed on their “ironclad commitment” to Israel — but stressed the “urgent need” for a ceasefire deal and a “need for Israel to do more to protect civilians” in Gaza, the White House said in a readout.
The White House had earlier played down the chances of a Ukraine decision coming from Friday’s visit by Starmer, the Labour leader’s second to the White House since he took office in July.
“I wouldn’t expect any major announcement in that regard coming out of the discussions, certainly not from our side,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky however pushed Kyiv’s Western allies to do more.
Speaking in Kyiv, Zelensky accusing the West of being “afraid” to even help Ukraine shoot down incoming missiles as it has done with Israel.
Zelensky added that he will meet Biden “this month” to present his “victory plan” on how to end two and a half years of war with Russia.
Russia has reacted angrily to the prospect of the West supplying long-range weapons to the country it invaded in February 2022.
In another sign of increasing tensions, Russia revoked the credentials of six British diplomats whom it accused of spying in what London termed “baseless” allegations.
Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia warned separately that letting Ukraine use long-range weapons would plunge NATO into “direct war with... a nuclear power.”
Ukraine and the United States’s allies are all meanwhile anxiously waiting for the result of a tense US presidential election in November that could upend Washington’s Ukraine policy.
Biden is on his way out of office while the election is a toss-up between his Democratic political heir Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump.
Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, and refused to take sides on the war during a debate with Harris on Tuesday, saying only: “I want the war to stop.”
Starmer denied he was worried about a Trump presidency, and said the need to help Ukraine in coming weeks and months was urgent “whatever timetables are going on in other countries.”
