WASHINGTON: Kamala Harris spent much of Tuesday questioning Donald Trump’s mental state and fitness for office after the 78-year-old Republican’s latest televised town hall veered into a surreal, impromptu music session.
“Hope he’s okay,” the Democratic candidate posted on X.
Harris’s campaign, which has begun to aggressively challenge Trump on his health and mental stability, said that he appeared “lost, confused, and frozen on stage” during the Monday event.
Former president Trump defended the event in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, saying it was “so different.”
“It was amazing! The Q and A was almost finished when people began fainting from the excitement and heat,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.
“We started playing music while we waited, and just kept it going. So different, but it ended up being a GREAT EVENING!“
He hit out at Vice President Harris, who released a White House medical report at the weekend that said she was fit for the highest office and challenged Trump to do the same.
“With all of the problems that she has, there is a real question as to whether or not she should be running for President! MY REPORT IS PERFECT — NO PROBLEMS!!!” Trump wrote.
For about half an hour, the event in Oaks near Philadelphia was standard fare ahead of the November 5 election, as Trump took friendly questions from supporters on the economy and cost of living.
But it ended with a bizarre 39 minutes of music and dancing as Trump swayed awkwardly on stage following interruptions because of medical emergencies in the crowd.
“Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?” he said.
Trump has made a brief, jerky dance his signature at the end of rallies for years, nearly always to his exit song — the Village People’s 1978 disco anthem “YMCA.”
On Monday, however, he stayed on stage for nine songs, ranging from opera to Guns N’ Roses and Elvis, with the ex-president alternating his dance moves with standing in place and staring into the crowd.
Harris and Trump are locked in a dead heat, according to polls, and the election is set to be decided by seven swing states where the margins could come down to barely 10,000 votes each.
With only three weeks to go, the 59-year-old Democrat has increasingly been homing in on Trump’s health and age.
It was the topic of her closing argument as she sat down with popular radio host Charlamagne tha God in an effort to boost her messaging to Black male voters — a part of the electorate where Trump has made gains.
After setting out her policies for improving the lives of Black men, she turned to Trump’s rallies and repeated a claim that riled him during their September debate — that bored supporters were leaving his rallies early.
“I will point out what everyone knows, which is that the people who worked the closest with Donald Trump when he was president — worked with him in the Oval Office, saw him at play in the Situation Room, his chief of staff, two secretaries of defense, his national security adviser and his former vice president — have all said he is dangerous and unfit to serve,” Harris said.
Trump’s own campaign schedule began with an Economic Club of Chicago event, where he said he was for slapping “obnoxious” tariffs on trading partners like Mexico so that companies move factories to the US.
“To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff,” Trump said, before heading for a rally in swing-state Georgia.
Trump is now the oldest person ever to be nominated for a presidential bid, after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race following a disastrous debate that sparked fears about his own age.
He has not released a recent comprehensive report on his state of health, prompting fierce criticism from Harris.
Harris mocks Trump after rally turns into bizarre dance-a-thon
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Harris mocks Trump after rally turns into bizarre dance-a-thon
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Polish president criticizes government’s no-asylum-for-irregular-migrants plan as a ‘grave mistake’
Prime Minister Donald Tusk replied that it would not apply to dissidents
WARSAW: Polish President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday condemned the government’s plan for a temporary suspension of the right to asylum for irregular migrants, calling it a “fatal mistake” and signaling he will not approve it.
Duda argued in a speech in parliament that the plan would block access to safe haven for Belarusians and Russians opposed to their governments in Minsk and Moscow. Prime Minister Donald Tusk replied that it would not apply to dissidents.
Tusk’s government on Thursday adopted the controversial plan intended to strengthen protection of Poland’s and the European Union’s eastern border from massive pressure from many thousands of unauthorized migrants from Africa and the Middle East. The EU says the pressure is sponsored by Minsk and Moscow as part of their hybrid war on the European bloc.
“Poland cannot and will not be helpless in this situation,” Tusk said in parliament.
Poland’s plan aims to send a signal that the country is not a source of easy asylum or visas into the EU.
It says that in the case of a ‘threat of destabilization of the country by migration inflow,” a temporary suspension of accepting asylum applications can be introduced on a given territory. The general rules of granting asylum in the EU member country will be toughened to prevent the procedure from serving as a gateway into all of the EU.
In many cases, irregular migrants apply for asylum in Poland, but before their requests are processed, they travel across the EU’s no-visa travel zone to reach Germany or other countries in Western Europe.
The plan, which failed to win support from four left-wing ministers in Tusk’s coalition government, still needs approval from parliament and from Duda to become binding. Duda has made it clear he will not back it.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko “are trying to destabilize the situation on our border, in the EU, and your response to this is to deprive people whom Putin and Lukashenko imprison and persecute of a safe haven. It must be some fatal mistake,” Duda said in his emotional speech Wednesday.
Migration and Poland’s plan are to be discussed at the upcoming EU summit and on its fringes this week in Brussels.
Two Russians appear in Polish court over Wagner ‘propaganda’
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- The pair were detained in August 2023 for distributing leaflets for the Wagner group in Warsaw and Krakow
- The leaflets contained links to “recruitment websites” for Wagner, Russia’s most notorious mercenary group
WARSAW: Two Russian men arrested in Poland under espionage laws went on trial Wednesday for allegedly distributing propaganda for the Wagner mercenary group, a Polish court said.
Poland, a NATO member as well as Ukraine’s neighbor and its staunch ally, has repeatedly voiced concerns about Russia-inspired provocative actions on its soil.
The pair, identified by Polish counter-intelligence as Alexei T. and Andrei G., were detained in August 2023 for distributing leaflets for the Wagner group in Warsaw and Krakow.
The leaflets contained links to “recruitment websites” for Wagner, Russia’s most notorious mercenary group.
It was disbanded and reorganized after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash last year following an aborted mutiny in Russia.
The two suspects, who face up to 10 years in prison, appeared in a Krakow court on Wednesday, its spokeswoman told AFP.
Local media reported that the pair had distributed stickers promoting the once-powerful mercenary group.
The stickers bore the Wagner logo, a slogan in English saying “We are here. Join us,” and a QR code directing people to a Russian website about the mercenary group.
“The Russians had on them more than 3,000 propaganda leaflets promoting the Wagner group. The material was given to them in Moscow,” the Polish counter-intelligence agency said in August 2023.
The suspects were set to receive “up to 500,000 rubles” ($5,000) for their activities, it added.
Britain calls UN meeting on Gaza, may sanction Israeli ministers
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- British Foreign Secretary David Lammy says Israel must ensure civilians were protected and routes were open to allow life-saving aid through
- Britain looking at sanctioning Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over comments they had made about the conflict
LONDON: Britain and France have called an urgent meeting at the United Nations Security Council to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza and Britain is considering sanctioning two Israeli ministers, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday.
Reuters reported earlier this month that food supplies to Gaza had fallen sharply in recent weeks after Israeli authorities introduced a new customs rule, and the United States said the humanitarian situation must improve or Israel could face potential restrictions on US military aid.
“We are constantly making representations on this with our partners,” Starmer told parliament, when asked about the situation. “There is an urgent need, and has been now for a very long time, for more aid to get into Gaza.”
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement Israel must ensure civilians were protected and routes were open to allow life-saving aid through, and that the United Nations meeting would address these issues. He said Algeria had also joined the call for the urgent meeting.
Starmer also said that Britain was looking at sanctioning Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over comments they had made about the conflict.
Previous foreign secretary David Cameron was also reportedly looking at sanctioning the pair before the then-governing Conservative Party lost an election in June.
Asked if his government would sanction Smotrich over comments that starving civilians in Gaza might be justified and Ben-Gvir for saying perpetrators of settler violence in the West Bank were heroes, Starmer said: “We are looking at that because they’re obviously abhorrent comments.”
“Israel must take all possible steps to avoid civilian casualties, to allow aid into Gaza in much greater volumes and provide the UN humanitarian partners the ability to operate effectively,” Starmer said.
“Along with France, the UK will convene an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to address this.”
Kashmir gets new truncated government five years after losing autonomy
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- Omar Abdullah becomes chief minister, vows working to restore Kashmir statehood
- Without statehood, new local government is stripped of most of its essential authority
NEW DELHI: Leaders of Kashmir’s biggest political party took the oath of office on Wednesday to run its new truncated local government — the first since India stripped the disputed region of autonomy and statehood five years ago.
The new government is led by Omar Abdullah as chief minister and six ministers from his National Conference party, which won the most seats in the region’s recent election.
Abdullah had served as the chief minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir between 2009 and 2014. His current second term comes as the region is no longer a state, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government repealed Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which granted the Kashmir semi-autonomous status and downgraded it to federally controlled territory.
“I was the last chief minister to serve a full six-year term, and now I’ll be the first chief minister of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The last distinction — as in the one who has served six years — I’m quite happy about. Being a chief minister of a union territory is a different matter altogether,” Abdullah told reporters.
“It has its own challenges, but I hope that the status of a union territory is a temporary one. We look forward to working in cooperation with the government of India to resolve the people’s problems, and the best way to do that would be to start by restoring the statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.”
Jammu and Kashmir is part of the larger Kashmiri territory, which has been the subject of international dispute since the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Both countries claim Kashmir in full and rule in part. The Indian-controlled region is predominantly Muslim and has for decades witnessed outbreaks of separatist insurgencies to resist control from the government in New Delhi.
It has been without a local government since 2018, when Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party brought down a coalition government, forcing the assembly to dissolve.
The recent election to the assembly, which concluded on Oct. 1, was the first in 10 years.
The National Conference, the oldest party in Kashmir, which is led by Abdullah’s father, Farooq Abdullah, won 42 out of 90 assembly seats. Modi’s BJP secured 29, while the country’s main opposition Congress party, which contested the election in alliance with the National Conference, won six seats.
Modi took to social media to congratulate Abdullah on assuming office, saying that the central government “will work closely with him and his team for J&K’s progress.”
The prime minister promised to restore Kashmir’s statehood last month when he visited its main city, Srinagar, to campaign for his party.
Without the restoration, the new local government is stripped of most of its essential authority, leaving Lt. Gov. Manoj Sinha with greater influence than the chief minister.
The office of lieutenant governor was established in 2019 to put Kashmir under direct control of New Delhi, with India’s Parliament as its main legislator.
Kashmir’s statehood would have to be restored for its local administration to have similar authority to other states of India.
Indians in Punjab fear dispute with Canada endangers work, study plans
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- Indians have made up Canada’s largest group of international students in recent years
- India’s high commissioner, or ambassador, was among the six diplomats Canada expelled on Monday
CHANDIGARH, India: Indians in Punjab, worried that plans to work, study or visit families in Canada will be jeopardized by this week’s tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats over the murder of a Sikh separatist, are urging both governments to reduce the tension.
Canada’s nearly 800,000 Sikhs formed the world’s second largest community in 2021, after roughly 20 million in India. They have links to the northern granary state of Punjab, where their religion was founded more than 500 years ago.
“Many clients have reached out, worried about how this might affect their plans to migrate to Canada,” said an immigration lawyer, Karan S. Thukral, who is based in the Indian capital, though adding he had seen no big drop yet in legal inquiries.
“Indian students are among those feeling the impact most acutely.”
Indians have made up Canada’s largest group of international students in recent years, mainly from Punjab, holding more than 41 percent of student permits in 2022. International students bring in about C$22 billion ($16 billion) for its universities each year.
“We want to go to Canada to study and settle there, but now that’s not possible because students who want to go there are facing difficulties,” said Anita, a student in Punjab’s capital of Chandigarh, who gave only her first name.
Canadian study permits for Indians fell sharply late last year and the diplomatic tension was likely to weigh on future numbers, Immigration Minister Marc Miller told Reuters in January.
“It is something that both countries cannot afford because we are heavily dependent on each other,” said Kanwalpreet Kaur, a political science professor at Chandigarh’s DAV College.
“It is really keeping students on edge because their future is tied up with Canada,” she added.
Ties soured last September when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to the killing of the Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on Canadian soil.
India’s high commissioner, or ambassador, was among the six diplomats Canada expelled on Monday, linking them to the murder, while accusing the Indian government of having undertaken a broad campaign targeting the South Asian community in Canada.
India dismissed the accusations and accused Trudeau of pursuing a “political agenda,” while kicking out six high-ranking Canadian diplomats in retaliation.
However, both countries see no immediate impact on two-way trade, which stood at $8.4 billion at the end of the last fiscal year on March 31.
“It’s a loss for families and for our children who want to go there to live a better life,” said Gurinder Singh, who runs a cloth business and exports to Canada.
“The government should consider all this and should ensure that the matter does not escalate.”