Trump hands out french fries in Pennsylvania, Harris visits Georgia churches in swing-state appeals

Combination image showing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, left, cooking fries at a McDonald's in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris cheering as Stevie Wonder sings Redemption Song to her during a Souls to the Polls Sunday service at Divine Faith Ministries International Church in Jonesboro, Georgia, on October 20, 2024. (AP/REUTERS)
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Updated 21 October 2024
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Trump hands out french fries in Pennsylvania, Harris visits Georgia churches in swing-state appeals

  • Harris emphasizes unity, voting rights at Georgia church events
  • Trump mocks Harris with McDonald’s visit; she calls it sign of desperation

ATLANTA/PHILADELPHIA: With the US presidential election just over two weeks away, Democrat Kamala Harris visited two churches on Sunday while her Republican rival, Donald Trump, visited another kind of American temple: a McDonald’s, where he again accused Harris of lying about having previously worked at the fast-food chain.
Both candidates were scrambling for votes in the most competitive states, with Harris, the US vice president, appealing to early voters in Georgia and Trump, the former president, campaigning in Pennsylvania ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
Harris highlighted the heroism of those who responded to Hurricane Helene, which caused deaths and destruction in Florida earlier this month. She drew a contrast between her vision for America and the harsh rhetoric of the current political climate, although she did not mention Trump by name.
“At this point across our nation, what we do see are some trying to deepen division among us, spread hate, sow fear and cause chaos,” she told thousands of congregants at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, in Stonecrest, Georgia.
Some measured the strength of a leader as “who you beat down” instead of being guided by “kindness and love,” she said, urging congregants to vote for a more compassionate future.
Harris was more direct in an interview with MSNBC when asked about Trump’s comments at an earlier rally in Pennsylvania in which he called her a “shit vice president,” telling civil rights leader Al Sharpton: “The American people deserve so much better.”
At a McDonald’s in suburban Philadelphia, Trump removed his suit jacket, put on a black and yellow apron and cooked batches of french fries, something he said he had wanted to do “all my life.”
The former president dipped wire baskets of potatoes in sizzling oil before salting them and handing them out to some of his supporters through the drive-through window of the restaurant, which had been closed to the general public. Thousands of people lined the street opposite the restaurant to watch.




Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump serves food at a McDonalds restaurant in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 20, 2024. (REUTERS)

“I like this job,” said Trump, whose adoration for fast food has been well chronicled. “I’m having a lot of fun here.”
Trump has said the McDonald’s visit was intended in part as a jab at Harris, who says she worked at the fast-food chain during her college years in California. Trump claims Harris never worked there but has provided no evidence to back that up.
Harris spokesperson Ian Sams said the stunt was a sign of the real-estate mogul’s desperation.
“All he knows how to do is lie,” he said. “He can’t understand what it’s like to have a summer job because he was handed millions on a silver platter, only to blow it.”
The Harris campaign said Trump’s visit also belied his opposition to an increase in the federal minimum wage and his support for a rule that could make it more difficult for workers to win legal claims against the parent company if a franchise owner violated minimum-wage and overtime laws.

‘Happy birthday’
Harris, who was raised in the teachings of the Black church and sang in a church choir, marked her 60th birthday on Sunday while campaigning outside of Atlanta.
At Divine Faith Ministries International in Jonesboro, Georgia, music icon Stevie Wonder performed, singing his hit “Higher Ground” and a version of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”




Choir members perform during a Sunday service at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, on October 20, 2024. US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris spoke during the service. (AFP)

Asked about polls showing a lack of enthusiasm for her candidacy among Black men who have been a reliable voting bloc for Democrats, Harris told Sharpton she was working to earn their votes as well.
“There’s this narrative about what kind of support we are receiving from Black men that is just not panning out in reality,” Harris said. “Because why would Black men be any different than any other demographic of voter? They expect that you earn their vote.”
Harris will need strong results in the majority non-white cities of Detroit and Atlanta and their surrounding suburbs to repeat President Joe Biden’s 2020 wins in Michigan and Georgia.
At a campaign event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Trump extended birthday wishes to Harris, drawing boos from his crowd.
“Happy birthday, and many more, and I mean it,” Trump said, although he continued to criticize Harris’s policies and speculating that his opponent may have “a cognitive problem.”


The newest way to influence Trump: Nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize

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The newest way to influence Trump: Nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize

  • On Wednesday, Israel's PM Netanyahu showed Trump a letter nominating the US president for the Nobel Prize
  • The mercurial Republican president, who wants to be known as a peacemaker, has long coveted the prestigious award
  • Pakistan nominated Trump for the peace prize last month but then condemned him a day later after he bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities

WASHINGTON: World leaders, lawmakers and even one Native American tribe are deploying a novel strategy for remaining on good terms with Presidential Donald Trump: Praise his peacemaking efforts and nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize.
The announcements of nominations are piling up for the mercurial Republican president, who has long coveted the prestigious award. The honor, according to Albert Nobel’s wishes, is given to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
Peace prize nominations for Trump date to his first term, but he’s talking more in his second about how he’s helping to end conflicts, how he wants to be known as a peacemaker and how much he wants to be awarded a prize.

 

Fellow leaders, politicians and others have taken notice. Critics say Trump policies that have sown division in the US and around the world make him unfit for a peace prize and he’s being manipulated with the nominations.
On Monday, as Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington to talk to Trump about Iran and the war in Gaza, the Israeli leader had something else to share with the president as they sat across from each other at a table set for their dinner meeting in the White House Blue Room.
“I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize committee. It’s nominating you for the peace prize, which is well deserved, and you should get it,” Netanyahu told Trump as he rose from his seat to hand over a copy of the letter.

Trump thanked him. “Coming from you in particular, this is very meaningful,” the president said.

 

A group of African leaders had their turn with Trump a few days after Netanyahu.
The leaders referenced the US role in mediating a recent agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to bring peace after decades of bloody conflict that has killed millions. Representatives from both countries signed the deal in the Oval Office in front of Trump.
“And so he is now bringing peace back to a region where that was never possible so I believe that he does deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. That is my opinion,” said Gabonese President Brice Oligui Nguema.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Thursday, “President Trump was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize due to his proven record of securing peace around the world.” She added, “Thanks to this President’s leadership, America is respected again, making the entire world safer and more prosperous.”
The Nobel prizes are determined in secret. Nominations can come from a select group of people and organizations, including heads of state or politicians serving at a national level, university professors, directors of foreign policy institutes, past Nobel Prize recipients and members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee itself.
Past recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize include former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, both Democrats.


READ MORE: Nobel: The prize for peace that leaders go to war for


Last month, as Trump announced the Rwanda-Congo deal, he complained that he’d never get a Nobel Peace Prize despite everything he’s done, ranging from the Abraham Accords of his first term, in which Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates normalized relations with Israel, to recently easing renewed tensions between India and Pakistan, among others.
Pakistan nominated Trump for the peace prize last month but then turned around and condemned him a day later after he bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump later worked with Israel and Iran to end their short war.
As a candidate, Trump promised he would end the Russia-Ukraine war on his first day in office before saying later as president that he was joking. But solving that conflict, as well as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, has so far eluded Trump.
His supporters, including lawmakers in Congress, are trying to help make Trump’s dream come true.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, has called on the Senate to nominate Trump, while Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, asked her social media followers to share her post if they agree with her that he deserves it.
Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., recently wrote on X that she has now nominated Trump twice and will continue to do so until he is awarded the prize.
“He has done more for world peace than any modern leader,” she wrote.
At least one Native American tribe said it intends to nominate Trump, too.
“No world leader has dedicated more time and effort to promoting global peace than President Donald Trump,” Marshall Pierite, chairman of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, said in a statement.


Trump says Canada to face 35 percent tariff rate starting August 1

Updated 52 min 25 sec ago
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Trump says Canada to face 35 percent tariff rate starting August 1

  • Canada and Mexico are both trying to find ways to satisfy Trump so that the free trade deal uniting the three countries — known as the USMCA — can be put back on track

WASHINGTON: Canada will face a 35 percent tariff on exports to the United States starting August 1, President Donald Trump said Thursday in a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney.
It was the latest of more than 20 such letters issued by Trump since Monday, as he continues to pursue his trade war threats against dozens of economies.
Canada and the US are locked in trade negotiations in hopes to reach a deal by July 21 and the latest threat seemed to put that deadline in jeopardy.
Canada and Mexico are both trying to find ways to satisfy Trump so that the free trade deal uniting the three countries — known as the USMCA — can be put back on track.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement replaced the previous NAFTA accord in July 2020, after Trump successfully pushed for a renegotiation during his first term in office.
It was due to be reviewed by July next year, but Trump accelerated the process by launching his trade wars after he took office in January.
Canadian and Mexican products were initially hard hit by 25 percent US tariffs, with a lower rate for Canadian energy.
Trump targeted both neighbors saying they did not do enough on illegal immigration and the flow of illicit drugs across borders.
But he eventually announced exemptions for goods entering his country under the USMCA, covering large swaths of products. Potash, used as fertilizer, got a lower rate as well.
The letter on Thursday came despite what had been warming relations between Trump and Carney.
The Canadian leader came to the White House on May 6 and had a cordial meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.
They met again at the G7 summit last month in Canada, where leaders pushed Trump to back away from his punishing trade war.

 


French president calls for joint recognition of Palestinian state by France and UK

Updated 54 min 38 sec ago
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French president calls for joint recognition of Palestinian state by France and UK

  • After talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, Emmanuel Macron stresses urgent need for a 2-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict
  • Starmer reaffirms his country’s commitment to a just political settlement of the Palestinian issue

LONDON: French President Emmanuel Macron has urged his country and the UK to jointly recognize Palestinian statehood, describing it as “the only path to peace.”

Speaking during a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, Macron stressed the urgent need for efforts to advance a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

“I believe in the future of the two-state solution, and in the need to unify our voices in Paris, London and beyond to recognize the State of Palestine and launch this political dynamic that alone can lead to a horizon of peace,” Macron said.

Starmer reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to a just political settlement of the Palestinian issue, and highlighted the importance of international support for the Palestinian people and the need for stability in the region.

Macron concluded on Thursday a three-day state visit to the UK. It was the first such visit by a French statesman since 2008, and the first by an EU leader since Brexit in 2020.

On Wednesday, the Palestinian Authority welcomed comments by Macron during his speech to the British Parliament in which he affirmed the position of France on recognition of a Palestinian state as a way to help ensure stability in the Middle East.

Organizers of an international conference to garner support for Palestinian national independence, planned for mid-June and sponsored by Saudi Arabia and France, had to postpone the event because of the outbreak on June 13 of war between Iran and Israel.

In recent weeks, several members of Parliament belonging to Starmer’s ruling Labour Party have called on his government to officially recognize a Palestinian state and join with France in doing so.
 


Russia seizes $50 billion in assets as economy shifts during war in Ukraine, research shows

Updated 54 min 19 sec ago
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Russia seizes $50 billion in assets as economy shifts during war in Ukraine, research shows

  • ‘Fortress Russia’ uses host of mechanisms to take major assets
  • Some domestic businesses also face nationalization, report says

MOSCOW: Russian authorities have confiscated assets worth some $50 billion over the past three years, underscoring the scale of the transformation into a “fortress Russia” economic model during the war in Ukraine, research showed on Wednesday.
The conflict has been accompanied by a significant transfer of assets as many Western companies fled the Russian market, others’ assets were expropriated and the assets of some major Russian businesses were seized by the state.
In response to what Russia called illegal actions by the West, President Vladimir Putin signed decrees over the past three years allowing the seizure of Western assets, entangling firms ranging from Germany’s Uniper to Danish brewer Carlsberg.
Besides the Western assets, major domestic companies have changed hands on the basis of different legal mechanisms including the need for strategic resources, corruption claims, alleged privatization violations, or poor management.
Moscow law firm NSP (Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners) said that the scale of what it called the “nationalization” amounted to 3.9 trillion roubles over three years, and it listed the companies involved.
The research was first reported by Kommersant, one of Russia’s leading newspapers, which said it illustrated a “fortress Russia” economic model.
The 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union ushered in hopes that Russia could transform into a free-market economy integrated into the global economy, but vast corruption, economic turmoil and organized crime undermined confidence in democratic capitalism through the 1990s.
Putin, in his first eight years in power, supported economic freedoms, targeted some so-called oligarchs and presided over a significant growth of the economy to $1.8 trillion in 2008 from $200 billion in 1999.
In the 2008-2022 period, the economy grew to $2.3 trillion, though Western sanctions hit it hard after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund.
Though the Russian economy has performed better than expected during the war in Ukraine, its nominal dollar size in 2024 was just $2.2 trillion, according to IMF figures, much smaller than China, the European Union or United States.

‘Fortress Russia’
Russian officials say that the Ukraine war — the biggest confrontation with the West since the depths of the Cold War — has demanded extraordinary measures to prevent what they say was a clear Western attempt to sink the Russian economy.
Putin says the exit of Western firms has allowed domestic producers to take their place and that the Western sanctions have forced domestic business to develop. He has called for a “new development model” distinct from “outdated globalization.”
But the wartime economy, geared toward producing weapons and supporting a long conflict with Ukraine, has put the state — and those officials who operate it — in a much more powerful position than private Russian businesses.
Russian prosecutors are now seeking to seize billionaire Konstantin Strukov’s majority stake in major gold producer Uzhuralzoloto (UGC) for the state.
More than a thousand companies — from McDonald’s to Mercedes-Benz — have left Russia since the February 2022 start of Russia’s war in Ukraine by selling, handing the keys to existing managers or simply abandoning their assets.
Others had their assets seized and a sale forced through. 


Many Liberians take offense after Trump praises their president’s English

Updated 53 min 50 sec ago
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Many Liberians take offense after Trump praises their president’s English

  • In a meeting on Wednesday, Trump asked President Boakai where he had learned to speak the language “so beautifully”
  • English has been the official language of Liberia since the country’s founding in the 1800s by freed slaves from the US

MONROVIA, Liberia: US President Donald Trump’s praise of the “beautiful” English of Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai drew confusion Thursday in the English-speaking African country and umbrage over what many considered condescending remarks.
“Such good English,” Trump said to Boakai during an event at the White House, with visible surprise. “Such beautiful English.”
Although English has been the official language of Liberia since the country’s founding in the 1800s, Trump asked Boakai where he had learned to speak the language “so beautifully,” and continued as Boakai murmured a response. “Where were you educated? Where? In Liberia?”

 

The exchange took place Wednesday during a meeting in the White House between Trump and five West African leaders, amid a pivot from aid to trade in US foreign policy.
Boakai’s government said it took no offense at Trump’s remarks, but other groups in Liberia described the remarks as an insult.
The White House declined to comment on whether Trump was aware that English was Liberia’s official language. Massad Boulos, the president’s senior adviser for Africa, stressed that Trump “actually complimented the language skills of the Liberian president,” and that everyone at the meeting was ”deeply appreciative” of the president’s time and effort.
Trump’s comments draw mixed reaction
Liberia has had deep ties with the United States for two centuries, stemming from the drive to relocate freed slaves from the United States. It started in the 1820s when the Congress- and slaveholder-funded American Colonization Society began sending freed slaves to its shores. In 1847, the growing Americo-Liberian settlers declared themselves independent, setting up a government to rule over a native African majority.

Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti said on X that “President Trump’s comment on Boakai’s ‘beautiful English’ simply acknowledged Liberia’s familiar American-rooted accent and no offense was taken.”
“Our linguistic heritage is deeply American‑influenced, & this was simply recognized by @realDonaldTrump. We remain committed to strengthening Liberia‑US ties, built on mutual respect, shared values, and meaningful partnership,” the minister said.
Foday Massaquio, chairman of Liberia’s opposition Congress for Democratic Change-Council of Patriots, said the remarks exemplified Trump’s lack of respect for foreign leaders, particularly African ones.
“President Trump was condescending, he was very disrespectful to the African leader,” Massaquio said, adding that it “proves that the West is not taking us seriously as Africans.”
Comments add to alarm over aid cuts
For many observers, Trump’s comments added to the sense of alarm and even betrayal over cuts in US aid to the African country.
The decision by US authorities earlier this month to dissolve the US Agency for International Development sent shockwaves across Liberia. American support previously had made up almost 2.6 percent of the gross national income, the highest percentage anywhere in the world, according to the Center for Global Development.
Liberians thought they would be spared from Trump’s cuts because of the countries’ close relationship. Their political system is modeled on that of the US, along with its flag. Liberians often refer to the US as their “big brother.”

Liberia's flag is patterned after the flag of the United States and is sometimes referred to as the Lone Star. 

Liberia was one of the first countries to receive USAID support, starting in 1961. The street signs, taxis and school buses resemble those in New York.
“Liberia is a long standing friend of the USA, therefore Trump should have understood that we speak English as an official language,” said Moses Dennis, 37, a businessman from Monrovia.
Condescension or praise?
Siokin Civicus Barsi-Giah, a close associate of former President George Weah, echoed the notion that Trump should have known that Liberians speak English.
“Liberia is an English speaking country,” he said. “Former slaves and slave owners decided to organize themselves to let go of many people who were in slavery in the United States of America, and they landed on these shores now called the Republic of Liberia.”
For him, the exchange was “condescending and ridiculing,” and he said: “Joseph Boakai was not praised. He was mocked by the greatest president in the world.”
Some observers, however, said that they believed Trump’s remarks genuinely were intended as praise.
“To some, the comment may carry a whiff of condescension, echoing a long-standing Western tendency to express surprise when African leaders display intellectual fluency,” said Abraham Julian Wennah, a researcher at the African Methodist Episcopal University.
But if one looks at “Trump’s rhetorical style,” the remarks were “an acknowledgment of Boakai’s polish, intellect, and readiness for global engagement,” he said.