United States: Netanyahu to face deep divide

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be greeted by deep divide among US lawmakers, a distracted US public and large protests on Wednesday as he addresses the US Congress for a record fourth time.

The long-time Israeli leader will speak to a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives at 1900 GMT, passing British wartime leader Winston Churchill, who made such addresses three times.

Netanyahu's speech is expected to focus on coordinating the Israeli and US response to the volatile situation in the Middle East, where there is a growing danger of the Gaza war spilling over into a wider regional conflict.

He is also expected to use his speech to call for stronger action against Iran, which supports Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters and has drawn increased US condemnation over its recent nuclear advances.

Though Netanyahu's visit was orchestrated by Congress' Republican leaders, it is likely to be less confrontational than in 2015, when Republicans sidestepped then-President Barack Obama and invited Netanyahu's to Congress to criticize the Democrat's Iran policy.

This time, Netanyahu will seek to bolster his traditional links to Republicans but also look to ease tensions with Biden, whom he will rely on for the remaining six months in the president's term.

He must also reach out to Vice President Kamala Harris, who has at times been more forward-leaning than her boss in criticizing Israel for heavy Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza.

Activists have promised mass protests, and the Capitol building was surrounded by high fencing and additional police. Dozens of Washington streets were also due to be closed on Wednesday.

Netanyahu's speech comes as Washington is largely preoccupied with the fallout from Biden’s announcement on Sunday that he was ending his re-election bid and endorsing Kamala for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Dozens of Democrats plan to skip the speech, many expressing dismay over Israel's war in the Palestinian enclave and saying they do not want to help Netanyahu offset declining domestic poll numbers. The Palestinian death toll from the offensive has exceeded 39,000, Gaza health officials said.

"For him, this is all about shoring up his support back home, which is one of the reasons I don't want to attend," Senator Chris Van Hollen told reporters. "I don't want to be part of a political prop in this act of deception. He is not the great guardian of the US-Israel relationship."

The Democrats planning to stay away also included Senators Dick Durbin, the chamber's number two Democrat, Tim Kaine, Jeff Merkley and Brian Schatz, all members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as Patty Murray, who chairs Senate Appropriations.

In the House, those staying away included progressives like Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Ami Bera, a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Adam Smith, the top Democrat on Armed Services.

Smith said he never attends joint meetings but also described himself on Tuesday as "very, very opposed to what Prime Minister Netanyahu is doing in Israel."

Murray normally would have presided, as the senior Senate Democrat, because Harris will not attend. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, who leads the foreign relations committee, will replace her.

Some Republicans criticized Kamala for traveling outside Washington instead of going to the speech. She will meet with Netanyahu separately.

But she was not the only candidate staying away. Republican Senator JD Vance, running for vice president on the ticket with former President Donald Trump, will be away "as he has duties to fulfill as the Republican nominee for Vice President," Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said in a statement.

Netanyahu was to travel to Florida to meet with Trump later this week. The meeting will be their first since the end of Trump's presidency, during which the two forged close ties.

 

 

 

 

Netanyahu likely to face friend and foes in US

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the United States this week under pressure to end the Gaza war, from both Israelis and the US administration. How might the political turbulence in Washington shape the trip and future relations?

Netanyahu is set to meet Joe Biden – if the president has recovered from COVID-19 – and address a joint session of Congress, the only foreign leader to do so for a fourth time.

The trip offers him a platform for a reset with Washington after months of tensions over his hardline approach to the war, and an opportunity to try and convince Israelis that he hasn’t undermined relations with their most important ally.

But it is overshadowed by President Biden’s decision not to seek re-election, highlighting political uncertainties about Israel’s next partner in the White House and possibly eclipsing some of the attention on Netanyahu’s visit.

The prime minister got a lot of unwelcome attention in Israel until the moment he boarded the plane.

A drumbeat of protests demanded that he stay home and focus on a ceasefire deal with Hamas to free Israeli hostages.

“Until he has signed the deal that's on the table, I do not see how he picks up and flies across the Atlantic to address the American political chaos,” said Lee Siegel, one of the family members who has come out to demonstrate. His 65-year-old brother Keith is a captive in Gaza.

The trip is a political move, he added, unless Netanyahu stops being a hurdle and signs the ceasefire agreement.

Siegel reflected a widespread view that Netanyahu is slow-rolling the process for his own political reasons, roiling his negotiators when he recently threw new conditions into talks that seemed to be making progress.

The prime minister has been accused of bowing to pressure from two far-right cabinet ministers who’ve threatened to bring down his government if he makes concessions to Hamas.

These perceptions have added to frustrations in the White House, which announced the latest formula for talks and had been expressing optimism an agreement could be achieved.

Biden remains one of the most pro-Israel presidents to sit in the Oval Office, a self-declared Zionist who’s been lauded by Israelis for his support and empathy, cemented by his flight to Israel just days after the Hamas attacks on October 07, 2023.

But since then, he’s grown alarmed at the cost of Netanyahu’s demand for a “total victory” against Hamas in Gaza.

The administration is frustrated with the Israeli prime minister for rejecting a post-war solution that involves pursuing a Palestinian state.

It’s angry with him for resisting appeals to do more to protect Palestinian civilians and increase the flow of aid to them. It’s facing a domestic backlash over the mounting death toll in Gaza. And it’s worried that the conflict is spreading to the region.

As Joe Biden’s presidency weakened in the swirl of controversy over his abilities, analysts said there might be less room for him to keep up the pressure on the Israeli prime minister.

Biden’s decision to drop out of the race could actually have strengthened his hand, says Ehud Barak, a former Israeli prime minister and a critic of Netanyahu.

“He is not a lame duck in regard to foreign policy, in a way he's more independent (because) he doesn't have to take into account any impact on the voters,” Barak told the BBC.

“With regard to Israel probably he feels more of a free hand to do what really needs to be done.”

Barak believes it was a mistake for Congress to invite Netanyahu to speak, saying that many Israelis blame him for policy failures that allowed the Hamas attack to happen, and three out of four want him to resign.

“The man does not represent Israel,” he said. “He lost the trust of Israelis...And it kind of sends a wrong signal to Israelis, probably a wrong signal to Netanyahu himself, when the American Congress invites him to appear as if he is saving us.”

Whatever politics he may be playing, Netanyahu insists military pressure must continue because it has significantly weakened Hamas after a series of strikes against the military leadership.

In comments before departing Israel, he suggested that would be the tone of his meeting with President Biden.

“It will also be an opportunity to discuss with him how to advance in the months ahead the goals that are important for both our countries,” he said, “achieving the release of all our hostages, defeating Hamas, confronting the terror axis of Iran and its proxies and ensuring that all Israel’s citizens return safely to their homes in the north and in the south.”

He’s expected to bring the same message to Congress, “seeking to anchor the bipartisan support that is so important to Israel”.

The reality is that Netanyahu’s policies have fractured that bipartisan support. The Republicans are rallying around him, but criticism from Democrats has grown.

The Democratic Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer caused a small earthquake in Washington recently when he stood up in the chambers and said Netanyahu was one of the obstacles standing in the way of lasting peace with Palestinians.

“I hope the prime minister understands the anxiety of many members in Congress and addresses them,” the former US ambassador to Israel, Thomas Nides, told the BBC at the weekend. He’d been addressing one of the many rallies demanding a hostage release.

That includes “on humanitarian issues and to articulate that this fight isn’t with the Palestinian people, it’s with Hamas."

It’s a message that Kamala Harris would repeat if she were to become the Democratic nominee. There’d be no change in US policy, a commitment to Israel’s security while pushing for an end to the Gaza conflict and a plan for the Day After embedded in a regional peace with Arab states, but there might be a difference in tone.

Kamala Harris does not share Biden’s long history with and emotional ties to Israel. She’s from a different generation and “could more closely align with the sentiments of younger elements of the Democratic party," says Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East.

"That’s a stance more likely to include restrictions on weapons, on munitions from the United States for use in Gaza," he said.

Netanyahu could very well use the visit to steer the conversation from the controversy over Gaza to the threat from Iran, a topic with which he’s far more comfortable, especially after the recent escalation with Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

But his main audience will be domestic, says Tal Shalev, the diplomatic correspondent at Israel’s Walla News.

He wants to revive his image as “America,” she says, the man who can best present Israel to the US, and to restore his image which was shattered by the October 07 attacks.

“When he goes to the US and speaks in front of Congress and [has] a meeting in the White House, for his electoral base, it's the old Bibi is back again,” she says, referring to the prime minister by his nickname. “This is not the failed Bibi who was responsible for the seventh of October. This is the old Bibi who goes to the Congress and gets the standing ovations.”

It also gives him an opportunity to pursue connections with former President Donald Trump at a time of great political flux in Washington.

“Netanyahu wants President Trump to win,” she says, “And he wants to make sure that he and President Trump are on good terms before the election.”

There is a widespread view that Netanyahu is playing for time, hoping for a Trump win that might ease some of the pressure he’s been facing from the Biden administration.

“There is a near-universal perception that Netanyahu is eager for a Trump victory, under the assumption that he will then be able to do whatever he wants,” writes Michael Koplow of Israel’s Policy Forum.

“No Biden pressuring him on a ceasefire or on West Bank settlements and settler violence... There are many reasons to doubt this reading of the landscape under a Trump restoration, but Netanyahu likely subscribes to it.”

The question is whether that pressure from Biden will ease as he steps away from the presidential race, or whether he will in fact use his remaining months in office to focus on achieving an end to the Gaza war.

Kamala Harris: Darling of billionaires

Till yesterday little was known to the world about Kamala Harris, likely choice of Democrats to be the next president of United States. It may be of some interest to the people living outside the US to know more about the likely presidential candidate.

It is a historic opportunity for the US citizens and the world that Democrats are in disarray and selection of Kamala Harris demonstrates once and for all that they don’t at all care for real democracy. Instead they chose to elevate a party insider who is backed by billionaires, lobbyists, and Super PACs. It is even more apparent that they are corporate controlled when one considers that Biden only stepped down after the billionaires withheld donations. In the hours since Biden announced he would not seek reelection, and his quick endorsement of Kamala, the anti-Democratic party raised US$50 million, suggesting that the big donors are lining up to support yet another pro-war, corporate candidate.

A follow up with some opposition research about the candidate the anti-democratic party appears to be coronating who has zero delegates. First, let’s look closely at her record as Attorney General, California’s Top Cop.

Her office fought tooth and nail against an order to decrease the inmate population after the Supreme Court ruled that the severe overpopulation of their prisons amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

Her AG office’s attorneys explicitly argued that prisoners were needed to prop up the state’s firefighters needed to combat the wildfire crisis – these inmates were making one dollar an hour for this dangerous work.

Kamala jailed the parents of young people who were skipping classes. And laughed about it.

In 2014, Kamala refused to investigate a series of police shootings in San Francisco, where she had previously been District Attorney, ignoring pleas to do so following the police murder of Michael Brown.

Now let’s look at the Gaza genocide and where she really stands. Her presidential campaign coffers include access to US$5,395,227 of contributions from AIPAC.

She has stood by as the Biden administration has provided approximately US$25 million a day in military aid to Israel that has enabled them to carry out this genocide against the people of Gaza.

She co-sponsored a resolution condemning Barak Obama for his failure to veto a UN resolution denouncing illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

She waxed poetic about the Israeli Supreme Court’s architectural design, saying “The beauty of the architecture and spirit of design left a lasting impression…The Court, like Israel, is a beautiful home to democracy and justice in a region where radicalism and authoritarianism all too often shape government.”

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Between her political history and her dismal polling, she is clearly a terrible candidate. But the billionaires love her. She has raised tens of millions since Biden’s endorsement of her on X (formerly Twitter). 

 

 

China brokered Hamas-Fatah deal

According to Saudi Gazette, Palestinian factions including rivals Hamas and Fatah have signed an agreement on ending division and strengthening Palestinian unity in Beijing.

The announcement followed reconciliation talks hosted by China involving 14 Palestinian factions starting Sunday, according to China’s Foreign Ministry, which comes as Israel wages war against Hamas in Gaza and as Beijing has sought to present itself as a potential peace broker in the conflict.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the agreement was “dedicated to the great reconciliation and unity of all 14 factions.”

“The core outcome is that the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) is the sole legitimate representative of all Palestinian people,” Wang said, adding that “an agreement has been reached on post-Gaza war governance and the establishment of a provisional national reconciliation government.”

It was unclear from Wang’s comments what role Hamas, which is not part of the PLO, would play in such an arrangement, or what the immediate impact of any deal would be. The talks were held as the future governance of Palestinian territories remains in question following Israel’s repeated vow to eradicate Hamas in response to the group’s October 07 terrorist attack on its territory.

The PLO is a coalition of parties that signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1993, and formed a new government in the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Fatah dominates both the PLO and the PA, the interim Palestinian government that was established in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after the 1993 agreement known as the Oslo Accords was signed. Hamas does not recognize Israel.

There is a long history of bitter enmity between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah. The two sides have tried – and failed – multiple times to reach an agreement to unite the two separate Palestinian territories under one governance structure, with a 2017 agreement quickly folding in violence.

The PA held administrative control over Gaza until 2007, after Hamas won the 2006 legislative elections in the occupied-territories and was expelled from the strip. Since then, Hamas has ruled Gaza and the PA governs parts of the West Bank.

At a press conference Tuesday in Beijing, Hamas delegation representative Mousa Abu Marzook said they had reached an agreement to complete a “course of reconciliation,” while also using the platform in Beijing to defend the group’s October 07 attack on Israel.

“We’re at a historic junction. Our people are rising up in their efforts to struggle,” Abu Marzook said, according to a translation provided by China’s Foreign Ministry, adding that the October 07 operation had “changed a lot, both in the international and regional landscape.”

Beijing has not explicitly condemned Hamas for its October 07 attack on Israel.

Tuesday’s agreement follows an earlier round of talks between Hamas and Fatah hosted by Beijing in April.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, China – which has looked to bolster its influence and ties in the Middle East in recent years – has presented itself as a leading voice of the countries across the Global South decrying Israel’s war in the enclave and calling for Palestinian statehood.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping in May called for an international peace conference during meetings with leaders from Arab nations and has also dispatched a special envoy to the Middle East to meet with diplomats and officials.

Observers have questioned the extent of Beijing’s geopolitical clout in a region where the US has long been a dominant power, but China surprised many last March when it played a role in brokering a rapprochement between longtime rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Those efforts have been broadly seen as part of Beijing’s push to position itself as a geopolitical heavyweight with a different vision for the world from the United States.

Tuesday’s agreement was also inked as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the US for a highly anticipated visit in which he will meet top US officials and address Congress.

Israel launched its military operations in Gaza following Hamas’ October 07 attack that killed more than 1,100 people and saw roughly 250 others kidnapped. Around 39,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict, which has triggered a mass humanitarian crisis and widespread destruction.

Hamas and Fatah had signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo in October 2017 under pressure from the Arab states, led by Egypt. Under the deal, a new unity government was supposed to take administrative control of Gaza two months later, ending a decade of rivalry that began when Hamas violently evicted the Palestinian Authority from Gaza in 2007.

But the deal’s lofty aspirations quickly collapsed. When Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah visited Gaza in March 2018, he was the target of an assassination attempt when a bomb detonated near his convoy. Hamdallah’s Fatah party immediately blamed Hamas for the attack.

Hamas and Fatah sign agreement in Beijing ‘ending’ their division, China says

According to Saudi Gazette, Palestinian factions including rivals Hamas and Fatah have signed an agreement on ending division and strengthening Palestinian unity in Beijing.

The announcement followed reconciliation talks hosted by China involving 14 Palestinian factions starting Sunday, according to China’s Foreign Ministry, which comes as Israel wages war against Hamas in Gaza and as Beijing has sought to present itself as a potential peace broker in the conflict.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the agreement was “dedicated to the great reconciliation and unity of all 14 factions.”

“The core outcome is that the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) is the sole legitimate representative of all Palestinian people,” Wang said, adding that “an agreement has been reached on post-Gaza war governance and the establishment of a provisional national reconciliation government.”

It was unclear from Wang’s comments what role Hamas, which is not part of the PLO, would play in such an arrangement, or what the immediate impact of any deal would be. The talks were held as the future governance of Palestinian territories remains in question following Israel’s repeated vow to eradicate Hamas in response to the group’s October 07 terrorist attack on its territory.

The PLO is a coalition of parties that signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1993, and formed a new government in the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Fatah dominates both the PLO and the PA, the interim Palestinian government that was established in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after the 1993 agreement known as the Oslo Accords was signed. Hamas does not recognize Israel.

There is a long history of bitter enmity between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah. The two sides have tried – and failed – multiple times to reach an agreement to unite the two separate Palestinian territories under one governance structure, with a 2017 agreement quickly folding in violence.

The PA held administrative control over Gaza until 2007, after Hamas won the 2006 legislative elections in the occupied-territories and was expelled from the strip. Since then, Hamas has ruled Gaza and the PA governs parts of the West Bank.

At a press conference Tuesday in Beijing, Hamas delegation representative Mousa Abu Marzook said they had reached an agreement to complete a “course of reconciliation,” while also using the platform in Beijing to defend the group’s October 07 attack on Israel.

“We’re at a historic junction. Our people are rising up in their efforts to struggle,” Abu Marzook said, according to a translation provided by China’s Foreign Ministry, adding that the October 07 operation had “changed a lot, both in the international and regional landscape.”

Beijing has not explicitly condemned Hamas for its October 07 attack on Israel.

Tuesday’s agreement follows an earlier round of talks between Hamas and Fatah hosted by Beijing in April.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, China – which has looked to bolster its influence and ties in the Middle East in recent years – has presented itself as a leading voice of the countries across the Global South decrying Israel’s war in the enclave and calling for Palestinian statehood.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping in May called for an international peace conference during meetings with leaders from Arab nations and has also dispatched a special envoy to the Middle East to meet with diplomats and officials.

Observers have questioned the extent of Beijing’s geopolitical clout in a region where the US has long been a dominant power, but China surprised many last March when it played a role in brokering a rapprochement between longtime rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Those efforts have been broadly seen as part of Beijing’s push to position itself as a geopolitical heavyweight with a different vision for the world from the United States.

Tuesday’s agreement was also inked as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the US for a highly anticipated visit in which he will meet top US officials and address Congress.

Israel launched its military operations in Gaza following Hamas’ October 07 attack that killed more than 1,100 people and saw roughly 250 others kidnapped. Around 39,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict, which has triggered a mass humanitarian crisis and widespread destruction.

Hamas and Fatah had signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo in October 2017 under pressure from the Arab states, led by Egypt. Under the deal, a new unity government was supposed to take administrative control of Gaza two months later, ending a decade of rivalry that began when Hamas violently evicted the Palestinian Authority from Gaza in 2007.

But the deal’s lofty aspirations quickly collapsed. When Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah visited Gaza in March 2018, he was the target of an assassination attempt when a bomb detonated near his convoy. Hamdallah’s Fatah party immediately blamed Hamas for the attack.

Republicans ask Biden to leave White House

Many Republicans quickly called on President Joe Biden to resign and leave the White House after his announcement on Sunday that he would withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.

Republican leaders said that Biden's decision to step aside confirmed their view that he was not in cognitive shape to serve as president — an issue that has dogged the Democrat since his disastrous debate last month.

"If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president," said House Speaker Mike Johnson, the most powerful Republican in congress.

"He must resign the office immediately. November 05 cannot arrive soon enough," he added, referring to Election Day.

Biden, in announcing that he was dropping out, said he would stay in office until the end of his term in January.

The White House a few hours later on Sunday reiterated he would not resign, stating "He looks forward to finish his term and delivering more historic results for the American people."

Leading Republicans piled on with similar calls to resign throughout Sunday afternoon, as they also directed fresh attacks at Vice President Kamala Harris, who would move into the Oval Office should Biden resign. Biden has endorsed her to be the next Democratic nominee.

New York Representative Elise Stefanik, the Republican conference chair, made almost the exact same statement as Johnson's about Biden's ability to fulfill his presidential duties.

She closed her statement similarly as well, "He must immediately resign."

Biden's rival for president, Donald Trump, said the Democratic leader was "not fit to serve from the very beginning" in response to the announcement — though he did not call for the president to resign.

Senator Steve Daines of Montana, who chairs Senate Republicans' campaign arm, said that being president "is the hardest job in the world".

"And I no longer have confidence that Joe Biden can effectively execute his duties as Commander-in-Chief,” he said in a statement.

Another Republican senator, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, went further and appeared to suggest that Biden should be forced from office by exercising the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution — a never-used method to replace the president if he cannot fulfil his duties.

Critics of Trump had called for using the amendment to remove him when he was in office.

Many in the political world had been expecting to Biden to drop out of the race.

His rambling, frequently incoherent answers in the June 27 debate with Trump had stunned the country and left people wondering if he could serve as president for another four years. While in speeches and interviews Biden often showed renewed vigour, he was also dogged by major stumbles and seeming memory problems.

Democrats in Congress, worried that his shakiness would hurt their chances at re-election, and major donors began to press for him to drop out, but they did not press for him to resign.

The last president to abandon his election campaign, Lyndon B. Johnson, also served out the remainder of his term. Like Biden, Johnson had said that giving up the race would allow him to focus on his presidential duties.

As the pressure on Biden has grown in recent weeks, Republicans became more vocal about a resignation.

Just hours before the president announced he was stepping aside, Trump's new running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, said, "Not running for reelection would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as Commander-in-Chief. There is no middle ground."

"Joe Biden has been the worst President in my lifetime and Kamala Harris has been right there with him every step of the way," he added.

Biden has endorsed Kamala Harris to take up the mantle of the presidential campaign, although the party will still have to formally approve its nominee.

"I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination," Kamala said in a statement. "I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party—and unite our nation—to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda."

Republicans have reportedly prepared to attack Kamala’s candidacy — as many believed she was the most likely successor.

Trump campaign sources have told US media outlets that they were readying attack ads and opposition research in case they faced her.

Most criticism centers on the vice president's lead role on immigration issues within the administration. Several speakers at the Republican convention last week portrayed Kamala as a failed "border czar".

Those attacks returned on Sunday.

Speaker Johnson called her "a completely inept border czar" and said she had been "a gleeful accomplice" in "the destruction of American sovereignty, security, and prosperity".

"She has known for as long as anyone of his incapacity to serve," he said, while also accusing her of being part of a political cover up of Biden's problems.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, known for taking a hard line on immigration that has led to legal actions, also expressed concerns about Kamala becoming president.

"I think I will need to triple the border wall, razor wire barriers and National Guard on the border," he wrote on social media.

Donald Trump Jr. the former president's son, broadly said her policies would be no different than Biden's.

"Kamala Harris owns the entire left-wing policy record of Joe Biden. The only difference is that she is even more liberal and less competent than Joe, which is really saying something," he posted on X, formerly Twitter.

 

Can Kamala be first-ever woman president of United States?

President Joe Biden has offered his full support and endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee following his withdrawal from the 2024 US presidential race.

He announced on X that he will not accept the Democratic nomination for the 2024 presidential race, instead choosing to focus on his duties as President for the remainder of his term.

"My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term," Biden wrote.

He highlighted the significance of his initial decision in 2020 to select Harris as his running mate, calling it the best decision he has made.

Biden's endorsement of Harris comes as he urges the Democratic Party to unite in the effort to defeat former President Donald Trump. "Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this," Biden stated.

This endorsement positions Harris as the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, as the party prepares for the upcoming election.

Biden’s decision came as he has been isolating at his Delaware beach house after being diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, huddling with a shrinking circle of close confidants and family members about his political future. Biden said he would address the nation later this week to provide “detail” about his decision.

Now, Democrats have to urgently try to bring coherence to the nominating process in a matter of weeks and persuade voters in a stunningly short time that their nominee can handle the job and beat Trump. And for his part, Trump must shift his focus to a new opponent after years of training his attention on Biden.

The decision marks a swift and stunning end to Biden’s 52 years in electoral politics, as donors, lawmakers, and even aides expressed to him their doubts that he could convince voters that he could plausibly handle the job for another four years.

Harris, 59, appeared to be the natural successor, in large part because she is the only candidate who can directly tap into the Biden campaign’s war chest, according to federal campaign finance rules.

Biden’s backing helps clear the way for Harris, but a smooth transition is by no means assured.

The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to be held August 19-22 in Chicago, but the party had announced that it would hold a virtual roll call to formally nominate Biden before in-person proceedings begin.

It remained to be seen whether other candidates would challenge Harris for the nomination or how the party may need to adjust its rules again to smooth Harris’ nomination on the floor.

 

Malaysian coast guard locates oil tanker involved in collision off Singapore

Malaysian coast guard said on Sunday it had located and intercepted a large oil tanker that was involved in a fiery collision with another vessel two days ago off Singapore.

The coast guard said on Saturday that the Sao Tome and Principe-flagged tanker Ceres I had left the location of the collision that caused a fire and injured at least two crew members. The ship was also believed to have turned off its tracking system, the coast guard said.

The Ceres I was found in Malaysian waters with two tugboats towing it, the coast guard said in a statement on Sunday.

The Ceres I and the two tugboats have been detained by the coast guard for further investigation, it added.

Meanwhile, aerial surveys conducted by the coast guard found minor traces of an oil spill at the location of the collision between the Ceres I and the Singapore-flagged Hafnia Nile, the coast guard said in the statement on Sunday.

Iranian Petroleum Ministry confirmed on Saturday that neither of the two oil tankers that collided off Singapore on Friday carried Iranian crude.

“The crude oil of neither of these damaged oil tankers was related to Iran and did not belong to Iran,” the ministry said in a statement

The incident involving two large oil tankers occurred about 55 kilometers northeast of Pedra Branca Island, on the eastern approach to the Singapore Straits. The Singapore-flagged Hafnia Nile, carrying approximately 300,000 barrels of naphtha, collided with the Sao Tome and Principe-flagged tanker Ceres I. 

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) confirmed that all 22 crew members on the Hafnia Nile and 40 crew members on the Ceres I were accounted for. Two crew members were airlifted to a hospital, while others were rescued from life rafts.

Shortly after the collision, some Western media outlets spurred speculations about the fuel Ceres I was carrying, alleging that the crude carrier had been transferring 2 million barrels of Iranian oil to China.