Harris camp responds to Trump telling Christians they 'don't have to vote again' if he gets elected

KELSEY WALSH, GABRIELLA ABDUL-HAKIM and ISABELLA MURRAY
Sat, 27 July 2024 a

Harris camp responds to Trump telling Christians they 'don't have to vote again' if he gets elected

As former President Donald Trump wrapped his nearly 75-minute speech on Friday night, he delivered a final pitch to the Christian conservative crowd, saying if they vote for him on Election Day, they would never be obligated to vote again.

"I don't care how, but you have to get out and vote," Trump said at Turning Point Action's Believers Summit in West Palm Beach. "Christians, get out and vote just this time."

"You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It'll be fixed," Trump said.

He added: "I love you, Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."

The Harris campaign is characterizing Trump's comment that if Christians vote this one time they won't have to do it anymore as a "vow to end democracy."

"When Vice President Harris says this election is about freedom she means it. Our democracy is under assault by criminal Donald Trump," Harris for President Spokesperson James Singer said. "Donald Trump wants to take America backward, to a politics of hate, chaos, and fear – this November America will unite around Vice President Kamala Harris to stop him."

The gathering centered around divine intervention – where Trump reiterated that the power of prayer and the grace of Almighty God saved his life two weeks ago when a bullet struck him in an attempted assassination.

"We want to thank each and every one of the believers in this room for your prayers and your incredible support. I really did appreciate it. Something was working, that we know, something was working," Trump opened his remarks. "I stand before you tonight, thanks to the power of prayer and the grace of Almighty God."

Trump also suggested that Christians don't vote "proportionately," which Trump often bickers about on the campaign trail.

"I don't want to scold you, but do you know that Christians do not vote proportionately?" Trump asked the crowd.

Trump's comments made the rounds on social media as users suggested that his comments sounded similar to when he commented that he'd be a dictator, but just on "day one" and suggested that Trump was alluding to never leaving the White House.

The Trump campaign released a statement clarifying what the former president might have meant with his message to Christian voters, his campaign suggested he was talking about the "importance of faith," "uniting the country," and bringing prosperity."

"President Trump was talking about the importance of faith, uniting this country and bringing prosperity to every American, as opposed to the divisive political environment that has sowed so much division and even resulted in an assassination attempt," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote in a statement.

 

New poll shows Kamala Harris gaining on Trump among Hispanic voters

Gustaf Kilander
Sat, 27 July 2024 


Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is quickly gaining on former President Donald Trump among Hispanic voters, a new poll shows.

While majorities of Hispanic voters have supported Democrats in the past, many have recently been moving towards the Republican Party.

Some polls have indicated that Trump was gaining on President Joe Biden among this group of voters before Biden decided to step aside as the Democratic nominee.

However, a new New York Times/Siena College poll sees Harris leading Trump by 19 percentage points among Hispanic voters – 57 to 38 per cent. In June, the same pollster found that Biden was leading among Hispanic voters by a single point – 45 to 44 per cent.

Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, July 21 following nearly a month of increasing calls for him to go after his disastrous debate performance on June 27 in Atlanta, where hen appeared frail and confused, and lost his train of thought on several occasions.

Compared with Biden, Harris is gaining against Trump after Democrats were quick to coalesce around her campaign. She has secured enough delegates to claim the nomination at the Democratic National Convention next month. Her candidacy has generated significant enthusiasm among Democrats after most voters have been saying for months that they didn’t want a Trump-Biden rematch.

Before she became the presumptive nominee, Harris was polling about as well, or slightly behind, Biden. But since ascending to the top of the ticket, Harris appears to be winning over some who weren’t supporting the president.
Among registered voters, the New York Times/Siena College poll found a tied race with Harris and Trump each getting 42 per cent. In the survey of likely voters, Harris leads by one point – 44 to 43 per cent.

Meanwhile, third-party and independent candidates are losing support. Robert F Kennedy Jr, who got nine per cent in the June poll, got five per cent this month. Similarly, Jill Stein of the Green Party got two per cent in June but less than one per cent support in July.

Support among Hispanic voters is vital for Harris to win in a number of swing states, particularly Arizona and Nevada.

Harris is still behind Biden’s 2020 result among Hispanic voters. The president beat Trump by 33 points – 65 to 32 per cent – with Hispanic voters in the last election, a Times exit poll revealed. In 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won Hispanic voters by 36 points – 65 to 29 per cent.

Gen-Z voters spread the ‘Kamalove’ as Harris’s popularity earns youth support

Lauren Gambino in Atlanta
Sat, 27 July 2024

The US vice-president arrives in Westfield, Massachusetts, on 27 July 2024.Photograph: Stephanie Scarbrough/AP

Kamala Harris pledged to earn the votes of young people this election, as the vice-president and newly elevated presumptive Democratic nominee rides a gen Z-powered wave of online “Kamalove” .

In a virtual address to attendees of a two-day summit in Atlanta, hosted by the liberal gen Z-led organization Voters of Tomorrow, Harris said she had been elected the first female vice-president of the United States “because young voters showed up” in 2020. She touted “historic progress” made by the Biden-Harris administration on combating gun violence and climate change, all of which she said was again “at stake this November”.

“We know young voters will be key, and we know your vote cannot be taken for granted,” she said in a pre-taped video. “It must be earned, and that is exactly what we will do.”


In the days since Joe Biden ended his presidential re-election campaign and endorsed the vice-president for November’s race against Republican nominee Donald Trump, young supporters have flooded social media with coconut tree video cuts and “brat summer” memes – a reflection of the way her candidacy has jolted a presidential race many Democrats had feared was slipping away.

On the sidelines of the summit, progressive US representative Pramila Jayapal, said the level of enthusiasm she has seen for Harris in the last six days – especially among young people – was “undeniable”.

“I have not seen anything like this,” Jayapal, chair of the Progressive caucus, which was divided over the question of whether Biden should step aside, said in an interview. “The closest was probably Barack Obama.”

Citing the Harris campaign’s record fundraising and a surge of early support, Jayapal said: “But this is even more than that – just the amount of money that’s been raised. The fact that it’s come from grassroots donors, the fact that it’s first-time donors, the volunteers, the voter registration, it has really been palpable.”

Related: ‘I’m rocking with Kamala’: Black men defy faulty polling by showing up for Harris campaign

Jayapal said Harris, who is poised to become the first woman of color to lead a major-party presidential ticket, had a unique opportunity to excite young people as well as Black and brown voters. Harris was also a strong messenger on issues that matter to young people, especially abortion rights, she said.

“On every level, including the fact that she is a prosecutor and she will prosecute the case against a convicted felon, I think this is going to be a candidate that can take us to victory,” Jayapal said.

Doug Jones, a former Alabama senator and a close ally of Biden, said Democrats were desperate to unite after a painful few weeks.

“It has moved not just with lightning speed, but with an enthusiasm that I’ve never seen,” he said in an interview at the conference. “It is extraordinary.”

A handful of new polls this week showed Democrats, with Harris at the top of the ticket, gaining a few points against Trump, with the national race against the former president now neck-and-neck.

A New York Times/Siena poll found Harris up 18 points over Trump among voters under 30, while an Axios/Generation Lab poll showed her opening a 20-point lead over the former president.

Many young people have expressed hope that Harris will distance herself from Biden’s approach to Israel’s war in Gaza.

During a meeting on Thursday, the vice-president said she implored Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire deal that would pause the fighting in Gaza and release hostages. In comments afterward, Harris emphasized Palestinian suffering while also recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself.

“We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies,” Harris said this week. “We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent.”

Jayapal, who was among the roughly 100 House Democrats who boycotted the Israeli prime minister’s address to Congress this week, said it would be “complicated” for Harris to chart her own course while still serving as vice-president.

“I know that she feels a deep empathy for Palestinians,” said Jayapal, who said she had spoken recently to Harris about the issue. Pointing to Harris’s remarks after meeting with Netanyahu this week, the Seattle Democrat said: “I think she was trying to signal that she wants to take a different course – that she wants to perhaps consider things that President Biden hadn’t considered or had decided not to do.”

Jayapal noted that it wasn’t just young people and Arab and Muslim Americans who were pushing the administration to change its approach. Black faith leaders and labor groups have also joined calls for the US to stop sending offensive military aid to Israel.

“I believe she is listening to all of that,” Jayapal said. “How she actually moves, we’re going to have to see.”

Jayapal also weighed in on Harris’s search for a running mate. Her preference is Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor, a strong supporter of labor who Jayapal believes would help Democrats hold the midwest. Walz is one of more than a half-dozen candidates viewed as potential running mates.

Trump made his own pitch to young conservatives in Florida, at a conference on faith hosted by the far-right youth advocacy group Turning Point Action. In his remarks on Friday, Trump vowed to “protect Christians in our schools and our military and our government and our workplaces and our hospitals, in our public square”.

He also told the gathering that they would not “have to vote again” if they return him to the presidency in November’s election.

“Christians, get out and vote! Just this time – you won’t have to do it anymore,” he said, denouncing the vice-president as “incompetent”.

Harris, speaking earlier on Saturday at a private fundraiser in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, called the attacks on her by Trump and his running mate, Ohio senator JD Vance, “just plain weird”.

Recent polling had shown Republicans making gains with voters under 35 amid widespread disillusionment with the state of American politics, its institutions and its leaders. However, an Axios/Generation Lab poll conducted after Biden stepped down, shows Harris opening a 20-point lead over Trump with young voters.

Youth-led groups that have been calling on Democrats to do more to invest in young people are hopeful Harris can harness this new energy around her campaign. Already, her campaign has leaned in, embracing an excitement Voters of Tomorrow has branded “Kamalove”.

“The thing that’s creating the energy here is Vice-President Harris and the hope that she’s been giving young people and the vision that she wants to accomplish for us,” said Marianna Pecora, the group’s communications director. “Young people are excited and they’re energized and they’re finding politics to be a joyful thing, something that they want to pay attention to for the first time in a long time, and I don’t think that’s momentum that can die with a meme.”

Voters of Tomorrow recently joined with a coalition of 17 youth groups to unite behind Harris. The newly formed alliance aims to boost Harris in the final 100-day stretch before election day.

On 21 July, after Biden endorsed Harris, Voters of Tomorrow recorded its best fundraising day, raising nearly $125,000. It has also been flooded with new applications and requests to start new chapters – proof, they say, that the excitement is translating into real-world action, and hopefully votes.

“We are the underdogs in this race. Level-set, OK,” Harris said at the Massachusetts fundraiser on Saturday. “We are the underdogs in this race, but this is a people-powered campaign.”

Kamala Harris Joins TikTok In Effort To Reach Young Voters

Marita Vlachou
Fri, 26 July 2024 

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday launched an account on the popular social media platform TikTok, seizing on the momentum her campaign is experiencing.

Videos of Harris, who recently became the presumptive Democratic nominee following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race on Sunday, have already gone viral on the platform, as her ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket seems to have energized young voters.

“Well, I’ve heard that recently I’ve been on the For You page, so I thought I’d get on here myself,” Harris said in her first post on the platform, which has so far garnered over 6.3 million views.

Memes of coconut trees, in reference to a past speech of Harris’ that her detractors previously used against her, are all over the internet.

“You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you,” Harris recalled her mother telling her and her sisters in the now-viral clip.

The endorsement of British pop star Charli XCX, in a post referencing her latest studio album, “Brat,” seems to have further added to the excitement around her candidacy.

“Kamala IS brat,” the singer wrote.

As of early Friday, the TikTok account @kamalaharris had amassed a following of 1.6 million.

“She’s gone from cringe to cool in 24 hours as a whole generation has taken all that content and remixed it in all these incredible TikTok videos,” CNN political commentator Van Jones said on the network earlier this week.

Rob Flaherty, the deputy manager of Harris’ campaign, told People creating the account is part of their strategy to leave “no stone unturned” in their effort to reach voters.

“Getting the vice president up on TikTok means she’ll be able to directly engage with a key constituency in a way that’s true and authentic to the platform and the audience,” Flaherty said.

Harris’ campaign has also taken over the account created for Biden’s now-defunct presidential campaign. That account has vastly grown its following once Harris took it over.

Even as more politicians flock to the platform though, TikTok’s presence in the U.S. remains under threat.

Biden signed a bill in April, which could ban TikTok in the U.S. unless it divested its Chinese ownership within 12 months, citing privacy and national security concerns.

TikTok sued the U.S. government over the legislation on First Amendment grounds.

Trump, who also operates a TikTok account that boasts over 9.2 million followers, has voiced support for the Chinese platform despite his previous efforts to ban it as president.

The former president suggested that the main beneficiary of a nationwide ban on TikTok would be Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

“Now [that] I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition,” Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview last month. “If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram — and that’s, you know, that’s Zuckerberg.”

Harris and Trump need to seduce politically fluid Gen Z ‘Tinder singles’ to win

Matt Canter, Sara Fagen
Fri, 26 July 2024 


The 2024 Presidential election has gone from déjà vu to a whole new ball game—and it is time to reconsider all the assumptions about what factors and which voters will decide the outcome of this race.

While we don’t yet know exactly how the presumptive nominee Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will campaign for the presidency, we do know precisely which voters a winning campaign will need to engage and persuade to come out on top in November.

This year, polls have consistently indicated that younger, unmarried voters are a crucial demographic for both Democratic and Republican campaigns alike. These voters have only known a digital world, where anything they want or need is just a click away, including a date. One out of every seven voters has used Tinder in the last year.

Polling firms Global Strategy Group and Tunnl teamed up for an independent, nonpartisan survey commissioned by Match Group that focused on studying the attitudes of young, single voters who recently used an online dating app—we call them “Tinder singles.” Young voters generally express lower motivation to show up at the polls when compared to their older, married counterparts. However, our survey found that Tinder singles, who represent 44% of all single voters under 36, buck that trend—they are highly engaged.

Eighty percent of Tinder singles say that politics are important to their personal identity, compared to just 59% of young, voting-age Americans not on Tinder. This level of political and electoral engagement shows that these individuals are a key voter bloc that will determine who will win or lose the upcoming election.

One of the most striking characteristics of Tinder singles is their uncommon political fluidity. Unlike older, married voters who are more likely to view elections through a rigid partisan lens, Tinder singles are more persuadable.

General assumptions about Tinder singles and party alignment with the Democratic Party appear to be outdated with a growing number identifying as independent or Republican. This fluidity means that Tinder singles are not locked into any one side or one viewpoint, making them an extremely strategic voting bloc that could offer success to the party or candidate that can motivate them to vote. These are not party-line voters—they are issue voters and their participation will depend on whether candidates speak to their issue-based concerns.

The study also shows that the gender gap among Tinder singles is growing, with young, single women drifting further from their male counterparts politically. While women Tinder singles are more likely to identify as Democrats or liberals (57% of our female respondents leaned Democrat, compared to 42% of men), our research reveals nearly half of women Tinder singles say they might not even vote in the upcoming election. Young, single women are particularly disillusioned with the political process, with 58% believing politicians are more likely to ignore them. This apathy is a critical issue that all campaigns must address, as this group’s political involvement will significantly impact the election's outcome.

Tinder singles are not single-issue voters. They care deeply about broad economic issues, inflation, cost of living, jobs, wages, and reproductive freedoms topping their list of concerns. Notably, issues specifically around reproductive rights have emerged as a critical deal-breaker, especially for the group of young women seeking a reason to vote, with 30% citing abortion and reproductive rights as a top deal-breaker issue. Addressing these concerns and issues is key for any campaign.

Winning campaigns are defined not just by a clear, compelling message but also by identifying the voters it can mobilize. Twenty years ago, when George W. Bush was running for reelection, he expanded his base by targeting working-class white men, and the idea of “NASCAR dads” was born. When President Obama ran for reelection in 2012, he had to win over the so-called “Walmart moms,” who had largely voted for him in 2008 but were now facing economic challenges and working to stretch every dollar.

Like Walmart moms and NASCAR dads before them, Tinder singles are uniquely positioned to determine the outcome of this election. As we approach the 2024 election, they represent a dynamic and influential group that could shape not only the election this November, but the political landscape for decades to come.

The high engagement of Tinder singles, combined with the possibility of this voting bloc sitting out makes them key to any successful campaign. Their engagement, persuadability, and distinct concerns mandate that this cohort be a critical focus for campaigns. In order to secure Tinder singles’ votes, or ensure that they vote at all, candidates must listen to and address their concerns. In an election as closely contested as this one is shaping up to be, the Tinder singles' votes could very well be the deciding factor that will determine who wins and who loses.

Harris's Climate Record Draws Young Voters and Trump Attacks

Justin Worland

TIME
Fri, 26 July 2024 


It didn’t take long for climate groups, often stringent in their policy demands, to get behind Vice President Kamala Harris’s bid to succeed her boss as president. In the days after President Biden’s announcement that he was dropping out of the presidential race, climate advocates offered praise for Harris that some had offered to Biden only sparingly. Prior to joining the Biden White House, Harris had positioned herself as a supporter of aggressive measures to address climate change like the Green New Deal, and advocates saw a lot to like in her record.

Harris “could be the climate game changer we need,” said the Sunrise Movement, a youth activist group focused on climate change, in a statement. Six weeks earlier the group had publicly declined to endorse Biden’s reelection bid.

Following Biden’s announcement, Harris left little doubt that she wants to pick up the climate mantle and run with it. Some of her first remarks after Biden’s announcement hit the issue head on. “As district attorney, to go after polluters, I created one of the first environmental justice units in our nation,” she said. “Donald Trump stood in Mar-a-Lago and told Big Oil lobbyists he would do their bidding for a $1 billion campaign contribution.”

To many on the right, Harris’s enthusiastic climate record represented an opening. Surrogates for former President Trump touted Harris’s support for a ban on fracking as a presidential candidate and homed in on her support for the Green New Deal, which Trump has taken to calling the “Green New Scam.” In their view, Harris’s record on climate and energy could help erode her standing in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state with a substantial oil and gas industry.

Before this week, climate change has played a back-seat role in the conversation around this year’s election. But energy and climate’s role in the race may have changed—and it’s not exactly clear how it will play out.

As a political matter, there are good arguments that might make both sides feel a degree of optimism that Harris’s long-standing climate positioning will aid their campaigns.

In the weeks leading up to Biden’s departure from the presidential race, polls consistently showed declining support for his candidacy among young people, a critical voting bloc in his 2020 victory. Climate isn’t necessarily the only issue—or even the primary one—on young people’s minds. But it matters quite a bit to young voters in the Democratic base who helped elect Biden in 2020. Sunrise alone says it reached approximately 3.5 million young voters. Many of those voters soured on Biden after, among other things, the administration approved a massive oil drilling project in Alaska. Harris’s campaign turned over a new leaf with these groups, benefiting from enthusiasm from climate-motivated voters that Biden had lacked thus far.

For his part, Trump has for months sought to move the energy issue to the center of the electoral conversation. Talking points taking aim at Biden’s energy agenda have featured at rallies in Michigan, where the auto industry is transitioning to electric vehicles, as well as at the Republican National Convention last week. “They’ve spent trillions of dollars of things having to do with the Green New Scam," Trump told the audience.

The political logic is simple. Americans consistently rank the economy and inflation as their biggest concerns. Clean energy policies make an easy foil in the fight to bring down costs. Much of this talking point is untrue. When deployed, clean energy is typically cheaper than its fossil fuel alternative. But that doesn’t mean that the message doesn’t work.

Recent opinion research from Third Way, a centrist D.C. think tank whose policy prescriptions align more closely with Democrats, found that voters by and large prefer candidates who say “we cannot address climate change until inflation is under control” over candidates who say climate change needs to be dealt with immediately.

Perhaps more important, oil and gas play a significant role in Pennsylvania's economy with significant fracking operations in the state’s north and western regions. The state is all but a must-win for Harris.

In the last few days, journalists and commentators have struggled to assess what Harris might mean for the future of climate policy. They have pointed to her harsh language condemning oil and gas as an indicator that she might take a more aggressive posture as president. They have pointed to her longtime embrace of environmental justice to suggest that the concerns of vulnerable communities might get an elevated position in the fight against climate change. And they have pointed to her engagement on international climate issues to suggest a redoubling of U.S. commitment on the issue abroad.

The truth is that at this juncture it’s hard to assess the full shape of a Harris climate agenda. Her climate policymaking would likely be constrained by complicated politics in Congress and a federal judiciary that is increasingly skeptical of climate measures. Surely, some part of her time in office would be spent defending and continuing to implement Biden’s biggest climate moves.

But, in contrast to Trump, one thing is clear about a potential Harris presidency: climate policy, in one form or another, would survive.

TIME receives support for climate coverage from the Outrider Foundation. TIME is solely responsible for all content.

‘We cannot remain silent about what we saw.’ US doctors who volunteered in Gaza demand ceasefire in letter to White House

Sahar Akbarzai, CNN
Fri, July 26, 2024 at 12:29 p.m. MDT·7 min read

A group of 45 American physicians and nurses who volunteered in hospitals across Gaza have sent an open letter to US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris sharing their experiences and demanding an immediate ceasefire and arms embargo.

The signatories unanimously described treating children who had suffered injuries they believed must have been deliberately inflicted. “Specifically, every one of us on a daily basis treated pre-teen children who were shot in the head and chest,” they wrote.

“We wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them. We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget.”

Many in the group have public health backgrounds and experiences volunteering in other conflict zones such as Ukraine and Iraq, according to the letter. “We believe we are well positioned to comment on the massive human toll from Israel’s attack on Gaza, especially the toll it has taken on women and children,” reads the letter posted to X on Thursday by Dr. Feroze Sidwa, who spearheaded the writing of the letter with the other physicians.

The doctors and nurses’ letter calls on the Biden administration to participate in an arms embargo of both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups, and to withhold military, diplomatic, and economic support to Israel until a permanent and immediate ceasefire is achieved. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

It comes at a critical time for the White House, as it urges the Israelis to accept a ceasefire agreement. Biden met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, a day after the Israeli leader addressed the US Congress about the conflict. Sources told CNN the president was expected to be as forceful as he has ever been in pushing Netanyahu to agree to a deal.

“We believe our government is obligated to do this, both under American law and International Humanitarian Law, and that it is the right thing to do,” the letter said.

A wounded Palestinian man, who was evacuated from the European Hospital after the Israel army ordered Palestinians to evacuate the eastern part of Khan Younis, lies on a stretcher on the floor at Nasser Hospital, in the southern Gaza Strip on July 2. - Mohammed Salem/Reuters

The ‘only independent monitors’ in Gaza

Dr. Adam Hamawy, a US plastic surgeon and former US Army combat trauma surgeon, told CNN on Thursday, “there’s no one getting firsthand accounts other than physicians. We feel like we have to speak out because…we’re witnesses to this.

“In Gaza, there’s no independent monitor,” he said. “If you’re not going to believe the Palestinians, then you should believe 50 doctors who’ve gone there at different times and places.”

Apart from Palestinian journalists living in Gaza, there has been no media access to the enclave since October 7, with a few exceptions of entry under official escort.

Hamawy signed the letter to recount what he saw with his own eyes. “We all saw a complete devastation of a society, of people’s lives, of health care structure,” he said.

Hamawy has worked as a surgeon in Sarajevo, in New York City on 9/11, and in Iraq, where he performed life-saving surgery on US Senator Tammy Duckworth in 2004 after her helicopter was hit by an RPG. But he said those experiences in other conflict zones were not comparable to what he had witnessed in Gaza, adding that 90% of those he had seen killed there were women and children.

Hamawy worked at the European Gaza hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis in May of this year where he performed about 115 reconstructive surgeries and treated mostly children under 14 years old. He worked on amputations, burns, and gunshot wounds to the face, he said.

The surgeon alleges that a gunshot wound on the face of one of his patients, a male teenager, most likely came from an M16 or sniper rifle because the wound was a small entrance wound. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on this allegation.

Another patient was a little boy who picked up what he thought was a can of tuna to bring back to his family in Rafah, Hamawy recalled. But the metal object was in fact an unexploded cluster bomb, according to Hamawy, who said that after opening it in front of his family, the child lost his left arm, both his legs, and three fingers on his right arm.
‘No kid gets shot twice by a sniper by mistake’

Dr. Mark Perlmutter, a Jewish American orthopedic hand surgeon from North Carolina and president of the World Surgical Association, told CNN that he decided to go to Gaza after receiving photographs of an X-ray of a poorly performed surgery in the battered enclave.

The photos were sent to him by a first-year medical resident who had been forced to perform the surgery and requested Perlmutter’s expertise. When Perlmutter asked why senior surgeons hadn’t done the operation, the resident explained that they had been killed in a bombing.

Perlmutter told CNN that during his trip, he saw significant violence inflicted on children, who accounted for around 90% of those attending the emergency room while he was working at the European Gaza Hospital.

Describing a hospital overrun, Perlmutter said after every bombing, he would find injured children laid across the floor, their loved ones panicking and crying.

“Some are dead, some will die in front of you, and some you can save. You try to save the ones you can save,” Perlmutter said.

He recalled two patients aged around six years old, who had suffered gunshots to their heads and chests – wounds which suggested they had been deliberately targeted, he said.

“No kid gets shot twice by a sniper by mistake,” Perlmutter said, adding that the shots were “dead center” to their chests.

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on these allegations.

As Perlmutter tried to treat the children with head injuries, he said, their “brains poured out” in his hands, in what he described as a personally traumatic moment.

In signing the letter, Perlmutter told CNN that he hopes “the average American can feel the pain we feel on a daily basis. They’ll never see what we saw but they should feel what we saw.”
‘Everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both’

Launched in response to Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel on October 7 which killed at least 1,200 people, Israel’s monthlong military offensive in Gaza has left more than 39,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Gazan Health Ministry. The letter’s signatories estimate that the true toll of the war could be in excess of 92,000, if it included deaths from starvation or disease and bodies still buried under the rubble.

Last week the World Health Organization said the polio virus had been found in sewage samples, putting thousands of Palestinians at risk of contracting a disease that can cause pa ralysis.

For months, the health care system in Gaza has been collapsing under relentless Israeli airstrikes, power outages and a shortage of medical supplies, according to the United Nations and previous CNN reporting.

Under such conditions, the American medical workers warned that epidemics could lead to the deaths of tens of thousands more children. The displacement of people to areas with no running water or toilets “is virtually guaranteed to result in widespread death from viral and bacterial diarrheal diseases and pneumonias, particularly in children under the age of five,” the letter said.

“Everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both,” with few exceptions, their letter said. “We are not politicians. We do not claim to have all the answers. We are simply physicians and nurses who cannot remain silent about what we saw in Gaza.” the letter said.

Reporting contributed by Tala Alrajjal, Sam Fossum and Eugenia Ugrinovich.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com

Ugandan police say 104 people were arrested in anti-corruption protests

Reuters
Sat, July 27, 2024 

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Police in Uganda arrested 104 people during anti-corruption protests this week and almost all of them have been charged with public order offences, a police statement said late on Friday.

The government's response to the street protests drew criticism from rights campaigners and the United States, which said it was "concerned" by the arrests of dozens of protesters who were "peacefully demonstrating".

In a statement posted on its X account on Friday, the U.S. embassy in Uganda urged the government of President Yoweri Museveni to investigate allegations that some of the detained protesters had been assaulted.

Young Ugandans took to the streets on Tuesday and Thursday to protest alleged graft by elected leaders in the East African country, drawing inspiration from weeks of youth-led protests in neighbouring Kenya that led the president there to scrap proposed tax hikes.

In response, the government of long-standing leader Museveni deployed police and soldiers across the capital, Kampala, detaining dozens of protesters holding banners and shouting slogans.

In their statement, police said 100 of those arrested had been charged. It was the first time police had said how many protesters had been detained.

Rights group Amnesty International criticised the government's "heavy-handed tactics" against the protesters earlier this week.

"Ugandan authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all those who were arrested solely for exercising their right to peaceful assembly," it said in a statement on Thursday.

(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Helen Popper)


Uganda protester sexually assaulted in police cell - lawyer

Swaibu Ibrahim in Kampala & Wycliffe Muia in Nairobi - BBC News
Fri, July 26, 2024 

More than 90 anti-corruption protesters were arrested by police this week [Reuters]

A Ugandan activist, one of dozens detained this week for participating in banned demonstrations, was sexually assaulted in custody, his lawyer has said.

More than 90 youths were arrested and some were charged with being a public nuisance following anti-corruption protests that hit the capital, Kampala.

Some of those released from detention have also reportedly said they had been sexually assaulted while in police cells, sparking widespread criticism. But police denied the allegation.

The two days of anti-corruption demonstrations went ahead on Tuesday and Thursday despite a warning from President Yoweri Museveni that the protesters were "playing with fire".

The protesters, inspired by recent anti-tax demonstrations in Kenya, were demanding the resignation of the parliamentary speaker, who has been accused of corruption, which she has denied.

But the Ugandan riot police quickly stopped the protests, bundling several young activists, including a prominent TV presenter, into the back of lorries.

Some are facing a variety of charges but an unknown number remain in police custody, local media reported.

Referring to the allegations of sexual assault his client experienced, lawyer Eron Kiiza said while it was not common for people to be attacked like this in police cells it did happen.

"He was sodomised immediately after he was detained," he told the BBC.

The US embassy in Kampala said in a statement: "We urge that any allegations of individuals assaulted in detention be investigated and perpetrators be held accountable."

However, police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke dismissed the allegations as "unfounded" and "malicious".

"The police are very conscious of the rights of suspects and take their responsibilities seriously," Mr Rusoke added in a statement.

Mr Kiiza explained that the police believe the protesters are backed by foreign funders - a reference to those who have cut funding or were critical of Uganda for adopting the world’s harshest anti-homosexuality laws last year.

“The police think that gay people are funding the protests,” he said, adding that his client was told during the assault: “’Now you earn it.’

"It happens in the wake of desperation of some guys in the police [who are trying] to find a connection between the protests and the so-called foreign funders," the lawyer said.

"It is like a revenge act."

Mr Kiiza said he had medical documents that show the sexual abuse and he would use them to sue the authorities once his client was done with treatment and rehabilitation.

He declined to name his client or the station where the alleged abuse took place, citing security fears.

Other activists, both male and female, were also sexually abused while in detention, opposition leader Bobi Wine has alleged.

"Only a few of them had the courage to publicly speak about their ordeal. Very many of them have reported to us but fear or feel ashamed to speak about it in public," Bobi Wine, a former pop star whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, added.

The allegation has sparked uproar on social media with Ugandans calling for an independent investigation into the matter.

"If true, the people doing that may the Lord judge you!" Youth Minister Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi, posted on X.

The minister acknowledged that the allegations were dehumanising and said the country's police chief should investigate them.

On Thursday, President Museveni praised the police for shutting down the protests, which he said had been funded by “foreign sources”.

“Very bad things” would be revealed in court about the protesters, he added in his post on X.

Amnesty International has called for an immediate and unconditional release of all those who were arrested.

“The heavy-handed tactics used by the Ugandan government to stifle and silence peaceful protesters show a manifest clampdown on dissent," the rights group added in a statement.

B.C. tree fruit grower co-operative shuts down after 88 years, citing low volume

The Canadian Press
Sat, July 27, 2024 

The Canadian Press

OKANAGAN, B.C. — The end of a co-operative that helped farmers process, store and get their fruit to market will be hard on small operations, says one of the farmers in British Columbia’s Okanagan that have been left reeling from the news.

Jennifer Deol, who runs There and Back Again Farms in Kelowna, B.C., said news that the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative is ceasing operations after 88 years means small farmers are losing access to cold storage and distribution infrastructure needed to sell their crops to wholesalers, in the middle of what has already been a catastrophic growing season for many.

"With our table grapes, if we don't find an avenue to store them, they're going to spoil. It's not worth it for us to pick it. We've always worked with B.C. Tree Fruits where they store the product for us, and they sell it for us, and now we're facing a future where we have to figure that out ourselves," she said.

"We do not have the infrastructure, and nor does most growers, to just store their apples for the season until they can find someone to buy it. That logistic is something that's going to be a nightmare for a lot of growers, and it's something we're trying to grapple with right now."

In a letter sent to members Friday and obtained by The Canadian Press, the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative says "extremely low" volumes of fruit and difficult market conditions mean it will no longer be accepting fruit.

The letter says the co-operative, which processes, stores, packages and sells fruit for 330 member farms, will be going to court for direction on how to wind down and "maximize recovery for all stakeholders."

It says growers should "immediately search for another alternative" to get their products to market for the rest of the season.

In a statement sent to The Canadian Press, the co-operative asks for patience as it navigates the process with its lenders and advisers.

"The board of directors of BC Tree Fruits Cooperative determined that due to extremely low estimated fruit volumes, weather effects, and difficult market and financial conditions, the co-operative will not be able to effectively operate the business moving forward," the statement says.

Deol said farmers knew that the organization had been struggling for some time but that it is "very shocking" to see it close midseason.

"People are literally picking fruit right now and it was meant to go to the co-op and the doors are closed. And that is a really scary situation especially because it's already such an abysmal year," she said,

Weather this winter wiped out almost all of B.C.'s peaches, apricots and nectarines for the year and severely damaged cherry orchards.

In mid-January, the Interior saw several days of frigid temperatures that killed off active buds in trees that had only just begun to recover from the 2021 heat dome and had gone through a harsh winter in 2022.

Deol said the co-op's model provided transparency on how fruit was being sold, allowed the group to negotiate better deals thanks to having a higher volume of fruit, and gave growers a better sense of how much profit they could expect.

She said without the co-op most growers will likely have to turn to private packers to handle their fruit, and risk getting less money for their crops which already have tight profit margins.

They'll also be working to distribute as much as they can on their own, she said.

"We're just talking to everybody that we know, to be like, 'what can you take?' Because we've got hundreds of bins of apples (coming in September). There's no way we can sell that ourselves."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2024

The Canadian Press

Who was behind the sabotage of France’s railway network? Here’s what we know

THEY HAVE NO CLUE TILL THE COMMUNIQUE

Ivana Kottasová, Saskya Vandoorne and Sana Noor Haq, CNN
Sat, July 27, 2024

 France is still facing travel disruption a day after saboteurs targeted high-speed railway lines in an attack coinciding with the start of the Olympics. As operators try to get service back to normal, a key question remains - who was responsible?

Authorities are investigating what outgoing French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal called a “coordinated” effort. He said that intelligence services and internal security forces are involved in inquiries and urged caution over jumping to conclusions.

French police will know “quite quickly who is responsible” for the attacks, the country’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Saturday. They recovered an “amount of evidence” following the operation, Darmanin told CNN affiliate France 2.


No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, but given their scale, timing and precision, it is clear they are more than just random acts of vandalism.

There are many possible culprits – the opening day of the Olympic Games is one of the most watched events in the world, a tempting target for anyone seeking to cause chaos and disruption in the limelight.

Here’s what we know.

Extensive knowledge of railways

High-speed trains connecting southwestern, northern and eastern regions of French were all impacted on Friday, in what authorities described as a methodical pattern of attacks hitting key arterial routes.

The perpetrators have extensive knowledge of the network, according to Axel Persson, a leader of the CGT rail union. They must have had access to very “precise information,” he added.

Authorities should not rule out industrial espionage, Persson told CNN on Friday, saying that a railway staffer, or someone who built the tracks including construction workers, could also be to blame.

Employees had implemented a failsafe plan in preparation for the Olympics, allowing some passengers to use alternative lines that would slow down traffic, but at least travelers would get to their destination, Persson added. “France is disrupted but not paralyzed,” he said.

Jean-Pierre Farandou, the CEO of state-owned rail company SNCF, told journalists that cables – which are there to ensure the security of train drivers – were set on fire and taken apart but again stressed authorities “don’t know who is behind it.”
An act of protest?

France is no stranger to widespread strikes or political demonstrations that manifest into blocked transport links across the country.

The parliamentary election held just weeks ago attracted large scale protests and rallies. However, such events tend to be announced in advance and those behind them are keen to make their cause known.

Environmental activists have previously blocked traffic to bring attention to the climate crisis. But these groups have mostly staged bold and striking demonstrations focused on fossil-fuel intensive transportation, such as on airports and highways, and also make it known when they are behind such protests.

Railway staff and police work to repair one of several sites where vandals targeted France's high-speed train network, in the northern villege of Croisilles, on Friday. - Brian Snyder/Reuters

The attacks could also have been an act of civil disobedience. An intelligence source told CNN that services pointed out “these methods have been used by the far left in the past,” but said that “there is no evidence to tie today’s actions to them.”

The last major act of vandalism on high-speed train lines in France was in 2008, when steel rods were placed on overhead power cables. Police arrested individuals from an alleged anarchist group from Tarnac village but 10 years later, after a lengthy investigation, they were all acquitted and cleared of sabotage.
Foreign actors?

Recently, France has been one of several countries impacted by a wave of suspected Russian sabotage attacks against infrastructure and other targets.

French President Emmanuel Macron has remained a staunch ally of Kyiv throughout the fighting. Just in May, he suggested that Ukraine should be allowed to use their weapons against targets inside Russia from which the Kremlin attacks Ukraine.

Earlier this week, French authorities detained a Russian citizen in Paris, accusing him of preparing destabilizing events during the Games. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia did not have any information on the arrest.

Ahead of the Games, Dale Buckner, CEO of the security firm Global Guardian, told CNN France has “a lot of enemies” due to its stance on a wide range of international and domestic issues, singling out cyber attacks as one of the greatest threats.

CNN has previously reported on a host of suspected Russian attacks across Europe. Russia has not admitted to any of them and did not respond to a CNN request for comment.

CNN’s Ben Church and Xiaofei Xu contributed reporting.

‘France is under attack’: How Olympics saboteurs brought chaos to the Games

Henry Samuel
Fri, July 26, 2024 
THE TELEGRAPH

Passengers gather around the departure boards at the Gare Montparnasse train station in Paris after France's high-speed rail network was brought down - THIBAUD MORITZ


It was the moment France and the world had been waiting for – the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games down the river Seine, the first ever for a Summer Games outside a stadium.

But as the country awoke to the final Olympic countdown and the prospect of a spectacular show involving 7,500 athletes, 300,000 spectators, superstar appearances and an audience of VIPs, saboteurs had already thrown a huge spanner in the works.

In the early hours of Friday, reports emerged of a “massive” and “co-ordinated” sabotage attack on the country’s high-speed national rail tracks, which essentially knocked out most lines to and from northern, eastern and western France.

While officials insisted the opening ceremony itself would suffer no disruption, Gabriel Attal, France’s acting prime minister, said: “The consequences for the rail network are massive and serious.”

“Our intelligence services and law enforcement agencies are mobilised to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts,” he added.



French authorities had laid on a large, high-tech security regime to defend the Olympics, with Reaper drones in the skies and AI-powered cameras on the ground to keep an eye out for suspicious activity.

But Friday’s attack suggests they paid far less attention to key rail routes, which were sabotaged by old-fashioned arson rather than cyber-attacks.

The saboteurs chose to avoid the heavily guarded French capital and instead struck rural targets in the middle of the night. While hundreds of armed police officers and soldiers patrolled the streets of Paris, several cables were apparently set alight in the commune of Courtalain, around 150km south-west of the capital.

The local community’s social media page posted a picture of burnt-out cables in a shallow gully, with its protective paving stones discarded.

SNCF, France’s state-owned rail company, says the saboteurs either vandalised or tried to vandalise five signal boxes and electricity installations between 1am and 5.30am local time on Friday.

They struck not just at Courtalain but at Pagny-sur-Moselle, a village outside the eastern city of Metz, and Croisilles, not far from the northern city of Arras.


The targeted sites are small but are located at crucial junctions on the high-speed network.

Another attempted attack, on a TGV junction to the south east of Paris at Vergigny, was foiled by SNCF workers who happened to be carrying out maintenance in the early hours of Friday.

Matthieu Chabanel, head of SNCF Réseau, which runs SNCF’s infrastructure, said staff first detected a major problem at 4am.

“Fifty cables of 10 wires each makes 500 cables to reconnect linked to installations that are essential for safety, such as signalling,” he told Le Monde.

Patrice Vergriete, the French transport minister, said that France had received no warning of the attacks but that “we are preparing for (others)”.

“Today we are on alert, so obviously we have mobilised all security forces, as well as drones, so today we have greatly increased our vigilance”, he told TF1.

SNCF railway workers work at one of the targeted sites along the network - REUTERS/Brian Snyder

It remains unclear who is behind the crippling attacks that affected 250,000 passengers on Friday and are estimated to hit 800,000 over the weekend.

Senior figures have suggested the sabotage could have been carried out by hard-Left radicals or Russia, whose athletes have been barred from the opening ceremony.

But whoever committed this crime knew what they were doing as they chose strategic “switch points” to cause maximum damage. “For one fire, you hit two destinations”, said Jean-Pierre Farandou, head of SNCF.

“Part of France is under attack. The French are under attack,” he told BFMTV.

Friday was a huge day of departures for hundreds of thousands of French leaving Paris to go on holiday by train and car. Thousands more were due to arrive in Paris to attend the opening ceremony.

The saboteurs “knew where to hit”, said Mr Attal, adding that they had “knowledge of the network”.

“What we know, what we can see is that this operation has been planned, coordinated, that key points have been targeted which shows a kind of knowledge of the [train] network,” he added.

Burnt-out cables near Courtalain, around 150km south west of Paris - Mayor of Vald'Yerre/Franck Marchand

One in four Eurostar trains was cancelled on Friday and over the weekend, spoiling Olympic plans for some British fans.

Toby Morris told The Telegraph a friend gave him boxing tickets along with £250 train tickets to Paris as a gift.

“I thought I’d come here to try my chances, but they’ve said I definitely can’t get on another train today, so I just won’t be able to go now,” he said.

Gérald Darmanin, the French interior minister, told the press that the sabotage had no “direct consequence on the organisation of the Olympic Games”.

However, Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer had to change his travel plans as he was meant to travel on the Eurostar to Paris but flew instead.

Sir Keir earlier insisted that travel disruption would not “overshadow” the Olympic Games.

SNCF urged passengers to postpone their trips, stay away from train stations and await text message instructions, but by Friday afternoon, traffic was slowly resuming to western France – with one in three trains operating – while trains to the east and north had resumed with delays.

Valérie Pécresse, the Paris regional council head, said: “Clearly this attack is not a coincidence. This attack is an attempt to destabilise France.”


Suspicions of Russian involvement were raised this week when a Russian reality TV “bachelor” turned Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef was unmasked as an alleged spy plotting to sabotage the Olympics.

Jérôme Poirot, terrorism expert for RMC-BFMTV, a French television and radio network, added: “We know that Russia and other countries want to interfere with the Olympic Games. There may be a plan in place to prevent the opening ceremony.”

Israel, on the other hand, blamed Iran. Israel Katz, Israel’s foreign minister, said: “The sabotage of railway infrastructure across France ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics was planned and executed under the influence of Iran’s axis of evil and radical Islam.”

But Mr Attal advised against jumping to conclusions.

“The investigation is starting, and I would urge everyone to exercise caution. What we know, what we can see, is that this operation was prepared, coordinated, that key points were targeted, which shows a kind of knowledge of the network in order to know where to strike”, he said.

Emmanuel Macron declined to comment.

Asked if the arson attacks were the work of Russia or a terrorist group, Amélie Oudéa-Castera, the French sports minister, responded: “Maybe,” before adding: “It could also be protesters – even French people.”

Gabriel Attal, France's acting prime minister, said the saboteurs had 'knowledge of the network' and 'knew where to hit' - Tschaen Eric/Pool/ABACA/Shutterstock

It emerged on Friday that a similar incendiary device to the ones found at the sabotage sites on Friday was detected in May on a high-speed line between Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. An investigation was launched but no arrests were made.

Jean de Gliniasty, the former French ambassador to Moscow, told LCI the threat could have come from the far-Left.

“There’s a tradition in France of black blocs, every time there’s a demonstration they destroy, they break things,” he said. “In fact, France has been facing these problems for several years now, and we haven’t managed to solve them.”

In 2008, French anti-terrorist police arrested 10 members of a “violent anarchist movement” for sabotaging power cables on high-speed TGV train lines. Severe delays were caused when power was cut by metal bars hooked onto overhead electric cables on TGV lines around Paris.

However, in what was called a judicial “fiasco”, the “Tarnac ten” were later all acquitted.

Some French unions, including the powerful Leftist CGT, had called for strikes during the Games over working conditions but these were mainly withdrawn due to concessions.

Paris prosecutors said an investigation has been launched into charges of “damaging property likely to harm the fundamental interests of the nation”, “damage and attempted damage by dangerous means in an organised gang”, “attacks on an automated data processing system in an organised gang” and “criminal conspiracy”.

Hungary’s nationalist FASCIST leader warns of EU's demise and backs Trump in anti-Western speech

ANTI LIBERAL ANTI ENLIGHTENMENT

CATHOLIC MONARCHIST

Stephen Mcgrath And Nicolae Dumitrache
Sat, July 27, 2024







Hungary’s nationalist leader warns of EU's demise and backs Trump in anti-Western speech

The Associated Press

BAILE TUSNAD, Romania (AP) — Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Saturday that the European Union was sliding toward oblivion in a rambling anti-Western speech in which he warned of a new, Asia-oriented “world order” while throwing his support for Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential bid.

“Europe has given up defending its own interests,” Orbán said in Baile Tusnad, a majority-ethnic Hungarian town in central Romania. “All Europe is doing today is following the U.S.’s pro-Democrat foreign policy unconditionally … even at the cost of self-destruction.”

“A change is coming that has not been seen for 500 years. What we are facing is in fact a world order change," he added, citing China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia as becoming the “dominant center” of the world.

Orbán also alleged that the U.S. was behind the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines built to carry gas from Russia to Germany, calling it “an act of terrorism carried out at the obvious direction of the Americans.” He didn't offer any evidence to back up the claim.

The far-right leader’s remarks come amid growing criticism from his European partners after he embarked on rogue “peace mission” trips to Moscow and Beijing earlier this month aimed at brokering an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Orbán is widely considered to have the warmest relations with the Kremlin among all EU leaders.

On Ukraine, Orbán cast doubt on the war-torn country becoming either a member of NATO or the EU. “We Europeans do not have the money for it. Ukraine will revert to the position of a buffer state,” he said, adding that international security guarantees “will be enshrined in an agreement between the US and Russia.”

Throughout Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, Orbán has broken with other EU leaders by refusing to provide Kyiv with weapons to defend against Russian forces and has routinely delayed, watered down, or blocked efforts to send financial aid to Kyiv and impose sanctions on Moscow.

Orbán typically uses the annual Tusvanyos Summer University platform in Romania to indicate the ideological direction of his national government and to deride the standards of the EU bloc, which Hungary joined in 2004.

Hungary currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, during which Orbán has made a Trumpian vow to “Make Europe Great Again” and has openly endorsed Trump’s candidacy in this year’s U.S. presidential election. Orbán visited Trump twice this year at the former president’s beachside compound in Mar-a-Lago.

Orbán said Saturday that Trump’s bid for re-election aims “to pull the American people back from a post-nationalist liberal state to a nation-state” and rehashed a slew of conservative tropes that Trump is being penalized unfairly to prevent his electoral bid.

“That is why they want to put him in prison. That’s why they want to take away his assets. And if that doesn’t work, that’s why they want to kill him,” Orbán said, referring to an assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania rally this month.

U.S. ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, responded to Orbán's comments on Saturday in a post on the social media platform X, saying that such rhetoric “risks changing Hungary’s relationship with America.”

“We have no other ally or partner … that similarly, overtly, and tirelessly campaigns for a specific candidate in an election in the United States of America, seemingly convinced that no matter, it only helps Hungary — or at least helps him personally,” Pressman said, and went on to accuse Orbán of peddling “Kremlin conspiracy theories about the United States. Hardly what we expect from an Ally.”

Orbán’s remarks on Saturday aren’t the first time he’s used the festival in Transylvania to stir controversy. In 2014, Orban declared for the first time his intentions to build an “illiberal state” in Hungary, and in 2022, he sparked international outrage after he railed against Europe becoming a “mixed race” society. He doubled down on his long-held anti-immigration stance on Saturday, saying it is not an answer to his country's aging population.

“There can be no question of a shrinking population supplemented by migration,” he said in his Saturday address. “The Western experience is that if there are more guests than owners, then home is no longer home. This is a risk that should not be taken.”

The EU’s longest-serving leader, Orbán has become an icon to some conservative populists for his firm opposition to immigration and LGBTQ+ rights. He has also cracked down on the press and judiciary in Hungary and has been accused by the EU of violating rule-of-law and democracy standards.

___

McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania. Bálint Dömötör contributed from London.

By Stephen Mcgrath And Nicolae Dumitrache, The Associated Press

Company halts construction of $2.7B EV battery project in eastern Ontario

CBC
Fri, July 26, 2024 


The Umicore plant broke ground in 2023, but the company now says it's launched a strategic review to maximize future business value in battery materials. (Dan Taekema/CBC - image credit)


After breaking ground in 2023, the company building a plant to produce battery components for electric vehicles in a municipality near Kingston, Ont., says it's delaying construction of the plant citing a slowdown in EV sales.

In a statement to CBC News, Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials Inc. said Friday that its project in Loyalist Township is impacted by the "significant worsening of the EV market context and the impacts this has on the entire supply chain."

The project carried a total price tag of up to $2.76 billion and was projected to create 600 jobs in the region back in 2023. According to a news release at the time from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, the federal government was slated to invest up to $551.3 million.


The province was to pay up to $424.6 million, but a source familiar with the project said that as of Friday, no provincial money has flowed to Umicore.

Umicore cited a situation on June 12 when it announced that a contract with a Chinese manufacturer would not materialize. The company said its legacy contracts were tailing off faster than anticipated and there's a delay in the "ramp-up of contracts" in Europe.

"For Umicore, customers' demand projections for our battery materials have steeply declined recently," the statement reads.

Officials pose with shovels on Oct. 16, 2023 to mark the new plant to build electric vehicle batteries.

Officials pose with shovels in October 2023 to mark the construction of a new battery components plant. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

The company said it's realigning its operations "to the new market reality," adding that a part of accomplishing this involves a "thorough review" of its battery materials business.

It's planning to present the conclusion of that review on its capital markets day during the first quarter of 2025.

Canada responds to market, not vice versa: prof

Greig Mordue, an associate engineering professor at McMaster University, says both federal and provincial governments wanted to be early in the market.

"They wanted to be first, and that's fine if you're making a market but the reality of it is Canada's auto industry is made up of suppliers or affiliates of globally owned companies," Mordue said.

Mordue stated that the government has spent or committed tens of billions of dollars but the industry is simply not there yet.

He said Umicore is not the only company taking a pause to evaluate its standing and wait for the market to catch up, referencing Ford which also recently scaled back its EV production.

Locals and mayor weigh in

Kathleen Palmer, a resident of Bath, Ont., told CBC News that she's unsurprised by the news but is disappointed.

"It would have provided more employment in the area and it would have helped provide some additional services to our community because right now we have to go Kingston or Napanee for any kind of shopping," said Palmer.

She does believe that in the long-term, development will happen in the area with or without the plant.

"The plant it might've pushed it along a little faster," she said.

Loyalist Township Mayor Jim Hegadorn said he understands there will be a delay with construction while the review is completed but insisted "the project is not shut down."

Hegadorn said the township expects to receive more insight in the fall and is confident the project will proceed.

He added that Loyalist is in a good place economically and has seen steady growth over the years.


Umicore profit slumps on weak EV demand, takes 1.6 billion euro writedown

Updated Fri, July 26, 2024 
By Mathias de Rozario and Olivier Sorgho

(Reuters) -Metals recycling group Umicore reported on Friday a 24% fall in half-year core profit and booked a 1.6 billion euro impairment for its battery materials division in the face of weak demand for electric vehicles.

The maker of catalytic converters and battery materials for carmakers has decided to postpone a "large scale" investment in an unspecified battery recycling plant in Europe due to EV market weakness.

It will also delay a battery materials plant investment in Canada as it launches a strategic review of its business.

Asked about the battery plant delay on a call with reporters, Canada Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said, "These kinds of major transformations are never a straight line. There are always bumps along the way."

Umicore's shares were down 2.6% at 0943 GMT.

"The market context is challenging and we have seen a slowdown in the growth of EV sales in the short and mid term," CEO Bart Sap told analysts.

It now expects production at the European battery recycling plant to start in 2032 at the earliest.

"The low visibility on underlying market trends and technology choices has dented investor confidence, but the current valuation seems attractive," said KBC analysts in a note.

Umicore's adjusted core profit (EBITDA) fell 24% to 393 million euros ($426.68 million), missing the 398.5 million expected by analysts in a company-provided consensus.

Profits at the battery materials division fell 99% to 1 million euros. The group said the 1.6 billion impairment would reflect lower values of some of its plants and equipment.

Umicore last month lowered its 2024 profit forecast, citing weak demand projections for battery materials due to the EV slowdown.

The company on Friday confirmed its full-year guidance for core profit at group level, but forecast that the battery materials division would have an operating profit below break-even in 2025 and 2026.

The company specialises in nickel, manganese and cobalt battery materials, and faces additional pressures as some car-makers switch to cheaper lithium-ion phosphate components.

CEO Bart Sap told analysts the two types of batteries can coexist on the market.

In June, Umicore announced job cuts at its German business producing automotive catalysts, which helps reduce emissions in gasoline and diesel engines.

($1=0.9211 euros)

(Reporting by Olivier Sorgho and Mathias de Rozario; Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Jason Neely and Jane Merriman and Richard Chang)