Biden struggles during debate with Trump ahead of US presidential election – Newstrends
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Biden struggles during debate with Trump ahead of US presidential election

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Donald Trump, Jo Biden

Biden struggles during debate with Trump ahead of US presidential election

Joe Biden on Thursday found it difficult to dispel fears that he is too elderly to serve a second term as President of the United States.

This was during a heated discussion with Donald Trump that featured accusations about his personal life.

A boasting Trump unleashed a tirade at his successor, branding him an economic and global failure.

The incumbent President Biden attempted to respond, but his delivery was stuttering as he talked quickly in a scratchy, trailing voice, stammering while staring blankly.

After spending the previous week in seclusion preparing, his performance aroused fresh worries inside his Democratic Party, since polls indicate that Trump is either tied or leading in the November election.

In what was the first-ever presidential debate, the two men accused one another of being the worst presidents in history.

As they battled over their golf strokes, Trump and Biden—who were both the oldest presidents when they were first elected—even called each other infantile.

At CNN’s Atlanta headquarters, Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, did not exchange handshakes en route to their podiums.

Their microphones were muted while the other speaker spoke, and there was no live audience.

Claiming to be sick, the US president struck at Trump with well-practiced phrases, trying to remind the millions of TV viewers that Trump would be the first convicted felon to hold the presidency.

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“You have the morals of an alley cat,” Biden said.

Speaking forcefully, Trump—a seasoned speaker from live events and reality TV—ran through a lengthy list of grievances with Biden’s record.

Trump sought to seize on the US president’s delivery, saying at one point, “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”

Kamala Harris, the vice president, resorted to damage control. While praising Biden’s “extraordinarily strong” record, Harris raised reservations about his debate in a live CNN interview.

“Yes, there was a slow start, but it was a strong finish,” Harris said.

Former Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield claimed on CNN that the president’s evening was “really disappointing.”

“I don’t think there is any other way to slice it,” she said.

According to a CNN poll, 67 percent of those who saw the debate thought Trump won.

Democrats are likely to formally nominate Biden as their candidate in Chicago in August, with little room for change unless the president withdraws.

Biden has sought to dispute Trump’s claims that he is insufficiently aggressive for the position.

However, Julian Zelizer, a historian at Princeton University, believes Biden’s fans will be “extremely concerned.”

Biden struggles during debate with Trump ahead of US presidential election

International

Relief as Israel agrees to ceasefire with Lebanon 

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Relief as Israel agrees to ceasefire with Lebanon 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will bring a US-brokered proposal for a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon to his government for approval as soon as Tuesday evening.

He said in a televised address that he would put “a ceasefire outline” to ministers “this evening”.

He however did not say how long the truce would last, noting “the length of the ceasefire depends on what happens in Lebanon”.

But it later learnt that the ceasefire would is for 60 days.

During the period, Hezbollah fighters are expected to retreat 40 kilometres from Israel’s border, with Israeli ground forces withdrawing from Lebanese territory.

“If Hezbollah violates the agreement and attempts to rearm, we will strike,” Netanyahu warned.

Key Israel backer the United States has led ceasefire efforts for Lebanon alongside France.

US President Joe Biden is optimistic the deal will lead to a “permanent cessation of hostilities”.

Biden added that the US would lead another push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“In full coordination with the United States, we are maintaining full military freedom of action,” Netanyahu said, outlining the seven-front war Israel says it faces in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Iran.

Even as Netanyahu spoke about the ceasefire, the Israeli military carried out multiple strikes on heart of Beirut while the army said some 15 projectiles had entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon.

Demonstrators raise placards and Israeli flags during a protest in front of the Israeli Defence Ministry in the coastal city Tel Aviv on November 26, 2024, against a possible ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon. – Israel’s security cabinet has started discussing a proposed ceasefire deal in its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, an Israeli official confirmed to AFP on November 26. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)

The war in Lebanon escalated after nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah, which said it was acting in support of Hamas after its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

The war has killed at least 3,823 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September.

On the Israeli side, the hostilities have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say.

Netanyahu said the ceasefire would allow Israel to focus on “the Iranian threat” and ramp up its fight against Hamas in Gaza.

“With Hezbollah out of the picture, Hamas is left on its own,” he said.

“We will increase our pressure on Hamas and that will help us in our sacred mission of releasing our hostages.”

During last year’s Hamas attack, militants took 251 hostages, of whom 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the army has declared dead.

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Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

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Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes pounded a densely-populated part of the Lebanese capital and its southern suburbs on Tuesday, hours ahead of an anticipated announcement of a ceasefire ending hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll.

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Minutes later, at least 10 Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. They began approximately 30 minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 20 locations in the area, the largest such warning yet.

As the strikes were under way, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.

 

Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

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Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

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President-elect Donald Trump

Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has fiercely criticised the legal cases brought against him, calling them “empty and lawless”.

He accused Democrats of weaponising the judicial system to target him as a political opponent.

In a strongly worded statement, Trump alleged that over $100 million in taxpayer money had been wasted in what he described as a politically driven effort to undermine his influence.

“Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before,” he said, pointing to high-profile prosecutors, including Georgia’s Fani Willis and New York Attorney General Letitia James, as key figures in what he called a “political hijacking.”

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Trump also accused Willis of colluding with Nathan Wade, whom he described as “her lover” and lacking the experience to handle such cases.

He claimed Wade was paid “millions,” allegedly enabling lavish trips and cruises.

Letitia James, who is pursuing a civil fraud case against Trump, was also criticised.

He claimed she had campaigned on a promise to “get Trump” in her bid for office, an action he labelled “unethical” and “probably illegal.”

Trump also mentioned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, alleging that Bragg initially resisted prosecuting him but was pressured into action by the Justice Department and the Democratic Party.

Describing the series of legal actions as a “low point in the history of our Country,” Trump maintained his resolve, declaring: “I persevered, against all odds, and WON.”

 

Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

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