‘Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal will be out of jail in 24 hours, if…’: AAP leader Manish Sisodia
He claimed that while in jail, he was not worried about getting bail, but was pained seeing businessmen being put in prison in “fake cases just because they did not donate money to the BJP”.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s first reaction on Kolkata doctor’s murder, says, ‘if needed, accused will be…’
A trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall at the state-run hospital last Friday. After this shocking incident, her fellow junior doctors staged a protest to demand justice for the deceased.
Sonic booms – the psychological warfare Israel uses to sow fear in Lebanon
Beirut, Lebanon – The first time Eliah Kaylough, 26, heard the thunderous blast, he was so terrified, he instinctively ran for cover. On Tuesday this week, he had just started his shift as a waiter at a restaurant on bustling Gemmayze Street in east Beirut when he was suddenly startled by the sound of a major blast. For Kaylough, it immediately triggered memories of the massive port explosion in 2020 and he was terrified the city was either experiencing a new explosion or that it was under attack. But as he was racing out of the restaurant, a man from a nearby shop stopped him and explained that Beirut wasn’t being bombed. The sound, Kaylough discovered, was a sonic boom, a thunderous noise caused by an object moving faster than the speed of sound. Israeli jets have been increasingly triggering these sonic booms over Lebanon since October 7 last year, following the attack on southern Israel by Hamas. But the booms which sounded over Beirut on Tuesday were the loudest that had been heard in the city, several residents told Al Jazeera. Kaylough said that it was the first time that he had heard one since Israel tends to launch sonic booms in other parts of the country and city. “The sound was terrifying and I really thought we were under attack,” Kaylouh told Al Jazeera on Thursday evening at the restaurant, where he was back working a shift. “I remember putting on my hat and grabbing my bag and I was ready to close up shop.” Since October, the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah, and Israel have been engaged in a low-level conflict. On Friday, Israel stepped up its attacks, killing Hamas official Samer al-Hajj in a drone attack on the coastal city of Sidon, about 50km (30 miles) from Lebanon’s southern border. Throughout the Gaza war, however, Israel has been launching sonic booms by flying jets at low altitudes over Lebanon in an apparent effort to intimidate and terrify the population, analysts and residents told Al Jazeera. “We are concerned about the reported use of sonic booms by Israeli aircrafts over Lebanon that has caused great fear among the civilian population,” said Ramzi Kaiss, a Lebanon researcher for Human Rights Watch. “Parties in armed conflict should not use methods of intimidation against a civilian population.” Indeed, sonic booms heard earlier this week occurred just two days after the anniversary of the August 4, 2020 Beirut-port explosion, which devastated large swaths of Beirut, killed more than 200 people and injured thousands. The blast was caused by a fire in a warehouse where a stockpile of highly combustible ammonium nitrate was being stored. Tuesday’s sonic boom was triggered just moments before Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was about to begin a speech. Last month, tensions between the foes escalated after Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s senior commander, Fuad Shukr, in Lebanon and Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran’s capital Tehran. Civil defence workers extinguish a fire in a car after it was hit by an Israeli strike, killing a Hamas official, in Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon, on Friday, August 9, 2024 [Mohammed Zaatari/AP] Systematic use of ‘sound terror’ The use of sonic booms is part of a broader trend of psychological warfare that Israel wages against the Lebanese population, according to Lawrence Abu Hamdan, a sound expert and the founder of Earshot, a nonprofit that conducts audio analysis to track human rights abuses and state violence. Abu Hamdan said that since the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war, which lasted 34 days and left 1,100 Lebanese nationals and 165 Israelis dead, Israel has routinely violated Lebanese airspace with its fighter jets to scare civilians. “Since the truce of 2006, there have been more than 22,000 Israeli air violations of Lebanon. In 2020 alone, there were more than 2,000 [air violations] with no response from Hezbollah, Abu Hamdan told Al Jazeera. Abu Hamdan believes that, since last October, Israel has also been using sonic booms as an “acoustic reminder that [Israel] can turn Lebanon into Gaza at any point”. He said Israel’s increasing use of sonic booms reflects the escalation in conflict with Hezbollah over the past several months. “There is an escalation and we are seeing that escalation in sound. The next phase to the escalation is, of course, material destruction,” Abu Hamdan said. Beirut resident Rana Farhat, 28, said Israel’s scare tactics are having the desired effect. She heard the August 6 sonic booms while having dinner with her family at a restaurant in a town north of Beirut. They were startled when they heard the sound of an explosion, but her parents tried to reassure her and her siblings that Beirut was not being attacked. Everyone quickly checked their phones to find out what was going on. “We were all checking the news to see if it was an explosion or not,” Farhat, 28, said, while smoking shisha in a Beirut cafe on Thursday night. “There were little children in the restaurant and they were clearly scared. They don’t understand what such sounds mean.” Recurring trauma The murmur of fighter jets and other blast-like noises can re-traumatise populations that have survived previous explosions and wars, Abu Hamdan said. Over the long term, recurring jet and blast sounds can even increase the risk of stroke and deplete calcium deposits in the heart, according to medical studies he cited. “Once you have been exposed to [jet or blast] sounds that have produced the sort of fear that they have in this country, then whenever you hear it – even quietly – it will produce the same stress response [in an individual],” Abu Hamdan explained. Kaylough said that the sonic booms he heard on Tuesday this week transported him back to the Beirut port explosion. That day, he was working in a mall when a sudden blast shattered the glass around him and blew the doors off the hinges of the store he was working in. “The sound was so loud. I remember people were
‘Bloody massacre’: Reactions to Israeli attack on Gaza school
An Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City has killed more than 100 people including women and children, according to Palestinian officials, who expect the death toll to rise. The Israeli army on Saturday claimed its air forces struck a “command and control centre” that “served as a hideout for Hamas terrorists and commanders” at the al-Tabin school. It did not provide evidence and said it had taken steps to reduce the risk of harming civilians, while dismissing the death toll from Palestinian officials as inaccurate. Here are some reactions to the attack: Hamas “The massacre at al-Tabin school in the Daraj neighbourhood in central Gaza City is a horrific crime that constitutes a dangerous escalation,” said the movement that governs the Gaza Strip. Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Palestinian group’s political bureau, said there were no armed men at the school. Hamas said in its statement that Israel’s claims of the school being used as the group’s command centre are “excuses to target civilians, schools, hospitals, and refugee tents, all of which are false pretexts and exposed lies to justify its crimes”. “We call on our Arab and Islamic countries and the international community to fulfill their responsibilities and take urgent action to stop these massacres and halt the escalating Zionist aggression against our people and defenseless citizens,” the statement ends. Ismail al-Thawabta, the director general of Gaza’s Government Media Office, called on the international community and United Nations Security Council “to pressure Israel to end this cascading bloodbath among our people, namely innocent women and children”. Fatah Fatah, the rival Palestinian faction that last month signed a “national unity” agreement with Hamas, said the attack was a “heinous bloody massacre” that represents the “peak of terrorism and criminality”. “Committing these massacres confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt its efforts to exterminate our people through the policy of cumulative killing and mass massacres that make living consciences tremble,” it said in a statement. Iran Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, said the Israeli government’s goal was to thwart ceasefire negotiations and continue the war. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Israel had again shown that it wasn’t committed to international law, as he condemned the attack as genocide and a war crime. He urged immediate action from the UN Security Council and said Israel’s actions in Gaza were a threat to international peace and security. Egypt The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Israel’s “deliberate killing” of unarmed Palestinians shows that it lacks the political will to end the war in Gaza. It accused Israel of repeatedly committing “large-scale crimes” against “unarmed civilians” whenever there is an international push for a ceasefire, in a statement cited by the state-run Middle East News Agency. It said such attacks reflect “an unprecedented disregard” for international law. Egypt, the United States and Qatar have called for a new round of ceasefire negotiations for Thursday, as fears grow of a broader conflict, involving Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, the United Nations’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, condemned the world’s “indifference” to mass bloodshed in Gaza following the attack. “Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one ‘safe zone’ at the time. With US and European weapons,” Albanese posted on X. “May the Palestinians forgive us for our collective inability to protect them, honouring the most basic meaning of international law.” Gaza: In the largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st century, Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one ‘safe zone’ at the time. With US and European… https://t.co/bHmrFbySYi — Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) August 10, 2024 Jordan The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said Israel’s attack goes against “all humanitarian values” and is “an indication of the Israeli government’s attempt to block [peace] efforts and postpone them”. It added that “the absence of a decisive international stance to restrain Israeli aggression and compel it to respect international law and stop its aggression against Gaza” was resulting in unprecedented killings, deaths and human catastrophe”. Adblock test (Why?)
Migrant workers sent $650bn overseas last year – what it means
Mina Hamid*, who hails from Kabul, Afghanistan, and moved to the Netherlands at the age of 11, says she will never forget the first time she sent money to help her family members back home. “I was in my late teenage years, and Afghanistan was reeling under the impact of natural disasters and conflicts, making it hard for my extended family members to afford basic necessities. So I began sending between 20 and 30 euros [$21 to $32] occasionally – money I earned from my student job – seeking to support them,” Hamid told Al Jazeera. The 36-year-old, who now lives and works for the European Union in Belgium, continues transferring money every three months to her extended family members in Afghanistan. “The man of the house works as a security guard and his wife is a teacher, but working conditions are hard and wages are low. Together, they earn around 200 to 300 euros [$217 to $325] a month. So the money I send covers their apartment’s rent, which is about 150 euros [$163] in Kabul and gives them the chance to spend their wages on food, clothes and other items their two children might need,” Hamid said. Like Hamid, millions of migrants around the world engage in the practice of sending money or in-kind transfers known as remittances to their family members or communities in their countries of origin. Remittances have grown substantially over the past two decades, rising from about $128bn in 2000 to $831bn in 2022, according to the World Bank. In June, the World Bank reported that remittances to low and middle income countries alone reached an estimated $656bn last year and surpassed foreign direct investment, which are investments made by companies in a foreign country, and development aid made by other countries. These remittances to low and middle income countries are expected to grow at a rate of 2.3 percent in 2024, the World Bank added. Where is money being sent from and to where? Many of the remittances to low and middle income countries originate from the United States, Western European countries and countries that are a part of the Gulf Cooperation Council like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In 2023, the US remained the largest source of remittances, according to the World Bank. The bank noted that strong labour markets in the US have made it a primary destination for migrants, leading to more remittances from the country. The Gulf is also a major hub for migrants, but in 2023, the World Bank noted that weaker oil prices impacted outward remittances. Remittance outflows to East Asia and the Pacific, excluding China, grew last year to $85bn. China alone received $50bn while remittances to South Asia grew by 5.2 percent to $186bn. India was the biggest recipient of remittances at $125bn. Strong labour markets in the US are one of the main reasons for the rise in outflows. Remittances to the Middle East and North Africa fell to $55bn, and sub-Saharan African and Latin American nations also saw declines, receiving $54bn and $156bn respectively. Remittances to Europe and Central Asia also fell by 10.3 percent to $71bn. Weaker oil prices in the Gulf and conflicts in these regions influenced remittances, according to the World Bank. Why has there been a rise in remittances? Killian Clifford, who focuses on migrant financial and economic empowerment at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that while there has been a general rise in remittances over the past 20 years, a spike over the past five years in particular is the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the development of fintech (financial technology) platforms, which are enabling faster and cheaper transfers of money. “What we saw during the COVID pandemic was because borders were closed, informal routes of sending money did not work since people could not travel or pay in person. So there was a rise in formal remittance numbers – transfers that go through formal bank or money transfer organisations – which can easily be accounted for,” Clifford told Al Jazeera. Fintech and other digital payment platforms have successfully tapped into the remittance market, bringing down the average cost of remittances by 30 percent over the past 10 years, which has also boosted the number of money transfers being made, he added. Clifford said governments and financial regulatory bodies around the world have been creating an environment to enable remittance flows, such as allowing people who may have been excluded from the financial system to have payment accounts in banks, making it easier to send money. What do remittances mean to migrants? Manasse Massuama, whose family moved to Belgium in 1990 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), sees remittances as “a bridge that binds diaspora communities with the people living in their homelands”. “It’s a way of working together, a way of helping and a way of changing situations for friends and family,” said Massuama, who works as a financial consultant and has been sending money to his parents, who have moved back to the DRC, for the past eight years. Thanks to the support, he told Al Jazeera, his family has been able to buy land and become financially stable in the DRC, which has been racked for decades by conflict and poverty. Seventy-four-year-old Maria del Socorro Tejeda, who immigrated to the US from Mexico in 2002 with her three children, feels happy that she has been able to support her family members back home. “I came to this country when I was 52 years old, and I had been sending money every month since my mom was alive back in 2003. When she died, I started sending money to my brothers and my sister,” Tejeda told Al Jazeera. She added that even though she has recently retired, she continues sending a little money every month, which helps her family pay medical bills and other necessities. A man outside a money exchange in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico [File: Jose
VP snub Gov. Josh Shapiro touts $1.1 billion increase in his state’s public school funding
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, visited Amanda E. Stout Elementary in the city of Reading on Friday to highlight the $1.1 billion in additional public education funding included in the commonwealth’s new budget. This comes just days after Shapiro was shunned as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate for November’s presidential election as she prepares to face former President Donald Trump. Harris instead selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to join the Democratic ticket. Shapiro and Pennsylvania Education Secretary Dr. Khalid N. Mumin met with students, teachers and legislators at the elementary school to celebrate the record funding for public K-12 education allocated through the 2024-25 budget. The $1.1 billion in total increases for K-12 public education funding represents the largest year-over-year boost in Pennsylvania’s history, according to the governor’s office. HARRIS SNUBBING SHAPIRO MAKES LIBERAL JEWS IN HOLLYWOOD FEEL ‘NOT WELCOME’ AMONG DEMOCRATS: REPORT “In the bipartisan budget I signed into law last month, Pennsylvania will invest $11 billion in K-12 public education for our students and teachers — that’s $1.1 billion more than last year, a record amount,” Shapiro said in a statement. “We came together to make the largest investment in K-12 public education in the Commonwealth’s history — because there is nothing more important than investing in our kids and their future — all while building on the progress we’ve made on student teacher stipends, mental health resources, and environmental school repairs.” The governor was joined for a ceremonial bill signing by Reading School District Superintendent Jennifer Murray, Reading Education Association President Brian Benkert, Reading School District 11th grader Jose Martinez and local and state legislators. “And we’re not only delivering more funding, but also fixing how we drive out that money to our schools under a new formula that directs funding to the districts who need it most – the districts that have been chronically underfunded,” the governor said. The Reading School District, which Amanda E. Stout Elementary School is part of, will receive about $40 million more than last year as part of the new budget. In April, the district received a more than $325,000 grant for mental health support from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Of the $1.1 billion in education funding increases, nearly $526 million will be distributed through a new adequacy formula aimed at giving money to the schools that need it the most, according to a press release from the governor’s office. The bill also increases special education funding by $100 million and Career and Technical Education by $30 million. KAMALA HARRIS’ DECISION TO BYPASS JOSH SHAPIRO SHOWS SHE’S ‘BENT THE KNEE TO THE FAR-LEFT,’ SAYS JD VANCE The budget will set aside $100 million for mental health and physical safety resources, $20 million for school safety and security improvements and $3 million for menstrual hygiene products for students in schools. It will also double funding for student teacher stipends to a total of $20 million. “I could not be happier to be back on my old home turf here in Reading with Governor Josh Shapiro,” Mumin said. “As I reflect on my time spent here in Reading as Superintendent, I can’t help but be amazed to see how much things have changed in education over the years. I remember when Reading School District was one of the most underfunded and under-resourced school districts in the Commonwealth.” “Today, thanks to the historic investments that Governor Shapiro has made two years in a row — the focus and attention that this Administration has given to education in Pennsylvania and the commitment to continuing that support — our schools are poised for generations of greatness,” he continued. The Amanda E. Stout Elementary School has more than 800 students, and school officials have said public funding for the school has long fallen behind that of other districts. Public education advocates previously sued, leading to a court ruling that said Pennsylvania’s school funding system was unconstitutional and unfair to poorer districts. Education officials in Reading said the new budget is a step in the right direction. “As a traditionally underfunded district, the Reading School District welcomes this unprecedented support,” Murray said. ‘These investments represent a critical step toward educational equity, and we are eager to witness the positive impact on our students and educators.” Shapiro said at the ceremonial bill signing in Reading: “I’m coming back next year to double down on our mission and continue to make sure public education is a priority in Pennsylvania.” Last year, Shapiro supported a school voucher program to give families $100 million for private school tuition and school supplies before abandoning the proposal amid pressure from fellow Democrats and deciding to do a line-item veto to remove that funding from that year’s budget, saying in July 2023 he did not want Pennsylvania to be “plunged into a painful, protracted budget impasse while our communities wait for the help and resources this commonsense budget will deliver.”
Excise policy case: SC to hear BRS leader K Kavitha’s pleas challenging Delhi HC verdict on August 12
According to the cause list of August 12 uploaded on the apex court’s website, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan is slated to hear BRS leader K Kavitha’s petitions.
PM Modi undertakes aerial survey of landslide-affected areas in Wayanad
During the survey, PM Modi saw the origin of the landslide, the Iruvazhinji Puzha (River). He also observed the worst affected areas of Punchirimattam, Mundakkai and Chooralmala.
Harris’ VP pick Walz a big win for teachers’ unions that pushed schools to stay shuttered for over a year
Teachers’ unions rejoiced this week when Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, describing the left-wing ticket as a major win for public educators. But critics are warning that Harris’ selection of Walz, a former teachers’ union member who is opposed to what he has described as the school choice “agenda,” over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a school-choice advocate, should raise alarm bells for parents and children in the public education system. The teachers’ union pushed hard to prolong school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic — many districts remained shuttered for over a year. “Anyone who makes Randi this excited is a 5-alarm fire for parents and students,” former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Tuesday after teachers’ union boss Randi Weingarten posted a video of herself gushing over the Walz pick. “We’re so excited,” Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), said of Walz. “We have known him for years as a social studies teacher, as a vet, as a union member, as a congressman, as a governor, he cares about working people. We’ve seen it.” FAUCI, WEINGARTEN TRY TO REWRITE HISTORY ON DISASTROUS COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS: ‘SHOW ME A SCHOOL THAT I SHUT DOWN’ “A teacher and a unionist. Enough said,” wrote the Chicago Teachers Union, which is currently being sued by parents for its handling of the pandemic. National Education Association (NEA) President Becky Pringle also praised Walz as an “exceptional choice.” The AFT was the first labor union to formally endorse Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination after President Biden was pushed out of the race by his own party. The United Federation of Teachers in New York City and the Washington Teachers’ Union also said they were “proud” to endorse Harris. After Biden’s withdrawal last month, Harris gave a speech at the AFT slamming Republicans as wanting to “ban books.” DEMS, UNION LEADERS RESPONSIBLE FOR SCHOOL LOCKDOWNS FACE FEW REPERCUSSIONS, DESPITE EVIDENCE THAT KIDS HARMED The outpouring of support from teachers’ unions has prompted renewed scrutiny of their widespread influence on public school districts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the same unions endorsing the Harris-Walz ticket lobbied school districts as late as 2022 to keep kids and teachers out of the classroom. When schools in red states like Florida began to reopen in the fall of 2020, Weingarten called those efforts “reckless, callous, cruel.” The Chicago Teachers Union echoed the sentiment at the time, claiming the push was “rooted in sexism, racism and misogyny.” When President Biden entered the White House in January 2021, the AFT and NEA worked closely with then-White House Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and past analyses by Fox News Digital revealed the two unions played a significant role in shaping national guidelines. Weingarten signaled the potential for future school lockdowns as late as January 2022, writing, “There are very real logistical decisions schools are making. We know kids do better in person, but the spike is real. We need adequate staff & the safety measures in place including testing, masking, ventilation. There is a lot of stress.” That same month, the AFT-affiliated Chicago Teachers Union led a five-day strike over COVID-19 measures that kept kids out of school even longer, prompting an ongoing class action lawsuit claiming students were robbed of $213.4 million worth of learning time. The power of teachers’ unions in state and local politics is undeniable. The NEA has donated more than $21.7 million almost exclusively to Democratic candidates and liberal groups in the 2024 election cycle, and the AFT has donated more than $3.8 million to Democratic candidates and liberal groups this cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org. A working paper first released in October 2020, which examined more than 10,000 school districts across the country and their COVID-19 reopening plans, found that partisan politics and teachers’ union strength in a particular area had more influence on schools reopening than local health guidances. Similarly, a study released in March 2021 by Corey A. DeAngelis and Christos Makridis examined 835 public school districts across the country and found that school districts in locations with stronger teachers’ unions were less likely to reopen in person, and that no evidence showed that COVID-19 risk correlated with those school reopening decisions. More recently, The New York Times conceded in a March report that “remote learning was a key driver of academic declines during the pandemic.” BIDEN, PELOSI, OTHER TOP DEMS SENT KIDS TO PRIVATE SCHOOL BUT OPPOSE SCHOOLS CHOICE Fox News Digital asked AFT to detail its role in the public school closures and whether the lockdowns were a mistake. “It’s only weirdos like Fox News who think this lol — mainstream outlets know that the AFT fought to safely reopen schools from April 2020 on,” an AFT spokesperson responded. The state perhaps most influenced by the power of teachers’ unions was California, which was the last in the country to reopen schools for in-person learning. Over the course of the pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom declined to use his emergency powers to compel schools to reopen amid intense pressure from teachers’ unions. Even when restaurants and bars were permitted to reopen, many school districts in the state remained closed, especially those with powerful teachers’ unions like those in San Francisco and Los Angeles, which are both AFT affiliates. Republicans and parents’ groups angered over the lockdowns launched a recall effort against Newsom that failed in September 2021. The NEA-affiliated California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, donated $1.8 million to stop the recall. LOCKDOWNS, MANDATES AND SCANDALS: HOW GAVIN NEWSOM’S COVID-19 RESPONSE BROUGHT CALIFORNIA TO ITS KNEES Data over the years has shown that school closures in the U.S. have had a devastating impact on children’s mental health, development and future earnings potential. A study released in June 2022 by the National Center for Education Statistics revealed that 70% of U.S. public schools have reported an increase in students seeking mental health services since the start of the pandemic. A study released about the same time by the American Enterprise Institute also found
A top Senate Republican crisscrosses campaign trail in ‘make-or-break moment’ to win back majority
EXCLUSIVE: GOP Sen. John Thune of South Dakota says he’s stepping up his efforts on the campaign trail this year because “this is our golden opportunity” to win back the Senate majority. “It’s kind of really a make-or-break moment for Republicans in the Senate. If we don’t get it done this time, the next two cycles aren’t great for us,” Thune said in an exclusive national interview with Fox News. Thune, who as Senate minority whip is the No. 2 GOP lawmaker in the chamber, emphasized that “we’ve got to maximize the opportunity we have this time around to get north of 50,” adding that “it would be great to get well north of 50.” WHAT THE SENATE GOP CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE CHAIR TOLD FOX NEWS ABOUT WINNING BACK THE MAJORITY Democrats, as they try to maintain or extend their fragile 51-49 majority in the Senate, are playing plenty of defense as they defend 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs in November. One of those seats is in West Virginia, a deep red state that former President Trump carried by nearly 40 points in 2020. With moderate Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Manchin, a former governor, not seeking re-election, flipping the seat is nearly a sure thing for the GOP. Republicans are also aiming to flip seats in Ohio and Montana, two states Trump comfortably carried four years ago. And five more Democrat-held seats up for grabs this year are in crucial general-election battleground states. “We’re hoping we’re going to have the White House, that Trump will be successful, and the House, and if we can get the Senate, we’ll be in a position to do some things,” Thune emphasized. 6 KEY SENATE SEATS REPUBLICANS AIM TO FLIP IN NOVEMBER Thune says he’s doing “everything we can” to help fundraise and campaign on behalf of Republican Senate nominees challenging incumbent Democrats “to get as many of these folks across the finish line as possible.” The senator — who is one of two top contenders to succeed longtime Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who’s stepping down from his leadership post at the end of the year — was interviewed ahead of a two-day campaign swing earlier this week in Pennsylvania with GOP Senate nominee Dave McCormick. “I’ve been out with a lot of the candidates,” he noted. Thune said he made stops earlier this summer on the campaign trail in Arizona, Michigan and Ohio, and he attended six fundraising events in the nation’s capital last week for GOP Senate candidates before heading to Minnesota on Thursday to headline another finance event for Eric Hovde, the Republican Senate nominee in neighboring Wisconsin. And he said that he’ll be heading to Nevada and Utah later this month. “Doing whatever we can to help the team, and a lot of that is just getting money in the bank so they can get their message out,” he said. As is tradition in presidential election years, the battle at the top of the ticket can influence Senate races one notch down the ballot. Asked how the replacement of President Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the Democrats’ ticket impacts the Senate races, Thune said that “there’s no question it’s a new race, and our Senate candidates have to do the best they can to benefit from what happens at the top of the ticket.” But he also emphasized, “I still think the issue set is the same, and I think it’s going to be very hard for [Harris] to try and distance herself from the border and the inflationary spiral that’s been created by their policies… I think those issues are going to weigh heavily on voters’ minds. So if it’s about the issues, I think we are really well positioned to win and that should help down-ballot, too.” Thune highlighted that GOP Senate candidates need “to run their own campaigns and define their opponents and define themselves in a way that creates a contrast. I’ve always maintained that elections are about differences, and the differences couldn’t be more stark between the two parties… I think our candidates have to capitalize on that.” At the top of the ticket, Trump has increasingly attacked and insulted Harris over the past two weeks. But Thune is cautioning Senate candidates not to stray from the issues and “don’t take the bait” from the presidential race. Republicans wasted a perfect opportunity in 2022 to win back the Senate majority they lost in the 2020 elections. But Thune emphasized that “our side is doing a lot better job targeting voters this time around and making sure that we’re turning out and getting people to the polls way better than we did two years ago.” As for his own race against longtime Sen. John Cornyn of Texas — the previous Senate GOP whip — to succeed McConnell, Thune said he’s “been sitting down and meeting with all of our incumbent senators about the leadership position, and also being out on the campaign trail with these candidates helps build relationships that I think will be important when that vote happens.” Thune, who has served two decades in the Senate, touted his own legislative record of accomplishment and said, “I think people are going to be looking for leadership that is able to produce results and get things done.” “I hope to be able to make that argument when the time comes,” he added. “In the meantime, we’re just working on getting the majority.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.