Page 1484 – Texas Weekly Online

NEET-UG 2024 row: SC rejects re-NEET demand, says ‘there is no…’

The top court said that the demand for the exam cancellation is not justified.

Top Dems threatened to forcibly remove Biden from office, set him up to fail at Trump debate: Sources

Operatives at the very highest levels of the Democratic Party threatened Joe Biden with forcibly removing him from office unless he stepped down, sources told The Post. The well-orchestrated “palace coup” to stop the faltering president seeking re-election has been in place for weeks, but stubborn Biden fought against it every step of the way, a source close to the Biden family told The Post Monday. The insider also made clear the anger, paranoia and frustration Biden displayed as the party elite circled around him and piled on the pressure. AFTER BIDEN DROPS OUT OF RACE, DOCTORS REVEAL WHY THE DECISION MAY HAVE BEEN BEST FOR HIS HEALTH Part of the “elaborate” strategy to remove Biden from the race – as he announced in a shock letter posted on X Sunday – was allowing him to debate Republican candidate Donald Trump last month on live TV in Atlanta. During the car crash 90-minute debate, Biden appeared confused, slack-jawed and at one point he froze up, with his shocking performance turning the tide against him. “That debate was a set-up to convince Democrats that he couldn’t run for president,” the source said Monday. As calls for him to bow out mounted, Biden insisted he would continue, but party bigwigs threatened to invoke the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution. The amendment allows for the vice president and members of the cabinet to declare he is unfit to serve and force him to step down, the source added. BIDEN MAKES BIZARRE CALL IN TO HARRIS HEADQUARTERS HOURS AFTER DROPPING OUT OF RACE The White House and representatives from the Democratic National Committee did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment. Although Biden immediately endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate for president, the source said Democratic delegates will be strongly encouraged to instead back Arizona senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly for president at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. Some holdouts have still yet to endorse Harris as Biden’s successor, despite less than a month until the convention and only four months until election day. Most notable among them is former President Barack Obama. “We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead,” Obama said Sunday. Following the debate, first son Hunter Biden suddenly became more involved in his father’s day-to-day business and insisted upon attending every official and unofficial meeting, the source said. “Hunter felt he [Joe Biden] was being set up and he was very concerned about his father,” the source said. “These people, these officials were not on Joe’s side.” Biden’s own staff did not have any forewarning about the bombshell decision to pull out of the race, which was known since at least Tuesday, the source said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Many were also shocked by the letter posted to Biden’s X account itself, as it was typed on his private letterhead rather than White House notepaper and signed electronically, the source said. “Everyone was totally shocked,” the source said. “It was pretty telling that Jill Biden tweeted a heart emoji and nothing else.” Democratic Party insiders have also known for at least two years how Biden was in decline, said the source. “When I saw him a couple of years ago, it was frightening,” said the source. “He was just repeating slogans and had no idea who I was.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

VP Harris could face more scrutiny from GOP if she assumes presidency: expert

A growing number of Republican lawmakers don’t think President Biden has gone far enough in abruptly calling off his presidential campaign and want him to resign immediately; a move experts believe is both unlikely and part of a political strategy to hold Harris accountable for what they say is complicity in Biden’s alleged declining mental acuity. “There are reasons for them to want her to take over the presidency or him to step down that are beyond just the fact that he’s ‘not in the greatest shape,’” presidential historian and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tevi Troy told Fox News Digital in an interview. “For example, if she takes over the presidency, she has less time to campaign,” said Troy, who is also a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “Second of all, she has to go out there and answer questions, which she isn’t so great at. Third of all, there’s more and more questions about, well, ‘Did you know that Biden was seriously diminished when you were vice president?’ And that’s a potential scandal.” BIDEN ENDS BID FOR 2ND TERM IN WHITE HOUSE AS HE DROPS OUT OF 2024 REMATCH WITH TRUMP Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers who have been calling for Biden’s resignation for months have re-upped their request. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital on Monday that he’s unsure “politically” how it may play out if Harris assumes the presidency, “but we’ve got to have a president that can make a logical decision,” he said. “He clearly can’t do it, and he acknowledged it by not running, that he’s not up to it, and so I don’t see why he would [remain as president],” Scott said. Scott falls in line with several Congressional Republicans who have called on Biden to immediately resign since Sunday. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who is leading the GOP in calling for Biden’s resignation, said in a statement, “If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.” House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., similarly said, “If Joe Biden can’t run for re-election, he is unable and unfit to serve as President of the United States. He must immediately resign. The Democrat Party is in absolute free fall for their blatantly corrupt and desperate attempt to cover up the fact that Joe Biden is unfit for office.” BIDEN CAMPAIGN SENDS ‘ALL STAFF’ MEMO TO TRY AND STEM DEEP CONCERNS According to one House Republican strategist, aside from the growing calls for Biden to resign, all the offensive campaign efforts will be directed toward Harris as she inches closer to securing the DNC nomination in August and Democrat endorsements pour in. “We’re not really seeing anyone seriously put up a challenge,” the strategist said. “We saw [Sen.] Joe Manchin say he’s not interested. So, I think it’s very important for us to quickly pivot and go after Kamala and define her as not only being responsible for every terrible policy that you see come out of the Biden administration, whether that’s [the] border, the uptick in crime, the cost of living crisis, but we also have to go back and look at her policy record from prior to the Biden administration.” When asked about a potential Harris presidency if Biden resigns, the strategist said “that’s not in the realm of possibilities.” “I don’t think Democrats are ever going to actually force Joe Biden out,” the strategist said. Biden has not been seen publicly since a letter on his X account was released announcing the suspension of his presidential bid on Sunday. Biden began to self-isolate last week after contracting COVID-19. Meanwhile, Harris – who got Biden’s endorsement on Sunday – has raised nearly $50 million in grassroots donations since President Biden suspended his re-election bid and gave remarks Monday at a NCAA event. CASH DASH: TRUMP TOPS BIDEN IN FUNDRAISING RACE The unprecedented announcement came as an increasing number of Democrat lawmakers had begun to publicly call for Biden to step aside, and the party’s leadership reportedly was engaged in efforts to convince Biden, 81, he could not win in November’s general election against former President Trump, the 2024 GOP nominee who Biden defeated four years ago to win the White House. Biden quickly offered his “full support and endorsement” for Harris to take over as the party’s presidential nominee. “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president,” Biden wrote in a public letter. “While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interests of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term.” Biden began facing questions about his mental acuity after multiple bombshell reports revealed many lawmakers on the Hill had expressed concerns about the president behind closed doors. Then a disastrous debate performance against Trump last month caused a flurry of questions from the media, which was paired with subpar polling numbers. Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Trump appeals $454M NY civil fraud judgment

Trump appeals 4M NY civil fraud judgment

Former President Donald Trump is appealing the civil fraud ruling that demands he pay over $450 million. The former president’s legal team filed paperwork with a mid-level appeals court in New York on Monday, calling Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling in February “draconian, unlawful, and unconstitutional.” “Such an outrageous miscarriage of justice is profoundly un-American, and a complete reversal is the only means available to restore public confidence in the integrity of the New York judicial system,” Christopher Kise, a lawyer for Trump, said. TRUMP RESPONDS TO JUDGE WHO THREATENED TO TOSS HIM IN JAIL OVER GAG ORDER: ‘GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH’ Trump’s lawyers argue that the lawsuit decision gives New York Attorney General Letitia James “limitless power to target anyone she desires, including her self-described political opponents.” “We won this case based on the facts and the law, and we are confident we will prevail on appeal,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement. Engoron ruled in February that Trump and other defendants were liable for persistent and repeated fraud, falsifying business records, issuing false financial statements, conspiracy to falsify false financial statements, insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. TRUMP MOTIONS TO HAVE JUDGE IN NEW YORK CIVIL FRAUD CASE RECUSED In September 2023, before the non-jury trial, Engoron ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization had committed fraud while building his real estate empire by deceiving banks, insurers and others by overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing financing. Trump was hit with an initial penalty of $355 million. That sum is quickly increasing via interest accruals of approximately $112,000 a day until paid in full, now sitting around $470 million. Trump’s team has called Engoron’s decisions “legally bereft” and “untethered to the law or to commercial reality” due to the unprecedented severity of the nearly half-billion dollar financial penalty currently attached, as well as arguments that some charges are beyond the statute of limitations. If Trump loses his appeal, the former president may be liable for the full $454 million. His real estate portfolio may then be exposed to seizure by James. The Appellate Division can rule that Engoron’s verdict stands, adjust the penalty, or overturn the conviction. If Trump’s appeal is unsuccessful, he will be able to ask the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court, to take the case. Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

All to know about the Paris Olympics 2024: Schedule, sports, venues, dates

The Summer Olympics start July 26. Here’s Al Jazeera’s concise viewer guide to the world’s largest multisport event. Paris is gearing up to host the Summer Olympics this year. The Olympics take place every four years, and the last games in Tokyo were delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and held largely without spectators. From venues to sporting events, here is all to know about the much-anticipated Paris Olympics 2024: When are the Paris Olympics? The Olympic games this year will run from July 26 to August 11. Some sports will begin before the official opening ceremony, including football and rugby sevens which start on July 24, and archery and handball, which begin on July 25. Overall, the multisport event will take place over a 19-day period. What time is the Olympics opening ceremony? The opening ceremony is on Friday, July 26 at 7:30pm local time (17:30 GMT). How many athletes are competing in the Olympics? A total of 10,500 athletes representing 206 countries are competing in this year’s Olympics. What sports are in the Olympics 2024? Athletes will be competing for 329 gold medals across 32 sports. Where to find the schedule and results for the Olympics 2024? An overview of the Paris Olympics schedule and results can be found on a dedicated page on the official Olympics website. What are the Olympic venues? The games will open on July 26 at the Seine, where dozens of boats will carry athletes across a 6km (3.7-mile) route in the river. The Olympic Games will take place in 35 venues overall. While most of these venues are in or around Paris, a handful of games will take place in venues in other cities including Lyon Stadium, where some football games will take place, and the Marseille Marina, where sailing events will be staged. Surfing will take place in French Polynesia’s Tahiti, in a French overseas territory nearly 16,000km (10,000 miles) from the rest of the venues. Here are more details about the different Olympic venues this year. What do French politics have to do with the elections? Legislative elections in France concluded earlier this month, with no party winning a clear majority. Soon after the election results, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party announced that he would resign. While Macron accepted Attal’s resignation, Attal’s government will stay in a caretaker capacity to ensure the Olympic Games run smoothly. French President Emmanuel Macron said on July 22: “We are ready and we will be ready throughout the Games [to host the event].” How to watch the Olympics 2024? The Paris Olympics 2024 will be broadcast globally. You can follow the summer games on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Paris 2024 Olympics tournament page with all the news and features, as well as event build-up and live text commentary on selected football, basketball, tennis and boxing fixtures. The Stade De France will hold the track and field events for the Paris Olympics 2024 [Richard Heathcote/Getty Images] Olympic competition dates – sport by sport: Opening ceremony: July 26, River Seine Archery: July 25 to August 4, Invalides Artistic gymnastics: July 25 to August 4, Bercy Arena Artistic swimming: August 5-10, Bercy Arena Athletics: August 1-11, Stade de France (track and field), Trocadero (race walks), Invalides (marathons) Badminton: July 27 to August 5, La Chapelle Arena 3×3 Basketball: July 30 to August 5, La Concorde Basketball: July 27 to August 11, Pierre Mauroy Stadium (group phase) and Bercy Arena (finals) Beach volleyball: July 27 to August 10, Eiffel Tower Stadium Boxing: July 27 to August 10, North Paris Arena and Roland-Garros Stadium Breaking: August 9-10, La Concorde Canoe slalom: July 27 to August 5, Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium – Whitewater Canoe sprint: August 6-10, Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium – Flatwater Cycling BMX: July 30 to August 2, La Concorde (freestyle), BMX Stadium (racing) Cycling mountain bike: July 28-29, Elancourt Hill Cycling road: July 27 to August 4, Pont Alexandre III (time trials), Trocadero (road races) Cycling track: August 5-11, National Velodrome Diving: July 27 to August 10, Aquatics Centre Equestrian: July 27 to August 6, Chateau de Versailles Fencing: July 27 to August 4, Grand Palais Football: July 24 to August 10, Bordeaux Stadium, Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium, La Beaujoire Stadium, Lyon Stadium, Marseille Stadium, Nice Stadium and Parc de Princes (finals) Golf: August 1-10, Le Golf National Handball: July 25 to August 11, South Paris Arena (group stage), Pierre Mauroy Stadium (knockout phase) Hockey: July 27 to August 9, Yves-du-Manoir Stadium Judo: July 27 to August 3, Champ-de-Mars Arena Marathon swimming: August 8-9, Pont Alexandre III Modern pentathlon: August 8-11, North Paris Arena (ranking round), Chateau de Versailles Rhythmic gymnastics: August 8-10, La Chapelle Arena Rowing: July 27 to August 3, Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium – Flatwater Rugby sevens: July 24-30, Stade de France Sailing: July 28 to August 8, Marseille Marina Shooting: July 27 to August 5, Chateauroux Shooting Centre Skateboarding: July 27 to August 7, La Concorde Sport climbing: August 5-10, Le Bourget Climbing Venue Surfing: July 27 to August 4, Teahupo’o, Tahiti Swimming: July 27 to August 4, Paris La Defense Arena Table tennis: July 27 to August 10, South Paris Arena Taekwondo: August 7-10, Grand Palais Tennis: July 27 to August 4, Roland Garros Trampoline gymnastics: August 2, Bercy Arena Triathlon: July 30 to August 5, Pont Alexandre III Volleyball: July 27 to August 11, South Paris Arena Water polo: July 27 to August 11, Aquatics Centre, Paris La Defense Arena Weightlifting: August 7-11, South Paris Arena Wrestling: August 5-11, Champ-de-Mars Arena Closing ceremony: August 11, Stade de France Adblock test (Why?)

Bangladesh curfews, internet blackout batter economy amid quota protests

Dhaka, Bangladesh – During a nationwide curfew and with the army on the streets, an unlikely group of people gathered at Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s office with demands – not student protesters who have been seeking an end to job quotas, but industry leaders. The country’s top business owners asked Hasina on Monday to withdraw the curfew and restore internet service, which has been down for days as part of a complete communications blackout. They pleaded with her to have the army provide security for the Dhaka-Chattogram highway — the economic lifeline that connects the capital to the country’s main port city — amid fears of vandalism. Hasina told them her government was forced to impose the curfew and deploy the army across the nation to “save lives and properties of people”. “It [the curfew] will be gradually relaxed,” she said. But for millions of Bangladeshi workers, business owners and thousands of companies, “gradually” might not be good enough. For nearly two weeks, student protesters and security forces have been locked in a tense standoff, and violent clashes have killed at least 146 people. The protests started out against quotas — primarily against the 30 percent of government jobs reserved for descendants of people who found in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence. On Sunday, the Bangladesh Supreme Court significantly shrunk the quotas, but the students have released a list of eight demands, focused on seeking justice for their comrades killed in the violence. The government-imposed curfew remains in place, as does the internet block. All of that has brought the economy to a screeching halt amid high inflation and fast-depleting foreign reserves. In the past five days, Bangladesh’s economy has suffered losses amounting to more than $1.2bn, according to an estimate by the country’s business community. Aside from the shutdown of almost all industries, there were economic losses due to vandalism and arson attacks, including on the country’s lone metro rail system in Dhaka, and the national television network’s premises. Speaking to business leaders on Monday, Hasina blamed the internet blackout on opposition parties, alleging that their activists had ruptured internet cables across the country. She promised the internet connections would be restored soon. Losses mount every day The shutdown and communications blackout have hit the readymade garment sector the hardest. It is responsible for more than 80 percent of the country’s export earnings of over $50bn. All factories have remained closed since Saturday due to safety concerns, and the sector is suffering losses of nearly $150m a day, SM Mannan Kochi, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Al Jazeera. “The biggest problem is that our international buyers are losing confidence — a loss whose value can’t be gauged with just money as it will have a long-term negative impact on the country’s most valuable industry,” Kochi said. Steelmakers have estimated that in the past four days, their sector has suffered a loss of nearly $110m. Suman Chowdhury, general secretary of the Bangladesh Steel Manufacturers Association, said in a statement that because of the curfew, they couldn’t release raw materials from the port, resulting in the disruption of production. “Also, we didn’t want to put the lives of our workers in risk and asked them to stay at home,” he said. Production and distribution of pharmaceutical products have also been severely disrupted as medicine makers have been unable to receive imported raw materials from the Chattogram port and Dhaka airport. “Because of the internet shutdown, we couldn’t get custom clearance to release our products,” said Jahangir Alam, chief financial officer of Beximco Pharma, a generic drugmaker. “Our productions are disrupted as we lack raw materials now.” The growing ceramics industry also fears losing export orders worth about $8m per day, a local newspaper reported, quoting Irfan Uddin, secretary of the Bangladesh Ceramic Manufacturers and Exporters Associations. Impact of internet blackout The internet blackout imposed on Thursday night has hit almost all businesses and industries. It has shut down e-commerce and f-commerce, which are Facebook-based businesses popular in Bangladesh. These sectors are estimated to be losing at least $5m in revenue per day. Shahab Uddin, vice president of the e-commerce Association of Bangladesh, told Al Jazeera that it’s not just the businesses that are taking losses. “People in the city got habituated to ordering everything online in the past few years. I also ordered most things, including groceries, online, and my daily life has become a struggle now.” Call centres are facing daily losses of at least $3m per day, Wahid Sharif, president of the Bangladesh Association of Contact Centres and Outsourcing Association, told Al Jazeera. More than two-thirds of the call centre industry’s revenue comes from serving global companies, and the reputational damage that this industry has suffered because of nearly five days of the ongoing internet blackout is “irreparable,” Sharif said. Officials at commercial banks said they might have to pay additional interest amounting to millions of dollars because of delays in scheduled payments. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Bangladesh’s state minister for information and communication technology, told the media on Monday that the government was aware of the financial losses due to the blackout. “We are trying our best to restore the connection,” Palak said. “The repair work is going on, and it could be back at any time.” Adblock test (Why?)

US Secret Service chief faces angry questions and calls to resign

NewsFeed ‘You’re full of s***’. See some of the hostile questions faced by US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle as she appeared before a Congress committee investigating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Published On 23 Jul 202423 Jul 2024 Adblock test (Why?)

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