Amritpal Singh, jailed Engineer Rashid to take oath as Lok Sabha MP today
Singh is currently being held under the National Security Act (NSA) in Assam’s high-security Dibrugarh Jail.
Delhi HC to hear CM Arvind Kejriwal’s bail plea in CBI case today
Delhi High Court to hear Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s bail plea in the CBI corruption case today, July 3.
Biden seemingly contradicts WH after press secretary says president did not have medical exam after debate
Hours after the White House told reporters that President Biden had not had any recent medical exams, the president reportedly contradicted his press secretary by telling governors that he had a recent medical checkup. When pressed about the president’s health during a press briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explicitly told reporters that Biden has not had any medical exams since his last annual physical. “Has the president had any medical exams since his last annual physical in February?” CNN’s Min Jung “MJ” Lee asked. “And got – and we were able to talk to the – to his doctor about that, and that is a no,” Jean-Pierre said. NEWSOM DOUBLES DOWN ON SUPPORT FOR BIDEN IN MICHIGAN: ‘I BELIEVE IN HIS CHARACTER’ Jean-Pierre reiterated that the 81-year-old president had not received any kind of medical exam. “He hasn’t had any kind of medical exam?” Jung said. “No,” Jean-Pierre replied. Jean-Pierre’s comments came just hours before Biden met with Democrat governors at the White House on Wednesday night. According to the New York Times, Biden told governors that had seen the White House physician to check on the cold his campaign said that he had during the presidential debate against Trump. FEAR SPREADS AMONG CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS PRIVATELY CALLING FOR BIDEN’S SUCCESSION Biden also reportedly told governors that he would no longer schedule events after 8 p.m. so he could “get more sleep,” the outlet reported. When questioned about the seemingly contradictory comments, the White House sent the following statement to Fox News Digital: “Several days later, the President was seen to check on his cold and was recovering well,” the White House press office clarified. The comments come as Biden’s closest allies, politicians and the media have raised concerns about the president’s age and mental acuity. With a raspy voice and rambling answers, Biden struggled during portions of last week’s presidential debate. Following the debate, Democrats and liberal media figures appeared to be in a “panic” after Biden’s performance. The optics led to a full-on meltdown in Democrat-friendly media, with journalists at various outlets reporting on dozens of Democratic Party officials who said Biden should consider refusing his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. Some strategists have suggested the Democratic Party must act quickly to replace Biden before his nomination is made official. Vice President Harris has been largely ruled out as a potential replacement due to her unpopularity with voters. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have each previously been floated as a potential last-minute replacement.
Newsom doubles down on support for Biden in Michigan: ‘I believe in his character’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom remains steadfastly committed to the Biden-Harris 2024 presidential ticket, despite admitting during an Independence Day Democratic campaign event in Michigan that the presidential debate against former President Donald Trump “did not go as well” as Biden had hoped. “I was asked and tasked by President Biden, proudly, to fly from California to Georgia to represent the campaign right after that debate,” Newsom told a crowd of supporters at the Van Buren Dems BBQ for Biden-Harris in South Haven, Michigan, on Thursday. “I had a lot of talking points in mind, you may have noticed if you saw me, I didn’t bring them with me. And that’s to make the obvious point — things did not go as well as the campaign had hoped, and obviously did not go as well as President Biden had hoped,” he said. Newsom — who has vehemently denied claims that he’s running a “shadow campaign” to replace Biden — was among the 20 Democratic governors who had a private meeting with Biden on Wednesday night at the White House for about an hour and a half. NEWSOM’S PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISM, DEBATE SKILLS AMONG VULNERABILITIES IN POTENTIAL NATIONAL CAMPAIGN: EXPERT “It could have gone two or three hours,” Newsom said of the meeting. “And I mean this with absolute conviction. That was the Joe Biden I remember from two weeks ago. That was the Joe Biden that I remember from two years ago. That’s the Joe Biden that I’m looking forward to re-electing as President of the United States.” The aim of the meeting was to shore up support among the party’s top leaders and stave off diminishing confidence in Biden’s candidacy. Among the Democratic governors who were planning to attend in person were Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who leads the Democratic Governors Association; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; Maryland Gov. Wes Moore; and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, among others. Newsom added he’s been “going wherever” he’s been asked by the administration, and doing “whatever task, large and small, because I believe in this man.” DESANTIS VS NEWSOM FACE OFF ON ABORTION, TRANSGENDERISM, WOKENESS AND MORE “I believe in his character,” he said. The Golden State governor will also be headed to New Hampshire to headline a Democratic campaign event next week, fueling more speculation that he may be preparing to step in if Biden backs out of the 2024 race. New Hampshire is a key swing state in the general election and Newsom, who is a top surrogate for President Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign, will also be campaigning for the president and other Democrats up and down the ticket during his stop in the Granite State, according to sources familiar with his plans. FETTERMAN HITS NEWSOM FOR NOT HAVING ‘GUTS’ TO ADMIT HE’S RUNNING SHADOW CAMPAIGN AGAINST BIDEN After Biden’s lackluster performance during the debate against Trump, Newsom assured reporters in the spin room that he remained firmly behind Biden, who has faced significant criticism even from members of his own party for a lackluster performance. “I will never turn my back on President Biden,” Newsom said Thursday in a comment that appeared designed to dispel rumors that he’s running a shadow campaign. “I don’t know a Democrat in my party that would do so. And especially after tonight, we have his back.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. Newsom added: “I spent a lot of time with him. I know Joe Biden. I know what he’s accomplished in the last three and a half years. I know what he’s capable of. And I have no trepidations.” Leading up to last week’s first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle, Biden’s mental acuity became the center of political discourse last month after a bombshell Wall Street Journal report — which the White House dismissed — revealed that many lawmakers on Capitol Hill had questions about Biden’s mental acuity after many said his aging was apparent in private meetings. Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
Campaign crisis: Dems who have called for Biden to drop out or raised concerns about his health
President Biden’s catastrophic performance at last week’s debate has sparked panic among the Democratic Party’s hierarchy, with key players said to be mulling how to get him to abandon his re-election bid. The situation has plunged the party into crisis and threatens to drive a wedge between Biden loyalists and elected officials in swing districts ahead of next month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Biden’s top campaign aides have been working damage control with major donors over the past week, while the White House — and Biden himself — remain adamant he is the right man to lead the party against former President Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee. BIDEN RESISTS MOUNTING PRESSURE TO STEP ASIDE VAN JONES SAYS DEMOCRATS NOW PLANNING ON ‘HOW’ TO REPLACE BIDEN WITH HARRIS Twenty-three Democratic governors from across the nation descended on the White House on Wednesday evening to meet with the embattled president, but after the gathering, only Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who leads the Democratic Governors Association, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore spoke to reporters to express their support. Moore described the meeting with Biden as “honest” and “candid” and said that the governors were “going to have his back.” Hochul said President Biden was “in it to win it” and that the trio had pledged their support to him “because the stakes could not be higher,” invoking on the eve of Independence Day, the fight against tyranny. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who many commentators have proposed as a possible Biden replacement, also took part in the White House meeting and backed the 81-year-old. “I heard three words from the President tonight — he’s all in. And so am I,” Newsom posted on X on Wednesday night. Newsom also publicly backed Biden immediately following the debate. “You don’t turn your back because of one performance,” Newsom said after the debate. “What kind of party does that? This president has delivered. We need to deliver for him at this moment.” Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker has also publicly backed Biden, as has Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Hawaii Gov. Josh Green. Elsewhere, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a longtime Biden ally, has also expressed his support, as well as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. “A setback is nothing more than a setup for a comeback,” Jeffries posted to X on Saturday. Fox News’ Kyle Morris contributed to this report. This is a developing story and will be updated.
Hathras stampede: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to meet victims of incident tomorrow
Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai told PTI that Gandhi will also meet the family members of the victims.
Convicted felon Hunter Biden’s presence advising the president may hurt Biden’s ability to deride Trump
President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden – a convicted felon awaiting sentencing – has been closely advising his father to stay in the race, which may hurt the president’s ability to deride former President Donald Trump’s criminal record on the campaign trail. “All Americans should be highly concerned that at a time where international tensions are on the rise, particularly with the CCP, the Biden family bag man is now in the White House,” Mike Howell, the executive director of the Oversight Project at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “Given that this administration appears to be on its last legs, I fear that a lot of requested favors from foreigners that have leverage over Biden are being considered while he still has power,” Howell said. WATCH: FOX NEWS DIGITAL FOCUS GROUP REACTS TO TRUMP SAYING HIS RETRIBUTION WILL BE SUCCESS Hunter Biden was convicted last month on three felony charges relating to a handgun purchase in 2018. And independent voters overwhelmingly approved of Trump’s description of Hunter Biden as “a convicted felon” during last week’s CNN Presidential Debate, according to Fox News Digital’s focus dial group, despite the former president’s recent criminal conviction in the Manhattan hush money trial case. “When [President Biden] talks about a convicted felon — his son is a convicted felon,” Trump said during the debate. “At a very high level, his son is convicted, gonna be convicted probably numerous other times, should have been convicted before.” Approvals from Democrats trended downward during the answer. Meanwhile, Republican and independent approval continued to increase throughout Trump’s comments. CAN BIDEN BE REPLACED AS THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE? Amid the post-debate panic among the Democratic Party due to Biden’s lackluster performance against Trump, Biden’s family has huddled around him, with Hunter Biden emerging as a key advisor, according to a report from the New York Times. Hunter Biden was one of the strongest voices in imploring his father to stay in the presidential race during a family huddle at Camp David on Sunday, the Times reported. HUNTER BIDEN HAS MAJOR CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AS TOP ADVISER TO THE MAN WHO COULD PARDON HIM The president’s son was joined by First Lady Jill Biden in encouraging him to see things through to November, the report noted, while other family members such as a grandchild have expressed interest in trying to do more to help the campaign, with the grandchild suggesting they could reach out to influencers on social media. “Hunter Biden wants Americans to see the version of his father that he knows – scrappy and in command of the facts – rather than the stumbling, aging president Americans saw on Thursday night,” the report said, noting that the president’s son has “long” been one of his most trusted advisers. Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee contributed to this report.
Ukraine army retreats from part of strategic Chasiv Yar as Russia advances
Fall of key Donetsk town, prized for elevated position, would bring Russia one step closer to seizing entire region. The Ukrainian military says its army has retreated from a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar in the eastern Donetsk region, a strategically important town where Russian forces recently captured a district. The military confirmed on Thursday that it had fallen back from the town’s Kanal district, saying “the enemy had entered”, destroying “defenders’ positions” and threatening “the lives and wellbeing of our soldiers”. “The command decided to retreat to better protected and prepared positions,” said a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military’s Khortytsia ground forces formation, reporting the withdrawal on state-run television. Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed on Wednesday that its forces had taken control of the Novyi district, which lies to the west of the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal that runs through the eastern part of the town. Russian forces have had their sights on Chasiv Yar, a military hub prized for its strategic, elevated location, for months. The town lies a short distance from west Bakhmut, captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle. The fall of Chasiv Yar would put cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in jeopardy, compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes and bring Russia closer to its stated aim of seizing the entire Donetsk region. The hilltop town has been left devastated by increasingly intense Russian strikes, with homes and municipal offices charred, its population of 12,000 having long fled. A destroyed building in the frontline town of Chasiv Yar [File: Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukrainian Armed Forces via Reuters] In the past week alone, Russia has carried out nearly 1,300 strikes, fired nearly 130 glide bombs and carried out 44 ground assaults in the area of Chasiv Yar, said the military spokesman. On the defensive The Kremlin says Donetsk, which has borne the brunt of fighting since its forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, is part of Russia. Kremlin-supported separatist forces have controlled parts of the industrial region since 2014. Ukrainian commanders in the area say their resources remain stretched, largely due to a months-long gap in military assistance from the United States which threw Ukraine’s military onto the defensive. In June, members of the artillery brigade in Chasiv Yar reported that supplies of US ammunition had started to arrive. Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian shelling on Thursday wounded seven people in the Ukrainian town of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, regional Governor Serhiy Lysak posted on the Telegram messaging app. Lysak wrote earlier that Russian forces had attacked areas near Nikopol with kamikaze drones and artillery on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, damaging infrastructure, four residential buildings, a gas pipeline and a power line. In the northern Chernihiv region, Governor Viacheslav Chaus reported that a Russian drone hit an infrastructure facility overnight, leaving nearly 6,000 customers without electricity. On Wednesday, a Russian missile and drone strike in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed at least five people, wounding dozens. Adblock test (Why?)
Southeast Asia armed group Jemaah Islamiyah to disband: Report
Al-Qaeda-linked group is accused of orchestrating some of the deadliest attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 bombing of Bali nightclubs that killed more than 200 people. Senior members of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian armed group blamed for the deadly Bali bombings, announced they’re disbanding. A report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) on Thursday confirmed the authenticity of a June 30 video statement by 16 Jemaah Islamiyah leaders announcing its dissolvement. In the statement, captured on video and shared online, the leaders confirmed their commitment to the Indonesian state and law, and said all material taught in affiliated boarding schools would be in line with orthodox Islam. “It is too early to say what the consequences are, but the men who signed the statement have enough respect and credibility within the organisation to ensure widespread acceptance,” said Sidney Jones, who authored IPAC’s preliminary analysis. The al-Qaeda-linked group is accused of orchestrating some of the deadliest attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 bombing of Bali nightclubs that killed more than 200 people. Indonesia’s National Counter Terrorism Agency declined to comment but said it planned to hold a news conference soon. The decision to disband the organisation, said Jones, was likely driven by several factors including the influence of intellectuals within Jemaah Islamiyah who are less interested in violence, and a cost-benefit analysis on the best way to protect the group’s biggest assets – its schools. Intensive engagement with counterterrorism officials also played a role, the report said. Despite the clout of the figures involved, IPAC noted the group has a history of splinters and it is possible one could emerge in the future, although probably not immediately. “For the moment, the likely result is the flourishing of JI-affiliated schools and the increasing involvement in public life of the men who signed the 30 June statement,” said IPAC. “What happens to the rest of the membership remains to be seen.” Adblock test (Why?)
Russia poses as peacemaker, stepping up attacks on Ukraine’s east
Russia has sought to paint itself as a peacemaker in the war it started in Ukraine, calling NATO and Ukraine warmongers and storming out of the Organization for Security and Co-pperation in Europe (OSCE). Russia formally withdrew the country’s delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on Wednesday, after citing “discriminatory approaches, double standards and total Russophobia”. The last straw, it said, was Romania’s refusal to grant the Russian delegation visas to attend the OSCE’s annual session in Bucharest this week. The diplomatic posture appeared designed to push back against Ukraine’s peace conference in Switzerland last month, part of a global diplomatic process in which Ukraine has tried to win countries over to its view of how the war should end. Respecting Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” is key to that view, and was part of a statement at the end of the conference. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy followed up on the Swiss conference last Friday when he said his government was working on finalising aspects of a comprehensive peace formula by the end of the year. (Al Jazeera) “We are currently working on three detailed plans in energy, food security and [prisoner] exchanges,” Zelenskyy said during a live broadcast of a Ukrainian telethon, naming the three themes on which the Switzerland summit reached the greatest consensus. On Wednesday, Ukraine said it would submit a draft resolution on nuclear safety to the United Nations General Assembly in the coming days. Ukraine and its allies have called on Russian troops to withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saying their presence there risks turning it into a military target. Russia seized upon Hungarian premier Viktor Orban’s unannounced visit to Kyiv on Tuesday to portray Zelenskyy as anything but a seeker of peace. Orban, whose country assumes the rotating presidency of the European Union this month, met with Zelenskyy to propose “a ceasefire tied to a deadline, which could offer the opportunity to accelerate peace talks”. A drone view shows destroyed buildings in the front-line town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, in this screengrab obtained from social media video released on July 4, 2024 [Special Purpose Battalion ‘Donbas’ of the 18th Slavic Brigade of the NGU/via Reuters] Zelenskyy did not accept that formula but seized on the chance to improve relations with Hungary, which has stood out in the European Union for its opposition to more assistance for Ukraine. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova held up Zelenskyy’s rejection as proof that Ukraine is not serious about peace. “All that peace rhetoric is just a smokescreen, smoke and mirrors, cliches or memes. Abstract words that must be learned by heart and voiced, while there is only one goal, which was declared by the collective West, namely to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia,” she said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov sought to play on Hungary’s Euroscepticism, saying, “we don’t expect anything” from Orban’s visit to Kyiv,” adding that Orban would be obliged to serve “Brussels’ interests rather than Hungary’s national interests”. Zelenskyy explained his opposition to a ceasefire in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer. “A ceasefire is the best option for the Russians so they can prepare for taking even more,” he said. His view of NATO was exactly the opposite of Zacharova’s. As he has often said before, he felt Ukraine’s allies were deliberately holding back support to not embarrass Russian President Vladimir Putin with a rapid defeat: “Everybody is still afraid that Russia can split apart, everybody is afraid of what will happen to Russia without Putin and whether it will stay as it is or get worse.” (Al Jazeera) Throughout this war, Zelenskyy has asked for more than allies were willing to consider giving Ukraine, and in the case of tanks, armoured fighting vehicles, medium-range missiles and fighter planes, he eventually got it. But he has not managed to get the United States to sign off on the use of long-range weapons anywhere in Russia, only in territories facing an imminent new invasion. Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko expressed some of Ukraine’s frustration with NATO’s self-restraint, saying the alliance should establish a no-fly zone over western Ukraine. “I do not understand [why] NATO cannot deploy air defence systems along the Polish border,” Goncharenko told the AFP news agency. “This will make it possible to defend the border of Poland and Moldova and to establish a reliable no-fly zone in western and southern parts of Ukraine.” NATO has said it does not wish to become directly part of the war in Ukraine, so as not to provoke a wider war with Russia. Russia stalled on the ground Russia’s diplomatic posturing as peacemaker has taken place against continued hostilities but a disappointing Russian military performance in the past week, as Ukrainian troops managed to defend their turf against any significant advances. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Russian forces were making particular efforts to capture territory in Toretsk, in the Donetsk region. Toretsk lies between Chasiv Yar to the north and Avdiivka to the south, both areas Moscow has prioritised this year. “The Russian military command may intend to leverage the ongoing Toretsk push to create operational opportunities for advances in either the Chasiv Yar or Avdiivka areas,” said the ISW. Russia’s offensives have given it more than 500 square kilometres (193 square miles) of territory this year, but at a high cost. (Al Jazeera) Russian opposition news outlet Meduza analysed Russian Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat) mortality data to estimate that Russian war-related deaths in Ukraine doubled last year, relative to 2022. After factoring in social trends and COVID-related deaths, it said at least 40,500 young Russian men died last year above trend levels, versus 24,000 in 2022. The biggest increase over two years was in the 25-29 age group, the analysis found, whereas the highest excess mortality rate was in the 35-39 age group. This would appear to confirm the suspicion expressed in Western think tank analyses that Russian casualties increased sharply in the