WATCH: Potential VP pick Tulsi Gabbard says Trump running mate should have this major quality
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has become a fixture among conservatives since dumping the Democrat Party two years ago to become an independent. The outspoken critic of President Biden and her former party is now rumored to be on former President Trump’s running mate shortlist — albeit as a long shot — something she hasn’t shied away from as discussions about the best choice for Republicans to reel in undecided and moderate voters ramp up ahead of the Republican National Convention (RNC) next month. Fox News Digital caught up with Gabbard, who said in May she’d be “honored” to join Trump on the Republican ticket, during a recent trip to Washington, D.C., where she shared what she viewed as the required qualities for any individual hoping to be picked by the former president. BIDEN’S INNER CIRCLE SILENT AS PARTY REELS FOLLOWING ‘EMBARRASSING’ DEBATE PERFORMANCE “In order to win, you have to be able to bring in people who may not already be with you or already be a part of your support base. This is important, not only for the election, to be able to bring in our fellow Americans,” “It is also important to do the tough work that will follow should President Trump win, to be able to actually root out the rot of corruption that exists within permanent Washington, to root out the deep state, root out those who believe that their function in government is more important than the people of this country,” she said. “We’ve got to flip it on its head and remind people that we should have a limited government that exists to serve the people, not the other way around.” BATTLEGROUND DEMOCRATS LEAVE BIDEN HIGH AND DRY AFTER ‘DISASTROUS’ DEBATE PERFORMANCE Those who have mentioned Gabbard as a potential option for Trump point to what could be her ability to attract moderates and independents given her more liberal views on certain social positions, as well as her views on how the Democrat Party has become more radical over time. Gabbard left the party in 2022, stating, “I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism.” She detailed her thought process behind the decision in a book she published earlier this year, “For Love Of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind.” REPUBLICANS DECLARE BIDEN ‘UNFIT FOR OFFICE’ FOLLOWING ‘DISASTROUS’ DEBATE PERFORMANCE “When I announced I was leaving the Democratic Party, I got a flood of messages and emails and notes and DMs from people who, as you just pointed out, felt the same way that I did,” Gabbard told Fox when asked about her book’s message. “I saw the opportunity to be able to actually go into more detail, not only on the reasons why I left the Democratic Party, but the experiences that I’ve had that brought me to that decision to leave the party that I was associated with for over 20 years, recognizing that that may help others who are struggling through their political decision, both about whether or not they want to be associated with the party or leave the Democratic Party, but also really critically, how they will vote in this election.” Gabbard said her book was “a very direct call to action” because of what the party had become. It’s unclear when exactly Trump might announce his running mate, but he suggested last month he may make the announcement at the RNC in Milwaukee next month. He told Fox News last week he had decided who it was going to be, before later stating his pick would be in attendance at his first debate against Biden, which was held Thursday in Atlanta. Those on the shortlist who joined Trump in Atlanta included Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik. However, Gabbard was notably not present. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
The hidden dangers of Zimbabwe’s informal savings clubs
Harare, Zimbabwe – It was two days before Christmas in the low-income neighbourhood of Mabvuku in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare. Music played, people chatted and most were in a festive mood. But not the small group of women marching down a narrow, pothole-ridden street on their way to the house of their savings club’s treasurer. They had a much more serious matter in mind. The previous day, the women were meant to share out money they had been saving together for the last six months to use for Christmas shopping. But when they called the mobile number of their club’s treasurer, they got an automated response: “The number you have dialled is not available.” They tried his number multiple times, but to no avail. Informal savings clubs have gained popularity in Zimbabwe in recent years, especially among women and people in the informal economy who may not trust banks or have access to traditional savings and loan options, experts say. Known locally as mukando, meaning contribution, these clubs usually have about a dozen members who come together to save money. Some clubs have a central member who collects everyone’s contribution and keeps it until the saving cycle has ended, after which it is distributed. Throughout the cycle, members are allowed to borrow money from the pot and pay it back to the club with interest. In a slightly different version of the savings club, contributions are collected and the full amount is given to a different member at certain intervals. When the member pays back the money, they do so with interest. In both cases, the interest gets added to the full pot of money, which is then shared out at the end of a savings cycle – letting members get their original savings with an extra amount added. While many who join these clubs find this system an essential source of support, these clubs are also unregistered, unregulated and depend on good faith between members, something experts say, leaves members open to being swindled. Women sell books in a low-income neighbourhood in Harare [File: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters] ‘I regret it’ One of the women marching down the street in Mabvuku that day in December 2023 in search of her saving club’s treasurer was Carol Madzimo, a 24-year-old hairdresser from the area. She had joined the club together with her mother so they could save money for Christmas groceries. “My aunt invited us to join the savings club,” Madzimo told Al Jazeera. “The savings club was supposed to run from July to December, at which point we were supposed to share the money we had been contributing to the club every month [plus the extra earned from interest].” But things didn’t go quite as planned. The treasurer, who had all the money the 20 members had been saving for six months – $1,200 – plus an additional unknown interest amount, disappeared on the day they were supposed to share out the proceeds. That’s when some of the members, including Madzimo, decided to go to his house to confront him. “Christmas was just two days away and we hadn’t received a single cent to buy the Christmas groceries we had saved so hard for,” Madzimo told Al Jazeera. “So you can imagine the frustrations we carried to the treasurer’s house that day.” The treasurer, however, was not home. His wife said she hadn’t seen or heard from him in two days. The savings club was in disarray; nobody knew what to do. Some suggested filing a police report, but the club never followed through because people were hesitant to report a fellow member of their community to the police. It was already well into January before the club heard from the treasurer again. “He gave us an excuse for his unavailability,” Madzimo said, adding that what he said “made no sense”. It turned out that the treasurer had been using the members’ savings and the interest money for his own use, Madzimo said. She wasn’t sure exactly how much interest was accrued because the treasurer kept all the books, and the other members had simply trusted him. Carol Madzimo regrets joining the informal savings club [Zachariah Mushawatu/al Jazeera] Eventually, he returned to each member the amount they had input over the six months – $60 – but did not give them any of the profits from the loans or interest. “I regret [joining the savings club],” Madzimo told Al Jazeera, upset at the ordeal they all had to endure. “However, at least I got back all the money I put in as monthly contributions,” she added. Tanaka Mutyori, who joined a different savings club, wasn’t as fortunate. ‘I thought it was a good idea’ In 2023, Mutyori, 26, used to run her own business in a building in Harare’s city centre. “I had my own thing going,” she told Al Jazeera. “I sold drinks and refreshments from big fridges. Business was booming!” But things took a turn after Mutyori joined a savings club last April. “I joined a savings club in the building I ran my business from. I used to contribute $50 every week.” The club was supposed to save money for a period of 18 weeks and share the savings equally among its five members. It was also supposed to distribute the interest gained from loaning out money to members throughout the saving period. “Before I joined the club, I witnessed some members buy cars using money they got from the club, so I genuinely thought it was a good idea,” Mutyori said. After she joined, however, when the time came to share the club’s money, the group’s leader kept shifting dates. “Initially, we were supposed to share the money on Heroes’ Day [August 12], but the leader kept changing the date. It wasn’t long till we came to the conclusion that he didn’t have our money,” Mutyori lamented. When the club confronted him, the leader said he had lent all the money to his pastor at church who had
What’s at stake in France’s snap elections?
NewsFeed People in France are set to vote in snap parliamentary elections described as a major gamble by President Macron as he tries to combat a surge by the far-right. Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler takes a look at what’s at stake. Published On 30 Jun 202430 Jun 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 856
As the war enters its 856th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Sunday, June 30, 2024. Fighting Four employees of Russia’s Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief have been injured in Ukrainian shelling of the Donetsk region, the ministry said. Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 36 drones launched by Ukraine overnight targeting several regions in the southwest, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence. Fifteen drones were destroyed over the Kursk region, nine over the Lipetsk region, four each over the Voronezh and Bryansk regions and two each over the Oryol and Belgorod regions, the ministry said. Separately, the Kursk governor said the Ukrainian forces shelled parts of the region through Saturday. The Russian Defence Ministry also said its forces had taken control of the settlement of Shumy in eastern Ukraine, according to state media. Moscow’s forces fired missiles at the town of Vilniansk, outside the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing seven people, including two children, and injuring 31 others, Ukrainian officials say. Diplomacy and politics A speech by Nigel Farage, the British right-wing leader, was interrupted when a banner of Russian President Vladimir Putin descended from the ceiling at an election rally. Ukraine and Russia say priests were among the dozens of captured soldiers and civilians they had exchanged earlier this week. Weapons Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for “accelerated” Western arms deliveries after deadly Russian strikes, saying, “any delay in decisions in this war means the loss of human lives”. Belarus says it has deployed additional air defence forces to its border with Ukraine to protect “critical infrastructure facilities” due to increased Ukrainian drone activity in the area. Adblock test (Why?)
General Upendra Dwivedi takes command as India’s 30th Army Chief
Gen Upendra Dwivedi, with extensive experience along the China and Pakistan frontiers, assumed charge as the 30th Chief of the Army Staff, succeeding Gen Manoj Pande.
Balance of power: Dem rep says people will ‘want to talk about’ Biden status on ticket after debate
People will likely want to have a conversation about what the country saw on the presidential debate stage Thursday night, one Democratic congressman predicted after President Biden’s decidedly weak performance. “That’s a question that people will, I’m sure, want to talk about,” Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., replied when asked by Fox News Digital whether he believed that Biden should be the Democratic nominee for president. VULNERABLE DEMS WON’T SAY WHETHER BIDEN SHOULD BE NOMINEE: ‘PRESIDENT CAN MAKE HIS OWN DECISIONS’ “But like I said, this is one night. I’m not going to judge the president’s performance based on one night,” he added. Reports quickly emerged, even before the Thursday night debate had ended, alleging Democratic panic taking place about Biden and his ability to take on former President Trump in the November election. A hoarse Biden took the stage in Atlanta for the debate and came across as soft-spoken and at times confused. The performance was concerning enough that analysts on CNN and MSNBC agreed that Biden had done poorly. TOP 5 MOMENTS DURING TRUMP-BIDEN DEBATE SHOWDOWN: ‘I DIDN’T HAVE SEX WITH A PORN STAR’ “No matter who you are as a lead performer, whether you’re a basketball player or you’re an opera singer, you can have a bad night,” Morelle explained. “So I’m going to chalk this up to him having a bad night.” The Democrat’s acknowledgment that some may want to discuss Biden’s status on the ticket and potential alternate nominees comes as several other Democratic members of Congress were unwilling to say what they thought the president should do. BIDEN WELCOMES BERNIE SANDERS RALLIES BOOSTING WORKERS IN SWING STATE AS TRUMP COURTS WORKING CLASS When asked by Fox News Digital, multiple vulnerable Democrats in swing districts avoided answering if they believed Biden should remain on the ticket. However, a number of Democrats, including surrogates for Biden’s campaign, said they still support the president as the party’s nominee, even after the debate. JILL BIDEN GUSHES OVER PRESIDENT’S DEBATE PERFORMANCE DESPITE POOR REVIEWS: ‘YOU DID SUCH A GREAT JOB’ Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said, “I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. It wasn’t Joe Biden, you know, the best. But I’m going to tell you, Donald Trump reinforced all the concerns that I’ve had.” Asked about whether he should still be the nominee, she said, “You know what? I’m not going to be part of all the hand-wringing in Washington. I know the kind of person I want to see in the presidency.” Despite concerns swirling about Biden following the debate, his campaign was clear on Friday, with spokesperson Seth Schuster telling Fox News Digital, “Of course he’s not dropping out.” “I know I’m not a young man … I don’t debate as well as I used to,” Biden said at a campaign appearance in North Carolina. “But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth.”
Mann ki Baat: PM Modi thanks citizens for showing ‘unwavering support’ in Lok Sabha polls
Addressing the nation in his Mann Ki Baat programme on Sunday, PM Modi said that he missed the conversation with the countrymen since February when the broadcast was last aired.
The New Yorker editor calls for Biden to step down after ‘antagonizing’ debate performance
The New Yorker magazine has joined other major publications in calling for President Biden to step aside after its editor said watching Biden perform during Thursday’s debate was an “agonizing experience.” The New Yorker is now the third publication, alongside The New York Times and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, to call upon Biden to step-aside for a younger Democratic nominee. “We have long known that Biden, no matter what issue you might take with one policy or another, is no longer a fluid or effective communicator of those policies,” The New Yorker’s editor, David Remnick, wrote. “Asked about his decline, the Biden communications team and his understandably protective surrogates and advisers would deliver responses to journalists that sounded an awful lot like what we all, sooner or later, tell acquaintances when asked about aging parents: they have good days and bad days,” he wrote. ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION EDITORIAL BOARD CALLS FOR BIDEN TO DROP OUT ‘FOR THE GOOD OF THE NATION’ Remnick wrote that watching Biden “wander into senselessness” moved observers to “pity” and “fear for the country.” “Watching Thursday’s debate, observing Biden wander into senselessness onstage, was an agonizing experience, and it is bound to obliterate forever all those vague and qualified descriptions from White House insiders about good days and bad days,” he said. “You watched it, and, on the most basic human level, you could only feel pity for the man and, more, fear for the country.” Remnick made his remarks despite defensive comments from Biden’s loyalists, like former President Obama, First Lady Jill Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom. THE DEMOCRATS’ SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT ATTEMPTS TO SPIN BIDEN’S DEBATE DEBACLE: ‘DID WE WATCH THE SAME DEBATE?’ “Such loyalty can be excused, at least momentarily,” he wrote. “They did what they felt they had to do to fend off an immediate implosion of Biden’s campaign, a potentially irreversible cratering of his poll numbers, an evaporation of his fund-raising, and the looming threat of Trump Redux.” The New Yorker editor said that Biden staying in the race would be in direct opposition to his years of public service. “To stay in the race would be pure vanity, uncharacteristic of someone whom most have come to view as decent and devoted to public service,” Remnick wrote. “To stay in the race, at this post-debate point, would also suggest that it is impossible to imagine a more vital ticket,” he wrote. Remnick concluded his piece by noting that there “is no shame in growing old” but rather there would be “honor” to step down and out of the race. “It is sad to go to pieces like this, but we all have to do it. There is no shame in growing old,” he wrote. “There is honor in recognizing the hard demands of the moment.” The New Yorker article came after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The New York Times called for him to drop out of the race. “Mr. Biden has said that he is the candidate with the best chance of taking on this threat of tyranny and defeating it,” The Times said. “His argument rests largely on the fact that he beat Mr. Trump in 2020. That is no longer a sufficient rationale for why Mr. Biden should be the Democratic nominee this year.” “Mr. Biden answered an urgent question on Thursday night. It was not the answer that he and his supporters were hoping for,” the Times concluded. “But if the risk of a second Trump term is as great as he says it is — and we agree with him that the danger is enormous — then his dedication to this country leaves him and his party only one choice.” Following the debate, Democrats and liberal media figures were reportedly in “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 the 81-year-old Biden should consider refusing his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention. BIDEN’S INNER CIRCLE SILENT AS PARTY REELS FOLLOWING ‘EMBARRASSING’ DEBATE PERFORMANCE Biden gave no indication he would step down at his first rally following the debate Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina, insisting he is capable of beating Trump. “I can do this job, because, quite frankly, the stakes are too high,” Biden energetically said. “Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation.” President Biden also addressed his stumbling performance, saying, “I don’t debate as well as I used to.” “I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done,” he told a roaring crowd that chanted “Four more years.” Fox News Digital has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.
For the first time, two classmates will be chiefs of Indian Army and Navy together
A defence official who knows both officers said that strong friendships among the senior leadership in the military matter a lot in strengthening the working relationship between the forces.
Nikki Haley says GOP should prepare for ‘younger,’ more ‘vibrant’ Biden replacement
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and Trump primary challenger, warned Republicans should prepare for Democrats to replace President Biden with a candidate who is “younger” and more “vibrant,” while repeating her push for cognitive tests for all candidates for federal office. “They are going to be smart about it. They’re going to bring somebody younger. They’re going to bring somebody vibrant. They’re going to bring somebody tested,” Haley told the Wall Street Journal Saturday. “This is a time for Republicans to prepare and get ready for what’s to come because there is no way that there will be a surviving Democratic Party if they allow Joe Biden to continue to be the candidate.” Some Democrats have also called on Biden to drop out of the race after his debate performance against former President Trump. In reference to Biden’s performance, Haley said, “Our enemies just saw that they have between now and Jan. 20 to do whatever it is they want to do.” ATLANTA-JOURNAL CONSTITUTION EDITORIAL BOARD CALLS FOR BIDEN TO DROP OUT ‘FOR THE GOOD OF THE NATION’ Haley said in May that despite their contentious primary contest in which both candidates threw personal insults at each other, she planned to vote for Trump in November. She also told the Journal she had reached out to the former president recently and had a “good conversation.” Trump previously said he believes Haley will be “on our team in some form.” Haley previously served as Trump’s United Nations ambassador. “America deserves the strongest leader possible,” Haley said on X Saturday. “Thursday night was shocking. It’s exactly why I have been calling for mental competency tests for anyone running for office. Joe Biden owes the American people transparency about his cognitive abilities.” She added that Washington, D.C. is “full of older people,” and voters need to know “who is up to the challenge and who is not.” TOP HOLLYWOOD DONORS THREATEN TO STOP GIVING TO DEMS IF BIDEN NOT REPLACED AS CANDIDATE: REPORT “To the millions of Nikki Haley supporters who are tired of Donald Trump and his MAGA allies constantly attacking them, running moderates and independents out of the party and repeatedly refusing to commit to accepting the 2024 election results, you have a home in President Biden’s coalition,” Biden spokesperson Ammar Moussa told Fox News Digital of Haley’s comments. Haley also questioned Trump’s cognitive abilities during the Republican primary, noting that he seemingly confused her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Haley, 52, told the Journal Democrats could suffer down-ballot losses if they keep Biden as the nominee. “If they continue down this path, and they have Biden as their nominee, they are committed to hurting America,” she said.