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Kamala Harris says Biden made ‘big mistake’ by not inviting Musk to EV event in 2021

Kamala Harris says Biden made ‘big mistake’ by not inviting Musk to EV event in 2021

Former Vice President Kamala Harris said her onetime boss, former President Joe Biden, made a “big mistake” by not inviting Tesla CEO Elon Musk to a 2021 White House event on electric vehicles.  In August 2021, Biden hosted an EV event at the White House with executives from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, but Musk was not invited, despite Tesla being the nation’s leading EV manufacturer.  “I write in the book that I thought it was a big mistake to not invite Elon Musk when we did a big EV event,” Harris told Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell on Tuesday at the news outlet’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C., referring to her memoir, “107 Days,” in which she criticized Biden for initially running for re-election despite his health struggles. “I mean, here he is, the major American manufacturer of extraordinary innovation in this space,” Harris said of Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX. WASHINGTON POST SLAMS KAMALA HARRIS BOOK TOUR, SAYS DEMS DON’T ‘HAVE TIME TO WASTE’ ON FORMER VP Musk’s snub was widely viewed as an effort to support the United Auto Workers and organized labor overall, since Tesla plants are not unionized. Harris wrote in her book that she believed Biden was “sending a message about Musk’s anti-union stance” but that she thought excluding him as the top player in the field “simply doesn’t make sense.” Then–White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the event featured “the three largest employers of the United Auto Workers,” emphasizing that Tesla’s workers are not unionized. Pressed on whether Musk’s snub was punishment for his workers not being unionized, Psaki told reporters: “I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.” The Biden administration defended inviting only those automakers, calling them key partners in the president’s push for union jobs. Harris said that presidents should “put aside political loyalties” when it comes to recognizing technological innovation. “So, I thought that was a mistake, and I don’t know Elon Musk, but I have to assume that that was something that hit him hard and had an impact on his perspective,” she said. Musk did appear to take offense after he was not invited to the event, taking numerous jabs at Biden. “Yeah, seems odd that Tesla wasn’t invited,” Musk wrote at the time on social media. A month later, he said the Biden administration appeared to be “controlled by unions” and was “not the friendliest administration.” KAMALA HARRIS BREAKS SILENCE ON BIDEN DROPOUT, ADMITS SHE HAS REGRETS ABOUT HER HANDLING OF SITUATION After Musk learned Tesla would not be invited, administration officials offered an apology, according to The Wall Street Journal. Biden aides later attempted to soothe things over, but tensions remained. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Harris’ comments on Tuesday mirrored a passage from her new book in which she wrote that the Biden administration’s move not to include Tesla was a mistake and that it appeared to alienate Musk, who later became one of current President Donald Trump’s top financial backers. “Musk never forgave it,” she wrote. Musk later endorsed Trump in the 2024 election and contributed roughly $300 million toward Republican campaign efforts. 

Protesters nationwide hold ‘No Kings’ rallies amid government shutdown

Protesters nationwide hold ‘No Kings’ rallies amid government shutdown

Significant crowds in major cities like New York City and Washington, D.C., and even in London, were observed on Saturday during the second “No Kings” protest since June against the Trump administration.  While some leaders feared the marches could devolve into violence, there were no reports of violence or arrests at the afternoon rallies amid the ongoing government shutdown. Republicans have argued the protests are simply an effort to distract from the current government shutdown battle and appease their base.  House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told FOX Business he hoped that Democrat leaders who attended would be more willing to accept the GOP’s plan after the demonstrations were over – but he did not sound overly optimistic. NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR HOPEFUL ATTENDS ‘NO KINGS’ PROTEST, VOWS TO FIGHT TRUMP ‘TOOTH AND NAIL’ On Saturday in New York City, the NYPD put out an alert indicating the city had more than 100,000 people across all five boroughs taking part, and they did not have to make a single “protest-related” arrest.  No arrests were reported in DC, although some reports indicated that protesters spilled into the streets briefly.  Other major cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, and Austin had sizable gatherings as well Saturday, but police said demonstrations were largely peaceful.  Police in Portland confirmed that at least three people were detained after an alleged assault related to the “No Kings” protests downtown. One person was arrested and booked into jail, according to officials. Two others have been detained pending investigation by Portland Police Bureau officers. Outside Chicago in Broadview, at least fifteen people were arrested by Illinois State Police near an ICE facility. In Denver, police said officers dispersed a small group to deny access to the highway and that several arrests were made. There were also some arrests in smaller cities in various states. MILLIONS EXPECTED TO FLOOD STREETS AT ‘NO KINGS’ PROTESTS TARGETING TRUMP ACROSS ALL 50 STATES Roughly 2,500 “No Kings” protests were held across the U.S.  The tone of Saturday’s “No Kings” protests were staunchly anti-Trump, as demonstrators rallied against what they viewed as the president’s authoritarian policies. “California will keep peacefully pushing back against the Trump Administration’s authoritarian takeover,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, wrote on X. “It’s a Love America rally,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who spoke at the D.C. rally Saturday, said in response to Johnson and others’ criticism.  Following his speech at the D.C. rally, Sanders thanked the “millions” of Americans who turned out Saturday.  “Thank you to the millions of Americans who turned out in small communities and big cities all over this country to say loudly and boldly: No more kings. In America, We the People will rule.”

Hamas returns bodies of two more captives, says Israel violating ceasefire

Hamas returns bodies of two more captives, says Israel violating ceasefire

Hamas has turned over the remains of two more deceased Israeli captives from Gaza, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced, as the Palestinian group accused Israel of continuing to commit ceasefire violations and repudiating the commitments made to peace mediators. “Israel has received, via the Red Cross, the bodies of two hostages”, which were returned to Israeli security forces in Gaza, Netanyahu’s office said in a post on the X social media platform early on Sunday. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The prime minister’s office said the families of the Israeli captives have been updated on the return of the remains, although no names have been released so far. The office said the two bodies have been transferred to the Israeli National Centre of Forensic Medicine, and “upon completion of the identification process, formal notification will be delivered to the families”. “The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned,” the prime minister’s office added. With the handover late on Saturday, Hamas has now returned the remains of 12 of the 28 captives who died in Gaza, a key demand by Israel in the week-old ceasefire deal to end the two-year war. According to the deal, Hamas was to return all of the Israeli captives – both the living and the dead – within 72 hours of its signing. In exchange, Israel was to release 360 bodies of deceased Palestinians and some 2,000 prisoners. Hamas has said the widespread devastation in the Palestinian territory and the Israeli military’s continuing control of certain parts of Gaza have slowed the recovery of the bodies of deceased captives. Advertisement Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said Palestinian authorities do not have adequate equipment to help with the search for captives’ bodies beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings. “It’s very difficult, with recovery teams on the ground facing extraordinary challenges. [They have] no bulldozers, no trucks, no cranes and no heavy equipment… to speed up the process and help with the recovery and return of bodies,” Mahmoud said. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, who is reporting from Amman, Jordan, because Al Jazeera is banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank, said that Netanyahu’s government has known “for some time” that the recovery of bodies of captives would be “an incredibly difficult and daunting task”. Netanyahu, however, has accused Hamas of not doing enough to return the remains of the 28 and that all of the bodies need to be returned immediately, Salhut said. “Until that happens, that’s when Israel is going to honour more of the commitments of the ceasefire, like letting in more humanitarian assistance, talking about opening the Rafah border crossing,” she said. Hospital workers transport the remains of a Palestinian prisoner released by Israel under a Gaza ceasefire and captives exchange deal to the morgue of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Saturday [Omar al-Qattaa/AFP] For days, Hamas and Israel have traded blame over violations of the US-mediated ceasefire. On Saturday, Hamas accused the Netanyahu government of “fabricating flimsy pretexts” to not follow through on its commitments to the peace deal, as well as denouncing Israel’s refusal to open the Rafah crossing with Egypt as “a blatant violation” of the agreement. On Friday, Israeli forces killed 11 members of a single family, including seven children, in an attack east of Gaza City. The Palestinian Embassy in Egypt announced earlier on Saturday that the Rafah crossing, the main gateway for people in Gaza to leave and enter the enclave, would reopen on Monday. But Netanyahu said the border crossing would remain closed until Hamas hands over the bodies of all the deceased Israeli captives. The delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza also remains slow despite the ceasefire deal. On Saturday, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said it had enough humanitarian food supplies to feed Gaza for three months, but trucks carrying the life-saving cargo are unable to enter Gaza and are stuck in warehouses in Jordan and Egypt. “We must be allowed to get all this aid into Gaza without delay,” UNRWA said, adding that it also has equipment to provide shelter to as many as 1.3 million people. Adblock test (Why?)

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,333

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,333

Here are the key events from day 1,333 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Published On 19 Oct 202519 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Here is how things stand on Sunday, October 19, 2025: Fighting Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed that its forces captured the village of Pleshchiivka in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine on the latest claim of territorial gain by Moscow. The Russian Defence Ministry had earlier announced the capture of one village in the Dnipropetrovsk region and two in the northeastern Kharkiv region, closer to the Russian border. Two internally-displaced people were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, the Russian-installed regional governor, Vladimir Saldo, said on the Telegram messaging platform. Three people were killed and five others injured following an explosion at an industrial plant related to weapons production in the southwest Russian city of Sterlitamak, Radiy Khabirov, the governor of Bashkortostan, said in a statement on Telegram. The chief of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, announced on X that repairs have begun on damaged power lines at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Authorities had warned that a four-week outage of power at the plant was endangering the safety of the Russian-controlled facility, which needs power to ensure that reactors are kept cool to avoid a dangerous meltdown. Politics and diplomacy Austria’s Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs announced that it is supporting the European Union’s decision to impose new sanctions against Russia, which require a unanimous vote and have been stymied due to Vienna’s earlier opposition to the plan. Ukrainians said they were disappointed that the United States may not provide Kyiv with long-range Tomahawk missiles, the Associated Press news agency reported, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on Friday. Advertisement Regional security Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Saturday urged Trump to step up efforts to support democracy in her country, arguing that a free Belarus was in Washington’s interests. Adblock test (Why?)

Afghanistan, Pakistan agree to immediate ceasefire after talks in Doha

Afghanistan, Pakistan agree to immediate ceasefire after talks in Doha

South Asian neighbours also agreed to hold follow-up meetings in coming days to ensure peace deal’s implementation. Published On 19 Oct 202519 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire after talks mediated by Qatar and Turkiye following a week of fierce and deadly clashes along their disputed border. Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said early on Sunday that Afghanistan and Pakistan had agreed to the ceasefire “and the establishment of mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability between the two countries”. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Doha said the two countries also agreed to hold follow-up meetings in the coming days “to ensure the sustainability of the ceasefire and verify its implementation in a reliable and sustainable manner”. Earlier, both sides said they were holding peace talks in Doha on Saturday as they sought a way forward, after clashes killed dozens and wounded hundreds in the worst violence between the two South Asian neighbours since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021. Statement | Pakistan and Afghanistan Agree to an Immediate Ceasefire During a Round of Negotiations in Doha#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/fPXvn6GaU6 — Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) October 18, 2025 “As promised, negotiations with the Pakistani side will take place today in Doha,” Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had said, adding that Kabul’s negotiating team, led by Defence Minister Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob, had arrived in the Qatari capital. Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said earlier that the country’s defence minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, had led discussions with representatives of Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership. Advertisement “The talks will focus on immediate measures to end cross-border terrorism against Pakistan emanating from Afghanistan and restore peace and stability along the Pak-Afghan border,” the Foreign Office said. Cross-border fighting between the one-time allies and Pakistani air strikes along their contested 2,600km (1,600-mile) frontier were triggered after Islamabad demanded that Kabul rein in rebels who had stepped up cross-border attacks in Pakistan, saying the fighters were operating from safe havens in Afghanistan. The Taliban has denied giving haven to armed groups to attack Pakistan, and accuses the Pakistani military of spreading misinformation about Afghanistan and sheltering ISIL (ISIS)-linked fighters who have undermined the country’s stability and sovereignty. Islamabad has denied Kabul’s accusations. Pakistan has accused Kabul of allowing armed groups to reside inside Afghanistan and wage war for years against the Pakistani state in a bid to overthrow the government and replace it with their strict brand of Islamic governance system. On Friday, a suicide attack near the border killed seven Pakistani soldiers and wounded 13, security officials said. “The Afghan regime must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan and are using Afghan soil to perpetrate heinous attacks inside Pakistan,” Pakistani Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir said on Saturday, addressing a graduation ceremony of cadets. Adblock test (Why?)