Kamala Harris campaign raises $200 million in a week

US Vice President Kamala Harris waves upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
US Vice President Kamala Harris waves upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 26 August 2024
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Kamala Harris campaign raises $200 million in a week

US Vice President Kamala Harris waves upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
  • “In the week since we got started, @KamalaHarris has raised $200 million dollars. 66 percent of that is from new donors,” Harris’ deputy campaign manager said

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris’s election campaign said on Sunday it has raised $200 million and signed up 170,000 new volunteers in the week since she became the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.
President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday last week and endorsed Harris for the Nov. 5 vote against Republican former President Donald Trump.
“In the week since we got started, @KamalaHarris has raised $200 million dollars. 66 percent of that is from new donors. We’ve signed up 170,000 new volunteers,” Harris’ deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty, posted on X.
Polls over the past week, including one by Reuters/Ipsos, show Harris and Trump essentially tied, setting the stage for a close-fought campaign over the 100 days left until the election.
Trump’s campaign said in early July that it raised $331 million in the second quarter, topping the $264 million that Biden’s campaign and its Democratic allies raised in the same period. Trump’s campaign had $284.9 million in cash on hand at the end of June while the Democratic campaign had $240 million in cash on hand at the time.
Harris has secured support from a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, likely ensuring she will become the party’s nominee for president next month.
“So our vice president is the presumptive nominee. We will have the official vote on August 1,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison told MSNBC on Sunday.
Biden withdrew from the race amid questions about his age and health following a faltering debate performance against Trump in late June. Biden pledged to remain in office as president until his term ends on Jan. 20, 2025.
Harris’ takeover has reenergized a campaign that had faltered badly amid Democrats’ doubts about Biden’s chances of defeating Trump or his ability to continue to govern had he won.
Polls showed that Trump had built a lead over Biden, including in battleground states, after Biden’s disastrous debate performance.
A New York Times/Siena College national poll published Thursday found Harris has narrowed what had been a sizable Trump lead while Trump had a two percentage point lead over her in a Wall Street Journal poll published on Friday. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on July 23 showed a two point lead for Harris.
Mitch Landrieu, a campaign co-chair, said on MSNBC that Harris “had one of the best weeks that we’ve seen in politics in the last 50 years.”
“This is going to be a very close race,” he said..
Trump’s fundraising surged when he was convicted in late May on felony charges related to a hush-money payment to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election. An assassination attempt against him this month was also expected to spur campaign contributions.


Jimmy Carter’s long public goodbye begins

Jimmy Carter’s long public goodbye begins
Updated 18 sec ago
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Jimmy Carter’s long public goodbye begins

Jimmy Carter’s long public goodbye begins

PLAINS, Georgia: Jimmy Carter’s long public goodbye began on Saturday in Georgia, with the 39th US president’s flag-draped casket rolling through his tiny hometown and past his boyhood farmhouse on its way to Atlanta, where he climbed the political ladder and based his decades of humanitarian work after leaving the White House.

The former president’s six-day state funeral started in Americus at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center, where current and former Secret Service agents who protected the late president loaded his remains into a black hearse and walked alongside as it rolled off the campus toward Plains. 

With Carter’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren accompanying their patriarch, a mournful train whistle filled the clear air as the pallbearers faced the hearse, hands on their hearts, for a final goodbye.

In Plains, where Carter was born Oct. 1, 1924, and lived most of his life, mourners lined the main street, some holding bouquets of flowers and wearing pins bearing images of the former president. He died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100. 

“We want to pay our respects,” said 12-year-old Will Porter Shelbrock, who was born more than three decades after Carter left the White House in 1981. “He was ahead of his time on what he tried to do and tried to accomplish.”

It was Porter Shelbrock’s idea to make the trip to Plains from Gainesville, Florida, with his grandmother, Susan Cone, 66. He admires Carter for his humanitarian work building houses and waging peace, and talking about a warming planet before the climate crisis was part of routine political discourse.

Willie Browner, 75, described Carter as hailing from a bygone era of American politics. “This man, he thought of more than just himself,” said Browner, who grew up in the town of Parrott, about 15 miles from Plains, before moving to Miami. Browner said it meant “a great deal” to have a president come from a small southern town like his — something he worries isn’t likely to happen again.


German leader is more worried about Musk’s backing of a far-right party than his insults

German leader is more worried about Musk’s backing of a far-right party than his insults
Updated 10 min 21 sec ago
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German leader is more worried about Musk’s backing of a far-right party than his insults

German leader is more worried about Musk’s backing of a far-right party than his insults
  • Tech billionaire Elon Musk has endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of German elections
  • Scholz described Musk as a rich media entrepreneur who did not "appreciate social democratic politics"

BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he’s staying “cool” against critical personal comments made by Elon Musk but finds it worrying that the US billionaire makes the effort to get involved in a general election by endorsing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Scholz was reacting after Musk, a close ally to US President-elect Donald Trump, called the chancellor a “fool” after his coalition government collapsed in November and later backed the AfD in an opinion piece he wrote for a major newspaper in Germany.
Scholz, head of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), said in comments published Saturday by the German magazine Stern that there is “nothing new” in criticism by “rich media entrepreneurs who do not appreciate social democratic politics and do not hold back with their opinions.”
“You have to stay cool,” Scholz told Stern.
“I find it much more worrying than such insults that Musk is supporting a party like the AfD, which is in parts right-wing extremist, which preaches rapprochement with Putin’s Russia and wants to weaken transatlantic relations,” Scholz said.
The AfD is monitored by Germany’s domestic intelligence service on suspicion of being right-wing extremist and has already been recognized as such in some individual German states.
Germany will hold an early parliamentary electionon Feb. 23 after Scholz’s thee-party coalition collapsed in November in a dispute over how to revitalize the country’s stagnant economy.
The vice chancellor and economy minister, Robert Habeck, also warned Musk against getting involved in Germany’s politics.
“Hands off our democracy, Mr. Musk!” Habeck said in an interview with the Spiegel magazine.
“The combination of enormous wealth, control over information and networks, the use of artificial intelligence and the willingness to ignore rules is a frontal attack on our democracy,” said Habeck, the Green Party’s candidate for chancellor.
Musk recently caused uproar after backing the AfD in an opinion piece for the Welt am Sonntag, leading to the resignation of the paper’s opinion editor, Eva Marie Kogel, in protest.
“The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country,” Musk wrote in his translated commentary.
The Tesla Motors CEO also wrote that his investment in Germany gave him the right to comment on the country’s condition.
The AfD is polling strongly, but its candidate for the top job, Alice Weidel, has no realistic chance of becoming chancellor because other parties refuse to work with the far-right party.


Prince William expresses sadness at death of his former nanny’s stepson in New Orleans attack

Prince William expresses sadness at death of his former nanny’s stepson in New Orleans attack
Updated 04 January 2025
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Prince William expresses sadness at death of his former nanny’s stepson in New Orleans attack

Prince William expresses sadness at death of his former nanny’s stepson in New Orleans attack
  • Edward Pettifer was the stepson of Tiggy Legge-Bourke, who was the nanny for both William and his brother, Prince Harry
  • King Charles III is said to be deeply saddened by the news

LONDON: Prince William expressed his shock and sadness Saturday at the news of the death of his former nanny’s stepson in the New Year’s truck attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people.
London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed Saturday that they are supporting the family of 31-year-old Edward Pettifer, including helping them through the process of returning his body to the UK. Pettifer, who is from west London, is the final victim to be identified.
In a statement on social media, the Prince of Wales said he and his wife, Catherine, were “shocked and saddened by the tragic death of Ed Pettifer. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the Pettifer family and all those innocent people who have been tragically impacted by this horrific attack.”


Pettifer was the stepson of Tiggy Legge-Bourke, who was the nanny for both William and his brother, Prince Harry, between 1993 and 1999, which included time after the death of their mother Princess Diana in 1997. Legge-Bourke, who is also known as Alexandra Pettifer, was regularly photographed with Diana.
British media also reported that King Charles III is said to be deeply saddened by the news and that he has sent his condolences to Pettifer’s family.
In a statement, Pettifer’s family said they were “devastated at the tragic news of Ed‘s death” and described him as “a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and a friend to so many.”
“We will all miss him terribly. Our thoughts are with the other families who have lost their family members due to this terrible attack,” the family added.
The UK’s Foreign Office also said it was supporting Pettifer’s family and was in contact with US authorities.
Authorities say 14 people were killed and about 30 were injured in the attack early Wednesday by Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a former Army soldier who posted several videos on his Facebook hours before the attack previewing the violence he would unleash and proclaiming his support for the Islamic State militant group. The coroner’s office listed the cause of death for all 14 victims as “blunt force injuries.”
Jabbar, 42, was fatally shot in a firefight with police at the scene of the deadly crash on Bourbon Street, famous worldwide for its festive vibes in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter.


Malaysia expels two boats ferrying about 300 Myanmar migrants

Malaysia expels two boats ferrying about 300 Myanmar migrants
Updated 04 January 2025
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Malaysia expels two boats ferrying about 300 Myanmar migrants

Malaysia expels two boats ferrying about 300 Myanmar migrants

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia said Saturday it expelled two boats ferrying about 300 undocumented migrants from Myanmar from the country’s waters.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said the boats were located two nautical miles (3.7 kilometers) southwest of the northern resort of Langkawi late Friday evening.
“MMEA provided assistance, including food and clean drinking water, before expelling the boats out to the national maritime border to continue their journey,” Director-General Mohd Rosli Abdullah said in a statement.
“We are also working closely with Thai authorities to obtain additional information on the movements of these boats.”
On Friday Malaysian police detained almost 200 suspected Rohingya migrants from Myanmar after their boat ran aground in Langkawi.
The Rohingya experience persecution in their predominantly Buddhist homeland of Myanmar, with many fleeing to affluent, Muslim-majority Malaysia or refugee camps in Bangladesh.
They often endure harrowing, months-long sea journeys to arrive in Malaysia by boat or sneak into the country via its porous border with Thailand.
If caught, they are often sent to detention centers that rights groups say are typically overcrowded and filthy.


Ghana announces visa-free entry for African passport holders

Ghana announces visa-free entry for African passport holders
Updated 04 January 2025
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Ghana announces visa-free entry for African passport holders

Ghana announces visa-free entry for African passport holders
  • Ghana joins Rwanda, Seychelles, Gambia and Benin in offering visa-free entry to African travelers

ACCRA: Ghana’s outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo Friday announced visa-free travel for all African passport holders from the start of this year, marking a step toward continental economic integration.
The announcement came during his final state of the nation address as he prepares to step down on January 6 after two terms in office.
“I am proud to have approved visa-free travel to Ghana for all African passport holders, with effect from the beginning of this year,” Akufo-Addo said in his speech to parliament.
“This is the logical next step to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the workings of the largest trading bloc in the world,” he said.
“All these are essential elements to the realization of the AU’s Agenda 2063, which envisages an integrated and connected Africa by 2063,” he added, referring to the African Union’s development blueprint for a 50-year period.
Ghana joins Rwanda, Seychelles, Gambia and Benin in offering visa-free entry to African travelers.
Ghana had previously allowed visa-free access to citizens of 26 African nations and visas on arrival for travelers from 25 others, while only two African countries — Eritrea and Morocco — required a visa before entry.
The visa-free policy builds on Ghana’s efforts to strengthen its international reputation, particularly through initiatives like the 2019 Year of Return, which celebrated the African diaspora and commemorated 400 years since the transatlantic slave trade.
The campaign attracted thousands of visitors, including celebrities, to Ghana and led to some receiving citizenship, bolstering the country’s global profile as a cultural and tourism hub.
Akufo-Addo also used his last address to trumpet economic progress under his leadership, citing an increase in Ghana’s gross international reserves to $8 billion, from $6.2 billion in 2017, and significant GDP growth in 2024.
“Economic growth has returned to the pre-Covid trajectory,” he said, projecting a 6.3-percent growth rate for 2025.
“I leave behind a Ghana that is thriving, one that has navigated significant global challenges with remarkable tenacity, whose economy is steadily rebounding, and whose institutions are operating effectively,” he said.
The oil-and-gold-rich West African nation is one of the most stable democracies in Africa.
Since 2022, it has been battling one of its worst economic crises in decades and is currently under a $3-billion International Monetary Fund relief program.
The outgoing president hands over power to John Mahama, who won the December elections.