Trump or Biden? Haley voters are split

US President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump. (AFP)
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Updated 08 March 2024
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Trump or Biden? Haley voters are split

  • Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN when Donald Trump was president, got three million votes in the Republican primary

WASHINGTON: More than three million Americans voted in the Republican primary for Nikki Haley to be their candidate to fight the 2024 presidential election — before she conceded this week to Donald Trump.

That leaves a significant portion of the party with no champion to back, and the choice of staying at home or switching loyalties to Trump or even Democratic President Joe Biden.
AFP spoke to four Haley supporters about their plans for November.

Adam Caldwell was so impressed with Haley’s candidacy that he drove hours on his birthday to attend the 52-year-old former UN ambassador’s campaign launch in February 2023.
“To me she represents where the future of the party should be headed,” says the tall, dark-haired North Carolina businessman.
But after watching his candidate lose virtually every Republican nominating contest to Trump, 77, he knew she would need a “miracle” to maintain a credible challenge through “Super Tuesday” — this week’s 15-state voting night.
Caldwell says he was turned off by Trump due to the events of January 6, 2021, when supporters of the former president ransacked the US Congress to halt the peaceful transfer of power to 81-year-old Biden.
But voting for Biden in November is out of the question, he says.
“I’ve been a Republican all my life,” he shrugs, acknowledging that this means he will have to hold his nose and vote for Trump.
“I just hope Donald Trump knows how to welcome Nikki Haley’s supporters,” he huffs to AFP.

Mallory Macon is also a Republican, but this South Carolina nurse “will probably vote for Biden” in the presidential election.
“I’m strongly against Trump being president again,” says the 28-year-old, although she voted for the tycoon in 2020.
Explaining her enmity, the young mom points to the Supreme Court gutting federal protections for abortion access after Trump appointed three justices to the bench.
She said she appreciates that Biden, despite being a practicing Catholic, continues to support free access to abortion.

As an independent, 59-year-old Lisa’s vote is coveted above most others.
Independents could tip the balance for either Biden or Trump in an election that looks set to be decided by a few hundred thousand votes across a handful of swing states.
For Lisa, Trump’s criminal exposure — he faces 91 felony counts across four jurisdictions — makes him unfit for office and she supported Haley in New Hampshire’s primary in January.
She says she will now shift her support to Biden — “the lesser of two evils.
“I cannot vote for Donald Trump,” the lawyer told AFP. “He’s a threat to democracy, he’s horrible. He’s a criminal.”

Of the four voters who spoke to AFP, Mary Rickert was the least certain about which way she would turn.
The septuagenarian, who works on a ranch in northern California, says she’s “not sure yet” who to support on November 5.
“I’m not really excited about either option,” she confides, a little dejectedly.
Her main concern? The age of both candidates.
“I’m in my 70s also and there’s a certain amount of stamina and clarity of thinking that’s needed, so that’s a concern of mine,” she says.
She says she has resolved to “wait and see what happens.”


Former US President Biden diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer

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Former US President Biden diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer

  • Biden, 82, was diagnosed on Friday after having experienced urinary symptoms

Former US President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bone, his office said in a statement on Sunday.
Biden, 82, was diagnosed on Friday after having experienced urinary symptoms, and he and his family are reviewing treatment options with doctors, the statement said.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” his office said.
Biden, who served as president from 2021 to 2025, abruptly ended his bid for reelection last July, weeks after a halting performance during a debate against Republican candidate Donald Trump prompted panic among his fellow Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris took over as the party’s nominee but lost in November to Trump.
Biden’s physical health and mental acuity drew intense media scrutiny even before the debate. At the time of his election, Biden was the oldest person to win the presidency.
Trump, 78, broke that record when he defeated Harris last year.


Anti-immigration minister becomes leader of French conservatives

Updated 30 min 44 sec ago
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Anti-immigration minister becomes leader of French conservatives

  • Bruno Retailleau has become leader of the conservative Republican party (LR), which traces its origins to postwar leader Charles de Gaulle

PARIS: France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who has called for radical action to cut immigration numbers, easily won an election to become leader of the conservative Republican party (LR), according to results released Sunday.
Retailleau won 74 percent of the vote from party members against 25 percent for Laurent Wauquiez, the head of the party in the French national assembly.
Although LR and its allies hold only 60 seats in France’s 577-member national assembly and the party candidate barely registered in the 2022 presidential vote, experts predict a better run in 2027 when President Emmanuel Macron must step down.
The LR’s last leader Eric Ciotti quit the party last year after calling for an alliance with the far-right National Rally (RN). The LR has wrangled since over its stance but has adopted a tougher line on issues such as immigration.
National opinion polls currently suggest the RN would perform well in the 2027 election, which has however been shaken by legal woes for its figurehead Marine Le Pen.
Retailleau, in his government post since last year, has emerged as one of the most high-profile ministers in the centrist-led coalition government. He said he would stay in the government but he is likely to use his victory to press his case for the presidency.
“Our political family is now able to carry our project forward for the presidential election,” Retailleau told broadcaster TF1 after the results were announced.
The LR is the successor of the UMP, which traces its origins to postwar leader Charles de Gaulle and was the party of former presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.
Some 80 percent of the 120,000 LR party members took part in the weekend vote for the leader. The LR membership had increased from 43,859 to 121,617 in the two months before the leadership election.


British climber breaks his own record with 19th Everest summit

Updated 18 May 2025
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British climber breaks his own record with 19th Everest summit

  • More than 50 climbers have reached the summit since the spring climbing season began this month

KATHMANDU: British climber Kenton Cool successfully climbed Mount Everest for the nineteenth time on Sunday, extending his own record for the most summits of the world’s highest mountain by a non-Nepali.

More than 50 climbers have reached the summit since the spring climbing season began this month, taking advantage of a brief spell of good weather and typically calmer winds.

Mountain guide Cool, 51, first climbed Everest in 2004 and has since had an expedition almost every year taking clients up the world’s highest peak.

“Kenton summited Everest for the 19th time at 11:00 a.m. Nepalese time on Sunday,” a post on his Instagram account said.

His 15th summit in 2021 tied him with American Dave Hahn for the most summits by a non-Nepali climber, and his summit the following year gave him a solo title.

Cool was once told he would not walk unaided again after a rock-climbing accident in 1996 that broke both his heel bones.

He told AFP in a 2022 interview after his 16th ascent that his Everest record was “not that amazing” in the context of Nepali climbers’ achievements.

“I’m really surprised by the interest ... considering that so many of the Sherpas have so many more ascents,” he said then.

Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa, 55, is also attempting to break his own world record for the most Everest summits with his 31st climb.


Gaza a ‘slaughterhouse,’ says British surgeon

Updated 18 May 2025
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Gaza a ‘slaughterhouse,’ says British surgeon

  • Dr. Tom Potokar: ‘It’s difficult to describe in words what’s happening here’
  • ‘Absolutely horrific’ stories amid escalating Israeli attacks

LONDON: A British surgeon working in southern Gaza has described treating severe explosive injuries and compared the Palestinian enclave to a “slaughterhouse” amid escalating Israeli attacks.

Overnight, at least 130 people were reported killed as Israeli forces launched extensive ground operations in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, forcing the closure of some of its main medical facilities.

Dr. Tom Potokar said in a video that medical staff were treating severe explosive injuries in southern Gaza.

“It’s difficult to describe in words what’s happening here (with the) constant sound of bombardment, jets overhead,” he added.

Following the Hamas attack in October 2023 that killed nearly 1,200 people, Israeli forces launched an air, ground and sea campaign on Gaza, killing over 52,000 Palestinians and displacing and injuring hundreds of thousands.

Potokar said he treated a young woman who “is not yet aware that everyone in (her) family was killed in the onslaught.”

He added: “Another day of devastation here in Gaza ... The stories coming from the north ... absolutely horrific ... particularly around the Indonesian Hospital.”

The hospital, one of the largest partially functioning medical facilities in Beit Lahia, has ceased operations due to Israeli bombing.

In the south, the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis announced that it was out of service last week, while the Kuwait Specialized Hospital in Rafah said it can no longer operate its surgical department amid the Israeli attacks.

Since March, Israel has enforced a blockade on aid, prompting a warning from UN food experts about the imminent risk of mass starvation in Gaza.


Ex-servicemen to be re-deployed as security guards in Kashmir, says Indian govt

Updated 18 May 2025
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Ex-servicemen to be re-deployed as security guards in Kashmir, says Indian govt

  • Around 4,000 veterans have been "identified" as non-combatant volunteers

SRINAGAR, India: Military veterans will be redeployed as security guards in Indian Kashmir, New Delhi said on Saturday.

The government of Jammu and Kashmir approved a "proposal for mobilising ex-servicemen to safeguard vital infrastructure across the union territory," according to a government press release.

Around 4,000 veterans have been "identified" as non-combatant volunteers, out of which 435 have licensed personal weapons, it said.

This will help by "significantly enhancing the capacity to respond effectively to localised security situations," the government added.

Veterans will work in "static guard" roles, focusing on "presence-based deterrence and local coordination."

India already has an estimated half a million soldiers permanently deployed in its part of Kashmir.

A similar veteran volunteer program took place with 2,500 veterans during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the government.