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Pennsylvania is key for Harris, Trump  

The most populous presidential swing state has sided with the winner of the past two elections, each time by just tens of thousands of votes. Polling this year suggests Pennsylvania will be close once more in November…reports Asian Lite News

When Donald Trump and Kamala Harris meet onstage Tuesday night in Philadelphia, they’ll both know there’s little debate that Pennsylvania is critical to their chances of winning the presidency.

The most populous presidential swing state has sided with the winner of the past two elections, each time by just tens of thousands of votes. Polling this year suggests Pennsylvania will be close once more in November.

A loss in the state will make it difficult to make up the electoral votes elsewhere to win the presidency. Trump and Harris have been frequent visitors in recent days—Harris plans to return on Friday—and the former president was speaking in Butler County on July 14 when he was the target of an assassination attempt.

The stakes may be especially high for Harris: No Democrat has won the White House without Pennsylvania since 1948.

Pennsylvanians broke a string of six Democratic victories in the state when they helped propel Trump to victory in 2016, then backed native son Joe Biden in the 2020 race against Trump.

“They say that ‘If you win Pennsylvania, you’re going to win the whole thing,'” Trump told a crowd in Wilkes-Barre’s Mohegan Arena in August.

Republicans are looking to blunt Trump’s unpopularity in Pennsylvania’s growing and increasingly liberal suburbs by criticising the Biden administration’s handling of the economy. They hope to counter the Democrats’ massive advantage in early voting by encouraging their base to vote by mail.

Harris is looking to reassemble the coalition behind Biden’s winning campaign, including college students, Black voters and women animated by protecting abortion rights.

Democrats also say it will be critical for Harris to win big in Philadelphia—the state’s largest city, where Black residents are the largest group by race—and its suburbs, while paring Trump’s large margins among white voters across wide swaths of rural and small-town Pennsylvania.

The debate is set for the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The city is a Democratic stronghold where Trump in 2020 notoriously said ” bad things happen,” one of his baseless broadsides suggesting that Democrats could only win Pennsylvania by cheating.

Biden flipped Pennsylvania in 2020 not just by winning big in Philadelphia, but by running up bigger margins in the heavily populated suburbs around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. He also got a boost in northeastern Pennsylvania in the counties around Scranton, where he grew up.

In this combination of photos taken in Pennsylvania, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event, Aug. 18, 2024, in Rochester, left, and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event, Aug. 19, 2024, in York.

Ed Rendell, a former two-term Democratic governor who was hugely popular in Philadelphia and its suburbs, says Harris can do better than Biden in the suburbs.

“There’s plenty of votes to get, a Democrat can get a greater margin in those counties,” Rendell said.

Lawrence Tabas, chair of Pennsylvania’s Republican Party, said Trump can make gains there, too. The GOP’s polling and outreach shows that the effect of inflation on the economy is a priority for those suburbanites, he said, and that the issue works in the party’s favour.

“A lot of people are really now starting to say, ‘Look, personalities aside, they are what they are, but we really need the American economy to become strong again,'” Tabas said.

Rendell dismisses that claim. He said Trump is veering off script and saying bizarre things that will ensure he gets a smaller share of independents and Republicans in the suburbs than he did in 2020.

“He’s gotten so weird that he’ll lose a lot of votes,” Rendell said.

Harris has championed various steps to fight inflation, including capping the cost of prescription drugs, helping families afford child care, lowering the cost of groceries, and offering incentives to encourage home ownership.

Pennsylvania’s relatively stagnant economy usually lags the national economy, but its unemployment rate in July was nearly a full percentage point lower. The state’s private sector wage growth, however, has slightly lagged behind the nation’s since Biden took office in 2021, according to federal data.

Meanwhile, Democrats are hoping the enthusiasm since Biden withdrew from the race and Harris stepped in will carry through Election Day in November.

For one, they hope she will do better with women and Black voters, as the first female presidential nominee of Black heritage. Rendell said he is more optimistic about Harris’ chances to win Pennsylvania than he was with Biden in the race.

“I think we’re the favorite now,” Rendell said.

The debate takes place before voting starts—in Pennsylvania and everywhere else.

A national Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey conducted in July showed that about 8 in 10 Democrats said they would be satisfied with Harris as the party’s nominee, compared with 4 in 10 Democrats in March saying they would be satisfied with Biden as the candidate.

There is some optimism among Pennsylvania Democrats even in Republican-leaning counties, including a number of whiter, less affluent counties near Pittsburgh and Scranton that once voted for Democrats consistently.

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Trump recommits to debate with Harris

Trump had previously dropped out of the ABC News debate after President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek reelection…reports Asian Lite News

Republican nominee Donald Trump is set to debate US Vice President Kamala Harris on American television network, ABC News on September 10, the former US President said.

Speaking with reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, Trump said his campaign has agreed to three debates, to be hosted by Fox News, ABC News and NBC News. The September 10 debate to be hosted by ABC News is the only one in which the Harris campaign has also agreed to participate.

Harris confirmed in a post on X she’d see him in September at the ABC debate.

“ABC News will host qualifying presidential candidates to debate on September 10 on ABC. Vice President Harris and former President Trump have both confirmed they will attend the ABC debate,” the network said in a statement.

Trump had previously dropped out of the ABC News debate after President Joe Biden announced that he would not seek reelection.

“I think it’s very important to have debates, and we’ve agreed with Fox on a date of September 4. We’ve agreed with NBC. Fairly full agreement subject to them on September 10. And we’ve agreed with ABC on September 25,” the former president said.

Further Trump said, “The other side has to agree to the terms. They may or may not agree. I don’t know if they’re going to agree. (Harris) hasn’t done an interview. She can’t do an interview. She’s barely competent, and she can’t do an interview, I look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight.”

Trump calls Harris ‘disrespectful’ of her ethnicity

During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, Trump sidestepped a question about his claim that Harris had “turned Black.” He said that her behaviour was “disrespectful” to both Black and Indian communities.

A reporter asked Trump why Harris, who attended Howard University and has Jamaican American heritage, would only recently identify as Black. “Kamala Harris’s father is Jamaican American, and she went to a historically Black college, how is she only recently deciding to be Black?” the reporter asked.

Trump responded that the reporter should direct the question to Harris, not him. “Well, you’ll have to ask her that question because she’s the one that said it. I didn’t say it. And I very much appreciate that question, but you’ll have to ask her,” Trump said.

Trump added that he found Harris’s behaviour very “disrespectful” to both Black and Indian communities. “But to me, it doesn’t matter. But to her, from her standpoint, I think it’s very disrespectful to both, whether it’s Indian or Black. I think it’s very disrespectful to both,” he said.

Trump also mentioned his past support for Harris, noting, “I’ve known her for a long time. I contributed to her campaign a long time ago because I was a developer. I contributed to lots of campaigns of Democrats, and Republicans, some were liberal and some were conservative.”

‘American public can sniff inauthenticity’

Meanwhile, criticising JD Vance for his campaign trail, Former White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki said that the voters can “sniff inauthenticity” in him, The Hill reported.

“I think, in politics — as we all know, we’ve all been around it a long time — voters … the American public can sniff inauthenticity,” Psaki said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and added that “This guy is… not authentic.”

Vance’s actions during the campaign trail have drawn criticism.

He once encountered backlash for making a joke about Diet Mountain Dew and Democrats arguing that “it’s racist to do anything.” In addition, he has come under fire for his recent shift in opinion toward former President Trump, whom he had previously opposed before endorsing, and later on becoming his running mate in US Presidential elections 2024.

“He’s not presenting himself as who he was for many decades before he had this kind of about-face … in order to try to connect with the MAGA world,” Psaki said, according to The Hill.

“People sniff that, they recognize it. Voters are not dumb, they’re smart,” she added.

JD Vance, prior to accepting Trump’s nomination of him as the US Vice Presidential nominee was very critical of the former US President.

“And that’s, you know, a root problem for JD Vance, is that he is just not authentically who he presents himself to be, at all,” Psaki further said.

Donald Trump made his pick for Vice President, selecting JD Vance as his running mate on July 15. Trump had confirmed Vance’s candidature through a post on Truth Social. It was after years of criticising Trump, Vance embraced the populist ideology of the former president; this choice further elevates him.

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Harris discusses Israel conflict with Sunak

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has often said the UK supports Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law and to fight against Hamas after the terror group launched an attack on Tel Aviv on October 7…reports Asian Lite News

The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris met with the United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday and discussed the support for Israel’s right to defend itself as well as the urgent need to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The two leaders also discussed “working together” on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and continued support for Ukraine.

“Today, I met with Prime Minister @RishiSunak and discussed our support for Israel’s right to defend itself and the urgent need to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza. Together we are committed to helping civilians in need,” Harris posted on X.

“PM Sunak and I reaffirmed the importance of our strong and enduring partnership. We also discussed our continued support to the people of Ukraine and our work together on AI — including how our new AI Safety Institutes will collaborate with each other,” she added.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has often said the UK supports Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law and to fight against Hamas after the terror group launched an attack on Tel Aviv on October 7.

“I want to share the deep condolences of the British people and stress that we absolutely support Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international law, to go after Hamas…We also recognise that the Palestinian people are victims of Hamas too,” the British PM said while delivering a joint statement alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu post their private meeting at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem last week.

Sunak said he was “sorry” to visit Israel in “such terrible circumstances”. He said: “In the last two weeks, this country has gone through something that no country, no people should have to endure, least of all Israel…” He further said he welcomes Israel’s decision to ensure that routes into Gaza will be opened for humanitarian aid to enter.

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-Top News Africa News USA

Harris to embark on historic Africa trip

Harris hopes to build on themes of African innovation and technology, regional security, food security, women empowerment, climate and democracy, officials said, adding that she will bring with her continent-wide public and private sector investments…reports Asian Lite News

Amid strained US, China ties, Kamala Harris is set to embark on a historic Africa trip, becoming the first woman US Vice President to visit the continent.

Harris’ historic trip will come nearly eight years after former President Barack Obama made his last trip to the region while in office. Obama’s first trip to the region was met with great fanfare, in large part due to his father’s Kenyan roots. “I’m going to Africa mainly to talk with African leaders about what we as the United States are prepared to do to have our role in investing in the future of that continent,” Harris said in a radio interview.

Administration officials previewing the vice president’s trip said it’s a “future-oriented” expedition to deepen relationships, crafted to recognize that the median age of citizens of the continent is 19 years old and its population is rapidly expanding.

Harris hopes to build on themes of African innovation and technology, regional security, food security, women empowerment, climate and democracy, officials said, adding that she will bring with her continent-wide public and private sector investments.

“The Vice President is visiting the three countries where the government (is) investing in democracies, specifically at a time where we know there is a global democratic recession,” a senior administration official said on the call with reporters.

After departing Washington on Saturday, Harris will land in Accra on Sunday afternoon. From there begins a six-day march through three countries’ capital cities, where Harris will hold bilateral meetings with all three top leaders including Tanzania’s first female President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

In Ghana, Harris will deliver a high-profile speech to young people before visiting the famous Cape Coast Castle, a relic of the slave trade system in West Africa and beyond. And in Zambia, Harris will convene US and local business leaders to discuss digital and financial leadership, reported CNN.

“The United States believes Africa is critical to addressing global challenges. And we view her visit as another opportunity to consult and engage with partners on our shared objectives,” a senior administration official said.

Notably, the Biden administration is accelerating its efforts to secure sustainable African partnerships to counter the weight of China and Russia’s rising influence and Harris will be the highest-ranking Biden official to visit Africa to confront that challenge.

The issue of China and its influence will hang in the backdrop of nearly all of Harris’ closely watched engagements as officials seek to reassert US leadership in African nations to counter rival investments that have put the US on the back foot.

In the wake of the US absence from the region, amplified by former President Donald Trump largely ignoring Africa and never visiting the continent, other nations made inroads. China has worked to grow trade relations with African nations and has developed major infrastructure projects there, some with high-interest loans.

Harris will see one of the clearest examples of China’s influence when she flies into Zambia. Air Force Two will land at the newly renovated Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka, financed and designed with Chinese money.

The VP’s motorcade will likely drive down roads also financed by Chinese loans and pass buildings with Chinese advertisements.

When Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited the rapidly expanding country in January, she called on China to restructure Zambia’s billions of dollars of debt. Yellen warned that the scale of debt threatens progress as China holds about $6 billion out of $17 billion of the country’s external debt.

A senior administration official said that Harris will have direct discussions about debt with officials during a slate of meetings in Zambia and other nations like Ghana.

Meanwhile, experts say Harris will have to convey the US’ sincerity of its long-term commitment to the region and that her previous promises that the US would be a “better partner” for economic stability still ring true.

In addition to her meeting in Zambia with US and local business leaders, Harris will meet with tech entrepreneurs in Tanzania and women entrepreneurs in Ghana.

Harris’ trip is the latest of several US officials, who plan on visiting or have visited, Africa. First Lady Jill Biden returned from her trip to Africa last month. US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield also visited the continent earlier this year. Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Ethiopia and Niger last week, and President Joe Biden is expected to visit the continent later this year. (ANI

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Sports

Harris, Gardner, Graham power Australia to 4-1 series win over India

5th T20I: Harris, Gardner, Graham power Australia to 4-1 series win over India. (Credit : Australia Women/twitter)

The 26-year-old Graham, who was playing just her third T20I, became the second Australian woman to take a T20I hat-trick. The first, Megan Schutt, achieved the feat at the same venue in 2018…reports Asian Lite News

Australia Women finished their tour of India in style as an extraordinary partnership between Ashleigh Gardner and Grace Harris followed by a Heather Graham hat-trick powered them to an emphatic 54-run win in the fifth and final T20I and 4-1 series win over the hosts at Brabourne Stadium, here on Tuesday.

Gardner (66 not out off 32) and Harris (64 not out off 35) put on a staggering display of timing and power to stitch an unbeaten 129-run partnership for the fifth wicket and guide Australia to 196-4, their highest total of the series.

The 26-year-old Graham then picked up 4-8, including a hat-trick spread across two overs, as India were bowled out for 142 on the final ball of the innings, sealing a 4-1 result in Australia’s favour. She removed Devika Vaidya (11) and Radha Yadav (0) in the 13th over, then returned to bowl Renuka Thakur with the first ball of the final over.

The 26-year-old Graham, who was playing just her third T20I, became the second Australian woman to take a T20I hat-trick. The first, Megan Schutt, achieved the feat at the same venue in 2018.

Put into bat by India for a fourth consecutive match, Australian opener Beth Mooney was joined by fellow left-hander Phoebe Litchfield at the top of the order in place of the injured Alyssa Healy. But the new-look opening partnership was broken in just seven balls into the match when Mooney was dismissed by Anjali Sarvani.

Litchfield’s first boundary in international cricket came via a picture-perfect straight drive but she couldn’t carry on for long and was stumped for 11 in Deepti Sharma’s over.

The No.3 Tahlia McGrath got going with two maximums but her first innings as Australia skipper ended when she was stumped on 26 off 26. Ellyse Perry (18) cut to the boundary the first ball but she was denied a third consecutive half-century when she holed out to long-on in the 10th over.

Australia were 72/4 when Harris and Gardner came together in the 10th over of the innings and what followed was carnage as they smashed 129 runs off the final 10.2 overs at a rate of 12.64.

Harris’s first international fifty came off 28 balls while Gardner raced to her half-century in just 26 deliveries. Gardner cleared the rope just once but was punishing along the ground hitting 11 fours while Harris smacked four sixes and six fours.

After putting a massive total on the board, Darcie Brown got the wicket of Smriti Mandhana (4) in the first over and Shafali Verma (13) holed out in the deep to Gardner in the 5th over.

Meanwhile, Harleen Doel made a positive start after being promoted to No.3 but a mix-up saw her run out for a 16-ball 24. And, when Harmanpreet Kaur (12) was trapped lbw and Richa Ghosh (10) was superbly caught on the rope by Graham, India were in all sorts of trouble at 70-5 in 9.2 overs.

Deepti Sharma gave the strong crowd something to cheer about late with an unbeaten 34-ball 53, but India finished well adrift of their target of 198. Apart from Graham, Gardner was once again brilliant for Australia, taking 2-20 off her four overs.

With this, Australia closed their book in 2022 which saw them win both the one-day World Cup and Commonwealth Games gold, alongside bilateral series against England and India, and a tri-series against Ireland and Pakistan.

Brief scores: Australia Women 196/4 in 20 overs (Gardner 66 not out, Harris 64 not out) beat India Women 142 all out in 20 overs (Deepti 53; Gardner 2-20) by 54 runs.

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Indian American Navy veteran appointed Harris’s defence advisor

During her 29-year Navy career, she had commanded the USS Decatur, a missile destroyer ship with a crew of 281, including 33 commissioned officers…reports Asian Lite News

Shanti Sethi, a trail-blazing woman Navy veteran has been appointed defence advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris, according to Politico.

Politico said on Monday that Harris’s Senior Advisor Herbie Ziskend confirmed the appointment of Sethi, who will also have the title of executive secretary.

Sethi, who retired with the rank of captain, was the senior military advisor to Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.

During her 29-year Navy career, she had commanded the USS Decatur, a missile destroyer ship with a crew of 281, including 33 commissioned officers.

While heading the ship, she had taken it on a visit to Chennai in 2011.

She has also been the Commanding Officer of the Sixth Fleet’s Task Force 64 and the action officer coordinating joint and international policy for integrated air and missile defence across all military services, according to her LinkedIn profile which has been updated to confirm her new position with Harris.

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Biden, Harris set eyes on 2024 election

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris
President blames Trump for dysfunction at the border, denies perception of him as welcoming was driving the surge of migrants, reports Asian Lite News.

US President Joe Biden is planning to run for re-election with Kamala Harris as his running mate.

“I would fully expect that to be the case. She’s doing a great job. She’s a great partner, she’s a great partner,” he said when asked about his vice-presidential candidate in the 2024 election at his news conference on Thursday.

A reporter pointed out that former President Donald Trump had set up his re-election campaign soon after taking office but Biden hasn’t yet.

“My predecessor need do to,” he said and joked, “My predecessor, oh God, I miss him.”

He said, “My plan is to run for reelection. That’s my expectation. I don’t even think about (it),” he said about the prospects of facing his nemesis Trump again. “I have no idea if there will be a Republican Party. Do you?”

Turning philosophical, he said: “The way I view things, I’ve become a great respecter of fate in my life.”

He said that his goal is to “change the paradigm. We start to reward work, not just wealth.”

He will be 81 years old in 2024.

Having already exceeded the goal of giving out 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine before the target day of 100 days in office, he raised the target to 200 million shots.

This was Biden’s first news conference and the 64-day lag since taking office was longest of recent presidents.

The hour-long formal encounter with reporters was a marked contrast to the confrontational style of Trump and the reporters. When he entered the East Room of the White House, the reporters respectfully stood up to greet him.

Since he is gaffe-prone when he speaks spontaneously, the encounter was carefully orchestrated with Biden calling up reporters from an apparently screened list on the podium of only reporters from media considered sympathetic to him.

Unlike Trump, who spontaneously called on reporters hostile to him and had it out, Biden did not take questions from anyone from media like Fox News that White House considers unfriendly.

Biden often looked at notes when answering questions.

(Xinhua/IANS)

The few times he raised his voice were when he condemned the Republicans for their opposition to voting rights legislation proposed by his party to expand access to polling.

He said that it is “sick”, “despicable” and “un-American”.

The selected reporters mostly obliged him with softball the questions.

The only forceful questions that put him on the defensive were about the migration crisis at the Mexico border, where thousands of people are trying to enter the country and children are being held under appalling conditions.

He blamed Trump for the dysfunction at the border and denied that the perception of him as welcoming was driving the surge of migrants.

He quipped, “I guess I should be flattered if people are coming because I’m the nice guy.”

But he distanced himself from the assertion that his attitude towards immigrants was bringing in more of them and said the surge “happens every single, solitary year… in winter when it’s cooler.

Biden said that Trump “dismantled all the elements that exist to deal with what had been a problem and — and has been — continued to be a problem for a long time”.

Biden said that most of those coming in were being sent back to Mexico but he was welcoming of children coming by themselves.

“The only people we’re not going to let sitting there on the other side of the Rio Grande (border) by themselves with no help are children,” he said.

He has been crticised for keeping children in the border patrol custody for longer than the 72 hours mandated by courts.

He acknowledged that some are held in “circumstances that are not acceptable” and said it could be resolved by sending the children to their relatives sooner and by creating more facilities to hold them.

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Harris picked as point person for migration response

Biden described Harris as someone compared to whom nobody “is better qualified to do this…reports Asian Lite News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DlwvGE31Co

US President Joe Biden announced that he picked Vice President Kamala Harris as the point person in the country’s diplomatic efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries in Central America to stem migration at the southern border.

Biden made the announcement at the White House on Wednesday, describing Harris as someone compared to whom nobody “is better qualified to do this,” citing the vice president’s experience as California’s former attorney general.

Faced with bipartisan pressure to tackle the surge of immigrants, especially unaccompanied children seeking reunion with their parents in the United States, at the US-Mexico border, Biden acknowledged there was a “serious spike” in people heading to the southern border even during the previous administration.

US President Joe Biden

“This new surge we are dealing with now started in the past administration but it is our responsibility” to resolve the problem, he said.

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Senior administration officials briefing reporters on the decision said Wednesday that Harris will work along two tracks: in the near term, “stemming the flow of irregular migrants” to the United States; and in the longer term, establishing a “strategic partnership” with Mexico and countries in the Northern Triangle — El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala — that is “based on respect and shared values, to enhance prosperity, combat current corruption, and strengthen the rule of law.”

The new role of Harris resembles that of Biden when he was vice president and asked by then President Barack Obama in 2014 and 2015 to lead diplomatic efforts in the Northern Triangle after a surge of unaccompanied minors from those countries began arriving in the United States.

Harris said Wednesday that there is “no question this is a challenging situation,” stressing the need to enforce laws and address the root causes in the meantime. She said she looked forward to engaging in diplomacy with the relevant countries, as well as reaching out to the private sector.

Administration officials including Roberta Jacobson, special assistant to the president and coordinator for the southwest border, and Juan Gonzalez, the National Security Council’s senior director for the Western Hemisphere, travelled to Mexico and Guatemala this week to discuss with officials there plans to stop migrants from fleeing the countries.

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