Bashar al-Assad, the ousted president of Syria, has reportedly arrived in Moscow along with his family after his government fell to militants.

Citing a source in the Kremlin, several Russian media outlets reported on Sunday that the Russian government has granted Assad and his family asylum.

“President al-Assad of Syria has arrived in Moscow. Russia has granted them (him and his family) asylum on humanitarian grounds,” the Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian presidency about his whereabouts.

Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said he had not spoken with Assad since Saturday. Jalali said that he would stay in Syria and was ready to work with whomever the Syrian people choose as their leader.

Militants, headed by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), declared a curfew in Damascus on Sunday until the following morning, after seizing the capital following a lightning offensive launched last week.

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the HTS commander, said Sunday that Syrian state institutions would be supervised by Jalali until a transition of power takes place.

The HTS said it would work with the prime minister and called on Syrian military forces in Damascus to stay away from public institutions.

President Assad reportedly departed Syria on an airplane earlier in the day, bringing an end to more than five decades of his family’s rule over Syria.

Source: Presstv

Biden welcomed Trump to the White House on Wednesday for an Oval Office visit that is a traditional part of the peaceful handoff of power – a ritual Trump himself declined to participate in four years ago.

“Donald, congratulations,” Biden said, greeting Trump with a handshake and adding that he looked “forward to a smooth transition.”

“Thank you very much,” Trump said. “Politics is tough. And it’s, in many cases, not a very nice world. But it is a nice world today and I appreciate it very much.”

The president-elect touched down in Washington on Wednesday, arriving near the Capitol with billionaire Elon Musk in tow, for a meeting with House Republicans and then an Oval Office session with Democratic President Joe Biden as Trump prepares for a potentially unified Republican government and sweep of power.

Back in Washington for the first time since his election victory, Trump told the GOP lawmakers, “It’s nice to win.”

It’s a stunning return to the US seat of government for the former president, who departed nearly four years ago a diminished, politically defeated leader after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol but is preparing to come back to power with what he and his GOP allies see as a mandate for governance.

The White House meeting between a president and president-elect is one Trump himself declined to participate in four years ago after he lost to Biden.

Trump disputed his 2020 election loss to Biden, and he has continued to lie about widespread voter fraud that did not occur. He didn’t invite Biden, then the president-elect, to the White House and he left Washington without attending Biden’s inauguration. It was the first time that had happened since Andrew Johnson skipped Ulysses S. Grant’s swearing-in 155 years ago.

Biden insists that he’ll do everything he can to make the transition to the next Trump administration go smoothly, despite decrying Trump as a threat to democracy and the nation’s core values throughout the election campaign.

In the wake of the election, the president has abandoned his dire warnings about Trump, saying in a speech last week, “The American experiment endures. We’re going to be okay.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden is committed to “making sure that this transition is effective, efficient and he’s doing that because it is the norm, yes, but also the right thing to do for the American people”.

“We want this to go well,” Jean-Pierre added. “We want this to be a process that gets the job done.”

Traditionally, as the outgoing and incoming presidents meet in the West Wing, the first lady hosts her successor upstairs in the residence, but her office said Melania Trump wasn’t attending, saying in a statement that “her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success”.

Source: AP

Donald Trump declares victory in the US election as he addresses jubilant supporters in Florida

“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” he says to cheering crowds

The Republican has picked up the battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, leaving Kamala Harris with only a narrow path to victory

Just before Trump began speaking, Fox News projected that he had won the election; other US TV networks are yet to do so

A return to the White House would be an extraordinary comeback for Trump after he lost to Joe Biden in 2020

Harris says she won’t speak today, as dejected supporters left her watch party earlier

Meanwhile, Republicans are projected to have taken back the Senate.

Source: BBC

Donald Trump ruled out a second US presidential debate with rival Kamala Harris on Wednesday, hours after Fox News offered to host a candidate showdown later this month before Election Day on November 5.

The Republican ex-president and Democratic vice president, locked in an excruciatingly close White House battle, have faced off just once, in September, and despite suggestions by multiple news outlets, it appears they will not meet again before the vote.

“It is very late in the process, (early) voting has already begun — there will be no rematch!” Trump said in an all-caps post on his Truth Social media platform, nixing the possibility of a follow-up to the candidates’ first debate in Philadelphia.

“Kamala stated clearly, yesterday, that she would not do anything different than Joe Biden, so there is nothing to debate,” Trump added.

Harris had previously challenged Trump to a debate hosted by CNN on October 23, but the former president declined.

Trump also said that Harris, who became the Democratic nominee after President Biden ended his reelection bid following his disastrous debate with Trump, had backed out of a previous debate offered by Fox, although the Harris campaign had not publicly accepted the proposal.

The candidates did agree to debate on ABC News on September 10, and the vice presidential running mates — Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat Tim Walz — squared off on October 1.

But while Trump said he had agreed to participate in a September 4 debate on Fox, as well as one on September 25 on NBC News, Harris never did.

The vice president, after positive reviews that she had bested Trump in their encounter, had expressed interest in doing a second debate, but the plans never came to fruition.

Fox for its part sent letters Wednesday to the two campaigns offering “one final pitch for a debate” between Harris and Trump, either on October 24 or October 27.

“This would present an opportunity for each candidate to make his or her closing arguments,” wrote Jay Wallace, president of Fox News Media.

Source: AFP

Kamala Harris was due to deliver a tough-on-illegal-migration message after visiting the US-Mexico border Friday, directly tackling the politically explosive issue in a bid to blunt one of Donald Trump’s main attack lines in their fight for the White House.

The US vice president’s trip to Arizona — her first to the border since replacing President Joe Biden as Democratic nominee in July — comes as polls show illegal migration remains one of her biggest vulnerabilities against the Republican.

Harris will call for tougher security in the speech in the border town of Douglas and accuse Trump of killing attempts to pass a bipartisan migration bill in hopes of boosting his own election chances, her campaign said.

“The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games,” she plans to say, according to her campaign.

A campaign official told reporters that Harris will announce that as president she would strengthen border restrictions recently put in place that successfully stemmed the flow of undocumented crossings.

Harris made an unannounced visit to the border wall in Douglas, where she met with Border Patrol officials and was photographed alongside the distinctive metal slats at the international frontier.

Arizona is also one of the half-dozen battleground states that are expected to decide the agonizingly close November 5 election, and it is where polls show Harris may have to do the most work.

Former president Trump has turbocharged the border issue in recent weeks as he seeks an edge against Harris, America’s first female, Black and South Asian vice president.

The 78-year-old has called for mass deportations, amplified bogus claims about migrants eating pet cats and dogs, and stepped up his racially charged rhetoric about an “invasion” of illegal immigrants who he claims consist of murderers, rapists and mentally ill people.

Source: AFP

Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed that his televised debate with Democratic rival Kamala Harris and carried by American outlet ABC had been “rigged”. He also criticised Taylor Swift, one of the music industry’s biggest stars, for endorsing Harris after the debate.

Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed — without providing evidence — that the debate between him and rival Kamala Harris was “rigged.”

“It was a rigged deal, as I assumed it would be, because when you looked at the fact that they were correcting everything and not correcting with her,” he said on right-wing news channel Fox News.

He also panned pop megastar Taylor Swift for endorsing Harris shortly after the debate, saying: “I was not a Taylor Swift fan… she’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.”

Source: AFP

US Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump clashed in a fiery presidential debate last night, with Harris frequently putting Trump on the defensive. With sharp critiques and direct jabs, she repeatedly forced Trump to defend his record and past behaviour.

The headlines speak for themselves today. “Harris Puts Trump on Defensive in Fierce Debate”, reads the New York Times. “Harris keeps Trump on defensive”, offers the Washington Post. “Harries tried to throw Trump off his game. He repeatedly took the bait”, CNN insists.

The through line of last night’s US presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump seems to be that she laid out bait that he took, time and time again.

With only eight weeks until election day, Harris and Trump tried to make their case to voters in a debate that lasted 90 minutes. Meeting for the first time onstage in Philadelphia, the candidates addressed flashpoints including inflation, abortion, immigration and foreign policy.

Harris strategically deployed pointed remarks, accusing Trump of belittling people and stating that foreign leaders were laughing at him. Trump, visibly unsettled at times, often found himself rebutting rather than attacking. “She won every round. Trump never landed a punch,” historian and former adviser to Ronald Reagan Bruce Bartlett wrote on X.

Marco Vicenzino, a geopolitical expert, echoed this sentiment, telling FRANCE 24 it was “the most definitive evening of Harris’s political career”.

“Trump allowed Harris to get under his skin,” he added.

Immigration

During a question on immigration, Harris packed a hefty punch when she went on the offensive and mocked Trump rallies, suggesting attendees leave early “out of exhaustion and boredom”. The jab by Harris at the start of the section was, by any measure, a success. Instead of addressing the topics brought up by the moderators, including some Trump typically views as his political strengths, he ended up focusing heavily on the entertainment aspect of his rallies.

His retort then veered into unfounded claims, such as suggesting Haitian immigrants in an Ohio town were stealing and eating people’s pet cats and dogs. Trump also slandered immigrants in an earlier response on the cost of living and inflation, blaming them for destroying the economy. He claimed people were “pouring in” from “prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums” for taking jobs that are “occupied right now by African Americans and Hispanics, and also unions”.

Harris countered with an impassioned defence of foreign contributions to the US economy, pointing out the importance of migrant labour in essential sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and technology. Describing Trump’s portrayal of immigrants as “fear-mongering”, she criticised his administration’s handling of the southern border and particularly the family separation policy.

To wrap up her arguments, Harris employed a strategic move that appealed to both progressives, who favour more lenient immigration policies, and moderates looking for sensible reforms: she emphasised her stance on transforming the immigration system to be more humane and contrasted her vision with Trump’s focus on border security and deportations. She recalled that the former president had killed a bipartisan bill she supported to strengthen security at the Mexico border. “He’d rather campaign on a problem than solve it,” she scoffed.

Economy

US polling suggests the public is disappointed by how the Biden administration has handled the economy, especially inflation. But Harris used the flashpoint to focus on Trump’s tariffs, dubbing them “Trump sales tax”, and mentioned Project 2025, a controversial plan for a future Republican administration that the former president has repeatedly denied having links to.

“Trump can deny any knowledge of Project 2025, but I know from experience as a political appointee that it will be a blueprint if Trump wins because that’s the only plan that exists,” Bartlett wrote on X.

Trump defended his widespread tariff plan that he has previously suggested could fund child care, boost manufacturing, quell immigration and encourage the use of the US dollar. He also highlighted how the Biden administration kept many of the tariffs he implemented from his first term. However, his defence left little room for an effective counterattack against Harris on economic issues. Trump’s insistence on a return to his tariff-heavy approach appeared disconnected from the more immediate economic concerns of many voters, which hinge on a high cost of living and inflation.

Harris emphasised her “opportunity economy” plan, focusing on tax breaks for first-time home buyers, young families and new businesses – as well as incentivising companies to build affordable housing.

In his closing statement, Trump finally came out with an argument that could have given him the upper hand earlier on in the debate. As Harris detailed her programme, the Republican candidate rebutted that as part of the Biden administration, Harris failed to “fix the border” and “create jobs”.

“She should leave right now, go down to that beautiful White House … and do the things you want to do but you haven’t done it – you won’t do it,” Trump said.

Abortion

Though a majority of the US public disapproved the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, Trump defended his handling of abortion by saying it is what the people wanted. But his flip-flopping on the issue in the last couple of weeks meant that his debate performance came across as “rambling” to many.

While Trump has sought to moderate his stance on the issue by criticising six-week abortion bans and expressing his support for exceptions in the case of rape or life of the mother, he also inaccurately argued in the debate that some states allow abortions after a baby has been born, a claim ABC News moderator Linsey Davis corrected. “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” Davis interjected.

Harris was arguably strongest on abortion and made a personal appeal to those affected by restrictive state laws, dubbing them “Trump abortion bans”. Highlighting her opponent’s inconsistency on the matter, she warned that Trump’s lack of clarity posed a threat to women’s reproductive rights nationwide and framed his stance as an ongoing attack on women’s autonomy.

Foreign policy

Foreign policy discussions saw Harris targeting Trump’s previous negotiations with the Taliban and his plans for secret talks at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. She highlighted his controversial stance on NATO, where Trump reiterated his view of the alliance as a club.

Trump argued that the war in Gaza wouldn’t have erupted if he were in charge, claiming his tough stance on Israel kept adversaries in line. He slammed the Biden administration for lacking a strategy, while Harris shot back, pointing out that Trump’s policies like cutting aid to Palestinians and moving the US embassy to Jerusalem may have fanned the flames of conflict.

On Ukraine, Trump boasted that Putin wouldn’t have dared invade under his watch, citing his “strongman” approach and ties with the Russian leader as proof. Harris didn’t hold back and emphasised the need for steady support for Ukraine, countering that Trump’s isolationist tendencies would undermine NATO and embolden Putin.

On China, Trump continued his hardliner rhetoric, arguing that his tariffs and trade wars were necessary to protect American jobs. Harris countered that the tariffs had hurt American farmers and consumers more than China, and suggested that diplomacy and coalition-building were more effective strategies. She also pointed to Trump’s praise for authoritarian leaders, claiming it showed a troubling pattern of undermining democratic norms.

Following the debate, Trump complained about being “cornered” by both Harris and the moderators, accusing them of favouritism. While it remains unclear if the candidates will face off again before November, the Harris campaign immediately called for a second debate, signalling confidence from the Democratic camp.

“The key question is how did [the debate] impact centrist, independent voters in the seven key swing states that will determine the outcome of the election,” Vicenzino concluded.

“In my opinion, a lot of those independent voters are looking for real policy debate, which they did not get last night. What they got was more hype and more personal attacks.”

Culled from France 24

The American University history professor Allan Lichtman has a track record that’s hard to beat, having correctly predicted the results of all but one US presidential election since 1984. The historian’s 2024 prediction is that the Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will take the White House in November.

Forget the polls, ditch the data and stop sending journalists to swing-state diners to interview undecided voters: historian Allan Lichtman already knows who is going to win the US presidential election.

“Harris will win,” Lichtman confidently announced to AFP.

He was speaking at his home in the leafy Washington suburb of Bethesda shortly after unveiling his much-discussed, once-every-four-years White House prediction, based on what he calls the “13 keys” method.

It can be easy to dismiss Lichtman’s signature methodology as just another gimmick in the endless, drawn-out “horse race” style coverage of US elections — where journalists, pollsters and pundits are constantly trying to see who is up and who is down.

But the American University history professor has answers for his critics — and a track record that’s hard to beat, having correctly called all but one election since 1984.

Lichtman pays no attention to opinion polls.

Instead, his predictions are based on a series of true-or-false propositions applied to the current presidential administration. If six or more of these “keys” are false, the election will go to the out-of-power challenger — in this case, Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Sage of Bethesda?

One of the keys, for example, posits that the president’s party won seats in the most recent midterm elections. The Democrats actually lost control of the House in the 2022 midterms, meaning this particular key is termed “false,” tipping the scales toward Trump.

A few more keys break Trump’s way: President Joe Biden stepped down, meaning Democrats lost the key which determines the “incumbency,” a vital advantage.

Biden’s vice president and replacement as nominee, Kamala Harris, is surging on optimism among party faithful. But Lichtman rules that she does not qualify for another of the keys, which is being a charismatic, “once-in-a-generation” candidate in the style of Ronald Reagan or Franklin Roosevelt.

More points to Trump, yes. But after that the keys start breaking in rapid succession for Harris.

For example, the Biden administration’s massive environment and infrastructure legislation ticks the box for the key requiring a “major policy change” by the current White House.

Another key for Harris is the exit of fringe independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

She also satisfies the key demanding lack of major scandal.

Do the math and it turns out that only three keys are falling for Trump. But to be declared the presumptive winner, he would have needed six.

And there’s another key which could go Harris’s way, if the administration reaches a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.

It’s a move that would likely require Democrats to push harder against the Israeli government — sure to cause strain among poll-obsessed advisors in a party trying to straddle a base that is heavily divided over the issue. Yet, a ceasefire would mean the Democrats actually delivered a policy achievement, Lichtman argues, and deliver one of the keys on foreign policy.

“I don’t like to speculate, because the devil is in the details, but that could be seen as a big success,” he said.

Forget the ‘noise’

Critics of the “13 keys” home in on the speculative nature of some of the true-false propositions. What is a charismatic leader, for example?

Yet the sage of Bethesda, as some have dubbed him, is well-versed in arguing his case.

“I’ve been doing this for 40 years. I think I’ve heard every conceivable question,” he said. “‘Aren’t your keys subjective?’ I obviously have an answer to that — they’re not subjective, they’re judgmental.

“We’re dealing with human beings. Historians make judgments all the time, and the judgments are very tightly constrained.”

Amid the “noise” of national political punditry, Lichtman argues, presidential elections are a simple “vote up or down on the strength and performance of the White House party.”

In that way, his method is anti-horse race — focused on good governance rather than campaigns, since in reality “we forget virtually anything a candidate has to say.”

The one election where Lichtman’s calculations did not predict the president was the 2000 victory of George W. Bush. Lichtman can defend his record by pointing out that this was a legally complicated nail-biter in which Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote but Bush took victory courtesy of a Supreme Court decision.

Source: AFP

Jimmy McCain, son of the late Republican Senator John McCain, is endorsing Vice-President Kamala Harris following controversy around Donald Trump’s recent visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

He called Trump’s visit last week to the military burial site “a violation”.

The Army has accused a Trump staffer of pushing aside an Arlington employee as they tried to warn his team about rules against filming in the cemetery.

The Trump campaign says it received permission from families of fallen service members to film video during an event to honour US soldiers killed during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

“Show respect and leave. It doesn’t need to be videoed,” Mr McCain told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday.

He added: “The point of Arlington Cemetery is to go and show respect for the men and women who have given their lives to this country. When you make it political, you take away the respect of the people who are there.”

Mr McCain, who was previously an independent, said he has changed his voter registration to Democrat and plans to vote for Ms Harris for president in November.

“I feel that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz embody a group of people that will help make this country better. That will take us forward. That’s really what matters at the end of the day,” he said.

The youngest McCain son enlisted in the Marine Corps and has served as an intelligence officer since 2022.

Three generations of McCain family are buried at Arlington.

Federal law prevents use of the site for political campaigning.

The Trump campaign has disputed the cemetery’s version of events and released a statement from the Gold Star military families that invited him to the site, saying the former president was there to honour the sacrifice of their relatives who were killed.

Trump – who is running for president for a third time – and late Senator McCain had a long rivalry.

The Vietnam war hero was one of the most outspoken Republican critics of Trump from the very start of his first candidacy.

Trump once attacked McCain, himself a former Republican presidential candidate, saying he was “not a war hero” because he was captured and held as a prisoner of war.

In 2020, McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain, endorsed Joe Biden in his campaign to unseat Trump. Mr Biden later appointed her as US ambassador to a United Nations food agency.

Jimmy McCain is not the only family member to withhold support for Trump.

His sister Meghan said on Monday she does not plan to support either Trump or Ms Harris.

“I greatly respect the wide variety of political opinions of all of my family members and love them all very much,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“I however, remain a proud member of the Republican Party and hope for brighter days ahead.”

Source: BBC

US Vice President Kamala Harris accepted her party’s historic presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, seizing one of her few remaining opportunities to address an audience of millions. Harris detailed her life story and contrasted her vision with her opponent Donald Trump’s, inviting Americans to chart a “new way forward”.

Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in Chicago on Thursday in front of a rapturous crowd, pledging a “new way forward” if she beats Republican Donald Trump in November’s blockbuster election.

“On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on earth, I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America,” the 59-year-old said to huge cheers.

“I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations,” she said.

A sea of waving Stars and Stripes flags and chants of “USA” filled the arena as jubilant Democrats anointed Harris as their standard-bearer.

Harris pledged to be a “president for all Americans” as she reaches out to undecided voters after one of the most stunning upheavals in US political history.

With the November election, Americans have a “fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past  – a chance to chart a new way forward”, she promised.

She laid out her personal story as a child of a single working mother and her career as a prosecutor, saying she has the background and experience to serve the country in contrast to Trump, who she said only works for himself and “his billionaire friends”.

The convention became a giant party to celebrate Harris’s astonishing ascent.

The first Black woman nominee for a major party, Harris has wiped out former president Trump’s lead in some polls, drawn enormous crowds and raised record funds.

Now her challenge is to introduce herself to a country still getting used to the new Democratic candidate.

“I know there are people of various political views watching tonight. And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans,” Harris said.

Harris recounted her prosecutorial career fighting for victims of sexual abuse and gun crime, highlighting the fact that in Trump she now faces the first convicted felon ever to seek the White House.

The Democrats have been riding a wave of energy and enthusiasm since Harris took on the mantle from Biden a month ago.

President Joe Biden gave a farewell speech on the first day of the convention and said Thursday he had called Harris to wish her luck.

“I am proud to watch my partner Kamala Harris accept our nomination for president. She will be an outstanding president because she is fighting for our future,” Biden, who is on holiday in California, also said on X.

Democrats are trying to temper their hopes, knowing that Harris faces a tough sprint to a nail-biting election on November 5, which as in 2020 may be decided by a handful of votes in key states.

From Barack and Michelle Obama to Bill Clinton, senior figures have warned all week that Harris has a brutal fight on her hands to beat Trump.

The 78-year-old Republican nominee believed he was cruising to a stunning return to power against Biden, but has been unsettled by the sudden Democratic switch to a much younger opponent  – and one looking to make history as the first woman president.

Trump is increasingly resorting to personal insults, racially charged attacks, and dark rhetoric.

He gave a play-by-play commentary on Harris’s speech on his Truth Social platform, accusing her of making the United States a “failing nation” while part of the Biden administration.

“She’s done nothing for three and a half years but talk, and that’s what she’s doing tonight, she’s complaining about everything but doing nothing!” he wrote.

Source: AFP