RACINE: Andrea Dyess, 57, was already a Joe Biden fan, but after meeting him in her neighborhood of Racine, Wisconsin, in May, she has been talking to anyone who will listen about giving him four more years in the White House.
Dyess was on a street corner with her two young grandchildren trying to catch a glimpse of Biden’s motorcade, when a campaign worker invited her to join the president at a nearby community center.
Biden listened attentively as she told him about surviving cancer and how the Affordable Care Act, which Biden helped push as Barack Obama’s vice president, saved her life.
“I told him, just keep fighting the fight,” she said,
Since then, Dyess says she has shared her “once in a lifetime moment” directly with dozens of friends and relatives, at a church revival, at her grandkids’ school and on her neighborhood walks. She’s also been urging her 20-year-old son’s friends to register to vote.
Campaign officials say the encounter is exactly what they are hoping to replicate around the country with a series of small-scale campaign events.
Biden, 81, has spent decades honing his ‘retail’ politician style of wooing voters. Big, thundering speeches have never been his style but he lights up when meeting people one-on-one, thumping shoulders, hugging strangers and FaceTiming people’s moms.
In sharp contrast to the
mass rallies
hosted by Republican rival Donald Trump — heavy on stagecraft with classic rock playlists, anti-immigration rhetoric and mostly white audiences — Biden meets with small, more diverse groups of voters for personal conversations.
Those
smaller events
are arranged with friendly invitation-only audiences, and often publicized only at the last minute to avoid pro-Palestinian protests that have dogged Biden’s appearances for months.
It’s part of a broader campaign strategy that includes celebrity endorsements, a slew of political surrogates, traditional ads and official events to showcase Biden’s support for NATO, infrastructure funding and other key policies.
The campaign is under heavy pressure as Biden wobbles in the polls.
Despite strong economic growth and stock market highs, his approval ratings are near two-year lows, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed, and other polls show Trump ahead in several of the battleground states that Biden narrowly won in 2020.
Campaign and Democratic party officials say that is in part because voters are still smarting from higher prices and don’t know enough about what Biden has done to reduce costs of prescription drugs and other essentials, or his backing of unions fighting for higher wages.
They say US media is too “fractured” to be an effective way of reaching voters on these issues. So they’re enlisting friend networks, super-surrogates, small business groups, podcasts, new media and TikTok stars who they hope will talk issues and policies as they try to convince millions of Americans to back Biden in November.
Charles Franklin, who directs polling at Wisconsin’s Marquette University Law School, said that because Biden doesn’t have “groupies” like Trump, these smaller events are a better bet. “If they both got the same stadium and did back to back events, [I’m] pretty confident that Trump would have the bigger turnout for that,” Franklin said.
Republicans, who ridiculed Biden’s 2020 campaign for being run “from his basement,” say the lack of big Biden rallies in 2024 is further evidence of his physical and political fragility.
Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, described Biden’s strategy as “tiny, staged, 15-minute snooze-fests,” and said “Team Trump’s campaign events will continue to get bigger and better.”
Before events like the one in Racine, the campaign combs its databases for local people who care about a specific issue Biden’s policies have addressed or are part of a demographic he hopes to reach, and invites them to meet Biden. Sometimes they find unexpected guests like Dyess.
The interactions are filmed by the campaign for YouTube video and campaign ads, and followed by local and national media. Ideally, participants make their own social media posts and those go viral, reaching more voters, the campaign says.
“One of the strategies around any visit is not just to have the perfect room and create the conditions for serendipity, but also to make sure that what happens in the room doesn’t stay in the room,” said Ben Wikler, head of Wisconsin’s Democratic Party.
In Milwaukee in March, for example, Biden met 9-year-old Harry Abramson, who had written to Biden about his stutter.
Biden, who stuttered as a child, shared his strategy for dealing with difficult words. The interaction was picked up by the local Fox affiliate and other TV stations, digital and print media, and Biden’s campaign put it on Facebook and other accounts. It went viral, bouncing around chat rooms, TikTok and Reddit.
“Grandpa’s gonna Grandpa. Imagine telling your friends you got speech lessons from the president of the United States,” one Reddit user wrote under a video of the interaction on “Made Me Smile,” a group with 9.5 million members.
Biden visited the Fitts’ family home in North Carolina in January, part of a ‘kitchen table’ visit to regular families in swing states. Afterward, teenaged Christian Fitts posted a video on TikTok showing the President admiring school photos on his refrigerator and sharing french fries at the kitchen table.
The post got over one million “likes” and thousands of comments that attracted millions more views. Many were incredulous, rather than outright endorsements of Biden. “HIM JUST STANDING AT THE FRIDGE IS SENDING ME” one user wrote. Nearly 50,000 people liked the comment.
Tracking the digital impact of this strategy is difficult, political experts say. New tools to track TikTok content are still not reliable, most Facebook posts are private, and there’s no way to know how many of those who comment will actually vote.
Teddy Goff, co-founder of marketing firm Precision Strategies, believes the smaller events are a smart play.
“They’re going to wind up in the local news, local newspaper, local TV, and in all likelihood, will get seen by more people than might have been to that Trump rally,” said Goff, digital director of former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, referring to an April rally by Trump in Green Bay that drew a crowd of 3,200.
Relying on individuals to share the Biden message can be unpredictable.
Sheree Robinson, a Black mother of five from Racine who says funding from Biden’s American Rescue Plan helped her earn her a High School Equivalency Diploma, was invited to ride in Biden’s limousine during his May Wisconsin visit.
She posted a video on Facebook showing her smiling next to a bemused-looking Biden, as he gets detailed instructions on what to expect at the next event. In her comment, she used an obscenity to tout herself as a “big ... deal,” without any praise of Biden.
Later, however, she called into a local radio program to share what she called an “awesome” experience, and plugged Biden’s policy that helped her get a degree. The Wisconsin Democratic party is featuring her in digital ads it will use around the state.
Social media tends to embrace more negative or awkward moments, like a stumble or fall, Goff noted, rather than a tiny event like the recent one in Racine.
Biden’s campaign is outspending Trump’s on digital media in Wisconsin, according to an analysis by Priorities USA. It spent $2.2 million on digital ads in the state alone since January, compared to $1,500 spent by Trump.
So far, though, a FiveThirtyEight compilation of Wisconsin polls still shows Trump with a slight lead in the state.
Biden campaign taps friend groups, social media, with unpredictable results
https://arab.news/v6wa7
Biden campaign taps friend groups, social media, with unpredictable results
- Biden listened attentively as she told him about surviving cancer and how the Affordable Care Act, which Biden helped push as Barack Obama’s vice president, saved her life
Boeing faces new civil trial over 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash
- The Chicago trial is the first civil case related to the Max 737 plane crash of March 10, 2019 to reach court
- Relatives of 155 of the victims had sued Boeing for wrongful death, negligence and other charges
NEW YORK: Boeing is poised to face a jury trial from Monday over the fatal 2019 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX plane, the first civil case related to the disaster to reach court.
The Chicago trial, expected to last two weeks, was to feature two plaintiffs who lost family members in the calamity.
But one of the complaints was resolved in an out-of-court settlement late Sunday, a judicial source told AFP, in line with most earlier litigants.
Barring another last-minute settlement, the trial will begin Monday with the selection of an eight-person jury.
“We have had some ongoing discussion that may continue throughout the day and the ensuing days,” Robert Clifford, who represents relatives of several crash victims, told the US District court on Wednesday at a pre-trial hearing.
A deal could also be struck even while the trial is underway.
The Boeing plane crashed on March 10, 2019, just six minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa on its way to Kenya, killing all 157 people on board.
Relatives of 155 of the victims had sued Boeing between April 2019 and March 2021 for wrongful death, negligence and other charges.
As of late last month, there were 18 complaints still open against Boeing, a source familiar with the case told AFP.
Sunday’s deal meant that a further three cases had been settled since then, multiple judicial sources told AFP.
This week’s Chicago litigation will now examine only the case of Canadian Darcy Belanger.
Belanger, 46, who lived in Colorado, was a founding member of environmental NGO, the Parvati Foundation, and also worked in construction. He had been visiting Nairobi for a UN conference.
US Judge Jorge Alonso has split the Boeing lawsuits into groups of five or six plaintiffs, annulling a potential trial if all the suits settle.
In November, the aviation giant reached a last-minute agreement with the family of a woman killed in the crash.
The Ethiopian Airlines disaster followed another fatal crash involving a MAX plane — that of a Lion Air jet that crashed in Indonesia in October 2018, killing all 189 people on board.
Boeing also faced dozens of complaints from Lion Air family victims. Just one case remained open, as of the end of March.
Boeing’s settlements with civil plaintiffs have been confidential.
The US manufacturer has “accepted responsibility for the MAX crashes publicly and in civil litigation because the design of the MCAS... contributed to these events,” a Boeing lawyer said during an October hearing.
The MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) flight stabilizing software was implicated in both the Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes.
The disasters led to congressional hearings, with irate lawmakers demanding answers, and to leadership shake-ups at the aviation company. The entire 737 MAX fleet was grounded for more than 20 months.
Boeing later revised the MCAS program under scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which ultimately cleared the jets to resume service in November 2020.
The Chicago trial comes as Boeing also faces a potential criminal trial in June in Texas over the MAX.
That trial follows on from a January 2021 deferred prosecution agreement between Boeing and the US Justice Department over the two MAX crashes.
In May 2024, the Justice Department notified the court that Boeing had violated terms of the accord. That came after a January 2024 incident in which an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX was forced to make an emergency landing when a panel blew out mid-flight.
US District Judge Reed O’Connor last month ordered a jury trial from June 23 after earlier throwing out a proposed settlement between Boeing and the Justice Department.
Sahel alliance recalls ambassadors from Algeria after the downing of a Malian drone
- The Alliance of Sahel States, which includes Mali, said the drone downing was an “irresponsible act” that violated international law
- Algeria once served as a key mediator during more than a decade of conflict between Mali’s government and Tuareg rebels
DAKAR, Senegal: A military alliance between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger withdrew their respective ambassadors from Algeria in response to the downing of a Malian drone this week, the group said late Sunday.
The Alliance of Sahel States, which goes by its French acronym AES, blamed Algeria on social media for the drone’s downing and condemned it as an “irresponsible act” that violated international law.
The act was “contrary to historical relations and fraternal relations between the peoples of the AES Confederation and the Algerian people,” the group said.
The Malian Foreign Ministry in a statement on social media Sunday denied claims by the Algerian government that the drone had violated Algeria’s airspace by over 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) and instead claimed that “this action proves, if proof were needed, that the Algerian regime sponsors international terrorism.”
Mali in the statement also summoned the Algerian ambassador, withdrew from a 15-year-old regional military group that includes fellow AES member Niger, and filed a complaint with “international bodies” about the incident.
The development comes as tensions are on the rise between Algeria and its southern neighbors, including Mali.
Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South, said the latest war of words was unlikely to escalate beyond that. He doubted the Malian government’s ability to conduct a thorough investigation because the crash “took place in an area it doesn’t control, and what remains of the drone has been recovered by groups opposed to the government.”
Algeria once served as a key mediator during more than a decade of conflict between Mali’s government and Tuareg rebels. But the two countries have grown apart since a military junta staged coups in 2020 and 2021, putting military personnel in charge of Mali’s key institutions.
Algeria has denounced the direction that Mali’s new government has taken and its expanded efforts to quash rebellion in historically volatile parts of northern Mali. Afraid of the conflict spilling over the border, Algerian officials have denounced Mali’s use of Russian mercenaries and armed drones near Tin Zaouatine, a border town in the north were the drone was found.
Algeria has one of Africa’s largest militaries and has long considered itself a regional power but military leaders in neighboring Mali and Niger have distanced themselves as they’ve championed autonomy and sought new alliances, including with Russia.
Le Pen supporters rally in Paris, turning a protest into a populist show of force
- The National Rally, Le Pen’s party, organized the event in response to what it calls a politically motivated verdict
PARIS: Convicted of embezzling public funds and banned from running for office, far-right politician Marine Le Pen stood unshaken before a sea of French flags in Paris on Sunday. “For 30 years I have fought against injustice,” she told the crowd. “And I will continue to fight.”
Thousands of supporters gathered at Place Vauban, near the golden dome of Les Invalides and the tomb of Napoleon, for what was billed as a protest — but observers said it had all the markings of a campaign rally.
The National Rally, Le Pen’s party, organized the event in response to what it calls a politically motivated verdict. But with chants of “Marine Présidente!” and “They won’t steal 2027 from us,” the message was clear: this was more than a protest. It was a show of populist defiance aimed squarely at France’s institutions.
Bardella sharpens the attack
At the heart of that charge stood Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 29-year-old protégé and president of the National Rally. His speech was fiery, accusing France’s judges of trying to silence the opposition.
“March 29 was a dark day for France,” he said, referencing the date of Le Pen’s conviction. “The people must be free to choose their leaders — without interference from political judges.”
Though he claimed the party would respect democracy, Bardella denounced magistrates’ unions and warned of “a system determined to crush dissent.” Supporters carried signs reading “Justice taking orders” and “Stop the judicial dictatorship.” Others wore “Je suis Marine” (“I am Marine“) shirts or compared Le Pen to US President Donald Trump, who was convicted of civil fraud: “Trump can run — why not Marine?”
“The system’s not broken — it’s rigged,” said Alice Triquet, a 26-year-old bartender. “If they can do this to her, what stops them from coming after anyone who doesn’t think like them?”
One woman raised a handmade scale of justice, its arms bent and broken — a symbol of what Le Pen’s supporters see as a justice system turned against the people.
A nation divided over justice and power
Le Pen was found guilty of using European Parliament funds to pay party staff in France — a scheme the court described as “a democratic bypass.” She was sentenced to four years in prison, including two under house arrest and two suspended, and banned from public office for five years, effective immediately. Her appeal is expected next year.
The reaction has been sharply divided. While National Rally supporters denounce the ruling as politically motivated, many outside the party see it as legitimate accountability. “I challenge the notion that there is a tsunami of support for Le Pen on this issue,” said John Goodman, Ph.D., director of Syracuse University’s flagship program in France.
He also criticized the unusually rapid pace of Le Pen’s appeal. “Her appeal has been fast-tracked so it can be heard in the summer of 2026, well before the 2027 presidential election, and significantly faster than a typical criminal case,” Goodman said.
Warnings of a ‘Trumpist turn’
On the other side of the Seine, hundreds gathered for a counter-rally led by left-wing parties, warning that France’s far right is embracing US-style authoritarianism.
“This is bigger than Marine Le Pen,” said Green Party leader Marine Tondelier. “It’s about defending the rule of law from people who think justice is optional.”
Placards read “No Trumpism in France” and “Anti-fascist response.” Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal addressed supporters at a meeting of the center-right Renaissance party in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, calling the moment “a test of the Republic.” Former PM Edouard Philippe stood by his side.
Though police were out in force, only minor clashes were reported.
The real message: trust the people, not the courts
Beyond the legal battle, Sunday’s gathering of the National Rally revealed a deeper strategy. Party leaders have spent the week accusing judges of plotting a “judicial coup.” They’ve called the sentence a political “execution.” The goal is not just to overturn the ruling — it’s to convince voters the legal system itself can’t be trusted.
It’s a page from the Trump playbook: paint the courts as biased, the system as broken, and frame any legal setback as an attack on democracy. The ballot box becomes the only authority that matters.
“The judges wear robes, but they’re just politicians in disguise,” said Claude Morel, 68, a pensioner from the southern city of Marseille. “Let the people decide.”
What comes next
Le Pen may be barred from running — for now — but her political machine is far from finished. Bardella, long seen as her polished understudy, is stepping into the spotlight with growing confidence and sharpened rhetoric.
“We will be here tomorrow,” he told the crowd. “And we will be stronger.”
Sunday’s rally was more than a show of strength. It was a test: can the far right convince enough French voters that justice is no longer neutral, and that only they can return power to the people?
How that question is answered may shape not only the 2027 presidential race — but the future of French democracy.
Aid cuts could leave more women dying in pregnancy and birth, UN says
- “One of the headline messages is that the funding cuts risk not only that progress, but we could have a shift backward,” said Dr. Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage at the WHO
LONDON: Cuts to aid budgets are threatening to undermine years of progress in reducing the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth, and could lead to a rise in deaths, the United Nations has warned.
Globally, there was a 40 percent decline in maternal deaths between 2000 and 2023, a report by UN agencies including the World Health Organization (WHO) showed on Monday, largely due to better access to essential health services.
That could now go into reverse, the WHO said in a statement accompanying the report which did not mention specific cuts but came in the wake of a foreign aid freeze by the US government and the ending of funding through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for many programs.
Other donor countries including Britain have also announced plans to cut aid budgets.
“One of the headline messages is that the funding cuts risk not only that progress, but we could have a shift backward,” said Dr. Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage at the WHO.
The cuts have had “pandemic-like effects” on health systems globally and could have a “more structural, deep-seated effect,” Aylward added.
The WHO said the cuts were already rolling back vital services for maternal, newborn and child health in many countries, reducing staff numbers, closing facilities and disrupting supply chains for supplies including treatments for hemorrhage and pre-eclampsia.
Cuts to other areas, such as malaria and HIV treatment, would also impact maternal survival, the UN said.
Even before the aid cuts led by the United States, things were backsliding in some countries, and progress has slowed globally since 2016, the report said.
In 2023, despite recent progress, a woman still died roughly every two minutes — around 260,000 in total that year — from complications that were mainly preventable and treatable, it added.
The situation was particularly bad in countries affected by conflict or natural disaster, although the US itself is one of only four countries to have seen its maternal mortality rate increase significantly since 2000, alongside Venezuela, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica.
The COVID-19 pandemic also had an impact, the report said: 40,000 more women died due to pregnancy or childbirth in 2021, bringing the total number of deaths that year to 322,000.
“While this report shows glimmers of hope, the data also highlights how dangerous pregnancy still is in much of the world today – despite the fact that solutions exist,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
The report itself was part-funded by USAID.
Zelensky slams US lack of response to Putin truce rejection
- Zelensky said “the number of Russian air attacks is increasing,” which he said proved that “the pressure on Russia is still insufficient”
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday lamented the lack of a US response to Russia’s refusal to agree “a full, unconditional ceasefire” as two people were killed in Moscow’s latest aerial bombardment.
Russia mounted a “massive” missile and drone attack on Ukraine that also wounded seven people, Zelensky said, warning that Moscow was stepping up its aerial attacks.
Ukraine has agreed to an unconditional truce in the more than three-year-long war proposed by the United States but Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to do so.
“We are waiting for the United States to respond — so far there has been no response,” said Zelensky.
Russia claimed the capture of a village in Ukraine’s Sumy region in a rare cross-border advance, but Ukraine branded that as “disinformation.”
Earlier, Russia “launched a massive nationwide attack on Ukraine using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones,” said Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
Zelensky said “the number of Russian air attacks is increasing,” which he said proved that “the pressure on Russia is still insufficient.”
In Kyiv, explosions were heard in the night and a smoke rose up from the city on Sunday morning.
One person was killed and three people were wounded, the head of the city’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, wrote on social media.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that “the body of a man killed in an enemy attack was discovered in Darnytsia district.”
A missile strike partially destroyed a building housing state foreign-language broadcasters, the Russian-language Freedom television channel reported, saying that its newsroom had been destroyed.
Emergency services said that fires broke out in non-residential buildings in Kyiv. In a nearby region, a man was burned when an attack sparked a house fire, the head of the military administration said.
Russia attacked Ukraine with 23 cruise and ballistic missiles and 109 drones during the night, the Ukrainian air force said.
The air force said it shot down 13 of the missiles and 40 drones while 54 others caused no damage.
In the southern Kherson region, a drone killed a 59-year-old man, while in the northeastern Kharkiv region, near the border with Russia, two people were wounded in an aerial bomb attack, regional officials said.
In the western region of Khmelnytsky, authorities said air defenses destroyed a missile but falling fragments damaged a house and wounded a woman.
Over the past week, Russia has launched more than 1,460 guided aerial bombs, nearly 670 attack drones, and over 30 missiles of various types on Ukraine, Zelensky said.
Russia’s defense ministry said troops “liberated” the village of Basivka, close to the border with Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine quickly rejected the report.
“The enemy continues its disinformation campaign regarding the seizure of settlements in Sumy region or the breakthrough of the border,” Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, told AFP.
French President Emmanuel Macron echoed Zelensky’s calls for a stronger response to Russia.
“A ceasefire is needed as soon as possible. And strong action if Russia continues to try to buy time and refuse peace,” Macron said on X on Sunday.
Russia continues “to murder children and civilians,” he added.
The latest attacks came two days after a missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 people including nine children.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, denounced Russia’s “reckless disregard” for human life in using “an explosive weapon with wide area effects.”
Russia on Sunday said it had struck a central artillery base and enterprises involved in producing drones.
It accused Ukraine of striking its energy infrastructure including a gas distribution facility in the Voronezh region.
US President Donald Trump is pushing the two sides to agree a partial ceasefire, but has so far failed to broker an accord acceptable to both sides.
The United States is also seeking better ties with Russia and Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev in an interview with state television said that the next US-Russian contacts could be “next week,” Russian news agencies reported.
Dmitriev last week became the most senior Russian official to visit Washington since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
