While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, July 19
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US President Joe Biden (left) and former US president Barack Obama attending a campaign fund-raiser in Los Angeles, on June 15.
PHOTO: AFP
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Obama reportedly concerned over Biden bid
Barack Obama has reportedly told allies that Joe Biden must reconsider whether to stay in the White House race, as the US president remained holed up at his beach house on July 18 with a bout of Covid-19.
The former president believed the 81-year-old Mr Biden, his vice-president for eight years, should “seriously consider the viability of his candidacy,” the Washington Post reported.
Mr Biden’s candidacy is on a knife-edge with a growing list of senior Democrats calling on him to step aside as concerns about his age and health spark fears that he is on course to lose badly to Donald Trump in November.
While rival Trump prepares for his star turn at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee later on July 18, Mr Biden finds himself in both personal and political isolation.
Ukraine’s Zelensky to address UK Cabinet
EPA-EFE
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the UK’s new Cabinet on July 19, briefing senior ministers about the battlefield situation in the war with Russia, Downing Street said on July 18.
Mr Zelensky will be the first official visitor to Downing Street since Mr Keir Starmer became prime minister on July 5, and the first foreign leader to address Cabinet in person since US president Bill Clinton in 1997.
“Ukraine is, and always will be, at the heart of this government’s agenda and so it is only fitting that President Zelensky will make a historic address to my Cabinet,” Mr Starmer said, ahead of the meeting.
Attacker injures a police officer in central Paris
A police officer was critically injured in a stabbing attack in Paris’ Champs Elysees shopping district on July 18, after a security guard at a boutique called police after spotting a man who appeared to be carrying a knife, the Paris police chief said.
The attacker was also critically injured, the police chief, Mr Laurent Nunez, told reporters.
France is on its highest state of security alert as it gears up to host millions of visitors, athletes and world leaders during the Paris Olympic Summer Games, due to kick off on July 26.
Trump-style ear bandages are new trend at convention
NYT
At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week, a fashion trend with a difference has emerged - fake ear bandages, donned by attendees as a symbolic gesture of support for Donald Trump.
Trump has appeared at the convention wearing a large bandage where a would-be assassin’s bullet grazed his right ear at a rally on July 13.
“We’re helping President Trump set a new fashion statement,” said Arizona delegate Susan Ellsworth.
Boy in Spain lives in permanent shade to survive sun
REUTERS
Pol Dominguez Aranda, 11, is enjoying his summer holidays in Spain. But unlike most children his age, he does not spend his days at the beach or pool, instead staying indoors to avoid ultraviolet radiation that could be deadly for him.
Pol has xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), a rare condition that affects his skin and eyes. Patients are unable to repair their DNA from solar damage, which puts them at high risk of developing cancer.
His case is extreme: Even brief exposure to sunlight causes serious burns.
