Washington, July 8 (IANS) US President Joe Biden on Monday called upon Democratic lawmakers “to end” the heated debate over his candidacy for re-election, triggered by his disastrous debate, saying in a letter to them that “I am firmly committed to staying in this race”.

Biden’s letter seeks to quell a revolt brewing among Democratic lawmakers.

Four senior members of the House of Representatives – Jerry Nadler, Adam Smith, Mark Takano, and Joe Morelle – on Monday joined growing calls for him to step aside, taking the total to nine.

Senate Democrats are meeting later in the day to talk about Biden’s candidacy later on Monday as called by Mark Warner.

The party turmoil entered the second week on Monday at the same time as NATO leaders are gathering here in Washington DC for their annual summit.

Allies will be keeping an eye on the embattled American President’s domestic troubles as they discuss threats posed individually and collectively as a group by Russia, China, and Iran.

The Democratic party has been riven by a bitter debate triggered by his weak performance in the first presidential debate against former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, on June 27.

Some Democrats think he seemed not only incapable of defeating Trump in the election but also governing the country for the next four years, if he wins a second term. They have called for him to make way for someone younger and healthier.

Vice-President Kamala Harris is a leading contender.

But President Biden is not going anywhere.

“Despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump,” he wrote in the letter.

“The question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now. And it’s time for it to end.”

In a call to a morning talk show, Biden threw a challenge to those “party elites” who have been calling for his ouster to contest against him for the party nomination at the convention in Chicago.

“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites, I’m not talking about you guys, but about the elite in the party, who … know so much more,” Biden said, adding “challenge me at the convention”.

Biden reminded lawmakers in the letter that he won the party nomination with 14 million votes, which was 87 per cent of the votes cast, and won nearly 3,000 party delegates (who will elect the nominee formally at the convention).

“This was a process open to anyone who wanted to run. Only three people chose to challenge me. One fared so badly that he left the primaries to run as an independent. Another attacked me for being too old and was soundly defeated. The voters of the Democratic Party have voted. They have chosen me to be the nominee of the party,” he wrote.

“Do we now just say this process didn’t matter? That the voters don’t have a say? I decline to do that.”

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) A French President, seeking a parliament more aligned with his ideology and programme of action, took the gamble by dissolving it prematurely for fresh elections – and ended up with a left-wing government that championed its own schemes and hampered his course. Emmanuel Macron in 2024? No, it was Jacques Chirac in 1997.

Though the era and circumstances are different, but like Chirac, Macron is not going to have an easy time.

As the dust settles on the snap parliamentary election that Macron called in a rather desperate gambit, the predictions of a sweep by the far-right National Rally have dissipated as it did not match its show in the EU Parliament elections and the first round of the French elections.

However, the the triumph of the hard left over the far-right is scarcely an outcome that he could have wanted.

While no bloc – the far-right, the hard-left-led National Popular Front, or Macron’s own Ensemble is even remotely close to a majority in the 577-member National Assembly, forming the new government will be a complex task, as it involves a lot of wheeling and dealing. But the strikingly different ideological makeup of all the three major blocs makes any alliance difficult and its functioning and longevity doubtful.

If it ends in a Left-led government, as the NFP (as per its French name) demanded as it became the singest-largest bloc, it is not going to be easy for Macron in the country’s fourth spell of “cohabitation” – where different parties hold the presidency and the sway in the parliament.

In a last-ditch effort to ward off the far-right, Macron’s Centrists entered into a tacit alliance of convenience with the second-placed hard-left ensemble, with several third-placed candidates of both blocs quitting in various places so as to prevent division of votes and set up one-to-one contests against the National Rally in the second round.

The gambit did succeed in its primary aim of stopping what seemed an unstoppable march to power by Marine Le Pen and the youthful Jordan Bardella’s co-led National Rally but ended up benefitting the Left more than it did Macron and his party.

And the two forces may have struck up a tactical – and ultimately successful – alliance, there is no love lost between the two parties as the NFP partners are trenchant critics of Macron’s policies on the raised retirement age, and tax cuts, among others.

And any hopes that the arrangement could carry on into the new Assembly was dispelled by the remarks of Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the radical left France Unbowed, the largest in the left-wing coalition, following the exit polls on Sunday.

Terming the result “the outcome of a magnificent mobilisation effort”, he said: “The President has to bow and admit this is a defeat… the Prime Minister needs to leave. The President has the power and the duty to call the NFP to govern.”

On the other hand, Macron had, in the runup to the polls, declared that the victory of either the far-right or the hard-left could ignite “a civil war” in the country.

The NFP is not a monolithic bloc too, being a combination of Socialists, Ecologists, Communists and France Unbowed (LFI) and others, including some Trotskyite elements, which have plenty of policy disagreements with each other but came together as a united force against the far-right after Macron called the snap parliamentary election last month. However, whether it will remain a cohesive unit remains to be seen.

Time will tell whether the NFP’s stab at power succeeds – and how it fares, but amid the resurgence of the Left and the setback to the far-right, what the National Rally called a “delayed victory” and fulminated at the “dishonourable” Left-Macronist alliance that stymied it, the ultimate loss is of Macron.

Smarting from National Rally’s emphatic victory in the European Parliament elections in June, he largely unilaterally decided to call snap parliamentary elections, seemingly leaving his government taken aback – as per their glazed expressions in a photo of the cabinet meeting. He had reportedly likened his move to throwing “an unpinned grenade at their (far-right’s) feet”.

His action may have succeeded partially, insofar, as it has stymied the National Rally, but Macron ended up facing a blowback from an entire direction entirely. He may have staved off the far-right with the left but cannot play the same game again in a different variant, given the livid attitude of the National Rally.

President Chirac “cohabited” with Premier Lionel Jospin’s Socialist government for 5 years. Macron, who has asserted that he will remain President for the rest of his term (till 2027), will have to “cohabit” for at least a year, for under the Constitution, another election cannot be called till then.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)

–IANS

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Paris, July 8 (IANS) French President Emmanuel Macron rejected Prime Minister Gabriel Attal’s resignation on Monday after the ruling party failed to secure a majority in the snap legislative elections, French news channel BFMTV reported.

Macron has asked Attal to remain as prime minister “for the moment” to ensure the country’s stability, BFMTV reported, citing the presidential office, the Elysee, reports Xinhua news agency.

In the two rounds of legislative elections held on June 30 and July 7, Macron’s centrist coalition finished second with 163 seats, trailing the left-wing parties’ alliance, the New Popular Front (NFP), which secured a relative majority with 182 seats in the 577-member National Assembly.

The French president announced the dissolution of the National Assembly on June 9 and called for new legislative elections after his Renaissance party coalition suffered a heavy defeat in the European Parliament elections.

–IANS

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Moscow, July 8 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Moscow late Monday afternoon, kicking off a two-day visit to Russia — his first to the country since 2019 and first to its capital after 2015.

“I look forward to reviewing all aspects of bilateral cooperation with my friend President Vladimir Putin and sharing perspectives on various regional and global issues,” PM Modi said in his departure statement before leaving New Delhi.

He spotlighted that the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia has advanced over the past 10 years, including in the areas of energy, security, trade, investment, health, education, culture, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.

Prime Minister Modi last visited Russia for the 20th India-Russia Bilateral Summit held on the sidelines of the 5th Eastern Economic Summit — where he was the guest of honour — at Vladivostok in September 2019.

A lot has changed in the region since then, especially after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. However, the India-Russia Special and Privileged Partnership has remained resilient in the wake of multiple geopolitical challenges that the world has been facing.

New Delhi has maintained a steady relationship with Moscow even as PM Modi repeatedly asserted that no solution can ever be arrived at the cost of human lives and that escalation of hostilities and violence is in no one’s interest.

“We seek to play a supportive role for a peaceful and stable region,” mentioned PM’s departure statement on Monday.

Wit the Russian President hosting a private dinner for Prime Minister Modi later in the evening, the two leaders are expected to discuss a range of issues of regional and global importance of mutual interest.

On Tuesday, PM Modi will interact with the vibrant Indian community in Russia, lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Kremlin and thereafter visit the Rosatom pavilion at an exhibition venue in Moscow.

These engagements will be followed by a restricted-level talk between PM Modi and President Putin, which will then be followed by delegation-level talks.

“The issue of early discharge of Indian nationals who have been misled into the service of the Russian army is also expected to figure in the discussions. Other areas of interest would also include cooperation across the range of areas,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said last week.

He highlighted that the India-Russia bilateral trade has seen a sharp increase in 2023-24 and has since touched close to $65 billion, primarily due to strong energy cooperation between the two countries.

“We also have growing investment ties between the two countries, including in the field of energy, banking, railways, and steel. These are the growing areas of our investment partnership. Russia also remains an important partner for India’s energy security and defence. In the area of nuclear energy, Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant units 1 and 2 have already become operational. And the work is progressing on units 3 and 6,” said the Indian Foreign Secretary.

All eyes will also be focused on the growing defence cooperation between the two countries as they continue to work closely across a full range of its sub-domains.

“Both sides are currently working on a series of outcome documents, which would be the result of the summit,” Kwatra stated last week.

After concluding his Moscow visit, PM Modi will travel to Austria on Tuesday which will be the first ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the country in 41 years.

–IANS

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Los Angeles, July 8 (IANS) A persistent heat wave is shattering temperature records across the Western United States, putting millions of people under extreme heat warnings and fueling dangerous wildfires that forced evacuations in several states.

Nearly 75 million people, primarily in the West, are under some form of extreme heat advisory on Sunday as a powerful heat dome hovers over the region, according to the National Weather Service, which has issued excessive heat warnings stretching from Arizona and Nevada through California and northward into Oregon and Washington, reports Xinhua news agency.

On Sunday, Las Vegas, Nevada, experienced a new all-time high temperature of 48.9 degrees Celsius, surpassing its previous record by three degrees, the National Weather Service Las Vegas said in a post on social media X, formerly Twitter. The record was officially recorded at Harry Reid International Airport.

California’s Death Valley, known for its extreme temperatures, reached 53.9 degrees Celsius on Sunday. The day before, a high temperature of 53.3 degrees Celsius was recorded at Death Valley National Park, where a visitor died from heat exposure and another was hospitalised for severe heat-related illness, according to a report by NBC News.

Other cities across the region also saw their record books rewritten. Palm Springs, California, reached a blistering 51.1 degrees Celsius on Friday, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the town. This surpassed the previous record of 50.6 degrees Celsius, set four times before, most recently in 2021.

The extreme temperatures are not limited to desert areas.

Sacramento, California’s capital, has experienced temperatures over 40.6 degrees Celsius for three consecutive days, while inland areas of Monterey County, typically cooled by the nearby Pacific Ocean, have seen temperatures soar well over 43.3 degrees Celsius.

The extreme heat was fueled by a strong ridge of high pressure parked over Central California. This weather pattern prevents hot air near the surface from rising higher in the atmosphere, effectively trapping the heat and creating a “heat dome” effect.

As the region swelters, the risk of wildfires has dramatically increased. Officials across Western states warned that the combination of extreme heat and winds had spawned many new wildfires in the past week.

One significant blaze, the French Fire in Mariposa County, California, began on Thursday near Yosemite National Park. By Sunday night, it had burned through 908 acres (3.67 square kilometers) and was 55 per cent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

In California’s Santa Barbara County, firefighters are battling the Lake Fire, which exploded over the weekend to more than 13,000 acres. As of Sunday morning, it was only 8 per cent contained. The blaze is threatening homes in the area, including Michael Jackson’s former Neverland Ranch.

Further north, crews are combating the Royal Fire, which burned in the Tahoe National Forest Sunday night. Forest service officials have reported that the fire was located in remote and rugged terrain, presenting significant challenges for firefighting operations.

The heat wave and associated wildfires have prompted evacuations in multiple counties across California, including Santa Barbara, Placer, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Fresno and Butte counties.

As the heat wave continues, authorities are continuing to urge residents to take precautions. These include staying adequately hydrated, minimising outdoor activities during the hottest times of the day, and never leaving children or pets unattended in vehicles.

Climate experts warned that extreme heat events are expected to increase in frequency and intensity due to climate change.

–IANS

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