International
Democrats Search For New 2024 Candidate After Biden’s Exit

Democrats were in uncharted territory Monday as they raced against the clock to find a new standard-bearer after President Joe Biden’s stunning late exit from the 2024 race for the White House.
Vice President Kamala Harris was in pole position as the party promised a “transparent and orderly process” to replace the 81-year-old Biden, who bowed Sunday to Democratic concerns over his age and capacity to beat Republican Donald Trump in November.
The announcement set off a scramble to confirm a new candidate at the Democratic convention in Chicago on August 19 — and perhaps weeks sooner.
Democratic lawmakers and party elders, including at least a third of US senators, some key governors, and Bill and Hillary Clinton, have rallied behind Harris, who crucially also received Biden’s swift endorsement.
But many big names — from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his influential predecessor Nancy Pelosi to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and former president Barack Obama — were initially holding back.
“We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead,” Obama said in a statement in the wake of Biden’s announcement.
“But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.”
– ‘Full support’ –
Harris — who is Black and South Asian, and the only woman vice president in US history — appeared to have no immediate rivals, and any challenger may have a very small window to pitch an alternative path forward.
Potential convention delegates were being told to expect a vote on August 1 to put Harris’s name formally atop the ticket, more than two weeks before the gathering, CBS reported.
Calls for an open convention in Chicago have been muted so far, with potential challengers such as popular California governor Gavin Newsom backing Harris.
“Yes, there’s a process to go through and, yes, she must earn it. But she earned in many ways when Joe Biden selected her to be his vice president,” former Missouri senator Claire McCaskill said on MSNBC.
The Democratic ticket has been in disarray since Biden’s dismal debate performance in June, with Republicans coalescing around Trump after the attempt on his life at a rally in Pennsylvania eight days ago.
Biden spent more than three weeks resisting calls to step down but then dropped his bombshell as he recovered from Covid at his Delaware beach house.
The veteran Democrat said it had been the “greatest honor of my life” to be president and promised to address the nation later this week, offering his “full support and endorsement” for Harris.
– Harris ‘most likely’ –
Biden’s exit makes him the first president in 56 years not to seek a second term and the first in US history to quit so late in the calendar.
Donna Patterson, an analyst and professor in Delaware State University’s political science department, said his exit had injected “new energy” into the campaign.
“In the hours since the announcement, and with Biden’s endorsement, a Kamala Harris presidential candidacy seems most likely,” she added.
Biden’s move also makes Trump, 78, the oldest presidential nominee in US history. He fired off a series of posts on Truth Social in reaction to the news slamming Biden as “not fit to run” and “certainly not fit to serve.”
He also called for the next presidential debate, set for September, to be moved from ABC News to Trump-friendly Fox News.
Meanwhile running mate J.D. Vance underlined that Harris had been “every step of the way” with Biden, “the worst president in my lifetime.”
The vice president struggled to make an impact in her first years in the White House, but performed strongly on the campaign trail on key issues such as abortion.
“Anyone the Democrats nominate — and I’m pretty sure it will be Harris — will have challenges,” said Donald Nieman, a political analyst and professor at Binghamton University in New York state.
“But the announcement shifts the focus away from Biden’s physical and intellectual limitations, where it has been for the past three weeks.”
AFP
International
Republic of Ireland deports 35 Nigerians without cogent reason

The Republic of Ireland has deported no fewer than 35 Nigerians, including five children, to Nigeria in a chartered flight that departed from Dublin Airport on Wednesday night.
According to the Irish Mirror, the returnees, comprising 21 men, nine women, and five children, landed in Nigeria on Thursday.
Irish Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, said he was “happy to say” that all of them returned to Nigeria despite an unscheduled stopover due to a medical incident on board.
While the Irish government did not give a specific reason for the deportation of the Nigerian nationals, O’Callaghan only said, “Ireland has a rules-based immigration system. It is important that those rules are robust and enforced.
”However, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission said it was not aware of the deportation of the Nigerians by Ireland on Thursday.
The NiDCOM spokesperson, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, made this known on Thursday.
International
Trump bans citizens of Chad, Congo, 10 others from entering US

US President, Donald Trump has signed a new proclamation barring citizens from 12 countries from entering the United States, citing national security concerns.
The full travel ban affects nationals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
The restriction will take effect on June 9, 2025.
In addition to the full bans, the proclamation imposes partial restrictions on citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
There are some exemptions, including athletes travelling for major sporting events, some Afghan nationals and dual nationals with citizenship in unaffected countries, according to the BBC.
Trump stated that the measure is intended to prevent individuals considered potential security risks from gaining entry into the US.
“We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen,” he said in a video message posted on X on Wednesday.
According to the White House, the countries facing the harshest restrictions were deemed to have a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” poor cooperation on visa-related security measures, and inadequate systems for verifying travelers’ identities.
The administration also cited issues such as poor record-keeping of criminal histories and high visa overstay rates as contributing factors.
The new directive builds on Trump’s broader immigration crackdown initiated at the beginning of his second term.
On January 20, the president signed an executive order mandating stricter security checks for foreign nationals and instructing federal agencies to review which countries should face entry suspensions due to inadequate vetting procedures.
This move echoes Trump’s controversial travel ban during his first term, which initially targeted seven predominantly Muslim countries and was upheld by the US Supreme Court in 2018.
The ban was later repealed by President Joe Biden in 2021, who described it as “a stain on our national conscience.”
International
JUST IN: Joe Biden diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer

Former US President Joe Biden, 82, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, a statement from his office said on Sunday.
Biden, who left office in January, was diagnosed on Friday after he saw a doctor last week for urinary symptoms.
The cancer is a more aggressive form of the disease, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 out of 10. This means his illness is classified as “high-grade” and the cancer cells could spread quickly, according to Cancer Research UK.
Biden and his family are said to be reviewing treatment options. His office added that the cancer was hormone-sensitive, meaning it could likely be managed.
In Sunday’s statement, Biden’s office said: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.
“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.
“After news broke of his diagnosis, the former president received support from both sides of the aisle.
President Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that he and First Lady Melania Trump were “saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis”.
“We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family,” he said, referring to former First Lady Jill Biden. “We wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.”
Former Vice-President Kamala Harris, who served under Biden, wrote on X that she and her husband Doug Emhoff are keeping the Biden family in their prayers.
“Joe is a fighter – and I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, resilience, and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership,” Harris said.
In a post on X, Barack Obama – who served as president from 2009 to 2017 with Joe Biden as his deputy – said that he and his wife Michelle were “thinking of the entire Biden family”.
“Nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe, and I am certain he will fight this challenge with his trademark resolve and grace. We pray for a fast and full recovery,” Obama said.
In 2016, Obama tasked Biden with leading a “cancer moonshot” government-wide research programme.
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “I am very sorry to hear President Biden has prostate cancer.
All the very best to Joe, his wife Jill and their family, and wishing the president swift and successful treatment.”
The news comes nearly a year after the former president was forced to drop out of the 2024 US presidential election over concerns about his health and age.
He is the oldest person to have held the office in US history.
Biden, then the Democratic nominee vying for re-election, faced mounting criticism of his poor performance in a June televised debate against Republican nominee and current president Donald Trump.
He was replaced as the Democratic candidate by his vice-president, Kamala Harris.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer affecting men, behind skin cancer, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that 13 out of every 100 men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives.
Age is the most common risk factor, the CDC says.
Dr William Dahut, the Chief Scientific Officer at the American Cancer Society and a trained prostate cancer physician, told the BBC that the cancer is more aggressive in nature, based on the publicly-available information on Biden’s diagnosis.
“In general, if cancer has spread to the bones, we don’t think it is considered a curable cancer,” Dr Dahut said.
He noted, however, that most patients tend to respond well to initial treatment, “and people can live many years with the diagnosis”.
Dr Dahut said that someone with the former president’s diagnosis will likely be offered hormonal therapies to mitigate symptoms and to slow the growth of cancerous cells.
Biden had largely retreated from the public eye since leaving the White House and he has made few public appearances.
The former president delivered a keynote speech in April at a Chicago conference held by the Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled, a US-based advocacy group for people with disabilities.
In May, he sat down for an interview with the BBC – his first since leaving the White House – where he admitted that the decision to step down from the 2024 race was “difficult”.
Biden has faced questions about the status of his health in recent months.
In an appearance on The View programme that also took place in May, Biden denied claims that he had been experiencing cognitive decline in his final year at the White House. “There is nothing to sustain that,” he said.
For many years, the president had advocated for cancer research.
In 2022, he and Mrs Biden relaunched the “cancer moonshot” initiative with the goal of mobilising research efforts to prevent more than four million cancer deaths by the year 2047.
Biden himself lost his eldest son, Beau, to brain cancer in 2015.
BBC
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