Haley withdraws from US campaign
Nikki Haley dropped out of the presidential race, effectively handing the Republican nomination to Donald Trump. She pointedly declined to endorse him, instead saying he must win over voters.
A Biden-Trump continuation—a contest that many Americans had hoped to avoid—is now an inevitable reality.
The electoral battle is expected to be a grueling, brutal eight-month struggle. Both candidates intend to campaign around their opponents, which means two extremely negative campaigns. (Biden, 81, says Trump is a threat to democracy; Trump, 77, paints Biden as old and frail.)
Biden should be the favorite: He is an incumbent running on a backdrop of a sufficiently healthy economy, while his opponent has been charged with multiple federal crimes. But Trump leads in the polls. Yesterday, he received the support of Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said Trump had won “the necessary support of Republican voters.”
As Ramadan approaches, Gaza ceasefire negotiations reach a deadlock
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire and the release of Gaza hostages have reached an impasse, according to people familiar with the talks. Hopes that the two sides can reach an agreement before the holy month of Ramadan, which begins on Sunday, are increasingly dim.
Negotiators have been discussing an initial six-week ceasefire, during which Hamas would release a large number of Palestinian prisoners of about 40 women, including elderly captives, sick hostages and five female Israeli soldiers. But officials said Hamas recently backed away from the proposed deal and made broad demands that Israel has refused to meet, including a commitment to a permanent ceasefire during or after three phases of hostage release.
The United States has been pushing for a deal before Ramadan, when frustrations and tempers could boil over, making a deal more difficult.
on the ground: A series of conflicting reports on the truce talks has sent Gazans on an emotional rollercoaster ride.
Russia attacks Odessa during visit of Zelensky and Greek leaders
The attack occurred yesterday as Russian President Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were visiting the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. Neither man was injured, and it was unclear whether Russia was targeting them or how far away they were from the blast.
Ukraine said Russia attacked the city’s port infrastructure, killing five people. Mitsotakis told reporters that he and Zelensky were visiting the city’s port at the time of the attack and heard “explosions very close to us.”
Alexei Navalny: Russians are flocking to the grave of the country’s most prominent opposition leader to remember his legacy.
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A new generation of Chinese models are taking Paris Fashion Week by storm. They don’t have the typical Han features that have long defined China’s beauty standards; instead, the head of Vogue China writes, they are chameleons able to adapt to designers.
García Márquez’s last, almost lost novel
Towards the end of his life, when his memory was in tatters, Gabriel García Márquez spent years trying to complete Until August, a film about the secret sexual escapades of a middle-aged married woman. A novel about life.
Finally, he delivered a devastating sentence to his younger son: “He told me directly that the novel had to be destroyed,” said son Gonzalo García Barcha.
After much debate, García Márquez’s sons rejected their father’s request. So this month, ten years after his death, his final novel will be published in nearly 30 countries, adding a new coda to the Nobel Prize winner’s oeuvre. It also adds to the rich literary history of works published posthumously, despite the author’s reluctance.