‘I know I’m not a young man’: Biden’s still in it

Weekend Briefing

From Reuters Daily Briefing

By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor

Hello everyone, it's good to have you back or joining us for the first time at the Weekend Briefing. Listen to our latest World News podcast on the first round of elections in France and read our excellent piece on one gun and its trail of violence in Ecuador. Note: We won't have a newsletter next Saturday, but we'll be back a week after that.

'The stakes are too high'

Raleigh, North Carolina, June 28, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

Shake it off: President Biden acknowledged his alarming presidential-debate performance against Donald Trump, telling a crowd in North Carolina that he can do the job even though, "I don't walk as easy as I used to, I don't speak as smoothly as I used to, I don't debate as well as I used to." Barack Obama remains in his corner and he received encouraging words from important Democrats, even as some strategists and fundraisers whisper that the party should replace him. Is that possible? Yes, but it would be messy.
Saving the Trump for last: The Supreme Court is expected to rule Monday on Trump's claim of immunity from criminal prosecution for trying to undo his 2020 election loss. The justices raised the bar for prosecutors pursuing obstruction cases against defendants in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack. We have many more stories on high-court action here.

France's election stokes far-right-linked violence

Allons enfants de la patrie: The far-right National Rally likely will lead in Sunday's first round of parliamentary elections as European attitudes shift and voters look to punish President Emmanuel Macron for perceived sins. Macron said extremist parties could provoke "civil war," and there has been violence linked to the far right. Marine Le Pen worked wonders in cleaning up the National Rally's racist image, but some French Jews think their respectability is a veneer. You can find much more on the elections here.
Britain and Iran: The UK's Labour Party holds the lead over the ruling Conservatives in the polls before the July 4 election day. The far-right Reform UK party took a blow in public opinion after its leader Nigel Farage said the West provoked Russia's invasion of Ukraine. See our fine repository of UK election stories here. And Iran will hold a run-off presidential election between a moderate lawmaker and a hardline diplomat after neither secured more than half the vote. Turnout was about 40% despite Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's call to get people out to the polls.

Huge mounds of rotting trash pile up in Gaza

UNRWA report: It's hot and Israel won't allow landfill cleanup, which means garbage is piling up around refugee camps, increasing the risk of disease. The Biden administration has sent to Israel large numbers of munitions, including more than 10,000 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles since the start of the war in Gaza.
War zones: Ukraine said it forced Russia out of a district in Chasiv Yar as Russia makes slow headway in the east. Volodymyr Zelenskiy ordered the purge of the state guard service after two of its officers were accused of plotting to assassinate senior officials. Western supplies of artillery shells reached Ukrainian units on the lines in the Donetsk region. In Sudan, there is a realistic chance of famine across a widespread area.

Just sell it

Shoes untied: Nike shares fell 20% as a surprise drop in annual sales thanks to competition from newer competitors worried investors. Retailer H&M took a hit on the stock market as it fights to hold its profit-margin forecasts for the year. And drugstore operator Walgreens cut its annual profit forecast and said it would close underperforming U.S. stores.
Listing: A UK-based human-rights group is trying to block Shein from going public on the London bourse over questions of whether the retailer uses forced labor. And here's our special report on Foxconn's refusal to hire married women at its main iPhone assembly plant in India.

Before I forget…

- Kenya's president fell back to earth after his citizens forced him to ditch major tax rises.
- China threatened to put people to death in some cases for being "diehard" Taiwan independence separatists.
- El Salvador's president said he would fire 300 employees at the culture ministry for promoting agendas that are "incompatible" with the government's vision.
- Georgia took a step closer to putting some big curbs on LGBT rights.
- In the United States, Oklahoma ordered schools to teach the Bible and Louisiana was sued for requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in class.
Water-pollution levels in the Seine remain much higher than allowed for bathing. Take note, Olympic swimmers. (And check out the cool picture our photographer shot for this story.)

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