World
Over 70,000 affected by floods in India's Punjab
The flood situation in the northern Indian state of Punjab has remained grim as the flood water on Monday entered more villages inundating houses, crop lands and roads.
At least 36 villages in Tarn Taran, Fazilka and Ferozepur districts were inundated due to fresh breaches in the Sutlej river.
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Officials said the situation in the Sutlej remained dangerous in Ferozepur district and authorities are watching closely the situation at vulnerable locations along the embankments.
According to officials, so far over 70,000 people have been affected by the floods in the seven affected districts.
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Floods in Punjab were triggered by the release of water from the Bhakra and Pong dams in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.
Last week landslides, cloudbursts, flash floods and house collapses triggered by heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh killed over 70 people. The incessant rains also pushed the water level up in several dams of the state.
Reports said at least 20,000 residents of nearly a dozen villages in Punjab's Fazilka district were facing fresh flooding in the wake of the heavy discharge from the Hussainiwala Headworks. With roads waterlogged these villages are at present connected to the mainland only through boats.
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Meanwhile, the situation in villages in Kapurthala, Gurdaspur, Rupnagar and Hoshiarpur districts has started improving.
The overflow of the Sutlej river has also led to the drowning of posts of border guards belonging to the Border Security Force. Many outposts and fencing on the Ferozepur border of Punjab have been submerged. In addition, 14 villages have been cut off from other districts. The local administration is trying to establish contact with these villages.
Authorities in these flood-hit districts have deployed teams of the National Disaster Response Force, army and border guards to carry out rescue operations.
Meanwhile, a local media report said police in Ludhiana district booked four persons who were allegedly found fishing and bathing in the raging waters of swollen Sutlej. The local administration has already issued warnings to the public to avoid going near the banks.
Last month floods also hit 19 districts of the state, claiming 41 lives.
Rights group says Saudi Arabian border guards fired on and killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants
Border guards in Saudi Arabia have fired machine guns and launched mortars at Ethiopians trying to cross into the kingdom from Yemen, likely killing hundreds of the unarmed migrants in recent years, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Monday.
The rights group cited eyewitness reports of attacks by troops and images that showed dead bodies and burial sites on migrant routes, saying the death toll could even be “possibly thousands.”
The United Nations has already questioned Saudi Arabia about its troops opening fire on the migrants in an escalating pattern of attacks along its southern border with war-torn Yemen.
A Saudi government official, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly, called the Human Rights Watch report “unfounded and not based on reliable sources,” without offering evidence to support the assertion. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who allegedly make tens of thousands of dollars a week smuggling migrants over the border, did not respond to requests for comment.
Some 750,000 Ethiopians live in Saudi Arabia, with as many as 450,000 likely having entered the kingdom without authorization, according to 2022 statistics from the International Organization for Migration. The two-year civil war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region displaced tens of thousands of people.
Saudi Arabia, struggling with youth unemployment, has been sending thousands back to Ethiopia in concert with Addis Abba.
Human Rights Watch said it spoke to 38 Ethiopian migrants and four relatives of people who attempted to cross the border between March 2022 and June 2023 who said they saw Saudi guards shoot at migrants or launch explosives at groups.
The report said the group also analyzed over 350 videos and photographs posted to social media or gathered from other sources filmed between May 12, 2021, and July 18, 2023. It also examined several hundred square kilometers (miles) of satellite imagery captured between February 2022 and July 2023.
“These show dead and wounded migrants on the trails, in camps and in medical facilities, how burial sites near the migrant camps grew in size, the expanding Saudi Arabian border security infrastructure, and the routes currently used by the migrants to attempt border crossings,” the report said.
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An April 27 satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press showed the same tent structures identified by the rights group near al-Raqw, Yemen, on the Saudi border. Two sets of fence lines could be seen just across the border into Saudi Arabia.
The site Human Rights Watch identified as the migrant camp at Al-Thabit also could be seen in satellite images, which corresponded to the group’s narrative that the camp largely had been dismantled in early April.
Both areas are in northwestern Yemen, the stronghold of the country’s Houthi rebels. The U.N. has said that the Houthi-controlled immigration office “collaborates with traffickers to systematically direct migrants” to Saudi Arabia, bringing in $50,000 a week.
The Houthis have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition has battled the Houthis since March 2015, without dislodging them from the capital. Fighting has largely halted between the Saudi-led forces and the Houthis as Riyadh seeks a way to end the war. However, throughout the war years, the Houthis claimed multiple incursions across the Saudi border in this mountainous region.
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Migrants from Ethiopia have found themselves detained, abused and even killed in Saudi Arabia and Yemen during the war. But in recent months, there has been growing concern from the U.N. human rights body about Saudi forces attacking migrants coming in from Yemen.
An Oct. 3, 2022, letter to the kingdom from the U.N. said its investigators “received concerning allegations of cross-border artillery shelling and small arms fire allegedly by Saudi security forces causing the deaths of up to 430 and injuring 650 migrants.”
“If migrants are captured, they are reportedly oftentimes subjected to torture by being lined up and shot through the side of the leg to see how far the bullet will go or asked if they prefer to be shot in the hand or the leg,” the letter from the U.N. reads. “Survivors of such attacks reported having to ‘play dead’ for a period of time in order to escape.”
A letter sent by Saudi Arabia’s mission to the U.N. in Geneva in March said that it “categorically refutes” allegations that the kingdom carries out any “systematic” killings on the border. However, it also said the U.N. provided “limited information” so it could not “confirm or substantiate the allegations.”
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All Alpine glaciers above zero, says CNR
Italy's National Research Council (CNR) said Sunday that all of Italy's Alpine glaciers were current above zero degrees amid an ongoing string of heatwaves and as a result of the climate crisis.
Read: Putin profits off US and European reliance on Russian nuclear fuel "All the Alpine glaciers, at all altitudes, are above zero and the situation is quite critical", said Claudio Tei, researcher and meteorologist at the CNR and the Lamma Consortium, on the heat wave that is sweeping Central and Northern Italy, due to a sub-tropical anticyclone coming from Africa.
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"The hottest days predicted by the models are Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 August, with peaks of 38 degrees in some cities and more than 7 degrees above this season's average, even 10 degrees above seasonal values in the western Alps," Tei explains, "while the zero temperature at altitude is expected to rise up to 5,000 metres..
A bus crashes off the road in central Turkey, leaving 12 passengers dead
A passenger bus veered off the road and crashed into a roadside ditch in central Turkey on Monday, killing 12 people and injuring 19 others, officials said.
The driver of the bus lost control of the vehicle, which crossed into the oncoming lane and then plunged into the ditch near the central Turkish city of Yozgat, Gov. Mehmet Ali Ozkan said.
The bus was traveling from Sivas — some 240 kilometers (150 miles) east of Yozgat — to Istanbul.
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Ozkan said 11 of the passengers died at the scene of the crash while one died later in the hospital.
The injured passengers were being treated in nearby hospitals and one of them was in serious condition, he said.
The cause of the crash was under investigation, Ozkan said, adding that it appeared to be the result of “carelessness” by the driver.
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Pet carnival held in Egypt to raise animal protection awareness
In a joyful atmosphere, hundreds of pet lovers gathered in Egypt's Mediterranean North Coast in the Matrouh Governorate for an annual pet carnival.
Aleef is a pet Carnival that is usually held in Egypt's capital Cairo. Being the country's largest of its kind, it provides pet lovers and owners a chance to meet experts in pet care, breeding, and nutrition.
"We have been holding this event for 12 years, but this is the first time to organize it in the North Coast, which is a plus for us," said Nadine Hamdy, marketing manager of the carnival.
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A number of veterinarians, pet nutritionists, and pet trainers participated in the event, which took place on Saturday. It includes activities of pets medication and training and offers a number of recreational activities for pets, such as swimming trainings and shows.
Such event would help people better get along with animals, Hamdy said.
For Adam Kilani, a visitor from neighboring Alexandria Governorate, the event is an unforgettable experience for him, as his five-year-old pet dog Gawaher had learnt to swim for the first time in a year.
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"It is a great chance for me to learn about pet care in an amusing way," Kilani said, as he watched his dog swim.
Holding such events, especially in tourist resorts during the summer, will significantly promote the culture of pet ownership in Egypt, said Kilani.
"I have seen people here who have never touched a dog, but they were very happy to play with Gawaher. Some of them said they would love to keep a dog at home soon," Kilany said.
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Lina Kamal, who brought her three-year-old dog to the carnival, said the event was important because it raised the issue of stray animals and offered solutions to their plight.
"We should have stronger awareness to protect animals...this is one of the things that the carnival advocates," said Kamal.
Russia, China look to advance agendas at BRICS summit of developing countries in South Africa
Russia and China will look to gain more political and economic ground in the developing world at a summit in South Africa this week, when an expected joint dose of anti-West grumbling from them may take on a sharper edge with a formal move to bring Saudi Arabia closer.
Leaders from the BRICS economic bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will hold three days of meetings in Johannesburg's financial district of Sandton, with Chinese premier Xi Jinping's attendance underlining the diplomatic capital his country has invested in the bloc over the last decade-and-a-bit as an avenue for its ambitions.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin will appear on a video link after his travel to South Africa was complicated by an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him over the war in Ukraine. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will be at the summit alongside Xi.
The main summit on Wednesday — and sideline meetings Tuesday and Thursday — are expected to produce general calls for more cooperation among countries in the Global South amid their rising discontent over perceived Western dominance of global institutions.
That's a sentiment that Russia and China are more than happy to lean into. Leaders or representatives of dozens more developing countries are set to attend the sideline meetings in Africa's wealthiest city to give Xi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who will represent Putin in South Africa, a sizeable audience.
One specific policy point with more direct implications will be discussed and possibly decided on - the proposed expansion of the BRICS bloc, which was formed in 2009 by the emerging market countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, and added South Africa the following year.
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Saudi Arabia is one of more than 20 countries to have formally applied to join BRICS in another possible expansion, South African officials say. Any move toward the inclusion of the world's second-biggest oil producer in an economic bloc with Russia and China would clearly draw attention from the United States and its allies in an extra-frosty geopolitical climate, and amid a recent move by Beijing to exert some influence in the Persian Gulf.
“If Saudi Arabia were to enter BRICS, it will bring extraordinary importance to this grouping,” said Talmiz Ahmad, India’s former ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Even an agreement on the principle of expanding BRICS, which already consists of a large chunk of the developing world's biggest economies, is a moral victory for the Russian and Chinese vision for the bloc as a counterbalance to the G-7, analysts say.
Both favor adding more countries to bolster a kind of coalition -- even if it's only symbolic — amid China's economic friction with the U.S. and Russia's Cold War-like standoff with the West because of the war in Ukraine.
Nations ranging from Argentina to Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia and United Arab Emirates have all formally applied to join alongside the Saudis, and are also possible new members.
If a number of them are brought in, “then you end up with a bigger economic bloc, and from that a sense of power," said Prof. Alexis Habiyaremye of the College of Business and Economics at the University of Johannesburg.
While Brazil, India and South Africa are less keen on expansion and seeing their influence diluted in what's currently an exclusive developing world club, there is momentum for it. Nothing has been decided, though, and the five countries must first agree on the criteria new members need to meet. That's on the agenda in Johannesburg amid Beijing's push.
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“BRICS expansion has become the top trending issue at the moment," said Chen Xiaodong, China's ambassador to South Africa. “Expansion is key to enhancing (the) BRICS mechanism’s vitality. I believe that this year’s summit will witness a new and solid step on this front.”
The U.S. has stressed its bilateral ties with South Africa, Brazil and India in an attempt to offset any outsized Russian and Chinese influence emanating from BRICS. In the buildup to the summit, the State Department said that the U.S. was “deeply engaged with many of the leading members of the BRICS association.”
The European Union also will closely follow happenings in Johannesburg, but with almost sole focus on the war in Ukraine and the bloc's continued effort to draw united condemnation for Russia's invasion from the developing world, which has largely failed so far.
With Xi, Lula, Modi and Ramaphosa coming together, European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said the EU was calling on them to use the moment to uphold international law.
“We look forward to their contribution to make Putin stop his illegal, destabilizing behavior,” Stano said.
If a BRICS foreign ministers meeting in Cape Town in June, the precursor to the main summit, is anything to go by, there will be no public criticism of Russia or Putin over the war. A planned protest by the Amnesty International rights group and the Ukrainian Association of South Africa outside the Sandton Convention Centre will likely be the only condemnation heard.
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If anything, Russia might see the summit as an opportunity to leverage some favor.
Having halted a deal allowing the passage of grain out of Ukraine last month, Putin might use the BRICS gathering to announce more free Russian grain shipments to developing countries, as he has already done for several African nations, said Maria Snegovaya, senior fellow at the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
It would allow Putin to demonstrate “goodwill” to the developing world, Snegovaya said, while cutting Ukraine out of the process.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would have “full fledged participation” in the summit despite appearing on a video link and would make a speech.
What's also likely to be aired regularly over the three days in Johannesburg is the developing world's gripes over current global financial systems. That has streamlined in the months and weeks leading up to the summit into a criticism of the dominance of the U.S. dollar as the world's currency for international trade.
BRICS experts are generally united in pointing out the difficulties the bloc has in implementing policy due to the five countries' differing economic and political priorities, and the tensions and rivalry between China and India.
But a focus on more trade in local currencies is something all of them can get behind, said Cobus van Staden, an analyst at the China Global South Project, which tracks Chinese engagement across the developing world.
He sees BRICS pushing a move away from the dollar in regional trade in some parts of the world in the same way he sees this summit as a whole.
“None of this is the big sword that’s going to slay the dollar. That’s not the play," said van Staden. "It’s not one big sword wound, it’s a lot of paper cuts. It won’t kill the dollar, but it’s definitely making the world a more complicated place.”
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“They don’t need to defeat the dollar and they don’t need to defeat the G-7. All they particularly want to do is raise an alternative to it. It’s this much longer play.”
AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington and AP writers Ashok Sharma in New Delhi, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Jim Heintz in Talinn, Estonia, and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
Rain from Tropical Storm Hilary lashes California and Mexico, swamping roads and trapping cars
Tropical Storm Hilary inundated streets across Mexico’s arid Baja California Peninunsula with deadly floodwaters Sunday before moving over Southern California, where it swamped roads and downed trees, as concerns mounted that flash floods could strike in places as far north as Idaho that rarely get such torrential rain.
Forecasters said Hilary was the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, bringing flash floods, mudslides, high winds, power outages and the potential for isolated tornadoes.
Hilary made landfall along the Mexican coast in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles (250 kilometers) south of Ensenada, then moved through mudslide-prone Tijuana, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border.
Read: Powerful Hurricane Hilary heads for Mexico's Baja. Rare tropical storm watch issued for California
At least 9 million people were under flash-flood watches and warnings as heavy rain fell across normally sunny Southern California ahead of the brunt of the storm. Desert areas were especially susceptible along with hillsides with wildfire burn scars, forecasters warned.
Mud and boulders spilled onto highways, water overwhelmed drainage systems and tree branches fell in neighborhoods from San Diego to Los Angeles. Dozens of cars were trapped in floodwaters in Palm Springs and surrounding desert communities across the the Coachella Valley. Crews pumped floodwaters out of the emergency room at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.
The National Weather Service's Los Angeles office reported in the evening via X, formerly known as Twitter, that “very heavy rain” was continuing in much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The highest rainfall totals so far were 6.15 inches (15.62 centimeters) at Leona Valley and 5.94 inches (15.1 centimeters) at Lewis Ranch, the agency added, saying there was significant flooding and urging people to stay off the roads.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest school system, said all campuses would be closed on Monday.
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“There is no way we can compromise the safety of a single child or an employee, and our inability to survey buildings, our inability to determine access to schools makes it nearly impossible for us to open schools," Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at a media briefing. San Diego schools postponed the first day of classes from Monday to Tuesday.
Southern California got another surprise in the afternoon as an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 hit near Ojai, about 80 miles (130 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was felt widely and was followed by smaller aftershocks. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury, according to a dispatcher with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
Hilary could wallop other Western states with once-in-a-century rains, with a good chance of it becoming the wettest known tropical cyclone to douse Nevada, Oregon and Idaho. Hilary was expected to remain a tropical storm into central Nevada early Monday before dissipating.
By Sunday evening, Hilary had moved over San Diego and was headed north into inland desert areas. Around midday, it had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (97 kph).
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Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said that while Hilary had weakened from a Category 4 hurricane, it’s the water, not the wind, that people should watch out for most — some areas could get as much rain in hours that they typically get in a year.
“You do not want to be out driving around, trying to cross flooded roads on vehicle or on foot," Brennan said during a briefing from Miami. “Rainfall flooding has been the biggest killer in tropical storms and hurricanes in the United States in the past 10 years, and you don’t want to become a statistic.”
Hilary is just the latest major climate disaster to wreak havoc across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Hawaii’s island of Maui is still reeling from a blaze that killed over 100 people and ravaged the historic town of Lahaina, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Firefighters in Canada are battling that nation’s worst fire season on record.
The Mexican cities of Ensenada and Tijuana closed all beaches and opened a half-dozen shelters at sports complexes and government offices.
One person drowned Saturday in the Mexican town of Santa Rosalia when a vehicle was swept away in an overflowing stream. Rescue workers saved four other people, said Edith Aguilar Villavicencio, the mayor of Mulege township.
Mexican army troops fanned out across Mulege, where some of the worst damage occurred Saturday on the eastern side of the Baja Peninsula. Soldiers used bulldozers and dump trucks to help clear tons of boulders and earth clogging streets and roads that were turned into raging torrents a day earlier.
Power lines were toppled in many places, and emergency personnel were working to restore power and reach those cut off by the storm.
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Brennan said rainfall could reach between 3 and 6 inches (7 centimeters and 15 centimeters) in many areas. Forecasters warned it could dump up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) — a year’s worth of rain — in some isolated areas.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has officials inside California’s emergency preparedness office and teams on standby with food, water and other help.
In coastal Carlsbad, just north of San Diego, 19-year-old Jack Johnson and his friends kept an eye on the huge waves, determined to surf them at some point Sunday.
“It’s really choppy out there, not really surfable yet, but I think we can find a good break somewhere later,” Johnson said. “I can’t remember a storm like this.”
The weather service said tornadoes were possible in eastern San Diego County.
Los Angeles authorities scrambled to get homeless people off the streets and into shelters, and officials ordered all state beaches in San Diego and Orange counties closed.
Across the region, municipalities ran out of free sandbags and grocery shelves emptied as people stockpiled supplies. California’s Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley National Park were closed.
Death Valley's Furnace Creek Visitor Center received more than 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain by 1:30 p.m., with up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) more possible overnight. “For comparison, Furnace Creek’s average annual rainfall is 2.2 inches (5.6 centimeters),” the park said in a statement, calling the rainfall “unprecedented.”
To the north in Nevada, Gov. Joe Lombardo declared a state of emergency and activated 100 National Guard troops to assist with problems from predicted flooding in western Clark and Nye counties and southern Esmeralda County. In Arizona, wind gusts neared 60 mph (97 kph) in Yuma County, where officials gave out thousands of sandbags.
“I urge everyone, everyone in the path of this storm, to take precautions and listen to the guidance of state and local officials,” President Joe Biden said. Biden said in a later statement that he was being briefed on the storm and was prepared to provide federal assistance.
Meanwhile, one of several budding storm systems in the Atlantic Ocean became Tropical Storm Emily on Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was far from land, moving west in the open ocean. Also, Tropical Storm Franklin formed in the eastern Caribbean. Tropical storm watches were issued for the southern coasts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
In Sept. 1939, a tropical storm that roared into California ripped apart train tracks, tore houses from their foundations and capsized many boats, killing nearly 100 people on land and at sea.
Trump says he will skip GOP presidential primary debates
Former President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday that he will be skipping Wednesday's first Republican presidential primary debate — and others as well.
“The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had,” Trump wrote on his social media site. "I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!" His spokesman did not immediately clarify whether he plans to boycott every primary debate or just those that have currently been scheduled.
The former president and early GOP frontrunner had said for months that he saw little upside in joining his GOP rivals on stage when they gather for the first time in Milwaukee Wednesday, given his commanding lead in the race. And he had made clear to those he had spoken to in recent days that his opinion had not changed.
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“Why would I allow people at 1 or 2% and 0% to be hitting me with questions all night?” he said in an interview in June with Fox News host Bret Baier, who will be serving as a moderator. Trump has also repeatedly criticized Fox, the host of the Aug. 23 primetime event, insisting it is a “hostile network” that he believes will not treat him fairly.
Trump had been discussing a number of debate counterprogramming options, including sitting for an interview with ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has been hosting a show on the website formerly known as Twitter. Carlson was spotted at Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club ahead of the announcement, according to a person familiar with the visit who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it. The New York Times reported Saturday the interview set to air Wednesday has already been taped.
“We cannot confirm or deny — stay tuned,” said Trump spokesman Steven Cheung.
The idea had been one of several alternatives Trump had floated in conversations in recent weeks. They included possibly showing up in Milwaukee at the last minute or attending but sitting in the audience and offering live commentary on his Truth Social site. He had also discussed potentially calling into different networks to draw viewers from the debate, or holding a rally instead.
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The decision marks another chapter in Trump's ongoing feud with Fox, which was once a staunch defender, but is now perceived to be more favorable to his leading rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Fox executives and hosts had lobbied Trump to attend, both privately and on the network's airwaves. But Trump, according to a person close to him, was unswayed, believing executives would not have been wooing him if they weren’t concerned about their ratings.
A person familiar had said earlier Sunday that Trump and his team had not notified the Republican National Committee of his plans.
Meanwhile, Trump's rivals had been goading him to appear and preparing in the hopes that he might, concerned that a no-show might make them appear like second-tier candidates and deny them the opportunity to land a knockout blow against the race's Goliath that could change the trajectory of the race.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, one of the few candidates willing to directly take on Trump, has been accusing the former president of lacking “the guts to show up" and calling him “a coward” if he doesn't.
A super PAC supporting DeSantis released an ad in which the narrator says: “We can’t afford a nominee who is too weak to debate.” And in a posting Sunday on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo said the Florida governor looked forward to sharing his vision Wednesday on what he'll do as president because “no one is entitled to this nomination, including Donald Trump. You have to show up and earn it."
Read: Trump set for first public appearances since federal indictment, speaking in Georgia, North Carolina
Trump has pushed back on the attacks, telling Newsmax’s Eric Bolling that he saw little benefit in participating when he’s already leading by a wide margin.
“It's not a question of guts. It’s a question of intelligence,” he said.
Trump has also said that he will not sign a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee if he loses the nomination — a requirement set by the Republican National Committee for appearing on stage.
“Why would I sign it?” he said. “I can name three or four people that I wouldn’t support for president. So right there, there’s a problem.”
Nonetheless, his advisers insisted for weeks that he had yet to make a final decision, even as they acknowledged it was “pretty clear” from his public and private statements that he was unlikely to appear.
It's not the first time Trump has chosen to skip a major GOP debate.
During his 2016 campaign, Trump decided to forgo the final GOP primary face-off before the Iowa caucuses and instead held his own campaign event — a flashy telethon-style gathering in Iowa that was billed as a fundraiser for veterans.
While the event earned him headlines and drew attention away from his rivals, Trump went on to lose the Iowa caucuses to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas — a loss some former aides have blamed, at least in part, on his decision to skip the debate.
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In 2020, Trump pulled out of the second general election debate against now-President Joe Biden after the Commission on Presidential Debates, a nonpartisan group that has hosted general election debates for more than three decades, sought to make it virtual after Trump tested positive for COVID-19. Trump refused, saying he would only debate on stage.
Trump is not the only candidate who will likely be missing Wednesday's event. Several lesser-known rivals appear unlikely to reach the threshold set by the RNC to participate. To qualify, candidates must have received contributions from at least 40,000 individual donors, with at least 200 unique donors in 20 or more states. They also must poll at at least 1% in three designated national polls, or a mix of national and early-state polls, between July 1 and Aug. 21.
Candidates who have met the qualifications include DeSantis, Christie, former vice president Mike Pence, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
Beyond the fundraising and polling requirements, the RNC has said candidates must also sign the pledge agreeing to support the eventual party nominee as well as agreeing not to participate in any non-RNC sanctioned debate for the remainder of the election cycle. The RNC is boycotting events organized by the Commission for Presidential Debates, alleging bias.
“I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination of President of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden,” reads the pledge, according to a copy posted by DeSantis to the social media site X. Candidates also must pledge not to run as an independent, write-in candidate or third-party nominee.
While several candidates, including Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson have taken issue with the requirement, former Texas Rep. Will Hurd so far is the only one who has said definitively that he will not sign the pledge because he refuses to support Trump if he becomes the eventual nominee. Christie has said he will sign whatever is needed to get him on the stage.
In addition to voicing opposition to the loyalty pledge, Trump has suggested he is opposed to boycotting general election debates hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates. “You have, really, an obligation to do that," he said in a radio interview this spring.
A bus hits a van and catches fire in Pakistan, killing 20 people and injuring 11 others
A bus in Pakistan caught fire after hitting a van parked on the shoulder of an intercity highway in eastern Punjab province, killing at least 20 people and injuring 11 others, police and rescue officials said Sunday.
Read more: Pakistan arrests 129 Muslims after mob attacks on churches and homes of minority Christians
The accident occurred early Sunday near Pindi Bhattian, where the Islamabad-bound bus hit a van parked on the shoulder of the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway, senior police officer Fahad Ahmed said. The van was carrying fuel drums, which caused an inferno that engulfed the bus, Ahmed said.
There were more than 40 passengers on the bus, Ahmed said. Those who were rescued were badly burned, including several in critical condition. Other passengers were slightly injured with burns after escaping through the windows.
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The drivers of both vehicles died, police said.
Mohammad Jawed, a medical officer at a hospital in nearby Faisalabad district, said two of the seriously burned injured died in the hospital, taking the death toll to 20 with 11 hospitalized.
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Ehsan Zafar, a spokesman for the motorway police, said the fire completely gutted the bus and only the steel frame remained. He said the fire fighting squad reached the scene in minutes but by that time fire had engulfed both vehicles. He said initial investigation suggests that the accident was due to negligence on the part of the bus driver, who hit the parked vehicle from behind.
Imdad Ali, who was on the bus, said most of the passengers were sleeping when the crash happened.
“The jerk due to the accident woke everybody but the fire gave no time to passengers to escape. Flames quickly covered the bus like an envelope and all women, children and men were screaming,” Ali said. He said he succeeded in breaking a window but hesitated over climbing through the sharp broken glass.
“Suddenly someone pushed me and I fell outside, thank God, and thanks to that man whosoever he was that I am alive.”
Accidents happen frequently on Pakistan's highways, where safety standards are often ignored and traffic regulations violated. Fatigued drivers also fall asleep behind the wheel during long drives.
Bus engulfed in flames after hitting van in Pakistan, killing 18 people and injuring 13 others
A bus in Pakistan caught fire after hitting a van parked on the shoulder of an intercity highway in eastern Punjab province, killing at least 18 people and injuring 13 others, police and rescue officials said Sunday.
The accident occurred early Sunday near Pindi Bhattian, where the Islamabad-bound bus hit a van parked on the shoulder of the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway, senior police officer Fahad Ahmed said. The van was carrying fuel drums, which caused an inferno that engulfed the bus, Ahmed said.
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There were more than 40 passengers on the bus, Ahmed said. Those who were rescued were badly burned, including several in critical condition. Other passengers were slightly injured with burns after escaping through the windows.
The drivers of both vehicles died, police said.
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Such accidents happen frequently on Pakistan's highways, where safety standards are often ignored and traffic regulations violated. Fatigued drivers also fall asleep behind the wheel during long drives.
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