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Biden, 80, makes 2024 presidential run official as Trump fight looms

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President Joe Biden launched his re-election bid on Tuesday with a promise to protect American liberties from “extremists” linked to former President Donald Trump, who he beat in 2020 and might face again in 2024, Reuters reported.

Biden made his announcement in a video released by his new campaign team that opens with imagery from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump’s supporters.

“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we’re in a battle for the soul of America, and we still are,” Biden said. “This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election.”

“Let’s finish this job. I know we can,” he said.

He described Republican platforms as threats to American freedoms, vowed to fight efforts to limit women’s healthcare, cut Social Security and ban books, and blasted “MAGA extremists.”

MAGA is the acronym for the “Make America Great Again” slogan of Trump, who is the early frontrunner in the Republican primary race. If he wins, he will face off against Biden again in the November 2024 election, Reuters reported.

Biden, 80, must overcome Americans’ concerns about his age in order to win re-election, with 44% of Democrats saying he is too old to run, a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday found.

Trump, 76, also faces concerns about his age with 35% of Republicans saying he is too old.

The poll showed that a majority of registered voters don’t want either Biden or Trump to run again, read the report.

While Biden’s approval rating is relatively low, his aides are confident he can beat Trump again. The Reuters/Ipsos poll showed him with a lead of 43% to 38% over his Republican rival among registered voters.

In his campaign video, Biden squarely targeted Trump and his allies.

“Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms, cutting Social Security that you paid for your entire life, while cutting taxes for the very wealthy, dictating what healthcare decisions women can make, banning books, and tell people who they can love, all while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote,” Biden said.

In the two years since he took over from Trump, Biden won Congress’ approval for billions of dollars in federal funds to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and for new infrastructure, and oversaw the lowest levels of unemployment since 1969, although a 40-year inflation highs have marred his economic record.

Speaking to a meeting of North America’s Building Trades Unions on Tuesday, Biden said his economic plan was working but there is “more to do.” Biden listed his policy achievements and the crowd chanted “four more years!”

Biden’s age makes his re-election bid a historic and risky gamble for the Democratic Party, especially if he faces a much younger Republican candidate.

Democrats already face a tough election map to hold the Senate in 2024 and is the minority in the House of Representatives now, Reuters reported.

Biden would be 86 by the end of a prospective second term, almost a decade higher than the average U.S. male’s life expectancy.

Doctors declared Biden, who does not drink alcohol and exercises five times a week, “fit for duty” after an examination in February. The White House says his record shows that he is mentally sharp enough for the rigors of the job.

Biden will be joined in his 2024 quest by his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is featured prominently in his campaign video.

In a statement about Biden’s candidacy, Trump criticized the president over his record on immigration, inflation, and the chaotic U.S. pullout from Afghanistan in 2021, read the report.

“American families are being decimated by the worst inflation in half a century. Banks are failing,” Trump said on his social media platform. “We have surrendered our energy independence, just like we surrendered in Afghanistan,” he said.

Marking a sharp contrast to Biden’s campaign announcement, Trump is on trial in a civil lawsuit this week over writer E. Jean Carroll’s accusation that he raped her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

The former president, who is not required to attend the trial, has denied raping Carroll.

Biden is unlikely to face much competition from inside his party. No senior Democrats have shown signs of challenging him.

Potential and declared Republican presidential candidates have begun framing the 2024 election around cutting back government spending amid still-high inflation, restricting abortion, crime in Democratic-run cities and illegal immigration.

The two leading Republican contenders, Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, want to limit the access of transgender children to sports teams and gender-affirming medical care, and restrict how schools teach LGBTQ+ issues and America’s history of race.

During a briefing with reporters, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre at first declined to answer a question about whether Biden would serve out another four-year term if re-elected.

“I wanted to be sure that I didn’t go into 2024 more than is appropriate under the law,” she wrote later on Twitter. “But I can confirm that if re-elected, (Biden) would serve all 8 years.”

Biden ran a mostly virtual campaign to defeat Trump in the 2020 election as COVID raged, read the report.

With pandemic restrictions mostly over in the United States, the 2024 race is likely to be a much different, more physical affair.

After losing to Biden in 2020, Trump refused to concede defeat, falsely claiming that there had been widespread electoral fraud.

His supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, in support of his claims but they failed to halt certification by Congress of Biden’s win.

Biden’s campaign video suggests he plans to regularly remind voters of those events between now and the next election.

Other Biden themes may include strong U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against Russia and what the White House says are Republican plans to unravel federal healthcare.

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Israel built and defended a secret base in Iraq for Iran war, WSJ reports

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Israel established a covert military installation in the Iraqi desert to support its air operations against Iran, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, citing individuals familiar with the matter, including U.S. officials.

The report said the facility was used as a logistical hub for the Israeli Air Force and also housed special forces, as well as search-and-rescue units prepared to assist any downed pilots during operations.

According to the newspaper, the base was built with the knowledge of the United States shortly before the onset of what it described as a joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.

The report added that Israeli forces conducted airstrikes against Iraqi troops on at least one occasion after they allegedly came close to discovering the site, in order to prevent exposure of the facility.

The existence of the installation reportedly came under threat in early March, when Iraqi state media said a shepherd had alerted authorities to unusual military activity in the area, including helicopter movements. Iraqi forces were subsequently dispatched to investigate.

The Wall Street Journal further reported that Iraqi troops were struck by Israeli air operations while approaching the area, based on accounts from sources familiar with the incident.

Later in March, Iraq submitted a complaint to the United Nations alleging that foreign forces were involved in attacks in the area and initially attributed responsibility to the United States. However, the report cited a source familiar with the matter as saying the U.S. was not involved.

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Trump releases government UFO files, more expected

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At the order of U.S. ​President Donald Trump, the Defense Department on Friday released dozens of previously classified files on alleged UFO sightings to provide what ‌it called “unprecedented transparency” to the American people, though analysts said many of the documents had already been made public.

The disclosure of documents, photos and videos of “unidentified anomalous phenomena” will be followed by future releases as more materials are declassified, the Defense Department said in a statement, Reuters reported.

Trump was the latest president to release U.S. government reports on UFOs, a ​disclosure process that began in the late 1970s. Experts said the batch of around 160 files released on Friday contained new videos ​of known sightings but gave no conclusive evidence of alien technology or extraterrestrial life.

The files include a 1947 report of “flying discs” as well as grainy photos of “unidentified phenomena” taken from the moon’s surface by the 1969 Apollo 12 lunar mission and a transcript of the ​Apollo 17 crew describing unidentified objects seen from the moon in 1972.

‘BRIGHT PARTICLES’ DURING APOLLO 17

Apollo 17 mission pilot Ronald Evans reported “a few very bright ​particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver,” based on the transcript.

“Roger. Understand,” mission control replied.

“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation – and it’s time the American people see it for themselves,” Hegseth said in a statement.

The records release is likely to fuel fresh debate over government secrecy and ​the possible existence of life in the cosmos.

“Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, ​the people can decide for themselves, “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” Trump said in a statement. “Have fun and enjoy!”

The move was welcomed by U.S. Representatives Tim Burchett and ‌Anna Paulina ⁠Luna, both proponents of declassifying UFO files. Luna said an additional tranche of material was expected in about 30 days.

“The files show that UAP are not simply a matter of speculation or public curiosity,” Harvard University astrophysicist Avi Loeb said in an email to Reuters. “The government has collected records.”

The images from Apollo 12 and 17 were fascinating but could be the result of asteroid impacts on the lunar surface, Loeb said.

DISTRACTION FROM POLITICAL PROBLEMS?

Some critics ​cast the UFO disclosures as a ​distraction from Trump’s political woes, including ⁠the unpopular U.S. military campaign against Iran and public pressure to release further files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“I really don’t care about the UFO files. I just don’t. I’m so sick of the ‘look at the ​shiny object’ propaganda,” former Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X.

UAP investigator Mick West said the ​administration of former President ⁠Joe Biden disclosed much of the same information as Friday’s release.

“They’re evidence of us not being able to identify a small white dot that’s a long distance away,” the Sacramento, California-based analyst said of the new UAP videos and images.

Independent journalist Leslie Kean said the release showed there was still a lot ⁠of government ​information on UAP that should be disclosed. Kean co-authored a 2017 New York Times story ​on a secret Pentagon UAP program, which prompted Congress to push for declassification of UFO documents.

“I think we’ve already proven the existence of UAP, but that doesn’t mean we’ve proven they’re ​alien or extraterrestrial or that we know what they are,” said Kean.

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Trump says United States will get uranium from Iran

One of ​Trump’s central objectives in launching ‌military ⁠strikes against Iran was to ensure Tehran does not develop a ​nuclear weapon.

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President Donald Trump said on ​Wednesday the United States ‌would get enriched uranium from Iran, as the ​two countries struggle ​to reach an agreement on ⁠ending the Gulf ​war, Reuters reported.

“We’re going to get ​it,” Trump told a reporter as he left a White ​House event.

One of ​Trump’s central objectives in launching ‌military ⁠strikes against Iran was to ensure Tehran does not develop a ​nuclear weapon. ​Iran ⁠has yet to hand over ​more than 900 pounds (408 ​kg) ⁠of highly enriched uranium.

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