Calls grow for Biden to drop out
President Biden faced a fresh wave of pressure yesterday to step aside as Democrats aired concerns that he would lose to Donald Trump in November.
Nancy Pelosi, congresswoman and former speaker of the House, gave the strongest public signal yet that Democrats were divided over Biden’s candidacy. On a news show, she said that “time is running short” for him to reconsider, adding that she would back him “whatever he decides.”
Explicit calls for Biden to withdraw increased. Representative Pat Ryan of New York, one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents, called on Biden to drop out “for the good of the country.” He was the eighth House Democrat to do so publicly.
George Clooney, who hosted a $28 million fund-raiser last month for the president, also pleaded with him to step aside in a New York Times opinion essay, adding that he had seen Biden’s decline up close.
Biden has tried to silence his doubters by criticizing the Democratic “elites” who he portrays as having turned on him, my colleague Peter Baker writes. Biden may also be hoping to run out the clock until his nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.
Donald Trump: The former president is nearing the end of his monthslong search for a running mate. This analysis shows how Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s club in Florida, became a White House in exile for America’s far right.
Residents leaving along the approved routes would be allowed through “quickly and without inspection,” the Israeli military said. The move is the latest example of Israeli troops’ coming back to areas they had previously secured and left. Analysts have said Israel’s unwillingness to install an alternative administration in Gaza has created a power vacuum, allowing Hamas to regroup.
Deadly airstrike: Israel hit a school turned shelter in Khan Younis on Tuesday, killing at least 27 Palestinians, according to Gazan authorities. Israel said the strike had targeted a Hamas member.
NATO plans to cement long-term support for Ukraine
The NATO summit is wrapping up today in Washington. Leaders are expected to issue an official document that solidifies the alliance’s “irreversible” commitment to move Ukraine closer to membership.
The document won’t lay out an exact timeline, and there could be last-minute changes to it, but more and more U.S. and European officials believe that Ukraine will eventually be able to join.
The alliance is also preparing for Donald Trump’s possible re-election. NATO is taking steps to make itself the main organizer of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, rather than the U.S. Member nations will also be pushed to spend at least 2 percent of their economic output on their militaries, a commitment that Trump has railed against them for failing to meet.
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The writer-director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat bristles when people put a Bollywood label on “Kill,” his claustrophobic action film that pits a commando against bandits during a train robbery.
Bhat spoke to us about crafting gory fight sequences in tight spaces, the real-life inspiration for “Kill” and his love for James Cameron’s “Aliens.” Read the interview.
A warning about A.I.
Lee Saedol was the finest player of the board game Go in his generation, an 18-time world champion, when an artificial intelligence program beat him in 2016.
Lee retired three years later, disheartened, as what he considered an art form was mastered by an algorithm’s ruthless efficiency. Now he delivers lectures about A.I., urging others to be prepared for how the technology could affect humanity’s future.
“People used to be in awe of creativity, originality and innovation,” he said. “But since A.I. came, a lot of that has disappeared.”
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That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Dan
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