International

Biden holds intensive talks with Democrats on saving his agenda

AFP

President Joe Biden held intensive talks with competing factions of his Democratic party Tuesday in an attempt to save his agenda in Congress before time runs out.

After weeks of stalemate between the leftist and more conservative wings of the party over the cost and scope of his plans to expand the social safety net, Biden is ramping up the pace.

“Today he is spending virtually, literally every minute of his day meeting with members of Congress and I think that’s a reflection of how urgent he feels,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

“Our effort is on continuing to make progress,” she said. “We’re getting close to the final stages here. We’re working to getting agreement.”

20250501_mh_noexigencia_dui_728x90

Biden met with two key Democratic senators — Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema — whose opposition to the $3.5 trillion price tag on his social spending bill amounts to a veto, given that Democrats need unanimity to get anything through the evenly split Senate.

He was also meeting with groups of left-leaning and moderate Democratic lawmakers in two separate meetings. On Wednesday, he will give a speech to promote his plans in Scranton, the blue collar Pennsylvania city where he spent part of his childhood.

Manchin has said he will only agree to $1.5 trillion for the social spending bill, which Biden says would address fundamental inequalities through expansion of free education and child care.

Worried about the fate of that bill, a powerful leftist faction in the House of Representatives has responded by blocking passage of a separate $1.2 trillion bill for improving US infrastructure that most Democrats and also a significant number of Republicans want to see passed.

While the two sides are publicly still at loggerheads, threatening to leave the bulk of Biden’s domestic agenda in ruins, Psaki was optimistic.

20250501_mh_noexigencia_dui_728x90

“Our goal is to make progress and based on the morning meetings and our expectation of the afternoon meetings, we expect they will do exactly that,” she said.

“We’ve had months to consider, debate, litigate,” she said. “It will come time soon to move forward and deliver for the American people.”

International

Germany says football bodies alone will decide on possible World Cup boycott

The German Football Association (DFB) and FIFA will decide with full “autonomy” whether to boycott the upcoming World Cup, which will be hosted mainly by the United States in six months, following threats made by former U.S. president Donald Trump, the German government told AFP on Tuesday.

Trump has threatened to seize Greenland and impose higher tariffs on European countries that oppose the plan, raising political tensions between the United States and Europe.

“This assessment therefore lies with the relevant federations, in this case the DFB and FIFA. The federal government will respect that decision,” Sports State Secretary Christiane Schenderlein said in a statement emailed to AFP.

AFP had asked the German government about the possibility of a boycott of the World Cup to be jointly hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.

“The federal government respects the autonomy of sport. Decisions regarding participation in major sporting events or possible boycotts fall exclusively within the responsibility of the relevant sports federations, not the political sphere,” said Schenderlein, a member of the conservative CDU, the party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

20250501_mh_noexigencia_dui_728x90

International

Daily Mail publisher insists reports relied on legitimate sources amid privacy trial

Two British tabloids accused of phone hacking and other forms of “unlawful information gathering” against Prince Harry and six other individuals, including singer Elton John, insisted on Tuesday that their reporting relied on legitimate sources.

Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL), the publisher of the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, sought to rebut allegations of privacy violations through illegal methods on the second day of trial at London’s High Court, following a lawsuit filed by the seven claimants.

Prince Harry, 41, who attended court hearings on both Monday and Tuesday, could be called to testify starting Wednesday in a trial expected to last up to nine weeks.

Lawyers for the claimants said the alleged illegal activities took place between 1993 and 2011, with some incidents reportedly extending as late as 2018. They argue that the tabloids hired private investigators to intercept phone calls and obtain confidential information, including detailed phone records, medical histories, and bank statements.

However, Anthony White, counsel for ANL, told the court that the trial would show the company presents “a compelling account of a pattern of lawful source acquisition” for its articles.

20250501_mh_noexigencia_dui_728x90

White added that the claims would require the court to believe that journalists and staff at the tabloids had engaged in widespread dishonesty, which the company strongly denies.

International

Death toll from southern Spain train crash rises to 40

The death toll from the train accident that occurred on Sunday in southern Spain has risen to 40, according to investigative sources cited by EFE on Monday afternoon.

Since early Monday, search operations have focused on the damaged carriages of a Renfe train bound for Huelva, which collided with the last derailed cars of an Iryo train traveling from Málaga to Madrid after it left the tracks.

The crash has also left more than 150 people injured. Of these, 41 remain hospitalized, including 12 in intensive care units at hospitals across the Andalusia region.

More than 220 Civil Guard officers are working at the site, searching the railway line and surrounding areas for key evidence to help identify victims and determine the causes of the accident.

The tragedy has revived memories of the deadliest railway disasters in Europe in recent decades. In Spain, the most severe occurred on July 24, 2013, when an Alvia train derailed near Santiago de Compostela, killing 80 people and injuring 130 others.

20250501_mh_noexigencia_dui_728x90

At the European level, the worst rail disaster took place on June 3, 1998, in Eschede, northern Germany, when a high-speed train struck a bridge pillar at 200 kilometers per hour, resulting in 98 deaths and 120 injuries.