International
Biden agenda at stake, and Trump in the wings, as Americans vote

| By AFP | Andrea Bambino with Sebastian Smith in Washington |
Americans headed to the polls on Tuesday in midterm elections in which Republicans are chasing a congressional majority that would paralyze President Joe Biden’s agenda and serve as a springboard for another White House run by Donald Trump.
Biden’s Democrats are facing a gargantuan struggle to hang on to Congress, after a race the president has cast as a “defining” moment for US democracy — while Trump’s Republicans campaigned hard on kitchen-table issues like inflation and crime.
“It’s Election Day, America,” the 79-year-old Biden tweeted as polling stations opened on the East Coast. “Make your voice heard today. Vote.”
At stake are all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, one-third of the Senate and a slew of state and local positions. Five states are holding referendums on abortion — California, Vermont, Kentucky, Montana and Michigan.
First results will begin trickling in after 7:00 pm (0000 GMT) but with razor-thin margins in some key congressional races a full picture may not be available for days or even weeks, setting the stage for likely acrimonious challenges.
The bitter political divide in the country was on the minds of many voters as they cast their ballots.
“I hope that we’ll get a better mix of candidates and that both sides can actually work together to solve our issues instead of fighting against one another,” said Sarah Hunt, a 41-year-old teacher as she cast her ballot in New York.
“There’s so much polarization and misinformation that I’d like to make sure that my voice is heard,” said Robin Girdhar, a 61-year-old doctor at a polling station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Trump — who has all but announced he will seek the White House again in 2024 — grabbed the election eve spotlight to flag “a big announcement” on November 15, while Biden made a final appeal to Democrats to turn out en masse.
“The power’s in your hands,” Biden told a rally near the capital. “We know in our bones that our democracy is at risk and we know that this is your moment to defend it.”
Polls show Republicans in line to seize the House, which would allow them to snarl the rest of Biden’s first term in aggressive investigations and opposition to spending plans.
‘Giant red wave’
Returning to the White House Monday night, Biden told reporters he believed Democrats would hold on to the Senate but it would be “tough” to retain the House and his life in Washington may become “more difficult.”
If both the House and Senate flip, Biden would be left as little more than a lame duck and his legislative agenda would be frozen.
That would raise questions over everything from climate crisis policies, which the president will be laying out at the COP27 conference in Egypt this week, to Ukraine, where Republicans are reluctant to maintain the current rate of US financial and military support.
An influx of far-right Trump backers in Congress would also accelerate the shift that has been taking place inside the Republican Party since the former real estate tycoon stunned the world by defeating Hillary Clinton for the presidency in 2016.
Despite facing criminal probes over taking top secret documents from the White House and trying to overturn the 2020 election, Trump has been using the midterms to cement his status as the de facto Republican leader and presumptive presidential nominee.
In a typically dark, rambling speech to supporters in Dayton, Ohio, the 76-year-old Trump said, “if you support the decline and fall of America, then you must, you absolutely must vote for the radical left, crazy people.”
“If you want to stop the destruction of our country, then tomorrow you must vote Republican in a giant red wave,” he said — before teasing his 2024 announcement.
Across the country voters called on their fellow citizens to cast their ballot in the midterms, which historically have low turnout.
“Vote, vote, vote,” Luke Osuagwu, a 24-year-old student, told AFP in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Abortion is probably the biggest issue for me,” said Alexandra Ashley, a 30-year-old lawyer as she cast her vote in Pittsburgh. “I want to make sure it’s available for everybody and safe.”
44 million early votes
More than 44 million ballots were cast through early voting options, meaning the outcome had already begun to take shape before election day.
Senate races in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Ohio are expected to be close and any one of them could swing the balance of power in the chamber.
Trump has already claimed — baselessly — that swing state Pennsylvania “rigged” the midterms — reprising his playbook from the 2020 election which he falsely asserted was stolen by Biden.
Citing growing support for voter conspiracy theories among Trump and his Republicans, as well as their push to curb abortion access, Biden has warned that democracy and basic rights are at stake on Tuesday.
Republicans have countered that a vote for Democrats means more soaring inflation and rising violent crime, seeking to make the midterms a referendum on the president.
The outcome will likely determine whether Biden, who turns 80 this month and is the oldest president ever, will seek a second term in 2024 — or step aside.
International
Trump will receive Netanyahu at the White House next week

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington next week, a high-ranking official of Donald Trump’s government told EFE.
The visit, which according to the specialized portal Jewish Insider will take place on Monday, comes amid pressure from Washington to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza strip.
The US president launched a message on Sunday on his social network Truth calling for an immediate agreement to end the conflict and “release the hostages.”
This message follows another one from last Friday in which he assured that a solution to the conflict in Palestine could be reached as early as this week.
“We are working in Gaza and trying to solve it. We are supplying a lot of money and a lot of food to that area because we have to do it,” the president stressed at an event in Washington.
In addition to publicly insisting on his desire to reach a cease of hostilities in the region, Trump has also supported Netanyahu, a key ally, despite the fact that the Israeli is going through a judicial process where he is charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three different criminal cases.
Israel has maintained its offensive in Gaza, in a resurgence of the conflict that has already lasted for more than a year and that leaves dozens of deaths daily.
The Israeli Army has intensified its attacks in the north of the Strip after ordering last Sunday the forced evacuation of residents in several neighborhoods of the capital of Gaza and the northern city of Yabalia.
Since October 7, 2023, at least 56,259 Palestinians have died and more than 132,000 have been injured by Israeli fire, according to figures from the Ministry of Health of the Hamas Government.
International
The US climate agency will lose access to key data for hurricane forecasting in July

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Monday that it will lose access to essential satellite data for the hurricane forecast on July 31, when the Department of Defense will stop sharing the images with that US agency.
Initially, NOAA was going to lose access to the data from today Monday, but managed to extend the deadline since NASA, which was also going to be affected by the measure, requested an extension until July 31.
According to a NOAA statement, late on Friday, June 27, the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command received a request from Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division, “to postpone the withdrawal and continue processing and distributing data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program until July 31.”
The original decision to cut off access to satellite data as of today was made with the aim of “mitigating a significant cybersecurity risk,” according to the note.
NOAA’s access to data provided by the Defense Weather Satellite Program was crucial for predicting hurricane formation, since they allowed to mediate variables that were not available to conventional satellites.
In addition, the measure takes place in the middle of hurricane season, which experts expect to be more intense than normal in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the Colorado State University (CSU), the probability of a major hurricane, category 3 or higher, impacting the United States in the current Atlantic cyclone season amounts to 51%.
This coincides with the approval in the Lower House of Congress of the controversial “great and beautiful bill” of US President Donald Trump, which includes a cut of almost 30% of the annual budget to NOAA and 646 million dollars to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
International
The Argentine justice declares Milei’s measure that limited the right to strike unconstitutional

The Justice of Argentina declared on Monday the unconstitutionality of two articles of the decree signed on May 20 by President Javier Milei that limited the right to strike of workers from various sectors, giving rise to a precautionary measure requested by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the main workers’ central of the country.
The decision was made by the National Labor Court No. 3, which ordered to stop the application of articles 2 and 3 of decree 340/2025, considering that they violate constitutional guarantees such as freedom of association and the right to strike, established in the Constitution and in international agreements signed by Argentina.
The decree modified article 24 of Law 25,877, which regulates collective labor conflicts, and declared a long list of activities as essential, limiting the possibility of its workers to carry out union action measures.
Judge Moira Fullana, who intervened in the case, argued that the unconstitutionality is based on the fact that, at the time of the signing of the decree, the National Congress was in full function, so there was no justification of necessity and urgency that deserved to skip the legislative treatment of such modifications.
On June 2, Fullana had provisionally failed to suspend the application of this measure, in response to another precautionary measure, requested by the Association of State Workers (ATE).
Until before its recent challenge, Decree 340/2025 required to guarantee between 50% and 75% of the usual benefits in sectors such as the production of medicines and/or hospital supplies, land and underground transport, radio and television, industrial activities, the food industry, the production and distribution of building materials, all airport services, logistics services, mining activity, refrigeration activity, mail and the distribution and marketing of food and beverages, among others, even during trade union conflicts.
The Government also included in that list of essential services all branches of maritime and river transport, customs, immigration services and education at all levels.
The measure, originally included in an extensive decree of general deregulation of the economy signed by Milei shortly after its assumption in December 2023, had already been unconstitutional by the Argentine Justice at that time.
-
International3 days ago
Protests erupt over Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ migrant jail in the Everglades
-
Central America4 days ago
Honduras secures IDB loan to improve access and quality of education in vulnerable areas
-
Internacionales4 days ago
Jalisco’s grim discovery: drug cartel mass grave found in construction site
-
International4 days ago
U.S. targets families of sanctioned drug traffickers with new Visa restrictions
-
Central America3 days ago
Migrants stranded in Panama amid US Policy crackdown and Darién gap barriers
-
International2 days ago
TikTok sale advances as Trump reveals deal is in place
-
Central America2 days ago
Castro to address FfD4 in Spain as Global Financial Reform takes center stage
-
International1 day ago
Trump administration sues Los Angeles over sanctuary city policies
-
International1 day ago
7 in 10 mexicans born poor stay poor, new report finds
-
International1 day ago
Spain hits record 46°C in June amid scorching heatwave
-
International1 day ago
Ecuador’s former VP Jorge Glas sentenced to 13 more years for corruption
-
International7 hours ago
The White House insists that the United States remains in contact with Iran
-
International7 hours ago
Trump sues Los Angeles for immigrant “sarture city” policies
-
International6 hours ago
The US climate agency will lose access to key data for hurricane forecasting in July
-
International7 hours ago
Former Correísta vice president Jorge Glas, sentenced to 13 years in prison for embezzlement in Ecuador
-
International6 hours ago
The Argentine justice declares Milei’s measure that limited the right to strike unconstitutional
-
International7 hours ago
An investigation by the Trump Administration concludes that Harvard violated the rights of Jewish students
-
International6 hours ago
Trump will receive Netanyahu at the White House next week
-
International7 hours ago
The US Supreme Court will address the reduction of spending limits of parties in campaigns