First Thing: Biden to meet Democratic governors in bid to assuage fears

Up to 25 House representatives could call for president to step aside. Plus, US expels more than 100 Chinese migrants

Good morning.

Joe Biden is to meet with Democratic governors today in an attempt to stave off growing discontent over his candidacy, with a congressional Democrat calling for him to withdraw from the presidential race.

Officials said Biden would seek to reassure the governors, and Capitol Hill leaders, that he is competent following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last week, amid concerns it has had a corrosive effect on his standing and is unlikely to turn around stagnant poll ratings in some battleground states.

Last night, the president provided a fresh justification for his weak performance at a Virginia campaign event. “I wasn’t very smart. I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through around 100 time zones ... before ... the debate,” he said. “Didn’t listen to my staff and came back and nearly fell asleep on stage. That’s no excuse but it is an explanation.”

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released yesterday found that one in three Democrats believe Biden should end his re-election campaign. A House Democratic aide said last night that there were 25 Democrat House members drawing up a call for him to step aside.

• Are any sitting Democrats calling on Biden to step aside? So far: only one. Lloyd Doggett, a congressman from Texas, yesterday became the first Democrat in the House of Representatives to publicly urge the president to step aside. “Instead of reassuring voters, the president failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies.” Adam Frisch, a Democratic House candidate in Colorado, echoed the call, and former presidential candidate Tim Ryan has also urged Biden to pull out.

• Newsom, Newsom, Newsom. Online political betting odds that Gavin Newsom, the California governor, would end up at the top of the presidential ticket this year tripled to a one-in-four chance last week, despite the relatively low chance of the president stepping aside.

US expels more than 100 Chinese migrants in rare mass deportation

The US has sent back 116 Chinese migrants in the first such “large charter flight” in five years, the Department of Homeland Security has said. “We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and remove individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States,” the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas said.

The flight, which happened over the weekend, comes amid intense political debate ahead of the US presidential election over the issue of Chinese immigration. The department said it was working with China to “reduce and deter irregular migration and to disrupt illicit human smuggling through expanded law enforcement efforts”. It did not respond to questions about how long the migrants had been in the US.

The department said it was working with China on more removal flights in the future but did not give a timeline for when the next one would take place.

• US and China resume cooperation on migration issues. In recent years, the US had a difficult time returning Chinese nationals who do not have the right to stay in America because China has resisted taking them back. Last year, US border officials arrested more than 37,000 Chinese nationals on the southern border, 10 times the number the year before.

Negotiated outcome most likely result of Russia-Ukraine war, major poll says

The Russian war in Ukraine is seen across Europe as most likely ending with a negotiated settlement with Russia, as opposed to an outright Ukrainian military victory, according to a major poll across 15 countries.

Inside 14 European countries surveyed, only in Estonia was there a prevailing view (38%) that Ukraine would win the war outright. Nevertheless, majorities in Sweden and Poland wanted Europe to help Ukraine fight until all its territory is regained. Majorities in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria opposed this to the extent that they thought it was a bad idea to increase the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

When asked about the most likely outcome of the war, 58% of Ukrainians foresaw a Ukrainian victory, 30% said it would end in a settlement, and only 1% expected Russia to emerge victorious. But a majority preferred ceding territory rather than abandoning sovereignty, defined by the right to join Nato and the EU.

• What about trust in Zelenskiy? Thirty-four per cent of Ukrainians say they trust the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, “a great deal”, while a further 31% trust him “quite a lot” – meaning that those who are keeping faith with their leader outnumber those who are not by two to one.

In other news …

• At least four people have died after Hurricane Beryl wreaked “almost complete destruction” on small and vulnerable islands in the Caribbean. The monster hurricane, which is barrelling towards Jamaica, had strengthened to category 5 statusbut is now back down to a category 4.

• Israel risks going to war against Hezbollah to ensure Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival, but it would be a miscalculation that could lead to mass civilian deaths in both Lebanon and Israel, a former US military intelligence analyst has warned.

• About 250,000 people had gathered at the Hindu religious congregation in northern India where 121 people died in a crowd crush, triple the capacity permitted by authorities, a police report has said.

Stat of the day: Google’s emissions climb nearly 50% in five years due to AI energy demand

Google’s goal of reducing its climate footprint is in jeopardy as it relies on more and more energy-hungry data centres to power its new artificial intelligence products. The tech company revealed yesterday that its greenhouse gas emissions had climbed 48% over the past five years. It said electricity consumption by data centres and supply chain emissions were the primary cause of the increase. It also revealed in its annual environmental report that its emissions in 2023 had risen 13% compared with the previous year, hitting 14.3m metric tons. The company, which has invested substantially in AI, said its “extremely ambitious” goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2030 “won’t be easy”.

Don’t miss this: New technology feeds Vermont maple syrup boom amid climate crisis

The growth in one maple syrup business – from a small family hobby to a commercial enterprise – is emblematic of the type of change the maple industry across Vermont is experiencing. It’s a surprising boom when many worry that the climate crisis will spell doom, with earlier and erratic tapping seasons. Some have even predicted “Maple-pocalypse”. But Vermont data suggests quite the opposite. Production has steadily increased since the 1990s. The state hit a record high in 2022, producing 2.55m gallons of syrup. Even though it’s too early for this year’s totals, Vermont tappers reported a strong season.

… or this: Tulsa race massacre survivors condemn dismissal of reparations case

Tulsa race massacre survivor Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109, has made her first public appearance since the Oklahoma supreme court dismissed her historic lawsuit last month. Randle, along with fellow survivor Viola Fletcher, 110, had sought restitution for the survivors and descendants of the 1921 massacre, in which an estimated 300 Black Tulsans were killed and thousands were displaced when white pilots flew over the neighborhood and dropped dynamite into the streets. Randle and Fletcher’s statement yesterday, recited by a litigation associate on their behalf, read: “We are deeply saddened that we may not live long enough to see the state of Oklahoma or the United States of America honestly comfort and right the wrongs of one of the darkest days in American history.”

Climate check: UK protester defies judge with hours-long speech in court

A climate protester in the UK delivered an hours-long speech in court from the witness box telling jurors that his alleged role in a conspiracy to block a major road was justified by the risk of human extinction. Roger Hallam, 58, spoke for more than two hours on why a judge was wrong to rule that he and co-defendants could not bring evidence in their defence on the impacts of climate breakdown, and why such evidence justified the sort of acts of which they are accused. “There is a not insubstantial possibility of absolute human extinction by putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at this moment in history,” he told the court.

Last Thing: The secret lives of porn addicts

“So far, I’ve only told three people in my life about [my porn addiction] – two therapists and now you,” says Tony, who is in his 50s. “It’s a complete secret from everyone I have ever known. I’m meticulous about covering my tracks, even when in a relationship. My lack of interest in sex with my partner might be the only thing that would cause her to wonder.” Over the past 30 years, Tony has tried to stop looking at pornography multiple times, but has never managed more than a month without it. He’s tried cutting down, he’s gone cold-turkey – banning himself from masturbating and blocking porn sites. But “the addict brain is exceptionally devious and adept”, he says.

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