Crypto News: A trashy gift

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The last thing Kamala Harris needed at this juncture of the game was an own goal from her team mate.

But then US President Joe Biden committed one of the many gaffes that have bedeviled his political career, forcing his anointed successor at the top of the Democratic ticket onto the defensive in the closing days of an election race so tight that any slip-up can be costly.

A comedian's taunt at a Donald Trump rally that Puerto Rico was a "floating island of garbage" got under Biden's skin. In a video call with Latinos, he snapped that "the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters."

It was a gift for Republicans. Trump was quick to pounce by donning an orange vest and climbing into a garbage truck.

The most obvious and painful parallel for Democrats is with Hillary Clinton's infamous remark during the 2016 election when she called Trump supporters a "basket of deplorables." That played into a narrative that she was an out-of-touch elitist.

There has been plenty of trash talk in this campaign, with accusations of fascism flying around. But one thing Harris has been careful to avoid is any trace of sneering at Trump voters.

His base over the years has only gotten more devoted. The assassination attempt in July took that to new heights.

Now she's having to clean up a mess made by her well-meaning boss, who'd largely done her a favor by steering clear of the campaign trail. Harris moved fast and ruthlessly to distance herself further from Biden.

Even as he showed he could defeat Trump in 2020, in contrast to Clinton four years earlier, Biden experienced the cruelty of politics by being brushed aside over his advancing age.

Now he's just seen as a liability. — Flavia Krause-Jackson

Trump holds a press conference from inside a trash hauler in Green Bay, Wisconsin, yesterday. Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Israel is considering a US-led proposal to end the conflict in Lebanon and keep Hezbollah fighters away from the countries' frontier. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Biden's most senior Middle East envoys today as part of the discussions, an Israeli official said, in what appears to be a push by Washington to make progress before Tuesday's US presidential election.

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves promised that Labour's first budget in more than a decade would end austerity and break the grip of economic stagnation. The plan she delivered to "rebuild Britain" will take so long to bear fruit the party will need to win another election to claim its reward.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said North Korea's dispatch of about 10,000 troops to Russia risks widening the Ukraine conflict, as allies seek to discourage Moscow and Pyongyang from deploying the soldiers in battle. The presence of North Korean troops could "encourage others to take action" in support of Ukraine, Austin told reporters yesterday, declining to speculate on what that might entail.

Portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on June 20. Photographer: Kim Won Jin/AFP/Getty Images

Argentine President Javier Milei fired Foreign Minister Diana Mondino after she voted at the United Nations in favor of ending the US embargo against Cuba. Milei replaced Mondino with Gerardo Werthein, who was Argentina's ambassador to the US, according to chief spokesman Manuel Adorni. It marks one of the highest level departures in Milei's administration since he took office nearly a year ago.

The leader of Lithuania's Social Democratic Party unexpectedly refused to take up the premiership despite her party's election victory on Sunday. Vilija Blinkeviciute, 64, cited health and age as her reasons, making it the Baltic nation's third successive election in which the head of the winning group has declined to lead the government. Party colleagues proposed lawmaker Gintautas Paluckas for the post instead.

Palau, one of Taiwan's last diplomatic allies in the Pacific, is under increasing pressure from China to end its support for Taipei, President Surangel Whipps Jr said in an interview.

Spain declared three days of mourning as heavy rains killed more than 90 people, in one of the country's worst-ever natural disasters.

A potential new whaling license for Iceland's only hunting company is stirring controversy in the North Atlantic nation a month ahead of snap parliamentary elections.

The 2020 election quickly moved from polling places to courtrooms as Trump and his allies contested his loss. With five days remaining before Election Day 2024, legal clashes have already come before judges.

The US Supreme Court yesterday allowed Virginia to carry out a purge of some 1,600 residents from its rolls. Although it didn't involve a battleground state, the case revolved around what has become a flashpoint in the race: Trump's claims of widespread voting by non-citizens, something that researchers and state and local election officials have found is rare. The court's three liberal justices dissented.

And earlier this week, the Trump campaign sued the board of elections in Bucks County, just north of Philadelphia over accusations that people who sought mail-in ballots had been turned away.

County officials said in a post on X that there had been a "miscommunication" and that some individuals who were in line were "briefly told they could not be accommodated."

One thing to watch today: Trump plans to take part in a rally in New Mexico, another state he's not expected to win.

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The European Union has decided to send officials to Beijing for more talks aimed at finding an alternative to tariffs on electric vehicles from China, sources say. Agreeing to accept China's invitation suggests there's some momentum in the negotiations, they said, while cautioning a deal to replace the levies that came into force yesterday remains complicated. Eight rounds of talks have so far failed to yield a breakthrough.

During his first week in Santiago I prison, Marcelo was glad when fellow inmates handed him a phone to call his girlfriend and family. Later, the same people would film his screams as he was tortured and demand money from his freshly registered contacts. Marcelo says the incident was a consequence of a growing population of foreign detainees, who've brought a more violent prison culture to Chile amid rising gang crime that's consumed the government of leftist President Gabriel Boric.

Boric after a State of the Nation address on June 1. Photographer: Cristobal Olivares/Bloomberg

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