US President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings have been steadily sliding into the abyss for the past year, got some good news this week: he could beat former president Donald Trump in a hypothetical rematch.
A New York Times/Siena College poll gives the incumbent a three-point lead over Mr Trump if the 2024 election were to be held today.
This represents a remarkable accomplishment for Mr Trump, who has managed to match and then surpass Mr Biden's deep unpopularity, even as 90 per cent of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction, prices are soaring at rates not seen in 40 years and it now costs more than $100 to fill up the family car.
Instead of capitalising on a palpable sense of anger and frustration felt by most American families, Mr Trump has somehow been able to defy the national mood and alienate his own Republican Party.
The same poll found the former president, who is mulling a run in 2024, now only has the backing of 49 per cent of Republicans. It's a sea change for Mr Trump, long assumed to be a shoo-in for the Republican nomination in two years.
And the historic hearings playing out on Capitol Hill are weighing heavily on his reputation.
Here was a president who — according to the congressional committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection — incited armed right-wing extremists to march on the Capitol in a bid to overturn Mr Biden's election win and, presumably, try to end democracy in America.
The panel and its witnesses have described time and again how Mr Trump knew his claims of election fraud were lies, yet he pushed them anyway.
Even Elon Musk, the self-declared Republican who is himself adept at alienating his followers, has had enough, telling Mr Trump to “hang up his hat and sail into the sunset”.
A vainglorious Mr Trump appears unable to move beyond the fact that he lost to Mr Biden by seven million votes. Now a critical mass of his supporters — whom he once bragged would still love him if he were to “stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody” — seem to have had enough.
Mr Biden, however, can draw little comfort from this.
Aside from the Trump metric, nothing on the polling front is going right for the 79-year-old president, who insists he will run again even as the world's most demanding job exacts a tough toll.
His gaffes are growing worse by the week, he has been unable to secure significant legislative wins this year and the Democrats seem determined to bungle their messaging on vital issues whenever possible.
Only this week, first lady Jill Biden caused an uproar when she likened San Antonio, Texas's Latino community to breakfast tacos.
A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released on Wednesday found that only 18 per cent of Americans think Mr Biden should run again in 2024. He will be almost 82 by election day, by far the oldest of any president to seek a second term.
In the key under-30 demographic, 94 per cent of Democrats say they want to see a different presidential nominee, the New York Times/Siena College poll showed.
With the Democrats on a cruise-controlled crash into a midterm electoral bonfire, the news will only get worse for Mr Biden.
As the Republicans win control of Congress, they will open sprawling probes into his bungling of the end of the Afghanistan war, his son Hunter's laptop and other inconvenient issues like out-of-control inflation that the Democrats would rather just go away.
It is clear Mr Biden is no longer fit for the job. And Mr Trump's seemingly seditious actions on January 6 should disqualify him from ever running for office again.
Neither party has a deep bench of palatable alternatives — but it's time for the old guard to step aside and see who rises.
Whatever happens on November 5, 2024, it won't be a rematch between two of the most unpopular men in America — and that is a good thing. This country deserves better.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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SPECS
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
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Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
!['I told him [Donald Trump] that the stuff his people were shovelling out to the public was bull***t.' Former attorney general William Barr. AP](https://www.thenationalnews.com/resizer/v2/RLINK2AWKRFONAWRZ7TNQF6VI4.jpg?smart=true&auth=898bee20e87c352f4801c4275eab58720719d25c3b0343a94bb0b4d88c1d38f4&width=800&height=450)
