Entrepreneur and anti-environmental activist Vivek Ramaswamy announced on Tuesday that he is ending his 2024 presidential campaign, after a dismal showing in the Iowa caucuses.
Mr Ramaswamy said he made the decision after determining there was no path for him to secure the Republican Party nomination.
He said he would now be backing former president Donald Trump – who won 98 out of the state's 99 counties in a resounding victory.
“Tonight, I am suspending my campaign and endorsing Donald J Trump and will do everything I can to make sure he is the next US president,” Mr Ramaswamy said in a post on X.
Speaking to supporters in Iowa's state capital Des Moines, Mr Ramaswamy asked them “to follow me in taking our America First movement to the next level”.
Mr Ramaswamy suggested he might join Mr Trump for an event in New Hampshire – the next stop in the Republican nomination race – on Tuesday night.
He also said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley should also drop out of the race.
Mr DeSantis and Ms Haley finished a distant second and third place, respectively, in the Iowa caucuses. With Mr Trump expected to win big, the contest was seen as a test for if either of the other candidates could establish themselves as an alternative to the Republican front-runner.
Mr Trump won 51 per cent of the votes on Monday night. Mr DeSantis won 21.2 per cent and Ms Haley won 19.1 per cent.
The results mean that Mr Trump claimed 20 of the state's 40 delegates, with eight being delivered to Mr DeSantis and seven to Ms Haley. Mr Ramaswamy won three delegates.
Mr Ramaswamy clashed with his rivals on the debate stage numerous times in the lead-up to the Iowa caucuses.
He also called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “terrorist” and said that climate change is a “hoax”.
The son of Indian immigrants, Mr Ramaswamy graduated from Harvard University before founding biotech firm Roivent Sciences.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
List of alleged parties
May 12, 2020: PM and his wife Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at least 17 staff
May 20, 2020: They attend 'bring your own booze party'
Nov 27, 2020: PM gives speech at leaving party for his staff
Dec 10, 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson
Dec 13, 2020: PM and his wife throw a party
Dec 14, 2020: London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff event at Conservative Party headquarters
Dec 15, 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18, 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Mumbai Indians 186-6 (20 ovs)
Kings XI Punjab 183-5 (20 ovs)
Mumbai Indians won by three runs
German plea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the German parliament that. Russia had erected a new wall across Europe.
"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a Wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this Wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on Ukraine, Zelenskyy told MPs.
Mr Zelenskyy was applauded by MPs in the Bundestag as he addressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly.
"Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this Wall," he said, evoking US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 appeal to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
Bangladesh tour of Pakistan
January 24 – First T20, Lahore
January 25 – Second T20, Lahore
January 27 – Third T20, Lahore
February 7-11 – First Test, Rawalpindi
April 3 – One-off ODI, Karachi
April 5-9 – Second Test, Karachi
