US Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce her running mate soon. AFP
US Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce her running mate soon. AFP
US Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce her running mate soon. AFP
US Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce her running mate soon. AFP

Kamala Harris clinches Democratic Party nomination


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Kamala Harris has surpassed the required number of votes to become the Democratic Party nominee for president in this year's November election, the party chairman announced on Friday.

“I am so proud to confirm that Vice President Harris has earned more than a majority of votes from all convention delegates and will be the nominee of the Democratic Party following the close of voting on Monday,” Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison said, according to Politico.

Delegates from the Democratic Party began voting on Thursday in an electronic roll call in a process that will not conclude until Monday.

No one has challenged Ms Harris for the nomination since President Joe Biden announced last month he was no longer seeking a second term in the White House and endorsed his deputy.

“I am honoured to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. I will officially accept the nomination next week,” Ms Harris said in call with supporters and in a post on X.

Her campaign account on X responded to the news by posting a picture of Ms Harris at a recent rally, with the caption: “The presumptive Democratic nominee.”

About 4,000 delegates – the grass roots activists and politicians allocated during the primary process – sent in signatures backing Ms Harris to feature on the ballot for the five-day electronic vote.

Ms Harris, who will run against Republican nominee Donald Trump, won the support of 99 per cent of the delegates who signed petitions, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) said in a statement, while no one else met the qualifying threshold of 300 signatures.

Ms Harris is expected to announce her pick for running mate shortly after her nomination is confirmed.

Her coronation as nominee would come at the DNC meeting in Chicago later this month.

Mr Harrison said “we will rally around Vice President Kamala Harris and demonstrate the strength of our party” during its convention in Chicago later this month.

The formal nomination is expected to be finalised by August 7 even though the party's convention in Chicago is not scheduled to begin for two more weeks.

Democratic officials have said the accelerated timeline was necessary because of an August 7 deadline to ensure candidates appear on the Ohio ballot, the Associated Press reported.

If elected, Ms Harris would smash several glass ceilings, becoming the first woman, the first black woman and the first Asian American to become US president.

“Think about this: her dad is of Jamaican descent, her mother is of South Asian descent and then she went to the great Howard University, worked in California, worked in the United States Senate,” Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock told a raucous, 10,000-strong crowd at Ms Harris's rally in Atlanta on Tuesday.

“That is the American story. She brings all of those strands together. She sees us because in a real sense she is all of us.”

Mr Trump drew criticism on Wednesday after he questioned Ms Harris's racial identity, saying she had turned black.

The Gentlemen

Director: Guy Ritchie

Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant 

Three out of five stars

'Brazen'

Director: Monika Mitchell

Starring: Alyssa Milano, Sam Page, Colleen Wheeler

Rating: 3/5

The Buckingham Murders

Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu

Director: Hansal Mehta

Rating: 4 / 5

The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E6.5-litre%20V12%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E725hp%20at%207%2C750rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E716Nm%20at%206%2C250rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQ4%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh1%2C650%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs

Engine: 3.0-litre flat-six twin-turbocharged

Transmission: eight-speed PDK automatic

Power: 445bhp

Torque: 530Nm

Price: Dh474,600

On Sale: Now

UAE jiu-jitsu squad

Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)

Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)

The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
Amitav Ghosh, University of Chicago Press

Straightforward ways to reduce sugar in your family's diet
  • Ban fruit juice and sodas
  • Eat a hearty breakfast that contains fats and wholegrains, such as peanut butter on multigrain toast or full-fat plain yoghurt with whole fruit and nuts, to avoid the need for a 10am snack
  • Give young children plain yoghurt with whole fruits mashed into it
  • Reduce the number of cakes, biscuits and sweets. Reserve them for a treat
  • Don’t eat dessert every day 
  • Make your own smoothies. Always use the whole fruit to maintain the benefit of its fibre content and don’t add any sweeteners
  • Always go for natural whole foods over processed, packaged foods. Ask yourself would your grandmother have eaten it?
  • Read food labels if you really do feel the need to buy processed food
  • Eat everything in moderation
THE BIO

Age: 30

Favourite book: The Power of Habit

Favourite quote: "The world is full of good people, if you cannot find one, be one"

Favourite exercise: The snatch

Favourite colour: Blue

BIO

Favourite holiday destination: Turkey - because the government look after animals so well there.

Favourite film: I love scary movies. I have so many favourites but The Ring stands out.

Favourite book: The Lord of the Rings. I didn’t like the movies but I loved the books.

Favourite colour: Black.

Favourite music: Hard rock. I actually also perform as a rock DJ in Dubai.

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

North Pole stats

Distance covered: 160km

Temperature: -40°C

Weight of equipment: 45kg

Altitude (metres above sea level): 0

Terrain: Ice rock

South Pole stats

Distance covered: 130km

Temperature: -50°C

Weight of equipment: 50kg

Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300

Terrain: Flat ice
 

Huddersfield Town permanent signings:

  • Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
  • Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
  • Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
  • Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
  • Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
  • Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
  • Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
  • Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
Race card

6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1.600m

7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 2,000m

7.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,600m

8.15pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 1,200m

8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 2,000m

9.25pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m

HAJJAN
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Abu%20Bakr%20Shawky%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cbr%3EStarring%3A%20Omar%20Alatawi%2C%20Tulin%20Essam%2C%20Ibrahim%20Al-Hasawi%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

Updated: October 30, 2024, 7:41 PM