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Iran’s Raisi Vows to Overcome Challenges, Blames Predecessor for Economic ‘Imbalance’

In this photo released on Monday, March 20, 2023, by the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Ebrahim Raisi gives a televised new year message to the nation at the presidency office in Tehran, Iran. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
In this photo released on Monday, March 20, 2023, by the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Ebrahim Raisi gives a televised new year message to the nation at the presidency office in Tehran, Iran. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
    London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Iran’s Raisi Vows to Overcome Challenges, Blames Predecessor for Economic ‘Imbalance’

In this photo released on Monday, March 20, 2023, by the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Ebrahim Raisi gives a televised new year message to the nation at the presidency office in Tehran, Iran. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
In this photo released on Monday, March 20, 2023, by the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Ebrahim Raisi gives a televised new year message to the nation at the presidency office in Tehran, Iran. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi pledged to fulfill promises made to his citizens and defended his “balanced” foreign policy, blaming the previous government, which was headed by Hassan Rouhani, for economic instability and “challenges” facing the country.

The Iranian government’s website quoted Raisi as saying that the government’s internal policy depended on the country’s energies and a balanced foreign approach.

“We have overcome many challenges despite the enemies’ efforts to fuel discontent in society and conspiracies to separate the regime from the government,” Raisi told a conference of senior officials, as reported by the website.

He indirectly blamed his predecessor for the challenges, which he said were facing Iran, noting his government had inherited them from the previous administration.

Regarding internal politics, the president pledged that his government would not be drawn into “false alignments”, stressing that his team would work with “all revolutionary agencies” to overcome the problems in Iran.

Gatherers at Monday’s conference brought together senior government directors to discuss “curbing inflation and raising production”, which was addressed by Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, in a televised speech on the occasion of Nowruz last week.

Raisi stressed that talks about the lack of budget and capabilities were “causing frustration and pessimism in society,” describing them an “unforgivable sin.” He added that an improvement in the living situation was “certain.”

He urged officials to address the “imbalance” in the economy. He added that the ministries of industry, trade, energy, agriculture and economy were tasked with strengthening production growth and curbing inflation in all departments.

He also announced the formation of a special committee that would work on reducing inflation.

A report by the Central Bank of Iran on Sunday stated that the inflation between March 20, 2022 and March 20 this year reached 46.5 percent.

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World

China Says Drills near Taiwan Target 'Arrogance' of Separatists

A soldier looks through binoculars during combat exercises and training of the navy of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army PLA in the waters around Taiwan on Aug. 5. Photo: Lin Jian/Xinhua via Getty Images
A soldier looks through binoculars during combat exercises and training of the navy of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army PLA in the waters around Taiwan on Aug. 5. Photo: Lin Jian/Xinhua via Getty Images
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China Says Drills near Taiwan Target 'Arrogance' of Separatists

A soldier looks through binoculars during combat exercises and training of the navy of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army PLA in the waters around Taiwan on Aug. 5. Photo: Lin Jian/Xinhua via Getty Images
A soldier looks through binoculars during combat exercises and training of the navy of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army PLA in the waters around Taiwan on Aug. 5. Photo: Lin Jian/Xinhua via Getty Images

China said on Wednesday its recent series of drills near Taiwan aimed at combating the "arrogance" of separatist forces, while the frontrunner to be Taiwan's next president said China was trying to "annex" the island.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has said this month that it had observed dozens of fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships and the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, operating nearby.
The increased frequency of China's military activities has raised the risk of events "getting out of hand" and sparking an accidental clash, the island's defense minister has warned.
Asked about the spurt in drills, and Taiwan's concerns about increased risk, Zhu Fenglian, the spokeswoman of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, acknowledged the drills by the People's Liberation Army, reported Reuters.
"The purpose is to resolutely combat the arrogance of Taiwan independence separatist forces and their actions to seek independence," Zhu told a regular news briefing in Beijing.
"The provocation of Taiwan independence continues all day long, and the actions of the People's Liberation Army to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity are always ongoing," she added.
She urged people in Taiwan to distinguish between "right and wrong", resolutely oppose independence for the island, and work with China to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
China has a particularly strong dislike of William Lai, the frontrunner to be elected president at the island's January elections for previous comments in support of independence.
However, he says he does not seek to change the status quo and has offered talks with Beijing.
The situation across the Taiwan Strait had "not improved due to the passage of time", said Lai, now the island's vice-president.
"China's attempts to annex Taiwan have not changed," he said at an event in Taipei on Wednesday for the 37th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP.
CHINESE DEFENCE MINISTER
China's armed forces have not explicitly mentioned or commented on the drills at a time when Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu has gone missing from public view. Sources have told Reuters he is being investigated for corruption.
Taiwan's democratically elected government says only the island's people can decide their future, and has repeatedly offered talks with China, which Beijing has rejected.
On Wednesday, Taiwan's defense ministry reported further Chinese military movements, saying it had detected and responded to 16 Chinese aircraft entering the island's air defense identification zone over the prior 24 hours.
Of those, 12 crossed the median line of the Taiwan strait, which had served as an unofficial barrier between the two sides until China began regularly crossing it in August last year.
On Thursday, Taiwan is set to launch the first of eight domestically made submarines as it bolsters its defenses against China.
In Beijing, when asked about the submarines, Zhu said efforts by Taiwan's DPP to "seek independence with force" would only exacerbate tensions and "push the Taiwanese people into a dangerous situation".
In an unusual revelation last week, Taiwan's defense ministry said it was monitoring China's drills in the southern province of Fujian, opposite Taiwan. Normally Taiwan provides details only of drills in the skies and waters around it.
A senior Taiwan official familiar with security planning in the region told Reuters the information was released to show Taiwan's surveillance and intelligence capacity.
"We can see the details and we are prepared," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
China's military has also not commented on the Fujian exercises.

World

Thousands Flee Karabakh to Armenia, Death Toll Rises in Fuel Depot Blast

Ethnic Armenians wait to be evacuated from Stepanakert on September 26, 2023. (Photo by Siranush Sargsyan / AFP)
Ethnic Armenians wait to be evacuated from Stepanakert on September 26, 2023. (Photo by Siranush Sargsyan / AFP)
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Thousands Flee Karabakh to Armenia, Death Toll Rises in Fuel Depot Blast

Ethnic Armenians wait to be evacuated from Stepanakert on September 26, 2023. (Photo by Siranush Sargsyan / AFP)
Ethnic Armenians wait to be evacuated from Stepanakert on September 26, 2023. (Photo by Siranush Sargsyan / AFP)

Hungry and exhausted Armenian families jammed roads on Tuesday to flee homes in the defeated breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, a departure blighted by an explosion at a fuel depot that killed dozens and injured more than 100.
The crisis prompted the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to announce that Washington would provide $11.5 million in humanitarian assistance, Reuters said.
"We urge continued humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh for all those in need," White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.
Azerbaijan launched a lightning operation to take over Karabakh last week. A top Azeri official said at talks in Brussels that his country had no intention of taking further action to create a land corridor through Armenia itself.
PEOPLE FLEE IN TRUCKS, TRACTORS, CARS
The Armenians of Karabakh - part of Azerbaijan that had been beyond Baku's control since the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union - began fleeing this week after their forces were routed in the operation by Azerbaijan's military.
The Armenian government said more than 28,000 of Karabakh's 120,000 ethnic Armenian residents had already crossed into Armenia. Hundreds of cars and buses crammed with belongings snaked down the mountain road out of Azerbaijan.
Some fled packed into the back of open-topped trucks, others on tractors. Grandmother-of-four Narine Shakaryan arrived in her son-in-law's car with six people packed inside. The 77 km (48-mile) drive had taken 24 hours, she said. They hadn't eaten any food.
"The whole way the children were crying, they were hungry," Shakaryan told Reuters at the border, carrying her three-year old granddaughter, who she said had become ill during the journey. "We left so we would stay alive, not to live."
Fuel stations were thronged on the way out of the Karabakh capital, known as Stepanakert by Armenia and Khankendi by Azerbaijan.
Karabakh's ombudsman said the death toll in the explosion and fire at a fuel depot on Monday had risen to 68, with a further 105 people missing and nearly 300 injured. A total of 68 were taken to medical institutions in Armenia.
The authorities have given no explanation for the blast.
USAID head Samantha Power, in the Armenian capital Yerevan, called on Azerbaijan "to maintain the ceasefire and take concrete steps to protect the rights of civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh".
Power had earlier handed Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan a letter of support from US President Joe Biden. She said Azerbaijan's use of force was unacceptable and that Washington was looking at an appropriate response.
Power urged Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev to honor his promise to protect ethnic Armenian rights, fully reopen the Lachin corridor that connects the region to Armenia and let in aid deliveries and an international monitoring mission.
Aliyev has pledged to guarantee the safety of Karabakh's Armenians but said his iron fist had consigned the idea of the region's independence to history.
"It is absolutely critical that independent monitors as well as humanitarian organizations get access to the people in Nagorno-Karabakh who still have dire needs," Power later said during a visit to the village of Kornidzor on the Azeri border.
She said she had heard "very troubling reports of violence against civilians. At the same time given the chaos here and the trauma, the gathering of testimonies ... of the people who have come across is something that is just beginning."
'NOWHERE TO GO'
Ethnic Armenians who managed to get to Armenia have given harrowing accounts of fleeing death, war and hunger.
Some said they saw many dead civilians - one said truckloads. Some with young children, broke down in tears as they described a tragic odyssey of running from war, sleeping on the ground and with hunger churning in their bellies.
"We took what we could and left. We don’t know where we’re going. We have nowhere to go," Petya Grigoryan, a 69-year-old driver, told Reuters in the border town of Goris on Sunday.
Reuters was unable to independently verify accounts of the military operation inside Karabakh. Azerbaijan has said it targeted only Karabakh fighters.
The Azerbaijani victory changes the balance of power in the South Caucasus region, a patchwork of ethnicities crisscrossed with oil and gas pipelines where Russia, the United States, Türkiye and Iran are jostling for influence.
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Armenia had relied on a security partnership with Russia, while Azerbaijan grew close to Türkiye, with which it shares linguistic and cultural ties.
Armenia has lately sought closer ties with the West and blames Russia, which had peacekeepers in Karabakh but is now preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, for failing to protect Karabakh. Moscow denies blame and has told Pashinyan that he is making a big mistake by flirting with the United States.
Aliyev hinted on Monday at the prospect of creating a land corridor to Türkiye across Armenia. Türkiye‘s President Tayyip Erdogan, who met Aliyev on Monday, said on Tuesday such a corridor must be completed.
But Hikmet Hajiyev, Aliyev's foreign policy adviser, told Reuters in Brussels that Azerbaijan only wanted to create transport links to the country's enclave of Nakhchivan through Armenia. And that would benefit both countries, he said.

World

Kremlin Says US Abrams Tanks, ATACMS Missiles for Ukraine Can't Change Battlefield Situation

(FILES) Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russian president and Armenian prime minister at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 25, 2023. (Photo by Ilya PITALEV / SPUTNIK / AFP)
(FILES) Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russian president and Armenian prime minister at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 25, 2023. (Photo by Ilya PITALEV / SPUTNIK / AFP)
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Kremlin Says US Abrams Tanks, ATACMS Missiles for Ukraine Can't Change Battlefield Situation

(FILES) Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russian president and Armenian prime minister at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 25, 2023. (Photo by Ilya PITALEV / SPUTNIK / AFP)
(FILES) Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russian president and Armenian prime minister at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 25, 2023. (Photo by Ilya PITALEV / SPUTNIK / AFP)

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that US supplies of long-range ATACMS missiles and Abrams tanks to Ukraine would not change the situation on the battlefield.
Asked about the issue at a regular news briefing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian armed forces were constantly adapting to the use of new types of weapons in what Moscow calls its special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine, Reuters said.
"All this can in no way affect the essence of the SVO and its outcome. There is no panacea and no one type of weapon that can change the balance of power on the battlefield," he said.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that US-made Abrams tanks had arrived in his country. The jet-powered tanks were a top demand of Kyiv until Washington finally offered more than 30 of them in January.
"Abrams tanks are serious weapons, but remember what the president said about other tanks made in another country," Peskov said, referring to other Western tanks supplied to Kyiv, which include German-made Leopards and British Challengers.
"Well, these (Abrams) too will burn," he said.
Kyiv has also repeatedly asked the Biden administration for Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to help attack and disrupt supply lines, air bases and rail networks in Russian-occupied territory.
Last Friday, NBC News, citing US officials, reported that President Joe Biden had informed Zelenskiy that Washington would also provide Kyiv with ATACMS long-range missiles.
The White House and Pentagon declined to comment on the NBC report. The Pentagon also declined to say whether any promises of ATACMS were given to Zelenskiy during his meetings last Thursday at the Pentagon.
"The Americans continue to increase their... direct involvement in this conflict, but of course, every time our military improves its skills and technical capabilities to counter these missiles," Peskov said.

World

Russian Black Sea Commander Sokolov Shown on Video Call after Ukraine Said it Killed Him

Commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Vice-Admiral Viktor Sokolov salutes during a send-off ceremony for reservists drafted during partial mobilisation, in Sevastopol, Crimea September 27, 2022. (Reuters)
Commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Vice-Admiral Viktor Sokolov salutes during a send-off ceremony for reservists drafted during partial mobilisation, in Sevastopol, Crimea September 27, 2022. (Reuters)
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Russian Black Sea Commander Sokolov Shown on Video Call after Ukraine Said it Killed Him

Commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Vice-Admiral Viktor Sokolov salutes during a send-off ceremony for reservists drafted during partial mobilisation, in Sevastopol, Crimea September 27, 2022. (Reuters)
Commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Vice-Admiral Viktor Sokolov salutes during a send-off ceremony for reservists drafted during partial mobilisation, in Sevastopol, Crimea September 27, 2022. (Reuters)

Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, was shown on Russian state television on Tuesday attending a defense leaders' meeting remotely, a day after Ukrainian special forces said they had killed him.

In video and photographs released by the defense ministry, Sokolov was shown as one of several fleet commanders on video apparently joining an in-person meeting of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other army chiefs, although not speaking. It was not clear when the video was filmed.

Ukraine's special forces said on Monday that Sokolov had been killed along with 33 other officers in a missile attack last week on the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol in Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014.

In response to the Russian video, the Ukraine special forces said on Telegram: "Since the Russians were urgently forced to publish a response with Sokolov allegedly alive, our units are clarifying the information."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had declined to comment on the Ukrainian claim, referring reporters to the ministry.

In the video, Shoigu said more than 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in September and that more than 2,700 weapons, including seven American Bradley fighting vehicles, had been destroyed.

Reuters could not independently verify battlefield claims.

"The Ukrainian armed forces are suffering serious losses along the entire front line," Shoigu said, adding that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had so far produced no results.

"The United States and its allies continue to arm the armed forces of Ukraine, and the Kyiv regime throws untrained soldiers to the slaughter in senseless assaults," Shoigu said.

Kyiv's counteroffensive has yet to seize much territory from Russian forces, which control about 17.5% of Ukraine's internationally recognized territory.

According to a Sept. 19 scorecard by the Belfer Center at Harvard's Kennedy School, Russia has gained 35 sq miles (91 sq km) from Ukraine in the past month while Ukrainian forces have taken 16 sq miles (41 sq km) from Russian forces.

World

Türkiye’s Erdogan Says Corridor through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran Must Be Completed

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 78th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 19, 2023. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 78th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 19, 2023. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP)
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Türkiye’s Erdogan Says Corridor through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran Must Be Completed

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 78th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 19, 2023. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 78th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 19, 2023. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP)

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the so-called Zangezur trade corridor passing through Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran must be completed, broadcasters reported on Tuesday, a day after he met Azerbaijan's leader.
Speaking to reporters on his return flight from the Azeri exclave of Nackchivan, where he met President Ilham Aliyev, Erdogan said that if Armenia does not allow the trade corridor to pass through its territory then Iran was warm to the idea of allowing it passage through its territory, Reuters said.
The Zangezur corridor aims to give Baku unimpeded access to Nakhchivan through Armenia. Both Türkiye and Azerbaijan have been calling for its implementation since the Second Karabakh War in 2020.
Erdogan also said all materials required by civilians in the Karabakh region were being provided by trucks after Azerbaijan's lightning offensive to retake control of the region last week.

World

Erdogan: Türkiye Will Back Sweden's NATO Bid if US Keeps Promise on F-16 Sale 

Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, US, September 19, 2023. (Reuters)
Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, US, September 19, 2023. (Reuters)
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Erdogan: Türkiye Will Back Sweden's NATO Bid if US Keeps Promise on F-16 Sale 

Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, US, September 19, 2023. (Reuters)
Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, US, September 19, 2023. (Reuters)

Türkiye’s parliament will keep its promise to ratify Sweden's NATO bid if US President Joe Biden's administration paves the way for F-16 jet sales to Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, according to Turkish media.

Speaking to reporters on his flight back from Azerbaijan's exclave of Nakhchivan, Erdogan said that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed Sweden's NATO membership bid last week in New York.

The US administration is linking F-16 fighter jet sales to Türkiye with Ankara's ratification of Sweden's bid, Erdogan said.

"If they (the US) keep their promises, our parliament will keep its own promise as well. Turkish parliament will have the final say on Sweden's NATO membership," he said.

World

Biden, Trump to Woo Union Workers in Michigan as Auto Strikes Grow 

Former President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his supporters before he speaks at a rally in Summerville, S.C., Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (AP)
Former President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his supporters before he speaks at a rally in Summerville, S.C., Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (AP)
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Biden, Trump to Woo Union Workers in Michigan as Auto Strikes Grow 

Former President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his supporters before he speaks at a rally in Summerville, S.C., Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (AP)
Former President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his supporters before he speaks at a rally in Summerville, S.C., Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (AP)

Joe Biden and Donald Trump will speak to striking auto workers in rare back-to-back events in Michigan this week, highlighting how important unions are to the 2024 presidential election, even though they represent a tiny fraction of US workers.

Biden will join striking United Auto Workers (UAW) members on a picket line in Wayne County, Michigan at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) on Tuesday, which labor historians said is the most support shown for striking workers by a sitting president in at least 100 years.

Republican rival Donald Trump, the front-runner to be his party's 2024 presidential candidate, will address hundreds of workers at a gathering at an auto supplier in a Detroit suburb on Wednesday.

Biden said on Monday that the UAW gave up "an incredible amount" when the auto industry was struggling and the union "saved the automobile industry," an apparent reference to a 2009 government bailout that included wage cuts.

"Now that the industry is roaring back, they should participate in the benefits," he said.

UAW President Shawn Fain is expected to join Biden at the picket line on Tuesday, said a source familiar with the matter. The union is not involved with Trump's visit and Fain does not plan to attend that event, the source added.

To date, the UAW has declined to support either 2024 presidential candidate, making it the only major union not to back Biden.

"We are a long way from the general election, but it sure feels like the general election," said Dave Urban, a Republican strategist who previously worked for Trump.

UAW workers this month began targeted strikes against General Motors, Ford and Chrysler parent Stellantis seeking wage rises to match CEO pay jumps, shorter work weeks and job security as the industry moves toward electric vehicles.

The White House is having discussions about ways to blunt any economic fallout from a full walkout.

Only 10.1% of US workers were union members in 2022, but they have outsized political influence because the states where they are strong often swing from Democrat to Republican, and they have grassroots networks that are powerful.

Striking auto workers say they would like to see more support from elected officials as they push to get companies to share more of the profits.

"There definitely needs to be more of a light shined on the auto industry," said Brandon Cappelletty, 25, who was on a picket line in Toledo, Ohio last week. "The politicians need to back us a lot more."

Rust belt in the balance?

The auto industry and its labor movement are deeply intertwined with Michigan's politics and that of other Midwestern US states.

Biden has made support for unions a cornerstone of his economic policies. As president, he has emphasized reinvestment in US manufacturing, union jobs and workers' rights even though he is struggling to impress voters with his economic stewardship as he campaigns for a second term.

Trump, who sometimes fought with unions as a real estate developer, slashed corporate taxes as president and generally backed the interests of businesses over labor, experts said.

The Trump administration's stance on labor issues was "unconditionally anti-union," said Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois.

In 2016, Trump earned a level of support from union members that no Republican had reached since Ronald Reagan, helping him narrowly capture critical states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Biden rebounded with unions in 2020, with a roughly 16-percentage-point advantage as he reclaimed those so-called rust belt states, which have been scarred by decades of job losses as companies moved jobs to lower-cost, often non-union locations. He won Michigan in 2020 by some 154,000 votes.

Republicans believe Biden's push to electrify America's vehicle fleet, by pumping billions of dollars of tax rebates into EV manufacturing, is unpopular with auto workers.

"Bidenflation and Biden's insane EV mandate have put the state of Michigan and the critical constituency of working middle class voters in Michigan in play," said Jason Miller, a senior Trump adviser.

In Michigan, Trump will criticize Biden's economic policies and incentives promoting EVs and say he would do a better job of protecting blue-collar workers if elected to a second term, Miller added.

Trump is banking on driving a wedge between union members and their leaders, who criticized the former president's labor policies during his term, labor experts said.

Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist, said it was critical for Biden to make the trip to Michigan to ensure that Trump does not rewrite history.

"Biden is saying that we are not just going to let you go there and lie to people and try to change the conversation," Finney said.

Biden's Michigan visit represents the most support a sitting president has shown striking workers since Theodore Roosevelt invited striking coal workers to the White House in 1902, historians said.

As a presidential candidate, then former Vice President Biden joined multiple picket lines, including a UAW picket in Kansas City in 2019.

World

Israel’s Netanyahu Says US Visit Was ‘Very Successful’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows a map of what he called the "New Middle East" during his speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows a map of what he called the "New Middle East" during his speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. (EPA)
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Israel’s Netanyahu Says US Visit Was ‘Very Successful’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows a map of what he called the "New Middle East" during his speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows a map of what he called the "New Middle East" during his speech before the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. (EPA)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrapped up his six-day US visit and arrived in Israel on Sunday, saying it was a “very successful trip”.

In a brief statement aboard the return flight, Netanyahu told delegation members that he “met with about 20 heads of state across five continents” and secured “many achievements.”

The PM was in the US to attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The premier said he had “an excellent meeting with US President Joe Biden during which we discussed expanding the circle of peace, a continuation of the Abraham Accords that we [signed] three years ago.”

“I will continue to work hard to bring more achievements to our beloved country. More good news is coming,” he said.

Over the course of Netanyahu’s visit this week, which began with a sit-down with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the premier met with Biden and other world leaders, such as Türkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He spoke before the General Assembly, sat down with American-Jewish leaders and gave a number of television interviews in which he argued that he was trying to reach a compromise on his hardline coalition’s divisive bid to overhaul the judiciary.

The bid has sparked widespread, sustained protests that followed Netanyahu everywhere he went during his US visit.

On Saturday night, as his convoy left for the airport, hundreds protested outside in the rain, shouting “shame” and “democracy,” while police secured the area.

World

German Police Raid Locations Across the Country in Connection with Smuggling of Syrian Migrants 

A warning signal stands on the road during a police check against smuggling of migrants, in Roggosen, Germany, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (dpa via AP)
A warning signal stands on the road during a police check against smuggling of migrants, in Roggosen, Germany, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (dpa via AP)
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German Police Raid Locations Across the Country in Connection with Smuggling of Syrian Migrants 

A warning signal stands on the road during a police check against smuggling of migrants, in Roggosen, Germany, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (dpa via AP)
A warning signal stands on the road during a police check against smuggling of migrants, in Roggosen, Germany, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (dpa via AP)

Police in Germany found more than 100 Syrian citizens inside apartments and other buildings that were searched Tuesday in connection with the suspected smuggling of migrants, German news agency dpa reported.

More than 350 German federal police officers searched locations as part of an investigation. The Syrians allegedly were brought into Germany without holding legal residency documents, dpa said.

Police executed five arrest warrants, three in the northern town of Stade and two in the western town of Gladbeck. All five arrested people were Syrian asylum-seekers already living in Germany, the news agency said.

The Syrian migrants had to pay them 3,000 to 7,000 euros ($3,170- 7,400) to be smuggled into Germany. The suspects then bought gold with the money, dpa said.

The raids were ordered by federal police at Frankfurt airport on suspicion of gang and commercial smuggling of foreigners, the news agency reported.

The focus of the raids was on cities and towns in northern and western Germany but also in Bavaria in the south, dpa said.

World

US Calls on Azerbaijan to Safeguard Armenians as Thousands Flee Karabakh

A general view shows Stepanakert, a city mostly inhabited by ethnic Armenians, as seen from the Azerbaijani-controlled town of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh region, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
A general view shows Stepanakert, a city mostly inhabited by ethnic Armenians, as seen from the Azerbaijani-controlled town of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh region, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
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US Calls on Azerbaijan to Safeguard Armenians as Thousands Flee Karabakh

A general view shows Stepanakert, a city mostly inhabited by ethnic Armenians, as seen from the Azerbaijani-controlled town of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh region, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
A general view shows Stepanakert, a city mostly inhabited by ethnic Armenians, as seen from the Azerbaijani-controlled town of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh region, September 23, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

As thousands of Armenians fled their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh saying they feared ethnic cleansing, the United States called on Azerbaijan to protect the rights of civilians and allow in humanitarian and monitoring missions.
The Armenians of Karabakh - a breakaway part of Azerbaijan beyond Baku's control since the dissolution of the Soviet Union - began fleeing this week after their forces were defeated in a lightning military operation by Azerbaijan's military, Reuters said.
At least 13,550 of the 120,000 ethnic Armenians who call Nagorno-Karabakh home arrived in Armenia on the first day of the exodus, with hundreds of cars and buses crammed with belongings snaking down the mountain road out of Azerbaijan.
"We are calling on Azerbaijan to maintain the ceasefire and take concrete steps to protect the rights of civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh," US Agency for International Development (USAID) chief Samantha Power told reporters in Yerevan.
Power, who earlier handed Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan a letter of support from US President Joe Biden, said Azerbaijan's use of force was unacceptable and that Washington was looking at an appropriate response.
She called on Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev to live up to his promise to protect ethnic Armenian rights, fully reopen the Lachin corridor that connects the region to Armenia and let in aid deliveries and an international monitoring mission.
Aliyev has pledged to guarantee the safety of Karabakh's Armenians but said his iron fist had consigned the idea of the region's independence to history.
FEAR AND FIRE
Ethnic Armenians who managed to get to Armenia gave harrowing accounts
of fleeing death, war and hunger.
Some said they saw many dead civilians - one said truckloads. Others, some with young children, broke down in tears as they described a tragic odyssey of running from war, sleeping on the ground and with hunger churning in their bellies.
"We took what we could and left. We don’t know where we’re going. We have nowhere to go," Petya Grigoryan, a 69-year-old driver, told Reuters in the border town of Goris on Sunday.
Reuters was unable to independently verify accounts of the military operation inside Karabakh. Azerbaijan has said it targeted only Karabakh fighters.
"We are going to learn a lot more in a hurry about the severity of those conditions and what those individuals have gone through causing them to leave Nagorno-Karabakh," USAID's Power said.
As Armenians rushed to leave the Karabakh capital, known as Stepanakert by Armenia and Khankendi by Azerbaijan, fuel stations were overwhelmed by panic buying.
The authorities there said at least 20 people were killed and 290 injured when a fuel storage facility blew up on Monday.
"The doctors and medical staff in Stepanakert are doing their best to save the lives of the wounded in these difficult and cramped conditions," the local Armenian authorities said.
BALANCE OF POWER
The Azerbaijani victory changes the balance of power in the South Caucasus region, a patchwork of ethnicities crisscrossed with oil and gas pipelines where Russia, the United States, Türkiye and Iran are jostling for influence.
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Armenia had relied on a security partnership with Russia, while Azerbaijan grew close to Türkiye, with which it shares linguistic and cultural ties.
Armenia has sought closer ties with the West and blames Russia, which had peacekeepers in Karabakh but is now preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, for failing to protect Karabakh. Moscow denies blame and has told Pashinyan that he is making a big mistake by flirting with the United States.
Aliyev hinted on Monday at the prospect of creating a land corridor to Türkiye across Armenia.
Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, told Washington to stop stoking anti-Russian sentiment in Armenia.