With Medical Report Harris Seeks to Play Health Card against Trump

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris steps off Air Force Two as she arrives in Phoenix, Arizona - AFP
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris steps off Air Force Two as she arrives in Phoenix, Arizona - AFP
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With Medical Report Harris Seeks to Play Health Card against Trump

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris steps off Air Force Two as she arrives in Phoenix, Arizona - AFP
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris steps off Air Force Two as she arrives in Phoenix, Arizona - AFP

Democratic White House candidate Kamala Harris is in "excellent health" and fit for the presidency, according to a medical report published by the White House Saturday, as she aims to put pressure on rival Donald Trump to publish his own health records.

"Vice President Harris remains in excellent health," her physician Joshua Simmons said in the report, adding that she "possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency."

According to Simmons, Harris's most recent physical exam, conducted in April, was "unremarkable."

Simmons noted that Harris suffers from seasonal allergies and hives, which are managed by non-prescription as well as prescription medications. Harris, 59, is also slightly nearsighted and wears contact lenses, the report said

The US vice president's team seeks to put the spotlight on the physical health and mental acuity of 78-year-old former president Trump, who has so far refused to release any detailed medical information, according to AFP.

Republican Trump became the oldest presidential nominee in US history after 81-year-old President Joe Biden withdrew from the White House race in July.

Biden passed the torch to Harris after a disastrous debate against Trump raised concerns in the Democratic Party about his own mental sharpness.

But Trump's apparent vitality means that his age has not so far weighed against his chances in the polls, in a knife-edge battle with Harris in the November 5 presidential election.

Harris's campaign drew attention to a recent series of articles in the New York Times that raised concerns about the fact that Trump had failed to disclose basic information about his health.

The newspaper also published an analysis of Trump's language showing that his speeches are increasingly long, "confused" and include vulgarities, a trend seen by experts as a possible sign of cognitive change.

Trump insists he is fully fit, but he has not released any full medical report for his campaign.

In late 2023, Trump released a note from his former White House doctor declaring him to be in "excellent" health, but it was short on details and did not say what tests Trump had undergone when he had a physical in September 2023.

The same doctor, Ronny Jackson, issued a statement in July after Trump's ear was wounded by an assassin's bullet at a rally in Pennsylvania, saying the former president was doing well.

Trump meanwhile boasted about a cognitive test he had undergone with Jackson while president in 2018 -- but then immediately flubbed his doctor's name, calling him "Ronny Johnson."

If Trump wins the election in November, he would be 82 at the end of his second term in the Oval Office.



German Police Say 4 Women and a Boy Were Killed in the Christmas Market Attack

Tributes to the victims are seen outside the Johanniskirche (Johannes Church), a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Tributes to the victims are seen outside the Johanniskirche (Johannes Church), a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
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German Police Say 4 Women and a Boy Were Killed in the Christmas Market Attack

Tributes to the victims are seen outside the Johanniskirche (Johannes Church), a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Tributes to the victims are seen outside the Johanniskirche (Johannes Church), a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

More details emerged Sunday about those killed when a man drove a car at speed through a Christmas market in Germany, while mourners continued to place flowers and other tributes at the site of the attack.

Police in Magdeburg, the central city where the attack took place on Friday evening, said that the victims were four women ranging in age from 45 to 75, as well as a 9-year-old boy they had spoken of a day earlier.

Authorities said 200 people were injured, including 41 in serious condition. They were being treated in multiple hospitals in Magdeburg, which is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin, and beyond.

Authorities have identified the suspect in the Magdeburg attack as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency.

The suspect was on Saturday evening brought before a judge, who behind closed doors ordered that he be kept in custody pending a possible indictment.

Police haven’t publicly named the suspect, but several German news outlets identified him as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.

Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect appears to have been an active user of the social media platform X, accusing German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he referred to as the “Islamification of Europe.”

The horror triggered by yet another act of mass violence in Germany make it likely that migration will remain a key issue as German heads toward an early election on Feb. 23.

The far-right Alternative for Germany party had already been polling strongly amid a societal backlash against the large numbers of refugees and migrants who have arrived in Germany over the past decade.

Right-wing figures from across Europe have criticized German authorities for having allowed high levels of migration in the past and for what they see as security failures now.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is known for a strong anti-migration position going back years, used the attack in Germany to lash out at the European Union’s migration policies.

At an annual press conference in Budapest on Saturday, Orban insisted that “there is no doubt that there is a link between the changed world in Western Europe, the migration that flows there, especially illegal migration and terrorist acts.”

Orban vowed to “fight back” against the EU migration policies “because Brussels wants Magdeburg to happen to Hungary, too.”