Joe Biden: Democrats say goodbye as emotional president takes his leave at national convention
It was as awkward as it was affectionate – the farewell to a president who didn’t want to go from a party that couldn’t bear him to stay.
“We love Joe,” they chanted, waving banners that said the same. They were all pals now. Had he still been running, Mr Biden would have left the stage to the sound of his own footsteps.
On the night, he looked and performed better than he had for months. Stepping down suits him as much as it suits his party.
Latest: Tearful Biden says democracy must be preserved
He acknowledged a necessity that he stood down when he said as much when he told the convention “I love my job, I love my country more”.
He said that he had been too young for the Senate when he entered that institution and, now, was too old to stay as president.
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris hugs President Joe Biden Pic: AP
Mr Biden addressed the moves within the Democratic Party to oust him, saying: “All this talk about how I’m angry at all the people who said I should step down – that’s not true.”
Cue the camera cutaways, including to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the party grandee who negotiated Mr Biden’s ‘surrender’. On the night, she was seen chanting and waving the We Love Joe poster in response.
Perhaps the time for healing has begun – if not that, then maybe a mutual understanding that their party and movement is in better shape heading into November’s election because of the change.
The president delivered a CV retrospective that didn’t undersell his achievements in office. It was father of the nation stuff – nothing we hadn’t heard before – that ran through his results and styled himself as a saviour of democracy. “Thank you Kamala, too,” he told the crowd, even if this felt more like a speech for his past than her present – his legacy and her presidential fight.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Joe said Kamala was special – he was right’
It will all help his successor. When the political honeymoon period evolves into harder interrogation, Kamala Harris will be selling and defending their joint record in the White House. If Biden can ram home the successes, so much the better for her – even if he was never able to do it sufficiently for himself.
A robust late-night performance over nearly 50 minutes may have had some pondering the wisdom of ditching Joe Biden, but they would surely be in the minority. However able he showed himself last night, it still looked, sounded and felt like darker times revisited for Democrats. The contrast is accentuated by the current buzz around the replacement ticket that’s transformed the party’s potential.
Read more:
Biden wipes away tears ahead of farewell speech
Basketball to the rodeo – how this state could shape election
The opinion polls speak to that, as does the atmosphere in Chicago’s United Center. There was a rock star reception for Kamala Harris when she took the stage for an opening night introduction and the production line of speakers thereafter smacked of generational change.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Kamala Harris’s surprise turn at DNC
But it was a night for Joe Biden – an occasion to honour the old as well as roll out the new. There was much emotion around the president and he, himself, looked tearful by the end – not the one he wanted but the one his party demanded.
It is the long, emotional goodbye. But it’s definitely goodbye.
Former US president Joe Biden has prostate cancer, his office has said.
The statement said Mr Biden, who left the White House in January, is reviewing options for treatment with his physicians.
It read: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.
“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.
“The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
File pic: Reuters
According to Cancer Research UK, a Gleason score of 9 means the cancerous cells “look very abnormal” and the disease is “likely to grow quickly”.
A source familiar with Mr Biden and his family’s thinking has told Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, that the former president is considering “multiple treatment options” – including hormone treatment for the cancer.
They added he is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and that as of now, it is unclear where the former president will be treated.
Mr Biden, 82, was the oldest person to ever serve as president, with concerns about his health raised regularly during his campaign for re-election last year.
After a poor debate against Donald Trump in June, he withdrew from the 2024 election and endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris.
In February 2023, he had a skin lesion removed from his chest that was a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
A Mexican navy ship has hit the Brooklyn Bridge during a promotional tour in New York City.
The New York Fire Department said authorities were responding to injuries but had no details about how many people might have been hurt or whether they were on the vessel or on the bridge.
Sky’s US partner network NBC News reports that at least three people were seriously injured in the incident.
The Mexican navy said in a post on X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in the accident, which has prevented it from continuing its voyage.
Eyewitness video of the collision posted online showed the mast of the ship, which was flying a large Mexican flag, scraping the underneath of the bridge.
Pic: AP
The vessel then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore.
The Mexican navy said the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.
The Cuauhtemoc is about 297ft long and 40ft wide, according to the Mexican navy. It sailed for the first time in 1982.
Pic: AP
Each year, it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets’ training.
It left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on 6 April with 277 people onboard, the navy said at the time.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
One person has died in a bomb explosion near a reproductive health clinic in California, authorities have said.
The incident took place in Palm Springs, a city two hours east of Los Angeles, and is being investigated as a possible car explosion.
The city’s mayor Ron DeHarte said one person died in the blast, adding that the bomb was “either in or near” a vehicle. The deceased’s identity is not known, Palm Springs police said.
Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers clinic, told the Associated Press his facility was damaged but all staff were safe and accounted for.
The explosion damaged the office space where the practice conducts patient consultations, but the IVF lab and stored embryos were unharmed, he added.
“I really have no clue what happened,” he said. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.”
Debris covers the ground after the explosion. Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
In a statement posted on Facebook the clinic said it was “heartbroken” to learn someone died in the explosion and added: “Our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected.”
It continued: “Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is.
“In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope – because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care.
The clinic will be fully operational on Monday, it added.
“This moment has shaken us – but it has not stopped us. We will continue to serve with strength, love, and the hope that brings new life into the world,” the statement concluded.
Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
The Palm Springs city government said in a post on Facebook that the explosion happened on North Indian Canyon Drive, near East Tachevah Drive, before 11am local time (6pm GMT).
A burned-out car can be seen in a parking lot behind the building in aerial footage.
The blast caved in the clinic’s roof and blew debris across four lanes of the road.
Another person said he was inside a cannabis dispensary nearby when he felt a massive explosion.
Nima Tabrizi said: “The building just shook, and we go outside and there’s massive cloud smoke.”
Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are travelling to the scene to help assess what happened.
California governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the explosion, his press office said.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway