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Drama As 81-year-old Biden Confuses Macron With Dead French President

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US President Joe Biden confused his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron with France’s long-dead former leader Francois Mitterrand, in a campaign speech shared on social media.

Addressing a campaign event in Las Vegas on Sunday, the 81-year-old US leader included an anecdote about Macron’s reaction to a speech at a G7 meeting in 2020.

And Mitterrand from Germany — I mean, from France — looked at me and said, ‘You know, what — why — how long you back for?’” Biden said.

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A later White House transcript inserted the correct name, Macron, in brackets.

Mitterrand was French president from 1981 to 1995, and died in 1996.

READ ALSO: Biden Turns 81 As Voters Show Concern About Age

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Video of the mix-up has been widely viewed and shared on X, formerly Twitter, and shared hundreds of times.

Biden has made similar public mistakes in the past, notably in September 2022 when he called on a deceased congresswoman at a conference she helped organize.

“Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? I think she was going to be here,” he said, referring to Indiana representative Jackie Walorski, who had died a month earlier.

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And in April last year, a White House transcript corrected Biden when he confused New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby team with the Black and Tans, a British military force notorious for its involvement in the Irish War of Independence.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Biden Safe After Car Rams Into Presidential Convoy

The transcript of his speech, given in a pub in Ireland, crossed out “Black and Tans” and inserted “All Blacks”.

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Biden’s predecessor and probable opponent in the November presidential election, Donald Trump, made a similar gaffe last month, confusing his party rival Nikki Haley with former House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Trump, 77, had falsely said Haley was in charge of security during the violent assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, prompting her to question his mental fitness during a campaign speech.

Following Trump’s gaffe, Biden also took the opportunity to make a dig at his potential presidential rival.

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“I don’t agree with Nikki Haley on everything, but we agree on this much: She is not Nancy Pelosi,” he had written in a post on X.

 

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Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

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Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

READ ALSO:Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal

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20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

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Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

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Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

READ ALSO:China’s Trade Surges Despite US Tariff Threats

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

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The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

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READ ALSO:US Threatens To Sanction Countries That Vote For Shipping Carbon Tax

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

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According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

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South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

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At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

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READ ALSO:South African Court Finds Radical Politician Malema Guilty On Gun Charges

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

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South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP

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