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Elon Musk,World Leaders, Celebrities, Others React To failed Ass@sination Attempt On Trump

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World leaders, celebrities and the global online community have expressed disgust at the attempted assassination of former US president Donald Trump while he was holding a rally on Saturday, July 13.

Butler County district attorney Richard Goldinger said in a phone interview that the suspected gunman was dead and at least one attendee was killed after gunshots rang through the crowd as former President Donald Trump spoke at a rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson was the first Republican to put out a statement in the moments after the party’s presumptive presidential nominee was rushed off the stage with blood streaming from his ear.

“Praying for President Trump,” Johnson simply wrote on X.

Former US President George W. Bush says he is “grateful” that former President Donald Trump is safe.

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Laura and I are grateful that President Trump is safe following the cowardly attack on his life. And we commend the men and women of the Secret Service for their speedy response,” Bush said in his statement.

US president and Trump’s opponent in the coming election, Joe Biden, wished Trump quick recovery.

“I have been briefed on the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania,” Biden wrote. “I’m grateful to hear that he’s safe and doing well.”

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Biden added: “I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information. Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”

Former President Barack Obama said in a statement that “There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy.”

He added that while details were still scarce, “we should all be relieved that former President Trump wasn’t seriously hurt, and use this moment to recommit ourselves to civility and respect in our politics.”

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“As one whose family has been the victim of political violence, I know firsthand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

“I thank God that former President Trump is safe. As we learn more details about this horrifying incident, let us pray that all those in attendance at the former President’s rally today are unharmed.” she added

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said on the social platform X that his thoughts and prayers are with former President Trump. “I am thankful for the decisive law enforcement response,” he said. “America is a democracy. Political violence of any kind is never acceptable.”

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North Dakota Sen. Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the three men on Trump’s shortlist for vice president, all quickly sent out statements expressing concern for the former president.

Rubio shared an image taken as Trump was escorted off stage with his fist in the air and a streak of blood on his face along with the words, “God protected President Trump.”

“I am horrified by what happened at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania and relieved that former President Trump is safe. Political violence has no place in our country,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer in a statement.

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Billionaire Tesla CEO, Elon Musk tweeted that his vote will be going to Trump in the coming election .

 

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Rumours Of Trump’s Ill Health Spread Online Despite Denial

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From manipulated images to out-of-context photos, false claims that Donald Trump is seriously ill — or even dead — have swirled online, with the misinformation persisting even after the US president publicly rejected it on Tuesday.

At a White House press conference, Trump dismissed social media rumours about his health as “fake news,” following the 79-year-old’s noticeable absence from public appearances and press events last week.

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Since last Friday, there were around 104,000 mentions of the hashtag “Trump dead” on the Elon Musk-owned platform X, generating a cumulative 35.3 million views, according to an analysis from the misinformation watchdog NewsGuard.

Some social media users cited online maps purportedly showing road closures near Maryland’s Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre as evidence that Trump was being treated for a serious ailment at the facility.

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But there were no credible reports of road closures around the medical facility.

Other social media users shared an image of an ambulance parked outside the White House, claiming it was taken last month and citing it as evidence of a health crisis involving Trump.

It was actually an old photo posted by a journalist on X in April 2023 — while Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, was still in office, according to NewsGuard.

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Some users claiming that Trump was dead shared an out-of-context image of the White House flag flying at half-staff, a traditional gesture used to honour the death of a prominent official.

READ ALSO:Trump Considering Deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia To Uganda

In reality, Trump had issued a proclamation last week ordering flags at the White House, military posts, and naval stations across the country to be lowered in honour of the victims of a school shooting in Minneapolis.

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Some users also posted a zoomed-in image of Trump’s face, claiming it showed a deep line above his eye that indicated a recent stroke.

But NewsGuard found that the original image was out of focus and showed no signs of a line over Trump’s eye. The image used in the false posts was digitally enhanced using an AI tool.

The misinformation — which appeared to originate from liberal anti-Trump accounts on X, Bluesky, and Instagram — persisted even after Trump stated on Truth Social over the weekend: “NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE.”

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READ ALSO:Trump Considering Deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia To Uganda

The falsehoods continued to circulate following Trump’s press conference on Tuesday, where he publicly dismissed the health rumours.

Shortly after the conference, one Bluesky account falsely claimed that the “White House just announced” the president was dead.

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The falsehoods highlight how facts are increasingly under assault on a misinformation-filled internet landscape, an issue exacerbated by public distrust of institutions and traditional media.

READ ALSO:Why I Plotted President Trump’s Assassination – 50-yr-old Woman

The health of US presidents has always been closely watched, but with the White House seeing its two oldest ever occupants since 2017, the scrutiny is now heavier than ever.

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Trump — the oldest man ever to be elected US president — has alleged that Democrats covered up the mental and physical decline of Biden, who was 82 when he left office in January.

Biden’s health was a key issue in the 2024 election, and the then-president was forced to drop his campaign for a second term after a disastrous debate performance against Trump.

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Russia Seeks Recognition Of Annexed Territories As Condition For Ukraine Deal

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Russia is still seeking international recognition that parts of Ukraine annexed and occupied by its forces belong to Moscow as part of any peace deal, its foreign minister said in remarks published Wednesday.

Ukraine has said it will never accept Russian control over any of its territory and has vowed to recover land seized by Moscow.

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Russia claims to have annexed five Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, as well as the Crimean peninsula, which it seized in 2014.

“For a durable peace, the new territorial realities that arose… must be recognised and formalised in accordance with international law,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in remarks published by Moscow on Wednesday.

READ ALSO:Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

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Who gets control of land captured by Russia in its offensive is a key sticking point in stalled peace talks between the two sides.

Ukraine wants a ceasefire first before discussing territory, but Russia has refused to halt its offensive until a full deal is reached.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said in response that Russia was responding to peace efforts led by US President Donald Trump with “old ultimatums”.

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Russia has not changed its aggressive goals and shows no signs of readiness for meaningful negotiations,” he said, adding: “It’s time to hit the Russian war machine with severe new sanctions and sober Moscow up.”

READ ALSO:Again, Russia Claims Another Village In Ukraine’s Region

Turkey, which has hosted three rounds of direct Russia-Ukraine talks, said last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin had offered to freeze the front lines in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions if Ukraine completely gave up the Donetsk region.

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Russia already has almost total control over the Lugansk region and controls around 80 percent of Donetsk, AFP analysis of Institute for the Study of War (ISW) data shows.

It has also captured large swathes of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, though Ukraine still controls the regional capitals.

Ukraine’s industrial east has been decimated by more than a decade of fighting that erupted when armed Russian-backed separatists began a push to break away from Kyiv following the country’s pro-European revolution in 2014.

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Syrian Ex-leader Assad Faces War Crime Charges For Killing Journalists

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French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six other top former officials over the bombardment of a rebel-held city in 2012 that killed two journalists, lawyers said Tuesday.

Marie Colvin, 56, an American working for The Sunday Times of Britain, and French photographer Remi Ochlik, 28, were killed on February 22, 2012, by the explosion in the eastern city of Homs, which is being investigated by the French judiciary as a potential crime against humanity as well as a war crime.

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British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier, and Syrian translator Wael Omar were wounded in the attack on the informal press centre where they had been working.

READ ALSO:France’s Top Court Annuls Arrest Warrant Against Syria’s Ex-president al-Assad

Assad escaped with his family to Russia after being ousted by Islamist rebels at the end of 2024, although his precise whereabouts have not been confirmed.

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Other than Assad, the warrants notably target his brother Maher al-Assad, who was the de facto head of the 4th Syrian armoured division at the time, intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, and then-army chief of staff Ali Ayoub.

The issuing of the seven arrest warrants is a decisive step that paves the way for a trial in France for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” said Clemence Bectarte, lawyer for the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Ochlik’s parents.

READ ALSO:US Embassy Warns Americans In Nigeria Of Looming Visa Overstay Penalties

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The FIDH said the journalists had clandestinely entered the besieged city to “document the crimes committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime” and were victims of a “targeted bombing”.

The investigation clearly established that the attack on the informal press centre was part of the Syrian regime’s explicit intention to target foreign journalists to limit media coverage of its crimes and force them to leave the city and the country,” said Mazen Darwish, lawyer and director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM).

Colvin was known for her fearless reporting and signature black eye patch, which she wore after losing sight in one eye in an explosion during Sri Lanka’s civil war. Her career was celebrated in a Golden Globe-nominated film, “A Private War”.

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