A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News. Delivered to your inbox on Fridays.
Leading the week
With the fallout from President Joe Biden’s catastrophic debate performance continuing to dominate the news despite the administration’s efforts to move on from questions over his fitness for office, the US president will host NATO leaders next week for a three-day gathering beginning on Tuesday (July 9) with a celebration of the alliance’s 75th anniversary. The formal summit of the now 32-member bloc, the last before Mark Rutte takes over from Jens Stoltenberg as Secretary General in October, then follows on Wednesday and Thursday (July 10-11). While the ongoing war in Ukraine will dominate the agenda, the growing prospect of a second Trump presidency from January will likely overshadow the gathering.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is expected to attend the summit, is among those having to consider the implications of a Biden loss in November and is expected to meet with key congressional leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, during his visit. The White House has announced plans for Biden to hold a ‘big boy’ press conference at the summit (likely on Thursday), and the stakes could not be higher, both domestically and internationally.
Former President Donald Trump, who had been due to appear in New York for sentencing next week before proceedings were delayed as he seeks to have the verdict tossed following the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, will instead be back on the campaign trail, with events already announced for Tuesday (July 9) in Florida and Saturday (July 13) in Pennsylvania ahead of the Republican National Convention the following week in Milwaukee. Although Trump held an event in Virginia the day after the debate, since then he has been conspicuously silent as turmoil has engulfed the Democrats, notwithstanding a leaked video from a round of golf in which he describes Biden as a ‘broken-down pile of crap’ and Vice President Kamala Harris as ‘pathetic’.
Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter trial over the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust gets underway in New Mexico with jury selection on Tuesday (July 9) followed by opening statements expected on Wednesday (July 10). Baldwin, a producer of the film as well as its lead actor, was holding the gun that shot and killed Hutchins during a rehearsal, though he maintains he never pulled the trigger. His trial follows the conviction in March of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, on the same charge of involuntary manslaughter. Gutierrez-Reed was subsequently handed an 18-month sentence, and won’t be compelled to testify at Baldwin’s trial as she appeals her own case after the judge rejected prosecutors’ request for so-called use immunity to allow her to be called as a witness. Baldwin is not currently listed to give evidence, though that could still change during the course of the trial, which is expected to last two weeks.
Looking abroad
Narendra Modi heads to Russia on Monday (July 8) for talks with Vladimir Putin in what will be his first foreign visit since beginning his third term as Indian prime minister. The trip, also Modi’s first to Moscow in five years, comes despite tensions between the two countries over Russia’s recruitment of Indian nationals to fight in the war in Ukraine. Modi’s decision to visit will no doubt be disappointing for the US and its allies, who have been frustrated by India’s reluctance to condemn Russia over its invasion. But beyond cheap fuel and India’s reliance on Russian-made military parts, India views maintaining close ties with Russia as critical to containing perceived threats from China and Pakistan, particularly given how the war in Ukraine has led to deepened ties between Moscow and Beijing. The trip may also have the added value for Modi of strengthening India’s role as a key broker between the West and the Global South.
In the Middle East, just as a glimmer of hope has emerged of a breakthrough in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, tensions between Israel and Hezbollah appear to be on the verge of escalating into a full-blown conflict. The threat of a new war comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces accusations of exploiting the conflict for political purposes, with a hearing scheduled on Tuesday (July 9) on a request to delay his testimony in his corruption trial until at least next March. Proceedings have been suspended since October in the wake of the Hamas attack.
The escalating situation with Lebanon comes almost 18 years to the day since the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel that resulted in massive damage to Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure but not the disarmament of the Iran-backed militant group, despite an agreement to that effect. In recent years, the group’s leader has marked the anniversary with a speech on or around the anniversary on Friday (July 12), which will be closely watched this year if war hasn’t already broken out by then.