President Biden urged to drop out of US election race

President Joe Biden is currently in self-isolation after testing positive for covid-19 but has assured voters he is "looking forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week". This comes after dozens of US Democrats called for him to step aside in the election race. Ohio senator Sherrod Brown is among those pushing for Biden's campaign exit. He stated on Friday evening, “At this critical time, our full attention must return to these important issues. I think the President should end his campaign.”

Also in the programme: French National Assembly meets for the first time after the general elections. We’ll speak to an MP from the far left alliance. Also, the biographer of the late Canadian writer, Alice Munro on her legacy after her daughter said Munro knew she was sexually abused by her stepfather.

Joining presenter Paul Henley are Lesley Vinjamuri, the director of the US and Americas programme at Chatham House, the famous London thinktank, and professor of international relations at SOAS University of London, and French journalist, Eric Albert, who is a European economic correspondent for the French daily, Le Monde.

(Picture: U.S. President Joe Biden rubs his nose while greeting shoppers inside Mario's Westside Market grocery store in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., July 16, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Brenner).