fights criminal contempt charges. and summer sand and shark infested waters. enhanced technology is on the hunt where sharks have been on the attack. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start today with breaking news in our politics lead. president biden s approval rating hitting a new low in cnn polling. take a look. only 38% of people approve of the way joe biden is handling his job as president. 62% disapprove. this dismal number comes as president biden returns from his middle east trip. the white house touting the trip a success, saying the president renewed support for the region and set expectations that gas prices could steady in the coming weeks. but those successes in some quarters being overshadowed by this moment, biden fist bumping saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman, who the u.s. says is to blame for the slaughter of washington post journalist jamal khashoggi in 2018. biden trying to brush it off from reporters upon his return to the white house.
immediate steps that are being taken to try to keep gas prices under control. the other thing that continues, we think, to be very important, is to hold oil companies accountable. you know, just about everybody in this country is frustrated with the extraordinarily high price of gas, except for oil executives who have made it clear they re not going to invest in production when they re as profitable as they are. that s why the president has called for use it or lose it rules if an oil company is sitting on production permits or leases and not using it to do the kind of production that could lower the cost of oil, that they re held accountable for that. right now, there was unified, congressional opposition, but we think it s a good one that would make a difference for consumers who are feeling the pain at the pump. secretary, i know you re here to talk about transportation, but unfortunately many days we have to talk about gun violence, and so given the latest mass shooting
These by elections were billed as nail biters. Close, tense. In the end, they delivered two significant victories to labour. First in tamworth the 57th Safest Conservative seat in the country before last night. Edwards, sarah siena, labour party 11,719 votes. Cheering. The new mp was elated. It is certainly feeling very historic. I think one of the things we can take is a lot of comfort from the fact that people have seen labour are offering a positive vision, that they want a fresh start, and they are not seeing that the Conservatives have anything to offer. The defeated conservative candidate chose not to stick around. In a statement the tories described it as a difficult result on a much reduced turnout. But it was about to get even more difficult for them. Over in Mid Bedfordshire, when the ballot boxes started arriving, it had still been too close to call, in a rare three way fight between the Conservatives, labour and the lib dems. The liberal democrats doubled their share of the