Biden’s cabinet meeting proves the reality TV presidency wasn’t renewed

Biden’s first full cabinet meeting was a return to the staid old way of doing things – not worshipping the president like Trump’s cabinet

Poor old Joe Biden. He might have won the electoral college and the popular vote but he’ll never feel the love of his underlings like Donald Trump did.

The former president’s first full cabinet meeting in June 2017 remains an unparalleled opera of oleaginousness. Secretary after secretary all but flung themselves at his feet, sang songs of praise and paid homage to the divine emperor of the universe.

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Hopes rise of breakthrough on US return to Iran nuclear deal

Statement following talks sparks optimism that unexpected progress has been made

A potential breakthrough in the apparently deadlocked efforts to bring the US back into the nuclear deal with Iran is on the horizon after secret diplomatic talks in Frankfurt this week.

The joint commission, the body that brings together the existing signatories to the deal, will meet virtually on Friday to discuss the outcome of Monday’s meeting amid growing optimism that unexpected progress has been made.

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Biden announces ‘once-in-a generation’ $2tn infrastructure investment plan – video

Joe Biden unveiled what he called a 'once-in-a-generation' investment in American infrastructure, promising the nation his $2tn plan would create the 'strongest, most resilient, innovative economy in the world'. Biden’s proposal to the nation still struggling to overcome the coronavirus pandemic would rebuild 20,000 miles of roads and highways and repair the 10 most economically significant bridges in the country. Biden added other projects would confront the climate crisis, curb wealth inequality and strengthen US competitiveness

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Joe Biden’s dog bites second person in a month

German shepherd Major ‘nipped someone while on a walk’, according to first’s lady’s press secretary

Joe Biden’s dog Major has been involved in its second biting incident in a month, the White House has said.

The dog “nipped someone while on a walk” on Monday, according to Jill Biden’s press secretary, Michael LaRosa. The animal “is still adjusting to his new surroundings”, he said. The individual was seen by the White House medical unit “out of an abundance of caution” and returned to work without injury.

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Biden unveils ‘once-in-a generation’ $2tn infrastructure investment plan

American Jobs Plan would rebuild roads, highways and bridges; confront the climate crisis and curb wealth inequality

Joe Biden on Wednesday unveiled what he called a “once-in-a-generation” investment in American infrastructure, promising a nation still struggling to overcome the coronavirus pandemic that his $2tn plan would create the “strongest, most resilient, innovative economy in the world”.

Speaking at a carpenters’ training center outside of Pittsburgh, where he launched his campaign two years ago, Biden returned as president to elaborate on his campaign pledge to “rebuild the backbone of America”.

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Biden pushes plan to rebuild US infrastructure as Covid cases rise – live

The Republican governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, announced today that he is lifting the statewide mask mandate.

Hutchinson said recent data on coronavirus case numbers in the state had led him to conclude that the mandate was no longer necessary.

President Biden yesterday: Masks, please.

Gov. Asa Hutchison (R-AR) today: pic.twitter.com/m20KMNVedE

Related: 'I'm scared': top US official shares sense of 'doom' as Covid cases rise

During her press briefing this afternoon, Jen Psaki also criticized the World Health Organization’s report on the origins of coronavirus.

The White House press secretary said China had “not been transparent” about the early days of its coronavirus outbreak.

WATCH: @PressSec says the @WHO COVID-19 origins report "doesn't lead us to a closer understanding or greater knowledge than six months ago about the origins", adding that China has "not been transparent, they have not provided underlying data" on the virus. pic.twitter.com/6KRK7112zn

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Hunter Biden calls Trump ‘vile’ in new book and denies Ukraine allegations

In a keenly awaited memoir, Joe Biden’s son Hunter attacks Donald Trump as “a vile man with a vile mission” who plumbed “unprecedented depths” in last year’s US presidential election.

Related: Want to book Donald or Melania for an event? Trump has a website for that

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Biden and EU condemn Myanmar bloodshed as ‘outrageous’ and ‘a day of shame’

Criticism of the junta’s deadly crackdown mounts after military fires on funeral following killing of 100

Joe Biden has led global condemnation of an “absolutely outrageous” crackdown by Myanmar’s junta that left more than 100 people – including several children – dead in the bloodiest day since the coup two months ago.

Soldiers and police have killed hundreds in brutal suppression against weeks of mass protests demanding a restoration of democracy and the release of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

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Climate talks will test Biden’s pledge to make global heating a priority

Summit is designed to revive a US-convened forum of the world’s major economies that previous administrations had allowed to lapse

President Joe Biden is doubling down on his reset of his predecessor’s environmental policies by inviting Russian president Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping of China to the first big climate talks of his administration next month aimed at increasing cooperation to fight global heating.

The Leaders Summit on Climate talks, scheduled to be held virtually on 22 and 23 April, are an opportunity for the US to shape, hasten and deepen global efforts to cut climate-wrecking fossil fuel pollution, administration officials told the Associated Press.

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Suez Canal: Biden offers help as some vessels head for Cape of Good Hope

US president offers US equipment to help free the Ever Given, as shipping company Maersk begins rerouting cargo

Joe Biden has said the US is looking at what it can do to help free the 400-metre container ship Ever Given from its position blocking the Suez canal as the trade route crisis stretched into a fifth day.

“We have equipment and capacity that most countries don’t have. And we are seeing what help we can be,” the US president said on Friday in Delaware. His comments came after a US official said the navy was prepared to send a team of dredging experts to the canal, but was awaiting approval from local authorities.

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Joe Biden invites 40 world leaders to virtual summit on climate crisis

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin among invitees as US heralds return to forefront of climate fight

Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders to a virtual summit on the climate crisis, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

Heads of state, including Xi Jinping of China and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, have been asked to attend the two-day meeting meant to mark Washington’s return to the front lines of the fight against human-caused climate change, after Donald Trump disengaged from the process.

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Joe Biden condemns Georgia voting law: ‘This is Jim Crow in the 21st century’ – live

The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:

Activists in Georgia vowed on Friday to keep up an aggressive campaign to pressure Republicans over their support for the law restricting voting access, saying they were undeterred by its final passage through the legislature.

Related: 'Jim Crow in the 21st century': Biden denounces Georgia Republicans over new voting law

The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, argued the Georgia law restricting voter access underscored the need to pass the For the People Act.

The Democratic-controlled House passed the election reform legislation earlier this month.

We saw it in Georgia last night. We see it across the country.

A concerted, nationwide, and racist effort by Republican state legislatures to limit the right of American citizens to vote.

The #ForThePeople Act is a priority of this Congress to fight this and renew Democracy. pic.twitter.com/E0TFJ68dqv

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‘Jim Crow in the 21st century’: Biden denounces Georgia Republicans over new voting law

President says new law represents ‘blatant attack on the constitution’ as voting rights activists vow to keep up the fight

Joe Biden lambasted a new law in Georgia that imposes sweeping new voting restrictions, calling it “un-American” and “Jim Crow in the 21st century”.

He said in a statement: “Instead of celebrating the rights of all Georgians to vote or winning campaigns on the merits of their ideas, Republicans in the state instead rushed through an un-American law to deny people the right to vote. This law, like so many others being pursued by Republicans in statehouses across the country, is a blatant attack on the constitution and good conscience.”

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Scandal! Horror! Biden’s press-briefing notes prompt rightwing outrage

Fox News got exercised about the president taking cues on Thursday – but there’s nothing wrong with being prepared

Joe Biden’s first press conference has caused some strong reactions from the conservative side of the aisle after he was caught … reading notes.

On Thursday night, Fox News dedicated considerable time covering just how long Biden took to hold his first press conference – 49 days!

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Gun reform laws eluded Biden in 2013. Could this showdown with the NRA be different?

The Sandy Hook shooting failed to convince Congress to enact more regulations. In the wake of recent shootings, calls for reform have begun

Within hours of 10 people being gunned down at the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado on Monday – the second such bloody rampage in seven days – the calls had begun for Congress to tighten up America’s notoriously slack firearms laws.

John Hickenlooper, a Democratic US senator from Colorado who was governor of the state at the time of the Aurora cinema shooting that killed 12 people in 2012, opined that “our country has a horrific problem with gun violence. We need federal action. Now.”

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‘It will save lives’: Joe Biden calls for gun reform after Colorado shooting – video

In his first remarks on the supermarket shooting in Boulder, Colorado, that killed 10 people on Monday, Joe Biden called on Congress to move quickly to toughen the country's gun laws, asking lawmakers to close the loopholes in the background checks system and ban assault weapon and high-capacity magazines. Biden homed in on closing what is known as the Charleston loophole – a provision in federal law that gives a gun seller discretion on whether to proceed with a sale if the FBI fails to determine within three business days if a buyer is eligible to purchase a gun

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The US has been silent on Honduras’s drug problem, but that might be about to change

Analysis: The Biden administration is expected to take a cooler approach to President Hernández than Donald Trump did

For the US, this is a painfully embarrassing fortnight to count Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández as a key ally in Central America.

On Monday he was named in a New York federal courtroom as a co-conspirator in the conviction of his associate, Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, for smuggling tons of cocaine into the US, and receiving a $250,000 bribe from Fuentes, an alleged drug kingpin.

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Biden calls on Congress to pass assault weapons ban after Boulder shooting – live

President also urges Senate to pass bills to close background checks loopholes

Earlier, while he was touring the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute in Columbus, Biden was asked if he thinks he has the political capital to get gun control measures passed through the Senate.

“I hope so,” he said, his fingers crossed per the White House press pool report.

.@POTUS crosses his fingers as he's asked about the possibility of gun control legislation, during a tour of the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio. pic.twitter.com/qMZ3soPuGJ

Hours after America's second mass shooting in a week, Sen. John Kennedy downplays the gun problem by noting that "we have a lot of drunk drivers in America that kill a lot of people. We ought to try to combat that too ... the answer is not to get rid of all sober drivers." pic.twitter.com/BvqhNvuWRJ

Getting vaccinated and following public health guidelines are patriotic duties, Biden said.

“We need all Americans to keep washing their hands, stay socially distanced, wearing their masks,” he said. “Get vaccinated, when it’s your turn. It’s a patriotic responsibility.

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Polish writer charged for calling president a ‘moron’

Jakub Żulczyk faces possible prison term for insulting Andrzej Duda over his comments on Biden election win

A Polish writer faces a possible prison sentence for insulting President Andrzej Duda by calling him a “moron” over comments the latter made about Joe Biden’s US election victory.

Jakub Żulczyk, the screenwriter behind the popular TV series Blinded by the Lights and Belfer, said prosecutors had charged him under an article in the criminal code for insulting the head of state in a Facebook post.

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Relaxing US Covid rules could cause ‘another avoidable surge’, warns CDC director – live

Dr Rochelle Walensky pleads with Americans to remain vigilant about taking precautions to limit spread of coronavirus

Kamala Harris also told reporters that she plans to visit the US-Mexican border at some point, although she will not be doing so today.

“We were left with a very challenging situation. Let’s get these kids out of [Customs and Border Protection] custody and get them into [Health and Human Services] custody,” the vice-president said, per a pool report.

Kamala Harris is visiting a coronavirus vaccination site in Jacksonville, Florida, as part of the “Help is Here” tour to advertise the benefits of the relief bill.

After landing in Jacksonville, the vice-president took a few questions from reporters about the pandemic and the situation at the US-Mexican border.

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