Category Archives: Joe Biden

‘Our blood is cheaper than water’: anger in Iraq over Trump pardons

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Joe Biden to be lobbied to reverse decision to pardon security guards jailed over massacre

Iraqis have reacted with outrage to Donald Trump’s move to pardon four security guards from the security firm Blackwater who were jailed for a 2007 massacre that sparked an outcry over the use of mercenaries in war.

The four men were part of a security convoy that fired on civilians at a central Baghdad roundabout, killing 14 people including a nine-year old child and wounding many more.

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Joe Biden won’t inherit Trump’s millions of Twitter followers

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Move marks a departure from past practice as in 2017 Twitter transferred followers of Obama administration accounts to Trump

Joe Biden will not inherit Donald Trump’s millions of followers on the official president of the United States and White House Twitter accounts when he assumes the presidency, marking a departure from past social media practice, the Democratic president-elect’s team said on Tuesday.

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‘Darkest days ahead’: Joe Biden gives sobering message on Covid – video

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Biden said the US would have dark days ahead in tackling the coronavirus pandemic and things would get worse before they improved.

Monday saw the Covid-19 cases pass 18 million in the US according to data from Johns Hopkins University, and Biden said the vaccine rollout would not change trends quickly

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Joe Biden receives coronavirus vaccine – video

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Joe Biden received his first injected dose of the Covid-19 vaccine live on television on Monday, in an effort to boost confidence in its safety ahead of its distribution next year. 'I'm doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it's available to take the vaccine. There's nothing to worry about,' the US president-elect said. His wife, Jill Biden, who got the injection earlier in the day, stood nearby.

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‘I’m ready’: Joe Biden receives coronavirus vaccine live on TV

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Biden thanks medical staff after taking first dose of Pfizer vaccine in front of cameras, in bid to show Americans vaccines are safe

Joe Biden received his first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine on live US television on Monday afternoon, in keeping with public officials’ efforts to show Americans such vaccines are safe.

Shortly after 3.20pm, Biden appeared before cameras at a medical facility. He rolled up his sleeve and said: “I’m ready.” After the jab, Biden thanked scientists and medical workers, saying their efforts were “just amazing”.

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Biden mulls punishments for Russia over suspected role in government hack

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As president-elect Joe Biden weighed options to punish Russia for its suspected hacking of US government agencies and companies, one leading Republican accused Moscow of “acting with impunity” and others called for retaliatory strikes.

Related: Trump attempt to overturn election is 'nutty and loopy', Romney says

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Trickle-down economics doesn’t work but build-up does – is Biden listening? | Robert Reich

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A new study confirms tax cuts for the rich do not benefit the rest. Recovery from the pandemic is a chance to change course

How should the huge financial costs of the pandemic be paid for, as well as the other deferred needs of society after this annus horribilis?

Related: Jeff Bezos became even richer thanks to Covid-19. But he still won't protect Amazon workers | Robert Reich

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America’s democracy is in crisis – how can Joe Biden fix voting rights?

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The president-elect’s ability to fix the crisis hinges on whether or not Democrats win the Georgia runoffs – but there are a few areas where he could act unilaterally

When Joe Biden is inaugurated next month, he will inherit an America where democracy is in crisis.

The 2020 election exposed the urgent need to protect the right to vote in America. Throughout the year, voters waited hours in line to cast their ballots, some until the early hours of the morning. Democrats and voting rights groups brought an explosion of lawsuits seeking to ease restrictions around mail-in voting as Republicans around the country refused to budge.

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‘Folks, we’re in crisis’: Joe Biden introduces environmental advisers

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President-elect announces racially diverse team to face ‘existential threat of our time’

President-elect Joe Biden announced a racially diverse slate of environmental advisers on Saturday, to help his administration confront what he called “the existential threat of our time, climate change”.

Related: US to hold world climate summit early next year and seek to rejoin Paris accord

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Joe Biden will face an inbox of complex foreign policy problems from the start

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The massive, ongoing hack of US federal agencies, relations with China and North Korea will be urgent issues for Biden to address

Joe Biden’s foreign policy in-tray is only looking more difficult as he approaches inauguration day – even as the US still confronts the pressing issue of record coronavirus deaths and infections.

The massive and ongoing hack of US federal agencies – blamed on Russia – has so far elicited no response from Donald Trump, who has a long history of denying or downplaying Russian interventions.

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Congress passes spending bill to fund government through Sunday – live

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The Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna’s vaccine for emergency use. This is the second coronavirus vaccine to gain approval in the US.

The government can now begin to distribute 5.9m doses of the Moderna vaccine across the US.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle said they were optimistic they could reach a deal on a coronavirus stimulus bill this weekend.

The $900bn proposal currently on the table has been held up over an attempt by Republicans to curtail the Federal Reserve’s lending power - limiting its emergency lending efforts amid a deep economic crisis. Democrats said the provision would tie president-elect Joe Biden’s hands as he tries to rein in the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus crisis.

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Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancee urges Joe Biden to release CIA report

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US president-elect can help uncover truth about Saudi journalist’s murder, says Hatice Cengiz

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of Jamal Khashoggi, has called on the US president-elect, Joe Biden, to release the CIA’s classified report into the Washington Post journalist’s murder once he enters the White House, a move she said would “greatly assist” in uncovering the truth.

The classified intelligence assessment has never been released but media outlets have reported, without providing more details, that it concludes with “medium to high confidence” that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, ordered the killing.

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Cyber-attack is brutal reminder of the Russia problem facing Joe Biden

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Analysis: new president must find a way to contain such hyper-aggressive behaviour from Moscow

It is Joe Biden’s biggest foreign policy headache. As well as confronting the Covid pandemic, the president-elect has to deal with a more familiar problem: Russia. Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 US presidential election cast a shadow over US politics for four long years.

And now the Kremlin appears to have struck again. This week details emerged of an unprecedented cyber-attack against US government departments. Beginning in March, suspected Russian hackers penetrated Washington’s signature institutions.

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US surpasses 17m coronavirus cases just a day after setting record death toll – as it happened

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From me and Joan E Greve:

More members of Biden’s climate team:

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Biden says deal close on new coronavirus relief bill as he hails latest pick for diverse cabinet – live

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That’s all for me today. My colleague Maanvi Singh in Oakland will be keeping you updated for the rest of the day. Here’s a rundown of the day’s biggest stories so far:

The availability of intensive care unit beds in the San Francisco Bay Area fell below 15% on Tuesday, the threshold that triggers a regional stay-at-home order.

Much of the Bay Area had preemptively enacted the stay-at-home order earlier in the month, but three counties did not. They will now have to enact the stricter rules by midnight Thursday.

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Pete Buttigieg says he feels ‘eyes of history’ on him as first LGBTQ+ cabinet pick – video

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Pete Buttigieg thanked Joe Biden as he was formally announced as his nominee for transportation secretary. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana and Democratic presidential candidate, will be the first openly LGBTQ+ cabinet member in American history to be confirmed into post by the Senate, assuming he wins confirmation.

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Biden campaigns for Georgia Senate Democrats following electoral college victory

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Biden supports Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who face Republican senators in January runoff elections

Joe Biden was in Georgia on Tuesday campaigning for the Democrats in crucial Senate runoff elections, a day after addressing the American public for the first time as its official president-elect.

Related: Biden should get Covid vaccine soon as possible for ‘security reasons’, Fauci says

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More Biden cabinet picks emerge as McConnell acknowledges victory – as it happened

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That’s all from me. Thanks for sticking with us.

Can the Radical Left “steal” an election you haven’t conceded?

This seems notable… A Trump fundraising email that implicitly concedes that he may not serve two continuous terms pic.twitter.com/WX9T01EjHo

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Covid-19 vaccine: first US doses given to frontline workers – live

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The US has for the first time formally blamed Iran for the presumed death of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who went missing more than a decade ago.

As world affairs editor Julian Borger reported for the Guardian in March, when Levinson’s family said they believed he was dead:

Levinson disappeared 13 years ago on Iran’s Kish island. The US initially claimed he was there on his own initiative, but in 2013 the Associated Press revealed he had been sent on a mission there by CIA analysts who had no authority to run espionage operations. Levinson was a specialist on Russian organised crime and had not had much previous involvement in Iran.

Tehran denied knowledge of Levinson’s whereabouts until November last year, when it acknowledged that there was an ongoing case involving him before its revolutionary court.

Related: Iran says it will comply with nuclear deal if Biden lifts all sanctions

Here’s where the day stands so far:

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