Category Archives: Joe Biden

US logs a record 3,157 coronavirus deaths in one day

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The US recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, as the number of people admitted to hospital with Covid exceeded 100,000 for the first time since the pandemic began.

According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, 3,157 new deaths were recorded on Wednesday, more than the number of people killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The previous high was the 2,607 deaths recorded on 15 April, at the beginning of the pandemic.

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

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Foreign minister calls on US to ‘show its good faith’ but appears to rule out renegotiating deal

Iran will come back into full compliance with its nuclear deal immediately after the incoming Joe Biden administration in the US proves its bona fides by lifting all sanctions, the country’s foreign minister has said.

Setting out the parameters for a new relationship with Washington, Javad Zarif also said Iran would not require the US to rejoin the deal, known as the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPoA), before lifting its sanctions, but would need some kind of assurance that once it has rejoined, the Biden administration would not simply leave the deal again in the same way Donald Trump did.

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Joe Biden warns of 250,000 further Covid deaths ‘between now and January’ – video

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President-elect Joe Biden has warned there may be 250,000 further deaths due to Covid-19 between 'now and January'. 

The warning came in a virtual event on the economic impact of Covid-19, with Biden stressing the importance of remaining vigilant during the holidays.

'We're likely to lose another 250,000 people dead between now and January,' Biden said. 'You hear me? Because people aren't paying attention'

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Covid deaths at highest level since April as Biden pledges to ‘fight like hell’ for US investment – live

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Several properties owned by the Trump Organization, and by Kushner Companies, owned by the family of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, received millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program loans, NBC News reports.

Data from the program were released last night after several news organizations sued the federal government to release the data from the PPP and Economist Injury Disaster Loans.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stood by comments one of his officials made to Donald Trump yesterday, saying that the president is “inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence” by continuing to call the results of the election into question despite multiple recounts.

Gabriel Sterling, a Republican who helped to oversee the implementation of the state’s new voting system, pleaded with Trump during a press conference yesterday that the president stop his rhetoric for fear of violence.

"It's about time more people are out there speaking with truth," Brad Raffensperger says.

Also:

"Our investigators have seen no widespread fraud, either." pic.twitter.com/uLT1u4BK6E

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‘Help is on the way,’ says Joe Biden as he announces new economic team – video

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US president-elect Joe Biden has formally introduced his choices for top economic advisers. ‘Our message to everybody struggling right now is this: help is on the way,’ Biden said. Biden’s nominations would put several women in top economic roles, including Janet Yellen, who if confirmed by the Senate would be the first woman to lead the US treasury in its 231-year history.  Yellen said the economic impact of the pandemic was ‘an American tragedy'

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US justice department investigating ‘bribery-for-pardon’ scheme – live

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What is it about the French Laundry?

Another California politician, San Francisco mayor London Breed, is under fire after it was revealed that she attended a birthday party at the three-star Michelin restaurant in Napa Valley – just one night after governor Gavin Newsom did the same.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to shorten its recommendation for how long individuals should quarantine after being exposed to someone with Covid-19, the AP reports.

Since the pandemic began, the CDC has recommended that individuals quarantine for 14 days after exposure. The new recommendations, which could be released later tonight, will recommend that individuals quarantine for 10 days after exposure, or seven days if they test negative for the disease.

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‘Help is on the way’: Biden introduces economic team as pandemic rages

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  • Janet Yellen calls for urgent action amid ‘American tragedy’
  • Team demonstrates Biden’s commitment to diversity

Joe Biden, the US president-elect, formally introduced his top economic advisers on Tuesday, as his incoming administration prepares to deal with the worst financial crisis in decades and a resurgent coronavirus pandemic.

Related: Bipartisan group pitches $908bn Covid-19 relief to break deadlock in Congress

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Wisconsin and Arizona certify Biden wins in yet another blow to Trump

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Wisconsin certification comes after partial recount expanded Biden’s margin, as president continues to fight results

Joe Biden’s victories in the US presidential election battlegrounds of Arizona and Wisconsin were officially recognised on Monday, handing Donald Trump six defeats out of six in his bid to stop states certifying their results.

The finalised vote counts took Biden a step closer to the White House and dealt yet another blow to Trump’s longshot efforts to undermine the outcome.

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Biden announces economics team as US Covid hospitalizations reach new record high – live

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Donald Trump has been losing Twitter followers since he lost the presidential election to Joe Biden – while the Democratic president-elect has been adding them.

According to Factbase, a website dedicated to tracking Trump’s public utterances, the president has lost 133,902 followers since 17 November while the president-elect has gained 1,156,610.

Related: Trump losing Twitter followers since election – as Biden gains them

It is not clear yet whether US democracy “survived” the 2020 presidential election unscathed.

If Donald Trump’s playbook of seeking to undermine a legitimate election becomes standard Republican practice – refuse to concede, make false claims of fraud, fan the flames of conspiracy, sue everywhere and refuse to certify any win by the other side – then American democracy might already have sustained a fatal wound.

Related: Five factors that helped US democracy resist Trump's election onslaught

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Obama didn’t deliver for Africa – can Biden prove that black lives matter everywhere? | Vava Tampa

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There is reason to hope the president-elect will pivot from long-standing US policy of backing continent’s strongman leaders

How different is the Biden-Harris administration’s Africa policy going to be from Donald Trump’s, or even Barack Obama’s? Many African people, as well as the continent’s strongman leaders, are now gingerly asking – is Biden going to be Obama 2.0, or Trump-lite?

For the sake of black lives mattering everywhere in these turbulent times, I hope Biden will chart a bold new course, diametrically away from not only Trump but also Obama’s Africa policy.

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‘He understands Washington’: Joe Scarborough finds echoes of Truman in Biden

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The Morning Joe host, author of a new book on Harry S Truman, sees parallels in the two presidents’ efforts to rebuild

Joe Scarborough had been discussing Joe Biden’s cabinet, Donald Trump’s delusions and America’s battered claim to be the indispensable nation when the conversation took an unexpected turn.

“I knew yesterday morning it was Mika’s and my anniversary and she said nothing and about five o’clock in the afternoon I walked in and I said, ‘Is today a special day for you?’” Scarborough shared with his TV guests last Wednesday. “She goes, ‘Yeah, I guess, whatever.’”

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Biden bids to placate the left as he builds centrist transition team

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The president-elect has brought in a mix of experience and diversity – but more telling is who Biden hasn’t appointed

So far, Joe Biden has avoided one of the biggest potential pitfalls of the transition process that will end with him moving into the White House: infuriating the left wing of the Democratic party.

Related: Here's something to give thanks for this Thanksgiving: our democracy survived | Art Cullen

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Biden campaign boasts its voter outreach beat Obama’s ‘by a mile’

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Ashley Allison, the Biden-Harris campaign’s national coalitions director, describes how innovative approach helped reach key groups during pandemic

Although the dust is still settling on the 2020 US presidential election it is clear this cycle was one of significant breakthroughs for Democrats. With historic voter turnout for recent times, Joe Biden’s team secured a Democratic win in Georgia, something that hadn’t happened since 1992, and there was record turnout among young people and Black Americans.

Related: Joe Biden: Black Lives Matter activists helped you win Wisconsin. Don't forget us | Justin Blake

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Joe Biden gains votes in Wisconsin county after Trump-ordered recount

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Milwaukee recount, which cost Trump campaign $3m, boosts Democratic president-elect days before state must certify result

A recount in Wisconsin’s largest county demanded by President Donald Trump’s election campaign ended on Friday with the president-elect, Joe Biden, gaining votes.

After the recount in Milwaukee county, Biden made a net gain of 132 votes, out of nearly 460,000 cast. Overall, the Democrat gained 257 votes to Trump’s 125.

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How Trump is destroying the presidential transition process

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What does Joe Biden lose from the president’s refusal to acknowledge defeat? Crucial time needed to fill positions and prevent serious national security risks

Having lost the election, as well as dozens of post-election challenges, Donald Trump’s ongoing refusal to admit defeat is still doing damage Joe Biden’s transition to power.

The formal process has finally begun, but it is weeks late and spent a long time starved of funds as Republican officials stonewalled usual procedures.

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Biden wants to extend an olive branch to Republicans. He shouldn’t | Joshua Craze and Ainsley LeSure

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Biden must choose whether to build a post-white America – or to placate the white supremacist project of the Republican party

Shortly after Biden was declared president-elect, he announced that he would reach a hand across the aisle. “We must stop,” he said, “treating our opponents as enemies. We are not enemies. We are Americans.” This is the Biden playbook at work, honed through years of compromises made with the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell: appealing to the Republican elite in office, while trying to appeal to moderate Republicans on the ground.

Having stretched out its hand to the Republicans, the center of the Democratic party then turned to its real enemy – the left that it blames for its poor showing in the election. Virginia congresswoman Abigail Spanberger led the charge, contending that “no one should ever say ‘defund the police’ ever again”. Despite the fact that progressive candidates did well across the ticket, and Biden ran a campaign modelled on Hilary Clinton’s neoliberal program, centrist Democrats blamed the core demand of the Black Lives Matter movement for alienating moderates. In centrist Democrats’ telling, the problem is the left – and the answer is to reach out to that poor soul, the moderate Republican.

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US Covid cases, hospitalisations and deaths rise amid Thanksgiving rush

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US reported 181,490 new cases on Wednesday as millions defied official advice to travel and gather for Thanksgiving

The US reported 181,490 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, a third daily rise in a row, as hospitalisations hit a record for a 16th day in succession, at 89,959.

Related: Supreme court bars Covid attendance limits at New York houses of worship

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Biden says ‘America is back’ at the head of the table – but is that a good thing?

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After four years of Trump, many diplomats are hopeful – but US critics say the idea of a return to a ‘golden age’ is a delusion

For most of the world’s diplomats, Joe Biden’s foreign policy slogan “America is Back” is no metaphor.

On global issues from climate change, to non-proliferation and human rights, the US under the Trump administration had literally gathered up its papers and pens and left the meeting room. Biden’s election victory and choice of committed internationalists to lead the foreign policy team, means that there will actually be someone sitting in what has been an empty chair.

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Xi Jinping calls to congratulate Joe Biden on election win

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Chinese president told future counterpart he hoped two countries would ‘uphold sprit of non-conflict, focus on cooperation’

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has congratulated Joe Biden on winning the US election, leaving just a handful of world leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who have not recognised Biden’s win.

Chinese state media said that in a phone call Xi told Biden he hoped the two countries would “uphold the spirit of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, [to] focus on cooperation, manage differences, advance the healthy and stable development of China-US ties, and join hands with other countries and the international community to promote the noble cause of world peace and development”.

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