The vice-president and her husband reported a gross income of $1.7m while the Bidens made $611,000
Kamala Harris and her husband earned more than twice as much as Joe Biden and his wife did last year, according to copies of their income tax returns released on Friday.
Harris and the so-called second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, reported a federal adjusted gross income of about $1.7m in 2021, which was about the same they claimed to have earned the prior year.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has made a direct request to Joe Biden that the US designates Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, the Washington Post reports.
This would be a rare and radical sanction, but Zelenskiy has been firm in putting pressure on the west to assist in Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion, and this is no exception as his country endures atrocities from its northern neighbor.
Continue reading...Elon Musk has launched an audacious bid to buy Twitter for more than $40bn, saying he wants to release its “extraordinary potential” to boost free speech and democracy across the world.
The Tesla chief executive and world’s richest person revealed in a regulatory filing on Thursday that he had launched a hostile takeover of Twitter. The news came just days after he bought a 9.2% stake in the social media company and was subsequently offered a seat on the board, but then refused to take up the position.
Continue reading...Ukraine says it struck the Moskva with two anti-ship missiles without giving evidence as Zelenskiy says Russia ramping up offensive in east and south
Russia says the flagship of its Black Sea fleet has been seriously damaged and its crew evacuated following an explosion that a Ukrainian official said was the result of a missile strike.
“As a result of a fire, ammunition detonated on the Moskva missile cruiser. The ship was seriously damaged,” the Russian defence ministry was quoted as saying by state-run news agency TASS, adding that the cause of the fire was being determined and that the crew had been evacuated.
Continue reading...Democrats warn president to fix inflation or say goodbye to control of Congress as wholesale prices surge record 11.2% in March
The federal mask mandate for travelers will be extended by a further two weeks as the government assesses the recent uptick in Covid-19 cases across the US, multiple news sources are reporting.
An official announcement from the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) is expected shortly, according to the Associated Press and others.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s president says more weaponry is needed to stop Russia ‘spreading misery, suffering and destruction’ to other countries
The world’s chemical weapons watchdog has said it is “concerned” over reports of the use of chemical weapons in the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol.
Reports first emerged on Monday from Ukraine’s Azov battalion that a Russian drone had dropped a “poisonous substance” on troops and civilians in Mariupol.
The Technical Secretariat of the OPCW is monitoring closely the situation in Ukraine. The Secretariat is concerned by the recent unconfirmed report of chemical weapons use in Mariupol, which has been carried in the media over the past 24 hours.
This follows reports in the media over the past few weeks of shelling targeted at chemical plants located in Ukraine, together with accusations levelled by both sides around possible misuse of toxic chemicals.
Continue reading...President promises to tackle gun violence and vows prosecution for those who use untraceable guns assembled from kits
Joe Biden has announced a crackdown on “ghost guns”, untraceable firearms assembled from kits that have been used in a rising number of shooting crimes.
The US president, who promised to tackle gun violence across America, said the new rule would make it easier for law enforcement officials to track and catch those who use illegal firearms.
Continue reading...The Democrat with perhaps the best chance to unseat Chuck Grassley, the Republican senator from Iowa, in the midterm elections in November has been knocked off the 7 June primary ballot – for now.
As the Associated Press reports, late on Sunday a state judge ruled that Abby Finkenauer cannot appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary, because of a technicality.
Continue reading...‘It’s going to be a person’s decision about the individual risk,’ says president’s chief medical adviser after spate of positive tests in DC
A rash of coronavirus infections among elites in Washington that came close to Joe Biden shows a new reality facing Americans including the president, his chief medical adviser said: that life will involve daily decisions about individual risk from Covid.
“It’s going to be a person’s decision about the individual risk they’re going to take,” Dr Anthony Fauci told ABC’s This Week, adding that protocols protecting the president were “pretty strong”.
Continue reading...Senate minority leader projects ‘pretty good beating’ for Biden administration in November midterms
The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, said on Sunday Republicans will force Joe Biden to govern as a “moderate” if the GOP retakes Congress in November.
Speaking to Fox News Sunday, McConnell attacked Biden on subjects including reported crime increases in large US cities, the decision to extend a moratorium on repaying student loan debts, and the administration’s attempt to lift a Trump policy that allowed border patrol agents to turn away migrants at the southern border, ostensibly to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Continue reading...The White House celebration for Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the US supreme court is under way, with vice-president Kamala Harris making the opening remarks.
“Today is indeed a wonderful day as we gather to celebrate the confirmation of the next justice of the United States supreme court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson,” she said.
Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskiy says new sanctions on Russia ‘not enough’ to prevent more deadly attacks as citizens in the east of the country urged to flee
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the new package of western sanctions against Russia is “not enough” and without more painful measures and supply of weapons, Russia will view the actions as permission to launch a new bloody attack. In his daily address on Thursday, he called for the democratic world to reject Russian oil and completely block Russian banks from the international finance system, after the US, UK and EU unveiled new sanctions against Moscow.
US sanctions target Russian banks and elites, and include a ban on any American from investing in Russia as well as sanctions on Putin’s adult daughters. The UK is collaborating with the US on asset freezes against Russian banks and banning all new outward investment to Russia. The EU announced a wide-ranging package of sanctions, including import bans on coal and transaction bans on banks.
Nato’s foreign ministers will meet in Brussels on Thursday for two days of talks on bringing an end to the war.
Hungary’s right-wing, Putin-allied prime minister Viktor Orbán gave a press conference in which he said he had offered to broker talks with Russia. He offered to work towards a ceasefire, while stopping short of agreeing to extend EU sanctions against Russia’s oil and gas shipments.
Zelenskiy said Kremlin forces were trying to cover up evidence of atrocities. “We have information that the Russian military has changed its tactics and is trying to remove people who have been killed from streets and basements ... this is just an attempt to hide the evidence and nothing more,” he said Thursday, but did not provide evidence.
Russia’s military has now shifted its focus to the east of the Ukraine, with Ukraine authorities in Luhansk and Donetsk warning that civilians should leave as quickly as possible. It comes as western officials say Russia’s retreat from around Kyiv and the north east of the country is now “largely complete” and that it will take “at least a week” before reconstituted units could go to Donbas and perhaps longer.
Russia is hiding ‘thousands’ killed in Mariupol, Zelenskiy said. Russian forces are blocking humanitarian access to the besieged port city of Mariupol because it wants to hide evidence of “thousands” of people killed there, the president said.
More than 5,000 civilians, including 210 children, have been killed in Mariupol since the start of Russia’s invasion, the mayor of the besieged city said. Vadym Boichenko said 90% of the city’s infrastructure has been destroyed and Russian forces have targeted a hospital where 50 were burned to death. Russian attacks on the port city have obstructed access to food and supplies and Red Cross humanitarian convoy has been unsuccessful in getting in.
Ukrainian soldiers are being trained in the US to operate deadly Switchblade drones that Washington is supplying to Kyiv, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Defence department spokesman John Kirby said it was a “very small” number of Ukrainian troops who were already in the US before Russia invaded their country.
Britain is drawing up plans to send armoured vehicles to Ukraine, according to The Times. Options include sending a protected patrol vehicle, such as the Mastiff, or a vehicle like the Jackal, which can be used as a reconnaissance or long-range patrol vehicle, a ministry of defence report said.
Continue reading...The US and its allies are preparing to impose new sanctions on Moscow over civilian killings in Ukraine as the west makes a fresh attempt to cripple Vladimir Putin’s economy and war effort.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the atrocities in his country as “war crimes” while Ukraine authorities said close to more than 4,400 incidents were being investigated.
Continue reading...In Zelenskiy’s signature late-night national address he addressed Russian soldiers and military officers.
“Nowadays people are not executed,” Zelenskiy began. “But all skabeevas, evening loudmouths, frontline liars and their bosses in Moscow should remember: the end of your life will be behind bars. At best.”
Everything to punish them. This will be a joint work of our state with the European Union and international institutions, in particular with the International Criminal Court.
All crimes of the occupiers are documented. The necessary procedural basis is provided for bringing the guilty Russian military to justice for every crime they commit...
Continue reading...The Senate judiciary committee meets today, beginning a week expected to conclude with the confirmation of the first black female supreme court justice
Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, is an unsurprising no on Ketanji Brown Jackson. The conservative senator has been vocally against Jackson - he flounced out of her confirmation hearing after wrongly accusing her of having called George W Bush and the former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld “war criminals”.
Following the devastating reports coming out of the Kyiv region, which was retaken by Ukrainian forces last week, Joe Biden is calling for a war crimes trial against Vladimir Putin, the Associated Press is reporting.
Continue reading...Police say they have received more than 100 videos or photos from the scene and have executed three search warrants
Police in the California state capital have made an arrest in connection with Sunday’s mass shooting that left six people dead and at least a dozen others injured. In the hours after the bloodshed, police say they have received more than 100 videos or photos from the scene and executed search warrants on three homes.
They identified a 26-year-old man as one of the individuals arrested in connection to the shooting, in a press release. He has been charged with assault and illegal firearm possession offenses.
Continue reading...Western leaders prepare fresh round of sanctions against Moscow amid outrage over reports of killings in town of Bucha, near Kyiv
Joe Biden has called for Vladimir Putin to be tried for war crimes as western leaders prepared a fresh round of economic sanctions against Moscow amid mounting global outrage over claims of civilian killings by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
The US president was responding to harrowing images broadcast around the world after the discovery over the weekend of a mass grave and bodies in civilian clothes, some with their hands bound, in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv.
Continue reading...Centers for Disease Control and Prevention terminates Title 42 from 23 May, ending policy widely criticized as pretext to keep migrants out
• Senate deal on drastically pared-down Covid aid package may be imminent
US adds 431,000 jobs as hiring spree cuts unemployment rate to 3.6%
• Disney staff stage walkouts over ‘don’t say gay’ bill
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The late supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is to be honoured by having a US navy ship named after her.
The yet-to-be-built fuel tanker will join a fleet of John Lewis-class “replenishment oilers” named for historical figures in human and civil rights. The navy took delivery of the first of the fleet, a tribute to the former Democratic congressman, last summer.
Continue reading...The US is imposing new financial sanctions against Iran following the country’s missile attack on a target in Iraq earlier this month, the treasury department has announced.
Iran sent at least 12 ballistic missiles into Erbil, Iraq’s northern Kurdish regional capital, on 13 March. They landed close to a US consulate under construction, but did not cause any damage or injuries, the state department said.
Continue reading...A North Carolina court has blocked a law prohibiting people with felony convictions from voting while they are not incarcerated, a move that could enfranchise an estimated 56,000 people in the state.
A panel of three superior court judges ruled 2-1 to block the law, which plaintiffs said was rooted in an effort to discriminate against Black people at the turn of the 20th century in the state. The panel said the statute violated the state constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under law and free elections.