Category Archives: Joe Biden

Finland reports GPS disturbances in aircraft flying over Russia’s Kaliningrad

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The interference began soon after a meeting between presidents Sauli Niinistö and Joe Biden

Aircraft flying near the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and near Finland’s eastern border with Russia have noticed interference with their GPS signals, according to Finnish authorities.

The interference began soon after Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö met Joe Biden in Washington on Saturday to discuss deepening defense ties between Finland and Nato due to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

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‘Traumatised and terrified, with nowhere else to go’: huge numbers of people stuck at US border

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Title 42, enacted under Trump and kept in place by Biden, has led to hundreds of thousands being denied their right to asylum since the start of the pandemic

When Henry Ruiz* and Raquel Hernandez boarded a bus heading north to America with their two young children, they knew there would be no going back.

It was June 2021, and a few weeks earlier Ruiz, a 28-year-old banana farmer from central Mexico, had been abducted by a group of armed men and taken to an isolated ranch where 15 others – 13 men and two women – were being held.

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Biden’s impossible bind: how should the US tackle Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?

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The US president is facing demands for America to do more for Ukraine – but he’s also determined to avoid being the US president who started a third world war

It is an impossible bind. Joe Biden faces demands for America to do more as Ukrainian civilians are terrorized and killed by Russia. But he is also determined to avoid going down in history as the US president who started a third world war.

Russia has pummeled Ukraine with more than 625 missiles so far, according to the Pentagon, causing untold death and destruction and prompting an exodus of 2m refugees. Vladimir Putin is now reportedly recruiting Syrian mercenaries and preparing to level cities in a bid to break Ukrainians’ will in the face of his invasion.

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Biden bans Russian oil imports in response to Ukraine invasion – as it happened

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Joe Biden said he is issuing this ban on Russian oil imports after “close consultation with our allies, especially in Europe”. He said the American people must understand that many of our European partners will not be able to join the US, a net exporter of energy, in this ban.

“We can take this step when others cannot, but we are working closely with Europe and our partners to develop a long term strategy to reduce their dependency on Russian energy as well,” he said.

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Democrats and Republicans agree on plan to suspend trade relations with Russia and Belarus – live

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Federal prosecutors were expected to make closing arguments today in the first jury trial of someone charged with joining in the 6 January attack of the US Capitol.

Guy Reffitt of Texas, the first of some 750 people charged with joining the riot to face trial in Washington, has been charged with carrying a semi-automatic handgun while on Capitol grounds and obstructing justice by threatening his children with harm if they reported him to authorities.

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Biden criticized over report of planned Saudi trip to discuss global oil supply

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White House refuses to confirm that top advisers considering spring Saudi Arabia visit to propose increase in oil exports

Joe Biden attracted criticism from both progressives and Republicans after a report indicated the White House was planning a visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss global oil supply.

Axios reported on Sunday that Biden’s senior advisers were considering a spring trip to Saudi Arabia in an effort to improve relations and to propose a potential increase in oil exports.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine and Russia blame each other as Mariupol evacuation fails again – live

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Hopes of establishing a humanitarian corridor out of besieged city of Mariupol dashed for second day running

The Ukrainian military is reporting that Russia has suffered losses of more than 11,000 military personnel since the invasion began.

A total of 285 Russian tanks and 985 armoured combat vehicles were also reported to have been destroyed as well as 109 artillery systems, 44 aircraft and 48 helicopters, according to a report by the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine and published to the website of the Ukrainian ministry of defence.

The scale and strength of Ukrainian resistance continue to surprise Russia.

[Russia] has responded by targeting populated areas in multiple locations, including Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol.

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Biden and Zelenskiy discuss more aid for Ukraine as bombardment continues

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Intelligence report says Russia had responded to unexpected ferocity of the Ukrainian military by targeting cities such as Kharkiv and Mariupol

The strength of Ukraine’s resistance “continues to surprise Russia”, a British intelligence report has said, despite attempts by invading troops to break Ukrainian morale by targeting populated areas.

In its daily intelligence report, the Ministry of Defence said Russia had responded to the unexpected ferocity of the Ukrainian military response by targeting cities such as Kharkiv, Chirnihiv and Mariupol.

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Digested week: faded photos in war museum on the Hudson feel all too real

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An exhibit invites visitors to imagine how it may have felt to live on the brink of nuclear annihilation. I don’t want to

Monday

The nearest thing New York has to the Imperial War Museum in London is the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, built on and around the USS Intrepid, a hulking great aircraft carrier parked at Pier 86 on the Hudson River. It is the obligation of every school age-child in greater New York to attend this museum at least once a year, and on the last day of mid-winter recess, we do.

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White House announces new sanctions on Russian oligarchs and Putin’s ‘cronies’ – live

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Leaders of the Quad grouping of countries - the US, India, Australia and Japan - agreed today that what is happening to Ukraine should not be allowed to happen in the Indo-Pacific, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida said.

Reuters reports:

A virtual meeting of the four-country grouping was held at a time of increased concern about Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by China, which has stepped up its alert level, wary of China taking advantage of a distracted west to move against it.

“We’ve agreed that unilateral changes to the status quo with force like this should not be allowed in the Indo-Pacific region,” Kishida said, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Biden announces ‘test to treat’ plan with Covid antiviral pills after positive tests – live

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The Guardian’s health reporter Jessica Glenza on the White House’s new Covid-19 plan:

The White House announcement and State of the Union address also came with a new look and feel. At the State of the Union, Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris and the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, were all mask-free. So, too, were White House officials when they announced the new Covid-19 plan, notably in-person rather than through a group video call.

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Biden condemns Russian invasion of Ukraine in State of the Union address – video

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Ukrainian ambassador receives standing ovation during Biden State of the Union address – video

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Oksana Markarova, the ambassador of Ukraine to the US, was given a standing ovation at the US Capitol on Tuesday night during Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address to Congress.  Markarova appeared moved as she thanked attendees, while the US president condemned Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s ‘tyranny’

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State of the Union takeaways: Biden talks tough on Putin and touts Covid progress

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Ukraine dominated Biden’s address, but he set out plans to combat inflation and insisted America can move on from the pandemic

Joe Biden denounced Russian “tyranny” in his first State of the Union speech, but also carved plenty of time time to make his pitch for Democrats as the US midterm elections loom.

The president, who is struggling with a low approval rating and faces the prospect of Democrats losing control of the House and the Senate in the November, condemned Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He announced a flight ban on Russian aircraft, before turning to the domestic policies Biden hopes will make voters choose him.

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Ukraine’s ambassador to US gets standing ovation at Biden’s State of the Union

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Oksana Markarova appears moved as she thanks attendees, while US president condemns Putin’s ‘tyranny’

Oksana Markarova, the ambassador of Ukraine to the US, was given a standing ovation at the US Capitol on Tuesday nightduring Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address to Congress.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dominated the early part of Biden’s speech, as the president condemned Vladimir Putin’s “tyranny” and announced he would ban Russian aircraft from US airspace.

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Pandemic, war and a rocky economy loom large over Biden’s first state of the union

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White House officials say president will steer conversation toward economic progress rather than pessimism

Joe Biden will deliver his first State of the Union address on Tuesday before a bitterly divided Congress, seeking to inspire a pandemic-weary nation deeply unhappy with its leaders and government, while projecting strength to the world after Russia unleashed the largest land war in Europe since the second world war.

The prime-time address comes at a precarious moment for Biden and the world. Speaking in the House chamber, Biden will interrupt harrowing coverage of combat in a European capital, as evidence builds that Russian attacks are striking civilian areas and Russian president, Vladimir Putin, threatens nuclear war.

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Biden under pressure on Ukraine, inflation and more as State of the Union looms – live

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The Republican governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, has come under fire for saying he needs the support of a far-right state senator who told a white nationalist event in Florida she fantasises about building gallows on which to hang her enemies.

State progressive groups said Ducey should “stop catering to hate”.

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Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination is rare moment of celebration for Biden

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Biden is embattled on all fronts – from a stalled domestic agenda to international order – but a supreme court pick is an enduring act

Two years ago exactly, Joe Biden stood on a debate stage in Charleston, South Carolina, his candidacy on the ropes, and made a promise: if elected president, he would nominate the first Black woman to the supreme court.

Days later, Biden won the South Carolina primary on the strength of his support among Black voters. The victory propelled him to the Democratic nomination and then to the presidency. Last month, Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement, presenting Biden with an opportunity to fulfill that campaign commitment.

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Biden nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson to become first Black woman on supreme court

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  • White House praises ‘exceptionally qualified nominee’
  • Jackson, if confirmed, will replace retiring Stephen Breyer

Joe Biden on Friday nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the supreme court, seeking to elevate a Black woman to the nation’s highest court for the first time in its 232-year history.

Biden’s decision to nominate Jackson to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, for whom she clerked, sets up a fierce confirmation battle in the deeply partisan and evenly-divided Senate. Breyer, the most senior jurist in the court’s three-member liberal wing, will retire at the end of the court’s current session this summer.

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Biden’s Russia warnings come to pass – what does the US president do now?

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Inflation is rising, Republicans are resurgent – and the increasingly embattled president now has a foreign policy crisis to deal with

For weeks, Joe Biden has issued urgent warnings that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen at any moment. The moment came overnight, when Russian troops began attacking Ukraine by land, air and sea.

For the US president – increasingly embattled at home by a resurgent Republican party – it was evidence that the White House had largely assessed the Ukraine crisis correctly, even though their preference would have been to be wrong about their predictions of a disastrous war in Europe.

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