Category Archives: Joe Biden

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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Biden imposes new sanctions on Russia: ‘America stands up to bullies’

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President takes aim at Russia’s largest banks and companies but is emphatic US troops will not engage in conflict in Ukraine

Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a fresh round of what he said would be crippling sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, declaring that Vladimir Putin “chose this war” and that he and his country would bear the consequences.

The harsh new sanctions target Russia’s largest banks and companies, effectively cutting them off from western financial markets, while imposing restrictions on the exports of advanced technology used to power the country’s military and tech sector.

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‘Putin will bear the consequences’: Biden addresses Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – video

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'Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war, and now he and his country will bear the consequences,' said US president Joe Biden during an address at the White House. Biden described Russian president Vladimir Putin as an assailant who launched 'a war without a cause' and a misguided dream of recreating the Soviet Union. His comments come after Ukrainian forces battled Russian invaders on three sides after Moscow mounted an assault by land, sea and air, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. 'Putin's aggression against Ukraine will end up costing Russia dearly,' Biden said

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‘Putin chose this war,’ Biden says as he announces new sanctions – US politics as it happened

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Some congressional Republicans have attempted to blame Joe Biden’s foreign policy for enabling Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“These developments were not inevitable,” congressman Andy Barr said. “The Biden Administration’s weak and feckless foreign policy not only failed to deter this aggression, it invited this outcome.”

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Biden’s Russia sanctions: why holding back could be part of his strategy

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The president has threatened tougher steps for further provocation, preserving the potency of sanctions as a deterrent

Numerologists will be fascinated that Joe Biden began his Ukraine speech on Tuesday at 2.22pm on 22.2.22. The US president, however, was more concerned with his own calculation of the economic and political costs of overreacting – or underreacting – to Russia’s provocations.

Biden thought he would be remembered as the pandemic president, but finds himself commanding the arsenal of democracy in what could become the biggest military assault in Europe since the second world war. The crisis escalated on Monday after Vladimir Putin recognised two breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine as independent entities, an apparent pretext for invasion.

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Biden announces sanctions over ‘Russian invasion’ – video

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Joe Biden has announced new sanctions in retaliation for Russia recognizing two self-proclaimed republics, Donetsk and Luhansk, and sending troops there, adding to western efforts to stop what they fear is the beginning of a full-scale invasion. The measures target Russian banks and sovereign debt, among other steps. 'We have no intention of fighting Russia,' Biden said. 'We want to send an unmistakable message, though, that the United States, together with our allies, will defend every inch of Nato territory and abide by the commitments we made to NATO' 

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Biden to speak on Russia and Ukraine amid pressure from Congress on sanctions – live

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Joe Biden will deliver a speech this afternoon on Russia’s latest maneuvers in eastern Ukraine and America’s potential responses to Vladimir Putin’s actions.

The White House has just announced that Biden will provide an update on Russia and Ukraine at 2pm ET in the East Room.

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Putin orders troops into eastern Ukraine on ‘peacekeeping duties’

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Russian deployment follows decision to recognise territories in south-east will be viewed in Ukraine and by other western allies as an occupation

Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to enter the Russian-controlled areas of southeast Ukraine following a decision to recognise the territories as independent states.

The decision to dispatch his troops to perform “peacekeeping duties” will be viewed in Ukraine and by other western allies as an occupation of the region and likely trigger tough sanctions and a Ukrainian military response.

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Macron paves way for potential Putin-Biden summit on Ukraine crisis

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Flurry of phone calls by French president leads to ‘in principle agreement’, as US warns war is imminent

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has invited Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden to attend a summit aimed at de-escalating the Ukraine crisis, and the leaders have agreed in principle, Macron’s office has announced, amid further US warnings that war is imminent.

The Élysée Palace put out a statement on Sunday evening following last-minute diplomatic efforts by the French president to try to dissuade Russia from invading Ukraine.

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West has inflicted catastrophic damage on Afghanistan, says David Miliband

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‘We are not punishing the Taliban, we are making it worse for the people,’ says former UK foreign secretary

The west has inflicted catastrophic damage on Afghanistan and its own reputation by imposing a policy of starvation on the country, according to David Miliband, the former UK foreign secretary and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee.

“If we wanted to create a failed state we could not have a more effective policy mix than the one we have at the moment,” he told the Guardian.

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Biden warns Russia will invade Ukraine ‘in the next few days’ – video

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Joe Biden has said he is ‘convinced’ that Vladimir Putin has ‘made the decision’ to invade Ukraine – an invasion that might come in the next days, based on US intelligence. The US president added it was not too late to reverse that decision: ‘Russia can still choose diplomacy. It is not too late to de-escalate and return the negotiation table.’ 

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is due to address a security conference in Munich on Saturday, despite US warnings that Russia might exploit his absence to topple him before he returns to Kyiv

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