Category Archives: Joe Biden

Fears for Democrats’ midterm hopes as US inflation hits 40-year high – live

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Joe Biden acknowledged that rising prices in the US are having a significant impact on families’ budgets, even as the American economy more broadly continues to recover from the effect of the coronavirus pandemic.

“On higher prices, we have been using every tool at our disposal, and while today is a reminder that Americans’ budgets are being stretched in ways that create real stress at the kitchen table, there are also signs that we will make it through this challenge,” Biden said in a new statement.

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Democratic governors lift indoor mask mandates despite CDC guidance – live

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Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just said that the agency continues to recommend masking in “areas of high and substantial transmission”.

According to the CDC’s own data, 99.5% of all US counties currently qualify as areas of high and substantial transmission, even as the number of new coronavirus cases across the US has decreased in the past few weeks.

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Scholz and Biden warn Russia would pay ‘high price’ for Ukraine invasion – as it happened

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Joe Biden issues stark advice to Americans in Ukraine: ‘Leave’

Secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, speaking alongside the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, said the US and its allies in Europe are acting “in unity” in response to Russian aggression and a potential conflict with Ukraine.

Blinken vowed “real and profound consequences should Russia choose to continue aggression”.

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Talks between Macron and Putin fail to produce Ukraine breakthrough

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French president says both sides need to work quickly to avoid escalation after five-hour session at the Kremlin

Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin did not appear to reach a breakthrough in marathon talks at the Kremlin on Monday evening aimed at fending off a Russian attack on Ukraine.

After five hours of negotiations, Macron warned that the two sides needed to work quickly to avoid the risk of an escalation.

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Joe Biden on crime: ‘The answer is not to defund the police’ – as it happened

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House speaker Nancy Pelosi applauded Joe Biden for overseeing the US military operation that resulted in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.

“Last night, America delivered justice to the leader of ISIS and struck a serious blow to this terrorist group,” Pelosi said in a statement.

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Joe Biden confirms death of Islamic State leader after US raid in Syria – video

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Biden commended the US military for its overnight raid in north-west Syria that resulted in the death of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the Islamic State leader and one of the world’s most wanted men. The US president said the operation sent a strong message to terrorists around the world: 'We will come after you and find you'

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Biden says ‘ending cancer as we know it a White House priority. Period’ – as it happened

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki is briefing right now. She’s talking further about planned US troop deployments to NATO’s eastern flank to bolster Ukraine’s preparedness in facing massed Russian military might at its border.

“They are not going to Ukraine to fight,” Psaki said, attempting to clarify the mission, in response to questions from reporters about what they’ll be doing.

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Ukraine crisis: Biden to deploy more US troops to eastern Europe

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More than 3,000 troops headed to Germany, Poland and Romania after talks between Washington and Moscow failed to ease tensions

Joe Biden will deploy more than 3,000 US troops in Germany, Poland, and Romania, as Russia continues to build up its forces around Ukraine, and after talks between Washington and Moscow failed to bring any breakthrough or easing of tensions.

Nearly 2,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne division will be going to Poland, a headquarters unit from the 18th Airborne Corps will move to Germany, and a 1,000-strong army armoured unit is being transferred from Germany to Romania.

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Russia is the ‘aggressor’, says White House, but Biden open to more talks with Putin – live

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Today’s call between the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, lasted about 30 minutes, per the Washington Post.

In the call, Lavrov said the Kremlin is working on a full written response to the US proposal regarding Russia demands on Ukraine, which the White House delivered last week.

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Biden says US is ‘ready no matter what happens’ as Russia escalates threat on Ukraine – as it happened

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Donald Trump is being widely accused of “saying the quiet part loud”, when protesting that Mike Pence could have “overturned” his boss’s election defeat by Joe Biden.

Though he has appeared to admit Biden won before, Trump usually insists he won and his opponent stole the election through voter fraud – the “big lie” which animates rallies like one in Conroe, Texas, on Saturday.

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Kamala Harris drove within yards of pipe bomb on January 6 – report

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Then vice-president elect remained inside DNC for nearly two hours before bomb was found, new details by CNN reveal

Kamala Harris, then vice-president elect, drove within yards of a pipe bomb left outside the Democratic National Committee on January 6 2021 and remained inside for nearly two hours before the bomb was found, it was reported on Monday.

Harris’s proximity to the bomb was known previously, but not how close or for how long. CNN reported the new details in the case, part of alarming events in Washington on the day Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s election victory over Donald Trump.

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Joe Biden demands release of Mark Frerichs, US Afghanistan hostage

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  • President marks second anniversary of engineer’s capture
  • Family says safe return should be Biden priority

Joe Biden on Sunday called for the release of Mark Frerichs, a US Navy veteran taken hostage in Afghanistan nearly two years ago.

Frerichs, a civil engineer and contractor from Lombard, Illinois, was kidnapped in January 2020 in the Afghan capital, Kabul. He is believed to be held by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network.

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Ukraine urges west to be ‘vigilant and firm’ in Russia talks

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US president announces small troop deployment to eastern Europe amid fears of invasion

Kyiv has urged the west to remain “vigilant and firm” in its talks with Russia, as Joe Biden announced a small troop deployment to eastern Europe amid fears Moscow could invade Ukraine.

Washington’s top defence officials warned on Friday that the Kremlin had massed enough troops and hardware at the border to threaten the whole of Ukraine, but called for further diplomatic efforts to avert a “horrific” conflict.

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Biden visits site of Pittsburgh bridge collapse and promises action with infrastructure law –as it happened

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Defense secretary Lloyd Austin will host a joint press conference with joint chief of staff chair Mark Milley later today.

A 2019 law allowing anyone in Pennsylvania to vote by mail is unconstitutional, a state court ruled on Friday.

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Joe Biden visits Pittsburgh bridge, collapsed hours before infrastructure speech – video

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Joe Biden visited the site where one of Pittsburgh’s major car bridges collapsed hours before speaking about it in an infrastructure schedule speech in Pennsylvania, on Friday.

At about 7am, the 477ft-long bridge on Forbes Avenue caved in, leaving a mass of concrete rubble and twisted metal as a visual metaphor for America’s crumbling infrastructure.

At least 10 people were injured, three taken to hospital, and a bus and several cars left stranded in the wreckage

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Pittsburgh bridge collapses hours before Biden’s infrastructure speech in city

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At least 10 injured and a bus and several cars left stranded in wreckage after 477ft-long bridge on Forbes Avenue caved in

It would be hard to imagine a more dramatic way to illustrate the need for investment in US infrastructure that Joe Biden was set to talk about in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Friday.

Hours before his visit and just four miles from where the president was scheduled to speak, one of Pittsburgh’s major car bridges collapsed.

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Battered Biden gets opportunity to change political narrative as Breyer retires

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Analysis: president faces high expectations as he prepares make one of his most consequential decisions

In his spare time, Justice Stephen Breyer enjoyed taking the bench at humorous “mock trials” of characters such as Macbeth and Richard III for Washington’s Shakespeare Theatre Company. The case usually turned on epic battles over succession.

Now Washington is about to be consumed by the question of who will inherit Breyer’s crown following his reported decision to retire from the US supreme court. At 83, he is its oldest member, one of three liberals outnumbered by six conservatives.

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Qatar in talks to supply gas to Europe if Russia cuts supplies

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Emir expected to tell US president Qatar can provide short-term emergency liquid gas to help replace any loss of supplies

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, is expected to tell the US president, Joe Biden, that his country will provide some short-term emergency liquid gas to help replace any shortages if Russia cuts off supplies to Germany.

Qatar is looking to supply Europe through transferring excess gas in storage in east Asia. It is also hoping to return to the European market on a bigger scale as its own production levels rise, but wants to see an end to a European Commission anti-trust investigation.

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US weapons arrive in Ukraine as Biden faces test over allies’ unity – live

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Joe Biden will meet with several CEOs this afternoon to discuss Democrats’ Build Back Better Act, the $1.75tn spending package that includes massive investments in healthcare, childcare and climate initiatives.

“This afternoon, I’m meeting with CEOs who support passing my Build Back Better Agenda to discuss how it’ll invest in American workers, grow our economy, and lower inflation in the long-term,” Biden said on Twitter.

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Ukraine: Biden warns Putin of personal sanctions if Russia invades – video

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Speaking to reporters in Washington, Joe Biden said he would consider personal sanctions against Vladimir Putin if Russia invaded Ukraine, citing 'severe consequences'. The threat of sanctions came as the US helped prepare for the diversion of natural gas supplies from around the world to Europe in the event that the flow from Russia is cut

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