Category Archives: Joe Biden

Court rules Biden’s vaccine mandate for large employers can take effect

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Decision reverses previous ruling but Republican officials say they will appeal measure to supreme court

A federal appeals court panel has allowed Joe Biden’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate for larger private employers to move ahead, reversing a previous decision on a requirement that could affect some 84 million US workers.

The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 6th US circuit court of appeals in Cincinnati overrules a decision by a federal judge in a separate court that had paused the mandate nationwide.

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Biden: ‘I’ve never seen anything like the unrelenting assault on the right to vote’ – live

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During South Carolina State University’s commencement ceremony this morning, Joe Biden also received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the historically Black college.

In his remarks at South Carolina State University’s commencement ceremony, Joe Biden also addressed Congress’ failure to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

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Joe Biden visits Kentucky after tornadoes kill at least 74 people – live

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Joe Biden has arrived in Kentucky to survey the damage wrought by the tornadoes that swept through the state on Friday and killed at least 74 people.

Biden was greeted at Ft Campbell Airport by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, First Lady Britainy Beshear and former Governor Steve Beshear, who is the father of Andy.

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Capitol attack a ‘coordinated act of terrorism’, says DC lawsuit against far-right groups – as it happened

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Karl Racine, the attorney general of the District of Columbia, in filing federal suit against the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, states that: “The District seeks compensatory, statutory and punitive relief and, by filing this action, intends to make clear that it will not countenance the use of violence against the District, including its police officers.

The lawsuit filed in federal court moments ago lists as defendants not only the far right, white nationalist groups the Proud Boys (of Aubrey, Texas, per the suit) and Oathkeepers (of Las Vegas, Nevada), but also lists 32 individuals deemed to have associations to those groups, as well as noting there are 50 other unnamed defendants collectively referred to as “John and Jane Does 1 - 50”.

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Democrats fear threats to US democracy: ‘We were one vice-president away from a coup’ – live

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The Guardian’s Edward Helmore, Nikhita Chulani, Harvey Symons and Arnel Hecimovic report:

Powerful tornadoes barrelled through five US states on Friday, levelling houses and factories and bringing down power lines. In Kentucky, the worst-hit state, one tornado alone followed an extraordinarily long and destructive path of more than 200 miles.

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Biden faces vaccine mandate pushback from own party despite support of scientists

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Two Democratic senators push back against president’s rules for large businesses as cases continue to rise in the US

Two Democratic senators have resisted Joe Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large businesses, illustrating problems the US president faces even within a faction of his own party, despite having the support of scientists and public health experts.

The US Senate on Wednesday evening voted to overturn the mandate as new cases and hospitalizations continue rising in the country.

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Court rules against Trump effort to shield documents from Capitol attack panel – live

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House speaker Nancy Pelosi said she considered it to be a point of pride that Bob Dole started his career in the lower chamber before being elected to the Senate.

Praising the former Republican senator’s “legendary service” and “inspiring resilience,” Pelosi said it was hard to think of another American more worthy of having a flag draped over his casket.

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‘An urgent matter’: Biden warns democracy is under threat at summit

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President opens two-day summit with 80 world leaders as experts warn democratic rights are under assault in the US

Joe Biden has launched his virtual Summit for Democracy with a warning that democratic rights and norms are under threat around the world, including in the US.

Facing video links with 80 world leaders arrayed on two oversize electronic panels, the US president said: “This is an urgent matter on all our parts, in my view, because the data we’re seeing is largely pointing in the wrong direction.”

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Can Biden’s ‘divisive’ democracy summit deliver?

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Billed as a rallying call for human rights and liberties, the event has been lambasted by critics such as China and even invitees are critical

Much of the advance commentary about Joe Biden’s two-day Summit for Democracy has been a diplomat’s version of a Charity Ball: long discussions about the guest list and how the guests will show up, and very little about its supposedly noble purpose.

Potentially a rallying point for democracy, after the west’s crushing setback in Afghanistan, the summit has not been receiving rave advance notices even from those that have been invited.

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Biden’s carbon-neutral order praised for ‘aligning government power with climate goals’ – live

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Joe Biden took a few questions from reporters this morning, as he left the White House to start his trip to Kansas City, Missouri.

Asked about his summit yesterday with Vladimir Putin, Biden said, “I was very straightforward. There were no minced words.”

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Biden says he won’t send US troops to Ukraine to deter Russian threat

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President’s comments come after he said the US would provide ‘defensive capabilities’ to Ukraine

Joe Biden has said that he is not considering sending US troops to defend Ukraine in response to a Russian military buildup on the country’s borders.

“That is not on the table,” he told reporters on Wednesday, one day after speaking directly with Vladimir Putin in an effort to avert a military crisis.

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Putin’s Ukraine rhetoric driven by distorted view of neighbour

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Analysis: Russian president believes it his 'duty’ to reverse Kyiv’s path towards west

Even as Vladimir Putin has built up an invasion force on his borders, he has repeated a refrain that Russians and Ukrainians are one people, bemoaning a “fraternal” conflict that he himself has provoked.

As Putin speaks on Tuesday with Joe Biden, western analysts have likened his focus on Kyiv to an “obsession” while Russians have said Putin believes it his “duty” to reverse Ukraine’s path towards the west.

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Biden holds virtual summit with Putin amid fears of Ukraine invasion – live

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Russian state television shared a clip of the start of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden’s virtual summit this morning, which started about 45 minutes ago.

The clip shows the American and Russian leaders greeting each other before beginning their discussion about the situation in Ukraine.

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What sanctions could the US hit Russia with if it invades Ukraine?

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Biden enters talks with Putin armed with a wide range of economic measures at his disposal – what are those options?

Joe Biden goes into Tuesday’s virtual summit with Vladimir Putin, after days of close consultation with European allies on a joint response to an invasion of Ukraine, armed with a wide range of punitive measures at his disposal.

There would be increased military support for Kyiv and a bolstering of Nato’s eastern flank, but the primary focus would be on sanctions. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said they would include “high-impact economic measures that we’ve refrained from taking in the past”.

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US says it will send troops to eastern Europe if Russia invades Ukraine

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Official says Washington would also impose economic measures in warning to Moscow on eve of talks between Biden and Putin

The US has said it would send reinforcements to Nato’s eastern flank in response to a Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as imposing severe new economic measures, in a warning to Moscow on the eve of talks between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin.

Biden will also make clear to Putin that the US will not rule out future Ukrainian membership of Nato, as the Russian leader has demanded, a senior US official said.

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Joe Biden restores tradition with return to Kennedy Center Honors

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President given standing ovations at performing arts awards snubbed by Donald Trump

“Tonight it is quite nice, very nice to see the presidential box once again being occupied,” David Letterman said to knowing applause. “And the same with the Oval Office.”

The comedian was introducing the 44th Kennedy Center Honors, where Joe Biden restored tradition merely with his presence after four years in which the annual gala was snubbed by then president Donald Trump and upended by the coronavirus pandemic.

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The latest challenge to Joe Biden’s presidency: the Omicron variant

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Analysis: after he promised to crush the coronavirus, the rise of a new strain could be a blow to perceptions of his competency

Joe Biden looked out at an audience of government scientists last week and recognized a mask-wearing Anthony Fauci, his top adviser on the coronavirus. “I’ve seen more of Dr Fauci than my wife,” he joked. “Who’s president? Fauci!”

The US president was visiting the frontline of the Covid-19 struggle, the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, where he unveiled a winter plan that includes a drive for vaccine boosters, free at-home testing and fresh requirements for international travelers.

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The Observer view on Russia’s threat to Ukraine | Observer editorial

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Putin regards Ukraine as stolen territory and as the US focuses on China and Covid, Moscow is waiting to strike

Vladimir Putin is an old-fashioned sort of guy. He yearns for the days when the Soviet Union was a great power. He still views western democracies as adversaries, to be confounded whenever possible. And he has never reconciled to the post-Soviet loss of cold war-era satellite republics in eastern Europe. This is especially true of Ukraine.

The Russian view that Ukraine is stolen territory to which it has a natural right has roots in tsarist times and before. Ukrainians (and Belarusians) were habitually called “little Russians”. Indigenous narratives stress a common history and common faith indissolubly linking two brotherly eastern Slavic races. Putin has repeatedly stated that “Russians and Ukrainians are one people”.

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Covid: Biden says to beat Omicron variant ‘we have to shut it down worldwide’ – as it happened

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After their remarks, the members of the taskforce took a handful of questions from reporters. Fauci was asked when scientists will have a better understanding of the risks posed by the Omicron variant. He said they would have a clearer picture in the “next few weeks”.

But he said it could take longer to understand the impact of Omicron and whether it will overtake Delta as the dominant strain in the US.

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‘It’s just a cold’: Biden explains coughing during speech – video

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The US president, Joe Biden, has said his coughing during a speech addressing the November jobs report on Friday is due to a cold.

'What I have is a one-and-a-half-year-old grandson who had a cold who likes to kiss his pop,' Biden said, responding to a question from a reporter after the speech

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