Washington and Kyiv say Moscow has massed troops near border ahead of planned US-Russia video summit
Joe Biden he said he would make it “very, very difficult” for Russia to launch any invasion of Ukraine, which warned that a large-scale attack could be planned for next month.
Washington and Kyiv say Moscow has massed troops near Ukraine’s borders and accuse Russia of planning an invasion.
Continue reading...Experts applaud Biden’s plan to expand testing but wonder if the effort goes far enough to stop the spread of the virus
US infectious disease experts largely agree with the Biden administration’s newly announced emphasis on Covid-19 testing in the wake of the emergence of the Omicron variant, but questions remain over whether the president’s plan goes far enough to ensure that testing stops the spread of the virus.
President Joe Biden announced new actions to combat the coronavirus in the US on Thursday, including a nationwide campaign encouraging vaccine boosters; a forthcoming rule requiring private insurance to reimburse the cost of at-home testing; a pledge to provide 50m free at-home tests to health centers and rural clinics for those not covered by private insurance; and a requirement that travelers to the United States, regardless of nationality or vaccination status, provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test within one day of boarding flights.
Continue reading...White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to questions on the departure of top Kamala Harris staffer Symone Sanders saying that departures from the White House after the first year is expected, downplaying reports that Sanders’ departure confirms reports of turmoil in the vice president’s office.
“It’s a normal course of events that people are ready to do something new, they’re ready to spend time with their families, they’re ready to sleep more. That’s to be expected in the first 18 months to two years of any White House,” Psaki said.”
Continue reading...Plans include a drive to encourage vaccine boosters, expansion of at-home tests and tighter restrictions on international travel
Joe Biden is set to announce new actions to combat the coronavirus, including a nationwide campaign encouraging vaccine boosters, an expansion of at-home tests and tighter restrictions on international travel.
Buffeted by the emergence of the Omicron variant and a political backlash from Republicans, the US president will visit the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on Thursday and lay out a pandemic battle plan for the winter months.
Continue reading...Biden was questioned by a reporter over a claim in a book by Trump's last chief of staff that the ex-president had tested positive for Covid-19 three days before the first 2020 presidential debate. When asked whether he thought Trump had put him at risk, Biden said: 'I don’t think about the former president'
Continue reading...Secretary of state says Nato is ‘prepared to impose severe costs’ on Moscow if invasion attempted
The US says it has evidence Russia has made plans for a “large scale” attack on Ukraine and that Nato allies are “prepared to impose severe costs” on Moscow if it attempts an invasion.
Speaking at a Nato ministers meeting in Latvia, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said it was unclear whether Vladimir Putin had made a decision to invade but added: “He’s putting in place the capacity to do so in short order, should he so decide.
Continue reading...Mark Meadows, formerly Donald Trump’s chief of staff, has reached an agreement to cooperate, at least initially, with the bipartisan House committee investigating the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6 this year by extremist supporters of the-then president, according to CNN.
Meadows is providing records and agreeing to appear for an initial interview, the cable news company is reporting in an exclusive published moments ago.
Meadows’ lawyer George Terwilliger said in a statement to CNN that there is now an understanding between the two parties on how information can be exchanged moving forward, stating that his client and the committee are open to engaging on a certain set of topics as they work out how to deal with information that the committee is seeking that could fall under executive privilege.
But the agreement could be fragile if the two sides do not agree on what is privileged information. News of the understanding comes as Trump’s lawyers argued in front of a federal appeals court in Washington that the former President should be able to assert executive privilege over records from the committee.
Continue reading...Expectations of salvaging 2015 deal low amid fears Iran is covertly boosting nuclear programme
Talks between world powers and Iran on salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal will resume in Vienna on Monday after a five-month hiatus, but expectations of a breakthrough are low.
The talks could liberate Iran from hundreds of western economic sanctions or lead to a tightening of the economic noose and the intensified threat of military attacks by Israel.
Continue reading...The ‘Persian Leopards’ are going great guns on the football field, but at nuclear talks in Vienna a far more dangerous game is being played
There is a strikingly topsy-turvy, Saturnalian feel to recent qualifying matches for the 2022 football World Cup. Saudi Arabia (population 35 million) beat China (population 1.4 billion). Canada lead the US in their group. Four-time winners Italy failed to defeat lowly Northern Ireland.
Pursuing an unbeaten run full of political symbolism, unfancied Iran are also over the moon after subjugating the neighbourhood, as is their habit. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the UAE all succumbed to the soar‑away “Persian Leopards”.
Continue reading...From Greece the women are advocating for fellow refugees – and those left behind under Taliban rule
It is a Saturday morning in November, and Afghan MP Nazifa Yousufi Bek gathers up her notes and prepares to head for the office. But instead of jumping in an armoured car bound for the mahogany-lined parliament in Kabul, her journey is by bus from a Greek hotel to a migrants’ organisation in the centre of Athens. There, taking her place on a folding chair, she inaugurates the Afghan women’s parliament in – exile.
“Our people have nothing. Mothers are selling their children,” she tells a room packed with her peers. “We must raise our voices, we must put a stop to this,” says Yousufi Bek, 35, who fled Afghanistan with her husband and three young children after the Taliban swept to power in August. Some around her nod in agreement; others quietly weep.
Continue reading...President wishes Americans a closer-to-normal holiday amid rise in coronavirus infections
President Joe Biden on Thursday wished Americans a happy and closer-to-normal Thanksgiving, the second celebrated in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, in remarks welcoming the resumption of holiday traditions in many homes.
In his first holiday message as president, Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, said this year’s celebrations were especially meaningful after last year’s family separations due to the pandemic.
Continue reading...Analysis: Moscow presents Washington with a no-win situation: capitulate on Ukrainian sovereignty or risk all-out war
Joe Biden is preparing for a virtual summit with Vladimir Putin with the aim of fending off the threat of another Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The summit has been previewed by the Kremlin. The White House has not confirmed it, but Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, said that “high-level diplomacy is a priority of the president” and pointed to the teleconference meeting with Xi Jinping earlier in November.
Continue reading...In case you missed it yesterday: the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection issued five more subpoenas to right-wing political operatives, including former Trump associate Roger Stone and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Hugo Lowell reports:
The subpoenas demanding documents and testimony expand the select committee’s inquiry focused on the planning and financing of the rally at the Ellipse, by targeting operatives who appear to have had contacts with the Trump White House.
House investigators issued subpoenas to the veteran operatives Stone and Jones, Trump’s spokesperson Taylor Budowich, and the pro-Trump activists Dustin Stockton and his wife, Jennifer Lawrence.
Continue reading...America’s democracy will be at “critical risk” if the US Senate fails to pass sweeping voting rights legislation, more than 150 scholars of American democratic systems said in an open letter published Sunday.
The academics called on the US Senate to get rid of the filibuster, the rule that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation through the upper chamber.
Continue reading...Bill now goes back to the Senate, where it faces total opposition from Republicans and an uphill battle against centrist Democrats
Joe Biden has hailed the US House of Representatives for passing a $1.75tn social and climate spending bill, a central pillar of his agenda that must now go before the Senate.
The Democratic majority in the House approved the Build Back Better Act on Friday despite fierce opposition from Republicans.
Continue reading...The vice-president became the first woman to wield the powers of the US presidency, during Biden’s routine medical procedure
Kamala Harris on Friday morning became the first woman to wield presidential power in the US – temporarily, when Joe Biden had a colonoscopy under anesthetic.
In a statement, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said: “This morning, the president will travel to Walter Reed Medical Center for a routine physical. While he is there, the president will undergo a routine colonoscopy.
Continue reading...Only a UN tribunal, sponsored by the US president, can end the culture of impunity fuelling violence and poverty in the DRC
The numbers are difficult to absorb. According to a new IPC report, a record 27 million Congolese – roughly a quarter of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) population – are facing hunger, with 860,000 children under five acutely malnourished. The DRC is home to more starving people than any other country in the world. This could have been prevented.
Without faith that their own president Félix Tshisekedi will act, people are turning to the US president, hoping that lobbying using the hashtag #CongoIsStarving on Twitter will urge Joe Biden to back the creation of an international criminal tribunal for the DRC to end the impunity fuelling violence and famine risk. Shockingly, it could be that simple to bring an end to this suffering; we are asking for solidarity, not charity, to save lives and end this nightmarish crisis.
Continue reading...The year 2020 exposed the risks and weaknesses of the market-driven global system like never before. It’s hard to avoid the sense that a turning point has been reached. By Adam Tooze
Continue reading...In a letter to the Democratic caucus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi provided an update on the Build Back Better Act, the bill formerly known as the reconciliation bill, which has also been referred to a time or two as the “human infrastructure” bill.
“Very soon, the American people will have an historic cause for celebration, with the passage of the transformative Build Back Better Act,” Pelosi wrote.
The Republican congressman stands to lose his position on the oversight committee for what Nancy Pelosi called ‘an insult to the insitution’
Quick update on the resolution to censure Republican congressman Paul Gosar over the video depicting violence against progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
Jacob Chansley, the self-described “QAnon Shaman” who was photographed marching through the US Capitol with a spear and horned helmet during the 6 January attack, was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for his role in the insurrection.
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