Category Archives: Biden administration

Military plane rushes baby formula to US health systems

Posted on by

Stores remain low on supplies but flight brings enough to fill half a million bottles for children with allergies

Store shelves across the US remain short of baby formula after a military plane carrying enough to fill half a million baby bottles arrived in the US on Sunday but its contents were rushed to health system outlets to feed babies with specific allergies.

The first of several such flights from Europe, aimed at relieving a nationwide shortage that has sent parents scrambling to find enough to feed their infants, was packed with specialty hypoallergenic formula to be distributed through channels such as hospitals, doctors’ officers and pharmacies, for babies intolerant of the protein in cow’s milk.

Continue reading...

Biden says ‘everybody’ should be concerned about spread of monkeypox

Posted on by

National security adviser assures public that the US has a ‘vaccine that is relevant to treating’ virus

Joe Biden said Sunday that “everybody” should be worried about the spread of monkeypox recently, and his national security adviser assured the public that the US has a “vaccine that is relevant to treating” the virus.

During an official visit to South Korea, Biden told reporters, “They haven’t told me the level of exposure yet but it is something that everybody should be concerned about.” The president, who was speaking at Osan airbase, also added: “It is a concern in that if it were to spread it would be consequential.”

Continue reading...

Judge blocks Biden plan to lift Trump-era restrictions on asylum seekers

Posted on by

Title 42, which cites the pandemic, is behind nearly 2m expulsions since March 2020

Pandemic-era restrictions on people seeking asylum on the southern border must continue, a judge ruled Friday in an order blocking the Biden administration’s plan to lift them early next week.

The ruling is just the latest instance of a court derailing the president’s proposed immigration policies along the US border with Mexico.

Continue reading...

Biden invokes Defense Production Act to tackle baby formula shortage

Posted on by

President also authorizes Pentagon to use commercial aircraft to import supplies amid growing political pressure

Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas, as he faces mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country’s largest formula manufacturing plant.

The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfill orders from those companies before other customers, in an effort to eliminate production bottlenecks. Biden is also authorizing the defense department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies that meet federal standards from overseas to the US, in what the White House is calling “Operation Fly Formula”.

Continue reading...

US withdrawal triggered catastrophic defeat of Afghan forces, damning watchdog report finds

Posted on by

Report by special inspector general blames Trump and Biden administrations, as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani

Afghan armed forces collapsed last year because they had been made dependent on US support that was abruptly withdrawn in the face of a Taliban offensive, according to a scathing assessment by a US government watchdog.

A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) on the catastrophic defeat that led to the fall of Kabul on 15 August, blamed the administrations of Donald Trump and Joe Biden as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani.

Continue reading...

‘A history maker’: Karine Jean-Pierre set for White House press secretary role

Posted on by

She will be the first Black openly gay woman to step into the role, a symbol of change after the Donald Trump era

This week the blue door will slide back, a Black woman will walk to the lectern and a piece of White House history will be made.

Karine Jean-Pierre, facing rows of reporters and cameras, will be making her briefing room debut as the first Black woman and first openly gay person in the role of press secretary. Not that there will be much time to stand on ceremony.

Continue reading...

US condemns Israel’s attack on Shireen Abu Aqleh’s funeral

Posted on by

Antony Blinken says US ‘deeply troubled’ after police stormed procession for Palestinian American journalist

Joe Biden’s secretary of state has issued a statement condemning Israeli forces for their attack hours earlier on the funeral procession in Jerusalem of a Palestinian American journalist who was shot and killed this week.

“We are deeply troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession of Palestinian American Shireen Abu Aqleh,” Antony Blinken’s statement on his official Twitter account read. “Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner.”

Continue reading...

Biden marks imminent ‘tragic milestone’ of 1m US Covid deaths in address to global summit – live

Posted on by

A baseball signed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has sold at auction for more than $50,000, the Associated Press reports, with a portion going to Ukrainians displaced in the war with Russia.

Boston auctioneer RR Auction said the winning bid for the Rawlings Major League baseball was more than three times its estimate. The company will donate its $15,000 cut of the sale, while seller Randy Kaplan will also donate an undisclosed portion of his proceeds.

Continue reading...

US inflation rate slows but remains close to 40-year high

Posted on by

Consumer price index reveals costs rising by a monthly rate of 0.3% in April, down from 1.2% in March, the first fall since August 2021

Price rises slowed in the US in April but the annual inflation rate remained close to a 40-year high, leaving many Americans struggling to afford necessities including food, shelter and fuel.

The latest consumer price index (CPI) figures – which measure a broad range of goods and services – showed prices rising by a monthly rate of 0.3% in April, down from 1.2% in March, the first fall since August 2021.

Continue reading...

US unveils new sanctions on Russia, targeting services, media and defense industry

Posted on by

New measures are primarily intended to close loopholes in existing sanctions and to tighten the noose around Russian economy

The US has unveiled a new layer of sanctions on Russia, targeting services, Russia’s propaganda machine and its defence industry on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s planned Victory Day parade.

The new measures were announced as leaders from the G7 group of industrialised democracies held a virtual summit with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a show of solidarity.

Continue reading...

All women and children evacuated from Azovstal; Ukraine claims it has destroyed another Russian ship – as it happened

Posted on by

The UK Ministry of Defence says Russia’s most advanced units have suffered heavy losses; Pentagon defends intelligence sharing with Ukraine as ‘lawful’

Ukrainians are taking DNA tests to identify dead bodies in Bucha, the Guardian’s Emma Graham-Harrison reports.

After weeks of exhumations, a morgue in Bucha holds more than 200 bodies that have not been identified. Some were buried without documents and are waiting to be claimed, but many are too disfigured by their deaths, or their treatment after death, to be identified by sight.

Continue reading...

Texas attorney general says state bar suing him over bid to overturn 2020 election – live

Posted on by

Here are more pictures from Jill Biden’s trip to Romania and Slovakia, where she will visit with Ukraine refugees over Mother’s Day weekend.

In addition to serving food, Biden also brought ketchup for personnel stationed overseas, as many have run out of different comforts from home like the condiment.

Continue reading...

US shared location of cruiser Moskva with Ukraine prior to sinking

Posted on by

Sinking of the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet was seen as a high-profile loss for its military

US officials have said they shared information about the location of the Russian warship Moskva with Ukraine prior to its sinking last month, a fresh demonstration of the close intelligence support Kyiv is receiving from Washington.

It is unclear how far the US intelligence helped Ukraine launch an accurate double missile strike on the Moskva, and the US officials briefing the information insisted the targeting decision was a matter for the Ukrainians alone.

Continue reading...

Biden names Karine Jean-Pierre press secretary as Jen Psaki steps down

Posted on by

The current principal deputy press secretary will be first Black person and first out gay person to hold job

Joe Biden has named his new press secretary, after it was announced that Jen Psaki will leave the administration, expected to become a TV host at MSNBC.

Karine Jean-Pierre, currently the principal deputy press secretary, will be taking over the role after Psaki leaves in mid-May. Jean-Pierre, a political analyst, was Kamala Harris’s chief of staff during the vice-president’s presidential campaign in 2020 and served on Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012. She was also an adviser and spokesperson for MoveOn.org, a progressive Pac.

Continue reading...

Schumer announces Senate abortion rights vote: ‘America will be watching’ – as it happened

Posted on by

Numbers are growing and tempers are fraying outside the supreme court. My colleague David Smith has just sent this video of protestors on both sides of the abortion rights debate facing off:

Celebrities are sharing their abortion stories as the backlash to the supreme court’s draft ruling removing women’s rights to the procedure grows. My colleague Lizzy Davies has this report:

Continue reading...

Biden warns LGBTQ+ children could be next target of Republican ‘Maga crowd’

Posted on by

President warns of new attacks by Trump-dominated political party after supreme court ruling draft leak on abortion

Joe Biden has warned of new attacks on civil rights as the supreme court prepares to strike down the right to abortion, telling reporters at the White House that LGBTQ+ children could be the next targets of a Trump-dominated Republican party he called “this Maga crowd” and “the most extreme political organisation … in recent American history”.

“What happens,” the president asked, if “a state changes the law saying that children who are LGBTQ can’t be in classrooms with other children? Is that legit under the way the decision is written?”

Continue reading...

Biden will meet with parents of US journalist abducted in Syria 10 years ago

Posted on by

Marc and Debra Tice are expected to meet with the president at the White House to speak about their son, Austin Tice

Joe Biden said he was meeting Monday with the parents of American journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in Syria 10 years ago.

The meeting with Marc and Debra Tice was expected to take place at the White House.

Continue reading...

Biden’s top border official not worried about Republican impeachment threats

Posted on by

Homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas forging ahead with plans to ease Covid-related immigration restrictions

Joe Biden’s top border official said on Sunday he was unconcerned by threats from the top House Republican that the GOP could impeach him if it regains the majority after the midterm elections, as the Biden administration forges ahead with plans to ease a coronavirus-related immigration restriction.

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, addressed the remarks from the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy.

Continue reading...

Republican: Biden’s $33bn Ukraine aid request likely to get swift approval

Posted on by

Michael McCaul’s comments come while Nancy Pelosi leads a congressional delegation to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian president

Joe Biden’s $33bn request to Congress for more aid for Ukraine is likely to receive swift approval from lawmakers, a senior Republican said on Sunday, as the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, made a surprise visit to the war-riven country.

The president on Thursday had asked for the money for military and humanitarian support for Ukraine as it fights to repulse the Russian invasion now in its third month.

Continue reading...

Rand Paul promises Covid review if Republicans retake Senate in midterms

Posted on by

Kentucky senator who has clashed publicly with Dr Anthony Fauci champions lab leak theory in remarks at rally

The Kentucky senator Rand Paul promised on Saturday to wage a vigorous review into the origins of the coronavirus if Republicans retake the Senate and he lands a committee chairmanship.

Speaking to supporters at a campaign rally, the senator denounced what he sees as government overreach in response to Covid-19. He applauded a recent judge’s order that voided the federal mask mandate on planes and trains and in travel hubs.

Continue reading...