Chuck Schumer and Lizzo made appearances before the presidents talked onstage in event that widens fundraising lead over Trump
Joe Biden and his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, headlined a star-studded fundraiser with Bill Clinton on Thursday that organizers said raised more than $25m for the US president’s re-election campaign.
Such a haul, which Politico called an “NYC money bomb”, will widen Biden’s lead over Donald Trump in fundraising for the November election.
Continue reading...Former US president understood to have discussed AI and other subjects with PM on informal ‘courtesy’ visit
Barack Obama has held talks with Rishi Sunak as the former US president paid a “courtesy visit” to Downing Street during a trip to London.
The pair are understood to have discussed a range of subjects during an hour-long meeting, including one of the prime minister’s favourite topics, artificial intelligence.
Continue reading...Former defence secretary tells colleagues there is no alternative to Rishi Sunak and to ‘get on with’ preparing for an election. This live blog is closed
Ofcom has ruled today that GB News broke impartiality rules on five occasions by using Tory MPs as news presenters.
But it has not imposed sanctions on the broadaster. It says these count as first offence, and that there may be sanctions if it happens again.
Under the Broadcasting Code, news, in whatever form, must be presented with due impartiality. Additionally, a politician cannot be a newsreader, news interviewer or news reporter unless, exceptionally, there is editorial justification.
In line with the right to freedom of expression, broadcasters have editorial freedom to offer audiences a wide range of programme formats, including using politicians to present current affairs or other non-news programmes. Politicians may also appear in broadcast news content as an interviewee or any other type of guest.
These are the first breaches of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 recorded against GB News. Since opening these investigations, there has only been one further programme which has raised issues warranting investigation under these rules. We are clear, however, that GB News is put on notice that any repeated breaches of Rules 5.1 and 5.3 may result in the imposition of a statutory sanction.
Continue reading...Jimmy Carter, 99, left hospice care at home for service for his late wife, but Trump, Obama and Bush did not attend
A tribute service for Rosalynn Carter took place on Tuesday, as politicians and public figures gathered to celebrate the former first lady’s life following her death last Sunday.
Former president Jimmy Carter, 99, attended the tribute for his late wife of 77 years, traveling from his hospice care at home to the Glenn Memorial church in Atlanta. His attendance marks a rare public appearance for the former president, who has been in home hospice care for 10 months.
Continue reading...Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, famous for arguing with Barack Obama on the campaign trail, died of pancreatic cancer
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who shot to brief fame during the 2008 US presidential election as “Joe the Plumber”, has died aged 49. Cause of death was pancreatic cancer, his wife, Katie Wurzelbacher, told news outlets.
Fifteen years ago, Wurzelbacher became famous after arguing with the then Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, on the campaign trail in Toledo, Ohio. Wurzelbacher asked Obama if he would pay more taxes if the Democrat won. Obama, then a US senator from Illinois, conceded that he might.
Continue reading...Tourism, academia and literature all exhibit signs that trend of closer ties has gone into reverse
Cultural ties between the US and China are at a low point after several years of decline, according to Guardian analysis of official figures.
The Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, coupled with the continuing trade war between the two countries, is diluting cultural exchanges, with visitor numbers, students and even the world of literature all affected.
Continue reading...Former president writes open letter to American librarians and appears in TikTok video decrying rightwing censorship push
In an open letter to American librarians, Barack Obama criticised “profoundly misguided” rightwing efforts to ban books from libraries in public schools.
“Some of the books that shaped my life – and the lives of so many others – are being challenged by people who disagree with certain ideas or perspectives,” the former president wrote.
Continue reading...EV manufacturer Lordstown Motors, lauded by Trump in 2020, has gone bankrupt – what now for the once-proud auto-making region?
When Lordstown Motors, an electric vehicles (EV) manufacturer in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley, declared bankruptcy last month, it was the latest blow to a region that has seen decades of extravagant promises fail to deliver.
The 5,000 new jobs executives vowed to create in 2020 generated fresh hope for the shuttered General Motors Lordstown plant, which once functioned as an economic engine for the area and a critical piece of the nation’s industrial heartland.
Continue reading...Taylor Taranto found with materials to create an explosive device a few blocks away from former president’s Washington DC home
A man armed with explosive materials and weapons, and wanted for crimes related to the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, was arrested late on Thursday in the Washington DC neighborhood where the former US president Barack Obama lives, law enforcement officials said.
Taylor Taranto, 37, was spotted by law enforcement officials a few blocks from the former president’s home and fled, though he was chased by Secret Service agents. Taranto has an open warrant on charges related to the insurrection, two law enforcement officials said. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing case and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Continue reading...Indian finance minister hits out after former US president said Modi government should protect rights of Muslims
India’s finance minister has derided comments by the former US president Barack Obama that Narendra Modi’s government should protect the rights of minority Muslims, accusing Obama of being hypocritical.
During the Indian prime minister’s state visit to the US last week, Obama told CNN that the issue of the “protection of the Muslim minority in a majority-Hindu India” would be worth raising in Modi’s meeting with the US president, Joe Biden.
Continue reading...Former president notes tendency among Republican candidates to gloss over effects of racism, prompting pushback from both
Barack Obama has criticized two Republican presidential hopefuls, the South Carolina senator Tim Scott and the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, over their stances on race relations in America.
On a podcast interview, Obama, who became the first Black US president when he was elected in 2008, said that while presenting a hopeful message on race relations was important, “that has to be undergirded with an honest accounting of our past and our present”.
Continue reading...Moscow also denied consular access to detained journalist as US imposes more punitive measures in response to Ukraine invasion
Russia’s foreign ministry has said former President Barack Obama is among 500 US citizens who will be banned in response to the latest round of sanctions announced by Washington.
The ministry also said on Friday that Russia had refused the latest US request for consular access to the detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested in March on suspicion of spying.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
Chalmers hopes for bipartisanship on RBA review
Jim Chalmers will receive the review into the Reserve Bank tomorrow. He says he will be releasing its report in April, along with some of the actions the government intends on taking.
I think people do understand how critically important the decisions taken by the independent Reserve Bank are and so we need to give the RBA the best possible basis to make those decisions. And one of the things that we’ve tried to do throughout is we see this as a bipartisan opportunity will see this as an opportunity for some bipartisanship.
What I’ve done is made sure that the panel hasn’t just kept me up to speed on their thinking and across their thinking but also the opposition and also the crossbench as well and I’ve got my differences with Angus Taylor, but I do want to say that he has been engaging with this Reserve Bank review panel in good faith and I appreciate that.
Our submission will be consistent with our values and our policies and our objectives and one of our highest priorities is to get wages moving again in meaningful and sustainable ways.
I think it’s common sense to prioritise the lowest paid as you go about that. You know, some people might pretend that we’ve got an inflation problem in our economy because the lowest-paid Australians are getting paid too much and that is obviously absolute rubbish.
Continue reading...Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy was due to give the welcome to country for former US president in Melbourne before allegedly being stood down
An Indigenous elder has been barred from giving the welcome to country at a speaking event by former US president Barack Obama because she was allegedly being “too difficult”.
Aunty Joy Murphy was scheduled to welcome Obama to Wurundjeri land before the event in Melbourne on Wednesday night on the latest leg of his speaking tour of Australia.
Continue reading...Former US president tells Sydney audience that media coverage has helped exacerbate divisions and that we no longer have a ‘shared story’
The former US president Barack Obama has suggested that Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has led to greater polarisation in western societies through news coverage designed to “make people angry and resentful”.
Speaking to a capacity crowd of about 9,000 people at Sydney’s Aware Super Theatre on Tuesday night, Obama mixed childhood memories of transiting through Australia as a child with pointed observations about the current political discourse and the rise of China.
Continue reading...Investigators are looking at invoking an exception that can bypass attorney-client privilege if legal advice is used for furthering crime
Federal prosecutors involved in the criminal investigation of Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents argued to a US judge on Thursday that one of the former US president’s lawyers should answer more questions before a grand jury over objections of attorney-client privilege.
US prosecutors have been seeking to invoke the so-called crime-fraud exception that allows them to compel testimony about communications between an attorney and a client when they have evidence to suggest legal advice was used in furtherance of a crime.
Continue reading...Former first lady says caring for their young daughters put strain on their marriage in Revolt TV interview promoting latest book
Former first lady Michelle Obama has said she “couldn’t stand” her husband for a decade while the couple’s children were young.
In frank comments to the Black news station Revolt TV last week, Obama – one of the most popular women in America – said that raising children had put strains on her three-decade marriage to Barack Obama, the US president for two four-year terms beginning in 2009.
Continue reading...‘We have zero tolerance for any form of bias or hate,’ company says and offers $100,000 reward to help find who was responsible
The firm building former US president Barack Obama’s presidential library suspended operations after a noose was found at the construction site in Chicago and the police were called.
A $100,000 reward was offered by the construction company to help find who was responsible.
Continue reading...Paul Pelosi was attacked at San Francisco home while House speaker was in Washington
The Guardian’s Joan E Greve has taken a close look at Democrats’ chances ahead of the 8 November midterms, and finds things are not looking good for Joe Biden’s party:
With less than two weeks to go until election day, Democrats’ hopes of defying political history and keeping their narrow majorities in the House and Senate appear to be fading, as many of the party’s candidates go on the defensive in the final days of campaigning.
Continue reading...Barnes, who would be the first Black senator from Wisconsin, is looking to unseat Republican Ron Johnson
Barack Obama, who twice won Wisconsin by large margins, will travel to the battleground state in the final weeks of the current midterm elections, seeking to boost Mandela Barnes, the young lieutenant governor looking to unseat the Republican Ron Johnson in a key US Senate contest.
Barnes would be the first Black senator from Wisconsin. He held early leads over Johnson but the Republican, a prominent figure on the GOP hard right, has surged back. This week, a Marquette University Law School poll showed Johnson in the lead.
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