Page 14 - Joe Biden

Biden govt not to finalise guidelines on new clean fuel tax credit

Ethanol producers in particular are hoping sustainable aviation fuels will provide market growth

Hunter Biden gun case dismissed after President Joe Biden's sweeping pardon

A federal judge dismissed the gun case against Hunter Biden on Tuesday after President Joe Biden issued a sweeping pardon for his son. US District Judge Maryellen Noreika closed the case the week before Hunter Biden was to be sentenced. He could have faced up to 25 years in prison, though as a first-time offender he likely would have gotten far less time or avoided prison entirely. Prosecutors opposed dismissing the case, arguing in court documents that a pardon shouldn't wipe away the case "as if it never occurred". Hunter Biden was convicted on three felonies after he lied on a federal form to purchase a gun in Delaware by saying he wasn't a drug user in 2018, a period when he has acknowledged being addicted. The Justice Department special counsel is also opposed to dismissing a case filed in California after he failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes. A federal judge in Los Angeles hasn't yet ruled in that case. The president's Sunday decision to go back on previous pledges and issu

President Biden offers $7.5 billion for Samsung SDI-Stellantis hub

The funding, which could easily be canceled by the incoming Trump administration if not finalized by inauguration day

China announces ban on Germanium, Gallium exports to US in tit-for-tat move

Gallium, germanium, antimony and superhard materials are no longer allowed to be exported to America as an overall principle, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Tuesday

Donald Trump reiterates opposition to Nippon Steel's takeover of US Steel

Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba wrote to Biden, who has referred the deal to a government panel that reviews foreign investments for national security risks, asking him to approve the transaction

Senior US diplomat to visit India, Nepal, Sri Lanka for cooperation talks

Biden Administration's point person for South and Central Asia will visit India, Sri Lanka and Nepal this week, the first after the November 5 presidential elections. The trip by the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu will be on a visit to the three countries from December 3 to December 10, the State Department said. The visit aims at strengthening cooperation with key partners in South Asia to promote regional prosperity and security, it said. In New Delhi, Lu will support US-India collaboration in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. He will join Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink to lead US participation in the US-India East Asia Consultations. The Consultations, along with separate meetings with senior Indian officials, will provide an opportunity to exchange perspectives on global and regional issues, an official release said. On December 5, Lu will travel to Colombo t

US govt approves sale of $1.17 bn of MH-60R helicopter equipment to India

The Biden Administration on Monday notified the Congress of its decision to approve the sale of MH-60R Multi-Mission Helicopter Equipment and related ones at an estimated cost of USD1.17 billion. The proposed sale will improve India's capability to deter current and future threats by upgrading its anti-submarine warfare capabilities, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a notification to the Congress. The Biden administration's approval of sale of major defense equipment to India comes weeks ahead of its completion of its four-year term. President-elect Donald Trump would be sworn in as 47th president of the United States of America on January 20, 2025. According to the notification, India has requested to buy 30 Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Joint Tactical Radio Systems (MIDS-JTRS). It also included advanced data transfer systems; external fuel tanks; AN/AAS 44C(V) forward looking infrared (FLIR) systems; an operator machine interface assistant; spare

US to send additional $725 million to Ukraine in military assistance

The US is preparing to send Ukraine an additional USD 725 million in military assistance, including counter-drone systems and munitions for its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which could indicate more of the longer-range missiles are headed to the battlefield. It was unclear whether the munitions for the HIMARS are the coveted ATACMS the Army Tactical Missile System but Ukraine has been pressing for more of the longer-range missiles to strike additional targets inside Russia. The package, announced Monday by the State Department, also includes more of the anti-personnel land mines that Ukraine is counting on to slow Russian and North Korean ground forces in Russia's Kursk region. President Joe Biden has pledged to spend all of the military assistance funds Congress approved this year for Ukraine before the end of his administration on January 20, which before Monday's announcement included about USD 7.1 billion in weapons that would be drawn from the Pentagon's ...

Joe Biden on his maiden visit to Angola; seeks to strengthen US-Africa ties

President Joe Biden arrived for his long-awaited first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa on Monday to the cheers of thousands in Angola, where he will highlight an ambitious US-backed railway project meant to counter China's influence on the continent of over 1.4 billion people. Biden's three-day visit to Angola will focus largely on the Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment in Zambia, Congo and Angola. It aims to advance the US presence in a region rich in the critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies. Biden's trip comes weeks before Republican Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, finally delivering on Biden's pledge to visit sub-Saharan Africa. On his way to Angola, he stopped in the Atlantic Ocean island nation of Cape Verde for a brief, closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva. Biden plans to meet with Angolan President Joo Loureno in the capital, Luanda, where crowds lined the stree

Some Democrats frustrated over Biden reversing course, pardoning son Hunter

Already reeling from their November defeats, Democrats now are grappling with President Joe Biden's pardoning of his son for federal crimes after the party spent years slamming Donald Trump as a threat to democracy who disregarded the law. The president pardoned Hunter Biden late Sunday evening, reversing his previous pledges with a grant of clemency that covers more than a decade of any federal crimes his son might have committed. The 82-year-old president said in a statement that his son's prosecution on charges of tax evasion and falsifying a federal weapons purchase form were politically motivated. He believes in the justice system, but he also believes that politics infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who along with Biden and other White House officials insisted for months that Hunter Biden would not get a pardon. That explanation did not satisfy some Democrats, angry that Biden's reversal could make it

Highlights: Maharashtra CM's name to be declared on eve of govt's swearing-in on Dec 4

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Hunter Biden gets presidential pardon: What were the charges against him?

Outgoing US President Joe Biden has issued a presidential pardon to his son, Hunter Biden just weeks before handing over the White House to President-elect Donald Trump.

Hunter Biden gets presidential pardon: What were the charges against him?

Outgoing US President Joe Biden pardons his son Hunter Biden on tax and weapons charges, sparking political debate

Joe Biden begins long-awaited Africa trip to secure win against China

At stake are vast supplies of minerals like copper and cobalt, which are found in Congo and are a key component of batteries and other electronics, and China is the top player in Congo as of now

Outgoing President Biden pardons son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members. The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House. It caps a long-running legal saga for the president's son, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 a month after Joe Biden's 2020 victory. In June, as Hunter was facing trial in the gun case in Delaware, Biden ruled out a pardon or clemency for his son in an interview with ABC

Unfortunate: MEA on Rahul Gandhi's 'memory loss' remarks at Biden, Modi

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal described Gandhi's remarks as 'unfortunate'

Biden prepares $725 million arms package for Ukraine, says US officials

Although more than 160 countries have signed a treaty banning their use, Kyiv has been asking for them since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in early 2022 and Russian forces have used them on

Biden admin readies China's chip curbs that stop short of earlier proposals

The restrictions could be unveiled as soon as next week, said the people, who emphasised that the timing and contours of the rules have changed several times

Attacks on minorities in B'desh: Indian-Americans urge Biden to intervene

An influential Indian-American organisation has urged US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump to call on the government of Bangladesh to protect the minority Hindu community in the country. In separate letters to Biden and Trump, the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) on Wednesday expressed grave concern over the escalating human rights violations against religious minorities in Bangladesh and the recent arrest of Hindu spiritual leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari. Bangladesh's minority Hindus have faced over 200 attacks, including those on their temples, since the fall of Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government on August 5, according to the FIIDS. Das was arrested on Monday in a sedition case and later denied bail by a court, triggering protests by community members in various locations, including the capital Dhaka and the port city of Chattogram. He was a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and was recen

White House pressing Ukraine to draft 18-yr-old men to battle Russia

The official said "the pure math" of Ukraine's situation now is that it needs more troops in the fight