Page 76 - Joe Biden

Joe Biden's campaign raises $1 mn in a day on capitol riots anniversary

The president zeroed in on January 6 to mark the third anniversary of the US Capitol riots and argued in his remarks that democracy is on the ballot in 2024

Austin remains hospitalised as details emerge about delays in notification

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin remained in the hospital Sunday as more details emerged about key decision-makers, even President Joe Biden, being kept in the dark for days that the Pentagon chief had been in the intensive care unit at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Pentagon's failure to disclose Austin's hospitalisation reflects a stunning lack of transparency about his illness, how serious it was and when he may be released. Such secrecy, at a time when the United States is juggling myriad national security crises, runs counter to normal practice with the president and other senior U.S. officials and Cabinet members. A senior defence official said Deputy Secretary of Defence Kathleen Hicks was not notified until Thursday that Austin had been hospitalised since January 1. Once notified, Hicks began preparing statements to send to Congress and made plans to return to Washington, the official said. Hicks was in Puerto Rico on leave but had communications equipment with her to ...

US Congress leaders announce agreement on spending levels to avert shutdown

Congressional leaders have reached an agreement on topline spending levels for the current fiscal year that could help avoid a partial government shutdown later this month. The agreement largely hues to spending caps for defense and domestic programmes that Congress set as part of a bill to suspend the debt limit until 2025. But it does provide some concessions to House Republicans who viewed the spending restrictions in that agreement as insufficient. In a letter to colleagues, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday it will secure USD 16 billion in additional spending cuts from the previous agreement brokered by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden and is about USD 30 billion less than what the Senate was considering. This represents the most favourable budget agreement Republicans have achieved in over a decade, Johnson writes. Biden said the agreement moves us one step closer to preventing a needless government shutdown and protecting important national ...

Trump attacks Biden over 'threat to democracy' remark in his campaign

Biden described Trump as a clear threat to democracy who could not be trusted with a second term

Supreme Court to decide if Trump can be kept off 2024 presidential ballots

The Supreme Court said Friday it will decide whether former President Donald Trump can be kept off the ballot because of his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, inserting the court squarely in the 2024 presidential campaign. The justices acknowledged the need to reach a decision quickly, as voters will soon begin casting presidential primary ballots across the country. The court agreed to take up a case from Colorado stemming from Trump's role in the events that culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Arguments will be held in early February. The court will be considering for the first time the meaning and reach of a provision of the 14th Amendment barring some people who engaged in insurrection from holding public office. The amendment was adopted in 1868, following the Civil War. It has been so rarely used that the nation's highest court had no previous occasion to interpret it. Colorado's Supreme Court, by a 4-3 vote, ruled last month that Trump ..

Joe Biden, Donald Trump go on attack with ballot question clouding race

Trump also belittled his chief Republican opponents, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a United Nations ambassador in the Trump administration

Biden administration announces $162 mn to expand computer chip factories

In August 2022, Biden signed the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which provides more than $52 billion to boost the development and manufacturing of semiconductors in the United States

Former Prez Trump asks US Supreme Court to overturn Colorado ballot ban

The former president urged the high court in an appeal filed Wednesday to declare that he did not take part in an insurrection by trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden

Biden and Trump poised for potential rematch that could shake US politics

US presidential elections have been rocked in recent years by economic disaster, stunning gaffes, secret video and a pandemic. But for all the tumult that defined those campaigns, the volatility surrounding this year's presidential contest has few modern parallels, posing profound challenges to the future of American democracy. Not since the Supreme Court effectively decided the 2000 campaign in favour of Republican George W. Bush has the judiciary been so intertwined with presidential politics. In the coming weeks, the high court is expected to weigh whether states can ban former President Donald Trump from the ballot for his role in leading the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. Meanwhile, a federal appeals court is weighing Trump's argument that he's immune from prosecution. The maneuvers are unfolding as prosecutors from New York to Washington and Atlanta move forward with 91 indictments across four criminal cases involving everything from Trump's role in the ...

Committed to 'managing' China-US ties 'responsibly': Biden to Xi Jinping

US President Joe Biden on Monday assured his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that he is committed to "managing" the bilateral ties "responsibly" as the two leaders exchanged congratulatory messages to mark the 45th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries. The two presidents met on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco in November and agreed to cool down the raging tensions between the top two economies of the world. In his message to Xi, Biden said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1979, the ties between the US and China have facilitated prosperity and opportunities for both the countries and the world. Biden said he is committed to "managing this important relationship responsibly", adding that he looks forward to continuing advancing the US-China relationship based on the progress made by the predecessors of the two leaders and through multiple meetings and discussions between the two heads of state, China's state-run Xinh

Biden admin bypasses Congress on an emergency weapons sale to Israel

For the second time this month the Biden administration is bypassing Congress to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel as Israel continues to prosecute its war against Hamas in Gaza under increasing international criticism. The State Department said Friday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had told Congress that he had made a second emergency determination covering a USD 147.5 million sale for equipment, including fuses, chargers and primers, that is needed to make the 155 mm shells that Israel has already purchased function. Given the urgency of Israel's defensive needs, the secretary notified Congress that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer, the department said. The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to ensure Israel is able to defend itself against the threats it faces, it said. The emergency determination means the .

Biden administration grants Louisiana power to approve carbon capture wells

The Biden administration is handing Louisiana regulators new power to attract and approve carbon capture projects at a time when the state's influential energy sector wants to make the Gulf Coast a hub for the rapidly expanding industry. Louisiana will be able to issue permits for wells that store carbon dioxide, a critical component of carbon capture and removal technology. In all but two other states, the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for permitting. Proponents of the change say it will speed up approvals of new projects that are critical for reducing climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental groups had opposed the move, doubting that a state home to a concentrated stretch of oil, gas and petrochemical plants commonly called cancer alley is capable of proper industry oversight and protecting residents. The EPA said the Louisiana agreement includes safeguards to protect poorer, often majority-Black communities that live near those facilities and that

Balancing acts

India keeps its foreign policy independent and flexible

PM Modi's YouTube channel reaches 20M subscribers, most among world leaders

Compared to PM Modi, US President Joe Biden has 794,000 subscribers on YouTube. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on the other hand, has 589,000 subscribers on the video-sharing platform

Apple files appeal after Biden admin allows tribunal's ban on watch imports

The U.S. International Trade Commission's (ITC) order will go into effect on Dec. 26, barring imports and sales of Apple Watches that use patent-infringing technology for reading blood-oxygen levels

Biden orders strike on Iranian group after troops injured in drone attack

President Joe Biden has ordered retaliatory strikes against Iranian-backed militia groups after three US servicemembers injured in a drone attack in Northern Iraq. National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said one of the US troops suffered critical injuries in the attack that occurred earlier on Monday. The Iranian-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups, under an umbrella of Iranian-backed militants, claimed credit for the attack. Biden, who is spending Christmas at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, was briefed on the attack on Monday and ordered the Pentagon to prepare response options. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and national security team quickly drew up plans and presented him with options in a call and Biden directed strikes against three locations utilized by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups. The latest attack on US troops follows months of escalating threats and actions against American forces in the region since the Octo

US elections: Kennedy Jr draws Biden and Trump voters united by distrust

Some voted for Donald Trump, others for Joe Biden. A few had never wanted anything to do with politics before they heard Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on a podcast or YouTube video. Lined up outside a Phoenix wedding hall tucked between a freeway, a railroad track and a U-Haul rental centre, the hundreds of people who turned out on Wednesday to hear Kennedy speak shared little in common ideologically. What united them was a deep-seated distrust of the media, of corporations and especially of the government and a belief that Kennedy is the only person in politics willing to tell them the truth. I like that he talks to us like adults, said Gilbert Limon, a 48-year-old pharmacist from Phoenix. He tells you the majority of what you need to know. Whereas I feel like (other politicians) just give you bits and pieces to try to fit their agenda. I've had enough of that. Voters are not enthusiastic about a Biden-Trump rematch, and alternatives like Kennedy or the No Labels third-party movement, .

Iran's foreign minister dismisses US claims of them backing Houthi rebels

The White House, citing newly released intelligence, said Friday that Iran was "deeply involved" in the planning of the Houthi attacks and has supplied weapons, financial support and training

India's 2023 rise: G20 success, space feats, global 'Naatu Naatu' craze

From hosting a successful G20 Summit to rewriting the annals of space exploration and making the world dance to Naatu Naatu, 2023 saw India establish itself as more than a soft power

US Steel sale to Japanese company warrants 'serious scrutiny': White House

President Joe Biden believes serious scrutiny is warranted for the planned acquisition of US Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel, the White House said Thursday after days of silence on a transaction that has drawn alarm from the steelworkers union. Lael Brainard, the director of the National Economic Council, indicated the deal would be reviewed by the secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which she participates in and includes economic and national security agency representatives to investigate national security risks from foreign investments in American firms. She said in a statement that Biden believes the purchase of this iconic American-owned company by a foreign entity even one from a close ally appears to deserve serious scrutiny in terms of its potential impact on national security and supply chain reliability. This looks like the type of transaction that the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment Congress empowered and the Biden administration ...