Page 20 - White House

4 yrs on, US is stronger, prosperous, secure: Biden in letter to countrymen

Coming out of the worst pandemic in a century and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the United States in four years under Joe Biden's leadership has emerged stronger, more prosperous, and more secure, the outgoing US President said in a letter Wednesday. History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands. We just have to keep the faith and remember who we are. We are the United States of America, and there is simply nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together, Biden said in a letter addressed to his countrymen. Four years ago, we stood in a winter of peril and a winter of possibilities. We were in the grip of the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War. But we came together as Americans, and we braved through it. We emerged stronger, more prosperous, and more secure, he said. Biden, 82, leaves the White House on ...

Elevated ties with India, started iCET, launched Quad: WH on Biden's tenure

The White House on Wednesday said that the United States "elevated" its relationship with India, kicked off the pathbreaking iCET dialogue and launched Quad during the impactful tenure of President Joe Biden. In the Indo-Pacific, Biden's diplomacy made America more secure by deepening its economic and security partnerships in the region, both bilaterally and multilaterally, the White House said in a fact sheet that highlighted some of the key achievements of the Biden administration. Biden, 82, would complete his four-year term on January 20, when Donald Trump, 78, would be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. The fact sheet noted that during these four years, Biden reinvigorated America's network of alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, including through the US-Japan-ROK and US-Japan-Philippines trilaterals, the Quad, AUKUS, IPEF, expanded partnership with the Philippines, and elevated relations with India, Indonesia, Vietnam, ASEAN, and Pacific Islands ..

Biden packing up to leave White House. What about any classified documents?

The last time Joe Biden packed up and left office, he took with him thousands of papers from his decades in public service including some classified documents that should have gone to the National Archives for safekeeping. That move spawned a federal investigation into whether Biden had knowingly broken the law and a damaging Justice Department report that referred to Biden as an elderly man with a poor memory, igniting public concerns over his mental acuity that eventually led Biden to drop out of the race. The discovery also watered down the significance of the criminal case against President-elect Donald Trump, who had been accused of purposefully hoarding top secret documents at his Florida estate and it helped fuel Trump's claims of unfair political persecution. The moving trucks are at the White House again, and Biden's staff is loading documents and items for storage as he prepares to depart next week. The administration has promised a new, more secure protocol to review an

White House imposes new export curbs on Nvidia AI chips for China, Russia

Similar to the rules for importing countries, companies in the US and nearly 20 allied countries can agree to US government standards and win permission to ship to the restricted nations

Biden admin rushes to finish cybersecurity order after China hacks

Among the measures, it directs the government to implement "strong identity authentication and encryption" across communications, according to an undated draft

Donald Trump announces appointments to White House ahead of inauguration

Stanley E. Woodward will serve as Assistant to the President and Senior Counselor, while Robert Gabriel Jr. returns as Assistant to the President for Policy

Republican Mike Johnson re-elected as US House Speaker in a close contest

Johnson secured the top spot in the chamber with 218 votes, securing just enough support to be re-elected, CNN reported

Jimmy Carter sought to expand democracy long after leaving White House

Amid everything else on his desk the Iran hostage crisis, domestic economic turmoil, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and a gruelling 1980 reelection fight President Jimmy Carter elevated the independence of a country in southern Africa as a top agenda item. Carter hosted then-Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe at the White House soon after his country achieved independence and later described Zimbabwe's adoption of democracy as our greatest single success. Three decades later, Carter, who was long out of office, found the door slammed shut when he and other dignitaries sought to visit Zimbabwe on a humanitarian mission to observe reported human rights abuses after a violent disputed election in 2008. He had become a critic of Mugabe's regime and was denied a visa. Carter didn't give up. From neighbouring South Africa, he relied on emissaries from Zimbabwe for testimony on violence and allegations of electoral fraud. The effort reflected the former president's long commitment to ..

How American presidents have planned their own funerals over the years

Jimmy Carter's memorial journey will end at his house in the tiny town of Plains, Georgia, where he grew up on a peanut farm. That is where his wife, Rosalynn, was laid to rest last year in a burial plot that they chose years ago. But before Carter reaches his humble final destination, there will be an interstate choreography of grief, ceremony and logistics that is characteristic of state funerals. Ever since the nation's founding, America has bid farewell to former presidents with an intricate series of events weaving together longstanding traditions and personal touches. Funerals often are planned by the presidents themselves, who usually have years after leaving the White House to ponder how they want to be memorialised. They are very much involved in the planning process, and the decisions that they make tell us a lot about who they are, how they see the presidency, and how they want to be remembered by the American people, said Matthew Costello, senior historian for the White

From Trump's return to Hasina's ouster: Top events of the world in 2024

A dramatic campaign, a comeback, and peace efforts amid attacks & counterattacks - 2024 redefined global relations. Diplomacy was tested, power disrupted, and the world watched as history was made

What does Trump's return to WH mean for world: All you need to know

Trump will officially be sworn in for his second term as US President on January 20

Trump shakes up global politics a month before taking charge at White House

His trade threats helped set off a cabinet crisis in Canada that has Prime Minister Justin Trudeau teetering

Gun violence again visited our classrooms: Kamala Harris slams shooting

Calling the incident a "senseless shooting", Harris said that her husband, Douglas Emhoff and she were mourning the deaths caused by the violence

No risk after Donald Trump decries drone 'suspense', clarifies White House

Kirby said that of more than 5,000 tips to the FBI in recent weeks, the agency felt the need to follow up on 100 reported incidents

White House releases first-ever national strategy to combat Islamophobia

The White House has announced what it called the first-ever national strategy to counter Islamophobia, detailing more than 100 steps federal officials can take to curb hate, violence, bias and discrimination against Muslims and Arab Americans. The proposal follows a similar national plan to battle antisemitism that President Joe Biden unveiled in May 2023, as fears about increasing hatred and discrimination were rising among US Jews. Officials worked on the anti-Islamophobia plan for months, and its release came on Thursday, five weeks before Biden leaves office meaning implementation will mostly fall to President-elect Donald Trump, if his administration chooses to do so. In a statement announcing the strategy, the Biden administration wrote that Over the past year, this initiative has become even more important as threats against American Muslim and Arab communities have spiked. It said that included the October 2023 slaying of six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, an American Muslim boy

President Biden watching situation in Bangladesh very closely: White House

President Joe Biden is closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh and the United States will hold the Bangladeshi interim government accountable for ensuring the protection of religious and ethnic minorities in the country, the White House has said. "The security situation in Bangladesh has been difficult following the ouster of the former prime minister. And we have been working closely with the interim government to enhance the capability of their law enforcement and security services to deal with the challenge," White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said at a news conference on Thursday. "We have been very clear in our engagement with all Bangladeshi leaders that protection of religious and ethnic minorities security to all Bangladeshis regardless of religion or ethnicity. We want to hold them to that," Kirby said in response to a question. Over the past few weeks, Indian Americans have held peaceful protests and marches in several cities, including

March against attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh held from White House

A large number of Indian Americans held a march from the White House to the US Capitol over attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. Raising slogans like We want Justice and Protect Hindus the peaceful demonstrators urged the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration to ask the new government in Bangladesh to take steps to protect Hindus but also take action against those responsible for this. The march was held on Monday over attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. Organisers of the event -- StopHinduGenocide.org, Bangladeshi Diaspora organisations and HinduACTion demanded that the companies in the US stop buying garments from Bangladesh, which is heavily dependent on its exports to the US. "This march is not just a cry for justice; it is a demand for accountability. Today, the Bangladeshi Hindu community and the larger Hindu diaspora from the Indian subcontinent has come in support of the Bangladesh Hindu community because there is continuing violence going on in Bangladesh, .

US agencies to brief House on alleged Chinese Salt Typhoon telecom hacking

White House last week said at least eight telecommunications and telecom infrastructure firms in the United States had been impacted and a large number of Americans' metadata has been stolen

President Biden considering preemptive pardons before Trump assumes office

President Joe Biden is weighing whether to issue sweeping pardons for officials and allies who the White House fears could be unjustly targeted by President-elect Donald Trump's administration, a preemptive move that would be a novel and risky use of the president's extraordinary constitutional power. The deliberations so far are largely at the level of White House lawyers. But Biden himself has discussed the topic with some senior aides, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday to discuss the sensitive subject. No decisions have been made, the people said, and it is possible Biden opts to do nothing at all. Pardons are historically afforded to those accused of specific crimes and usually those who have already been convicted of an offense but Biden's team is considering issuing them for those who have not even been investigated, let alone charged. They fear that Trump and his allies, who have boasted of enemies lists and exacti

Investment banks eye 2025 income boom as Trump drives deal rebound

Global investment banking income has only topped $300 billion five times in the last 20 years