President Joe Biden of the United States promised to donate $500 million to the Amazon Fund on Thursday, making his nation one of the largest donors in the world to the global initiative to stop deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
The Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate held a virtual meeting, and Biden spoke at it. “Today, I’m pleased to announce that I will request the funds so that we can contribute $500 million to the Amazon Fund and other climate-related activities over the next five years to support Brazil’s renewed effort to end deforestation by 2030,” he said.
The Amazon Fund uses foreign funds for projects that fight deforestation and preserve the environment in the Amazon, and was set up in Brazil during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s previous term in office. Major donors include Norway and Germany.
During the presidency of former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro, the fund was left untouched while then-environmental minister Ricardo Salles dissolved committees responsible for managing the resource.
Lula has touted curbing deforestation of the Amazon as a top priority since becoming president earlier this year.
Biden also promised a $1 billion contribution to the Green Climate Fund, which is the main climate financing mechanism of the United Nations.
“We’re at a moment of great peril but also great possibilities, serious possibilities. With the right commitment and follow-through from every nation on the — in this room, in this — on this call, the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees can stay within reach,” Biden added.
View of the Amacayacu river at the Colombian Amazonia in San Martin de Amacayacu, Colombia, on October 15, 2022.Lina Vanegas/AFP/Getty Images
The announcement comes the same day Biden welcomed Colombian President Gustavo Petro to the White House, saying he considers Colombia “the key to the hemisphere,” in efforts to ensure the Western Hemisphere is “united, equal, democratic, and economically prosperous.”
At Thursday’s Oval office meeting with Petro, Biden also spoke to efforts to combat narcotics trafficking in the region, and “to address historic levels of migration in the hemisphere.”
Biden touted the $500 million investment to the Amazon Fund as part of the two nations’ efforts to deal with climate change.”
And he took special care to thank Petro “for the hospitality support Colombia continues to show to Venezuelan refugees.”
“It’s a humanitarian and generous thing that you’re doing,” he added. “You know we’re working closely with regional partners to help Columbia meet this challenge. It’s consequential and costly.”
Petro noted that the United States and Colombia have a shared commitment to democracy, freedom and peace together with a strong push for decarbonizing the economy.
“In the Americas, humanity has the greatest potential for democracy and freedom and the greatest potential for carbon free energy. We have a busy agenda together and work to do,” Petro stated.
Petro is in Washington as part of a five-day trip to the US to celebrate the 200th anniversary of US-Colombia relations. He held talks at the United Nations and the Organization of American States and visited Capitol Hill to meet with congressmen in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
In a historic speech to the Irish parliament, Joe Biden stated that the UK and Ireland “should be working closer” to protect Northern Ireland against political violence.
The president delivered speeches to both the Dail and Seanad, making him just the fourth US president to do so.
He addressed at a joint session of the Oireachtas, following in the footsteps of John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton.
Senators and TDs were reminded by Mr. Biden that “peace is precious” and “it still needs its champions.” It still requires nurturing.
According to him, the Good Friday Agreement also had a “significant positive impact” in the Republic of Ireland.
Reflecting on discussions with the Taoiseach, he spoke of ‘how Ireland and the United States can work together with the United Kingdom and the European Union to support the people of Northern Ireland’.
‘I think that the United Kingdom should be working closer with Ireland in this endeavour.
Mr Biden was given a huge welcome as he arrived at Leinster House (Picture: Sky News)The US opened his speech and said ‘mom you said it would happen’ (Picture: REUTERS)It was a packed Dail Eireann, the lower house of the Irish Parliament for his speech (Picture: Getty)
‘Political violence must never be allowed again to take hold on this island.’
He called for ‘liberty against tyranny’ as she said Ireland and the US have stood together against Putin since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, and added that they would fight to ‘oppose Russia’s brutal aggression.’
He opened his address to a joint sitting of by saying: ‘Well mom, you said it would happen.’
He went on to jokingly apologise to the infant daughter of Labour senator Rebecca Moynihan, who was in the chamber, for putting her through a policy speech, saying it is ‘as bad as what my children have been put through’.
‘People of Ireland, it’s so good to be back in Ireland,’ he said, making a remark in Irish which translates as: ‘I am home.’
He added: ‘I only wish I could stay longer.’
Among the members inside the house were Bertie Ahern, who brokered the Good Friday Agreement with Tony Blair in 1998.
A more controversial figure in attendance was Gerry Adams, an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin from 1983-2018.
He was part of the broadcast ban in 1983-84 after the IRA bombed a Brighton hotel where Margaret Thatcher was staying in 1983.
The speaker of the Dail, Sean O Fearghail, spoke ahead of Joe Biden’s speech and said ‘‘You are one of us,’ thanking the US president for his support of Ireland.
He said: ‘All through your political career, Mr President, you too have been a faithful and supportive friend of Ireland. You have been there, to quote the well-known song, ‘in sunshine or in shadow’.
‘So, on this historic occasion – your homecoming – we warmly welcome you back to your roots.
‘From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for all you have done, and continue to do, for us here in Ireland.’
On the third day of his trip to Ireland, he met with Irish premier Leo Varadkar and president Michael D Higgins.
Speaking with the Taoiseach he hailed the importance of US and European leadership and praised American leadership since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.
Mr Varadkar said he wanted to ‘thank you and your administration and your country’s leadership when it comes to Ukraine because I never thought in my lifetime that we’d see a war of this nature happening in Europe again’.
He said: ‘Democracy and liberty and the things that we believe in are on retreat, or in retreat, in large parts of the world, and if it wasn’t for American leadership, and if it wasn’t for America and Europe working together, I don’t know what kind of world we’d live in.’
Mr Biden, who met with the Irish leader in Washington on St Patrick’s Day, praised Irish values and the country’s acceptance of thousands of Ukrainian refugees as he spoke of a ‘stronger and stronger relationship’ between the US and Ireland.
The pair are set to discuss efforts to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland, with Mr Varadkar thanking Mr Biden for US support for the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Biden told Mr Varadkar it had been great to see him in Washington last month, and said: ‘I think there really is an opportunity to make serious progress, not just because of the accord that was signed 25 years ago, but in terms of the way Ireland is moving, the way it is taking its place in the world, working on helping countries around the world that are dealing with starvation, the way you’ve – I know it’s not easy – welcomed Ukrainians here and the leadership you’ve shown.’
Speaking to Mr Varadkar, the US President appeared to reference the progress made in securing the Windsor Framework – the deal between the EU and UK to amend the Northern Ireland Protocol – as he spoke of co-operation between the Taoiseach and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as ‘very valuable as well’.
This morning President Biden took part in several honorary ceremonies including helping plant a tree in the garden of Aras an Uachtarain.
He also signed the visitor’s book at the home of the Irish President with the words of a proverb and said ‘Your feet will bring you where your heart is’.
He took a shovel to help plant an Irish Oak, and added himself to the list of presidents who have all planted trees in the grounds.
Pope John Paul II and the late Queen Elizabeth II have also carried out the tradition on previous visits.
Speaking to president Michael D Higgins, Mr Biden said: ‘Mr president, I asked whether or not my great-grandchildren can come back and climb this tree when it grows?’
The ceremony also saw the US president ring the Peace Bell, which was unveiled in 2008 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Biden rang it four times before shaking hands with the Irish President.
He said one ring was for Ireland, one was for the USA, another was for ancestry and a fourth was for peace.
Mr Biden is expected to set out a ‘shared vision’ for the future of US-Irish relations when he addresses both houses of the Oireachtas.
Mr Biden, who was joined by an official delegation that included the US secretary of state Antony Blinken, was met with cheers from onlookers as his motorcade entered the park.
Arriving at Aras an Uachtarain Mr Biden emerged wearing sunglasses and a broad smile as he walked the red carpet to be met by Mr Higgins and his wife Sabina.
‘It’s a pleasure to be back’, Mr Biden told Mr Higgins.
After signing the visitor’s book in the historic State Reception Room, Mr Biden quipped ‘I’m not going home. Isn’t this an incredible place? All you American reporters, it’s just like the White House, right?’
A military band played the American national anthem as Mr Biden stood outside with his right hand on his heart.
After listening to the Irish national anthem, the president inspected a guard of honour before being introduced to Irish dignitaries.
At Farmleigh he was also invited to watch a sports demonstration by young Gaelic games players.
The White House said Northern Ireland and Ukraine would top the agenda as Mr Biden met with Mr Higgins and Mr Varadkar.
US National Security Council senior director Amanda Sloat told reporters that his Oireachtas address will refer to areas of close partnership between both countries and ‘setting out a shared vision for the future’.
Mr Biden will be accompanied to the Irish Parliament by Marie Heaney, the widow of his favourite poet, Seamus Heaney.
Mr Biden, who is on a four-day trip to the island, will attend a banquet in his honour at Dublin Castle hosted by Taoiseach Mr Varadkar this evening.
His first full day of engagements on Wednesday began in Northern Ireland, where he delivered a keynote address in Belfast.
In his speech to Ulster University, Mr Biden expressed the hope of a return to powersharing at Stormont, saying a stable devolved government could deliver an economic windfall for the region.
His visit north of the border came as the region marks the 25th anniversary of the landmark Good Friday peace accord.
After his address in Belfast, Mr Biden travelled to Dublin and from there to Co Louth, where he can trace some of his Irish ancestors.
In a speech at a pub in Dundalk, he described how he felt as though he had come home.
His remarks also included a gaffe when he appeared to confuse the All Blacks rugby team with the Black and Tans, a contentious police unit from Ireland’s War of Independence era.
Asked about that gaffe, Ms Sloat said: ‘It was clear what the president was referring to, it was certainly clear to his cousins setting next to him.’
As he signed the visitor’s log, Joe Biden remarks that the Irish president’s official house “looks just like the White House.”
Before presenting the message he left, he writes for a while.
He reads aloud, “As the Irish proverb says, your feet will get you where your heart is.
“I talk about going back to the place where my ancestors lived to celebrate the things that unite Ireland and the United States, and recommit ourselves to peace, equity, and – I think the most Irish of words used in my family was – dignity.”
Looking around, the president says “this is an incredible place”.
“It’s wonderful to be back,” says Mr Biden, on his third visit but his first as president.
Joe Biden meets Irish president
Joe Biden has met the Irish president in Pheonix Park, Dublin.
Arriving at Aras an Uachtarain, he emerged wearing sunglasses and a broad smile as he walked the red carpet to be met by Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabine.
He was taken to the drawing room to meet Tanaiste Micheal Martin and Ireland’s secretary-general to the president, Orla O’Hanrahan
The two presidents are set to have a private meeting for around half an hour, plant a tree in the grounds – as other US leaders have done before Mr Biden – and ring the Peace Bell.
The US premier arrived in the Beast, considered a fortress on wheels, alongside a motorcade.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken and other members of the US delegation accompanied him.
Visit ‘won’t change DUP minds’ on returning to Northern Irish Assembly
Joe Biden’s visit is unlikely to have any impact on getting the Northern Ireland Assembly back up and running, a political expert has said.
Power to restore Stormont lies ultimately “in the hands of the DUP”, who have boycotted it, said research associate at the University of Liverpool, Clare Rice.
Dr Rice said the party is of the opinion that the president’s visit “will not do anything” to “encourage or speed up the rate at which they will take a decision”.
Looking ahead to Mr Biden’s engagements today, she said Mr Biden would likely focus on peace as a way of fostering Irish-American relationships.
She said his speech at Ulster University was largely a success, being “broadly well received right across the community.”
He will likely continue to discuss his own Irish identity, as he has done throughout the visit, said Dr Rice.
Biden to plant tree at president’s home, securing further ‘Irish roots’
By Ashna Hurynag, news correspondent, in Dublin
Almost 60 years since JFK visited the Irish president’s official residence, Joe Biden will do the same – keen to stress he has the most roots in the country of any recent US leader.
In the grounds of Áras an Uachtaráin, Dublin, the trees planted by Kennedy and, most recently, Barack Obama stand tall; all different varieties of Irish Oak.
Today Joe Biden will plant another one in a ceremony with President Michael D Higgins, before ringing the Peace Bell.
The Bell was installed to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in 2008.
Purported major US intelligence leak on Ukraine ‘did not come up’ in meeting with Sunak
Documents posted online purported to be leaked US intelligence on the war in Ukraine were not discussed in talks between Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak.
The White House press secretary said the subject of a major Pentagon investigation “did not come up”.
Among the trove of records, one seen by Sky News alleges that UK special forces were in Ukraine on 1 March 2023.
The Ministry of Defence has previously said there was “a serious level of inaccuracy” in this claim.
Sky News cannot independently verify the documents, and several nations, including Ukraine and Russia, have questioned their veracity.
For context: Documents were published in a chatroom on Discord, a social media platform popular with gamers, labelled as secret Pentagon material on Ukraine.
If accurate, potentially hundreds have been leaked and the US doesn’t know if more will surface as it investigates who is behind the information.
White House responds to Biden’s ‘Black and Tans’ gaffe
The White House has said it was “very clear” to Irish rugby fans that Joe Biden was referring to the All Blacks New Zealand team when he mistakenly referenced “the Black and Tans”.
The president appeared to confuse the name of the team with a War of Independence-era police force in Ireland during a speech yesterday.
Asked if he realised his mistake, National Security Council senior director Amanda Sloat said: “It was clear what the president was referring to, it was certainly clear to his cousins sitting next to him.”
Mr Biden was standing near former Irish rugby international and distant relative Rob Kearney, who was a member of the team that famously beat the All Blacks for the first time in 2016.
The Black and Tans was a name for part-time officers recruited to bolster the Royal Irish Constabulary, many of whom gained a violent reputation.
For context: The president said Rob Kearney was “a hell of a rugby player, and beat the Black and Tans” while speaking in a Co Louth pub.
War in Ukraine ‘high on agenda’ for talks with Irish leaders
The war in Ukraine will be “high on the agenda” when Joe Biden meets with Irish leaders today, a top US official has said.
National Security Council senior director Amanda Sloat said the conflict would be a priority in talks with Irish President Michael D Higgins and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar “given Ireland’s participation in various aspects of US support for Ukraine”.
Ireland has contributed nearly £68m (€77m) in military support for Ukraine, an aid package worth £17.5m (€20m) and another £22m (€25m) in government and business sector assistance as of 31 January, according Micheál Martinto, its minister for foreign affairs.
Ms Sloat said Mr Biden’s address to the Irish parliament will refer to areas of close partnership between both countries and “setting out a shared vision for the future”.
‘Nervousness’ as officials pray Biden sticks to the script in parliament
There is “nervousness” among officials in Ireland at the prospect of another gaffe from the US president, after he appeared to confuse a New Zealand rugby team with a British paramilitary group, said international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn.
They are “hoping he sticks to the script” as he addresses the Irish parliament today following the offhand comment, in which Mr Biden paid tribute to a rugby player for beating the “Black and Tans” rather than the All Blacks, Waghorn said.
He explained a gaffe-free day of diplomacy was important because “it is a particularly sensitive, precarious time, of course, for politics in Northern Ireland”.
Waghorn added: “He’s made a number of those comments which I think have reinforced in the eyes and minds of many in Northern Ireland that he is nationalist, he’s too pro-Irish.”
But Mr Biden made the opposite impression when he went off-cue to talk about his English heritage during a speech to Ulster University yesterday, he said.
Indeed, former UK ambassador to the US Lord Darroch told Sky News that though the president sometimes misspeaks, “I remain convinced that he is a friend of the UK”.
Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald has said it would be wrong to boycott Joe Biden’s address to both houses of the Irish parliament today.
People Before Profit (SPBP), which has five members in the lower house, will boycott the speech over objections to his foreign policy.
Mrs McDonald said she shares concerns about the US record in Iraq and Afghanistan, but stressed that closer to home there “wouldn’t have been a peace process without America”.
On RTE Radio 1’s Morning Ireland programme, she said of SPBP’s decision: “I think that’s the wrong choice.”
Asked if she shared left-wing criticisms of US foreign policy, she said: “I very much doubt that anybody in the American administration is unaware of the wide criticism of many of their foreign policy stances.”
What is the fallout from Biden’s ‘Black and Tans’ gaffe?
He was paying tribute to his distant cousin in a pub, the former Irish rugby international Rob Kearney.
Mr Kearney was a member of the Irish team that famously beat New Zealand’s All Blacks for the first time ever, in a 2016 match played in Chicago
President Biden, who played rugby himself as a student, said that Rob Kearney was “a hell of a rugby player, and beat the Black and Tans”, thus confusing New Zealand’s famous team with the reviled British paramilitary force the Black and Tans, who brutally repressed opponents of British rule during the Irish War of Independence.
Most infamously, the force massacred 14 people and wounded 60 more at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park in Dublin in 1920.
It seemed an obvious slip of the tongue, rather than anything intentional.
It had all been going so well, says Ireland correspondent Stephen Murphy in his full analysis…
Biden to address Irish parliament in first for a US president since peace deal
Joe Biden’s visit to the island of Ireland continues today, south of the border.
The president is in Dublin, where he is expected to address a joint session of the Irish parliament – the first US premier to do so since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998.
He will spend most of the day with Irish President Michael D Higgins, who is hosting Mr Biden at his official residence, Aras an Uachtarain.
The pair will take part in a tree-planting ceremony and a ringing of the Peace Bell, first unveiled 15 years ago to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who visited the White House on St Patrick’s Day, will then begin talks with Mr Biden.
But his address to parliament will be the main event today – that’s the first time we’ll hear him speak.
The last president to make a speech in the Irish legislature was Bill Clinton in 1995.
A banquet in Mr Biden’s honour at Dublin Castle will be the last item on his agenda today. He is expected to give a toast.
As you can see, barriers have been erected at the castle and the heavy security operation that has followed the US president on this trip will continue today…
Good morning – here’s the latest
It has been a busy couple of days for President Joe Biden who landed in Belfast on Tuesday evening for the start of a historic four-day visit to Northern Ireland and Ireland.
The visit marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and has seen the US leader, 80, pay homage to his Irish roots.
We’ll be bringing you live updates as the president embarks on another busy day but here is a rundown of the key events from yesterday…
Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak met at the Grand Central Hotel in Belfast;
The US president urged a return to power sharing in Stormont during a speech at Ulster University;
The leader of the DUP insisted Mr Biden’s visit “did not change the political dynamic” in Northern Ireland;
Mr Biden arrived in Co Louth, where his Irish ancestors once lived, and delivered at speech the The Windsor pub – which sits at the centre of Dundalk;
Police said four devices discovered in a cemetery in Londonderry were “viable” pipe bombs.
That’s all for our coverage tonight
We’ll be back tomorrow morning with more updates on Joe Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Tomorrow, Mr Biden will meet with Michael D. Higgins, the Irish president.
He will also address the Irish Parliament and is set to attend a banquet dinner at Dublin Castle.
We can expect Biden’s comments to remain more rigidly to script tomorrow
By Stephen Murphy, Ireland correspondent
It had all been going so well.
The serious political business of the day dispensed with, Joe Biden left Belfast and broke for the border.
Arriving for the first day of ancestral exploration in Co Louth, he was taken on a tour of Carlingford Castle, the last sight his great-great-grandfather Owen Finnegan would have seen in 1849 as he sailed away to a new life in America.
The rain sheeted down, the cold was something from the depths of winter. And yet, the 80-year-old president exuded an energy of a much younger man, beaming from beneath his baseball cap as he arrived in Dundalk.
Traditionally a staunchly republican border town, he wound up at a bar improbably called The Windsor.
Here, in relaxed mood, he spoke from the heart, and apparently off the cuff. And that’s where the gaffe came from. He was paying tribute to his distant cousin in the room, the former Irish rugby international Rob Kearney.
Kearney was a member of the Irish team that famously beat New Zealand’s All Blacks for the first time ever, in a 2016 match played in Chicago.
President Biden, who played rugby himself as a student, said that Rob Kearney was “a hell of a rugby player, and beat the Black and Tans”, thus confusing New Zealand’s famous team with the reviled British paramilitary force the Black and Tans, who brutally repressed opponents of British rule during the Irish War of Independence.
Most infamously, the force massacred 14 people and wounded 60 more at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park in Dublin in 1920.
It seemed an obvious slip of the tongue, rather than anything intentional. But here you had a US president often accused by unionists of being rabidly republican, apparently bragging about his family beating the British. In that context, the remark was deeply unfortunate.
President Biden continues on a more familiar political path tomorrow, meeting with the Irish president and prime minister, and addressing the Irish parliament. We can expect his comments there to remain more rigidly to script.
Biden’s visit to Dundalk in pictures
Joe Biden shook hands and took selfies with excited locals in Dundalk as he continued with his four-day visit of Northern Ireland and Ireland today.
Screams and cheers erupted in the town’s main street as the huge presidential motorcade rolled into the Co Louth town on a drizzly, grey and windy Wednesday evening.
Despite the weather, crowds lined the town’s main street to catch a glimpse of the US leader, who wore a navy baseball cap bearing the American flag as he emerged from The Beast.
Mr Biden, whose grandfather James Finnegan was born in Co Louth, spoke fondly of his Irish roots with the owner of a local deli and said it “feels like home” as he spoke to an assembled audience at a pub.
Here, are just a few pictures from the day…
‘Ireland breeds faith and possibilities’
During his speech to assembled crowds earlier, President Joe Biden described how his and former president Barack Obama’s ancestors were shoemakers from Ireland.
He said: “It’s doubtful they knew each other and they came out of the same port but one thing we do know is that they left everything behind
“They had faith. They had faith in an uncertain future. I’m not sure they could have imagined that 175 years later both their great-great grandsons would be presidents of the USA.
“That’s what you breed here. This faith and the possibilities that are out there.”
Peace deal architect praises Biden’s power sharing plea
An architect of the Good Friday Agreement has said Joe Biden struck the tone right in his speech today encouraging a return to power sharing in Northern Ireland.
Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff to Tony Blair, said Mr Biden was right to appeal to keep the peace rather than berate the DUP, which is boycotting the Northern Irish Assembly.
But the address at Ulster University is not going to be what “clinches it” because his visit is not a negotiating one, Mr Powell said.
“It was a symbolic visit, I think it was important he came. I think he struck the right note: He wasn’t bullying anyone, he wasn’t hectoring anyone, he was just appealing to people to keep the peace going, to get back into the institutions,” said Mr Powell.
He said the president looked to the future, rather than the troubled past, and pointed out the benefits of American investment, which will only come with political stability.
Xi Jinping gets unexpected mention in Biden’s pub speech
After reminiscing about his Irish ancestry, Joe Biden’s speech in a pub in the small town of Dundalk takes an unexpected turn towards the geopolitical.
Almost out of nowhere, he brings up Xi Jinping, the Chinese president.
“I’ve spent more time with him than any other world leader has over the last 10 years,” he says.
And then recalls a story….
“I was once on the Tibetan plateau with him,” he says.
“He asked me ‘Can you define America for me?’ and I said ‘Yes I can. One word – possibilities.”
He then says he “believes anything is possible if you set your mind to it”.
Mr Biden also says the world is facing “darkness” but people must keep “marching forward”.
He ends his speech by thanking those who have come to see him and jokes: “The bad news is we will be back.”
‘The best drop of blood in you is Irish’: Biden speaks in pub
“It feels like home,” Joe Biden says as he takes to a podium in a pub in Dundalk.
“When you’re here you wonder why anyone would want to leave, so it’s good to be back.”
He says his grandfather used to tell him “the best drop of blood in you is Irish” to laughs from the crowd gathered inside.
He entertains guests in the pub with tales of his distant Irish relatives and how important the heritage has always been within his family.
“Hope is what beats in the heart of all people, particularly in the heart of the Irish,” he says.
“My message to you today is quite simple: We have to continue to keep the faith.”
He tells the audience we must “face darkness” and work towards a future of “greater dignity”.
As tens of thousands of people gathered to welcome him during a tour of the county where his ancestors were born,US Vice President Joe Biden paid tribute to his Irish heritage.
When he visited the region his great-great-grandfather had left for America, he claimed it “felts like coming home” in a speech he gave in a pub in County Louth.
After a brief visit to Northern Ireland to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace deal, he is currently on a three-day visit to the Republic of Ireland.
After stepping off Air Force One on to the rain-soaked runway at Dublin Airport he was met by Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar.
He then travelled to meet distant relatives in the Cooley Peninsula and the village of Carlingford in County Louth on Ireland’s east coast.
In Carlingford crowds lined the quayside as the presidential motorcade arrived.
Later there were shouts of “welcome home, Joe” when Mr Biden arrived in Dundalk to address an audience, including some of his relatives, at the town’s Windsor Bar.
He said Irish people were the “only people in the world in my view who are actually nostalgic about the future”.
“It is because, more than anything in my experience, hope is what beats in the heart of all people and in particular in the hearts of the Irish,” he added.
“Every action is about hope we can make things better.”
The president also visited a Dundalk shop owned by Jerome McAteer, who said he was honoured to sell Mr Biden some sweet treats, including lemon meringue and chocolate eclairs.
“He was talking a lot about his Irish background,” said Mr McAteer.
He runs the shop with his partner Bobby Wain, who said it had been an unforgettable day for them and their staff.
“Mindblowing – one of those days you’ll never forget,” he said.
Earlier Mr Biden completed a brief-but-landmark visit to Belfast, where he called for politicians to restore the power-sharing government at Stormont, which collapsed over a year ago.
He used a speech at Ulster University to praise the “tremendous progress” since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998.
The peace deal largely brought to an end more than 30 years of violent conflict known as the Troubles.
“This place is transformed by peace; made technicolour by peace; made whole by peace,” he said.
Image caption,Joe Biden shook hands with young staff members in a food shop in Dundalk
President Biden regularly speaks of his Irish heritage and had promised to visit the country during his term in office.
His maternal great-great-grandfather Owen Finnegan departed Carlingford in County Louth in the late 1840s to travel to America.
Among his great-grandparents was Edward Blewitt, who left the west coast town of Ballina in County Mayo in 1850 to emigrate to the US.
He settled in Scranton in Pennsylvania as the devastating Irish potato famine was causing widespread starvation.
Image caption,Many people braved the wind and rain for hours to get a good position to see the president in Dundalk
In his speech in Dundalk, Mr Biden said his ancestors left Ireland at about the same time as former US President Barack Obama’s great-great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney, who was from Moneygall in County Offaly.
“They would never have dreamed that their grandsons would have been presidents of the United States,” he said.
Mr Biden was given a tour of Carlingford Castle alongside the Tánaiste (Irish Deputy Prime Minister) Micheál Martin.
Asked about his feelings on the visit, the president replied: “It’s wonderful. It feels like I’m coming home.”
Commenting on the wet weather, he added: “It’s fine – it’s Ireland.”
Image caption,Joe Biden was well prepared for the weather when he arrived at Dublin Airport
The US president greeted a crowd of about 5,000 people as he visited Dundalk, a town a few miles from the Irish border.
Mr Biden also made a visit to a cafe where he met staff before addressing an audience at the pub.
“When you’re here you wonder why anybody would want to leave,” he told them.
In the coming days, President Biden is expected to speak to politicians at the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) and meet more relatives in Ballina.
Joe Biden, the vice president of theUnited States, has just landed on Air Force One in Dublin in preparation for more engagements in the Republic of Ireland.
They will make their way to County Louth – where some of his ancestors hail from.
Due to the terrible weather, he will now travel by motorcade to Co Louth instead of by helicopter.
The White House says Biden will tour also Carlingford Castle
The president is also set for a full day of engagements in Dublin on Thursday.
President Biden’s lecture at Ulster University was not attended by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, according to claims made by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.
Last night, Sunak welcomed Biden to Belfast. This morning, before the Ulster University event, the two met.
Heaton-Harris says the prime minister had other private engagements to attend afterwards, which was a “perfectly legitimate thing to do”.
“Actually the two of them get on really well, they meet each other all the time. The relationship is great,” he adds.
Sunak himself was asked earlier about his seemingly limited contact with Biden this week.
Biden hailed the signing of the Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago this week and said “peace was not inevitable – we can never forget that”
He said that preserving the peace of the agreement was a “priority” for US Democrats and Republicans alike
He said he hoped the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Executive “will soon be restored”, but added, “that’s a decision for you to make”
He spoke about the recent attempted murder of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell in Omagh and said levels of violence witnessed during the Troubles must not be allowed to return
He said Northern Ireland’s GDPhas more than doubled since the agreement was signed in 1998
Biden encouraged leaders in the UK and the EU to address issues created by Brexitin a way that serves Northern Ireland’s best interests.
President Biden has previously urged political leaders to reinstate its power-sharing government and offered US funding as an incentive.
He said the president made clear that “it is not his job – as we heard in his speech – to take decisions for political leaders in Northern Ireland but that the United States stands ready to support Northern Ireland in every way it can”.
Mr Donaldson added that he had a brief conversation with President Biden – and he welcomes the visit.
He said that the visit does not change the “political dynamic”, adding: “We know whatneeds to happen.“
As they met at Belfast’s Grand Central Hotel, the two leaders posed for pictures.
The New York Times’s description of a bilateral meeting as a “bi-latte” was disputed by Downing Street yesterday.
After accusations that Biden was anti-British, the White House said this morning that the US president was not “anti-British.”
US President Joe Biden’s “track record shows he is not anti-British”, a spokesperson for the country’s National Security Council has said.
Amanda Sloat made the comment amid criticism of the truncated nature of President Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland – and reports of a brief meeting with Rishi Sunak in Belfast.
In a media briefing, Ms Sloat said that “the UK remains one of our strongest and closest allies”, and said that comments from former first minister Arlene Foster that President Biden “hates the UK” were “simply untrue.”
Ms Sloat said the president “is a very proud Irish-American, very proud of those Irish roots, but is also a strong supporter of our bilateral partnership with the UK, not only bilateral, but also with NATO, the G7 and the United Nations Security Council”.
She added that the US was working “in lockstep” with the UK government on international challenges.
President Biden has often been characterised by many in the unionist community as being biased towards Irish nationalism.
Ms Sloat was asked if the president supported Irish unification, but said that that was a matter for the people of Northern Ireland to ultimately decide under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
She also described the meeting with the leaders of the NI’s five main parties today as “not a formal sit-down group meeting”, but said there would be a “proper conversation”.
But to confirm Biden’s anti-British defence claims, politics-watchers are bound to compare these pictures with the “bromance” shots we saw when Mr Sunak met French President Emmanuel Macron last year.
Joe Biden, the vice president of the United States, has arrived in Belfast to begin a historic four-day trip to Northern Ireland and the Republic.
At Belfast International Airport, Mr. Biden was welcomed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as he exited Air Force One.
His visit coincides with the Good Friday Agreement’s 25th anniversary, which helped put an end to 30 years of bloody war in Northern Ireland.
Since it was signed in 1998, the White House has praised the “tremendous progress” made.
But, the failure of the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland casts a shadow on Mr. Biden’s visit.
It collapsed last year when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) – one of the biggest parties at Stormont – pulled out as part of a protest against post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland.
Mr Biden arrived in Belfast city centre at about 22:20 BST on Tuesday after making the journey from the airport in his presidential motorcade.
A huge security operation is under way, with many city centre streets closed.
The police have said York Street, Donegall Street, Academy Street and Frederick Street are closed to traffic until this afternoon.
Ahead of his arrival, Mr Biden said he was looking forward to marking the anniversary in Belfast and “underscoring the US commitment to preserving peace and encouraging prosperity”.
His trip to Belfast will be the first leg of a four-day stay in Ireland, during which he will also discuss his Irish roots and meet Irish relatives. His sister Valerie and his son Hunter are also accompanying the US president on the visit.
Read more about Biden’s visit
Mr Biden’s trip comes two weeks after MI5 said the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland had increased due to a rise in activity by dissident republicans.
During an illegal parade by dissident republicans in Londonderry on Monday, petrol bombs were thrown at a police vehicle but the violence was confined to one area and ended a short time later.
On Tuesday, police found four suspected pipe bombs inside the grounds of the City Cemetery in Derry. They believe they were to be used in a planned attack on officers after Monday’s parade.
The president’s spokesman said Mr Biden was “more than comfortable making this trip” in spite of the terrorism threat.
Mr Biden stayed overnight at a Belfast hotel ahead of the main event of his visit to Northern Ireland, a speech at the new Ulster University campus in Belfast on Wednesday.
In that speech, he is expected to emphasise the willingness of the US to help to preserve what he sees as the peace and prosperity gained since the Good Friday Agreement.
The president is also expected to talk about how the US administration can support Northern Ireland’s economy.
In a post on Twitter, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that he is joining President Biden in Belfast “for engagements on shared economic prosperity”.
Image caption, US President Joe Biden was greeted by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Belfast International Airport on Tuesday night
Mr Biden is also set to meet the leaders of Stormont’s five main political parties at some point during his brief time in the city.
Michelle O’Neill, vice-president of Sinn Féin, the largest party at Stormont, said President Biden’s visit would be a “special moment”.
“As we look back with pride at just how far we have all come, and all that has been achieved, we also look forward with hope, ambition, and opportunity for the next 25 years,” she added.Media caption,
The Good Friday Agreement explained in 90 seconds
Former Irish ambassador to the US, Daniel Mulhall, said that while Mr Biden would have preferred to have spoken to politicians at a functioning Stormont assembly, his speech would be “very carefully crafted to get across the message that essentially America is here to help”.
Mr Sunak will not meet any of Northern Ireland’s political leaders while he is in Belfast to speak to the president, but a spokesperson said that did not mean he had given up on getting the DUP back into power sharing.
Image caption, Joe Biden will visit the locations marked on this map during his four days in Ireland
These days, Washington’s polarised lawmakers can’t agree on practically anything. It is quite difficult to obtain bipartisan cooperation. But, there is one topic on which almost everyone is in agreement. Such is the significance of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), which put an end to 30 years of violent death in Northern Ireland.
The accord itself is held up as a brilliant illustration of what tenacious diplomacy and smart negotiation can accomplish.
American politicians are rightly proud of the role the US played in securing the peace. The tireless work of Senator George Mitchell as well as the intense engagement of President Bill Clinton were essential.
President Biden sees the agreement as part of his own political legacy and can claim credit for encouraging US involvement in the peace process through the 1980s and 90s.
Defending the GFA, and the relative peace it ensures, has been a high priority for the Biden administration. There are deep concerns about how Brexit may affect the agreement.
This presidential visit would not be taking place if the Windsor Framework had not been secured to resolve the issues over trade between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic.
The future of any free trade deal between the UK and US also hangs on the continued maintenance of the GFA.
In Belfast, President Biden will talk about how the US can help to support “Northern Ireland’s vast economic potential”.
In Dublin, he is expected to address the Irish parliament and stress the close co-operation between the two nations.
And he will make more personal visits to County Louth and County Mayo to revisit his family roots.
There is a long tradition of US presidents enjoying trips to Ireland more than they do many other official engagements.
Bill Clinton was greeted by ecstatic crowds in 1995 when he became the first American president to visit Northern Ireland as well as the Republic.
The New York Times said the “Irish gave Bill Clinton the best two days of his presidency”.
Since then, Presidents Nixon, Reagan, George W Bush, Obama and Trump have all made trips to the Emerald Isle – all to the great envy of many other European countries who do not get nearly so much attention.
The ‘most Irish’ US president in history
Joe Biden is inordinately proud of his personal Irish heritage. He mentions it at every opportunity. Just after he was elected president in 2020 he was asked by my colleague Nick Bryant for a “quick word for the BBC”. He swiftly replied: “The BBC? I’m Irish!”
He loves to quote Irish poets and uses the experience of Irish citizens living under British rule as a way to express empathy with persecuted minorities around the world.
The Irish diaspora in America does not have the same outsized influence in US politics as it once did. But with 30 million Americans claiming Irish roots – that is about one in 10 of the current population – it never does any harm for a US president to be seen embracing his Celtic connections.
With two great-grandparents coming from Ireland, Joe Biden is one of the most Irish presidents in history.
Edward Blewitt was an engineer and brickmaker who left the west coast town of Ballina, Mayo, in 1850. He decided to head to Scranton in Pennsylvania – with his family including son Patrick – as the devastating Irish potato famine was causing widespread starvation.
This week, his great-great-great-grandson will be greeted by a huge painted mural of his own face in the town square.
On the east coast of Ireland, the small town of Carlingford in Louth is also expecting a visit. It was from there that President Biden’s maternal great-great-grandfather, Owen Finnegan, departed in the late 1840s.
These days, the people of the Cooley Peninsula are anticipating the construction of a long-awaited bridge across Carlingford Lough that would improve economic links by joining them to Northern Ireland. Locals want to see it named the “Biden Bridge”.
The president can only dream of receiving such a rapturous welcome anywhere in the United States.
In a jab at Joe Biden, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt outlined the government’s answer to the Americans’ massive investment in green technologies.
The President’s 430 billion US dollar (£348 billion) program aims to green the economy by providing tax breaks for ecologically friendly technology.
Nonetheless, the action has effectively blocked the UK and Europe from accessing American markets, and Commerce Secretary Kemi Badenoch criticized it as “protectionist.”
Writing in The Times, Mr Hunt said Mr Biden was leading a ‘distortive’ global subsidy race, arguing that the long-term solution to the threat of protectionism was ‘not subsidy but security’.
‘Yes, we will continue to back industries of the future, however, we will target public funding in a strategic way in the areas where the UK has a clear competitive advantage,’ the Chancellor said.
‘We are not going toe-to-toe with our friends and allies in some distortive global subsidy race.’
He went on to announce that the Government was investing £30 billion to support ‘our green industrial revolution, with an additional £6 billion for energy efficiency, and up to £20 billion for carbon capture, utilisation and storage’.
‘While taxpayer support is important to kick-start new industries, we need to leverage billions more in private capital,’ Mr Hunt said.
‘Ultimately, the best and only way to ensure our energy independence is to invest in domestic sources of energy that fall outside Putin or any autocrat’s control.
‘We will do that by pulling every lever at our disposal to scale up cheap renewables and new nuclear, while maximising economically viable North Sea oil and gas as we transition.’
The Chancellor’s update to the green finance strategy, which is due to be published on Thursday, quickly drew criticism from Labour.
The shadow climate and net zero secretary Ed Miliband accused the Chancellor of ‘waving the white flag in the global race for green jobs’.
‘Other countries are matching the ambition of the US, UK business says we must, but Tory dogma says No,’ the former Labour leader said.
‘Britain can’t afford a government that will make us losers in this race.’
Mr Miliband added that the strategy outlined by the Chancellor placed the UK ‘outside the emerging mainstream’.
‘From Washington to Berlin… modern industrial policy requires active government, investing in partnership with business. Britain can’t afford another 5 years of this approach.’
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara wrote to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, accusing him of breaking the law when he declared on Thursday that he would participate personally in his government’s efforts to alter the nation’s judicial system.
“Yesterday night you publicly indicated that you intend to disregard the Supreme Court’s decision and act in opposition to the advice of the government’s legal counsel,” she wrote. She said that assertion was “illegal and tainted by a conflict of interest.”
The move raises the stakes even further in a national controversy that has sent tens of thousands of demonstrators onto Israel’s streets, caused military reservists to refuse to train, and prompted criticism from business and financial leaders, former military and intelligence commanders, and international allies including US President Joe Biden.
It comes after the Netanyahu government pushed through a law on Thursday effectively stripping the courts of the power to declare a prime minister unfit for office.
Hours later, Netanyahu said in a speech to the nation that he would get personally involved in the controversial package of measures to overhaul the country’s judicial system. Until then, the campaign had been publicly led by Netanyahu allies including Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Simcha Rothman, the chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
“Until today my hands were tied. No more. I enter the event, for the sake of the people and the country, I will do everything in my power to reach a solution and calm the spirits in the nation,” Netanyahu said in his speech Thursday night.
Baharav-Miara’s letter referred to a court-mandated conflict of interest agreement that Netanyahu accepted in order to allow him to form a government despite being on trial for multiple allegations of corruption.
“As a Prime Minister indicted with crimes, you must refrain from actions that arouse a reasonable fear of a conflict of interest between your personal interests in the criminal proceedings and your role as Prime Minister,” she wrote to him.
A source close to Netanyahu, who was in London meeting UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday, denied he had broken the law or violated his conflict of interest agreement.
“The Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday has no bearing on his personal affairs,” the source said.
The dispute is likely to end up in the high court.
Donald Trump, a former US president, asserts that he will be detained on Tuesday.
On social media, he made no mention of how he was made aware of the impending arrest.
According to “illegal leaks” from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, “THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK,” will be detained on that day next week, he claimed in a post on his Truth Social network.
Mr Trump also urged his followers to protest.
The post comes as a New York prosecutor eyes charges in a case examining hush money paid to women who alleged sexual encounters with him.
Law enforcement officials in New York have been making security preparations for the possibility that the former President could be indicted.
There has been no public announcement of any time frame for the grand jury’s secret work in the case, including any potential vote on whether to indict the ex-president.
In his postings, he repeated his lies that the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden was stolen and he urged his followers to ‘PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!’
He did not provide any details on social media about how he knew about the expected arrest.
That language evoked the message from the then-president that preceded the riot at the US Capitol on January 6 2021.
The grand jury in Manhattan has been hearing from witnesses, including former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who says he orchestrated payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they said they had with Mr Trump a decade earlier.
The former president denies the encounters occurred, says he did nothing wrong and has cast the investigation as a ‘witch hunt’ by a Democratic prosecutor bent on sabotaging the Republican’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has apparently been examining whether any state laws were broken in connection with the payments or the way Mr Trump’s company compensated Mr Cohen for his work to keep the women’s allegations quiet.
Yesterday, Trump went live with his first Facebook post since 2021.
‘I’M BACK!’ he wrote in the post on Friday afternoon.
It was accompanied by a 12-second 2024 Trump campaign video.
‘Sorry to keep you waiting, complicated business, complicated business,’ Trump said in the clip when he addressed a New York City watch party after defeating Hillary Clinton and winning the 2016 presidential election.
His post came more than a month after Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, restored his accounts.
Trump has 34million followers on his Facebook page. Friday’s post is a clear indication that Trump intends to use Facebook as a mechanism in his 2024 presidential campaign, which he announced in November.
The 45th president had been sticking to posting on his own Truth Social platform, despite having his Meta accounts restored and his Twitter account reinstated in November following Elon Musk’s takeover.
Despite assurances from the US president that America’s financial system is secure in the wake of the failure of two American lenders, bank shares in Asia and Europe have plummeted.
The falls come after authorities moved to protect customer deposits when the US-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank collapsed.
Joe Biden promised to do “whatever is needed” to protect the banking system.
But investors fear other lenders may still be hit by the fallout.
Tuesday trading saw sharp falls in share prices globally, with Japan’s Topix Banks index falling by more than 7%, putting it on course for its worst day in more than three years.
Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the country’s largest lender by assets, were down by 8.1% in mid-day Asian trading.
On Monday, Spain’s Santander and Germany’s Commerzbank saw their share prices dive by more than 10% at one point.
A string of smaller US banks suffered even worse losses than European counterparts, despite reassuring customers that they had more than enough liquidity to protect themselves from shocks.
The volatility has led to speculation that America’s Federal Reserve will now pause its plans to keep raising interest rates, designed to tame inflation.
Mr Biden said that people and businesses that had deposited money with Silicon Valley Bank would be able to access all their cash from Monday, after the government stepped in to protect their deposits in full.
Many business customers had faced the prospect of not being able to pay staff and suppliers after their funds were frozen.
BBC North America Technology correspondent James Clayton spoke to people queuing up all day outside the SVB branch in Menlo Park, California, to access their funds.
As the bank was no longer offering wire transfers, they were taking out their money in cashier cheques.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post by James Clayton
How did Silicon Valley Bank collapse?
Silicon Valley Bank – which specialised in lending to technology companies – was shut down by US regulators who seized its assets on Friday. It was the biggest failure of a US bank since the financial crisis in 2008.
It had been trying to raise money to plug a loss from the sale of assets affected by higher interest rates. Word of the troubles led customers to race to withdraw funds, leading to a cash crisis.
Authorities on Sunday also took over Signature Bank in New York, which had many clients involved in crypto and was seen as the institution most vulnerable to a similar bank run.
Image caption,Silicon Valley Bank’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California
Mr Biden promised that covering the deposits would not cost taxpayers anything, and instead be funded by fees regulators charge to banks.
As part of efforts to restore confidence, US regulators also unveiled a new way for banks to borrow emergency funds in a crisis.
Yet there is concern that the failures, which came after the collapse of another US lender, Silvergate Bank, last week, are a sign of troubles at other firms.
Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics said the US authorities had “acted aggressively to prevent a contagion developing”.
“But contagion has always been more about irrational fear, so we would stress that there is no guarantee this will work,” he added.
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at the stockbrokers AJ Bell, said: “The first rush of relief has been replaced by niggling concerns that the era of high rates might be more difficult for some banks to stomach than had been previously thought.
“In the US, bank stocks slid despite Joe Biden’s pledge that ‘whatever is needed’ will be carried out to prevent more dominos from tumbling.”
Political fallout
The failure of SVB has re-ignited debates – similar to those seen following the 2008 financial crisis – about how much the government should do to regulate and protect banks.
The chair of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, says there will be a thorough and transparent review of the collapse.
Mr Biden called for tougher rules and emphasised that investors and bank leaders would not be spared.
“They knowingly took a risk… that’s how capitalism works,” he said.
Still, Republican Senator Tim Scott, seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2024, called the rescue “problematic”.
“Building a culture of government intervention does nothing to stop future institutions from relying on the government to swoop in after taking excessive risks,” he said.
Once again people are worried about banks. Once again there is intense debate about bailouts. But this isn’t 2008.
Following the global financial crisis, the focus was on reforming banks considered “too big to fail”. Today’s problems are centred around medium- and smaller-sized banks.
Both of the banks that collapsed – Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank – had the same thing in common: their business models were too concentrated in one sector and they were over exposed to assets whose values came under pressure from rising interest rates.
The criticism is that they should have foreseen this and they didn’t. US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has gone to great lengths to signal the Fed’s intention to raise interest rates.
Since most banks are well diversified and have plenty of cash on hand, the assumption is that the risk to the rest of the banking sector is low. That won’t stop regulators looking into what went wrong and what rules need to change.
And the pressure on small- and medium-sized banks hasn’t gone away. What happens to the US economy and the fight against inflation also remains to be seen.
It is thought that just before the visit, Russia was made aware of Mr. Biden’s presence in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin reportedly observed an ICBM test for the Satan II, which is believed to have failed, when he was in the city.
The missile is capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads and is believed to have a range of almost 7000 miles.
According to American reports, the test launch was not considered an escalation of the conflict.
The weapon was also tested in April, mere weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Joe Biden walk outside the Mariinskyi Palace (Picture: Reuters)The US President made the surprise trip ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Picture: APAImages/Shutterstock)
Mr Biden is yet to comment on the reported missile launch during his visit in Ukraine.
He had since travelled to Poland to praise allies in Europe.
The President warned of ‘hard and bitter days ahead’ but vowed that the US and allies ‘will not wave’ in supporting the Ukrainians.
‘One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv,” he said before a crowd of thousands outside Warsaw’s Royal Castle.
Both Russia and the US have an variety of deadly weapons at their disposal (Picture: Kevin OReilly/Dailymail.com)
‘I can report: Kyiv stands strong. Kyiv stands proud. It stands tall and, most important, it stands free.’
With Russia and Ukraine preparing spring offensives, Mr Biden insisted there will be no backing down from what he has portrayed as a global struggle between democracy and autocracy.
However, polling suggests American support for ongoing military assistance appears to be softening.
Earlier in the day, Mr Biden with Polish President Andrzej Duda as he began consultations with allies to prepare for a new phase of the war.
Joe Biden delivers a speech marking the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the Royal Castle Gardens in Warsaw. (Picture: AP/ Evan Vucci)Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin addressed the masses in Russia yesterday and claimed he didn’t start the war (Picture: AP)
Mr Duda praised the American president’s visit to Kyiv as ‘spectacular’, saying it ‘boosted morale of Ukraine’s defenders’.
He said the trip was ‘a sign that the free world, and its biggest leader, the president of the United States, stands by them’.
Mr Zelensky has been pushing the US and European allies to provide fighter jets and long-range missile systems known as ATACMS – which Mr Biden has declined to provide so far.
Yesterday, Putin made an appearance in Moscow to give a speech to Russians.
He claimed he ‘didn’t start the war’ in a rambling address that lasted near to two hours.
A selection of cabinet minsters, deputies and senators were all in attendance as the address is broadcast across the world.
Putin referred to the war as a ‘special military operation’ and referred to the situation in Ukraine as a ‘military coup’.
He claimed Ukrainians have been waiting for his troops to ‘come to their help’ and that the West released a ‘genie in a bottle.’
Putin said: ‘They started the war and we used the force to stop it.”
‘They spent $150bn to support militarily Kyiv’s regime.’
He went on to tell the audience each Russian has a ‘great responsibility’ to ‘protect our people on our historic land.’
The president was seen strolling around the city with Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he revealed that America would launch a new $500 million military aid package for Kyiv on Tuesday.
The White House claimed that Mr. Biden would announce additional penalties against Russia as well as military aid for Ukraine, including artillery shells, anti-armour systems, and air surveillance radars.
Ukraine’s president says the pair discussed long-range weapons and described negotiations as “very fruitful”.
Image: Mr Biden and Mr Zelenskyy walk next to Saint Michael’s cathedral in Kyiv
‘Negotiations were very fruitful’
In a statement from the White House, the president said his visit to Kyiv would “reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity”.
He added that there will be more sanctions on Russia “against elites and companies that are trying to evade or backfill Russia’s war machine”.
“Negotiations today were very fruitful, very important and very crucial,” he said, adding that the results will “definitely” have an impact on the battlefield.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Biden condemns ‘barbaric’ invasion
The White House said it did notify the Kremlin of the president’s visit “some hours” before his departure.
“We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes. Because of the sensitive nature of those communications I won’t get into how they responded or what the precise nature of our message was,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
Trip marks ‘historic moment’
Mr Biden said the package would also provide more ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems in Ukraine’s possession.
Speaking from Kyiv, Sky’s security and defence editor Deborah Haynes said the visit is a “historic moment” and came with “extraordinary security lockdowns” with the whole centre of the capital locked down this morning.
The unannounced trip comes after the White House said last week that there were no plans for the president to cross into Ukraine during his visit to Poland this week, to mark the anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
His visit came a day before Mr Putin was due to make a major address, when he is expected to set out Russia’s aims for the second year of the invasion he launched last year.
In December, Mr Zelenskyy visited President Biden at the White House on his first trip out of Ukraine since the war began.
The symbolism of this trip is important but so too is the substance
History was made in Kyiv today with the first visit to Ukraine by Joe Biden almost one year on from a Russian invasion that was designed to topple the government.
In the ultimate snub to Vladimir Putin, the American leader met with his Ukrainian counterpart at the presidential palace before paying tribute to the many tens of thousands of Ukrainian military lives lost fighting to expel Russian invaders.
“Good morning, Mr President” was the greeting in English given by Mr Zelenskyy as Mr Biden emerged from a motorcade of vehicles that brought him to the capital in secrecy and under an unprecedented security lockdown.
A memorial wall to the soldiers who have died fighting Russia’s war, which began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea but was significantly amplified last year with the all-out invasion, frames one side of the square outside St Michael’s monastery.
The US president visited the memorial, where a US and a Ukrainian wreath were laid next to each other.
The symbolism of this trip is important but so too is the substance.
Mr Biden wanted to make clear in his words and pledges, including new weapons and ammunition for Ukraine, that the United States would support Kyiv “for as long as it takes”.
The US and its allies know that the Kremlin believes time is on Russia’s side, suspecting the West will become distracted by other priorities or will fail to make the military investments necessary to keep supplying the Ukrainian military with the hardware it needs to fight.
By visiting Ukraine himself, with the risk that entails, the American president will be hoping he sends a clear message to Mr Putin that US support is here to stay.
Mr Biden’s trip comes as Ukrainian and Russian forces continue to fight for control of the eastern city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.
While Mr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine will maintain its months-long defence of the city, he warned “not at any price”.
He told Italian daily Corriere Della Sera: “It is important for us to defend it, but not at any price and not for everyone to die.”
Russian forces have besieged Bakhmut since July and, led by the Russian Wagner Group mercenaries, they have made small gains in nearby villages.
The FBI has searched the University of Delaware twice in the past month to see if US President Joe Biden donated any papers that might have been classified.
According to CBS, the BBC’s US partner, investigators took multiple boxes from the campus on two different days.
Thousands of cartons of documents from Mr. Biden’s time in the Senate are kept at his alma school, the university.
A criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of sensitive information is ongoing.
Documents marked classified have been found in recent months at Mr Biden’s home in Delaware and offices that he used in Washington DC. The FBI recovered some of the files during a search of his private residence at Wilmington last month.
Sources familiar with the investigation told CBS that the searches at the University of Delaware were carried out at the end of January and beginning of February.
The material recovered did not appear to have classified markings, but the FBI is now reviewing the files, reports CBS.
As with previous searches, Mr Biden and his team consented, meaning no warrant was needed, according to NBC News.
The college received 1,850 boxes of files from Mr Biden in 2012, however, those files have not been available to the public since then.
Mr Biden’s personal lawyer, the US Department of Justice and the University of Delaware have not yet commented.
A special counsel, Robert Hur, has been appointed by the justice department to lead the investigation into how sensitive documents were handled by Mr Biden.
The home of former US Vice-President Mike Pence was also searched last week, after his aides came forward to say that they had discovered documents marked classified during their own search.
Former President Trump is facing a separate investigation after hundreds of papers with classified markings were found by FBI agents executing a search warrant at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate last year.
The US has shot down a giant Chinese balloon that it says has been spying on key military sites across America.
The Department of Defence confirmed its fighter jets brought down the balloon over US territorial waters.
China’s foreign ministry later expressed “strong dissatisfaction and protest against the US’s use of force to attack civilian unmanned aircraft”.
Footage on US TV networks showed the balloon falling to the sea after a small explosion.
An F-22 jet fighter engaged the high-altitude balloon with one missile – an AIM-9X Sidewinder – and it went down about six nautical miles off the US coast at 14:39 EST (19:39 GMT), a defence official told reporters.
Defence officials told US media the debris landed in 47ft (14m) of water – shallower than they had expected – near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The military is now trying to recover debris which is spread over seven miles (11km). Two naval ships, including one with a heavy crane for recovery, are in the area.
In a Pentagon statement a senior US defence official said that “while we took all necessary steps to protect against the PRC [China] surveillance balloon’s collection of sensitive information, the surveillance balloon’s overflight of US territory was of intelligence value to us.
“We were able to study and scrutinise the balloon and its equipment, which has been valuable,” the official added.
US President Joe Biden had been under pressure to shoot it down since defence officials first announced they were tracking it on Thursday.
Afterwards, Mr Biden said: “They successfully took it down, and I want to compliment our aviators who did it.”
In a statement a few hours later, the Chinese foreign ministry said: “The Chinese side has repeatedly informed the US side after verification that the airship is for civilian use and entered the US due to force majeure – it was completely an accident.”
The discovery of the balloon set off a diplomatic crisis, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken immediately calling off this weekend’s trip to China over the “irresponsible act”.
The Chinese authorities have denied it is a spying aircraft, and instead said it was a weather ship blown astray.
Reacting to the incident, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “The Chinese Communist Party government’s actions that violate international law and violate the airspace and sovereignty of other countries should not be tolerated in a civilised international community.”
China considers self-ruled Taiwan a breakaway province that will eventually be under Beijing’s control. President Xi Jinping has not ruled out the possible use of force to achieve this.
But Taiwan sees itself as independent, with its own constitution and democratically-elected leaders.
President Biden first approved the plan to down the balloon on Wednesday, but the Pentagon said it had decided to wait until the object was over water so as not to put people on the ground at undue risk.
Groundwork for the operation was laid when the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) briefly paused all civilian flights at three airports around the South Carolina coast on Saturday afternoon because of a “national security effort”.
The coast guard also advised mariners to leave the area due to military operations “that present a significant hazard”.
An eyewitness on the coast, Hayley Walsh, told BBC News she saw three fighter jets circling before the missile was fired, then “we heard a huge boom, the house shook”.
One senior military official told CNN the recovery of debris should be “fairly easy” and could take “relatively short time”. The official added that “capable Navy divers” could be deployed to assist in the operation.
Defence officials also revealed on Saturday the balloon had first entered US airspace on 28 January near the Aleutian Islands, before moving to Canadian airspace three days later, and re-entering the US on 31 January. The object was spotted in the US state of Montana, which is home to a number of sensitive nuclear missile sites.
Relations between China and the US have been exacerbated by the incident, with the Pentagon calling it an “unacceptable violation” of US sovereignty.
Mr Blinken – America’s top diplomat – told Beijing it was “an irresponsible act” ahead of his now-cancelled trip on 5-6 February – it would have been the first such high level US-China meeting there in years.
But China sought to play down the cancellation of his visit, saying in a statement on Saturday that neither side had formally announced a plan for a trip.
China’s foreign ministry said Beijing “would not accept any groundless conjecture or hype” and accused “some politicians and media in the United States” of using the incident “as a pretext to attack and smear China.”
On Friday, the Pentagon said a second Chinese spy balloon had been spotted – this time over Latin America with reported sightings over Costa Rica and Venezuela.
Colombia’s Air Force says an identified object – believed to be a balloon – was detected on 3 February in the country’s airspace at above 55,000ft.
It says it followed the object until it left the airspace, adding that it did not represent a threat to national security.
China has not yet commented publicly on the reported second balloon.
The move would restructure the federal response to treat the virus asan endemic public health threat, ending some government support.
United States President Joe Biden has informed Congress that his administration will formally end two national emergencies declared to address the COVID-19 pandemic on May 11, restructuring the federal response to the virus as an endemic public health threat.
The announcement on Monday came in a statement opposing resolutions being brought to the floor this week by House Republicans to bring the emergency to an immediate end. House Republicans are also gearing up to launch investigations on the federal government’s response to the virus.
“An abrupt end to the emergency declarations would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system – for states, for hospitals and doctors’ offices, and, most importantly, for tens of millions of Americans,” the Office of Management and Budget wrote in a Statement of Administration Policy.
The announcement comes as legislators have already ended elements of the emergencies that kept millions of Americans insured during the pandemic. The change would also mean the response can be managed through public health agencies’ normal authorities.
The move, combined with the drawdown of most federal COVID relief money, would also shift the development of vaccines and treatments away from the direct management of the federal government.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar first declared a public health emergency in response to COVID on January 31, 2020 during the administration of then-President Donald Trump. In March 2020, Trump declared the pandemic a national emergency.
The measures have been repeatedly extended by Biden since he took office in January 2021. The Biden administration had previously considered ending the emergency last year, but held off amid concerns about a potential “winter surge” in cases and to provide adequate time for providers, insurers and patients to prepare for its end.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded 1.1 million COVID deaths in the US since 2020, although the death rate has dropped dramatically since vaccines became widely available. The agency said about 3,700 people died from the virus last week.
US legislators have already blunted many federal programmes related to COVID, refusing for months to fulfil the Biden administration’s request for billions more dollars to extend free vaccines and testing.
The costs of COVID-19 vaccines are also expected to skyrocket once the government stops buying them, with Pfizer saying it will charge as much as $130 per dose. Only 15 percent of US residents have received the recommended, updated booster that has been offered since the last year.
Free at-home COVID tests will also come to an end, and hospitals will not get extra payments for treating patients after the emergency ends.
On Monday, the World Health Organization said the coronavirus remains a global health emergency, even as a key advisory panel for the group found the pandemic may be nearing an “inflexion point” where higher levels of immunity can lower virus-related deaths.
Biden’s announcement comes as the House of Representatives was scheduled to vote on Tuesday on legislation that would terminate the public health emergency.
President Joe Biden is urging protests in Tennessee to remain peaceful as officials plan to release video of an arrest that led to a motorist’s death.
Five Memphis police officers have been fired and are facing murder charges after Tyre Nichols, 29, died three days after a traffic stop on 7 January.
Bodycam footage of the encounter is expected to be made public on Friday evening local time.
Lawyers for the Nichols family said it will show him being severely beaten.
“I’m sickened by what I saw,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation director David Rausch said on Thursday after reviewing the footage, describing the officers’ actions as “absolutely appalling”.
The city of Memphis is reported to be on edge and police have stepped up patrols there as they prepare for possible demonstrations.
Image caption,Mr Nichols enjoyed photography and skateboarding, family say
Mr Nichols, a black man, was stopped by five police officers, who are also black, on his way home after taking photos of a sunset at a local park, an attorney for the family said.
Officials say he was suspected of reckless driving.
A first confrontation occurred as Mr Nichols attempted to flee on foot when officers approached his car, the local authorities said.
They said a second confrontation happened when officers tried to arrest him.
Mr Nichols later complained of shortness of breath and was taken to hospital, police said, where he was listed in a critical condition.
A lawyer for Mr Nichols’ family said the bodycam footage showed Mr Nichols being pepper-sprayed, tasered, restrained and kicked.
He likened the incident to the notorious footage of Los Angeles police officers beating Black motorist Rodney King more than 30 years ago.
All five of the officers face charges of second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr, Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith were booked into jail on Thursday. They all oined the Memphis Police Department in the last six years, and were fired last week.
‘Failing of basic humanity’
President Biden released a statement on Thursday appealing for calm as authorities prepare to release the footage.
“I join Tyre’s family in calling for peaceful protest,” he said. “Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable.”
The city’s police chief Cerelyn Davis, the first black woman in that role in Memphis, also called for calm amid what she said was a “failing of basic humanity toward another individual”.
Watch: Tennessee official on bodycam footage of Tyre Nichols
The Nichols family and their legal team privately reviewed the video footage of the arrest earlier this week.
“He was a human piñata,” lawyer Antonio Romanucci said of its contents. “It was an unadulterated, unabashed, non-stop beating of this young boy for three minutes.”
In a news conference on Thursday, lawyers for two of the ex-officers said their clients planned to fight the charges.
“No-one out there that night intended for Tyre Nichols to die,” said a lawyer for one of the men.
Officials said Mr Nichols “succumbed to his injuries” on 10 January, but provided no further details. An official cause of death has not yet been disclosed.
His family say he will be remembered as a “good kid” who enjoyed photography and skateboarding.
The father-of-one, who worked at the parcel delivery company FedEx, had Crohn’s disease and suffered severe weight loss, relatives say.
Reverend Al Sharpton, a US civil rights leader, told the BBC the alleged crime was particularly painful because of the officers’ race.
“We fought to put blacks on the police force,” he said. “For them to act in such a brutal way is more egregious than I can tell you.”
Watch: Emotional testimony by residents over deadly traffic stop
“I do not believe these five black police officers would have done this had he been a young white man,” he added.
California-based trial lawyer Adanté Pointer said instances of black men being killed by black officers rarely make the news.
“This case exemplifies that it is not simply a white versus black issue, but instead that this is a power dynamic that plays itself out no matter the race of the police officers,” he told the BBC.
The FBI and the Department of Justice have opened a civil rights investigation into Mr Nichols’ death.
The officers involved are members of a special team known as Scorpion – short for “Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods”.
The unit, which was created to police high-crime areas, is now under review, along with all of the city’s specialised units, according to the city’s police chief.
US Department of Justice (DoJ) investigators have found six more classified documents during a 13-hour search of President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware, a lawyer for Mr Biden says.
Some documents seized at the Wilmington property on Friday were from his time as a senator and others from his tenure as vice-president under Barack Obama.
Lawyer Bob Bauer said “personally handwritten notes” and “surrounding materials” were also taken away.
Mr Biden and his wife were not present.
The president offered access “to his home to allow DoJ to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material”, Mr Bauer said in a statement on Saturday.
Former President Donald Trump is facing a criminal investigation for allegedly mishandling classified files.
Earlier this month Mr Biden’s lawyers said a first batch of classified documents had been found on 2 November at the Penn Biden Center, a think-tank the president founded in Washington DC.
A second batch of records was found on 20 December in the garage at his Wilmington home, while another document was found in a storage space at the house on 12 January, his lawyers said.
After finding the documents, the president said his team immediately turned them over to the National Archives and the Justice Department. It is not clear why Mr Biden had kept them.
Under the Presidential Records Act, White House records are supposed to go to the National Archives once an administration ends, where they can be stored securely.
A special counsel, Robert Hur, has been appointed to lead the investigation into how the sensitive documents were handled.
The lengthy search and subsequent discovery of more documents is a political headache for the president, as he prepares to declare whether he will run for a second term in 2024.
Mr Biden and his wife, Jill, are spending the weekend in the coastal town of Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, where they own another house. It was searched earlier this month and no documents were found, his lawyers said, according to the New York Times.
The two-month gap between the first Biden discovery – days before the midterm elections – and the news being made public in January raises awkward questions for the president about transparency, BBC North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher says.
Mr Biden’s team insists the president has co-operated fully with the DoJ inquiry. Mr Biden has played down the affair as an oversight, saying he has “no regrets” about not publicly disclosing the discovery of some classified files before the November midterm elections.
The discovery comes as former US President Donald Trump also faces a probe over his alleged mishandling of hundreds of classified documents at his Florida Mar-a-Lago residence and his alleged failure to comply with a subpoena.
Mr Trump and his lawyers resisted handing over the documents until the FBI raided his Florida holiday home last August. He alleges that President Biden is being treated more favourably by the FBI.
President Biden said at the time that Mr Trump’s handling of the documents was “totally irresponsible”.
Mr Trump has not given any reason to explain their presence there but has said he had the power as president to declassify them, a claim challenged by legal experts.
Joe Biden is facing a classified documents scandal.
The White House confirmed Saturday that five additional pages with classification markings were found at POTUS’ home in Wilmington, Delaware. Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, said the discovery was made earlier this week as Biden’s personal lawyers were searching the property. Sauber claimed the attorneys came across one classified document on Wednesday, but had to stop the search because they didn’t have security clearance.
Sauber, who has security clearance, reportedly arrived at the residence on Thursday to facilitate the transfer of said document to the Justice Department; however, during his stop, Sauber reportedly discovered five more classified documents in Biden’s home.
“While I was transferring it to the DOJ officials who accompanied me, five additional pages with classification markings were discovered among the material with it, for a total of six pages,” Sauber said in a statement. “The DOJ officials with me immediately took possession of them.”
The announcement came just days after the White House confirmed a number of classified documents were found in Biden’s private garage as well as his old offices at the Penn Biden Center in Washington. The documents, which were from Biden’s time as Barack Obama’s vice president, were reportedly discovered in early November, just days before the midterm elections. A source claimed that a total of 20 classified files were recovered between the two locations.
“Has ABC ever used the morals or conduct clause to fire or discipline 2 consenting adults at equal levels when both were white?” the lawyers will reportedly ask.
“The President’s lawyers have acted immediately and voluntarily to provide the Penn Biden documents to the Archives and the Wilmington documents to DOJ,” Sauber said. “We have now publicly released specific details about the documents identified, how they were identified, and where they were found.”
Though Biden has denied knowing that he had the files, the Department of Justice is looking into the matter and will determine whether the president mishandled sensitive material. On Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the probe will be led by Robert Hur, a Trump appointee who served as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the District of Maryland between 2018-2021.
Sauber said the Biden team is fully cooperating with the DOJ.
“We are confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and the President and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake,” Sauber said in a statement.
The findings may complicate a similar DOJ probe involving former president, Donald Trump. In summer 2022, FBI agents raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and discovered dozens of empty document folders marked “CLASSIFIED.” Biden addressed the matter during a September interview on 60 Minutes.
“How that could possibly happen, how one anyone could be that irresponsible,” Biden said. “And I thought what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods. By that, I mean, names of people helped or et cetera. And it’s just totally irresponsible.”
A standoff between the US state of Michigan and Canada is the result of an aging pipeline that crosses a portion of the Great Lakes.
Many will look at the outcome of the fight over Line 5, which supplies energy to central Canada and the US Midwest, as a sign of how North America will balance its future energy needs with its environmental obligations.
The most controversial section of the Line 5 pipeline, which connects Superior, Wisconsin, with Sarnia, Canada, via Michigan, is located on the floor of the Straits of Mackinac. Two of the biggest lakes in the world, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, are connected by the narrow waterway.
In 2018, an anchor from a shipping freighter passing through the Straits struck and damaged the pipe, bringing to the fore longstanding concerns from environmental campaigners and others over possible spills.
Then-Michigan Governor Rick Snyder made an agreement with Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge to protect the pipeline from further damage and keep it operational. Enbridge, one of the world’s largest pipeline firms, would build a $500m (£411m) tunnel bored through rock below the lakebed in the Straits, to enclose Line 5.
The agreement was meant to end uncertainty about the controversial 69-year-old oil and natural gas pipeline’s safety.
Will Line 5 be shut down?
But two years later, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Mr Snyder’s Democratic successor and a long-time opponent of Line 5, ordered the company to cease operations in the Straits, effectively shutting Line 5 down. She called it an “unreasonable risk” to the Great Lakes, one of the largest sources of fresh water in the world and an economic engine for the region.
Now, there is no end in sight for the ongoing battle over the fate of the project, the pipeline and the need to protect the Great Lakes.
Permits and a safety and environmental impact assessment for the project – which would take years to complete – are still pending. And Enbridge has ignored Gov Whitmer’s order to halt, setting things up for a lengthy and contentious court battle.
Enbridge says the pipeline, which earns it an estimated $1.6-$2m daily, has been operating safely and reliably in the Straits for decades.
In turn, Michigan has sued the company to enforce the Line 5 shutdown. The case is currently before a US federal court.
Calgary-based Enbridge has Canada in its corner.
Line 5 is part of the Lakehead System, a network of pipelines that brings oil and natural gas from western Canada to homes and refineries in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ontario and Quebec.
It provides the majority of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec’s crude oil and, fearing its closure, Ottawa – which has warned a shutdown would have a profound impact on both sides of the border, including on jobs and supply chains – backed Enbridge’s legal case. It invoked the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty between the two countries.
The treaty ensures that crude oil will flow between theUS and Canada so long as the pipelines involved are compliant with various rules and regulations. It forces an arbitration process in the event of a dispute.
But Michigan has the support of 12 federally recognised Anishinaabe tribes in the state, who say Line 5 poses too high a risk to the Great Lakes.
Line 5 ‘ticking time bomb’ fears
The waters are also of spiritual importance for the tribes, who argue they are protected by their constitutional treaty rights.
“The Straits of Mackinac are the centre of our creation story,” explains the President of the Bay Mills Indian Community, Whitney Gravelle.
She said they have a right to hunt, fish and gather in the territory “in perpetuity – and Line 5 is a ticking time bomb that could destroy our culture and lifeways”.
For many Michiganders it is a vital fuel supply – their main source of heating, delivering 55% of the state’s propane needs, according to Enbridge.
Dan Harrington is the owner of UP Propane, a major supplier of propane used for heating in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, north of the Straits of Mackinac.
Over concerns the pipeline would be shut down, he arranged an alternative supply route so as not to let down his 17,000 customers.
“We actually put in a rail terminal where we aren’t getting any, or very little, of our propane from Line 5,” says Harrington.
But if it were shut down, “the Midwest would be in a world of hurt”, he said.
Image caption,Whitney Gravelle is president of the Bay Mills Indian Community and Dan Harrington is a Michigan businessman
While Enbridge says the Great Lakes tunnel project would “virtually eliminate” the chance of a spill, others disagree.
An independent pipeline safety expert hired by the Bay Mills Indian Community, Richard Kuprewicz, says that transporting oil and gas “through an enclosed tunnel enhances the risk of a catastrophic explosion” – a risk he called low but not “negligible”.
If there was a pipeline break, even in the best-case scenario the outcome would be disastrous, according to Great Lakes oceanographer Dave Schwab.
Line 5 carries almost half-a-million gallons of oil and natural gas daily.
“So even if the oil flow was stopped instantly, which is impossible, the pipe would still contain a minimum of 5,000 barrels of oil,” he said.
A “best-case scenario” could see 700km (435 miles) of shoreline along Lake Huron and Lake Michigan affected, he said, and “in the worst case of a 25,000 barrel spill, over 1,000km of shoreline in both Canada and America would be affected”.
According to an independent risk analysis commissioned by Michigan, an oil spill could cost almost $2bn in damages. Given the diversity of habitats in and around the Straits – home to many insects, fish and migratory birds – it may “represent a point of no return for species loss”.
Michigan has been looking at options to replace Line 5 that include adding pumping stations to increase the flow of other Enbridge pipelines, or transporting the product via trucks and railroads. Those options, Canada’s Minister for Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson told the BBC, were “less safe, less efficient, and higher emitting”.
Pipelines are generally regarded as a safe way to transport fuel and a better alternative to tanker trucks or freight trains.
Eyes on Biden as energy prices rise
Supporters argue Line 5 is critical to the state for the millions of dollars Enbridge pays in property, corporate and other tax revenues annually, and is vital to its energy needs.
Enbridge says there’s no viable alternative to the tunnel project and that they intend to continue operating Line 5 at the Straits until the tunnel’s completion.
“The tunnel makes what has always been a safe pipeline even safer, ensuring energy access and reliability, and supporting jobs and the economy throughout the Great Lakes Region,” it told the BBC in an emailed statement.
They said they had also taken additional measures to regularly monitor its integrity and prevent future anchor strikes.
Although Line 5 has spilled over one million gallons at other stretches of the pipeline over its lifetime, Enbridge states that the portion crossing Mackinac “remains in excellent condition and has never experienced a leak”.
So far, the Biden administration has kept at arm’s length from the dispute, saying it will allow current environmental reviews of the tunnel project to play out.
Image caption,The Straits of Mackinac is an economically and environmentally vital part of the Great Lakes
But Heather Exner-Pirot, a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a Canadian think-tank, believes Mr Biden is unlikely to allow Line 5 to close, especially in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has had a significant impact on global energy supply and markets.
“The energy crisis has caused the political tides to turn on this,” said Ms Pirot.
This will dismay both environmentalists and tribes, who assert that Line 5 is contrary to the Biden administration’s green energy commitments.
“Enbridge is speaking the universal language of economics,” says Liz Kirkwood of FLOW, a non-profit conservation group, referring to the firm’s warnings that a shutdown would have immediate consequences on the economies in the region.
“What we’re talking about is 20% of the planet’s fresh surface water and the identity of an entire region. This is our home.”
Editor’s note: Leana Hosea was arrested in 2017 while working as a journalist covering a protest against Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline in Wisconsin. All criminal charges were dropped.
The handling of classified documents byDonald Trump and Joe Biden is being investigated by special counsels.
As 2022 got begun, things were looking good for US President Joe Biden.
His popularity was increasing.
Slowing down was inflation. Republicans were at war with themselves after a disappointing midterm season, while Democrats banded together behind Biden’s likely reelection campaign.
However, on Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland named a special counsel to look into how the Democratic president handled secret documents, casting further doubt on Biden’s political future.
NBC News then reported on Wednesday that a second batch of classified documents had been found. Biden’s lawyers and the White House disclosed on Thursday that documents had been found in December in Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware. A search of his second home did not turn up any documents.
Democrats publicly and privately conceded that the stunning information and appointment of a special counsel was at best an unwelcome distraction at an inopportune time that muddies the case against Donald Trump. The Republican former president is facing a special counsel of his own and is under federal criminal investigation for his handling of classified documents and other potential transgressions.
There are major differences between the two cases. Most notably, there is no suggestion that Biden purposefully tried to prevent the documents discovered at his home or office from being turned over or that he was even aware of their presence. Trump, who is being probed for potentially obstructing investigators, also had far more classified documents in his possession.
But Thursday’s appointment of a special counsel nonetheless thrusts legal uncertainty over the sitting president and could revive debate among Democrats about the wisdom of his seeking a second term.
“No one’s going to say this is helpful,” veteran Democratic strategist James Carville said. “It’s pretty evident that’s not the case.”
As Democrats recoiled into a defensive posture, Trump’s would-be Republican rivals in 2024 acknowledged that the contours of the upcoming race had shifted.
Trump “is the luckiest man in American politics”, said John Bolton, who served as national security adviser under Trump and is considering a Republican White House bid. “This ought to be disqualifying to both of them.”
Thus begins a messy election season in which the current and former presidents of the United States are both under investigation by special counsels as they gear up for a potential rematch in 2024. Many voters in both parties were already calling for a new generation of leadership to emerge in the nascent presidential contest. Such calls are now growing louder.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre fielded multiple questions regarding the documents dodging questions about why the White House had not revealed their existence sooner [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters]
“On many political fronts, Biden’s touted 2024 campaign is potentially vulnerable,” said Norman Soloman, a progressive Democrat who leads the so-called “Don’t Run Joe” campaign, which is already running television ads against Biden in key states. “Democrats and the country as a whole would be much better off this year and next if he’s not running for president.”
The 80-year-old president has already indicated he plans to seek a second term, but he has yet to make a final decision. His allies believe he is likely to make a formal announcement after the end of March.
So far, at least, no high-profile Democrats appear willing to challenge Biden in a prospective presidential primary contest. Privately, however, some Democratic officials believe the new federal probe may help motivate an outside candidate.
Garland said Biden’s lawyers had informed the Department of Justice on Thursday morning of the discovery of a classified document at Biden’s home, after FBI agents first retrieved other documents from the garage in December.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Biden said he was cooperating “fully and completely with the justice department’s review”.
“People know I take classified documents and classified material seriously,” Biden said. He added, “My Corvette’s in a locked garage.”
There are stark differences between the Trump and Biden document cases, including the volume of documents discovered and the gravity of the continuing grand jury investigation into the matter at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, home.
Roughly 300 records with classification markings were recovered from Mar-a-Lago, a private club that hosts constant events. The search of Trump’s property was the culmination of months of back-and-forth between the government and Trump’s representatives, who repeatedly resisted efforts to return the missing documents. And the Department of Justice has said classified documents were “likely concealed and removed” from a storage room as part of what they allege was an effort to obstruct the federal investigation.
A warrant for the search showed the FBI was investigating crimes including the willful retention of national defence information and efforts to obstruct the federal probe.
Trump has nonetheless seized on the news, seeking to use it to undermine the investigation into his actions.
“It’s over,“ Trump said in an interview with conservative talk radio host Mark Levin on Thursday evening. ”When all of these documents started coming out and Biden had them, it really changed the complexion and the intensity that they were showing to me because, you know, what they did is – I don’t say far worse, I did nothing wrong — what they did is not good. What they did is bad.”
Some Democrats were hopeful, but not certain, that voters might distinguish between Biden’s cooperative approach involving a small trove of documents he apparently possessed by mistake and what federal prosecutors described as Trump’s willful obstruction of hundreds of government secrets.
“It’s all the difference in the world between having something you don’t know you have and having something you know you have and aren’t supposed to have,” Carville said. “Is that going to get lost among a third of the country? Probably so.”
Bolton, a fierce Trump critic, predicted that the significant legal differences between the two cases would “get lost in the fog”. Now, he finds it hard to believe that Trump can be prosecuted for the Mar-a-Lago documents, regardless of the circumstances.
“I don’t see how a criminal case goes forward at this point,” Bolton said. “I just think it’s such a cloud over the prosecution.”
While the ground may have shifted, Trump’s legal challenges are not going to disappear.
Two months ago, Garland appointed former Department of Justice public corruption prosecutor Jack Smith to lead investigations into the classified documents discovered at Mar-a-Lago as well as key aspects of a separate probe involving the January 6, 2021, insurrection and efforts to undo the 2020 election.
Federal prosecutors have been especially focused on a scheme by Trump allies to elevate fake electors in key battleground states won by Biden as a way to subvert the vote. They issued subpoenas to multiple state Republican Party chairmen.
Democratic strategist Josh Schwerin described the latest development as “certainly not ideal”.
“I think everyone would wish this hadn’t happened, including the president,” he said. “But it’s important to keep all of this in context: Everyone views President Biden as a far more responsible figure than Donald Trump. And that cannot be forgotten.”
Congressional Republicans are demanding to see visitor logs for US President Joe Biden’s homes, arguing that the discovery of classified files at one of his residences is a national security risk.
Mr Biden acknowledged on Thursday that sensitive material was found in the garage of his house in Delaware.
The White House deflected when asked if the visitor logs would be provided.
The justice department has appointed an investigator to look into the files.
News that sensitive documents dating from Mr Biden’s time as vice-president had been found in a private office at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington, emerged earlier this week.
That was followed by a disclosure that a second cache was discovered at Mr Biden’s home.
The first batch was found on 2 November, just before the US midterm elections, but only became public on Monday.
Mr Biden kept an office at the think tank after he left the White House in 2017 until he launched his presidential campaign in 2019.
On Thursday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed in a news conference that the second cache had been found on 20 December at Mr Biden’s private home in Wilmington, Delaware.
He added that Mr Biden’s lawyers had called investigators on Thursday morning to notify them of an additional document, also found at the same residence.
Citing the “extraordinary circumstances”, the attorney general appointed Robert Hur, a former senior justice department official during the Trump presidency, to lead an investigation in the Biden files.
Kevin McCarthy, the newly elected Republican Speaker of the House, questioned the timing of the first disclosure and accused Mr Biden of knowingly mishandling the sensitive papers.
“He knowingly knew [sic] this happened going into [the] election, going into interviews. This is what makes America not trust their government,” Mr McCarthy said on Thursday.
Other Republicans on Thursday demanded the president release a log of all the people who had visited Mr Biden’s Delaware home.
James Comer, a Kentucky congressman and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told Fox News: “We need to know who all has had access to the president.”
Colorado Republican Ken Buck wrote a letter to the White House calling on Mr Biden to “release all visitor logs”.
Elise Stefanik, the number three House Republican and a New York congresswoman, said that the visitor logs were “a clear matter of national security”.
Mr Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, is also under investigation by the justice department after more than 300 classified files – including some marked with Secret and Top Secret designations – were discovered by FBI agents executing a search warrant last year at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mr Biden again said that his lawyers had notified officials of the discovery and that he took the matter seriously.
The president – who previously described Mr Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified material as “totally irresponsible” – added that the documents were found locked in a garage next to his 1960s Chevrolet Corvette sports car, “not sitting out in the street”.
Lawyers also searched Mr Biden’s home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, but said they found no additional files.
An attorney for the president, Richard Sauber, said they were co-operating closely with the justice department.
He predicted the investigation would show “these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and the president and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake”.
Asked whether the Delaware visitor logs would ever be released, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre countered that the Biden administration had restored public disclosure on White House visitor logs that had been restricted under Mr Trump.
In 2017, the Trump administration also refused to reveal the names of most of the visitors to Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club in Palm Beach during his presidency.
On Thursday, Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that the attorney general should “immediately” end the investigation he faces over the Mar-a-Lago cache, claiming the special counsel “hates” him.
According to a CNN analysis in October, Mr Biden had spent more than a quarter of his presidency working from his houses in Wilmington or Rehoboth Beach.
Death rates from cancer in the US have fallen by 32% over the three decades from 1991 to 2019, according to the American Cancer Society.
The decline is thanks to prevention, screening, early diagnosis and treatment of common cancers, including lung and breast cancer.
The drop has meant 3.5m fewer deaths.
However, cancers are still the second leading cause of death in the US, after heart disease.
In 1991, the cancer death rate was 215 per 100,000 people and in 2019 it dropped to 146 per 100,000 people.
Lung cancer, of which there are 230,000more cases each year, kills the most patients, 350 per day.
But people are being diagnosed sooner, and technological advancements have increased the survival rate by three years.
Breast cancer rates have actually increased by 0.5% a year since the mid-2000s, which the American Cancer Society report attributes to “more women having obesity, having fewer children, or having their first baby after age 30”. Increased presence of fat tissue can elevate levels of the hormone oestrogen, which has been linked to the cancer.
Though having fewer children or having them later has been linked to increasing breast cancer chances, the link is not well understood.
Mortality rates from breast cancer, though, have declined.
The research found that “at least 42% of the projected new cancers are potentially avoidable”, noting that 19% of cancers are caused by smoking and 18% of cancers are “caused by a combination of excess body weight, drinking alcohol, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity”.
The report also examined racial and economic disparities in cancer outcomes.
The Covid-19 pandemic added to already existing difficulties for marginalised groups to get cancer screenings and treatment.
For nearly every type of cancer, white people have a higher survival rate than black people. Black women with breast cancer face a 41% higher death rate than white women.
One bright spot was that cancer death rates in children and adolescents have seen large declines. Since the 1970s, cancer death rates in children have declined by 71% and by 61% for those ages 15 to 19.
Cancer is the second most common cause of death, after accidents, for children one to 14 years old.
Some cancer progress in children has lagged behind adult research due to “lower enrolment in clinical trials, differences in tumour biology and treatment protocols, as well as treatment tolerance and compliance,” according to the report.
President Joe Biden’s former office at a think tank had records that, according to the White House, the US justice department is investigating as potentially classified.
About 10 of the files were discovered in a locked closet at the Penn Biden Center in Washington in November by Mr Biden’s legal team, said his lawyer.
The batch has been handed over to the National Archives.
Mr Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, is facing a probe for taking classified files to Florida after his presidency.
According to the BBC’s US partner CBS News, the FBI is involved in the inquiry into classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center, and US Attorney General Merrick Garland has been asked to review the papers.
A source familiar with the matter told CBS News the batch did not contain nuclear secrets and had been contained in a folder in a box with other unclassified papers.
Richard Sauber, special counsel to President Biden, said in a statement to CBS on Monday that the files were discovered just before the midterm elections by Biden attorneys who were clearing out the office space.
Mr Biden kept an office at the think tank, which is about a mile from the White House, from 2017 to 2020.
Mr Sauber said: “Since that discovery [of the documents], the president’s personal attorneys have co-operated with the [National] Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives.”
Mr Trump reacted on Monday on his social media site, Truth Social, asking: “When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?”
Mr Trump is under investigation for allegedly resisting requests to give back about 300 classified documents that he took to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, after leaving office. The National Archives tipped off the authorities in that case.
The Biden files were discovered shortly before the justice department announced it would appoint an independent lawyer to decide whether to criminally charge Mr Trump over the files found at his golf club.Media caption,
Watch: Trump supporters upset with FBI search
Congressman James Comer, the new Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said on Monday that the handling of the Biden papers raised questions about the justice department’s neutrality.
He told reporters: “This is further concern that there’s a two-tier justice system within the DoJ [justice department] with how they treat Republicans versus Democrats, certainly how they treat the former president versus the current president.”
Neither the Penn Biden Center nor National Archives immediately commented.
In September, President Biden appeared on CBS and was asked for his reaction to a photo showing the documents recovered at Mar-a-Lago.
“How anyone could be that irresponsible?” the president said.
The trip came after the announcement of a new immigration policy that rights groups say could endanger the lives of asylum seekers.
US President Joe Biden visited the US-Mexico border for the first time since taking office in January 2022.
The hours-long visit on Sunday followed the Biden administration’s recently announced policy initiative to address an increase in undocumented border crossings.
The politically charged issue has dogged the Democratic president since he took office, with Republican critics accusing the administration of being too lenient and rights groups alleging that the newly announced measures will endanger the lives of asylum seekers.
The stop in the city of El Paso, Texas, took place as Biden travelled to Mexico, where he is set to meet President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday before attending a three-way summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the following day in Mexico City.
“They need a lot of resources. We’re going to get it for them,” Biden told reporters in Texas, where he met border agents at the Bridge of the Americas, which connects El Paso to the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, and is one of the busiest ports of entry between the two countries.
During the visit, Biden watched as border officers in El Paso demonstrated how they search vehicles for drugs, money and other contraband. He later inspected a section of the tall fencing along the border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.
Meanwhile, in a sign of the deep political tensions over immigration, Republican Governor Greg Abbott handed Biden a letter on his arrival that said the alleged “chaos” at the border was the “direct result” of the president’s failure to enforce federal laws.
Controversial asylum policies
Last week, the Biden administration unveiled new immigration rules it anticipates will “substantially reduce” the number of people seeking to cross the southern border, Biden told reporters at the time.
The rules create a new programme that allows a legal pathway for as many as 30,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan nationals to enter the US a month and receive two-year work permits, provided they have sponsors in the US and pass background checks.
In turn, the policy allows US authorities to expel to Mexico residents of those four countries who irregularly cross the border and bar them from accessing the programme. Mexico has agreed to accept 30,000 expelled residents of the four countries in a month, according to the administration.
Rights groups say the policy is harmful to individuals who have no other choice but to irregularly cross the border to seek asylum. They charge the new policy is an extension of the former President Donald Trump-era Title 42, which allows authorities to rapidly expel adult asylum seekers crossing the border, citing COVID-19 health concerns.
After a lengthy court battle, a US federal judge in November ordered Title 42 be lifted, but the US Supreme Court late last month agreed to consider whether Republican-led states can challenge the end of the policy, leaving it in place for the time being.
In the wake of last week’s announcement, Heidi Altman, policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center, accused the Biden administration of “openly rejecting” US law, which “clearly says it is legal to arrive at the border & seek asylum”.
On board Air Force One on Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters that the administration was trying to “incentivise a safe and orderly way and cut out the smuggling organisations”.
He said the policy was “not a ban at all”, but an attempt to protect migrants and refugees from the trauma smuggling can create.
Drugs, economy top Mexico visit
Following the border visit, Biden was set to continue on to Mexico, where the increase in crossings, as well as efforts to fight the trafficking of fentanyl and other drugs that have fuelled a deadly addiction crisis in the US, were set to top the agenda of the bilateral meeting with Lopez Obrador.
On Saturday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Washington was “making strides” with its partners to seize illicit opioids and other drugs, calling it an “ongoing effort”.
Mexico has long been plagued by cartel-related bloodshed that has seen more than 340,000 people murdered since the government deployed the military in its war on drugs in 2006. On the campaign trail, Lopez Obrador promised to move away from the militarised approach, but critics say he has made only superficial changes. Still, he has said that Mexico City is seeking investment in regional economic development from Washington.
Days before Biden’s visit, Mexican security forces captured a son of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in the US.
On Tuesday, efforts to strengthen economic ties are set to dominate a trilateral summit of the leaders of the US, Mexico, and Canada.
The meeting comes amid an ongoing Mexican energy dispute with the US and Canada, with Washington and Ottawa arguing that Lopez Obrador’s efforts to give control of the market to his cash-strapped state energy companies breach the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal.
The US and Canada have launched dispute resolution proceedings against Mexico, casting a pall over hopes of supporting cooperation in jobs and investment.
Under a new rule change implemented by theBiden administration, retail pharmacies in the United States can now dispense the abortion pill mifepristone for the first time.
Patients currently obtain mifepristone in person from a health provider as part of a two-drug regimen that is both safe and effective in inducing abortion.
The new rule still requires a prescription, but patients can now pick up the pill in-store or by mail order.
The move has the potential to significantly increase access to abortion via medication.
Abortion pills have become more sought after in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning the federal right to abortion, with several states banning or sharply restricting access to abortion.
More than half of US abortions are already done with pills rather than by surgery, according to the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute.
In December 2021, theUS Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had said it would permanently lift the requirement for patients to obtain a prescription in person via a healthcare provider, as part of its pandemic-driven move toward telemedicine.
On Tuesday, the FDA updated its website with the new requirements, saying the drug “can be dispensed by certified pharmacies or by or under the supervision of a certified prescriber”.
Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, the two US companies who make the drug, confirmed in separate statements that the agency had informed them of its decision.
The move has been hailed as “an important step” forward by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
“Although the FDA’s announcement today will not solve access issues for every person seeking abortion care, it will allow more patients who need mifepristone for medication abortion additional options to secure this vital drug,” the organisation said in a statement.
Mifepristone is taken in combination with a second drug called misoprostol, typically taken within 10 to 12 weeks of pregnancy to induce what is known as medication abortion. Misoprostol, which is commonly used for miscarriage management, is not a restricted drug and can easily be obtained at pharmacies via prescription.
Pharmacies – from large chains to corner drugstores – can now apply for certification to distribute mifepristone, which will allow them to directly service customers with a prescription from a certified prescriber. Drug chains CVS and Walgreens have both said they are reviewing the new requirements.
But the political landmines surrounding abortion are likely to influence whether or not, and where, pharmacies will offer the pill.
Women in the more than dozen states where abortion has been banned will also likely need to travel to other states to obtain medication abortion.
President Akufo-Addo and his wife Rebecca Akufo-Addo both paid a courtesy call on the US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden at the White House in Washington DC.
The President among over 40 African leaders attending the US-Africa Leaders’ summit hosted by Joe Biden.
Aside the crucial diplomatic, bilateral and multilateral meetings that the leaders had with the US government and other development partners, the African leaders were hosted to a dinner by the US president.
Photos shared on the President’s Facebook timeline shows the moment he arrived with Rebecca at the White House for the dinner as well as photos they took with Joe and Jill Biden.
Since Biden became president, Akufo-Addo has officially visited Washington but he was hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris.
The 2022 US-Africa’ Leaders summit started on the 13th of December and ends on the 15th. It is the second such gathering with the first hosted by Barack Obama, whose Vice President at the time was Joe Biden.
In 2014 when the Obama White House hosted African leaders, Ghana was represented by then President John Dramani Mahama who was accompanied by wife Lordina Mahama.
The United States of America has once again declared support for Africa.
US President Joe Biden has announced billions of dollarsin new funding for Africa at a summit of dozens of heads of state in Washington.
“The United States is ‘all in’ on Africa’s future,” President Biden told the over 40 African leaders attending the summit.
He also spoke optimistically of improved links with Africa during a summit in which he announced $55bn (£44.4bn) in new funding for the continent over the next three years. This included $100m for clean energy projects.
He told the gathering in Washington that when Africa succeeded, so too did the United States.
Mr Biden spoke of the importance of good governance, healthy populations and affordable energy.
The summit of heads of state is seen as an attempt by America to re-assert its influence in Africa at a time when China, Russia and Turkey are deepening their involvement.
It’s the first such gathering hosted by Washington for eight years.
President Joe Biden plans to announce at next week’s US-Africa summit that his administration supports adding the African Union as a permanent member of the Group of 20 nations, according to the White House.
The African Union represents the continent’s 54 countries.
The G-20 is composed of the world’s major industrial and emerging economies and represents more than 80% of the world’s gross domestic product. South Africa is currently the only African member of the G-20.
“It’s past time Africa has permanent seats at the table in international organizations and initiatives,” the senior director for African affairs on the National Security Council, Judd Devermont, said in a statement Friday.
“We need more African voices in international conversations that concern the global economy, democracy and governance, climate change, health, and security.”
Biden has invited 49 African leaders to take part in the three-day Washington summit that starts Tuesday.
The G-20 representation would allow African countries to more effectively press the group to implement its pledge to help the continent to cope with climate change.
The high-profile push for inclusion in the G-20 comes at a time when the AU has shown renewed unity and purpose on some high-profile issues, banding together to combat Covid-19 and establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, which came into force in early 2021.
African Union officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the White House announcement.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, at last month’s G-20 gathering in Indonesia, underscored the importance of African Union membership in achieving climate goals.
“We call for continued G-20 support for the African Renewable Energy Initiative as a means of bringing clean power to the continent on African terms,” Ramaphosa told the gathering. “This can be best achieved with the African Union joining the G-20 as a permanent member.”
Devermont said the announcement builds on the administration’s strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa and its advocacy for adding permanent members from Africa to the U.N. Security Council.
Senegalese President Macky Sall, the current AU chairperson, has made the case that by adding the African Union the G-20 “would come to represent the views of 54 additional members, the bulk of low-income countries, and about 80% of the world’s population.”
“The G-20 compromises its effectiveness and influence by omitting such a large fraction of humanity and the world economy,” Sall wrote in Devex, a news organization covering global development, in July.
Joe Exotic is pleased with prisoner swap that freed Brittney Griner.
In newly released audio obtained by TMZ, the 59-year-old Tiger King star criticized the deal as a “slap in the face” to every American who is wrongly detained. Joe—legal name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage—is currently serving a 21-year-prison sentence for animal abuse charges and a murder-for-hire attempt on his longtime rival and Tiger King co-star, Carole Baskin.
Joe reiterated his innocence in the recording and urged President Joe Biden to secure his freedom. He questioned why the United States government was so quick to negotiate Griner’s release, while he and other “wrongfully detained” Americans remained behind bars. The audio surfaced nearly 10 months after Griner, a 32-year-old WNBA star, was arrested in Russia for allegedly bringing hash oil to a Moscow airport. Griner ultimately pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs into the country, and was sentenced to nine years in Russian prison.
On Thursday, the Biden administration announced that Griner was heading home, after Russia agreed to release the athlete in exchange for Viktor Bout—a Russian arms dealer who spent the last decade in a U.S. prison for multiple terrorism charges.
“The whole Brittney Griner and Trevor Reed prisoner swap is a slap in every American’s face that is wrongfully detained in the American Federal Prison System, including myself,” Joe said in the recording.
“A dangerous man was released for Brittney Griner to be free. It’s time Joe Exotic gets to go home for Christmas to be home with [boyfriend] Seth and his son for the first time in 5 Christmases.
President Akufo-Addo is expected to join his counterparts in Washington D.C. next week for the US-Africa Leaders Summit.
President of the United States, Joe Biden is hosting leaders from African countries starting December 13, 2022.
According to the US State Department, the Summit will demonstrate the United States’ enduring commitment to Africa. It will also underscore the importance of US-Africa relations and increased cooperation on shared global priorities.
Speaking on what, motivated this diplomatic gesture, US Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer indicated on JoyNews’ Foreign Affairs that, “indeed Africa is just very important to the United States and the United States President and it is a wonderful opportunity to talk about issues of mutual concern, the climate, global security, democracy and of course economic progress, and the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and preparation for any other pandemic that might come.”
Touching on what possibly the Ghanaian leader might be up to when he shows up for the conference, the Ambassador disclosed that, “there is a youth and diaspora summit, and President Akufo-Addo is going to play a big role in that. Again, the year of return and the role of diaspora in both countries, I think it is very important. There is a function on peace and security and West African Security will be important for that.”
“On the second day, there’s a whole business day…and then there will be deals that feature in that and then the third day is the actual summit and again Ghana is very important. So I know President Akufo- Addo will have very important things to say.”
The US- Africa Leaders Summit is also expected to provide ample opportunity for all participating leaders and their countries to amplify diaspora ties, while promoting education and youth leadership.
The US and Russia have exchanged jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, held in an American prison for 12 years.
President Joe Biden said Griner was safe and on a plane home from the United Arab Emirates.
“I’m glad to say Brittney’s in good spirits… she needs time and space to recover,” he said at the White House.
Bout – widely known as the “merchant of death” – has arrived back in Moscow, Russian media reports.
“In the middle of the night they simply woke me up and said ‘Get your things together’ and that was it,” Bout said in brief remarks to a reporter from national television, after landing in Russia.
Bout reportedly came down the aeroplane steps carrying a bouquet of flowers before embracing his mother and his wife.
Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February for possessing cannabis oil and last month she was sent to a penal colony.
The Biden administration proposed a prisoner exchange in July, aware Moscow had long sought Bout’s release.
The elaborate swap involved two private planes bringing the pair to Abu Dhabi airport from Moscow and Washington, and then flying them home.
Footage on Russian state media showed them crossing on the tarmac with their respective teams. In the video, apparently provided by Russian security services, Bout is warmly greeted by two Russian officials as Griner, who is 6ft 9in (206cm), looks on. Part of the swap is then edited out before the two parties go their separate ways.
“The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Brittney Griner’s wife Cherelle praised the efforts of the Biden administration in securing her release: “I’m just standing here overwhelmed with emotions.”
According to a joint Saudi-UAE statement, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played a leading role in mediation efforts, along with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
The heir to the Saudi throne has good relations with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and in September he helped co-ordinate a complex swap of hundreds of prisoners held by Russia and Ukraine.
But the White House denied any mediation had been involved. “The only countries that negotiated this deal were the United States and Russia,” said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
When negotiations began to secure Griner’s release during the summer, the US made clear it wanted ex-marine Paul Whelan to be included in an exchange.
Bout’s lawyer, Alexei Tarasov, told Russian TV that from the start the US wanted two of its citizens returned, and Russia’s foreign ministry complained that “Washington categorically refused to engage in dialogue”.
But it became clear that Whelan, jailed in 2018 on suspicion of spying, would not be part of the Russian swap, dashing his family’s hopes.
Paul Whelan told CNN he was “greatly disappointed” more had not been done to free him, as he had carried out no crime: “I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here,” he said.
President Biden finally signed the order for Bout’s release, commuting his 25-year jail term, in a direct swap for Griner.
Bout’s wife Alla told Russian TV she had spoken to him only two days ago: “He was supposed to call me tonight. Now we’ll see each other and hug each other. That’s better than any phone call.”
Viktor Bout sold arms to warlords and rogue governments, becoming one of the world’s most wanted men.
Dubbed the “merchant of death” for gun-running in the years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian’s exploits inspired the 2005 Hollywood film Lord of War, which was loosely based on his life.
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
Russian state TV showed images of Bout being reunited with his family in Russia
His secretive career was brought to an end by an elaborate US sting in 2008, when he was arrested at a hotel in the Thai capital Bangkok, to the anger of the Russian government.
He was extradited two years later and has spent the past 12 years in an American jail for conspiring to support terrorists and kill Americans.
Bout’s circumstances could hardly be more different from that of his opposite number in the prisoner swap.
Brittney Griner, 32, is one of the best-known sportswomen in America. During the US basketball season the double Olympic champion is a star centre for Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA.
Her only reason for flying to Moscow was to play in Russia during the off-season in the US. She told her Russian trial that the cannabis oil found in her bag had been an “honest mistake”.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken singled out the efforts of presidential envoy Roger Carstens, who accompanied Griner on the plane from the UAE.
Leading figures in US basketball welcomed her release, among them twice WNBA champion Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm.Griner was moved last month to a penal colony in Mordovia, a remote area some 500km, (310m) south-east of Moscow. She was held not far from where Paul Whelan is serving his 16-year jail term on spying charges.
In his statement President Biden said Russia had treated Whelan’s case differently from Griner’s for totally illegitimate reasons.
“While we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release we have not given up; we will not give up,” he vowed.
Whelan’s brother, David, praised Griner’s release and said US officials had warned the family in advance that Paul Whelan was not part of the exchange.
“It’s clear the US government needs to be more assertive,” he said in a statement. “If bad actors like Russia are going to grab innocent Americans, the US needs a swifter, more direct response.”
Former White House national security advisor John Bolton condemned the deal as a not a swap but a surrender by the Biden administration.
“Terrorists and rogue states all around the world will take note of this and it endangers other Americans in the future,” he said.
The deal was also criticised by Robert Zachariasiewicz, a former agent with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, who helped lead the team that arrested Viktor Bout.
“Today’s actions just placed a target on back of every United States citizen travelling throughout the world and they just became a commodity,” he told the BBC’s World Tonight.
“I think we just sent the message that it’s really good business to illegally detain and if not kidnap American citizens, and it’s really great to have one in your back pocket if you need them for a trade at some point.”
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,
Viktor Bout was extradited to the US from Thailand in 2010 (file pic)
Vladimir Osechkin – a former Russian MP who led a parliamentary investigation into Bout, and who is now a dissident in France – told the BBC’s Outside Source programme he believed Vladimir Putin wanted Bout back because of what he knew.
“Putin and the generals were worried that Viktor Bout might start providing detailed and consistent evidence of what he knew about Russian intelligence helping terrorist organisations and organising sabotage abroad,” he said.
“It was a matter of honour for them to take their agent back.”
However, the US Bring Our Families Home Campaign suggested Russians saw Bout in a very different light. “Over the years they built him up like the spy of the century. There’s a domestic political problem in Russia to keep the lie going,” said Jonathan Franks from the campaign.
Thursday’s prisoner exchange is not the first between Russia and the US this year. US marine Trevor Reed spent three years in jail for assault before being traded last April for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot convicted of smuggling cocaine.
Speaking from a Russian penal colony, Paul Whelan said he had been told that Russia “put me at a level higher than what they did with Trevor and Brittney”, because he had been accused of spying.
President Biden urged Americans to take precautions before travelling overseas, and warned of the risk of being wrongfully detained by a foreign government.
Swapping an American jailed for a minor drugs offense in Russia for one of the world’s most notorious arms traffickers known as “The Merchant of Death” might seem like a lopsided deal that could fuel dangerous national security precedents.
But President Joe Biden’s decision to exchange WNBA star Brittney Griner for Viktor Bout goes beyond the exchange’s bottom line. It represented a humane resolution to a painful dilemma that came after tortuous talks with a Russian regime that treats people as geopolitical pawns every day. In that sense, the Biden administration demonstrated the gulf between its moral grounding and that of Russian President Vladimir Putin who is currently demonstrating his inhumanity on another front, with a fearsome assault on Ukrainian civilians.
But the tragic counterpoint to this diplomatic triumph – Biden’s failure to also secure the release of Paul Whelan, another American incarcerated in a Russian penal colony – underscored the unforgiving moral conundrum he faced. And it prompted top Republicans to charge that he had prioritized a basketball superstar over an ex-marine who benefited from a vocal political pressure campaign on Biden.
There is no getting around the potential implications of the steps that Biden took, which followed earlier prisoner swaps with US adversaries conducted by his administration – including for an American and former US marine detained in Russia, Trevor Reed – and those of former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. There is now a considerable risk that other rogue nations or groups see Washington as open for business and may therefore see Americans abroad as increasingly valuable targets in a vicious cycle of more detentions.
Furthermore, the return of Bout, who has been linked to Russian security services, handed Putin a propaganda coup at a time of rising domestic pressure. It enabled him to demonstrate to intelligence operatives engaged in nefarious activity abroad that they will not be forgotten by the Kremlin. Those intelligence services are critical to the Russian leader’s continued hold on power as his war in Ukraine deteriorates even further. Still, Biden’s strategy also hinted at intriguing diplomatic possibilities, three days after he refused to rule out future talks with Putin, if Ukraine’s agrees, aimed at ending the vicious war. He showed it was possible to deal with Russia, even amid an effective proxy war between the two old Cold War foes in Ukraine amid the worst relations between Moscow and Washington since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Another notable cog in this deal was Saudi Arabia, which helped facilitate the exchange alongside the United Arab Emirates – and also helped secure the release of US citizens captured fighting in Ukraine earlier this year. Whether the kingdom, which has relations with both Moscow and Washington and is seeking to increase its global leadership role, might emerge as a mediator over Ukraine remains to be seen. But its recent smoothing of US-Russia exchanges might put Biden’s decision to travel to the country earlier this year and greet its ruthless Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with a fist bump, in a slightly different light.
Ultimately, it’s impossible for there not to be a sour aftertaste when dealing with an adversary as inhumane as Putin. But it is the job of a president to weigh these competing dynamics within the context of America’s national goals and duty to its citizens.
In cases like these, there is never a right answer.
The most immediate question now facing Biden is how to extract Whelan, whose hopes were raised and then smashed, as he remained in prison and Griner went home, after both Americans were at the center of US-Russia diplomacy.
“This is a precarious situation that needs to be resolved quickly,” a deeply disappointed Whelan told CNN’s State Department producer Jennifer Hansler in an exclusive phone interview. “I would hope that (Biden) and his administration would do everything they could to get me home, regardless of the price they might have to pay at this point.”
The harsh truth for Whelan is that Russia refused every inducement the US could offer to include him in an exchange package, leaving Biden’s capacity to free him in short order in doubt.
Russian officials told the US side that a one-for-two swap was not acceptable but resisted wider options, US officials said.
John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, told CNN that the Kremlin regarded Whelan in a different light than Griner, since he’s facing espionage charges – even though the US says such allegations are a sham. This added dimension to Whelan’s incarceration will fuel speculation that Moscow may leverage him as it seeks a three-way deal with Germany to free a former colonel from its domestic spy agency who was convicted of murder last year. CNN reported in August that Russia had requested Vadim Krasikov be included in a deal for the two Americans.
This adds another layer of complication for Biden as he seeks to get Whelan free, since it involves another government and would require German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to potentially agree to supersede his country’s own legal system. Whether the new German leader has the political capacity to do so is unclear, as is the kind of Russian concession Berlin might require.
A senior administration official said on Thursday evening that there is a recognition in the White House that the US needs to make available “something more, something different” from what they have offered to the Russians so far, CNN reported.
While Biden is being castigated by some political opponents in Washington for doing a bad deal, administration officials insisted that he got the best one on offer.
“I want to be very clear – this was not a situation where we had a choice of which American to bring home. It was a choice between bringing home one particular American, Brittney Griner, or bringing home none,” a senior administration official told reporters on Thursday.
Evelyn Farkas, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, told CNN she thought Putin was never going to hand over Whelan and all along wanted to swap only Griner for Bout.
“It’s happening now because Vladimir Putin wants this to happen now, he needs a win, he needs a victory in Russia because he is having trouble convincing the Russia people that it’s a good idea to be at war with Ukraine,” Farkas said.
She added that there remained some hope for Whelan because the Griner exchange did show that “the Russians will make a deal if they think it’s in their interests.”
Whelan isn’t the only American imprisoned in Russia. The family of US teacher Marc Fogel, who is serving a 14 year sentence at a hard labor camp, has also called for the White House to negotiate his release. Fogel was arrested last year in Moscow after traveling into the country with cannabis that his lawyer said was used for medical purposes.
The fierce political divides that now challenge every US foreign policy decision did not take long to bubble over after Griner was freed – alongside a more vicious reaction on social media as some conservatives questioned her patriotism.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was relieved Griner was free but raised questions about the wisdom of such exchanges and whether they could endanger other Americans.
“I think the challenge this points to is these regimes know this. This is why (President Nicolas) Maduro traded five Citgo executives – who were lured to Venezuela to get arrested – for his nephews who are convicted drug traffickers,” Rubio said.
“That’s why you trade a professional basketball player with CBD oil for the Merchant of Death. These are bad trades,” he said.
Another Republican, Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida described the deal to free Griner in a Twitter post as “shameful” and accused the administration of “giving priority to a celebrity over a veteran.”
In a later interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Waltz said: “This is a tactical victory, I am glad she is coming home. But this is a strategic loss.”
“The reason the Iranian regime, the Taliban, Putin himself, continue to take Americans hostage is we continue to make concessions. When do we start dictating the terms to these regimes?”
Whelan’s family reacted with great dignity in welcoming Griner’s release, despite their devastation that their brother did not come home. Elizabeth Whelan, Paul’s sister, called for political unity over the fate of hostages abroad, saying that hostile foreign countries are trying to use such cases to stir dissent in the US.
Whelan also urged people to understand the human angle of Biden’s dilemma despite the grave geopolitical issues at stake.
“It’s an amazing thing to be able to get Brittney back. It’s a win for us,” she said.
“We tend to always look at what is Russia getting out of this? … We are getting a wrongfully detained American back home. It’s something to celebrate.”
The Senate unanimously approved legislation to restrict private ownership of big cats such as lions and tigers in the United States.
The Big Cat Public Safety Act would prevent individuals from keeping the animals as pets and from exposing them to public petting and photographing.
Following the release of the Netflix documentary series Tiger King, efforts to limit private ownership have increased.
President Joe Biden must now sign the bill into law.
Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley, who introduced the bill into the House, said on social media that it will mean “a lot of big cats will live better lives”.
According to estimates from conservationists, as many as 7,000 tigers are living in the US either in zoos or privately owned – nearly double the estimated 3,890 tigers living in the wild worldwide.
Many in the US are on public display, where the hunt for profits in some privately-owned facilities are alleged to drive a ” relentless breeding cycle that floods the exotic pet trade with surplus tigers who have outgrown the cub stage”, according to the Animal Welfare Institute.
What’s more, the institute alleges facilities that offer cub petting have been known to kill tigers once they can no longer be used to make money.
Under the new bill, possession of lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, cougars or any hybrid of these species would be limited to wildlife sanctuaries, universities and certified zoos.
Those on display would need to be kept at least 15 feet (4.5 metres) away from the public or behind a barrier to prevent contact.
However, current owners of big cats will be allowed to keep their animals – as long as they don’t allow direct contact between them and the public and register them with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Susan Millward, executive director of the Animal Welfare Institute,has said the Big Cat Public Safety Act “will end the horrific exploitation of big cats and bolster public safety”.
“These beautiful but powerful predators deserve to live in the wild, not be kept in captivity for people’s entertainment—even as cubs,” she added.
Carole Baskin, one of the stars of the Tiger King series and the founder of the Big Cat Rescue sanctuary, has become a champion of the bill and has said she is “thrilled” by the outcome.
US President Joe Biden has said he would be ready to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin “if in fact there is an interest in him deciding that he’s looking for a way to end the war”.
Addressing reporters alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, he stressed Mr Putin had not yet done that.
The two men stressed they would continue to stand against Russia’s war.
In response, the Kremlin said President Putin remained open to talks aimed “to ensure our interests”.
However, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow was certainly not ready to accept US conditions: “What did President Biden say in fact? He said that negotiations are possible only after Putin leaves Ukraine.”
It complicated the search for a mutual basis for talks, he said, that the US did not recognise “new territories” in Ukraine, which Russia claimed as its own at the end of September.
President Macron made clear that he had agreed with Mr Biden that they would never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise “that will not be acceptable for them”.
They were speaking as a senior Ukrainian official said that between 10,000 and 13,000 of its soldiers had been killed since the start of Russia’s invasion on 24 February.
Neither Ukraine nor Russia tend to release figures for casualties, and the remarks by presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak have not been confirmed by the Ukrainian military.
Speaking to Ukrainian TV outlet Channel 24, Mr Podolyak said Kyiv was “openly talking about the number of the killed”. He added that the number of civilians killed could be “significant”. He also suggested that up to 100,000 Russian soldiers had been killed since the invasion.
In a video address on Wednesday, EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said that 100,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed. However a spokesperson for the EU Commission later clarified that this was a mistake, and the figure referred to those both killed and wounded. Ms von der Leyen had also spoken of 20,000 Ukrainian civilian deaths.
After their talks at the White House, the US and French presidents issued a joint statement pledging “continued support for Ukraine’s defence of its sovereignty and territorial integrity”, stepping up delivery of air defence systems and plans for an international conference on Ukraine in Paris on 13 December.
President Biden’s suggestion that he was ready to talk to the Russian leader came with a heavy caveat and his French counterpart said “we will never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise that will not be acceptable for them.”
President Macron was speaking hours after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complained that European countries had offered nothing concrete so far in terms of mediation. “Macron, by the way, has been regularly stating over the last two weeks that he was planning a conversation with the Russian president,” he was quoted as saying, while adding that Russia had not had any signals via diplomatic channels.
Mr Lavrov named former US Secretary of State John Kerry as the kind of figure who had in the past been able to solve problems and engage in true dialogue.
During a visit to Australia, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Europe had to build its defence capabilities: “Europe isn’t strong enough right now. We would be in trouble without the United States”
The Ukrainian military said Russia was using dummy nuclear-capable missiles to exhaust Ukraine’s air defences. Russia was using rockets designed for nuclear use without explosive warheads, Ukrainian military experts said, suggesting this might be because the country has used so many of its other missiles in massive strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure
Another senior adviser to President Zelensky, Oleg Ustenko, accused BP of being entitled to hundreds of millions of pounds in “blood money” from investments in Russia. BP said it was no longer receiving any profits from Russian energy giant Rosneft
TikTok is hosting dozens of videos glorifying violence by Russia’s Wagner group of mercenaries, according to a new report. The videos have been viewed more than a billion times, found US-based organisation NewsGuard. Tiktok said it will act against any content violating its policies.
The vehicleswere rented by the Secret Service to protect Biden and his family during the Thanksgiving holiday.
President Biden’s rented Secret Service vehicles caught fire in a parking lot one day after he returned from his Nantucket vacation.
Last week, Biden and his family spent Thanksgiving on the posh Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard. According to footage obtained first by the Nantucket Current, the Secret Service rented five vehicles from Hertz to transport the president and his family, and all five of them caught fire in the parking lot.
Firefighters can be seen spraying the smouldering remains of one vehicle’s engine block. A Chevy Suburban, Ford Explorer, Infiniti QX80, Ford Expedition, and a Jeep Gladiator were among the five vehicles.
The vehicles were parked at the Nantucket airport and the blaze reportedly spread to just 40 feet away from the facility’s jet fuel tanks. It is currently unknown what caused the fire. Fox News reached out to the White House for information but they did not immediately respond.
A tow truck pulls away one of the vehicles rented by the Secret Service to protect President Biden in Nantucket.
“At approximately 5:22 am Airport shift staff observed an active fire in the rental car overflow area through the Airport’s Closed Circuit Television System,” the airport said in a statement to the Current. “Staff activated the Alert system and responded to the fire in Airport-3, where they were met by responding units from Nantucket Fire Department and Nantucket Police Department.”
A firefighter sprays down the smoldering remains of an engine block from a vehicle that burst into flames ((Credit: Nantucket Current. MUST tag @ACKCurrent when used online))
“Combined fire resources responded and contained the fire. Several vehicles were damaged. The Airport is currently coordinating with rental car agencies and agency partners to ensure scene safety, There is no longer an active fire at this time: the Airport is open, and aeronautical operations are not affected,” the statement continued.
Biden spent the Nantucket weekend celebrating the holiday with his family, telling reporters that they were not having any discussions about a potential presidential run in 2024.
Several vehicles rented by the Secret Service to protest President Biden in Nantucket burned on Monday. ((Credit: Nantucket Current. MUST tag @ACKCurrent when used online))
The Bidens stayed at a waterfront compound along Nantucket Harbor. The family members on the trip included Ashley and Hunter Biden. The family has a more than 40-year tradition of spending Thanksgiving on the island.
The getaway was the first vacation for the Biden family since they went to another secluded East Coast island in August, when the President, first lady, and Hunter Biden all flew on Air Force One to Kiawah Island in South Carolina.
US President Joe Biden watches a Christmas tree lighting ceremony with (R-L) First Lady Jill Biden, son Hunter Biden, grandson Beau, and daughter-in-law Melissa Cohen in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on November 25, 2022. – The President is spending the Thanksgiving holiday with his family in Nantucket. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Outings around major holidaysand in the late summer are not uncommon for U.S. presidents. Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump all took similar vacations throughout their time in office. Bush would often spend the time at his Texas ranch, while Obama and Trump both preferred golf resorts in New England.
President JoeBiden has renewed calls for an assault weapons ban in wake of high-profile mass shootings.
According to NBC News, POTUS reiterated his stance during a trip to Massachusetts on Thanksgiving, just days after deadly shootings unfolded at a Colorado LGBTQ bar and a Virginia Walmart.
“The idea that we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick,” Biden said while speaking to first responders at a Nantucket Island firehouse. “It has no, no social redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.
“I’m going to try. I’m going to try to get rid of assault weapons,” he added.
Assault Weapons Ban in Boulder Blocked in Court Days Before Supermarket Shooting
The last time Congress passed an assault weapons ban was in 1994; however, the law only existed for 10 years. Since then, the House and Senate have failed to outlaw assault-style rifles, despite calls for gun reform. Back in July, the Democratic-controlled House voted to ban semiautomatic assault weapons following mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York; however, the legislation is likely doomed in the Senate, as all Democrats and at least 10 Republicans would need to support the bill in order to break a filibuster.
Congress has proved reluctant to outlaw AR-15s and other assault-style guns. The Democratic-controlled House passed a ban in July, in a vote largely along party lines. But the bill stands little chance of advancing in the Senate, where 10 Republicans would need to join a unified Democratic caucus to break a filibuster.
On Thursday, the White House confirmed Biden and first lady Jill Biden call the owners of Colorado Springs’ Club Q, an LGBTQ bar where five people were killed in a mass shooting.
“They reiterated their support for the community as well as their commitment to fighting back against hate and gun violence,” according to a statement. “They also thanked [Club Q owners Nic Grzecka and Matthew Haynes] for the incredible contributions they have made and will continue to make to Colorado Springs.”
Days after the Club Q shooting, a Virginia Walmart employee shot and killed six of his co-workers and wounded half a dozen others. The gunman was identified as Andre Bing, a 31-year-old nigh manager who allegedly took his own life after opening firing in the store’s break room.
The Bidenadministration on Tuesday announced it will extend the pandemic-era freeze on federal student loan payments to June 2023.
Payments were scheduled to resume on Jan. 1, but the administration decided to extend the moratorium through at least June 30 as it faces legal challenges to its debt forgiveness plan.
“We’re extending the payment pause because it would be deeply unfair to ask borrowers to pay a debt that they wouldn’t have to pay, were it not for the baseless lawsuits brought by Republican officials and special interests,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
Biden took to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon to break the news, which he revealed by posting a short video alongside a tweet announcing the decision.
“I’m confident that our student debt relief plan is legal. But it’s on hold because Republican officials want to block it,” Biden wrote. “That’s why @SecCardona is extending the payment pause to no later than June 30, 2023, giving the Supreme Court time to hear the case in its current term.”
“It isn’t fair to ask tens of millions of borrowers eligible for relief to resume their student debt payments while the courts consider the lawsuit,” Biden added.
The news arrives a few days after a federal appeals court blocked Biden’s debt cancellation program, which allows eligible borrowers to cancel up to $20,000 of student loan debt.
As a result, the administration confirmed plans to restart payments either 60 days after the Supreme Court reaches a decision or at the very latest on June 30 of next year. The Supreme Court, however, has not yet confirmed whether they will hear the case.
President Joe Biden phoned the United States team in Qatar to urge Gregg Berhalter’s players to “shock ’em all” at the World Cup.
Ahead of their opening game against Wales on Monday, the team gathered to listen to Biden offer words of encouragement to a group he acknowledged were outsiders.
The United States men’s team took third place at the inaugural 1930 World Cup but have never gone further than the quarter-finals since, only reaching that stage once, in 2002.
By comparison, the US women’s national team are four-time World Cup winners, and will be chasing a hat-trick of consecutive titles at next year’s finals in Australia and New Zealand.
Biden, who turned 80 on Sunday, told Berhalter: “Coach, put me in, I’m ready to play.”
He added: “You guys, I know you’re the underdog, but I’ll tell you what, man, you got some of the best players in the world on your team, and you’re representing this country, and I know you’re gonna play your hearts out, so let’s go shock ’em all.
“Keep trusting in one another, play as hard as you can, for you and your families, your team-mates, and the whole country is rooting for you.”
Berhalter replied: “That’s a very nice message, Mr President, the whole team is here right now and we really appreciate your support and we’re ready to go.”
The United States also face England and Iran in Group B, returning to the World Cup stage after missing out on the Russia 2018 finals.
Biden added: “I wish I were there to see you, I really do, go get ’em guys, just play your hearts out. I know you will, I know you will.”
One day after retaking a majority in the US House of Representatives, Republicans have said they will investigate the president’s family as a “top priority”.
The lawmakers said the inquiry would focus on overseas business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter Biden.
The 52-year-old is already under federal investigation, but has so far not faced any charges.
The younger Biden is not involved with the administration in any capacity.
But top Republicans insist their inquiry will determine the extent of Joe Biden’s alleged involvement in his son’s business dealings, including during the elder Biden’s time as vice-president.
In an interim report released at a press conference on Thursday, they argued that the president had lied to the American people about his alleged involvement in his family’s business dealings.
“The president’s participation in enriching his family is, in a word, abuse of the highest order,” said James Comer, the incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
“I want to be clear: this is an investigation of Joe Biden, and that’s where our focus will be next Congress.”
They accused Hunter Biden of crimes including tax evasion and wire fraud, but did not announce any immediate plans to summon him to testify.
Christopher Clark, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, told the BBC his client had no comment about the Republican announcement.
Mr Comer was joined at the press conference by congressman Jim Jordan, who is expected to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
The Ohio Republican later tweeted: “The Biden Family’s business deals are a national security threat.”
What we know about Biden-Ukraine corruption claims
Officials with the Democratic National Committee have hit back by circulating a memo that refers to Mr Comer, a Kentucky congressman, as “a Trump apologist who has made clear that his phony investigations are political exercises designed to hurt President Biden”.
The White House said the inquiries were politically motivated.
Spokesman Ian Sams said: “Instead of working with President Biden to address issues important to the American people, like lower costs, congressional Republicans’ top priority is to go after President Biden with politically motivated attacks chock-full of long-debunked conspiracy theories.”
A report released by Senate Republicans in September 2020 found that Hunter Biden had “cashed in” on his father’s position, but the findings did not implicate his father in wrongdoing.
The newly announced investigation is one of many that House Republicans could lead. Others include the Biden administration’s troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The select committee investigating the 6 January 2021 riot by Trump supporters on Capitol Hill will be dissolved when the new Congress takes over.
Rank-and-file Republican lawmakers have nominated Kevin McCarthy, the current minority leader, as their choice for House Speaker when a new Congress convenes in January.
If elected, the California congressman would succeed long-time Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who announced on Thursday that she is stepping down from her leadership post.
Mr McCarthy has suggested that a Republican majority will pull back on funding for Ukraine, but he must contend with a narrow majority in the chamber.
Democrats will meanwhile retain power in the Senate, the upper chamber of Congress.
Few leaders can claim the familiarity Biden and Xi have with each other – the first of their many meetings came in 2011, just before then-Vice-President Biden was asked by President Obama to try to establish a rapport with the incoming Chinese leader.
But a great deal has changed since those friendly, exploratory encounters, a time when Biden said the US did not fear but welcomed the rise of China.
Back then differences over human rights and trade could be managed more easily behind the broader consensus over issues like the need to promote economic recovery from the 2008 financial crash and countering terrorism.
Over his ten years in power Xi Jinping has turned out to be a more ruthless, authoritarian and nationalist leader than expected, determined to restore his country’s status as a world power and to resist what he sees as US efforts to contain and encircle China, perhaps eventually even to overthrow its one-party system.
As president Biden’s descriptions of Xi have been much harsher: “He doesn’t have a democratic bone in his body”.
So what hope, in this frosty superpower stand-off, is there for any progress at this first face-to-face meeting of the Biden presidency?
Biden seems to be putting his faith in straight-talking – outlining clearly what the US red lines are over most of all Taiwan, but also the Russian invasion of Ukraine, nuclear weapons and many other disagreements – and in using the residue of their past, easier familiarity to rebuild trust, and in a conviction that both sides need and want to avoid a dangerous escalation.
He is a stronger figure now after the results of the US mid-term elections, though will still be viewed by the Chinese side as a leader with probably only two years left in power. He has insisted that for all his willingness to listen, he will not be offering concessions at this meeting.
And Xi, after entrenching his power indefinitely after last month’s Communist Party Congress? His goals, and readiness to overcome his mistrust of the US are much harder to guess.
Joko Widodo, the president of Indonesia and G20 host, met with president of the United States Joe Biden.
Jokowi, as he is known, expressed his hopes that the G20 would “produce concrete cooperation that will help the recovery of the global economy”.
In response Biden said he looked forward to Widodo – his “good friend” – visiting the White House in May. He described Indonesia as a vibrant and critical partner.
Indonesia and US were “two of the largest democracies in the world” and could help uphold the international order, he said.
He also mentioned US investment in Indonesian transport and clean energy projects.
Jokowi hopes to play chief dealmaker at the G20 – can he do it?
Prior to his meeting with Xi, Biden is trying to be accommodative, but there has been a noticeable thawing of the relationship.
China faces an ongoing trade war with the US and a fresh attempt to deny China access to high-end American chip-making technology that, according to some commentators, is designed to slow China’s rise “at any price”.
Beijing argues that the chill is being driven by America’s desire to maintain its position as the pre-eminent world power.
President Joe Biden’s National Security Strategydefines Beijing as a bigger threat to the existing world order than Moscow. And Washington has begun to talk about a Chinese invasion of democratic Taiwan as an increasingly realistic prospect rather than a distant possibility.
This is a long way from the days when both US and Chinese leaders would declare that mutual enrichment would eventually outweigh ideological differences and tensions between an established superpower and a rising one.
Read more from the BBC’s John Sudworth here – Can the US live in Xi Jinping’s world?
The Melia hotel, where Biden and Xi will have their first face-to-face meeting in about two hours, is starting to fill with reporters from across the world.
While a row of flags is being positioned, images of the meeting room’s setup are purportedly being shown on Chinese official media.
JUST IN: Chinese President Xi Jinping has landed in Bali and is expected to meet his US counterpart Joe Biden later today. This will be their first in person meeting since Mr Biden took up the presidency about two years ago. Flurry of activity at the meeting venue pic.twitter.com/jsIKQbUMWZ
Another blow has been delivered to Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program.
The Washington Post reports that a federal judge in Texas ruled in favor of the Job Creators Network Foundation, a conservative advocacy group that sued to stop Biden from fulfilling the plan. Two plaintiffs are behind the suit: one who has student loans and doesn’t qualify for the $20,000 relief and a second who is completely unqualified.
According to the group’s lawsuit, the administration breached federal policy by not giving borrowers the chance to comment on the debt relief program before announcing it. U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman asserted that the program is unconstitutional.
“In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone. Instead, we are ruled by a Constitution that provides for three distinct and independent branches of government.” He added that the program is “an unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s legislative power.”
The plaintiffs said in their case that qualifications for Biden’s plan were inconsistent. With the loan program, single borrowers who make up to $125,000 per year or married borrowers who make up to $250,000 could eliminate $10,000 in federal student debt. Those who received Pell Grants could have another $10,000 forgiven.
One of the plaintiffs, Alexander Taylor, qualified for $10,000 in relief but not the full $20,000 since he wasn’t a Pell recipient. Myra Brown, the second plaintiff, is unfit for the program because her federal loans are held by private companies, making her ineligible for the relief program.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to Pittman’s declaration, saying, “We strongly disagree with the District Court’s ruling on our student debt relief program and the Department of Justice has filed an appeal. The President and this Administration are determined to help working and middle-class Americans get back on their feet, while our opponents — backed by extreme Republican special interests — sued to block millions of Americans from getting much-needed relief.”
She added that the Biden administration will keep the information of the 26 million people who applied “so it can quickly process their relief once we prevail in court.”
US President Joe Biden has expressed relief after Democrats fended off major Republican gains in the midterms.
Republicans are inching towards control of the House of Representatives, but Mr Biden noted that a “giant red wave” did not materialise on Tuesday night.
Either party could still win the Senate, which hinges on three races that are too close to call.
The party in power, currently the Democrats, usually suffers losses in a president’s first midterm elections.
Republican strategists had been hopeful of sweeping victories, given that inflation is at a 40-year-high and Mr Biden’s approval ratings are relatively low.
But exit poll data suggests voters may have punished Republicans for their efforts to restrict access to abortion.
Speaking at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Biden said the results so far had made him breathe a “sigh of relief”.
“It was a good day, I think, for democracy,” he said.
He added that his optimism had been vindicated, and ribbed journalists who had predicted heavy Democratic losses.
Buoyed by the better-than-expected night, Mr Biden said he plans to stand for re-election in 2024. “Our intention is to run again, that’s been our intention,” Mr Biden, who turns 80 this month, told reporters.
Republicans, meanwhile, were closing in on the 218 seats they need to wrest control of the House from Democrats.
If Republicans win either chamber of Congress, they will be able to block the president’s agenda. The White House is also braced for congressional investigations into the Biden administration.
Mr Biden said he was prepared to work with Republicans and would host bipartisan talks next week.
But the president also said he believed the American people would view any Republican-led inquiries as “almost comedy”.
