Page 12 - Us President

Prez Biden surpasses Trump's record for blacklisting chinese entities

In February, the US added eight companies to the entity list, quietly taking Biden past Trump's record, with six more added this week

US officials raise commercial, market access issues with China in meeting

Washington has raised concerns with Beijing for years over restricted access to the Chinese market for US companies

Prez Biden faces protest over support for Israel during White House meeting

US President Joe Biden has faced protests over the conflict in Gaza all over the country, but this week he confronted one inside the White House itself. The occasion was a private meeting on Tuesday where Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and national security leaders could hear from Muslim Americans about their concerns involving the war between Israel and Hamas. Shortly after the conversation began, a Palestinian American doctor from Chicago named Thaer Ahmad who has volunteered in Gaza announced that he was walking out. Before leaving, Ahmad presented the president with a letter from an orphaned 8-year-old girl in Rafah, a city that Israel plans to target next. He included a photo. Ahmad said Biden's response to his protest was muted. He said, I understand,'" the doctor recalled. Biden's support for Israel's military operations in Gaza, including the sale of US weapons, has angered Muslim Americans. The war began on Oct 7 when Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in a surprise ...

US President Biden hails $20 bn for Intel, says Trump lost jobs to China

"Unlike my predecessor, I was determined to turn things around, to invest in America, all of America, all Americans. And that's what we've been doing," Biden said

Biden's budget proposal for second term offers tax breaks for families

President Joe Biden on Monday released a budget proposal aimed at getting voters' attention: It would offer tax breaks for families, lower health care costs, smaller deficits and higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Unlikely to pass the House and Senate to become law, the proposal for fiscal 2025 is an election year blueprint about what the future could hold if Biden and enough of his fellow Democrats win in November. The president and his aides previewed parts of his budget going into last week's State of the Union address, and they provided the fine print on Monday. If the Biden budget became law, deficits could be pruned $3 trillion over a decade. It would raise tax revenues by a total of $4.9 trillion over that period and use roughly $1.9 trillion to fund various programs, with the rest going to deficit reduction. The president traveled Monday to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he called on Congress to apply his $2,000 cap on drug costs and $35 insulin to everyone, not

Former US ambassador Nikki Haley ends presidential campaign: Report

Haley's decision to suspend her campaign comes a day after Super Tuesday, when Trump beat her soundly in 14 of the 15 Republican nominating contests

Hamas vows to press on with Gaza ceasefire talks as situation worsens

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday it was in the hands of Hamas whether to accept a deal on the table for a ceasefire in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages

Biden continues to be fit for duty, says his physician after health checkup

Joe Biden "continues to be fit for duty" and "fully executes" all of his responsibilities, his physician has said after an annual health checkup, asserting that the 81-year-old US President does not have any major health concerns. The White House on Wednesday shared a memo with President Biden's current health summary following his annual routine physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre. Biden, whose health has been under scrutiny ahead of November's presidential election, underwent the assessment on Wednesday. He continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations, Dr Kevin O'Connor, physician to the US President, wrote in a memo shared with reporters. Biden's annual medical checkup included speciality consultation with several Presidential Specialty Consultants. These specialities included Optometry, Dentistry, Orthopedics (Foot and Ankle), Orthopedics (Spine), Physical Therapy, Neurology, Sleep ...

US Prez Biden issues exec order to shield Americans' sensitive data

President Joe Biden on Wednesday is signing an executive order aimed at better protecting Americans' personal data on everything from biometrics and health records to finances and geolocation from foreign adversaries like China and Russia. The attorney general and other federal agencies are to prevent the large-scale transfer of Americans' personal data to what the White House calls countries of concern, while erecting safeguards around other activities that can give those countries access to people's sensitive data. The goal is to do so without limiting legitimate commerce around data, senior Biden administration officials said on a call with reporters. Biden's move targets commercial data brokers, the sometimes shadowy companies that traffic in personal data and that officials say may sell information to foreign adversaries or US entities controlled by those countries. Most eventual enforcement mechanisms still have to clear complicated and often monthslong rulemaking processes.

Biden summons congressional leaders to WH to talk about Ukraine funding

President Joe Biden will convene the top four congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday to press lawmakers on passing an emergency aid package for Ukraine and Israel, as well as averting a looming government shutdown next month, according to a White House official. The top four leaders include House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. During the meeting, the president will discuss the "urgency" of passing the aid package, which has bipartisan support, as well as legislation to keep the federal government operating through the end of September, said the White House official, who was granted anonymity to discuss a meeting not yet publicly confirmed. The Republican-led House is under pressure to pass the USD 95 billion national security package that bolsters aid for Ukraine, Israel as well as the Indo-Pacific. That legislation cleared the ...

Intel in talks with Biden admin for more than $10 bn in subsidies

Intel climbed as much as 1.1 per cent in late trading Friday after Bloomberg reported the news. The stock was down 13 per cent this year through the close

Biden to host Polish prez, prime minister on March 12, Nato anniversary

US President Joe Biden will host Poland's President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk for a meeting in Washington on March 12, the 25th anniversary of Poland's joining the NATO Alliance, the White House said Thursday. A statement from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the leaders will reaffirm their unwavering support for Ukraine's defense against Russia's brutal war of conquest. The struggle is taking place across Poland's eastern border, on NATO's eastern flank. The declaration of support has special significant now, when political infighting in US Congress is stalling approval of a USD 60 billion aid package for Kyiv. The meeting will underscore that Washington and Warsaw share an ironclad commitment to the NATO Alliance, which makes us all safer, the statement said, adding that the three leaders will coordinate ahead of the NATO Summit in Washington in July. Poland last year spent some 4% of its GDP on defense and has earmarked some 3.1% of its 2024 GDP for the

Biden calls on snack cos to stop 'shrinkflation', calls practice a rip-off

"Give me a break. The American public is tired of being played for suckers. I'm calling on companies to put a stop to this. Let's make sure businesses do the right thing now," he said.

Indo-Pacific strategy has enhanced security, prosperity: White House

The execution of Indo-Pacific Strategy has made the United States and the key region more secure and more prosperous, and expanded the bilateral partnership with India in unprecedented ways, the White House said Friday. Addressing the media on the second anniversary of the launch of the landmark foreign policy strategy of the Biden administration, Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House, said "the United States has never been in a stronger position in the Indo-Pacific". "Over the past two years, we have made historic progress in advancing an Indo-Pacific that is free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient. Thanks to President Biden's leadership, the United States has never been in a stronger position in the Indo-Pacific," she said. In the two years since the launch of the Indo-Pacific Strategy, the US has reinvested and revitalized its alliances and partnerships and taken them to new heights, Watson said. "We have deepene

Special counsel finds evidence Biden willfully mishandled classified info

A special counsel report released Thursday found evidence that President Joe Biden willfully retained and shared highly classified information when he was a private citizen, including about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, but concluded that criminal charges were not warranted. The report from special counsel Robert Hur resolves a criminal investigation that had shadowed Biden's presidency for the last year. But its bitingly critical assessment of his handling of sensitive government records and unflattering characterizations of his memory will spark fresh questions about his competency and age that cut at voters' most deep-seated concerns about his candidacy for re-election. Beyond that, the harsh findings will almost certainly blunt his ability to forcefully condemn Donald Trump, Biden's likely opponent in November's presidential election, over a criminal indictment charging the former president with illegally hoarding classified records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in ...

Trump deploys his playbook against women, for now, it's Nikki Haley

Hillary Clinton. Nancy Pelosi. Kamala Harris. Liz Cheney. Carly Fiorina. And for now, Nikki Haley. The former South Carolina governor is the latest in a long line of women historically some of Republican Donald Trump's most stubborn challengers for whom the former president saves a special playbook. It's centered around intimidation, combined with a now-familiar brand of vulgarity, nicknames and other insults he deploys for men, too. But where he tries to emasculate his male opponents, Trump works in put-downs about the appearance of women, their emotional balance and their intelligence. He mispronounces their names. He seemed to confuse two politicians who are women. And he questions their right to challenge him. Trump's nickname for Haley, a Republican who served as his own ambassador to the United Nations, is Birdbrain." Who the hell was the impostor?" Trump railed after the New Hampshire primary against Haley, who acknowledged his victory but has refused to drop out of the GO

If you harm an American, we will respond: Biden on Iraq, Syria strikes

Following strikes in Iraq and Syria, US President Joe Biden released a statement saying that the US does not seek a conflict in the Middle East but if any American is harmed, the country will respond

I am the only candidate who can avert 'Trump-Biden nightmare': Nikki Haley

Indian-American Nikki Haley, who finished third in the Iowa caucuses, has said that she is the only Republican candidate who could take on frontrunner Donald Trump and incumbent President Joe Biden and avert a "Trump-Biden nightmare". The Iowa caucuses on Monday formally kicked off the beginning of the long process by which the Republicans and Democrats choose their nominees for the presidential election on November 5. Haley, the former US Ambassador to the UN, came a close third with nearly 20 per cent of the votes polled. Former US president Trump won the caucus with more than 50 per cent of the votes, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came in second with 21 per cent. Fellow Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy secured 7.7 per cent of the total votes polled and suspended his presidential campaign. The two-time South Carolina governor said her presidential campaign is the best hope to avert a rematch between Trump and incumbent President Biden, a Democrat, in the presidential ...

Austin should have informed about his hospitalisation: President Biden

President Joe Biden said Friday that it was a lapse in judgment for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin not to tell him about his hospitalization last week, but he still has confidence in his Pentagon chief. Speaking to reporters as he toured local businesses outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, Biden said yes when asked if it was a lapse in judgment for Austin not to tell him about his condition. He replied, I do, when asked if he still had confidence in Austin's leadership. Austin, 70, remains hospitalized as he is being treated for complications from prostate cancer surgery. His failure to disclose his hospitalization has been sharply criticized by members of both political parties and has led to some calls for his resignation. Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Dec. 22 and underwent surgery to treat the cancer, which was detected earlier in the month during a routine screening. He developed an infection a week later and was hospitalized Jan. 1 and ...

Donald Trump's arguments for immunity not as hopeless as some claim

Commentators have described his immunity arguments as "frivolous" and "absurd." But such accounts underestimate the arguments' weight and at times misconstrue them