Dan Patrick vowed Friday to never let the state turn Democratic, calling himself the "last man standing" electorally against future Democratic presidential candidates. Texas has 38 electoral votes, the most of any reliably Republican state and the second-most of any state next to California, which is a reliably Democratic state with 55 electoral votes. Texas last voted for a Democrat in a presidential election in 1976, when Jimmy Carter beat Gerald Ford. The last four presidential elections before that in Texas were double-digit wins for the Republican candidates. Fox Nation is a sponsor of CPAC and will be streaming live speeches from the most influential conservatives at CPAC 2021: America Uncanceled.

With the COVID-19 vaccination rate plateauing across the country, the White House is returning fire at those they see as spreading harmful misinformation or fear about the shots. Henry McMaster tried this week to block door-to-door efforts to drive up the vaccination rate in his state, White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not mince words in her reaction. “Now we need to go to community-by-community, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, and oftentimes, door-to-door — literally knocking on doors — to get help to the remaining people” who need to be vaccinated, Biden said Tuesday. White House officials are quick to point out that their criticism is not related to the officials’ political affiliation but to their rhetoric. They credit effective communication and leadership on the vaccines by GOP officials including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Arkansas Gov.

South Texas is once again seeing a surge of migrants crossing the Rio Grande, our border with Mexico. But his sudden decision to pick up where former President Donald Trump left off with a border wall — using state dollars — is terribly misguided. The idea that Texas should add to a border wall is foolish and ridiculously costly. Our border problem lies in Washington, not in South Texas. Texans, including Abbott, should support solutions that actually work and abandon billion-dollar political props such as an ineffective border wall.

Right-wing scaremongering about the COVID-19 vaccine hit a fever pitch this week, from Fox News to some of the conservative movement's more fringe characters, with pundits placing particular emphasis on the apparent connection between President Biden's vaccine rollout and Nazi Germany. "The Biden Administration wants to knock on your door to see if you're vaccinated," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, tweeted . pic.twitter.com/gKXzogwM2C — Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) July 8, 2021Freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., called the officials handling Biden's vaccine push "medical brown shirts." Meanwhile, Charlie Kirk, the founder of conservative youth advocacy group Turning Point USA, eschewed a Nazi-era comparison, instead calling Biden's vaccination push an "apartheid-style, open-air hostage situation." Conservative vaccine hesitancy, fueled by this militant anti-vaccine messaging, remains strong — despite pleas from numerous Republican governors to get vaccinated.

Donald Trump is doing Dallas on Sunday, his second appearance at a CPAC conclave since leaving the White House. A committee formed to deal with the unusual request negotiated a price so potentially embarrassing to Trump he insisted on an NDA. Trump’s grifting nature and need to outsmart the chumps is so deeply ingrained, he’s actually making money off his ex-presidency. ”For the whole of his life, Trump has counted on other people doing the right thing—like paying their taxes—so there’s no need for him to do the same. When he can spare the time out of the limelight, he will be able to, gulp, build a library automatically branded Trump.

Video shows the terrifying moment a carnival ride in Michigan spun out of control — as festival goers rushed to stabilize the dangerous attraction. When the ride finally stopped, the crowd cheered as riders disembarked and hugged their friends and family. No one was injured, and the ride was dismantled by the next morning, according to UpNorthLive News. Festival organizers and Arnold Amusements, Inc., who reportedly provided the ride, did not comment on the mayhem Friday. President Biden visited a farm near the festival last weekend, and cherry-picked safer activities like chatting with voters and eating ice cream.

Former President Donald Trump called on “RINO Republicans” to stop working on a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan, warning that they are “just being played by the Radical Left Democrats.”“[T]hey will give you nothing!” Trump said in a statement issued late Friday. That move would enable Senate Democrats to skirt the legislative filibuster and force their legislation through with just 51 votes. “We’ve added quite enough to the national debt.”Republicans have insisted that the legislation not be paid for by undoing the 2017 tax cuts enacted by Trump, a point the 45th president emphasized Friday night. Former President Donald Trump called on GOP senators to stop working the bipartisan infrastructure plan. “Keep the Trump Administrations [sic] tax cuts just where they are,” he added.

"Green Fraud" author Marc Morano joined "Fox News Primetime" to discuss progressive's pressuring President Biden to go soft on China's human rights abuses in favor of a climate agenda. It doesn't matter what China does in any human rights violations and any other policy all that matters is that we save the planet. This is bonkers but this is going to the American foreign policy pause the sunrise movement, union concerned scientists heavily involved. …Even as we go to the solar and wind mandates and electric car batteries, cobalt Chinese-owned factories in Africa are being run by these Chinese companies with human rights abuses allegations of underage laborers. So this is not just human rights abuses in China but looking at them in Africa as China essentially is buying up Africa now.

He still faces two more trialsSo there goes the media's worst presidential hopeful since Hillary. It’s not quite 3 years - which is roughly the amount of time left in Kat’s marriage, or Kilmeade's hairline. But he really got a boost from the drooling media, who saw him as their tinier hairless version of Trump. Fact is, almost all the media's handiwork is a hate crime hoax against you. This article is adapted from Greg Gutfeld's opening monologue on the July 9, 2021 edition of "Gutfeld!"

Back in 2015, our government’s so-called intelligence community, which is not intelligent or a community, announced that it was embarking on a new five-year mission. The point of the money was to make the intelligence community more "diverse," meaning less White and male. Let’s say Russian assassins come after our blind intel agent as he’s picking up a dead drop of microfilm in a park in East Berlin. The intelligence community hasn't really outed the identity of its most attractive wheelchair-bound spy, or its blind 007. This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the March 26, 2021 edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

along comes uber-right Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) with a warning Friday that health care workers coming to homes to vaccinate people could also be out to grab Americans’ guns and Bibles. “Now they’re talking about going door-to-door to take vaccines to the people,” Cawthorn complained in an interview with the Right Side Broadcast Network at CPAC in Dallas, adding that the plan would require a “massive” operation. Madison Cawthorn says Democrats are going to go door-to-door to every home in America and force vaccinate us, and it’s actually a dry run for when they show up to take away our guns and Bibles. — Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) July 9, 2021Madison Cawthorn says today that Biden’s plan to send people door to door to offer vaccines is really a plot to confiscate people’s bibles and guns. pic.twitter.com/h6CPdJwv9t — Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 9, 2021Madison Cawthorn said we are going to be going door to door to take people's guns and bibles?

Rachel Maddow reports on a new executive order from President Biden that is meant to boost competition across the economy in a way that benefits workers, but includes measures to make life easier for consumers as well.

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday the U.S. would take "any necessary action" to defend its people and infrastructure following the latest ransomware attack by a Russia-linked group that compromised as many as 1,500 businesses worldwide. The conversation comes as Biden has faced calls to retaliate against Russia over a ransomware attack on the software provider Kaseya, the latest in a string of breaches on U.S companies. He said there would be consequences if the Russian president did not act to curb the ongoing cyberattacks on the U.S. and elsewhere but seemed to predict it wouldn't come down to that. As many as 1,500 companies across the U.S., Europe and Asia were affected by the the latest attack. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden warns Putin to crack down on Russian ransomware attacks

A White House statement announcing the hourlong call also highlighted a U.S.-Russian agreement that will allow humanitarian aid to flow into Syria. In his call with Putin, besides reiterating the need for Russia to take action and that the U.S. stands ready to act in response, Biden also “emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware," the White House said. Biden told reporters that the U.S. and Russia have "set up a means of communication now on a regular basis to be able to communicate with one another when each of us thinks something is happening in another country that affects the home country. And so it went well. I’m optimistic.”In its own summary of the call, the Kremlin said “Putin noted that despite the Russian side’s readiness to jointly stop criminal activities in the information sphere, U.S. agencies haven’t made any requests during the past month.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner's resignation, the White House said. Biden asked commissioner Andrew Saul to resign, and his employment was terminated Friday after he refused the Democratic president's request, a White House official said. Deputy Commissioner David Black agreed to resign, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Biden named Kilolo Kijakazi as acting commissioner while the administration conducts a search for a permanent commissioner and deputy commissioner. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration.

Advertising Read moreThe two leaders held an hour-long phone call on Friday, their first since they discussed ransomware attacks at a summit in Geneva on June 16. Biden's message to Putin in the call was direct, suggesting a growing impatience over attacks that have disrupted key U.S. sectors. The United States has not indicated how it plans to respond to the attacks emanating from Russia, but Biden hinted at digital retaliation if Russian cooperation was not forthcoming. Biden told reporters there would be consequences to Russian inaction, but gave no details. Moscow and Washington disagreed over whether the United States had formally sought Russian assistance to rein in ransomware attacks.

KABUL: Taliban officials said on Friday the insurgent group had taken control of 85 per cent of territory in Afghanistan, and international concern mounted over problems getting medicines and supplies into the country. However, local Afghan officials said Taliban fighters, emboldened by the withdrawal, had captured an important district in Herat province, home to tens of thousands of minority Shia Hazaras. Three visiting Taliban officials sought to address those concerns during a visit to Moscow. He said, “you and the entire world community have probably recently learned that 85pc of the territory of Afghanistan has come under the control” of the Taliban. In Afghanistan, a prominent anti-Taliban commander said he would support efforts by Afghan forces to claw back control of parts of western Afghanistan, including a border crossing with Iran.

However, in a rare display of honesty, another Fox News anchor delivered some factual information about the Biden outreach program. Gillian Turner interviewed Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen and presented him with what the program is actually doing. Thiessen, however, wasn't moved:Turner: In the Biden administration's defense, they're insisting with this door-to-door strategy they're not showing up with needles. x Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen complains that Trump wasn't included in the PSA featuring the other living former presidents promoting the vaccines. Thiessen went on to complain that Trump wasn't included in a public service ad that featured all of the living former presidents promoting the vaccine.

"The Conservative Political Action Conference is the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world. plan to restore Donald J. Trump in days, not years,” which involves installing Trump as speaker and ousting Biden & Harris. The value form of a commodity contrasts with its physical features as a 'use value' or good - e.g. x QAnon shirts are being sold at CPAC Dallas for $25. Some degree of confrontation is more than likely this weekend in Dallas, where Trump himself will deliver the keynote address on Sunday afternoon.

Madison Cawthorn, making the rounds at CPAC today. I cover Madison Cawthorn’s latest antics almost weekly at North Carolina Open Thread and DKos Asheville. x Madison Cawthorn says today that Biden’s plan to send people door to door to offer vaccines is really a plot to confiscate people’s bibles and guns. 5:40More CawthornNorth Carolina Open Thread: Covid resurgence, Farm Act, CRT, Medical marijuana, Cawthorn's CornerNorth Carolina Open Thread: Cawthorn's world and moreDKos Asheville Open Thread: Reparations, Elder John Hayes dies, Cawthorn's Corner and Things to doNorth Carolina Open Thread: Deadly force disparity, Tillis treason, Nikole Hannah-Jones, CawthornNorth Carolina Open Thread: Justice, Child marriage, Art Pope, NC Trumpism and Cawthorn's CornerAll U.S. House districts, including the 11th Congressional District of North Carolina, are holding elections in 2022. General election candidatesNote: The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 9, 2021x President Biden: "Capitalism without competition isn't capitalism. — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 9, 2021x President Biden is nominating Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to be Ambassador to India. https://t.co/6Q4YSENmOY — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 9, 2021CHARLOTTESVILLEx CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Charlottesville says on Saturday it plans to remove statue of Confederate Gen. Lee that drew white supremacists to city. — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 9, 2021NEW YORKx NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. public health officials say vaccinated teachers and students don't need to wear masks inside school buildings. @playbookdc — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 9, 2021

This week President Biden discussed his administration's outreach program aimed at getting more people vaccinated against the coronavirus. The details were presented by Press Secretary Jen Psaki at the Daily Briefing on Tuesday. Needless to say, that crackpot conspiracy exists only the minds of Kilmeade, his Fox confederates, and their dimwitted viewers. Let me first say that the failure to provide accurate public health information, including the efficacy of vaccines and the accessibility of them to people across the country, including So. But I would say that what this is, and what this is not, it is not federal employees going door-to-door.

As everyone here knows, President Biden set a goal of 70% of American adults aged 18+ getting at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot by July 4. I’ll be happy to check in 6-7 weeks, although hopefully we’ll have hit 70% adults with one jab before then. The beer industry modestly (or in one case to be mentioned, maybe not so modestly) did its part to try encourage Americans to get closer to that goal, with different variations of a “beer and a shot” campaign, i.e. free beer upon proof of vaccination. Self the loser mentioned 5 weeks ago in this FNBB about NJ’s “Shot and a Beer” campaign, with many NJ craft breweries participating.

“Pursuing that goal includes reducing the factors contributing to domestic terrorism. But elsewhere, the Strategy shows a reliance on the FBI’s deeply flawed approach to categorizing domestic terrorist threats. This is a structural problem that was created in 2017, when Congress first began demanding that the FBI explain its categorization of domestic terrorism and report back with data. … By 2017, the FBI had invented a new domestic terrorism program category it called the “Black Identity Extremism movement”. But there’s not a lot in the Strategy that requires them to actually focus on violence.”The key, he says, will lay in whether the Biden administration can reshape an agency with a long history of resisting efforts to confront far-right domestic terrorism.

2016 is the Flight 93 election: charge the cockpit or you die. You—or the leader of your party—may make it into the cockpit and not know how to fly or land the plane. Even the White House press corps misses the chaos. “I think everyone probably misses the ease of it, having so many willing leakers,” said the young White House reporter. It claims credit for the economic progress the country has made and tells the Chinese people to be grateful.

Sinema and Manchin are tools. That’s what Rick Santorum, Andy Biggs, and other white supremacists were saying to a room full of right-wing extremists. They beg them to flood Sinema and Manchin with calls thanking them for saving the filibuster. There were no calls for bi-partisanship when the GOP had full control of the federal government, or when they packed our courts. Manchin and Sinema are either incredibly naïve or truly don’t care about the people who are suffering and will continue to suffer under GOP rule.

I don’t know about y’all, but the first post-Turd Reich Independence Day felt pretty dang sweet to this masked drunkard. But then, just in the nick of time, along came critical race theory. And no, they couldn’t correctly define “critical race theory” if their lives depended on it, but I’m sure you’ve noticed, as the list of shit the American Right gets objectively wrong lengthens, their devotion to their disinformers only grows more fervent. Anyway, definitions are for cucks, these kids know CRT when they see it, and they see it absolutely fucking EVERYWHERE. Speaking of which HOLY CRAP LOOK OVER THERE IT’S CRITICAL RACE THEORY!

But first:Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Interceptor7, Magnifico, annetteboardman, jck, and Besame. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time. From Artsy:8 Artists Who’ve Had Breakout Moments at Auction This Summer Colin Gleadell ) clocked up £313 million ($433.7 million) in 10 sales last week. London’s modern and contemporary art sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s (with only a smattering of Impressionists ) clocked up £313 million ($433.7 million) in 10 sales last week.

CNBC is reporting here that Biden has fired Andrew Saul — the Donnie Deathcount appointee to head the Social Secuirty Adminstration who refused to resign. BTW< Saul is refusing to leave and says he “will sign back in to work Monday”. Wonder what he will do when his passwords and card keys don’t work and his email address is cancelled? Oh, Saul claims this will leave “the agency in complete turmoil”. I think that turmoil is actually the sound of a massive sigh of relief.

"We're in a competition with China and other countries to win the 21st Century," the president said to a standing ovation. In its first 100 days, the Biden administration is trying to convey to China the message: "Don't underestimate the United States. © APThe Biden administration has repeatedly made clear that an important piece of America's plan to win the great power competition with China is bolstering its alliances. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive Democrat from Vermont, greets President Biden in the House Chamber on April 28. © APThe Biden administration is still in the midst of a lengthy policy review of U.S. strategy on China.

Biden's visit gave Rep. Underwood an opportunity to tout Democratic successes on the American Rescue Plan along with what she plans to continue fighting for moving forward. "The American Rescue Plan saved our economy and it spared us from even worse hardship," Underwood said in a statement. x When we invest in families, we invest in our children’s futures, our communities, and the economy. I was so honored to welcome @POTUS to our community to discuss the American Families Plan at McHenry County College. pic.twitter.com/hY8UcuwULs — Rep. Lauren Underwood (@RepUnderwood) July 8, 2021x In our community, the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan would help create a brighter economic future for everyone.

Today in the news: Calls coming to get our allies from Afghanistan out as soon as possible. Republicans and their media allies can’t stop lying about vaccines. Toyota finally reversed its despicable decision to donate money to elected insurrectionists. Texas restricted abortion … and then some. President Biden continues to take actions to help American workers.

In 2012, back in my reporter days, an ICE spokesperson told me that they didn’t detain pregnant women at all. “Several women report being ignored by detention staff when requesting medical attention or experiencing serious delays even during health emergencies involving severe bleeding and pain,” the complaint said. Teresa, one woman described in the report, was four months pregnant when she suffered a miscarriage while in detention. Yet ICE detention numbers have nearly doubled from April, despite pleas from lawmakers and advocates that it not again detain immigrants released due to the pandemic. ICE is endangering thousands through its actions, because it still has no official, nationwide vaccination plan in place.

And nine-in-ten Americans say China does not respect the personal freedoms of its people. Only on human rights-related issues – both the perception that China’s human rights policies are a major problem and support for promoting human rights in China – do Democrats and Republicans largely agree. Nearly two-thirds of conservative Republicans say China is an enemy (64%), while only 37% of moderate or liberal Republicans say the same. By a nearly four-to-one ratio, Americans think China has done a bad job handling climate change, with 45% saying China has done a very bad job. When asked whether the U.S. should prioritize economic relations with China or promote human rights in China, 70% of Americans choose human rights, even if it potentially harms economic relations with China.

The Covid-19 pandemic originated in the city of Wuhan, in China, in November or December of 2019. It’s the only lab in the country with Biosafety Level 4 facilities, the most secure on the BSL scale. Some scientists at that lab in Wuhan were doing coronavirus research under a lesser security grade, BSL-2 as opposed to BSL-4. These can be places where viruses evolve as they move from animal to animal. OK: Does that mean Covid-19 might have somehow leaked out of a laboratory to become a global scourge?

Now, though, the lab leak hypothesis seems to have found new life. On Tuesday, the World Health Organization released a joint report with Beijing on the origins of the pandemic following a four-week investigation in China. It concluded, among other things, that the lab leak hypothesis was "extremely unlikely." But WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he does not believe the team's assessment of the lab leak possibility was extensive enough. In a joint statement, they did not mention the lab leak theory, but the Biden administration hasn't ruled it out.

Two in five Democrats (43%) believe it’s probably true the virus had a laboratory beginning, a 10-point increase since last year (33%). Two-thirds of Independents (65%) now think the coronavirus originated from a laboratory in China, up 17 points from last year. Former President Trump has asserted since April 2020 that the coronavirus originated in a laboratory in China, but he did not provide evidence for the statements. About one in five Democrats (21%) believe the coronavirus emerged via natural mutation in the wild, something just 4% of Republicans stand behind. More Republicans approve of the Democratic president’s handling of COVID-19 than approve of his overall job performance.

A vast majority of voters support U.S. action against China if evidence is found proving that the coronavirus was leaked from a Wuhan lab, a new Hill-HarrisX poll finds. Eighty-three percent of registered voters in the May 30-June 1 survey said they support the U.S. government taking action towards China if new intelligence reveals that COVID-19 originated in a lab in the city, while 17 percent of respondents oppose any action. The Hill-HarrisX survey found strong support from voters across party lines to impose action on China if new evidence reveals the lab leak theory to be true. Eighty-seven percent of Republicans, 83 percent of Democrats, and 80 percent of independents said the U.S. should take action against China in that event. Only 18% would respond with sanctions on senior Chinese leadership and 6% want to boycott the 2022 Olympics,” Nesho added.

Wuhan Institute of Virology. I am confident that science will eventually prevail by discovering the progenitor virus in nature one day!" The scientist noted that some clips of the video "unearthed" by Markson were taken from a publicity video released by the WIV in 2017. "Yet the scientist faced explosive claims on social media after he changed his conclusion. Scientists worldwide should stand together to work on this issue, as well as hobble those who wants to squeeze on this topic for their own purposes, the epidemiologists said.

AdvertisementYet the report offered no evidence linking the patients’ illness to COVID-19 research at the Wuhan lab. Biden’s directive to the intelligence agencies has been taken as a virtual endorsement of the laboratory origin claim. But the history of virological outbreaks points strongly toward a “zoonotic” transfer of the COVID-19 virus — that is, from animals to humans. The lab-leak theory gains from a superficial plausibility — especially to laypersons. AdvertisementAnother reason for journalistic skepticism was that many professional virologists labeled the lab-leak theory as implausible from the first.

Bad Faith · 2021-07-05Last time Brie and Virgil spoke to Thomas Frank the 1/6 riots were ongoing in the background. We also dig into Frank's enormously popular Guardian article on the lab leak theory and what it it reveals about our media that it only now considered "acceptable" discourse. Also, Brie makes Frank listen to some Pod Save America and asks him to weigh in on Obama's seeming ignorance of his own populist charm. Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to join the Bad Faith Discord and instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcastSubscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

China reported to the World Health Organization that the first patient with Covid-like symptoms was recorded in Wuhan on December 8, 2019. The director of the Wuhan National Biosafety Lab, which is part of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, issued a strong denial of the report on Monday. The lab has not been aware of this situation, and I don't even know where such information came from." The source declined to say whether the intelligence report mentioning the hospitalized researchers was discussed during the briefing. One critical avenue to finding an answer would be to run genetic sequencing on the original samples that staff at the Wuhan lab were working on.

WASHINGTON — A U.S. intelligence report identified three researchers at a Wuhan lab who sought treatment at a hospital after falling ill in November 2019, a source familiar with the matter tells NBC News. After a year and half of looking, no such host has been identified. U.S. officials say that unless China allows more access to records and people, they may never get to the bottom of it. The P4 laboratory, left, at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on April 17, 2020. Hector Retamal / AFP - Getty Images fileIn April 2020, NBC News reported that the U.S. had indications as far back as November of a possible health crisis in Wuhan.

A previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report says three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology got sick enough to visit the hospital in November 2019, around the time the COVID-19 outbreak first appeared in its Wuhan epicenter, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The report "could add weight to growing calls for a fuller probe of whether the COVID-19 virus may have escaped from the laboratory," the Journals says. That fact sheet was based on U.S. intelligence, the Journal says. China and the WIV maintain the virus did not leak from the lab. Politics aside, Politico spoke with several experts last week — molecular biologists, virologists, and an evolutionary biologist — about the lab leak theory, and they split between arguing it's possible and explaining why it's very unlikely.

"Does it care about traceability or is it just trying to distract attention?" Asked about the report, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said via email that the organisation's technical teams were now deciding on the next steps. He said further study was needed into the role of animal markets as well as the lab leak hypothesis. A joint study into the origins of COVID-19 by the WHO and China published at the end of March said it was "extremely unlikely" that it had escaped from a lab. Reporting by David Shepardson and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Newly reported US intel found three Wuhan lab workers fell ill with COVID-19 symptoms in fall 2019. Some experts have disputed a WHO inquiry's conclusion that dismissed a coronavirus lab-leak theory. US intelligence found that three researchers at a lab in Wuhan, China, became sick with COVID-19 symptoms in November 2019 and sought hospital care, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. It was known previously that some researchers at the Wuhan lab fell ill. "The lab has not been aware of this situation [sick researchers in autumn 2019], and I don't even know where such information came from."

Wuhan, however, is home of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a leading world center for research on coronaviruses. Its authors were a group of virologists led by Kristian G. Andersen of the Scripps Research Institute. These are the two arguments made by the Andersen group in support of their declaration that the SARS2 virus was clearly not manipulated. In all of China, the pandemic broke out on the doorstep of the Wuhan institute. I have been using the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a shorthand for all virological activities in Wuhan.

Foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, said it was “completely untrue” that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) became sick in autumn 2019. The report, based on “previously undisclosed” US intelligence, said the lab staff had become sick “with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness”. “The United States continues to hype up the ‘lab-leak’ theory … Does it care about traceability or is it just trying to distract attention?” Zhao said. In January 2020, as China attempted to contain the spread of the virus, rumours began to spread amid the scramble for answers. But what many virus experts deemed a pure science issue was quickly turned into a diplomatic row, amid growing tensions between China and the United States.

There was a time when the Covid pandemic seemed to confirm so many of our assumptions. There are strong hints that some of the bat-virus research at the Wuhan lab was funded in part by the American national-medical establishment — which is to say, the lab-leak hypothesis doesn’t implicate China alone. The social media monopolies actually censored posts about the lab-leak hypothesis. *“Let us pray, now, for science,” intoned a New York Times columnist back at the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Maybe the lab-leak hypothesis will be convincingly disproven.

Send this page to someone via emailTwo men believed to be Haitian Americans — one of them purportedly a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Port au Prince — have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti’s president, Haitian officials said Thursday. The oldest suspect is 55 and the youngest, Solages, is 35, according to a document shared by Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections. Story continues below advertisementHe would not provide additional details about Solages’ background, nor provide the name of the second Haitian American. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian Americans were in custody but could not confirm or comment. 6:08 Mercenaries responsible for assassination of Haiti’s president, country’s ambassador to the U.S. says Mercenaries responsible for assassination of Haiti’s president, country’s ambassador to the U.S. saysMarco Destin, 39, was walking to see his family since no buses, known as tap-taps, were available.

A new analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) shows that the Republican-Democrat divide in COVID vaccination rates is stark — and growing. In April, according to the analysis, counties that voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election had a 20.6 percent vaccination rate while counties that voted for Joe Biden had a 22.8 percent vaccination rate. By May, the red counties had a 28.5 percent rate of vaccination while the blue counties had a 35.0 percent rate. And on July 6, KFF found, counties that went for Trump had a vaccination rate of 35.0 percent while those that went for Biden had a rate of 46.7 percent. “These findings show a widening divide of communities at risk for COVID-19 along partisan lines,” wrote KFF.

According to the report, 373,000 jobless workers applied for state unemployment benefits, a slight increase over the previous week, and an additional 99,000 filed for assistance under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)The DOL report also found that more than 14.2 million Americans were still receiving some form of unemployment payment through June 19. States that have not announced plans to terminate benefits early saw a 4 percent decline in continued unemployment claims through May. This hinders the drive to utilize the pandemic to further cut wages and increase the exploitation of the working class. Even with the temporary $300-a-week federal supplement, the combined total of state and federal benefits falls far short of meeting the basic needs of working class families.

The US bond market has been sending out signals that the much-vaunted US economic recovery could be short-lived. On Thursday, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond fell to 1.29 percent, down from a high of 1.75 percent at the end of March. Rising bond prices and the consequent fall in yields (the two have an inverse relationship) are generally taken as an indication of lower growth as investors seek a safe haven. A New York Times article noted that whereas the expectation had been for higher growth, the shift in the bond market pointed to a “reversal of that narrative” suggesting that a “period of slower growth” could lie ahead. She indicated that the lower bond yields reflected “an increasing sense of the downside risk to the global economy.”The meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers being held in Venice is expected to issue similar warnings.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said vaccinated teachers and students don’t need to wear masks inside school buildings, further loosening guidelines for reopening schools even as COVID-19 cases surge throughout the country. The CDC likewise advised schools to reopen even if they cannot guarantee three feet of distance between students. Teachers condemned the CDC’s mandate, which will inevitably lead to the deaths of students, teachers and family members. Cases and hospitalizations across the US are climbing in line with every other nation that has seen the Delta variant dominate. Yet, the CDC has advised that vaccinated people should not be tested unless they are symptomatic.

"I was doing research and studying the scholarship and who were behind these various movements, critical race theory, the current immigration movement, so-called climate change, the de-growth movement. Levin said those on the left are not "opponents" or rivals as often described but truly our "enemies." Levin said many of today's American Marxist leaders hide behind the language they have themselves altered, pointing to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is a self-described "democratic socialist." Levin also hit the Democrats' latest endeavor in education policy, Critical Race Theory. "When you look at Joe Biden and the executive orders he signs, they are the most radical cultural attacks on our system in American history.

As Ingraham reported, Sharpton appeared with other liberal activists at a White House meeting Thursday with President Biden "about the so-called horrors of state voting laws that merely target corrupt election practices with commonsense rules." "This will be a summer of activism, a summer of getting back into the streets," Sharpton announced at the White House. Ingraham noted that "getting back into the streets" did not "work out so well last summer for poor urban Americans." Ingraham responded that Sharpton is not telling the truth:"No one is eroding voting rights. "By naming their so-called voting rights bill the "For the People Act," Democrats insult the intelligence of the American people.

On Friday, July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden fired Social Security Administration Commissioner Saul after Saul refused to resign, and accepted the deputy commissioner's resignation, the White House said. On Friday, July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden fired Social Security Administration Commissioner Saul after Saul refused to resign, and accepted the deputy commissioner's resignation, the White House said. Scott Applewhite, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner’s resignation, the White House said. The labor union that represents Social Security employees also welcomed the firings. “President Biden made the right call to send these Trump appointees packing,” de Juliis said.

President Joe Biden speaks before signing an executive order aimed at promoting competition in the economy, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Friday, July 9, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)President Joe Biden speaks before signing an executive order aimed at promoting competition in the economy, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Friday, July 9, 2021, in Washington. the White House said. A White House statement announcing the hourlong call also highlighted a U.S.-Russian agreement that will allow humanitarian aid to flow into Syria. The Biden administration took office on the heels of a massive cyberespionage campaign known as SolarWinds that U.S. officials have linked to Russian intelligence operatives.

A Haitian police asks a woman to move away from a gate at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, July 9, 2021. “We definitely need assistance and we’ve asked our international partners for help,” Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph told The Associated Press in a phone interview late Friday. On Friday, a group of lawmakers declared loyalty and recognized Joseph Lambert, the head of Haiti’s dismantled senate, as provisional president in a direct challenge to the interim government’s authority. “I’m not interested in a power struggle,” said Joseph, who assumed leadership with the backing of police and the military. Prosecutors also want to interrogate members of Moïse’s security detail, including the president’s security coordinator, Jean Laguel Civil, and Dimitri Hérard, the head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace.

President Joe Biden speaks with members of the press before boarding Air Force One, Friday, July 9, 2021, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)President Joe Biden speaks with members of the press before boarding Air Force One, Friday, July 9, 2021, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP) — When grieving with those who lost loved ones in a building collapse, President Joe Biden invoked the car crash that claimed members of his own family decades ago. In the first months of his term, he has drawn on that empathy to console those who have lost loved ones, including the more than 600,000 who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic. “I could tell it’s sincere, genuine caring for people that are hurt or have lost loved ones,” he continued.

“We definitely need assistance and we’ve asked our international partners for help,” Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph told The Associated Press in a phone interview late Friday. On Friday, a group of lawmakers declared loyalty and recognized Joseph Lambert, the head of Haiti’s dismantled senate, as provisional president in a direct challenge to the interim government’s authority. Joseph expressed dismay that others would try to take advantage of Moïse’s murder for political gain. “I’m not interested in a power struggle,” said Joseph, who assumed leadership with the backing of police and the military. Prosecutors also want to interrogate members of Moïse’s security detail, including the president’s security coordinator, Jean Laguel Civil, and Dimitri Hérard, the head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace.

“After careful consideration a system has been established that allows for Hunter Biden to work in his profession within reasonable safeguards,” Psaki told reporters. Hunter Biden has now shifted his focus to the art world. “That’s part of the appearance problem.”The concern, he said, is that regardless of who purchases the paintings, such high prices suggest Hunter Biden is profiting off his father’s name. It restored a two-year ban on departing senior appointees communicating with their former agency and expanded that ban to include communications with senior White House staff. Painter said that while the agreement concerning Hunter Biden’s paintings are not ideal, the administration overall has displayed a marked improvement on ethics matters over Biden’s predecessor.

the White House said. The warning to Putin on Friday was largely a repetition of the tough rhetoric Biden had used during their meeting in Geneva last month, when he warned that there would be consequences for continuing cyberattacks emanating from Russia. ADVERTISEMENTSkip................................................................A White House statement announcing the hourlong call also highlighted a U.S.-Russian agreement that will allow humanitarian aid to flow into Syria. The Biden administration took office on the heels of a massive cyberespionage campaign known as SolarWinds that U.S. officials have linked to Russian intelligence operatives. But ransomware attacks, perpetrated generally by criminal hacker gangs rather than state-sponsored hackers, appear to have eclipsed old-fashioned spying as a potent threat.

“We definitely need assistance and we’ve asked our international partners for help,” Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph told The Associated Press in a phone interview late Friday. ADVERTISEMENTSkip................................................................On Friday, a group of lawmakers declared loyalty and recognized Joseph Lambert, the head of Haiti’s dismantled senate, as provisional president in a direct challenge to the interim government’s authority. Joseph expressed dismay that others would try to take advantage of Moïse’s murder for political gain. “I’m not interested in a power struggle,” said Joseph, who assumed leadership with the backing of police and the military. Prosecutors also want to interrogate members of Moïse’s security detail, including the president’s security coordinator, Jean Laguel Civil, and Dimitri Hérard, the head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace.

Biden draws on more than just grief. He evoked his own challenges as a single father in the aftermath of the car accident that killed his first wife and daughter and injured his two young sons. In Brussels, during his first overseas trip, Biden took a detour about his father changing jobs and neglected to deliver news of an Airbus-Boeing trade deal as planned. At a recent education event in Washington, Biden evoked both his second wife, first lady Jill Biden, a teacher, and the educators who helped him manage a childhood stutter. “They took a stuttering kid who couldn’t speak very well in school, was scared to death to be called on to read out loud,” Biden recalled.

HANOI – Vietnam has received the first shipment of 2 million doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine donated by the U.S. government, the American embassy in Hanoi said on Saturday, as the Southeast Asian country battles its worst outbreak. The shipment, delivered via the COVAX sharing facility, is part of the 80 million vaccine doses President Joe Biden committed from U.S. vaccine supplies to support global needs, the embassy said in an emailed statement. State media reports said on Saturday that half of the Moderna doses would be funnelled to Ho Chi Minh City’s 9 million people. Vietnam has so far received around 8 million vaccine doses, mostly under the international COVAX sharing facility. More than 4 million doses have been administered, but only about 258,000 people have been fully vaccinated out of its total population of 98 million.

President Joe Biden's American Families Plan (AFP) would impose a capital gains tax at death while essentially doubling the capital gains tax rate. With a major exception for large investors, it would make these changes without grandfathering existing unrealized capital gains. A 40 percent capital gains tax at death after the exclusions allowed in the AFP would result in a tax of $220,000. But there is one exception to the lack of grandfathering of unrealized capital gains: the continuance of the 100 percent exemption for capital gains taxes from sales of qualified small business stock (QSBS). At the same time, the law would create a death tax for millions of middle-class Americans.

At least seven Afghan pilots, including Zamaray, have been assassinated off base in recent months, according to two senior Afghan government officials. The Pentagon said it was aware of the deaths of several Afghan pilots in killings claimed by the Taliban, but declined comment on US intelligence and investigations. Afghan military pilots are particularly attractive assassination targets, current and former US and Afghan officials say. Precious, Over-stretchedTwo Afghan Air Force pilots were killed on June 7 while trying to evacuate troops wounded during a surge of fighting against the Taliban insurgency. Asadi said the Afghan Air Force had failed to do enough to protect pilots vulnerable to off-base assassinations.

US President Joe Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups. (Photo: Reuters)US President Joe Biden on Friday spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the ongoing ransomware attacks from Russia, the White House said. Biden spoke with Putin about the ongoing ransomware attacks by criminals based in Russia that have impacted the US and other countries around the world, the White House said in a readout of the call. Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasised that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware, it said. ALSO READ: Biden and Putin discuss rules of engagement for cyber war, want critical services off-limit to cyberattacksALSO READ: Biden, Putin conclude summit between 'two great powers'; talk nuclear power, human rights

The 52-page report from the agency, led by Biden appointee Avril Haines, featured several examples of stock imagery. "Do you feel safer knowing our Intel community is represented by stock photos?" "No, when it comes to the Intel community, I want the best and the brightest, not the least Whitest," the comedian replied. Carolla added that the immutable characteristics of the bureaucrats in the US intelligence community have nothing to do with their ability to perform their roles on behalf of the United States. He said that, in that way, China and Russia must be very excited and pleased to see "wokeness" now take over the intelligence community, as the host implied the report begets deference to identity and diversity over more germane factors.

The White House is defending an unusual arrangement to keep the identity of buyers of Hunter Biden’s artwork secret. The Manhattan gallery handling Biden’s art, Georges Bergès, told CBS News on Friday that Hunter Biden’s paintings could fetch between $75,000 and $500,000 each, even though Hunter Biden has no professional art training and has never before sold art on the commercial market, according to The Washington Post. White House officials believe keeping the identities of buyers secret, including from President Joe Biden and his son, would be a barrier to such influence. “What these people are paying for is Hunter Biden’s last name.”But White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the arrangement to reporters on Friday, The Hill reported. “After careful consideration, a system has been established to allow Hunter Biden to work in his profession within reasonable safeguards,” she said.

Former President Donald Trump called Friday night for Senate Republicans to withdraw from negotiations over President Biden’s $1.2 trillion spending proposal, warning that "RINO Republicans" were "just being played by the Radical Left Democrats." Trump warned in his message, which was distributed by email under the banner of Trump’s "Save America" organization. BIDEN TARGETS AIRLINES, INTERNET, HEARING AIDS, PHONE REPAIRS AND MORE IN NEW ORDER"Keep the Trump Administration tax cuts just as they are," Trump advised. The GOP members of the group included several who are often labeled "RINOs," or "Republicans in name only." Democrats speaking out against the bipartisan deal have included Ocasio-Cortez as well as U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state.

Joe Biden has increased pressure on Vladimir Putin to move against ransomware groups operating from Russia, warning the United States is prepared to respond if cyberhacks are not stopped. The two leaders held an hour-long phone call on Friday, their first since they discussed ransomware attacks at a summit in Geneva on 16 June. Biden’s message to Putin in the call was direct, suggesting a growing impatience over attacks that have disrupted key US sectors. The United States has not indicated how it plans to respond to the attacks emanating from Russia, but Biden hinted at digital retaliation if Russian cooperation was not forthcoming. Moscow and Washington disagreed over whether the United States had formally sought Russian assistance to rein in ransomware attacks.

Breyer is one of only three liberal members remaining on the nation’s highest Court. Schumer did not mention Breyer by name in his comments, but it’s widely assumed that he was referring to the justice, who is 82 years old and the oldest member of the liberal bloc of justices. He has time to do so, and his waiting for a few weeks after the Supreme Court term ends isn’t without precedent, as Anthony Kennedy, who retired in 2018, did so in late July of that year. MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan excoriated Breyer late last week, after the justice hadn’t announced his retirement at the end of the Court’s term. “Stephen Breyer didn’t retire yesterday,” Hasan wrote on Twitter.

The Taliban claimed Friday to be in control of 85 per cent of Afghanistan after seizing key border crossings with Iran and Turkmenistan, part of a sweeping offensive launched as US troops pull out of the war-torn nation. US exitHours earlier, Mr Biden said the US military mission would end on 31 August - nearly 20 years after it began - having "achieved" its goals. "The status quo is not an option," Mr Biden said of staying in the country. Mr Biden said the Afghan people alone should determine their future, but he acknowledged the uncertainty about what that would look like. US exit 'positive step', Taliban saysThe Taliban, for their part, welcomed Mr Biden's statement.

In reality, they would usher in the concrete tyrannies of critical race theory, which explicitly seeks to subvert the principles of individual rights and equal protection under the law. With state prohibitions on critical race theory indoctrination, schools have clear guidance about their curricula and families have immediate recourse. Is it possible that these writers simply aren’t aware of the illiberal nature of critical race theory? If critical race theory is “racial poison,” why allow it to seize control of our schools? The war against critical race theory is a war worth fighting — and, more importantly, a war worth winning.

Andrew Harrer/GettySIOUX FALLS, South Dakota—South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg is claiming the man he ran over and killed—allegedly while scrolling through his phone on highway at night—wanted to die. South Dakota AG Jason Ravnsborg Pleads Not Guilty as Family of Victim Blasts ProcessVictor Nemec gave Boever a ride after Boever’s pickup drove off Highway 14 a few hours before the fatal crash, and said he showed no sign of drinking. According to the new court filing, he had sought assistance for mental issues, and was using Lorazepam, an anti-anxiety medicine. Investigators who interviewed Ravnsborg noted that Boever’s face came through the windshield and his glasses were found inside the car. South Dakota AG May Have Been Reading Right-Wing Biden Conspiracies While Killing Man With His CarIn his filing, Ravsnborg suggests a different crash scenario.

WASHINGTON — Five people from Florida have been charged with attacking police officers and other offenses during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol building, according to documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice Thursday. Perkins, Doolin and Pollock made their initial court appearance in the Middle District of Florida on the day of their arrest. More: Feds have arrested 535 in Jan. 6 Capitol assault, but still hunting violent rioters six months laterFive people died during or soon after the riot. Doolin, armed with zip-tie handcuffs and a riot-control chemical canister, is the only defendant not accused of assaulting officers, according to the report. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Five people from Florida arrested, charged in Jan. 6 attack on Capitol

Morales-Alfaro was one of several dozen women who miscarried after being placed in immigration detention centers under a Trump-era policy that critics said was aimed at deterring undocumented pregnant women from coming to the U.S. But under a new Biden administration policy, ICE will for the most part no longer arrest and detain pregnant women, postpartum women and women who are nursing. The policy also calls for pregnant women currently being held in immigration detention to be released while they await the outcome of asylum or immigration cases. "This policy change will have a direct impact on saving lives" because federal immigration detention centers are not equipped to provide care to pregnant women, said Joy Bertrand, a Phoenix lawyer. She called the Biden administration's policy change advising against detaining pregnant women a good step, "but it does not undo the damage that has already been done."

President Joe Biden on Friday nominated Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, an ambitious star in his Democratic Party, to be ambassador to India, with which the United States has an increasingly close relationship. Biden has stepped up the “Quad” partnership of the United States, India, Japan and Australia — four democracies that largely share common cause on China’s rising military and economic might. India has been facing major challenges from COVID-19 and air pollution — two issues that Garcetti has tackled in Los Angeles. Garcetti in December said he turned down an unspecified job in the Biden administration so he could focus on defeating COVID-19 in Los Angeles. If Garcetti leaves, the City Council can either appoint an interim mayor or call a special election.

Someone at the Conservative Political Action Conference is handing out cards touting a 'seven-point plan' to return Donald Trump to the presidency 'within days'. In short, the plan calls for exposing the Democrats for monstrous crimes, electing Trump as House speaker, and impeaching and removing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The plan includes a link to a website that elaborates on the proposal, describing the seven 'dominoes' that must fall to reinstall Trump in the White House. plan to restore Donald J. Trump in days, not years,” which involves installing Trump as speaker and ousting Biden & Harris. Though the Constitution does not explicitly state that the House speaker must be a member of Congress, such a move would face intense legal challenges.

North Dakota has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for $80 million after federal agencies 'unlawfully canceled oil and gas leasing' auctions in the state. The state's Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota Western Division. North Dakota is the second-biggest crude oil producing U.S. state, with the bulk of its tax revenues produced by oil and gas activity. In 2016, the Bismarck Tribune reported that Stenehjem's unsuccessful campaign for governor of North Dakota collected at least $50,000 in donations from oil companies' political action committees and oil executives. The news also came after a gas pipeline burst in the Gulf of Mexico and caused a huge fire in the water.

You could also think of it as a presidential race between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and California Governor Gavin Newsom. First, the current California governor and former San Francisco mayor needs to survive a gubernatorial recall. Call them the California way and the Florida way." Not only does Florida love traditional values, but Florida loves business and the people businesses employ. In everything it does, California now opposes traditional values with massive over-regulation and tax burdens on businesses.

Iraq War veteran Paul Rieckhoff ripped President Biden's recent decision to speed the withdrawal of combat troops in Afghanistan because of what it could mean for the heroes on the ground. Rieckhoff said it was a "moral imperative" that the U.S. take care of those now reportedly vulnerable individuals. BIDEN CHANGES END OF US COMBAT MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN FROM SEPT. 11 TO AUG. 31"There is precedent to move people to American territories like Guam," he continued. And the White House is telling us that they can't get our friends out of Afghanistan? Rieckhoff said he was personally concerned about one of his former interpreters because he doesn't know his fate.

But he hasn’t started lobbying yet due to Moïse's killing, which he compared to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. Boulos also plans to lobby the Biden administration for Covid vaccination aid and financial assistance for the Haitian government. He started lobbying Congress on Boulos’ behalf on human rights issues in 2019 but deregistered in May, according to domestic lobbying disclosure filings. Estopinan, a Republican, has foreign lobbying experience. He’s looking to hire a Democratic lobbyist — perhaps a former aide to Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s chair — to help with outreach to Democrats, he said.

North Dakota has launched a lawsuit against the Biden administration for suspending the sale of oil and gas leases on federal lands, alleging it could cost the state billions of dollars. President Biden halted oil and gas lease sales upon entering office in January as part of his promise to take on climate change. JUDGE STOPS BIDEN ADMINISTRATION FROM BLOCKING NEW OIL AND GAS LEASESThough the leasing ban is temporary, the White House has not confirmed for how long the suspension will hold. "In addition to being a foolish idea, President Biden’s moratorium on oil and gas leasing on public lands is illegal," North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer said following the suit. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APPThe North Dakota suit comes one month after a federal judge in Louisiana temporarily blocked Biden’s suspension and argued his ruling applies nationwide.

In Los Angeles, the news that Mayor Eric Garcetti was being tapped by the Biden administration as its nominee for ambassador to India was greeted with little surprise, following months of speculation about the possible pick. “The mayor doesn’t own 100% of that, obviously, but this is the Los Angeles that exists today,” he said. Chief among the concerns for mayoral hopefuls, Givens said, is who steps in as an interim mayor. Advertisement“You want to make sure that interim mayor is not someone that could potentially do anything or create an issue to impact your campaign,” Givens said. The significance of Friday’s announcement “really depends on who the City Council picks as interim mayor,” she said.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner’s resignation, the White House said. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration. “Social Security is in deep trouble,” Pascrell said. The labor union that represents Social Security employees also welcomed the firings. “President Biden made the right call to send these Trump appointees packing,” de Juliis said.

“We didn’t know that he would never come back.”At least seven Afghan pilots, including Zamaray, have been assassinated off base in recent months, according to two senior Afghan government officials. Afghan military pilots are particularly attractive assassination targets, current and former U.S. and Afghan officials say. Gen. David Hicks, who commanded the training effort for the Afghan Air Force from 2016 to 2017. Although Taliban assassinations of pilots have happened in years past, the recent killings take on greater significance as the Afghan Air Force is tested like never before. Precious, overstretchedTwo Afghan Air Force pilots were killed on June 7 while trying to evacuate troops wounded during a surge of fighting against the Taliban insurgency.

A White House official confirmed that Saul’s employment was terminated. “I consider myself the term-protected Commissioner of Social Security,” Saul told the Post in an interview Friday afternoon, denouncing the "Friday Night Massacre." "This was the first I or my deputy knew this was coming," Saul told The Post, referring to a Friday morning White House email. The Social Security Administration was established in 1935 as an independent agency but was moved under the Department of Health and Human Services for some time before former President Clinton signed legislation restoring its independent status in 1994. "DONT POLITICIZE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMIN,” Grassley tweeted.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told a crowd in Kentucky Thursday that he was “perplexed” by vaccine hesitancy within the conservative movement. McConnell appeared at the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to talk about infrastructure and to implore Kentucky Gov. But McConnell also expressed confusion about why Republicans continue to drag down the rest of the country’s efforts to overcome the pandemic. Advertisement“To use a sports analogy, we're in the red zone, the last 20 yards before the end zone, but we're not in the end zone yet because there is resistance for various reasons that seem to have gotten caught up in politics,” McConnell told attendees. Experts believe that the variant, which is more transmissible and now makes up a clear majority of U.S. COVID-19 cases, is driving an upswing in COVID-19 cases, particularly in states that have low vaccination rates.

He was among Houston voters on Super Tuesday who waited more than an hour — and some for several hours — in mostly minority, Democratic neighborhoods. He was arrested this week on two counts of illegal voting, a second-degree felony that carries a possible sentence of two to 20 years in prison. Texas is the biggest state where Republicans have vowed to make voting changes since Donald Trump’s false claims that fraud cost him the 2020 election. Photos of voters waiting in long lines on the Houston campus appeared on news websites and ricocheted around social media. As soon as Saturday, Texas Republicans could begin advancing their revived election bills at the state Capitol.

President Biden fired President Donald J. Trump’s appointed head of the Social Security Administration on Friday, setting off a possible legal showdown over who rightfully holds the position. Mr. Biden asked on Friday morning for the resignations of Andrew Saul, the agency’s commissioner, and David Black, a deputy commissioner. Mr. Black resigned as requested, but Mr. Saul refused and was notified by the administration that he had been fired, an administration official said. Mr. Biden moved to appoint an acting commissioner, Kilolo Kijakazi, while the administration looks for permanent successors for the two jobs. The firing was the latest bid by Mr. Biden to oust a Trump-appointed director of an independent executive agency.

Immediately after that meeting, Mr. Biden said he told the Russian president he would respond “in a cyber way” against Russia if Mr. Putin failed to take action against groups operating on its territory. But Mr. Biden declined to say whether the United States had asked for specific action against individuals that it believes are part of REvil. While the United States and Russia have long sparred over state-sponsored attacks — including the SolarWinds espionage operation by Russia’s elite S.V.R. The White House blamed a Russian ransomware group, called DarkSide, for the attack on Colonial Pipeline that halted gasoline and jet fuel deliveries up the East Coast this spring. Until recently, the United States has largely treated ransomware as a criminal problem, indicting leading actors if it could identify them.

A conspiracy theorist known for his high-profile shenanigans was busted Friday for vandalizing the Manhattan gallery where Hunter Biden’s art pieces are being sold. The street artist and filmmaker quips, “What, you’re arresting me ’cause your down with Biden’s war crimes?” He was referring to Hunter’s dad, President Biden. War crimes, baby! EPAThe Boston man made headlines in 2019 when he defaced an art installation featuring a duct-taped banana at Art Basel, scrawling “Epstien [stet] didn’t kill himself,” and gobbling up the fruit. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Webber sued the Trump campaign, alleging he’d been shoved by a staffer into a table, according to reports.

President Biden fired the commissioner of the Social Security Administration, a holdover from the Trump administration, after he refused to resign Friday. The Associated Press reported that Deputy Commissioner David Black, another Trump holdover, had agreed to resign. Biden named Kilolo Kijakazi as acting commissioner while the administration conducts a search for a permanent commissioner and deputy commissioner. Kijakazi currently is the SSA’s deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy. Congressional Republicans accused Biden of politicizing the agency, which pays out billions of dollars per year to more than 60 million Social Security beneficiaries, including seniors and the disabled.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailPresident Biden signs executive order to attack monopoliesCNBC's Ylan Mui joins "The News with Shepard Smith" to offer analysis on President Biden's executive order targeting Big Tech monopolies.

Late last month, Facebook notched what could be its most notable achievement yet: Its market value hit $1 trillion. I’ll place my bets on Visa getting to $1 trillion next, even if it takes a while. Apple (AAPL) has returned an annualized 44% since it became the first U.S.-listed company to reach a $1 trillion value in August 2018. The stock closed at a record this past week, giving it a market value of $2.4 trillion. “A trillion here, a trillion there attracts a lot of attention from politicians.”Write to Alex Eule at alex.eule@barrons.com

Some research scientists, who have tried to unpick the pandemic's origins, have been accused of conspiracy and cover-up - based on no evidence. That may never be known, but the scientists who wrote this latest report want to clarify the available evidence and what it means. One who has worked on Sars-Cov-2's evolutionary origins since the pandemic's early days says the evidence points to a natural spillover. While the arguments have escalated over the past year, there has been no new scientific evidence pointing to a laboratory leak. And significantly, scientists almost all agree that a robust search for evidence of Sars-Cov-2's origins is the only positive way forward.

The IndependentThe US will withdraw all combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of August, and will not send more troops to the country to fight, according to President Joe Biden. Mr Biden vowed during a national address Thursday that the US would support Afghan leaders as it handed over the reigns for total control of Afghanistan’s territory to the government over which the US oversaw the formation, while adding that he did not see the potential of achieving a better outcome by keeping troops in the region. "I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome,” said the president.

When Hunter Biden's art is sold later this year, the public won't know who's buying his paintings —and neither will Hunter Biden, the White House, or his father, President Biden. Bergès estimates that Hunter Biden's work could fetch between $75,000 and $500,000 per painting, according to a spokesperson for the gallery. Story continuesIt is not clear the White House could legally stop Hunter Biden, a private citizen, from profiting on his art. "I don't paint from emotion or feeling, which I think are both very ephemeral," Hunter Biden told Artnet in June. In December, federal prosecutors announced they had been investigating Hunter Biden's taxes, beginning in 2018.

“After careful consideration a system has been established that allows for Hunter Biden to work in his profession within reasonable safeguards,” Psaki told reporters. The paintings cost anywhere from $75,000 for a piece on paper to half a million dollars for large-scale paintings, the dealer said. “That’s part of the appearance problem.”The concern, he said, is that regardless of who purchases the paintings, such high prices suggest Hunter Biden is profiting off his father’s name. It restored a two-year ban on departing senior appointees communicating with their former agency and expanded that ban to include communications with senior White House staff. Painter said that while the agreement concerning Hunter Biden's paintings are not ideal, the administration overall has displayed a marked improvement on ethics matters over Biden's predecessor.

Biden just canceled millions more in student loan debt — who qualifies this time? Millions of Americans continue to wait for word on whether President Joe Biden will provide widespread student loan forgiveness. Broad student loan forgiveness remains a questionOrhan Cam / ShutterstockThis year's debt cancellations are — to be completely honest — just small change compared to the sweeping student loan forgiveness that's being discussed in Washington and is advocated by a number of influential lawmakers. He has said he’s willing to cancel $10,000 in student debt, but he has resisted calls for the bigger amount. Interest rates on student loan refinances from private lenders have hit record lows, so replacing your debt with a new private student loan could cut your monthly payments substantially.

The rest of the country might finally be catching up to California when it comes to workers’ right to hop between jobs. The Biden administration asked the Federal Trade Commission to ban or limit noncompete agreements nationwide as part of a broad executive order Friday. “To the extent that we know now that noncompetes limit workers’ ability to secure outside offers and use that in wage negotiations, that applies to tech workers,” said Nunn, who cautioned that his views are his own. “And if noncompetes are limiting the ability to start new companies and to have information diffusion across firms, all of that is absolutely relevant to tech workers. That hasn’t stopped employers in California from asking workers to sign noncompete agreements.

By Darlene Superville | Associated PressWASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner’s resignation, the White House said. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration. “Social Security is in deep trouble,” Pascrell said. The labor union that represents Social Security employees also welcomed the firings. “President Biden made the right call to send these Trump appointees packing,” de Juliis said.

If you get the line right, you get a scoop of ice cream.”Such mockery and red meat is typical both for Trump Jr. and CPAC, which Donald Trump himself will headline on Sunday afternoon. Michael Avenatti is going to prison,” Trump Jr. said. Trump Jr. glossed over his dad’s affair with Daniels, and his family’s own legal entanglements. While he own dad was right about “everything,” Trump Jr. said, Biden has set out a welcome mat for illegal migration. (Elias Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News) (Elias Valverde II / Staff Photographer)“Addiction is terrible.

Eligible parents will start receiving monthly payments of as much as $300 for each child through the expanded child tax credits starting July 15. The IRS is holding an event in conjunction with local non-profits, churches, and community groups Saturday to help people register for the monthly Advance Child Tax Credit payments. The 53204 ZIP code had 757 unclaimed children; 53206 had 434 unclaimed children. The first monthly payments will be made starting July 15, with most families beginning to receive monthly payments without any additional action. The law greatly expands the 2021 child tax credit and other tax incentives aimed at low-income workers.

EditorialsThe big jump in applications came during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that’s the explanation being given by a federal agency, U.S. But such excuses don’t make thousands of so-called “Dreamers” any safer from being booted from the only country they’ve ever called home. The Trump administration attempted to abolish DACA in September 2017, and it took almost three years before the Supreme Court, in June of last year, blocked those efforts. The court did not rule that Trump, or any president, could not end the program, only that the Trump administration had failed to followed proper procedures in attempting to do so. Of all the enlightened immigration reforms being pushed in this country, there is none so right as DACA.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner's resignation, the White House said. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the personnel move an "unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration." The labor union that represents Social Security employees also welcomed the firings. "President Biden made the right call to send these Trump appointees packing," de Juliis said.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, seen speaking to media in April 2021, has been tapped as US ambassador to IndiaAdvertising Read moreWashington (AFP)President Joe Biden on Friday nominated Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, an ambitious star in his Democratic Party, to be ambassador to India, with which the United States has an increasingly close relationship. Biden has stepped up the "Quad" partnership of the United States, India, Japan and Australia -- four democracies that largely share common cause on China's rising military and economic might. - Scandals rise at home -India has been facing major challenges from Covid-19 and air pollution -- two issues that Garcetti has tackled in Los Angeles. Garcetti in December said he turned down an unspecified job in the Biden administration so he could focus on defeating Covid-19 in Los Angeles. If Garcetti leaves, the City Council can either appoint an interim mayor or call a special election.

The Social Security Administration, which operates independently, pays out more than $1T per year. WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a holdover from President Donald Trump who regularly drew criticism from Democrats, unions and social welfare advocates. The Social Security Administration, which has operated independently since 1994, pays out more than $1 trillion to 65 million beneficiaries each year. “This removal would be an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted. In a joint statement, they said Social Security beneficiaries "stand the most to lose from President Biden’s partisan decision."

The White House fired Andrew Saul, the Social Security head, on Friday evening. President Joe Biden fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul and his top deputy on Friday afternoon, sparking a face-off as Saul says he doesn't intend to step down from his post. Advocates said the Social Security Administration delayed releasing information to the IRS for stimulus checks earlier this year. "Social Security beneficiaries stand the most to lose from President Biden's partisan decision to remove Commissioner Andrew Saul from leadership of the Social Security Administration," Brady and Crapo said. He wrote on Twitter Saul's removal would be "an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration."

Federal officials are pushing back after Parson said he doesn't want government employees going door-to-door to urge people to get vaccinated. Federal officials are pushing back after Parson said he doesn't want government employees going door-to-door to urge people to get vaccinated. Missouri asked for help last week from nearly formed federal "surge response" teams as it combats an influx of cases that's overwhelming some hospitals. He said he didn’t know what the federal government planned to do but stressed that the state had been getting federal help all along. “We know there’s a vast number of people that is hesitant to take the vaccine,” Parson said.

New evidence indicates that more than 10,300 illegal votes were cast in Georgia in the November 2020 general election — a number that will continue to rise over the next several months, potentially exceeding the 12,670 votes that separated Joe Biden and Donald Trump. This evidence also vindicates former President Trump and his legal team for the related public (and private) comments and legal arguments made in challenging the Georgia election results. Also like sister states, Georgia ignored various legislative mandates designed to prevent fraud and to ensure the integrity of the vote. Yet the media, the courts, and the Secretary of State’s Office ignored or downplayed the issue. Upon learning of this new development, the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office quietly opened an investigation into potentially illegal voting by residents who had moved between counties.

President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul after he refused a request to resign, a White House official told NBC News. The White House told the paper that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision conferred the power to replace him. This removal would be an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration. https://t.co/Y33G4YoZKf — Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) July 9, 2021"This removal would be an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration," McConnell said. Their agenda was not to protect Social Security but to impose cruelty on America’s seniors and disabled.

The Social Security Administration, which operates independently, pays out more than $1T per year. WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a holdover from President Donald Trump who regularly drew criticism from Democrats. Biden appointed Kilolo Kijakazi, deputy commissioner for Retirement and Disability Policy at SSA, as acting commissioner until the search for a permanent commissioner and deputy commissioner is completed. The Social Security Administration, which has operated independently since 1994, pays out more than $1 trillion to 65 million beneficiaries each year. “This removal would be an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted.

President Biden believes America’s schoolkids need to learn “not just the good, but also the challenging in our history,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday in response to a question about the movement to teach critical race theory in K-12 schools. Psaki added that Critical Race Theory has become “politically charged.” ShutterstockCritical race theory argues that racism, specifically white supremacy, is at the root of America’s founding, its institutions and its public policies. Critics say teaching the theory to young children wrongly encourages them to view each other through a racial lens. Meanwhile, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) welcomed controversial author and critical race theory advocate Ibram X. Kendi to address one of its conferences earlier this week. “Let’s be clear: Critical race theory is not taught in elementary schools or high schools.

His everything-but-the-kitchen-sink directive is simply a compendium of longtime Democratic dreams, banning companies — and workers — from acting in ways that keep them competitive. The order includes 72 directives for more than a dozen federal agencies on everything from prescription-drug prices to Internet services to chicken farming. And this order could do serious damage to that recovery. Most of it is bad ideas, and little of it has to do with boosting competition except according to lefty talking points. Is there anyone in this White House who has a clue how the private sector actually works?

At the top of their list of grievances was the Supreme Court’s June 1 ruling upholding Arizona’s anti-fraud voting laws. In the Arizona case, the justices, by a 6-3 majority, found no evidence that state voting laws put minority voters at a disadvantage or made voting too hard. The New York Times claims “Republican-controlled legislatures across the country have raced one another to pass laws that make voting harder.” Untrue. see also Supreme Court upholds voting restrictions in Arizona 6-3 ?The Supreme Court upheld two voting laws in Arizona passed... The goal is to do what the Supreme Court refused to do, eliminate state election laws.

Pandemic journal: Use Trump To Pitch Jabs“To convince the vaccine-hesitant to get immunized,” President Biden need only “Give Donald Trump the credit he deserves for the vaccines,” argues Marc Thiessen at The Washington Post. Meanwhile, Adams “attacked all his rivals without hesitation. He didn’t navigate Ranked Choice Voting with clever machinations. He steamrolled over it with pugnacious bravado. The former invite the latter.”— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board

President Biden announced Friday that he has tapped Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as his nominee to serve as the U.S. ambassador to India. Speculation over whether Garcetti was in talks with the president for a position within the administration began to emerge in May. Garcetti was first elected to his position as mayor in 2013, previously serving as a city councilman and council president. Eric Garcetti (left) with President Biden at a campaign event last March. According to a report, Garcetti would become the first LA mayor to leave the position on his own terms in over a century.

The United States will continue to provide “over the horizon” support, i.e., from a distance, for the Afghan government. see also Pentagon acknowledges ‘deteriorating security situation’ in Afghanistan The Pentagon's top spokesperson acknowledged Friday that there was a... Ideally, the United States would locate some other base next door to ­Afghanistan, but there are no good options in the neighborhood. The contractors who have worked with the Afghan Air Force to maintain its planes are leaving, too, potentially stripping Afghan forces of air support. Biden wants to provide $3 billion in security assistance to the Afghans, but who will do the training with that money?

DALLAS -- Donald Trump Jr. says he will be "everywhere" in the 2022 midterm elections, as Republicans aim to win back the majority in the House and Senate. And Trump Jr. pledged that "you’ll see me everywhere" in the 2022 cycle. "There’s not many people that have sort of the privilege of having a big platform," Trump Jr., who has 6.8 million followers on Twitter, said. Some political pundits see Trump Jr. as a potential contender for the next GOP presidential nomination if his father doesn't run. "I haven’t personally thought about it," Trump Jr. answered when asked by Fox News if he’s mulled a 2024 run if his father doesn’t launch a campaign.

A United Nations human rights investigator is being called anti-Semitic for remarks made Friday against Israel at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. Then-President Trump took the U.S. out of the Human Rights Council in 2018. Blinken, in a statement, noted, "The United States has long been a champion of human rights. If elected to the Human Rights Council, we will use the opportunity to be a leading voice within the Council for promoting respect for human rights." Members of the 47-country Human Rights Council includes China, Cuba, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela.

Lauren Wolfe, the former freelance editor who was fired by The New York Times over a pro-Biden tweet, defended her open political stance in a recent op-ed titled, "I’m a Biased Journalist and I’m Okay With That." They say that I’m biased … that journalists are all crooked, and that I’m a perfect example of why no one can believe anything we in the media say," Wolfe began her piece, which was originally written on her Substack. And yes, I often do write with an agenda—with an eye toward creating change," Wolfe wrote. "So yes, I am biased, and consciously so when it comes to certain subjects—especially when I’m reporting on criminality. "My actions as a journalist had effected change, which became part of the story I was telling.

EX-CBP DEPUTY COMMISSIONER SAYS BORDER CRISIS 'UNLIKE ANYTHING I'VE EVER SEEN,' WARNS OF 'BROKEN' SYSTEM"There's nothing humane about encouraging human trafficking of infants and pregnant women," Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said Friday. But acting ICE Director Tae Johnson said the newest regulations preserve the "health and safety of pregnant, postpartum and nursing individuals" and reflect "our commitment to treat all individuals with respect and dignity." "Given the unique needs of this population, we will not detain individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum, or nursing unless release is prohibited by law or exceptional circumstances exist," Johnson said Friday. Under the Obama administration, pregnant women detained by immigration authorities were released from detention, though in 2017 Trump reversed the order. Opponents of detaining pregnant women argue it puts the health and safety of the mother and infant at risk.

U.S. President Joe Biden departs the White House in Washington, U.S. en route to La Crosse, Wisconsin, June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will host a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel next Thursday, the White House said on Friday. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the two leaders would discuss ransomware attacks that have hit companies in the United States and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline being built from Russia to Germany. She declined to say if an agreement could be reached on the temporarily suspended U.S. tariffs on Nord Stream 2 AG, the Germany company behind the pipeline, and its chief executive. It will be her first visit to Washington since Biden took power in January.

U.S. President Joe Biden had raised the importance of the cross-border aid operation with Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met in Geneva in June. The Biden administration warned that any future cooperation with Russia over Syria would be at risk if cross-border aid deliveries were shut down. The council mandate for the long-running aid operation was due to expire on Saturday. Russia has said the aid operation is outdated and violates Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. In a swipe at the United States and others, Russia and China have also blamed unilateral sanctions for some of Syria's plight.

Former Afghan interpreters, who worked with U.S. troops in Afghanistan, demonstrate in front of the U.S. embassy in Kabul June 25, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer/File PhotoWASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - Nearly 20 U.S. senators now back legislation to help protect Afghan civilians who supported U.S. forces during the 20-year-long war in their country, a lead sponsor of the bill said on Friday, a day after President Joe Biden set a target date of Aug. 31 for withdrawal. Members of the House are also working on legislation to help the Afghan civilians. Many lawmakers have voiced support for evacuating interpreters and others who worked with U.S. forces to third countries to protect them while their applications for visas to reach the United States are reviewed. Reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Torghundi, a northern town on the border with Turkmenistan, had also been captured by the Taliban overnight, Afghan and Taliban officials said. Three visiting Taliban officials sought to address those concerns during a visit to Moscow. He said "you and the entire world community have probably recently learned that 85% of the territory of Afghanistan has come under the control" of the Taliban. A U.S. donation of more than 1.4 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine arrived on Friday, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said. In Afghanistan, a prominent anti-Taliban commander said he would support efforts by Afghan forces to claw back control of parts of western Afghanistan, including a border crossing with Iran.

On Friday, July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden fired Social Security Administration Commissioner Saul after Saul refused to resign, and accepted the deputy commissioner's resignation, the White House said. On Friday, July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden fired Social Security Administration Commissioner Saul after Saul refused to resign, and accepted the deputy commissioner's resignation, the White House said. Scott Applewhite, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner’s resignation, the White House said. The labor union that represents Social Security employees also welcomed the firings. “President Biden made the right call to send these Trump appointees packing,” de Juliis said.

Biden canceled $55.6 million in student debt for borrowers who went to 3 for-profit schools. This brings Biden's total debt cancellation for defrauded borrowers to $1.5 billion for 92,000 people. President Joe Biden's Education Department on Friday made progress in its promise to reform the student-debt system by canceling student debt for three more groups of defrauded borrowers. 1,600 of those students are receiving $53 million in debt relief. This brings total loan cancellation based on borrower defense under Biden to over $1.5 billion for nearly 92,000 borrowers.

The Biden administration is erasing more than $55 million in debt for former students of Westwood College, the Marinello Schools of Beauty and the Court Reporting Institute. The chain told students their course could be transferred to other colleges, but that often was not the case, the Education Department said. It left many students stuck starting their college careers all over again after they transferred. Last month, the Biden administration erased student debt for more than 18,000 borrowers of the ITT Technical Institute, another defunct for-profit college. DeVos also implemented a new formula that offered only partial loan relief even if claims were granted.

The Department of Education canceled an additional $55.6 million in student loan debt for 1,800 student who were victims of a for-profit college fraud, bringing the total amount of canceled student loan debt by the Biden administration to $1.5 billion. With the additional 1,800 students, the Biden administration has canceled student loans for nearly 92,000 people. The $1.5 billion of canceled loan debt is an attempt by the Biden administration to address the backlog of forgiveness claims left by the prior administration. Some Democrats are pushing for more and broader student loan forgiveness. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden administration cancels $1.5 billion of student loan debt

Valerie Baeriswyl/AFP via GettyTwo U.S. citizens with ties to Florida have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Apart from Solages and Vincent, whose alleged role in the assassination was not immediately clear, Charles said 15 of the suspects were from Colombia. Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections and interparty relations, released the names of Solages and Vincent late Thursday. Haitian authorities have not provided any information on what led them to arrest the two U.S. citizens. Everybody back up, stand down,” in videos from the attack on the Haitian president.

Associated PressFor months, the Biden White House refrained from criticizing Republican officials who played down the importance of coronavirus vaccinations or sought to make political hay of the federal government’s all-out effort to drive shots into arms. With the COVID-19 vaccination rate plateauing across the country, the White House is returning fire at those they see as spreading harmful misinformation or fear about the shots. When South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster tried this week to block door-to-door efforts to drive up the vaccination rate in his state, White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not mince words in her reaction.

Saul told the Post: "I consider myself the term-protected Commissioner of Social Security." Deputy Commissioner David Black, also a Trump appointee, was asked to resign and complied, the White House official said. Biden has appointed Kilolo Kijakazi as acting commissioner while the search for a commissioner and deputy commissioner is conducted, the official said. The Social Security Administration, which oversees programs that provide financial support to the elderly and disabled, referred questions about Saul and Black to the White House. "They've been trying to destroy Social Security," he said on Twitter.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner's resignation, the White House said. Biden asked commissioner Andrew Saul to resign, and his employment was terminated after he refused the Democratic president's request, a White House official said. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration. The labor union that represents Social Security employees also welcomed the firings. “President Biden made the right call to send these Trump appointees packing,” de Juliis said.

President Biden fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul on Friday amid an ongoing dispute over his leadership of the independent agency responsible for administering retirement and disability benefits. Deputy Social Security Commissioner David Black was also asked to resign and he complied. "I consider myself the term-protected Commissioner of Social Security," Saul said. She currently serves as Deputy Commissioner for Retirement and Disability Policy at the Social Security Administration. To fulfill President Biden’s bold vision for improving and expanding Social Security, he needs his people in charge," Wyden said.

President Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of the Social Security Administration after the official refused to resign and accepted the deputy commissioner’s resignation, the White House said. Biden asked Commissioner Andrew Saul to resign, and his employment was terminated after he refused the president’s request, a White House official said. Deputy Commissioner David Black agreed to resign, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. AdvertisementBiden named Kilolo Kijakazi as acting commissioner while the administration conducts a search for a permanent commissioner and deputy commissioner. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration.

Yeah, that was my first reaction when I heard a couple months ago that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti might be President Biden’s pick for ambassador to India. AdvertisementBut after thinking about it and talking to some foreign policy people, I changed my mind. And it’s not a bad deal for Los Angeles, which could really, really use a leadership change. But a foreign policy expert, Alyssa Ayers, was nowhere near as surprised as I was about Biden considering Garcetti for India. “Los Angeles has been quite creative in its own engagement with foreign policy,” Ayers said.

In a phone call, the president warned Putin that Russia must take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating there, or the United States would impose consequences, the White House said in a statement. Asked later by a reporter if there will be consequences, Biden said, “yes.” The president did not elaborate. Once considered largely a criminal menace, ransomware attacks are now treated by the federal government as a national security threat. Though ransomware attacks have increased over the last 18 months, “this is the first time . Psaki declined to say what actions the United States might take if Moscow fails to curb the attacks.

Ed KahlWoodsideUrge Congress to spendmore on Peace CorpsIn 1961, President Kennedy founded the U.S. government agency known as the Peace Corps. Since then, 240,000+ citizens have served our nation as Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs), touching the lives of citizens in 142 countries. The Peace Corps is a vital part of the ambassadorial system, reaching portions of humanity that others cannot. President Biden announced the Peace Corps pending budget; the same budget as the last six years. As a nonpartisan agency that accepts citizens 18 or over, regardless of background or education, the Peace Corps crosses all boundaries.

This is precisely why I want to go solar and also to reduce our electricity bills. Either Sen. Feinstein is too senile to see that and should resign, or she is a White supremacist and should resign. Alan MarlingLivermoreTrump should embraceadvocating for vaccinesAccording to Marc Theissen, former President Trump’s greatest achievement was Warp Speed, and President Biden needs to acknowledge this to encourage vaccinations among Trump supporters (“If Biden wants to increase vaccinations, credit Trump,” Page A7, July 8). It needs to be done by the one we all know who has the most direct impact on his supporters — Donald Trump. If this indeed was such a great accomplishment, why isn’t Trump doing a public campaign encouraging his supporters to get vaccinated?

Dan Patrick said Friday that he expects the Legislature to approve an elections bill in short order, with the Senate passing its version of the controversial legislation next week. Patrick defended what he called Republican efforts to secure Texas elections, saying that critics of the legislation were distorting the issue. Former President Donald J. Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, flanked by Texas Lt. Gov. “I don’t know what Donald Trump is going to do in 2024, but I can assure you that his willingness to fight and standup is honored here in Texas,” Patrick said. “We will keep this a red state,” Patrick said.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner’s resignation, the White House said. Biden asked commissioner Andrew Saul to resign, and his employment was terminated after he refused the Democratic president’s request, a White House official said. Deputy Commissioner David Black agreed to resign, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Biden named Kilolo Kijakazi as acting commissioner while the administration conducts a search for a permanent commissioner and deputy commissioner. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration.

Updated 3 times AlertMeWASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner’s resignation, the White House said. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration. “Social Security is in deep trouble,” Pascrell said. The labor union that represents Social Security employees also welcomed the firings. “President Biden made the right call to send these Trump appointees packing,” de Juliis said.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — President Joe Biden will speak in Philadelphia on Tuesday to discuss voting rights, the White House announced — a visit that comes as fights over the 2020 presidential election and election laws roil state and U.S. capitols. The White House's announcement Friday gave little detail, saying only that Biden's remarks will be on “actions to protect the sacred, constitutional right to vote.”Pennsylvania is one of the battleground states buffeted by former President Donald Trump's baseless conspiracy theories that attribute his loss to Biden in last year's election to widespread election fraud. Philadelphia, a heavily Democratic city, was baselessly accused by Trump in both of his elections of harboring voter fraud, in 2020 saying “bad things happen in Philadelphia" and in 2016 that it needed to be closely watched.

McMaster asked his state’s health department to bar state and local health groups from “the use of the Biden Administration’s ‘targeted’ ‘door to door’ tactics.”“A South Carolinian’s decision to get vaccinated is a personal one for them to make and not the government’s,” McMaster wrote in a letter to the department. “Enticing, coercing, intimidating, mandating, or pressuring anyone to take the vaccine is a bad policy which will deteriorate the public’s trust and confidence in the State’s vaccination efforts.”In Missouri, meanwhile, GOP Gov. Mike Parson tweeted: “I have directed our health department to let the federal government know that sending government employees or agents door-to-door to compel vaccination would NOT be an effective OR a welcome strategy in Missouri!”Earlier in the week, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent a letter to Biden condemning the new strategy. For the usually reserved Biden White House, which has long harbored private frustrations about some states’ laggard vaccination programs but refused to condemn them publicly for fear of playing up political divides in public health, it was a bridge too far.

Ranchers also have complained about a system that forces them to negotiate cattle sales with a few corporations that often don't pay them enough to make a profit, again raising issues of intense consolidation and the need to increase competition in the packing industry. Vilsack said COVID-19 exposed a food system “that was rigid, consolidated, and fragile.” He said President Joe Biden is determined to shift the balance of power back to the people by investing in building better and fairer markets for producers and consumers. The money, including the $500 million, comes from the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion aid package passed by Congress and signed by Biden in March. It will provide grants, loans, and technical assistance to help build new meat and poultry processing facilities. Vilsack said it is his hope to have projects in the works by early next year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner's resignation, the White House said. Biden asked commissioner Andrew Saul to resign, and his employment was terminated after he refused the Democratic president's request, a White House official said. Deputy Commissioner David Black agreed to resign, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Biden named Kilolo Kijakazi as acting commissioner while the administration conducts a search for a permanent commissioner and deputy commissioner. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration.

And positive cases are bound to emerge, especially as the highly transmissible Delta variant becomes ever more dominant in the United States. “The Delta variant threatens another school year. The Delta variant presents a troubling new development in a pandemic that has gone on longer than most observers had predicted. A recent op-ed Gandhi co-authored argued that “Delta variant panic” could lead to a needless return of lockdowns and school closures. “Delta variant hasn’t affected announced school learning plans as of yet,” says Dennis Roche, president of Burbio.

A picture posted to Twitter on Thursday shows a U.S. Border Patrol agent carrying a Honduran migrant to safety after claiming to be injured near the United States-Mexico border. The photo was posted by Brian Hastings, the chief agent for the U.S. Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley Sector, which has been inundated in recent months with an influx of undocumented immigrants. The agents then took turns carrying her for about 2,600 feet through the brush and muddy terrain before they reached a road and took her to Border Patrol station near Mission, Texas. Mexican authorities subsequently contact the US Border Patrol El Centro Sector, which was able to track the injured woman's location via her GPS and eventually located her at 10.22am. Border Patrol agents have also rescued a number of children who have been dumped over the border, according to FOX News.

Video: Biden's race to get shots in 14.7M adults in 30 days: President offers free beer for 200,000, a $1M lottery prize and a White House trip in final bid to reach 'COVID independence' on July 4 with 70% vaccinatedPresident Joe Biden encouraged millennials to get vaccinated by promising a 'summer of freedom' as well as promoting a 'shot and a beer' promotion and a trip to the White House.

Video: So.... what ARE you going to do Joe? Biden calls Putin and warns him for the SECOND time to deal with hackers and says there will be consequences if Russian cyber criminals attack the US againRussian President Putin and US President Joe Biden shook hands before their meeting got underway in Geneva.

Video: Independence Day bloodbath: 142 people are killed in 379 shootings across the US during July Fourth weekend as celebrations turned violentPresident Biden blamed guns for the surge in crime, mocks the Second Amendment by saying Americans require 'nuclear weapons' to take on the government and insists assault rifles are only needed for 'deer wearing...

I do national security work and it takes years for me to get access to a FISA warrant, I should say, or an NSA surveillance document,' he added. Indeed, his Fox News colleague Chris Wallace won the outlet its first Emmy nomination for his 2018 Putin interview. On June 29, the NSA denied that Carlson was 'an intelligence target'The NSA, in their June 29 statement, denied that Carlson had been deliberately targeted. Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the Agency and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air. 'NSA has a foreign intelligence mission.

Webber, who has a long history of provocative stunts, had previewed his latest act on Facebook, writing earlier on Friday: 'Art gallery promotes crime family. One witness said Webber had intended to write 'Daddy War Crimes,' before he was stopped – a claim Webber would later repeat. Webber documented his act of vandalism in a Facebook Live, telling viewers: 'I'm at Georges Berges gallery here, otherwise known as the Hunter Biden gallery. 'Art Gallery promotes crime family.' The plan will allow Hunter Biden to forge ahead with his new life as an artist after a career change from high-paid consultant on international deals.

Jill Biden's first husband Bill Stevenson has claimed that he may be the reason Robert Durst allegedly killed his wife Kathie in 1982 because he had an affair with her and Durst found out ten days before she vanished. Jill Biden has never spoken publicly of the Durst case, nor made mention of being friends with Kathie or Robert. TIMELINE OF BIDEN AND DURST MARRIAGES 1970: Jill and Bill marry 1973: Kathie and Robert Durst marry 1974: Bill says he and Jill hosted Robert and Kathie Durst at their home 1974/1975: Jill and Bill separate 1977: Jill and Joe marry 1982: Kathie Durst disappears Advertisement'This is something that has to be righted. He says in 1974, he and Jill hosted Kathie and Robert Durst at their home. Years later, once his marriage to Jill had broken up and after Jill and Joe had gotten married, Kathie started confiding in Stevenson, he says.

This White House has frequently promised full transparency in pursuit of the highest ethical standards. The Treasury Department advisory warned that the anonymity afforded to art buyers made it harder to track such illegal activity. 'Hunter Biden's Art Will Soon Hit the Market for Up to $500,000 Per Piece. Art consultant Martin Galindo said that he wasn't a fan of Biden's art but was confident the pieces would sell for hefty prices. Biden's art dealer's roster of artists includes Sylvester Stallone and Bahraini royal family member Sheikh Rashid Al Khalifa.

Rupert Murdoch personally made the decision to allow Fox News to broadcast that it had called Arizona for Joe Biden in the 2020 election, a new book reveals. Donald Trump and his aides were furious when Fox News became the first network on election night to call Arizona for Biden. Arnon Mishkin who leads the FOX News Decision Desk made the Arizona call on election night and FOX News Media President Jay Wallace was then called in the control room. And White House senior adviser Jared Kushner contacted Rupert Murdoch to try and get it retracted. It is just one of a slew of new accounts lifting the lid on Trump's turbulent time at the White House.

President Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a Trump-era holdover who had been accused of mismanaging the delivery of COVID stimulus payments and union bashing. Andrew Saul was appointed to a six-year term as Social Security Administration commissioner in 2019 by President Trump. Republicans said Social Security beneficiaries had the most to lose from the dismissal. As word spread, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell tweeted: 'This removal would be an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration.' 'He has no background in Social Security whatsoever.'

President Joe Biden on Friday vowed there would be consequences for Russia after another round of ransomware attacks but he didn't detail what those might be. He called his Russian counterpart to demand Putin 'take action' about the ransomware attacks on the United States, warning him that he will take 'any necessary action' to defend the U.S.'It went well. 'I will deliver it to him,' he told reporters at the White House when asked his message for the Russian president. Kaseya provides services to more than 40,000 organizations and it was considered the single, largest global ransomware attack on record. Since the Geneva summit 'we have undertaken expert-level talks that are continuing, and we expect to have another meeting next week focused on ransomware attacks,' she said.

"In the face of terrorism, our special forces have developed a true brotherhood of arms. Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Anton Semelroth called the roadmap "a statement of intent to broaden cooperation in all areas of special operations." In a discussion at the Atlantic Council after her Pentagon visit, Parly said the Takuba task force, nine European and African countries' special forces working together in the Sahel, was a model for future cooperation. Takuba "is a remarkable and concrete example of Europeans taking their responsibilities by accompanying the Malian armed forces in combat," she said. Ahead of their discussions, Austin called France an "ideal partner" in the Indo-Pacific, where Washington is trying to build stronger partnerships to counter China.

Biden fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, who's been on Democrats' wish list for removal. Several leaders appointed by President Donald Trump are staying in their high-level postsSee more stories on Insider's business page. President Joe Biden fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a holdover from the Trump administration who has been on Democrats' wish list for removal. Biden appointed Kilolo Kijakazi, currently the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy, as acting commissioner while the search for a commissioner and deputy commissioner is conducted, according to the official. But there are other officials appointed by President Donald Trump who are sticking around in their high-level posts in the Biden administration.

“Michigan State Police is also assisting in the matter.”The Michigan State Police separately confirmed to Law&Crime that the department is “providing investigative assistance” to the AG’s office. The other members of the oversight committee are majority vice chair Lana Theis (R), minority vice chair Jeff Irwin (D), and John Bizon (R). The report specifically addressed claims coming out of Antrim County, where the unofficial results were later discovered to be erroneous. A ‘Forensic Audit’ is ‘Not Justifiable’McBroom also specifically mentioned Antrim County in his opening letter. Read the Michigan State Senate Oversight Committee’s report, below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner’s resignation, the White House said. Biden asked commissioner Andrew Saul to resign, and his employment was terminated after he refused the Democratic president’s request, a White House official said. Deputy Commissioner David Black agreed to resign, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Biden named Kilolo Kijakazi as acting commissioner while the administration conducts a search for a permanent commissioner and deputy commissioner. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration.

The Social Security Administration, which operates independently, pays out more than $1T per year. WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a holdover from President Donald Trump who regularly drew criticism from Democrats. Biden appointed Kilolo Kijakazi, deputy commissioner for Retirement and Disability Policy at SSA, as acting commissioner until the search for a permanent commissioner and deputy commissioner is completed. The Social Security Administration, which has operated independently since 1994, pays out more than $1 trillion to 65 million beneficiaries each year. “This removal would be an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted.

WASHINGTON POST GIVES WHITE HOUSE 'THREE PINOCCHIOS' FOR CLAIMING REPUBLICANS ARE DEFUNDING POLICEThe video shows a series of tweets and headlines where the left-wing politicians have called for defunding the police and abolishing ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). However, the Washington Post's Fact-Checker even dinged the White House for claiming Republicans were " defunding the police ," giving the eyebrow-raising talking points "Three Pinocchios." "Although Republicans all opposed Biden’s coronavirus relief package, no one voted to cut, or defund, anything. Rather, Democrats proposed $350 billion in emergency funds for state and local governments, and Republicans voted against those extra funds. "Democrats can't say the same - in fact, here are over two dozen examples of when they have."

It’s a significant amount of time apart for two men who live roughly 10 minutes apart and consider themselves close. The Biden administration has promoted social distancing during the pandemic, at times even discouraging visitors to the White House to keep the virus under control. Beyond COVID-19, the two camps have also collaborated on what the Biden administration considers important international progress, a final troop withdrawal out of Afghanistan by September. Earlier this year, during a CNN town hall, Biden admitted he’d never visited Obama in the residence when he was vice president. ADVERTISEMENTEarly into his first term, Biden has logged one main legislative success under a Democratic White House and Congress.

The White House fired Andrew Saul, the Social Security head, on Friday evening. President Joe Biden fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul and his top deputy on Friday afternoon. Advocates said the Social Security Administration delayed releasing information to the IRS for stimulus checks earlier this year. "Social Security beneficiaries stand the most to lose from President Biden's partisan decision to remove Commissioner Andrew Saul from leadership of the Social Security Administration," Brady and Crapo said. He wrote on Twitter that Saul's removal would be "an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration."

The GOP may have undergone a MAGA makeover in recent years, but there appears to be one area where the Republican establishment is holding firm. “President Biden is going to own these ugly images,” McCaul told Fox News last week. McMaster, who have blamed the quagmire in Afghanistan on a failure of political leaders to adequately sell Americans on the effort and of the media to cheerlead the operation. “After 20 years...I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome,” Biden said Thursday. “The United States cannot afford to remain tethered to policies creating a response to a world as it was 20 years ago.”

Frankly, we did win this election.” Obviously that wasn’t true at all—Trump hadn’t won anything because not all of the votes had been counted yet. Still, in some states it had become clear that he was very likely going to lose, hence Fox News’s decision to declare Arizona for Joe Biden. “The election desk,” Hemmer said, adding that the network’s decision was going to be aired imminently. Arnon Mishkin who leads the FOX News Decision Desk made the Arizona call on election night and FOX News Media President Jay Wallace was then called in the control room. Biden ultimately won Arizona by roughly 10,000 votes.

The right-to-repair measures highlight an issue that’s important to many consumers—according to one 2019 YouGov survey, some 71 percent of registered voters support right to repair. Making it easier to repair these sorts of devices could also help lessen the impact of shortages of new devices. “This executive order is putting the spotlight on the need for right-to-repair rules in a big way, and that is welcome news for consumers,” says Maureen Mahoney, senior policy analyst for Consumer Reports. However, in the absence of new federal legislation, the FTC can do a lot to bolster consumer rights in this area, experts say. Biden has also appointed several well-known critics of Big Tech monopolies to key government positions, including Tim Wu at the National Economic Council and Lina Khan at the Federal Trade Commission—the same FTC that’s now tasked with crafting new right-to-repair regulations.

AP Top Stories July 9 PHere’s the latest for Friday, July 9: The death toll in Florida rises to 78; Biden signs consumer protection orders; Health officials say vaccinated teachers and students don’t need masks; Giant cat turns heads in Tokyo.

President Biden on Friday fired the man President Donald J. Trump appointed to lead the Social Security Administration, triggering a legal showdown over who rightfully holds the position. Mr. Biden asked on Friday morning for the resignation of Andrew Saul, the Social Security commissioner, and David Black as deputy commissioner. Mr. Black resigned as requested but Mr. Saul refused to relinquish his position and was notified by the administration that he had been fired. Mr. Biden moved to appoint an acting commissioner, Kilolo Kijakazi, while the administration looks for permanent replacements for the two jobs. The firing was the latest move by Mr. Biden to oust a Trump-appointed director of an independent executive agency.

The tracker does not show officials serving in an acting capacity, so positions unfilled by Biden are not necessarily vacant. All presidents appoint some temporary officials to Senate-confirmed positions to preserve continuity during transitions between one confirmed official and another. For now, the tracker includes official announcements by the Biden transition team and any picks reported by The Washington Post. During the first few months of the Biden administration, the tracker will be updated daily as positions are considered and filled. In some cases, public information on the status of certain officials or positions is inconsistent or nonexistent.

“The core element of Biden’s plan turns on taxing capital effectively, and the linchpin of that is collecting a tax on the unrealized gains at death — or they’ll escape taxation completely,” said Steve Rosenthal, a tax expert at the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank. “Billionaires and the superwealthy create dynastic wealth by avoiding selling their stocks until death. If we just raised the capital gains tax rate, the rich would just carry their assets to death and avoid them. But if we’re going to tax them at death and induce more sales, that gives Biden much more latitude. It’s absolutely crucial to his plan.”

President Biden is looking to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to be the next U.S. ambassador to India. "I am honored to accept his nomination to serve in this role," Garcetti tweeted in response. LA MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI SAYS HE TURNED DOWN BIDEN ADMINISTRATION POSITIONThe mayor had previously asked to be removed from Cabinet consideration at the height of the U.S. coronavirus crisis last year. He added that he believed taking the job would "help strengthen Los Angeles’ place on the world stage." Additionally, a former aide is being sued for allegedly sexually harassing one of his bodyguards while the mayor laughed it off, a claim he has denied.

CNN has failed to reach more than 1 million total viewers on 16 different days from June 9 through July 8. CNN struggled to attract viewers throughout the day, starting with "New Day" attracting an audience of merely 421,000. at midnight ET averaged more than 1 million viewers. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" led the way, averaging 3.2 million viewers to outdraw all of CNN’s primetime programming combined. During the second quarter of 2021, CNN averaged only 654,000 viewers compared to 1.2 million for Fox News.

President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a Trump administration appointee, after he refused to resign from the post. A White House official, in explaining the commissioner's termination, said Saul "undermined and politicized" Social Security disability benefits. Saul's deputy, David Black, another Trump appointee, resigned Friday upon request. Saul was known for his staunch anti-union attitude, a stance that became more controversial as the Social Security Administration dealt with federal employee unions amid the Covid-19 epidemic.

FILE PHOTO A sign is seen on the entrance to a Social Security office in New York City, U.S., July 16, 2018. Saul told the Post: "I consider myself the term-protected Commissioner of Social Security." Biden has appointed Kilolo Kijakazi as acting commissioner while the search for a commissioner and deputy commissioner is conducted, the official said. The Social Security Administration, which oversees programs that provide financial support to the elderly and disabled, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a tweet prior to the announcement that firing Saul would be "an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration."

The Biden administration is insisting on the release of all Americans unjustly imprisoned in Iran and will not accept a "partial deal" in its negotiations with Tehran over detained citizens, according to the U.S. envoy, Robert Malley. Former President Donald Trump pulled the U.S .out of the nuclear deal and Iran has since breached limits on its uranium enrichment and other nuclear activities. President Biden has offered to return the United States to the nuclear accord if Iran returns to compliance with its provisions. It was "distasteful" to have to negotiate for the release of Americans, Malley said, as he said they had committed no crime and should simply be released without conditions. Iran rejects that portrayal and says Washington must release Iranian nationals detained in the United States.

Peter Strzok, former FBI counterintelligence agent and author of “Compromised,”and Washington Post political reporter Nick Confessore break down the recent Russian cyberattacks against the United States and how the Biden Administration is handling Putin’s newfound aggression

President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul after he refused a request to resign, a White House official told NBC News. A search for both commissioner and deputy commissioner will now be conducted, White House official said. The White House told the paper that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision gave the power to replace him. This removal would be an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration. https://t.co/Y33G4YoZKf — Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) July 9, 2021"This removal would be an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration," McConnell said.

With the COVID-19 vaccination rate plateauing across the country, the White House is returning fire at those they see as spreading harmful misinformation or fear about the shots. Henry McMaster tried this week to block door-to-door efforts to drive up the vaccination rate in his state, White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not mince words in her reaction. “Now we need to go to community-by-community, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, and oftentimes, door-to-door — literally knocking on doors — to get help to the remaining people” who need to be vaccinated, Biden said Tuesday. Months ago, the Biden White House refrained from responding when officials criticized its vaccine allocation strategy of sending more doses directly to pharmacies instead of through state health departments after the former strategy proved more effective. White House officials are quick to point out that their criticism is not related to the officials’ political affiliation but to their rhetoric.

President Joe Biden’s administration is taking a big swing at Big Tech. “Without healthy competition, big players can change and charge whatever they want and treat you however they want,” Biden said in a speech Friday. The measure seeks to reign in big business and takes aim at agriculture, banking, transportation, healthcare, and other industries, according to a White House fact sheet. For example, the order seeks to rules to allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter, and that the Transportation Department require clearly disclosed baggage fees. Biden’s order aimed at big business has been expected since last week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and accepted the deputy commissioner’s resignation, the White House said. Biden asked commissioner Andrew Saul to resign, and his employment was terminated after he refused the Democratic president’s request, a White House official said.

President Biden has proposed roughly $4 trillion in new infrastructure spending, but Democrats are far from an intraparty agreement. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, is floating $6 trillion in infrastructure spending, House progressives are calling for $6 trillion to $10 trillion, and Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) is suggesting he would support around $3 trillion in such spending. What it also suggests, says Mazari, is that the part of the market most sensitive to infrastructure spending has started to get jumpy. Assuming continued loose monetary policy, despite expectations for a slowing economy, Tengler has been adding high-growth stocks to clients’ portfolios. For investors, infrastructure uncertainty is an additional—and underappreciated—near-term risk to the economy and markets.

By Tom PolansekCHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. government will invest at least $500 million to expand beef, pork and poultry processing capacity, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Friday, after consumers faced limits on meat purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Ranchers are now selling cattle for a loss even though meat companies make profits selling beef to consumers, Vilsack said. When large meat plants close, meat supplies tighten while ranchers get stuck with cattle that would otherwise have been slaughtered. That means the price of cattle generally falls, while the price of meat in supermarkets rises. Story continuesThe North American Meat Institute, which represents meat companies, said on Friday that Biden's order will "open the floodgates for litigation."

WASHINGTON — President Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a holdover from the Trump administration who had alienated crucial Democratic constituencies with policies designed to clamp down on benefits and an uncompromising anti-union stance. The Social Security Administration pays out more than $1 trillion a year to about 64 million beneficiaries, which include seniors, the disabled and low-income Americans. “This removal would be an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration,” Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell tweeted. The June decision raised the prospect that the head of the Social Security Administration would be next. “President Biden needs someone who can fulfill his promise of protecting and strengthening Social Security,” Representative John Larson, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Social Security subcommittee, said in an interview Thursday.

Anyone who received unemployment in 2021 could qualify for cheaper or no-cost health insurance through the federally run marketplace, starting this month. Tina Chang, revenue cycle director at Progressive Community Health Centers, which helps clients enroll in health insurance plans, encouraged anyone who is unsure to apply anyway. How to sign upGo to HealthCare.gov, the insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act. If you do not already have a marketplace plan, go to HealthCare.gov, create an account and go through the application process. For people already enrolled in a marketplace health plan, the process could be as simple as resubmitting your application to receive the savings.

President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and accepted the deputy commissioner's resignation, the White House said. Biden asked commissioner Andrew Saul to resign, and his employment was terminated after he refused the Democratic president's request, a White House official said. Deputy Commissioner David Black agreed to resign, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Biden named Kilolo Kijakazi as acting commissioner while the administration conducts a search for a permanent commissioner and deputy commissioner. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration.

New York businessman Andrew Saul testifies before the Senate Finance Committee during his confirmation hearing to be commissioner of the Social Security Administration in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill October 02, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Joe Biden on Friday fired the head of the Social Security Administration after the official, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, refused to resign. The White House said the Social Security commissioner, Andrew Saul, "undermined and politicized" the agency's benefits, among other things that warranted his firing. Saul's deputy, David Black, who was also appointed by Trump, resigned on Friday after the White House's request. Saul told The Washington Post, however, that he plans to log back into work on Monday.

Joe Biden has signed an executive order targeting anti-competitive practices across the economy that could have major ramifications for America’s largest tech companies. Friday’s order is the latest of Biden’s actions on anti-trust issues, which have pleased progressives pushing for more action on corporate power – particularly among big tech companies – for years. The measures targeting big tech acquisitions come weeks after Biden nominated the anti-trust scholar Lina Khan to the FTC, signaling a renewed effort to target big tech firms. “The executive order has a lot of great words, but we need to see some action for those words to mean anything,” she said. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who chairs the Senate judiciary subcommittee on competition policy, said that Biden’s executive order needed to be buttressed by congressional action.

Amazon Studios, the film division of the retail giant, and Carbon Health, a health tech startup, are joining together to host pop-up vaccination clinics in New York City and Los Angeles. The effort started on July 8 in the Big Apple, when Amazon Studios launched a clinic at St John's Bread & Life, non-profit organization serves Brooklyn and Queens. Carbon Health also previously worked with Amazon to help members of the studio's cast and crew vaccinated. Currently, a little more than two-thirds of American adults have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and about 58 percent are fully vaccinated. Amazon and Carbon Health hope to close the gap, though they are not the only ones attempting to do so in LA.

It's not a place where people feel supported but a place where people feel treated like s***,' the individual said. tweeted Symone Sanders, Harris' senior advisor and chief spokesperson. Symone Sanders (center, in blue) vehemently defended Vice President Kamala Harris and her chief of staff Tina Flournoy against the claims made anonymously in the Politico story'We are not making rainbows and bunnies all day. Prior to the staff party, Harris previously used her residence for a women of the Senate dinner in mid-June, attracting several Republican guests. When now President Joe Biden lived at the vice president's Naval Observatory home, he was known for hosting events too.

• Announces a policy that enforcement should focus in particular on labor markets, agricultural markets, healthcare markets (which includes prescription drugs, hospital consolidation, and insurance), and the tech sector. In the Order, the President:• Encourages the FTC to ban or limit non-compete agreements. In the Order, the President:• Encourages the Federal Maritime Commission to ensure vigorous enforcement against shippers charging American exporters exorbitant charges. In the Order, the President encourages the FCC to:• Prevent ISPs from making deals with landlords that limit tenants' choices. Though subject to federal review, federal agencies have not formally denied a bank merger application in more than 15 years.

President Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a Trump-era holdover who had been accused of mismanaging the delivery of COVID stimulus payments and union bashing. He was asked to resign his post but was fired when he refused, according to a White House official. Andrew Saul was appointed to a six-year term as Social Security Administration commissioner in 2019 by President Trump. Republicans said Social Security beneficiaries had the most to lose from the dismissal. As word spread, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell tweeted: 'This removal would be an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration.'

Biden and his team stress ongoing legal efforts to safeguard voting rights. Biden has brought in outside advocates for meetings at the White House and has consulted advisers on the best strategy for combatting new laws. Most Republicans have similarly dismissed a separate bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore sections of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court previously weakened. Biden believes "that voting is a fundamental right for the American people,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki this week. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling last week upheld voting limits in Arizona that a lower court had found discriminatory under the federal Voting Rights Act.

Griswold is part of a bipartisan group of elections officials urging Congress to provide billions of dollars to shore up state and local voting infrastructure ("elections cost money"). But stateside, "elected officials really embraced the use of lies to try to manipulate Americans voters," Griswold said. "The blatant abuse of political seats for these elected officials' personal gain is incredibly dangerous to our democracy, but also to election workers," she said. "It's absolutely ridiculous to compare Colorado's gold-standard voter model to Georgia's voter suppression model," Griswold told Insider. "What we're seeing is insider political actors use voter suppression as a tool to steal future elections," Griswold said.

The Biden administration will stop detaining migrants facing deportation if they are pregnant or recently gave birth in a reversal of a Trump-era policyWASHINGTON -- U.S. immigration authorities will no longer routinely jail migrants facing deportation if they are pregnant or recently gave birth, reversing a Trump-era immigration policy. The practice of detaining pregnant migrants has been condemned as a threat to maternal and fetal health by immigrant and women's advocacy groups critical of medical care at detention centers. ICE recently adopted draft guidelines to focus apprehensions on people in the United States illegally who recently entered the country, pose a national security threat or have committed serious crimes. Under Obama, ICE adopted a policy in August 2016 that pregnant migrants would be presumed eligible for release as their cases made their way through immigration courts. The number of pregnant women detained by ICE increased from 1,380 in 2016 to 2,098, according to the Government Accountability Office.

President Joe Biden waves as he boards Air Force One, Friday, July 9, 2021, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)President Joe Biden waves as he boards Air Force One, Friday, July 9, 2021, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday fired the commissioner of Social Security after the official refused to resign, and Biden accepted the deputy commissioner’s resignation, the White House said. Biden named Kilolo Kijakazi as acting commissioner while the administration conducts a search for a permanent commissioner and deputy commissioner. Kijakazi currently is the deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration.

(CNN) President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul after he refused to submit his resignation as the President had requested, a White House official told CNN. Biden had asked for the top two officials at the Social Security Administration to submit their resignations, the White House official told CNN, but only Saul refused. Deputy Commissioner David Black agreed to submit his resignation, the official said, and it was accepted. "Since taking office, Commissioner Saul has undermined and politicized Social Security disability benefits, terminated the agency's telework policy that was utilized by up to 25 percent of the agency's workforce, not repaired SSA's relationships with relevant Federal employee unions including in the context of COVID-19 workplace safety planning, reduced due process protections for benefits appeals hearings, and taken other actions that run contrary to the mission of the agency and the President's policy agenda," the White House official said. The President has appointed Kilolo Kijakazi as acting commissioner while the search for a commissioner and deputy commissioner is conducted.

The U.S. has agreed to send senior officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to Haiti to assist the government's investigation of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, the White House announced Friday. The political and security crises afflicting the Caribbean country are rivaled only by the coronavirus pandemic. Seventeen suspects have been detained, according to interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph's office, including two Americans and 15 Colombians. Four other suspects were killed by police in a shootout late Wednesday, according to Haitian officials. The State Department declined to address a question about Pierre's comments during a press briefing Friday afternoon.

Their ideology is largely invisible but no less ideological for refusing to present itself out in the open. (As a recent Populace survey stated, Biden and Trump voters hold “collective illusions” about each other, and “what is often mistaken for breadth of political disagreement is actually narrow — if extremely intense — disagreement on a limited number of partisan issues.”) Biden’s ideology is, in fact, the old ideology of pragmatic progressive pluralism—the ideology of F.D.R. This is an ideology whose invisibility is guaranteed to disappoint all of us loudly articulate ideologues. This is a difficult wisdom—and one that, perhaps not accidentally, was offered often during the campaign by the man who is now Biden’s Transportation Secretary. Is Biden protected by the invisible armor of his ideology or merely naked to his enemies?

Many of the agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, mentioned in the Friday order are independent, meaning the White House can only encourage them, not direct them, to take specific steps. One part of the order tells the federal agencies that approve mergers that they should update their guidance for vetting deals to better capture technology companies’ business models. Another asks the Federal Communications Commission to reinstate so-called net neutrality rules for broadband providers. Yet another asks the Federal Trade Commission to stop manufacturers from blocking farmers from repairing their tractors on their own. and the Justice Department to more stringently scrutinize hospital mergers to ensure that patients are not harmed by them.

made clear that masks could be optional for vaccinated people, in line with its recommendations for the general public. also strongly urged schools to promote vaccination, which the guidance called “one of the most critical strategies to help schools safely resume full operations.” Studies suggest that vaccines remain effective against the Delta variant. The country’s two major teachers’ unions, which have close relationships with the Biden administration, praised the guidance. Some parents who have advocated school reopening greeted the new guidelines with relief. The city finally allowed elementary school students to return in mid-April, but most middle and high school students were not able to do so at all.

Biden urges Putin to ‘take action to disrupt’ Russia-based hackers behind ransomware attacks. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 0:51 - 0:00 transcript Biden Calls for Putin to Act on Ransomware Attacks President Biden urged President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to act when ransomware attacks originate in his country and said the U.S. reserves the right to respond against hackers who launch attacks from Russia. Will there be, sir?” “Yes.” President Biden urged President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to act when ransomware attacks originate in his country and said the U.S. reserves the right to respond against hackers who launch attacks from Russia. Mr. Biden said he told Mr. Putin that during a face-to-face meeting in Geneva several weeks ago. The firing was the latest move by Mr. Biden to oust a Trump-appointed director of an independent executive agency.

Live Live Updates: Haitian Officials Request U.S. Haitian officials say they have asked for U.S. forces to stabilize the country. Police searched the Morne Calvaire district of Petion Ville for suspects who remain at large in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Friday. In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson sent the Marines to protect U.S. interests after the assassination of the Haitian president. President Moïse had been dressed in a white shirt and jeans, he said, both of which were torn and covered in blood.

Lauren Boebert Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert | Credit: Chip Somodevilla/GettyGreene and Boebert are staunch supporters of former President Donald Trump. But Conway is not fond of the reality television-esque environment developed during Trump's presidency that Greene and Boebert continue to perpetuate. Lauren Boebert Lauren Boebert | Credit: Joe Raedle/GettyGreene and Boebert have sparked plenty of controversy during their first six months in office. "I'm truly sorry for offending people with remarks about the Holocaust," Greene said at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol. It is antics like this that have Conway and VIEW PAC keeping their distance from Greene and Boebert, she said.

"In sixth grade I was my school's spelling bee champion," Dr. Biden, 70, shared in opening remarks delivered ahead of the competition. Prior to her remarks, Dr. Biden met separately with the finalists and their families privately, according to a White House press pool report. A longtime educator, Dr. Biden returned to teaching this spring after taking the fall off to focus on the 2020 campaign. During a community college tour in Dixon, Illinois, in April, Dr. Biden said to reporters: "Most people now call me first lady. As the 2020 Scripps National Spelling Bee was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's competition was extra special for its 11 finalists.

College Officials Clamp Down on Student Behavior Over Covid-19 FearsAdded: 20.08.2020 10:27 | 16 views | 0 commentsJoe Biden criticized President Trump’s virus response and outlined a strategy to fight the pandemic. Overburdened health care specialists are finding themselves on the front lines as schools reopen.

Added: 09.07.2021 20:18 | 15 views | 0 commentsDenise Bauer, a former ambassador to Belgium and prominent Biden donor, will be nominated ambassador to France.

Added: 29.07.2020 15:10 | 20 views | 0 commentsPresumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says he's close to choosing a running mate. The former vice president said the decision will come next week. Ed O'Keefe reports from the campaign trail.

Added: 12.03.2021 4:42 | 19 views | 0 commentsNew Delhi [India], March 12 (ANI): Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), a strategic forum comprising India, Japan, Australia and the United States of America, will hold its first-ever head of states meet virtually on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India will be meeting virtually with President Joe Biden of the United States, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia. The Quad, mooted by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007, has met regularly at the working and foreign ministers...

President Biden weighs new rules cracking down on airline fees in executive orderAdded: 09.07.2021 16:59 | 20 views | 0 commentsThe airline fee directives are part of a broad executive order by President Joe Biden aimed at anti-competitive practices of big business.

Biden tells Putin to 'disrupt' ransomware groups operating out of RussiaAdded: 09.07.2021 21:59 | 12 views | 0 commentsPresident Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to “disrupt” ransomware groups operating out of Russia amid another series of attacks this week.

Biden vows US action over Russian cyber-attacksAdded: 09.07.2021 22:16 | 10 views | 0 commentsAsked if Moscow would face consequences for the series of hacks, Mr Biden replied: "Yes."

Early Friday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the Federal Trade Commission to draft new regulations limiting device manufacturers’ ability to restrict independent repairs of their products. But the Biden administration’s involvement in repair issues brings national attention to a topic that has, for the most part, been addressed only in legislation at the state level. And it could have major implications for large tech companies and equipment makers that have historically held a tight grip on how—and by who—their devices can be repaired. The executive order is considered a significant win for right-to-repair advocates. “We’re really excited to hear this news,” says Kerry Maeve Sheehan, iFixit’s lead on US policy, in response to Biden’s executive order.

Paul LePage will return to politics to challenge his nemesis, Janet Mills. But now, at the age of 72, LePage is back home and has announced he will challenge Mills in 2022. Leaders of his party seem resigned to resume their tutelage under this angry reactionary who is very far from the traditional image of mild-mannered Maine Republicans. But none of them so resembles the 45th president in brash nastiness and mendacity as much as LePage does. Maine voters may want to think about that before heading to the polls next year.

Photo: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesJoe Biden will sign a sweeping executive order Friday that aims to progressively reform America’s markets in labor, agriculture, health care, technology, internet service, transport, and more. If the president has his druthers, workers will gain more power over employers; small farmers over Big Ag; start-ups over Big Tech; rail passengers over freight companies; fliers over airlines; and rural areas over their hospitals. The executive order comprises 72 different actions and recommendations, united by the overarching theme of combating corporate consolidation and the abuses of power that arise from it. Meanwhile, some of Biden’s proposed reforms (such as the occupational licensing ban) concern state law, and would thus require the cooperation of authorities outside executive control. And after Donald Trump’s eviction from major social-media platforms, Big Tech might be more anathema to the right than to the left.

Twice, Trump attempted to contact supervisors in Maricopa County, the most populous county in the state, after the 2020 election. “We need you to stop the counting,” Ward texted Hickman soon after the election. “Here is Sidney Powell’s number,” Ward texted Hickman on November 17th. “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state,” Trump told Raffensperger. In Arizona, Katie Hobbs’ call for a criminal investigation comes with a partisan tint, as she’s now running for governor.

“It’s unbelievable how offensive this administration is getting with a pandemic that is clearly on the run. This is a reason to keep vaccinating people, not to stop vaccinating people, especially as the highly contagious Delta variant is spreading around the world. The right’s campaign to keep people unvaccinated is starting to extend beyond Fox News chyrons and tweets. Republican lawmakers in Tennessee have for weeks been attacking the state’s health commissioner for “peer pressuring” teenagers about getting vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/J8fambqdoN — Brett Kelman (@BrettKelman) July 8, 2021The Tennessee Department of Health’s reversal — which has included the deletion of some pro-vaccine Twitter and Facebook posts — is especially concerning considering how quickly the Delta variant could spread.

Just one month after announcing its 2021 lineup, Dierks Bentley’s Seven Peaks Festival has been canceled. “Seven Peaks Music Festival is being cancelled for 2021 due to current capacity restrictions in place by local health officials,” the festival tweeted on Friday. Denver television reporter Marshall Zelinger notes that Seven Peaks organizers actually sold more than 6,000 tickets prior to acquiring the festival’s permit from the county. https://t.co/eD3hiDBjYp pic.twitter.com/HmvrptRDfg — Marshall Zelinger (@Marshall9News) July 9, 2021In addition to Bentley, performers at this year’s Seven Peaks were to include Keith Urban, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Kip Moore. Rep. Lauren Boebert, whose district does not include Buena Vista, tweeted this week about President Biden sending “Needle Nazis” to her turf.

J.B. Pritzker signed the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act, which mandates "a unit of instruction studying the events of Asian American history, including the history of Asian Americans in Illinois and the Midwest, as well as the contributions of Asian Americans toward advancing civil rights from the 19th century onward." "It is a watershed moment in history in terms of teaching Asian American history in K-12 schools." "Asian American history is American history." Others are focused on integrating Asian American history into existing American history courses or offering shorter survey courses on various groups. Kwoh's nonprofit, the Asian American Education Project, spun out of the group Asian Americans Advancing Justice last year.

The Value In Electing Women Political Action Committee, a prominent fundraising group for GOP women, is "intentionally" withholding campaign donations to Reps. Greene and Boebert. Boebert said she has "never heard of" the PAC, which she described as "DC insider." A prominent fundraising group for GOP women is “intentionally” withholding campaign donations to freshmen Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Insider reported Wednesday. We cannot let this work be erased by individuals who chose to be shameless self-promoters and carnival barkers. "I think that they would rather draw attention to themselves, and really Marjorie Taylor Greene more than Boebert, but they're cut from the same cloth," Conway added.

A TikTok video went viral of a woman sneaking an extra bag onto an airplane in this hilarious hack. The original video has gathered 13.2 million views and 2.7 million likes. One viewer wrote, “Saving this for next time I fly!”Ashlin’s travel hack could help some women take advantage of cheap flights before prices rise as the pandemic comes to an end, allowing for more travel. Ashlin shared her travel hack in a now-viral TikTok video that has gathered 13.2M views. The popular Walker Twins recently had a viral video of their “travel hack,” which got mixed reviews.

Former President Donald Trump is headlining an Aug. 5 fundraiser for the New York State Republican Party. State GOP chairman Nick Langworthy met with Trump at Trump Tower last month. Langworthy was one of Trump’s biggest boosters before becoming the state Republican Party chairman, while heading the Erie County GOP. FacebookThe fundraiser comes as Republican Party is fighting for influence in statewide politics, with races for governor, attorney general and comptroller up next year. Former President Donald Trump maintains strong ties to the leaders of the New York Republican Party.

This Week:President Biden announced on Thursday that U.S. troops will be coming home from Afghanistan by August 31, running ahead of schedule of the original September 11 deadline. As American forces are pulled out of Afghanistan, locally employed civilians (LECs) and their families who served the U.S. military as interpreters are being hunted and assassinated by Taliban fighters. Rachel Sutherland speaks with Chief Economist at Moody Analytics, Mark Zandi about the job market, Americans returning to work and how it impacts the economy going forward. As COVID-19 restrictions loosen across the United States, Americans are removing their masks and returning to concerts, large events, and professional sports. Fox News Congressional Correspondent, Chad Pergram, discusses the specific challenge Capitol Hill faces in addressing MiLB’s need.

President Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to "disrupt" ransomware groups operating out of Russia amid another series of attacks this week. The White House has faced mounting pressure to counter the spike in ransomware attacks following the summit with Putin last month. SCALE, DETAILS OF MASSIVE KASEYA RANSOMWARE ATTACK EMERGEIn a phone conversation between the two world leaders Friday, Biden warned Putin that the U.S. will take "any necessary action" to defend U.S. infrastructure and directed government agencies to prepare. The president also said he believes the U.S. will "get cooperation" from Russia, but said it was not "appropriate" to comment on what he expects Putin to do. The White House said only time will tell how Russia will respond to U.S. calls for action.

"After careful consideration, a system has been established that allows for Hunter Biden to work in his profession within reasonable safeguards," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday. "Of course, he has the right to pursue an artistic career just like any child of a president has the right to pursue a career." "I think it would be challenging for an anonymous person who we don't know and Hunter Biden doesn't know to have influence," Psaki said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe younger Biden's foreign business dealings and laptop contents have already been a thorn in the side for the Biden White House. Hunter Biden described his full-time artistry as getting to the truth.

President of the National Action Network Reverend Al Sharpton discusses his meeting with other civil rights leaders and President Joe Biden where he says they expressed the outrage people feel over voting rights across the country

FILE - In this March 26, 2021, file photo President Joe Biden walks with his son Hunter Biden, second from left, as Hunter carries his son Beau and walks next to his wife Melissa Cohen, center, before boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)FILE - In this March 26, 2021, file photo President Joe Biden walks with his son Hunter Biden, second from left, as Hunter carries his son Beau and walks next to his wife Melissa Cohen, center, before boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Hunter Biden has now shifted his focus to the art world. “That’s part of the appearance problem.”The concern, he said, is that regardless of who purchases the paintings, such high prices suggest Hunter Biden is profiting off his father’s name. Painter said that while the agreement concerning Hunter Biden’s paintings are not ideal, the administration overall has displayed a marked improvement on ethics matters over Biden’s predecessor.

Beijing is trying to gain better control of Chinese companies, including those listed abroad. Analysts also expect the heightened scrutiny to slow, if not halt, the number of Chinese companies coming public in the U.S. in the near term. Of the large internet stocks, Semple favors Tencent, the top position in his fund, over Alibaba, another holding. Many Chinese internet companies’ fundamentals are sound. In addition, widely held U.S.-listed Chinese stocks, including Alibaba, could become proxies for investors’ China angst.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday phone call that he must “take action” against cybercriminals acting in his country and that the U.S. reserves the right to “defend its people and its critical infrastructure,” the White House said. Market Pulse: Biden told Putin to disrupt ransomware groups in Russia: White HouseThe conversation came less than a month after the two leaders met in Geneva, when Biden warned against continuing cyberattacks emanating from Russia. A new ransomware attack linked to the REvil hacking group based in Russia caused widespread disruption last weekend, affecting as many as 1,500 businesses. The Biden administration took office on the heels of a massive cyberespionage campaign known as SolarWinds that U.S. officials have linked to Russian intelligence operatives. But ransomware attacks, perpetrated generally by criminal hacker gangs rather than state-sponsored hackers, appear to have eclipsed old-fashioned spying as a potent threat.

But he said that “all British troops assigned to NATO’s mission in Afghanistan are now returning home,” adding that “most of our personnel have already left.”Most U.S. and European troops have also pulled out in recent weeks. It will take combined efforts of many nations, including Afghanistan’s neighbors, to help the Afghan people to build their future,” Johnson said. Britain’s last combat troops left Afghanistan in October 2014, though about 750 remained as part of a NATO mission to train Afghan forces. He held out hope that the Afghan government could work with the Taliban to reach a political settlement. “I think the Taliban recognize that they can’t rule all of Afghanistan without a compromise.”

The executive order from Biden calls on the FTC to establish stricter rules over mergers, making it harder for larger tech companies to swallow up their smaller competitors — just like Facebook has with Instagram and WhatsApp. The order also calls on the FTC and DOJ to use flexibility in existing antitrust laws to retroactively unwind “bad mergers” completed under prior administrations. Amazon’s use of third-party seller data is also the focus of an ongoing FTC antitrust investigation. How much impact the president’s executive order will have remains unclear. While advocates for corralling Big Tech and bringing transparency to internet pricing may praise the executive order, there’s no guarantee that any of it will go into effect.

ReutersThe Biden administration on Friday added 14 Chinese companies and other entities to its economic blacklist over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang. The Commerce Department said the companies had been "implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass detention, and high technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region." They include the China Academy of Electronics and Information Technology; Xinjiang Lianhai Chuangzhi Information Technology Co; Shenzhen Cobber Information Technology Co; Xinjiang Sailing Information Technology; Beijing Geling Shentong Information Technology; Shenzhen Hua'antai Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.; and Chengdu Xiwu Security System Alliance Co., Ltd.

According to George Kurtz, CEO of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD), the company is seeing a “massive” increase in ransomware attacks. “And it’s only getting worse.”The most recent high-profile attack saw IT remote management software maker Kaseya hit by a supply chain-style ransomware attack, which impacted as many as 1,500 businesses. The suspected group behind the attack, REvil, is seeking a $70 million ransom to call it off. In the instance of the Colonial Pipeline hack, the attackers got away with a $4.6 million ransom, though the U.S. recovered $2.3 million. But until countries act to slow the spread of ransomware, the attacks will continue to haunt private companies and governments around the world.

The shooting Wednesday occurred the same day President Joe Biden traveled to the Chicago area and discussed persistently high levels of gun violence in the nation's third-largest city. Charging documents accuse McClaurin of shooting the other ATF agent and a Chicago task-force officer, though the charge pertains to one agent. “We will not relent in this fight against gun violence and protecting the people of Chicago,” he said. The three officers were on their way to an assignment when they were shot, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown told reporters Wednesday. With Wednesday’s shooting, 36 Chicago officers have been shot or shot at this year, Brown said.

Ata Mohammad Noor, who is among those behind the latest attempt to halt the Taliban advances by creating more militias, told The Associated Press that the Afghan military is badly demoralized. He said Washington’s quick exit left the Afghan military logistically unprepared for the Taliban onslaught. “It was surprising for me that in 24 hours, 19 districts of Badakhshan were surrendered without a fight,” said Noor. Once the governor of Balkh province, where Mazar-e-Sharif is the capital, he effectively still runs the province. Noor also criticized the Afghan government’s fighting strategy, saying the Afghan National Security and Defense forces' leadership has overused its elite commando units.

President Joe Biden told reporters Friday afternoon that Russia will face consequences after cybercriminals within the country carried out a string of recent ransomware attacks against targets in the United States. Following an executive order signing ceremony, a reporter asked Biden "if there will be consequences" for Russia, to which the president responded simply, "Yes." "President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware," the readout continued. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINERYou can watch Friday's entire White House briefing below. Washington Examiner VideosTags: News, Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin, Russia, White House, Cybersecurity, Technology, Foreign PolicyOriginal Author: Christian DatocOriginal Location: Asked if US will deliver 'consequences' to Russia for ransomware attacks, Biden says 'yes'

Meanwhile, federal assistance for small businesses has been sluggish and hard-fought at best, making it tough for Joseph Dreamhouse to address the needs of its community. Since the pandemic lockdown last year, three-quarters of the country’s small employers turned to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for help. Story continuesFor Glover, she’s waiting to see if this will help speed up the process. President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act, signed in March, included additional aid for the nation’s more than 30 million small businesses. Part of the package was $15 billion in additional funding for Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) advance payments, including $5 billion for Supplemental targeted EIDL advance payments.

U.S. immigration authorities will no longer routinely jail migrants facing deportation if they are pregnant or recently gave birth, reversing a Trump-era immigration policy. The practice of detaining pregnant migrants has been condemned as a threat to maternal and fetal health by immigrant and women’s advocacy groups critical of medical care at detention centers. ICE recently adopted draft guidelines to focus apprehensions on people in the United States illegally who recently entered the country, pose a national security threat or have committed serious crimes. Under Obama, ICE adopted a policy in August 2016 that pregnant migrants would be presumed eligible for release as their cases made their way through immigration courts. AdvertisementThe number of pregnant women detained by ICE increased from 1,380 in 2016 to 2,098, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Specifically, Biden was set to sign an executive order Friday directing regulatory agencies to more closely investigate industry mergers and tech companies’ use of consumer data. Biden Administration 'Anti-Business,' Cramer Says"Very anti-business presidency. Far more than Obama...," Jim Cramer said from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday. "I'm mystified by President Biden. Cramer On Boeing's QuarterBoeing next week is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings, and Jim Cramer isn't confident going into the print.

And he even skipped a rally in Sarasota headlined by former president Donald Trump, whose early endorsement was crucial in helping DeSantis win the governor’s race in 2018. SURFSIDE, Fla. — When the coronavirus ravaged Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis defiantly bucked mask mandates. But unlike the former president, DeSantis is showing that he can tone down some of his most extreme partisan rhetoric during a disaster. While effective responses to catastrophes can help burnish a governor’s political reputation, the boost can sometimes prove fleeting. Nikki Fried, Florida’s Democratic agriculture commissioner who has also announced a bid for governor, praised local officials, Biden, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Election night results in rural Antrim County, which has roughly 23,000 residents, initially erroneously showed a local victory for Joe Biden over then-President Donald Trump. LANSING, Mich. — Michigan’s attorney general has opened an investigation after a Republican-led state legislative panel said people are making baseless allegations about 2020 presidential election results in a northern Michigan county to raise money or publicity for their own ends. Colbeck has called the report “shoddy” and has called for the panel’s GOP senators to be censured. Dominion has accused Colbeck of “knowingly sowing discord in our democracy” and soliciting “exorbitant amounts of money” — over $1 million — to his business. The report called it a “serious breach.”The attorney general’s office did not elaborate on the probe’s specifics, saying it is an open investigation.

But Biden may find challenges in addressing that competition decline across diverse sectors of the economy — including Silicon Valley, Wall Street, chain restaurants, and large hospital networks — solely through executive action. A leading business lobbying group in Washington, the US Chamber of Commerce, panned the order. In the White House, he appointed Tim Wu, a Columbia University law professor and outspoken proponent of breaking up companies like Facebook, as a special adviser on competition. One of the targets of the executive order is mergers where big tech companies buy small companies that could become fierce competitors, snuffing out a rival before it gets off the ground. The order will also ask the Federal Communications Commission to adopt new restrictions on the practices of broadband internet providers like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon.

Sen. Ted Cruz isn’t at CPAC in Dallas this weekend. “You’re our local celebrity!” one woman told Rafael Cruz, an 82-year-old pastor. Ted Cruz publicly put that behind him, transforming from bitter adversary to Trump wingman once the rancor of that primary faded, and at the CPAC event in Orlando in late February, where both the senator and Trump spoke, Cruz reiterated his fealty. “Donald J. Trump ain’t going anywhere,” Cruz told activists. Cheers erupted for clips of the late Rush Limbaugh, and of Ted Cruz accusing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg of stifling conservative speech.

Alarmingly, there are increasingly apparent threats to preserving our great republic, including a severe declining knowledge of U.S. history and civics and fading American pride of our youngest citizens. As introduced, this legislation would strengthen and expand access to civics and history education through federal grants to support teaching of these subjects without mandating a national curriculum. Concerns have multiplied since the Biden administration published guidance for the existing American History and Civics Education grant programs, citing the widely disputed 1619 Project that elevates critical race theory. Absent such, this speaks volumes about the administration’s desired direction for civics education and the importance of political narrative over historical fact. But I deeply oppose any backdoor efforts to rewrite the American story.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has established an arrangement that would allow President Joe Biden’s son Hunter to sell his artwork for tens of thousands of dollars without knowing the identity of the purchaser, an agreement established in attempt to avoid any potential ethical concerns surrounding his sales. Under the arrangement, a private art gallery owner will set prices for his work and will handle all bidding and sales, but will not share any information about buyers or prospective buyers with Hunter or anyone in the administration. The deal was first reported by The Washington Post. “After careful consideration a system has been established that allows for Hunter Biden to work in his profession within reasonable safeguards,” she told reporters. “Of course he has the right to pursue an artistic career, just like any child of a president has the right to pursue a career.”

But Garcetti was overmatched by a crisis of homelessness that became a national embarrassment despite the massive jump in government spending to fight it. Many streets and sidewalks remain cratered and crumbling, despite his early pledge to make fixing them a cornerstone of his administration. A lawsuit alleges that a former top staffer sexually harassed one of the mayor’s police bodyguards while Garcetti ignored it or laughed it off. One of his former deputy mayors was also indicted on corruption charges in an ongoing federal investigation at City Hall. And as is the case in many large cities, the crime rate in LA is spiking.

The Lincoln Project has revealed its new mission: to destroy the Republican Party . In fact, Mr Galen spent much of his pre-Trump career working on Republican campaigns, including for George W Bush , John McCain , and Arnold Schwarzenegger . “The Republican party is irredeemable in its current form,” Mr Galen said. “We want them fighting,” Mr Galen said. And the biggest example of all, of course, is Mr Trump himself, who many saw as an easy opponent to beat in 2016.

Nearly half of Republican voters think it’s OK for state legislators to overturn election results, a new study has shown. Meanwhile, Mr Trump pressured individual election officials to reject their own vote counts, contravening their legal responsibilities. The Voter Study Group found that most Republican voters support these efforts to undo the election. Almost 62 per cent believe that Mr Biden is not a legitimate president, the survey found, and about two thirds believe Mr Trump actually won in 2020. Only 23 per cent of Americans believe state legislators are entitled to overturn an election, the study found.

One witness said Webber had intended to write 'Daddy War Crimes,' before he was stopped – a claim Webber would later repeat. That's why Daddy War Crimes were the words on the wall.' It followed revelations that the White House helped set up a deal for buyers' identities to remain hidden to ensure they did not win presidential favors. The plan will allow Hunter Biden to forge ahead with his new life as an artist after a career change from high-paid consultant on international deals. That's why Daddy War Crimes were the words on the wall.'

Joe Biden could face an uphill battle against Senate Republicans after nominating LA Mayor Eric Garcetti (pictured last January) as the US ambassador to India. In Garcetti, Biden will be seen as rewarding a loyal ally, someone who mulled his own 2020 run before stepping aside to manage the COVID crisis. Garcetti also said he did not witness Jacobs hurling slurs at an Asian American city aide from the window of the mayor's vehicle. DailyMail.com sought comment from the White House, Mayor Garcetti's office and attorneys for Jacobs and Bernard and the City Attorney's office. 'Once again, Mayor Garcetti took no action to stop Jacobs from making these comments.'

Haitian Prosecutor Me Bed-Ford Claude said he had seen no casualties among the president's security detail following the assassination. Hérard is currently under investigation by US officials over allegations he is involved in arms trafficking in Haiti, Haitian and US sources told CEPR. Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and First Lady Martine are pictured together in 2017. Solages' aunt Victorie Dorisme also spoke of her disbelief at his involvement in the president's assassination. It is not clear if the two men were known to each other prior to their alleged involvement in the president's assassination.

Advertising Read moreWashington (AFP)US President Joe Biden on Friday once again told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to "take action" against ransomware hackers operating from Russia, but the Kremlin gave little sign of listening. Talking to reporters, Biden said he "made it very clear" to Putin that "we expect them to act" against ransomware gangs. It was the same message Biden delivered in person to Putin in their first summit meeting in Geneva in June. Told of the Kremlin's claim, a senior Biden administration official said there had been "multiple, specific requests for action." "We expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is," he said.

Many factors might have shaped crime trends, including the pandemic, widespread summer protests, and a struggling economy. Republicans see a winning issue in linking crime to Democratic policies. Crime is escalating to a level we haven’t seen in decades as a direct result of Democrats’ defund the police movement and Biden-Harris open-border policies. — GOP (@GOP) June 29, 2021We asked the RNC for the data behind the claims in the tweet. But its biggest flaw is the unfounded assertion that crime rate trends were a "direct result" of Democratic policies.

After reviewing the oversight committee's report, the attorney general's office "accepted Sen. McBroom and the Committee's request to investigate," said Lynsey Mukomel, press secretary for Attorney General Dana Nessel. But the committee's report discredited many claims made in an election fraud lawsuit against Antrim County that served as a vehicle to advance election conspiracies. His website includes a link to donate to an "Election Fraud Defense Fund." The two were included in the speaker lineup for an "election integrity" fundraiser held in Antrim County in early June. And Colbeck's website, which includes false claims of election fraud, accepts financial contributions from readers.

Saul’s firing came after a tumultuous six-month tenure in the Biden administration during which advocates for the elderly and the disabled and Democrats on Capitol Hill pressured the White House to dismiss him. He had clashed with labor unions that represent his 60,000 employees, who said he used union-busting tactics. Angry advocates say he dawdled while millions of disabled Americans waited for him to turn over files to the Internal Revenue Service to release their stimulus checks — and accused him of an overzealous campaign to make disabled people reestablish their eligibility for benefits.

The attorney general of Tennessee penned a letter — signed by twenty other states’ Republican attorney generals — that formally objects to an executive order by President Joe Biden on his first day in office that extended federal anti-discrimination protections to sexual orientation and gender identity. The attorneys general claim that the Department of Education (DOE) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have “misconstrued federal law and failed to adhere to the transparency and deliberative process” by following Biden’s directive. The actions that the DOE and EEOC have taken to enforce these rules against discrimination since are at issue. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and 18 other attorneys general — including those from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia — also signed the letter. It was sent to Biden as well as Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Congressional leaders of both parties in both chambers, and commissioners at the EEOC.

However, new regulations that agencies may write to translate his policy into rules could trigger major legal battles. The White House said Biden’s order follows in the tradition of past presidents who took action to slow corporate power. Business and trade groups quickly expressed opposition, arguing that the order would stifle economic growth just as the U.S. economy is recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. The order includes several provisions that could affect the agricultural industry. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, said that Biden’s executive order needs to be buttressed by congressional action.

Live Live Updates: Haitian Officials Request U.S. The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said the Biden administration would respond to the Haitian government’s request and send U.S. law enforcement officials to assist after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Police searched the Morne Calvaire district of Petion Ville for suspects who remain at large in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Friday. Bullet holes in a wall at the home of President Jovenel Moïse on Wednesday. President Moïse had been dressed in a white shirt and jeans, he said, both of which were torn and covered in blood.

Citizens take part in a protest near the police station of Petion Ville after Haitian president Jovenel Moïse was murdered on July 08, 2021 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Richard Pierrin/Getty ImagesHaitian officials fear terrorists will attack the country's infrastructure in the wake of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Haiti's minister of elections told the New York Times that officials have asked the US to send military troops down for support. Government officials in Haiti have asked the United States military to send in troops to help stabilize the country in the wake of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The US has staged military interventions in Haiti before, and Marines occupied the country from 1915 to 1934.

President Biden signed an executive order on Friday cracking down on what the White House says are anticompetitive practices among technology companies, labor and several other economic sectors. "The heart of American capitalism is a simple idea: open and fair competition," Mr. Biden said in remarks on Friday afternoon. Mr. Biden insisted that "competition works," and had led to the U.S. becoming the "wealthiest and most innovative nation in history." The order does not impose the will of the White House directly, but instead encourages different agencies to take action. Other White House economic advisers are also seen as favoring tougher antitrust rules.

The killing has destroyed the Biden administration’s hopes (however far-fetched) for a peaceful transfer of power with elections presided over by Mr. Moïse. But that’s not to say that Haiti’s future is entirely up to the United States nor should it be. When the United States has stepped in, Haitians have ended up worse off. In the wake of the killing, U.S. Marines occupied Haiti and remained there for 19 years. The presidential mandate of Mr. Moïse itself was iffy, to say the least.

Their aspirations and can-do personalities filled us with the hope that this war would end differently than Vietnam. In turn, our presence filled them with hope that, after decades of civil war, Afghanistan could chart a different path. The first interpreter I hired fell in love with the girl next door — the only girl he knew. As the war dragged on, the love stories seemed to grow more audacious. In Afghanistan, a young man must marry to get any amount of female affection.

The US plans to send FBI agents and other federal investigators to Haiti at the country’s request after its president was assassinated earlier this week, the Biden administration said Friday. Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse, was shot to death in a daring, pre-dawn raid Wednesday allegedly carried out by a 28-member hit squad made up of a number of Colombians and two Americans, officials said. Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was shot and killed earlier this week. Richard Pierrin/Getty ImagesSuspects in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise included Haitian Americans James Solages (left) and Joseph Vincent. The pair also told the judge that the hit squad had worked for a month to plan the raid — and met repeatedly in a ritzy hotel in suburban Port-au-Prince.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for a possible delay to next month’s scheduled recess. As negotiators continue to work on the bipartisan proposal, Schumer noted that legislators’ work would extend into Congress’ annual August recess if necessary. Senators should be prepared for the possibility of working long nights, weekends, and remaining in Washington into the previously-scheduled August state work period,” he wrote. The Senate is currently scheduled to begin a summer recess after the week of Monday Aug. 2. “Last month, all fifty Senate Democrats united for the first time this Congress to move forward on a strong and comprehensive voting rights bill.

The Pentagon’s top spokesperson acknowledged Friday that there was a “deteriorating security situation” in Afghanistan following the US troop withdrawal — despite President Biden downplaying the consequences. “What we have seen is a deteriorating security situation on the ground, no question about that, that the Taliban continues to take district centers,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told CNN. Kirby’s comments come after Taliban officials claimed Friday that the Sunni Muslim insurgent group had taken control of 85 percent of territory in the country. On Thursday, Biden defended the decision to end America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan and toned down concerns that the Taliban will restore their Islamic fundamentalist rule. They’ve had training and the ability to be in the field with American forces much over the last 20 years,” Kirby said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Friday said first son Hunter Biden has “a right to an artistic career” — and that his upcoming art sales won’t be an avenue for influence-peddling with his father. Psaki said a “professional gallerist” brokering the sales won’t inform the first son of who is buying his debut artworks — for which he’s seeking up to $500,000 — and that any offers that exceed reason won’t be accepted. “After careful consideration, a system has been established that allows for Hunter Biden to work in his profession within reasonable safeguards. Jen Psaki said Hunter Biden can continue his artwork with “reasonable safeguards.” Georges Berges GalleryPsaki noted the broker of the sales won’t tell Hunter Biden who the buyers are. One of Hunter Biden’s pieces of art.

President Biden said Friday he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin to crack down on computer hacking gangs based in his country, but stopped short of holding the Kremlin responsible for a series of ransomware attacks affecting thousands of companies worldwide. Biden had said earlier this week that the breach had caused “minimal damage” and did not appear to target vital infrastructure. President Biden said Friday he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin to crack down on computer hacking gangs based in his country. see also White House won’t say Russia behind ransomware attack White House press secretary Jen Psaki refused to point to...Last month, hackers also extorted an $11 million ransom payment from JBS SA, the world’s largest meat processor. “Responsible countries need to take action against criminals who conduct ransomware activities on their territory.”With Post wires

WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted Friday that President Biden “does not” talk business with his son — despite new records indicating otherwise — and separately confirmed that Hunter Biden still co-owns a Chinese investment firm. White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted that President Biden does not talk business with Hunter Biden. An attorney for Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Getty Images for World Food ProgA Senate report released in September said a firm linked to Hunter Biden received $3.5 million from Baturina in 2014. The buyers won’t be named publicly and the White House claims Hunter Biden won’t learn their identities.

From July 1 to Dec. 31, 2017, 234 families were separated in Yuma, according to newly released data from the Department of Homeland Security, almost exactly the same number as were separated in a now well known pilot program in El Paso that year. Because the Yuma program began in May, and the existing data on family separations begins only in July, the number of separations there was likely higher than 234, a prospect the Biden administration is now investigating.

Allies of Vice President Kamala Harris are making efforts to play damage control amid reports of White House infighting and staff complaints. She understands the significance of this moment in history and the tremendous weight of being the first [female vice president]." Harris' senior advisor, Symone Sanders, and deputy chief of staff Michael Fuchs also defended the vice president and Flournoy in statements to Axios. The outlet reported Harris’ chief of staff had "effectively shut out" some of the vice president’s allies in politics and business, including top donors. Republicans had slammed the vice president for resisting calls to personally assess the situation at the border.

Instead, Democrats are performing a political trifecta of hypocrisy, deceit and psychological projection: Democrats didn’t defund the police. Lying Democrats now blame Republicans for defunding police and, presumably, unleashing the ensuing epidemic of lawlessness. Among numerous such actions, consider these:*Portland, Oregon’s City Commission voted 3-1 on June 17, 2020 to defund $15 million from its police budget, nixing 84 positions. *The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-2 on July 1, 2020, to defund the LAPD by $150 million. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPBeyond defunding, Democrats demonized police as trigger-happy racists who shoot blacks for sport.

President Joe Biden delivered a vehement defense of his decision to end the war in Afghanistan by August 31, insisting no amount of sustained American presence there could resolve the country's own intractable problems. CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports.

President Joe Biden on Friday revealed the names of four new nominees to serve as U.S. ambassadors to nations including France, India, Bangladesh and Chile, the White House said in a press release. Biden will nominate Denise Campbell Bauer to be his ambassador to both France and Monaco. Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, was officially listed in the release as Biden's intended nominee to become U.S. ambassador to India. Peter Haas, a career member of the State Department's senior foreign service, was tapped to become Biden's ambassador to Bangladesh. Biden will also nominate Bernadette Meehan, currently the head of global programs for the Obama Foundation, to be his ambassador to Chile.

Biden also named Denise Campbell Bauer as his nominee for ambassador to Monaco. In 2019, she became the executive director of Women for Biden, a group that helped elect the president. Haas has worked in State Department positions at five different bureaus in his career, including in Mumbai, India. Biden’s fourth nominee on Friday was Bernadette Meehan, the executive vice president of global programs for the Obama Foundation. The Biden administration has said it plans to keep the ratio of career appointees to political appointees closer to the traditional 70 to 30 percent.

And when your cell phone breaks, there’s often nobody who can do anything to fix it except the manufacturer itself. That last one in particular may change soon, thanks to a new executive order that President Joe Biden signed Friday afternoon. It can be easy to forget how much of a quasi-scam it is that only Apple is able to repair Apple products. The company restricts access to spare parts and diagnostics that would allow an independent repair shop to easily make that fix. And electronics companies broadly now include clauses in their end-user license agreements that mean consumers never really own their products thanks to bans on any modifications of software.

LOS ANGELES — President Joe Biden has nominated Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to serve as U.S. ambassador to India, ending months of speculation whether the two-term mayor would land a role within the Biden administration. "I am honored to accept his nomination to serve in this role," Garcetti said in a statement. "I love Los Angeles and will always be an Angeleno." — MayorOfLA (@MayorOfLA) July 9, 2021If confirmed, Garcetti would be the first L.A. mayor in more than 100 years to voluntarily leave office, the Los Angeles Times reported. But a recent lawsuit alleges that a top Garcetti staffer harassed one of the mayor's bodyguards while Garcetti brushed off the behavior.

President Joe Biden hands out a pen after signing an executive order aimed at promoting competition in the economy, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Friday, July 9, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)President Joe Biden hands out a pen after signing an executive order aimed at promoting competition in the economy, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Friday, July 9, 2021, in Washington. The White House said Biden’s order follows in the tradition of past presidents who took action to slow corporate power. “This is really more of a blueprint or agenda than a traditional executive order,” said Daniel Crane, a law professor at the University of Michigan who focuses on antitrust. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, said that Biden’s executive order needs to be buttressed by congressional action.

President Joe Biden has nominated Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to serve as ambassador to India, the White House said Friday, selecting a high-profile ally to serve in one of the most difficult diplomatic posts. Garcetti, if confirmed, would be dispatched to India as it has been overwhelmed by a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths. The two-term mayor would leave Los Angeles with an uneven record. And as is the case in many large cities, the crime rate in Los Angeles is spiking. See: Caroline Kennedy being considered by Biden for high-profile ambassador post: report

All three major indexes ended at records Friday, underscoring a powerful rebound in equities a day after one of the worst selloffs since mid June. The S&P 500 index SPX, +1.13% closed 1.1% higher at about 4,370, the Nasdaq Composite [c: COMP] booked a roughly 1% advance at roughly 14,700, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.30% climbed 450 points, or 1.3%, at around 34,869, on a preliminary basis. All three indexes logged record closing highs a day after notching the worst daily drop since June 18. Treasury yields, which move inversely to prices, tipped up, however. The climb for stocks came as President Joe Biden issued an executive order to limit corporate dominance and spur competition.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order promoting economic competition on Friday that includes three provisions designed to improve opportunities for workers. “Barriers to competition are also driving down wages for workers,” the White House said in a statement on Friday. Between 36 million and 60 million private-sector workers were subject to noncompete agreements in 2019, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute. “Noncompete agreements reduce wages. About 30% of U.S. jobs require this kind of licensing, according to estimates by the Federal Trade Commission.

“Big tech is on the radar screen more than ever,” said Eleanor Fox, a professor of trade regulation at New York University School of Law. Story continues“It will create a disincentive,” Szabo said, warning that reviewing past deals would create endless uncertainty and deter tech companies from acquisitions that could be beneficial to both buyer and seller. Apple, Microsoft Corp., Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet have pursued fewer deals in the past five years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s a big deal.”The executive order also encourages the FTC to establish rules on surveillance and the accumulation of data. Biden’s order also accused big tech companies of unfairly competing with small businesses.

By Nandita Bose and Jarrett RenshawWASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Friday that includes over 70 initiatives the White House wants over a dozen agencies to undertake to promote competition throughout the U.S. economy, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The order goes after corporate monopolies across a broad swath of industries such as technology, banking and airlines and pushes government agencies to consider how their decisions will impact competition in an industry, according to the sources. Reuters first reported Biden's plan to issue a competition executive order. It directs the FTC to issue rules to address competition concerns from Big Tech companies and ban or limit non-compete agreements, the source said. President Biden will deliver remarks and sign the executive order at 1.30 pm ET.

Biden signs order to tackle corporate abuses across U.S. economy U.S. President Biden signs executive order on U.S. economy at the White House in WashingtonBy Nandita Bose, Jarrett Renshaw and Diane BartzWASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden signed a sweeping executive order on Friday to promote more competition in the U.S. economy, urging agencies to crack down on anti-competitive practices in sectors from agriculture to drugs and labor. Biden said the order "commits the federal government to full and aggressive enforcement of our antitrust laws." The executive order will direct the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to carefully review mergers, and to challenge prior deals that have closed. It also urges the Department of Health and Human Services to draw up a plan to fight high drug prices, and gouging. The executive order also establishes a White House Competition Council, led by the Director of the National Economic Council and including many cabinet secretaries, to monitor progress.

At 9 AM ET (1300 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 475 points, or 1.4%, S&P 500 Futures traded 55 points lower, down 1.3%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 195 points, or 1.3%. The number of claims had been expected to fall to a new post-pandemic low of 350,000. The numbers add to concerns about the impact of the Covid-19 virus, and particularly the delta strain, on global economic growth. By 9 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.3% lower at $71.93 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.2% to $73.18. Related ArticlesDow Futures 475 Pts Lower; Initial Jobless Claims Add to Growth WorriesChina scrutiny fears hit Didi for fourth dayBanks tighten grip on FX market as algo trading rises - survey

By Steve HollandWASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that he pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to act against groups conducting ransomware attacks from his territory. In comments made during a signing ceremony in Washington, Biden said he told Putin, "When a ransomware operation is coming from his soil even though it's not sponsored by the state, we expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is." Cybercriminals have used it to paralyze thousands of American organizations, setting off a series of increasingly high-profile crises. Biden had warned Putin about cyberattacks in person during a summit in Geneva last month https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-summit-cyber-idCAKCN2DS29A, telling his Russian counterpart that disruptive intrusions against critical infrastructure should be off limits. Last week the same hackers claimed responsibility for a mass ransomware outbreak centered on Florida IT firm Kaseya.

Putin has consistently denied that his country carries out cyberattacks (AP)Joe Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin and told him to "take action" against ransomware groups operating in Russia that are attacking US government agencies and private businesses. Mr Biden made the call on Friday, and told Mr Putin that the US will take "any necessary action" to defend the US and its infrastructure from the threat of cyberattacks. The statement said Mr Biden "reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge”. The most recent attack targeted hundreds of companies across the world and the Republican National Committee over the 4 July weekend, which prompted the call from Mr Biden. In a 2016 interview, Mr Putin was asked why he has not cracked down on cyber criminals within his borders.

Video TranscriptJULIE HYMAN: President Biden is set to sign an executive order today that is far-reaching in a number of different industries. What parts of big tech does this EO attack, and what will happen next as a result of it? JESSICA SMITH: Well, President Biden says that big tech is undermining competition, reducing innovation in mainly three ways. Of course, we know the chair of the FTC, Lina Khan, has a reputation for her criticism of big tech. And it calls for greater scrutiny of mergers across various industries, particularly big tech, again, hospitals, banks.

US President Joe BidenPresident Joe Biden has signed an executive order aimed at cracking down on big tech firms and promoting competition. The move points to Mr Biden's desire for tougher scrutiny of Big Tech, which the administration has accused of "undermining competition". The clearest sign yet of Biden's views of Big TechAnalysis box by James Clayton, North America technology reporterBiden is on the warpath - and he has Big Tech in his sights. Biden thinks Big Tech is too big, and he wants to do something about it. It comes weeks after the House Judiciary Committee also voted to approve a series anti-trust bills, which could eventually become law and force big tech firms to transform or even break up their businesses.

The order contains 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies and establishes a White House Competition Council to monitor the agencies' progress. President Joe Biden delivers remark regarding the Afghanistan drawdown in the East Room of the White House on July 8, 2021. It makes sense,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki earlier this week. The executive order calls for greater scrutiny of mergers, new FTC rules to curb data collection and surveillance and rules to bar unfair competition on internet marketplaces. Banking and consumer financeThe White House is calling for greater scrutiny of banking mergers, urging the DOJ and financial regulators to update their guidelines.

The two men, who have since left the EPA, arranged for former agency employees to continue collecting nearly $38,000 salaries even after they were fired, the report says. A spokesperson for EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the agency “is evaluating the report and potential next steps.'' The Washington Post, citing an earlier version of the report, named the fired employees as Madeline Morris and Kevin Chmielewski. Munoz, who left the EPA in January when the Biden administration took office, also could not be reached for comment. Chmielewski, one of the fired employees, provided detailed information to House and Senate lawmakers about alleged wrongdoing by Pruitt.

The United States said Friday it is sending senior FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials to Haiti — at that country’s request — to assess the situation and assist in the investigation. Washington has largely ignored the ominous signs coming from Haiti in recent months, including a constitutional crisis, gang kidnappings and a deteriorating security situation. More than a dozen Colombian nationals and two Haitian Americans from South Florida have been arrested so far, according to Haitian officials. The U.S. influence in Haiti remains enormous. The FBI and Homeland Security officials heading to Haiti should be the first wave of international help.

Hunter Biden, the former vice president's son, at his art studio in Los Angeles, Nov. 1, 2019. The gallerist, Georges Bergès, has agreed to not share any information about the buyers or prices of Hunter Biden’s work with anyone. Hunter Biden is also under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware over his taxes. Hunter Biden has described painting as a form of therapy after a history of addiction to drugs and alcohol. Now I feel comfortable saying it.”Bergès told Artnet News last month that he expected Hunter Biden’s art pieces to be sold for as much as $500,000.

Gina McCarthy, a top advisor to President Biden on domestic climate policy, said administration officials and Democrats in Congress are still discussing how to include a clean-energy standard for utilities in broad infrastructure legislation this year. Biden wants to ultimately produce all of the country’s electricity from carbon-free sources by 2035. McCarthy described the clean energy standard as “an important anchor” for the administration’s climate goals. Democrats have no votes to spare with the Senate split 50-50, and Biden will need to satisfy progressives as well as party moderates like Sens. But McCarthy said she thinks the White House will be able to keep the caucus united around a final package that includes the clean-energy standard: “Nobody is walking away from the table on this.”

He said Washington’s quick exit left the Afghan military logistically unprepared for the Taliban onslaught. Noor was harsh in his criticism of the fractious Afghan leadership, saying it often left the army without reinforcements in battle or even food and erratically paid soldiers’ salaries. He urged greater unity among Afghanistan’s leadership, saying America has given the Afghan government the weapons, training, and tools to sustain itself. Noor also criticized the Afghan government’s fighting strategy, saying the Afghan National Security and Defense forces’ leadership has overused its elite commando units. “We needed factories to produce our own ammunition and workshops to repair the aircraft and other vehicles that were given to the Afghan forces,” said Noor.

The Obama administration generally exempted pregnant women from immigration detention, but the Biden administration is also including women who gave birth within the prior year and those who are nursing, which could last longer than a year. Most pregnant women detained in recent years have been apprehended after crossing the US-Mexico border seeking refuge in the United States, according to the GAO. Advocates for immigrants counter that detaining pregnant and postpartum women endangers their physical and mental health. The new directive does not limit the “temporary placements” of pregnant women in “family staging centers” in South Texas, where several hundred pregnant women traveling with children have passed through this fiscal year, according to ICE data. AdvertisementThirteen pregnant women were in ICE custody as of Thursday, and they are being considered for release under the new policy, officials said.

Lansing — Matthew DePerno, a lawyer who has been among the most vocal Michiganians pushing unsubstantiated claims about the 2020 election, says he's considering running for attorney general next year. The interview came a day after Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel's office said it would investigate individuals who spread false information about the election for their own financial gain. "The real reason Dana Nessel is doing this is she's heard that I'm talking to other people about running for attorney general," DePerno told Bannon. Later in the podcast, DePerno said, "We’ve got to get her out of office, and that’s why I’m looking at running for attorney general here in Michigan." Leonard and Matthew Schneider, former U.S. attorney for Michigan's Eastern District, are among the potential GOP candidates for attorney general next year.

The sweeping order includes 72 actions and recommendations that Biden said would lower prices for families, increase wages for workers and promote innovation and faster economic growth. However, new regulations that agencies may write to translate his policy into rules could trigger major legal battles. The White House said Biden’s order follows in the tradition of past presidents who took action to slow corporate power. The order includes several provisions that could affect the agricultural industry. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, said that Biden's executive order needs to be buttressed by congressional action.

Most of the coverage on vaccine holdouts among Gen Z has focused on their lack of urgency due to their age. As recently as April, it was discovered that little to no vaccine messaging from the White House was being tailored to Gen Z. Vaccine coverage among Gen Z has been lower and is increasing more slowly than in other age groups. The White House is also leveraging the popularity of social apps among Gen Z, partnering with Snapchat and YouTube to encourage vaccinations. For the Biden administration and Gen Z, the stakes of building trust couldn't be higher.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration added 14 Chinese companies to a trade blacklist on Friday over their alleged role in that country's abuses of its Uyghur civilians and other Muslim ethnic minorities. The Commerce Department said in a statement that the electronics and technology firms and other businesses helped enable “Beijing's campaign of repression, mass detention and high-technology surveillance” against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province. The penalties, which prohibit Americans from selling equipment or other goods to the firms, are the latest from the United States as it steps up financial and trade penalties over China's treatment of the Uyghur people. The Chinese government since 2017 has detained a million or more people in the northwest province of Xinjiang. Critics accuse China of operating forced labor camps and carrying out torture and forced sterilization there as it allegedly seeks to assimilate Muslim ethnic minority groups.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration added 14 Chinese companies to a trade blacklist on Friday over their alleged role in that country's abuses of its Uyghur civilians and other Muslim ethnic minorities. The Commerce Department said in a statement that the electronics and technology firms and other businesses helped enable “Beijing's campaign of repression, mass detention and high-technology surveillance” against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province. The penalties, which prohibit Americans from selling equipment or other goods to the firms, are the latest from the United States as it steps up financial and trade penalties over China's treatment of the Uyghur people. The Chinese government since 2017 has detained a million or more people in the northwest province of Xinjiang. Critics accuse China of operating forced labor camps and carrying out torture and forced sterilization there as it allegedly seeks to assimilate Muslim ethnic minority groups.

In 2000, the largest 10 shipping companies controlled 12% of the market. They now control about 82%, according to the Journal of Commerce. The World Shipping Council, an industry trade group, pushed back in a statement that “normalized demand, not regulation," is the way to answer rising costs. The order also notes that over the past two decades the U.S. has lost 70% of the banks it once had, with around 10,000 bank closures. Communities of color and rural areas have been disproportionately affected.

© Richard Pierrin/Getty Images Citizens take part in a protest near the police station of Petion Ville after Haitian president Jovenel Moïse was murdered on July 08, 2021 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Richard Pierrin/Getty ImagesHaitian officials fear terrorists will attack the country's infrastructure in the wake of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Haiti's minister of elections told the New York Times that officials have asked the US to send military troops down for support. Government officials in Haiti have asked the United States military to send in troops to help stabilize the country in the wake of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The US has staged military interventions in Haiti before, and Marines occupied the country from 1915 to 1934.

Ms McKay, the town administrator for Leonardtown, Maryland, didn’t even have time to read the whole message before it disappeared and her computer froze. The attack reached Leonardtown through its IT management company, JustTech, which uses the affected Kaseya product, JustTech told Ms McKay. JustTech also has been inundated in the attack, Ms McKay said. “We can’t access any of our data right now, to be able to service our customers,” Ms McKay said. Many residents have made contact by phone calls and texts to express their support for the small staff, Ms McKay said.

Fox News boss Rupert Murdoch reportedly personally approved the network announcing that Donald Trump had lost Arizona on election night. The Daily Beast obtained an advanced copy of the book and reported on the election night decision approved by Mr Murdoch that signalled the end of Mr Trump's administration. Wolff writes that Fox News' CEO Lachlan Murdoch – operating with his father, Rupert's, support – made the decision to call Arizona for Joe Biden on election night. Trump supporters were furious the day before the election when the network projected that Arizona would be won by Mr Biden, and were even more furious on election night when they called the state against Mr Trump. Some Republicans in Arizona have still not given up on the dream that Mr Trump actually won the state.

"I made it very clear to him that the United States expects when a ransomware operation is coming from his soil, even though it's not sponsored by the state, we expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is," Mr Biden told media on Friday after the phone call.

Joe Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin and told him to "take action" against ransomware groups operating in Russia that are attacking US government agencies and private businesses. Mr Biden made the call on Friday, and told Mr Putin that the US will take "any necessary action" to defend the US and its infrastructure from the threat of cyberattacks. The statement said Mr Biden "reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge”. The most recent attack targeted hundreds of companies across the world and the Republican National Committee over the 4 July weekend, which prompted the call from Mr Biden. In a 2016 interview, Mr Putin was asked why he has not cracked down on cyber criminals within his borders.

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden plans to nominate Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to be the U.S. ambassador to India, the White House said on Friday.

The software company whose software was exploited in the biggest global ransomware attack on record said Tuesday that it so far it appears that fewer than 1,500 businesses were compromised. But cybersecurity experts suspected the estimate was low and noted that victims are still being identified. Most of the more than 60 Kaseya customers that company spokeswoman Dana Lindholm said were affected in an email Sunday are managed service providers (MSPs) who manage multiple customers downstream. "Given the relationship between Kaseya and MSPs it’s not clear how Kaseya would know the number of victims impacted. Also among reported victims were two Dutch IT services companies.

WASHINGTON – Nearly 20 U.S. senators now back legislation to help protect Afghan civilians who supported U.S. forces during the 20-year-long war in their country, a lead sponsor of the bill said on Friday, a day after President Joe Biden set a target date of Aug. 31 for withdrawal. Senators co-sponsoring the bill include Democrats Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy, Jack Reed, Mark Kelly, Kirsten Gillibrand and Tim Kaine, as well as Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. Republicans signed on to the measure include Joni Ernst, Roger Wicker, Steve Daines, Ben Sasse, Tim Scott, Dan Sullivan, Cynthia Lummis, Rob Portman and Todd Young. Members of the House are also working on legislation to help the Afghan civilians. Many lawmakers have voiced support for evacuating interpreters and others who worked with U.S. forces to third countries to protect them while their applications for visas to reach the United States are reviewed.

A woman is in critical condition after being set on fire then shot in Indianapolis. Police have not released the woman's identity nor have they given any detail of the attack other than that she was found at 5am on Friday. She was found in a residential part of west Indianapolis. Police have not released the woman's identity nor have they given any detail of the attack other than that she was found at 5am on Friday. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also went to President Biden to appeal to him to give her city extra resources.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden believes children need to learn about the country's 'challenging' history as she answered a question Friday about his views on critical race theory being taught in school. 'And he believes, as I believe as a parent of children, that kids should learn about our history.' She promised to fight 'culture warriors' who attempt to limit lessons on racism and discrimination by labeling it as critical race theory. Many of the bills are intended to bar the teaching of critical race theory - an academic framework that examines history through the lens of racism. Once an obscure academic idea, critical race theory has become a political rallying cry for Republicans who argue that it sows division and makes children feel guilty for being white.

Russia and the United States, whose relationship has been fraught on a number of issues, both described Friday's unanimous vote by the 15-member Security Council as an important moment. U.S. President Joe Biden had raised the importance of the cross-border aid operation with Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met in Geneva in June. The Biden administration warned that any future cooperation with Russia over Syria would be at risk if cross-border aid deliveries were shut down. The council mandate for the long-running aid operation was due to expire on Saturday. Russia has said the aid operation is outdated and violates Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Today’s historic Executive Order established a whole-of-government effort to promote competition in the American economy. The Order includes 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies to promptly tackle some of the most pressing competition problems across our economy. Announces a policy that enforcement should focus in particular on labor markets, agricultural markets, healthcare markets (which includes prescription drugs, hospital consolidation, and insurance) , and the tech sector. Internet ServiceThe Order tackles four issues that limit competition, raise prices, and reduce choices for internet service. In the Order, the President:Encourages the FTC to establish rules barring unfair methods of competition on internet marketplaces.

A week later Netanyahu also placed a congratulatory call to Biden. According to Wolff, Trump told his aides that the tweet came before the ink was dry” and was an “ultimate betrayal.”“As in all Trump reactions, a variety of grievances welled up here,” Wolff writes in the book, due to be published on July 13. Despite his call to Biden after the elections, Netanyahu walked on eggshells to avoid a public rift with Trump. Even after Trump left office, Netanyahu avoided appearing too friendly with Biden and publicly, hesitated to speak as fondly of him as he spoke of Trump.. In the book, Wolff writes that Trump also complained about the lack of Jewish support he received in the 2020 election.

“Today’s executive order is built on the flawed belief that our economy is over-concentrated, stagnant and fails to generate private investment needed to spur innovation,” Neil Bradley, the business lobby’s executive vice president, said in a statement. The executive order directs the Justice Department and FTC to tighten their merger guidelines for hospital deals. The measure also asks for updated antitrust rules regarding companies that share wage and benefit information to avoid competing for workers. Freight railroad and shipping trade groups expressed opposition to Biden’s order, saying that there’s sufficient competition among their industries and the order would put them at a disadvantage. Unlike the Biden order, however, Obama’s didn’t direct individual agencies to take specific actions and instead required them to come up with their own plans.

Turkey and US negotiating on whether Turkish troops will stay in Kabul to guard the international airport – a move the Taliban has opposed. That may happen on the condition that Turkey, a NATO member, should get the necessary diplomatic, financial, and logistical support from the United States. Hungary, which took part in the airport mission as a NATO member, and Pakistan could also be involved. Erdogan’s announcement came with Turkey’s NATO membership being questioned, not only among its Western allies but also inside the country. The soldiers have overseen training Afghan security forces, and some still serve at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in the capital.

Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! For more from The Nation, check out our latest issueSubscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Joe Biden just threw a big punch at corporate monopolies, one of the biggest executive branch punches of any president in the last 40 years. Since Bill Clinton became president, corporate Democrats have been in the driver’s seat when it comes to economic policy, and shut down all dissenters in the antimonopoly policy. However, one key anti-monopoly question still remains for the president: his choice as the Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division.

He is neither for nor against the Cuban government; he is for the Cuban people, the Cuban families. Lazo portrays Cuba and the United States as his parents—Cuba is his mother, the United States his father. When Barack Obama became President and started normalizing relations with Cuba, Lazo thought his political work was over. The “profe,” as he is known, taught his students to sing Cuban love songs and dance salsa, winning the hearts of their Cuban hosts. Trump tried to please rightwing Cubans in Miami by reversing Obama’s openings and adding 242 additional coercive measures designed to torpedo the Cuban economy.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler says that workers must be placed front and center in the fight against global warming. CC4.0WASHINGTON—Workers, especially union workers, should be “front and center” in the battle to reverse global warming, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler says. And she made the point that global warming is here, proceeding more quickly and negatively than people realize. So is most of the Western U.S.That doesn’t seem to budge global warming deniers in corporate suites or Congress. They weren’t junked in a bipartisan green energy tax credit bill the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, headed by Shuler’s home-state Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., approved.

An array of powerful Democrats in Congress, as well as advocates for the elderly and people with disabilities (like AARP), have been championing another major change as part of this fall’s legislative push: boosting Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. But many other people — those under 18, or adults who are never able to work — don’t qualify for Social Security. How SSI has fallen shortIn 2021, the maximum SSI benefit for an individual is $9,530.12 per year. The plan set the maximum benefit at 100 percent of the poverty line, a 35 percent increase in benefits over the status quo. And like the CTC checks, these changes could have a major impact on poverty in America.

The Biden administration is limiting the detention and arrest of pregnant immigrants in the US, according to a notice sent to congressional staffers on Friday. The policy — which states that ICE should not detain pregnant, postpartum, or nursing individuals unless it is legally prohibited or there are exceptional circumstances — comes after the Trump administration lifted the presumption of release for such detainees in 2017. “Given the unique needs of this population, we will not detain individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum, or nursing unless release is prohibited by law or exceptional circumstances exist. The memo represents the latest change pushed by a Biden administration that is intent on reshaping ICE. Soon, the proportion of immigrants with no prior criminal convictions who were being arrested and placed into deportation proceedings began to shoot up.

Biden signs competition EO targeting big businessPresident Joe Biden signs an Executive Order that targets anticompetitive practices in tech and health care while boosting wages and consumer protections. The sweeping order includes 72 actions the president says "help restore competition."

Biden tells Putin 'to act' against ransomware groupsPresident Joe Biden said Friday he made it "very clear" in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the White House expects the Russian government to take action against ransomware attackers operating on their soil.

Biden told Putin the U.S. would take "any necessary action" following the latest ransomware attack. Biden warned Putin that he would hold Russia accountable for the attacks that originated there even if they are not Kremlin-linked. WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday the U.S. would take "any necessary action" to defend its people and infrastructure following the latest ransomware attack by a Russia-linked group that compromised as many as 1,500 businesses worldwide. As many as 1,500 companies across the U.S., Europe and Asia were affected by the the latest attack. The president raised the issue with Putin when the two met in Geneva last month and said he demanded the Russian president crack down on such attacks against the U.S.

In a call between Biden and Putin on Friday, the two leader “commended the joint work of their respective teams” that led to the U.N. vote, according to a White House readout. But Biden also raised the issue of “ransomware attacks by criminals based in Russia” and said “the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge,” according to the readout.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Friday described the Taliban's "concerning" advancement in Afghanistan as the U.S. military pulls troops out of the country after 20 years. Government officials on Friday dismissed the Taliban's claim that it had taken control of 85% of territory in Afghanistan, saying it was part of a propaganda campaign, according to Reuters. "We are seeing them continue to advance on district centers around the country, and it is concerning." The Foundation for Defense of Democracies' (FDD) "Long War Journal" described the security situation in Afghanistan as "rapidly" deteriorating, noting that in the six days ending July 5, the Taliban had taken control of nearly 10% of the entire country. The Pentagon told Fox News it had nothing further to add and pointed to Kirby's comments made during a Thursday press briefing.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBiden: Lack of competition results in high prices for goods, servicesPresident Joe Biden delivers remarks on the U.S. economy and his executive order he will sign that is aimed at Big Tech.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow Biden's Big Tech crackdown could affect companiesPresident Biden made the case that growing corporate consolidation was bad for the American workforce. CNBC's Ylan Mui reports on Biden's latest executive order targeting Big Tech and other sectors.

People are traveling more but oil supply hasn't caught up with demand. CNN's Matt Egan explains why the BIden administration needs to focus on energy diplomacy. Source: CNNBusiness

In this June 30, 2021, photo Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks during a meeting with employees at Professional Computer Solution, in Denison, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)SIOUX CENTER, Iowa (AP) — In dress shirts and pants, Chuck Grassley and Tom Cotton dropped to their knees on stage at a recent Iowa Republican Party fundraiser and began pumping out pushups. In announcing his retirement, two-term Republican Sen. “Right now, the Republican Party doesn’t have a leader. We’ve got people who have great influence within the party like Sen. Cotton, Sen. (Ted) Cruz, Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti arrives for an event to honor the 2020 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team at the White House, Friday, July 2, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti arrives for an event to honor the 2020 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team at the White House, Friday, July 2, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)President Joe Biden has nominated Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to serve as ambassador to India, the White House said Friday, selecting a high-profile ally to serve in one of the most difficult diplomatic posts. Garcetti, who considered a 2020 White House bid and later became part of Biden’s inner circle, emerged as a widely discussed possibility to join Biden’s Cabinet last year. ___Associated Press writer Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed reporting.

President Joe Biden speaks before signing an executive order aimed at promoting competition in the economy, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Friday, July 9, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)President Joe Biden speaks before signing an executive order aimed at promoting competition in the economy, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Friday, July 9, 2021, in Washington. The conversation came less than a month after the two leaders met in Geneva, when Biden warned against continuing cyberattacks emanating from Russia. A White House statement announcing the hourlong call highlighted a U.S.-Russian agreement that will allow humanitarian aid to flow into Syria. The Biden administration took office on the heels of a massive cyberespionage campaign known as SolarWinds that U.S. officials have linked to Russian intelligence operatives.

Earlier today, President Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to establish rules that will reduce the market power of dominant firms and improve the bargaining power of workers. While the order draws on lessons from previous telecommunications regulations, it also targets a broader set of industries. Within the airline industry, the order calls for fee adjustments for trip delays and increasing competition at major U.S. airports. In a blow to investment banks, the order seeks to implement modernized and adjusted bank merger reviews and guidelines. Despite the renewed interest in antitrust regulation, Mills doesn’t expect effective antitrust laws from Washington in the near term.

Waste-to-energy plants, which produce most of their power by incinerating trash, make up only about half a percent of the electricity generation in the U.S. The industry has been in retreat mode in the U.S., with dozens of plants closing since 2000 amid local opposition and emissions concerns. Communities have also opposed waste-to-energy plants because of concerns about airborne particulate matter that can have negative health consequences. “It has to go somewhere.”Other communities have looked at garbage-to-gas production as a way to get energy from swelling amounts of trash. These plants use strategies such as compacting garbage and sealing it to capture methane that can be used as fuel.

The delta variant has been detected in 10 of those countries, said the agency. “The end to this precipitous rise is still weeks away,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa. Don’t miss: Top U.K. scientists and health officials are worried about the delta variant. The CDC’s vaccine tracker is showing that 158 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, equal to 47.7% of the population. The U.S. leads the world with a total of 33.79 million cases and in deaths with 606,483.

(a) The antitrust laws, including the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act (Public Law 63-203, 38 Stat. Such enactments include the Packers and Stockyards Act, the Federal Alcohol Administration Act (Public Law 74-401, 49 Stat. 803), the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (Public Law 108-164, 117 Stat. (g) This order recognizes that a whole-of-government approach is necessary to address overconcentration, monopolization, and unfair competition in the American economy. (a) There is established a White House Competition Council (Council) within the Executive Office of the President.

The “free our patriots” rally has been organised by a Republican candidate challenging Marco Rubio for Senate and is billed as a “peaceful demonstration” against the “corrupt federal government”. According to a press release, protesters are planning to gather on 10 July at 1pm at the Florida Capitol Building in Tallahassee. Demonstrators will be “demanding the release of all the patriots being held as political prisoners by the corrupt federal government in relation to 6 January”. On 6 January, pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol in Washington in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election result following a Save America rally hosted by former President Donald Trump. The former president has baselessly maintained that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him without evidence and the “free our patriots” release pushed similar inaccurate sentiments.

Tom Williams/CQ Roll CallSantorum was secretly taped saying Republicans don't want Democrats carrying out the public's wishes. No, no no, we don't want the people's will to be done immediately," he said at a conservative event. Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania was filmed saying Republicans are opposed to Democrats carrying out the wishes of most voters. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, which requires every Senate Democrat to be onboard. "Call Joe Manchin and say, 'Thank you,'" he said.

“A South Carolinian’s decision to get vaccinated is a personal one for them to make and not the government’s,” McMaster wrote. “As a member of Medical Affairs, I support @POTUS efforts to increase the vaccinations,” Kimpson tweeted. The agency does provide in-home vaccinations to homebound residents, he said, but only at the vaccine recipients’ request. If DHEC were to adopt the governor’s directive outlawing door-to-door vaccination drives, such an arrangement would be prohibited due to Providence’s involvement, McMaster spokesman Brian Symmes said. Mike Parson, who on Wednesday tweeted that sending federal government workers door-to-door to compel vaccinations would not be welcome in Missouri.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) on Thursday rejected the Biden administration's plan to send people door to door to urge residents to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The White House on Thursday had pushed back against Republican concerns with the door-to-door plan, saying conservatives are mischaracterizing the plan. By the numbers: About 43% of people in South Carolina are fully vaccinated, putting it in the lower half of states ranked by vaccination rate, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Mayo Clinic's vaccine tracker. Story continuesGo deeper: Trump country continues to fall behind on COVID-19 vaccinationsEditor's note: This story has been updated with Psaki's comments.

Hunter Biden paints. The idea is to discourage potential purchasers who might actually be more interested in buying favor with President Biden than in embracing the creative visions of his son. We thought Hunter's painting was so fine we mounted it in the lobby of our corporate offices! To its credit, the Biden administration has recognized that this is a problem, thus the new rules. But Hunter Biden is already under scrutiny: The Department of Justice is investigating his finances, and Republicans remain eager to use his problems to tear down his father.

President Joe Biden has signed a sweeping executive order today aimed at increasing competition in the economy, with the ultimate goal of raising wages for workers and lowering prices for consumers. With the executive order, Biden is also pushing federal regulators to create new rules addressing issues in healthcare, airline and internet service pricing. Overall, the executive order introduces 72 initiatives in areas as wide-ranging as the cost of hearing aids, maritime shipping fees and antitrust laws. Lower prescription drug pricesThe order also includes a few directives aimed at reducing prescription drug prices, which continue to climb faster than inflation. Increased enforcement in healthcare, tech and agricultureFinally, the executive order repeatedly pushes for stronger enforcement from several federal regulators, specifically when it comes to reviewing company mergers.

But the order Biden signed on July 9 could signal some major market-moving developments down the road. They also exploit personal data in ways antitrust regulators have not yet come to terms with. He reportedly drafted the latest executive order. The executive order will start small. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce derided the Biden order as “a government knows best approach.” But more competition might not be bad for investors.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order promoting competition in the American economy on Friday in a move which Jim Cramer has called anti-business. Biden said that the order will lower prices, increase wages, and take another critical step toward an economy that works for everyone. It's exploitation," President Biden said at the signing ceremony. The order includes 72 initiatives, which the White House says will improve people’s lives. Here are some of the ways the order will impact the tech sector:

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has led the city during a period of booming development, a worsening homelessness crisis and a devastating pandemic, is President Biden’s nominee to become ambassador to India, the White House announced Friday. But it also opens him to criticism that he is abandoning Los Angeles as it grapples with an intractable homelessness crisis and rising gun violence. Gil Garcetti, Eric Garcetti has a long history with Biden. The mayor urged Biden to run for president in 2016 and served as a co-chair of his 2020 presidential campaign. Times staff writer David Zahniser in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

President Biden has picked Mayor Eric Garcetti as his ambassador to India. We had urged the mayor to stay and finish the job, but it’s clear Garcetti has been itching to exit City Hall for some time. AdvertisementOne thing is sure: The president of the City Council will take over as acting mayor upon Garcetti’s departure. Alternatively, the City Council could schedule a special election to let voters choose the person to serve out the rest of Garcetti’s term. Or the City Council could choose to appoint someone to finish Garcetti’s term.

Another week, another high-profile effort to rein in Big Tech. AdvertisementWe’re seeing all this now in part because both sides of the political divide have turned on Big Tech. Big Tech companies insist that they aren’t standing in the way of competition, but instead giving consumers what they want. The issue for policymakers and the courts, though, is whether the public is losing something by not having more competition to provide the services Big Tech platforms provide and not seeing more turnover at the top. The internet flourished in its formative years with little or no regulation, The sustained dominance of a handful of Big Tech companies, however, shows that those days are over.

The City Council probably won’t need to find a replacement for the mayor immediately: It could be weeks or months before the Senate takes up Garcetti’s appointment. With a vacancy in the mayor’s office, the City Council would have the power under the City Charter to formally appoint an interim replacement to serve out the remainder of his term. The City Charter also gives the council the authority to call a special election when there is a vacancy in the mayor’s office. Who might take over as interim mayor? Behind the scenes, several names have been floated for interim mayor, including Martinez, Krekorian, former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former City Controller Wendy Greuel.

The White House also announced Friday that Biden is nominating Democratic fundraiser Denise Bauer to serve as ambassador to Monaco, career foreign service officer Peter Haas to serve as ambassador to Bangladesh and former Obama-era national security aide Bernadette Meehan to serve as ambassador to Chile. Garcetti, if confirmed, would be dispatched to India as it has been overwhelmed by a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths. President Joe Biden has nominated Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to serve as ambassador to India, the White House said Friday, selecting a high-profile ally to serve in one of the most difficult diplomatic posts. AdvertisementGarcetti, who considered a 2020 White House bid and later became part of Biden’s inner circle, emerged as a widely discussed possibility to join Biden’s Cabinet last year. But Garcetti was overmatched by a crisis of homelessness that became a national embarrassment despite the massive jump in government spending to fight it.

In his 27 years with the FBI, Mr. Kallstrom helped convict the bosses of New York City’s five Mafia families with cleverly concealed wiretaps and spiked meatballs. Mr. Kallstrom initially thought that the plane, a Boeing 747-100, had been the target of a terrorist bomb or missile. He was chosen to lead the New York office, as the FBI’s assistant director, in February 1995. In addition to his wife, Mr. Kallstrom is survived by their two daughters, Erika Kallstrom Clancy and Kristel Kallstrom, and three grandchildren. Mr. Kallstrom retired from the FBI in December 1997, but after 9/11, he returned from the private sector when New York Gov.

The conversation came less than a month after the two leaders met in Geneva, when Biden warned against continuing cyberattacks emanating from Russia. A new ransomware attack linked to the REvil hacking group based in Russia caused widespread disruption last weekend, affecting as many as 1,500 businesses. Biden told reporters that the U.S. and Russia have set up a means of communicating for when either country sees something happening. The White House statement announcing the hourlong call with Putin highlighted a U.S.-Russian agreement that will allow humanitarian aid to flow into Syria. Hackers also recently extorted an $11 million ransom payment from JBS SA, the world’s largest meat processor.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday phone call that he must "take action" against cybercriminals acting in his country and that the U.S. reserves the right to "defend its people and its critical infrastructure," the White House said. The conversation came less than a month after the two leaders met in Geneva, when Biden warned against continuing cyberattacks on U.S. businesses and infrastructure emanating from Russia. A new ransomware attack linked to the REvil hacking group based in Russia caused widespread disruption last weekend, affecting as many as 1,500 businesses. The White House said "President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware. "President Biden reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge," the White House added.

None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. A photo of Biden kneeling during the meeting with Rivlin and Ravitz circulated on social media with a false caption. On July 2, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced Richardson had accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for marijuana, The Associated Press reported. The misleading post was picked up by social media users on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, who framed it as presenting accurate information. After the tweet gained traction on social media, Victory News Network clarified that none of what it posts is real.

Biden said afterward that he is “optimistic” after speaking with Putin and that the two nations have increased communications to address attacks like these. During their meeting, Biden warned Putin to curb the cyberattacks and gave him a list of 16 items he considered to be critical infrastructure that is off-limits. Biden said he warned Putin that the U.S. would respond if the cyberattacks continued. During their in-person meeting, Putin denied Russia's role in recent cyberattacks against U.S. institutions. At the time of the meeting, Biden said that the success of their talks would be determined in the next few months based on whether Putin's confrontational posture toward the U.S. improved.

These donors included defense lobbyists who worked as foreign agents for Saudi Arabia during the 2020 election cycle. Biden’s joint fundraising committee brought in even more contributions from “shadow lobbyists,” those currently unregistered but longtime foreign agents of Saudi Arabia. Saudi influence and lobbying spending targeting the United States grew significantly after Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul. In 2020, Saudi foreign agents reported more than $16.3 million in payments for foreign lobbying and influence campaigns. Some firms attempted to publicly distance themselves from Saudi Arabia due to the Khashoggi controversy and mounting allegations of human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia.

The spread of Covid-19 is running rampant in Missouri as the threat from the Delta variant is growing in places where vaccine hesitancy is high. The Delta variant is considered to be a more deadly and about 50 per cent more contagious strain of Covid-19. And just 39 per cent of Missouri residents have been fully vaccinated. The Missouri Department of Health has stated that three counties near Lake of the Ozarks are Covid-19 hot spots. (Getty Images)The fire chief in Springfield, David Pennington, tweeted on Thursday: “This is a mass casualty event, happening in slow-motion.

As of May, the Border Patrol has rescued more than 7,000 people this fiscal year, more than the same period in previous years. Officials from both border nations at an event in Yuma, Arizona, on Thursday warned that excessive heat is making the crossing extremely dangerous, against a backdrop of 110 degree weather. Since then, policies like the US-Mexico border wall have shunted migrants even further into the dangerous wilderness. The woman carried on the Border Patrol agent’s shoulders is likely to be immediately deported without a chance to seek asylum. The Independent has reached out to the Border Patrol to confirm.

Pregnant women could be detained if they represented a flight risk or a danger to the community, among other factors. The number of pregnant women detained increased by almost 50 percent from Obama's final year in office, reaching 2094 in 2018. Advocates for immigrants have warned frequently of the dangers of detaining pregnant women and condemned the Trump policy. They also largely ban the use of restraints on pregnant women in an I.C.E. Earlier this year, the Biden administration ended family detention.

This past Tuesday, July 6, marked the half-year anniversary of the U.S. Capitol insurrection, which many mourned as the democracy’s sunset. It was democracy itself, not simply the Capitol, that was under siege. Rep. Bennie Thompson Bennie Gordon ThompsonFive big questions about the Jan. 6 select committee Clyburn: Trump could be called to testify before Jan. 6 panel First hearing of Jan. 6 probe to feature Capitol Police testimony MORE (D-Miss.) The House committee should get clear answers to the complicated questions that surround the assault. Hopefully, the House inquiry and public reaction against the insurrection will stimulate a resurrection of American democracy.

Biden in a phone call on Friday ramped up pressure on Putin to address cyberattacks. Biden said he made it clear to Putin he expects him to act when cyberattacks emanate from Russia. This came a week after a massive ransomware attack affected up to 1,500 companies in the US, Europe, and Asia. President Joe Biden on Friday urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to do more to address ransomware attacks emanating from Russia, warning that the US would take "necessary action" to defend itself, the White House said. "Biden reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge," the White House added.

Department of Education announced an additional $55.6 million of student loan debt canceled Friday. Biden administration has now canceled $1.5 billion of student loan debt. The Department of Education canceled an additional $55.6 million in student loan debt for 1,800 student who were victims of a for-profit college fraud, bringing the total amount of canceled student loan debt by the Biden administration to $1.5 billion. With the additional 1,800 students, the Biden administration has canceled student loans for nearly 92,000 people. The $1.5 billion of canceled loan debt is an attempt by the Biden administration to address the backlog of forgiveness claims left by the prior administration.

Biden urges Putin to ‘take action to disrupt’ Russia-based hackers behind ransomware attacks. President Biden, right, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia greeted each other last month in Geneva, Switzerland, during their first meeting. Mr. Biden said he told Mr. Putin that during a face-to-face meeting in Geneva several weeks ago. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, offered few details about the call beyond what the White House released in the statement. White House officials announced some of the other initiatives on Wednesday, including action to restrict the widespread use of noncompete clauses and occupational licensing requirements that the White House has described as harmful to workers.

Among other things, the scientists point to a recent report showing that markets in Wuhan, China, had sold live animals susceptible to the virus, including palm civets and raccoon dogs, in the two years before the pandemic began. The back and forth among scientists is taking place while intelligence agencies are working with an end-of-summer deadline to provide President Biden with an assessment of the origin of the pandemic. There is now a division among intelligence officials as to which scenario for viral origin is more likely. The new paper, which was posted online on Wednesday but has yet to be published in a scientific journal, was written by a team of 21 virologists. Four of them also collaborated on a 2020 paper in Nature Medicine that largely dismissed the possibility that the virus became a human pathogen through laboratory manipulation.

Women have taken up arms in heavily-contested regions of Afghanistan as the Taliban continues to make nationwide gains during the US military’s withdrawal. Government forces have already withdrawn from seven districts, focusing troops and resources around holding the capital province of Badakhshan. In response, hundreds of women have taken to the streets carrying guns and protesting the Taliban, The Guardian reported. “The majority of these women were those who had recently escaped from Taliban areas,” Faizzada said. The decision has drawn bipartisan criticism, with proponents saying the withdrawal will only increase the problems within the country.

In an op-ed published Thursday in the Wall Street Journal, the 45th president began by explaining, “The internet is the new public square. Trump is slamming platforms for being quick to moderate speech emanating from the US while excusing Chinese propaganda. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey eventually admitted it was a “mistake” to lock The Post’s Twitter account. AFP via Getty ImagesBoth President Biden and his son have continued to deny any wrongdoing. The then-outgoing president was banned from Twitter, Facebook and scores of other sites in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBiden's executive order shows greater scrutiny of mergers, says Jefferies analystBrent Thill of Jefferies discusses what may happen next with tech regulation as President Biden signs an executive order targeting the sector.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBiden: Lack of competition hurts workersPresident Joe Biden delivers remarks on the U.S. economy and his Big Tech-focused executive order he will sign.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailPresident Biden signs executive order aimed at corporate consolidationPresident Biden gives remarks ahead of signing a new executive order aimed at cracking down on anticompetitive practices in Big Tech, labor and numerous other sectors.

Some 39 million American families on July 15 will get the first of six advance monthly payments of the enhanced federal child tax credit. However, some of those families should elect to not receive the monthly payments, say financial experts, and instead wait to claim the entire credit when they file their 2021 taxes next year. In June, the IRS opened an online portal for families where they can inform the government agency that they don't want to receive the advance payments. "And so if it's important to them that they receive this credit as one lump sum payment, we want to make sure people still have that option." The enhanced child tax credit is part of the American Rescue Plan signed into law by President Joe Biden in March.

Value funds saw $53 billion in net inflows in the first half of the year while growth funds lost $331 million, ETF Trends data showed. "I do think value is back," Nadig said. "We see continued interest in things like dividend plays and I think that shows investors really hunting for income." In particular, investors have flocked to forward-looking fixed income trades such as Treasury inflation-protected securities, or TIPS, amid concerns around inflation, Nadig said. "I think we're seeing a lot of tactical usage of really interesting ETFs, but meanwhile ... the flows are really unstoppable," he said.

First, Biden contended that he was bound by a 2020 Trump administration agreement with the Taliban to withdraw all US troops by May 2021. It was also predicated on the Taliban engaging with the Afghan government in real peace negations. Trump administration officials denied the allegations. The US military consists of 1.3 million active-duty personnel and yet it can't leave 2,500 troops in Afghanistan? To use another trademark Biden expression, his Afghanistan speech was a bunch of malarkey.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia's President Vladimir Putin meet for a summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/FilesWASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to act against groups conducting ransomware attacks from Russia, the White House said. "President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware," the White House said in a statement on the call between the two leaders. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that Biden told Putin that, even if actors were not directed by the Russian government, "you still have a responsibility." Last week hackers set off a mass ransomware outbreak centered on Florida IT firm Kaseya.

Other recent high-profile cyberattacks include the digital strikes on Colonial Pipeline and the meatpacking giant JBS in May. Biden and Putin last spoke at their summit in Geneva three weeks ago, during which the American president warned the Russian dictator against striking 16 key sectors of U.S. infrastructure or harboring cybercriminals who orchestrate the attacks. Their face-to-face meeting last month was a topic of discussion when Biden and Putin spoke on Friday. The scope of Biden’s retaliatory options is broad, ranging from sanctions against Russian entities to the release of embarrassing information about Putin and his allies. The press secretary declined, however, to say whether Putin offered Biden any assurances that Moscow would crack down on cybercriminals residing in Russia.

“You look at the Republican Party today, and it's not exactly positioned to come after Biden hard on Afghanistan.”Poll after poll show a majority of Americans supports Biden’s decision. Even many Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who pushed for a drawdown himself, back a withdrawal. “When it comes to understanding the war on terror and the dynamics we face as a nation, President Biden has consistently been wrong,” he tweeted. “I fear that his Afghanistan decision will prove to be his biggest mistake yet.”But the politics of the war have dramatically shifted in recent years. There is not a large public outcry across the country calling for withdrawal the way there was during the Iraq war.

Biden said afterward that he is “optimistic” after speaking with Putin and that the two nations have increased communications to address attacks like these. During their meeting, Biden warned Putin to curb the cyberattacks and gave him a list of 16 items he considered to be critical infrastructure that is off-limits. Biden said he warned Putin that the U.S. would respond if the cyberattacks continued. During their in-person meeting, Putin denied Russia's role in recent cyberattacks against U.S. institutions. At the time of the meeting, Biden said that the success of their talks would be determined in the next few months based on whether Putin's confrontational posture toward the U.S. improved.

They're on a road trip through the Southwest from their home in Orange County, Calif.Enlarge this image toggle caption Claire Harbage/NPR Claire Harbage/NPR"It's almost our turn, woohoo!" Enlarge this image toggle caption Claire Harbage/NPR Claire Harbage/NPRIndeed it's one pandemic trend that doesn't appear to be ending. Enlarge this image toggle caption Claire Harbage/NPR Claire Harbage/NPRDo you have a reservation? Enlarge this image toggle caption Claire Harbage/NPR Claire Harbage/NPRBut today Arches feels like it's at a breaking point. "There's so many things to be seen that are not national parks," Ollie says.

President Joe Biden’s administration is taking a big swing at Big Tech. Beyond greater scrutiny of acquisitions, the Biden administration is encouraging the FTC to establish rules on the surveillance and accumulation of data. The measure seeks to reign in big business and takes aim at agriculture, banking, transportation, healthcare, and other industries, according to a White House fact sheet. For example, the order seeks to rules to allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter, and that the Transportation Department require clearly disclosed baggage fees. The order aimed at big business has been expected since last week.

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden’s executive order to bolster competition includes 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies, affecting everything from restricting noncompete agreements for workers to allowing imports of prescription drugs from Canada. The executive order directs the Justice Department and FTC to tighten their merger guidelines for hospital deals. The measure also asks for updated antitrust rules regarding companies that share wage and benefit information to avoid competing for workers. Freight railroad and shipping trade groups expressed opposition to Biden’s order, saying that there’s sufficient competition among their industries and the order would put them at a disadvantage. Unlike the Biden order, however, Obama’s didn’t direct individual agencies to take specific actions and instead required them to come up with their own plans.

President Biden on Friday afternoon signed a sprawling executive order designed to crack down on anti-competitive practices by Big Tech and other industries, part of what he called a "critical step" toward making the U.S. economy more inclusive. "That means if your companies want to win your business they have to go out and the have got to up their game," Biden said during remarks at the White House. "Better prices and services, better ideas and products. The competition keeps the economy moving and it keeps it growing. A competitive economy must mean that companies do everything they can to compete for workers."

The White House on Tuesday said President Biden has been "encouraged" by bipartisan work in Congress aimed at addressing issues created by some of the country’s largest technology companies. The president believes in the need to "protect privacy, generate more innovation, and ensure tech companies can grow in the U.S.," the White House added. REP. JORDAN BLASTS MICROSOFT AS ‘OUT TO GET CONSERVATIVES’ JUST LIKE OTHER BIG TECH COMPANIESRecently, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced several antitrust measures, including one designed to potentially break up large tech companies operating businesses with conflicts of interest. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESSDuring his run for president, Biden suggested he might consider dismantling big tech companies. He recently tapped Lisa Khan, known as a big tech critic, to head the Federal Trade Commission, which has been interpreted as a signal of where he stands on the need for potential regulation.

Business groups railed against President Biden’s executive order that takes aim at what the administration says is anti-competitive behavior conducted by some of America’s biggest industries. The Biden administration says a small number of companies are controlling key industries, including Big Tech and banking, leaving consumers with fewer choices and having to pay higher prices. Biden signed an executive order in the early afternoon aimed to "promote competition, lower prices, increase wages and spur economic growth," according to a fact sheet. The National Association of Manufacturers said today’s executive order threatens to "undo our progress by undermining free markets." The group said manufacturers’ wages have grown by 3%, 2.8% and 3% in 2020 over the past three years, which were the fastest rates of annual growth since 2003.

President Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday phone call that he must “take action” against cybercriminals acting in his country and that the U.S. reserves the right to “defend its people and its critical infrastructure,” the White House said. The conversation came less than a month after the two leaders met in Geneva, when Biden warned against continuing cyberattacks on U.S. businesses and infrastructure emanating from Russia. A new ransomware attack linked to the REvil hacking group based in Russia caused widespread disruption last weekend, affecting as many as 1,500 businesses. The White House said “President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware. “President Biden reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge,” the White House added.

On Friday, President Biden took aim at how businesses from cable TV firms to airlines to drug companies to cellphone makers push the little guy around. The executive order also fires a warning shot about airline mergers. Biden warns that just because some of these mergers have been approved, that doesn’t mean they can’t be unwound. Biden wants the FTC to ban or limit noncompete agreements, which currently handcuff as many as 60 million workers. There’s much more to the executive order, and even more than that to be done to rein in big business.

Biden pushed back against the notion the U.S. mission has failed but also noted that it remains unlikely the government would control all of Afghanistan after the U.S. leaves. Advertisement“We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said in a speech from the White House’s East Room. Biden said that prolonging U.S. military involvement, considering Trump had already agreed to withdraw U.S. troops, would have led to an escalation of attacks on American troops and NATO allies. The Pentagon said the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Scott Miller, is expected to end his tour of duty this month as final arrangements are made for a reduced U.S. military mission. Biden added that 2,500 Afghans have been granted special immigrant visas since he took office in January.

Liberals are pressuring Justice Stephen Breyer to retire, despite his remaining fit. Justice Breyer should be praised for devotion to duty. The problem is McConnell, not BreyerIt seems to me that Justice Stephen Breyer is not the concern. He has already declared that he might not allow President Biden to fill a seat, should one vacate. We need clear and lawful guidelines, passed by Congress, to assure at least a semblance of fairness in the seating of the Supreme Court.

Workers for these businesses take pride in knowing they are the force behind products and services that the world depends on. This law is a complex, broken tax that US multinational companies pay on what they sell abroad. This would amount to automatic tax increases in dozens of states — including for companies in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and more throughout the Northeast. When it comes down to it, many of these Democratic senators voted against the GILTI tax when it was passed as part of the 2017 tax reforms — and there’s no good reason to embrace doubling it now. AdvertisementScott A. Hodge is president of the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit research organization in Washington, D.C. Daniel Bunn is vice president of global projects at the Tax Foundation.

WASHINGTON — While the global struggle continues against the death and devastation of COVID-19, a panel of independent experts is warning that the world is alarmingly unprepared to deal with the next pandemic. “I think for the next quarter-century, the risks to human well-being, security, and prosperity from global health issues are at least comparable to — and maybe greater than — the risks from climate change,” he said. The report echoed recent calls for reforms by two other high-level groups empaneled by the World Health Organization. AdvertisementAnother new initiative would be a Global Health Threats Board, loosely modeled on the financial stability board the G20 created after the 2008 financial crisis. “I don’t think anybody, even at the World Health Organization, is fully satisfied with the job the World Health Organization has done,” he told the Globe.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday phone call that he must “take action” against cybercriminals acting in his country and that the U.S. reserves the right to “defend its people and its critical infrastructure,” the White House said. The conversation came less than a month after the two leaders met in Geneva, when Biden warned against continuing cyberattacks on U.S. businesses and infrastructure emanating from Russia. A new ransomware attack linked to the REvil hacking group based in Russia caused widespread disruption last weekend, affecting as many as 1,500 businesses. The White House said “President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware.

Advertisement“In total, higher prices and lower wages caused by lack of competition are now estimated to cost the median American household $5,000 per year,” the White House said in a fact sheet outlining the order Biden is expected to sign at an afternoon ceremony. “Inadequate competition holds back economic growth and innovation.”The White House said Biden’s order follows in the tradition of past presidents who took action to slow growing corporate power. It also encourages the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to issue rules allowing customers to download their banking data and take it with them. The order includes several provisions that could affect the agricultural industry. It calls on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to consider issuing new rules defining when meat can use “Product of USA” labels.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich is pledging to stand for “election integrity” if only you will put him into the Senate next year. “We need you to stop the counting,” she wrote to then-Supervisor Chairman Clint Hickman on Nov 7, as the votes were being tallied. By Nov. 20 — the day the supervisors were scheduled to certify Biden’s over Trump — she was asking Hickman and Supervisor Steve Chucri to delay the certification vote. “Sounds like your fellow Repubs are throwing in the towel,” she wrote to Supervisor Bill Gates. “You know, I really think it's a shame that Republicans sort of are both in this kind of situation.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday phone call that he must “take action” against cybercriminals acting in his country and that the U.S. reserves the right to “defend its people and its critical infrastructure,” the White House said. The conversation came less than a month after the two leaders met in Geneva, when Biden warned against continuing cyberattacks on U.S. businesses and infrastructure emanating from Russia. A new ransomware attack linked to the REvil hacking group based in Russia caused widespread disruption last weekend, affecting as many as 1,500 businesses. The White House said “President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware. “President Biden reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge,” the White House added.

The White House statement announcing the hourlong call with Putin highlighted a U.S.-Russian agreement that will allow humanitarian aid to flow into Syria. The dual prongs of the agenda show how even as Biden pledges to get tough on Russia over hacking, there’s an inherent desire to avoid aggravating tensions as the administration looks for Russia to cooperate, or at least not interfere, with U.S. actions in other areas, including Syria, the Afghanistan withdrawal and climate change.

Nearly 80% of those in ICE custody have no criminal record, and a majority of those who do have committed largely minor offenses, according to TRAC. The American Civil Liberties Union called on the government to stop detaining anyone who might be at risk in detention. Under Obama, ICE adopted a policy in August 2016 that pregnant migrants would be presumed eligible for release as their cases made their way through immigration courts. President Donald Trump ended that policy of presumed release, part of his administration's heightened immigration enforcement, including arrests of anyone without legal residency regardless of whether they had committed some other offense. The number of pregnant women detained by ICE increased from 1,380 in 2016 to 2,098, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The White House statement announcing the hourlong call with Putin highlighted a U.S.-Russian agreement that will allow humanitarian aid to flow into Syria. The dual prongs of the agenda show how even as Biden pledges to get tough on Russia over hacking, there's an inherent desire to avoid aggravating tensions as the administration looks for Russia to cooperate, or at least not interfere, with U.S. actions in other areas, including Syria, the Afghanistan withdrawal and climate change. The White House declined to discuss the tone of Biden's call, though press secretary Jen Psaki said it did focus significantly on the latest breach, which cybersecurity researchers have said infected victims in at least 17 countries, largely through firms that remotely manage IT infrastructure for multiple customers. Officials did not immediately announce any specific actions they were taking or would consider taking. There are few easy options to resolve the threat without risking a conflict that could spiral out of control beyond the cybersecurity realm.

How marginalized communities in the South are paying the price for ‘green energy’ in Europe Published July 9, 2021Andrea Macklin never turns off his TV. In its Renewable Energy Directive (RED), the EU classified biomass as a renewable energy source — on par with wind and solar power. Northampton County Enviva plants NORTH CAROLINA Median household income Percent Black population $43,000 $51,000 $61,000 6% 16% 26% 42% Sources: US Census 2019 5-year American Community Survey, North Carolina Dept. But the jobs come at a hefty price for Northampton County. Between 2011 and 2019, the property tax rate in Northampton County increased nearly 6%.

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Joe Biden will host a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel next Thursday, the White House said on Friday. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the two leaders would discuss ransomware attacks that have hit companies in the United States and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline being built from Russia to Germany. Psaki said Biden continued to view the pipeline as a “bad deal.” She declined to say if an agreement could be reached on the temporarily suspended U.S. tariffs on Nord Stream 2 AG, the Germany company behind the pipeline, and its chief executive. Merkel is ending her fourth term as chancellor soon. It will be her first visit to Washington since Biden took power in January.

US President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday phone call that he must “take action” against cybercriminals acting in his country and that the U.S. reserves the right to “defend its people and its critical infrastructure,” the White House said. The conversation came less than a month after the two leaders met in Geneva, when Biden warned against continuing cyberattacks on U.S. businesses and infrastructure emanating from Russia. The White House said “President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasised that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware. “President Biden reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge,” the White House added. Hackers also extorted an $11 million (€9.3 million) ransom payment from JBS SA, the world's largest meat processor.

'But I also think it's ridiculous that Hunter Biden is even going forward with this sale as a first-time artist. The Treasury Department advisory warned that the anonymity afforded to art buyers made it harder to track such illegal activity. 'Hunter Biden's Art Will Soon Hit the Market for Up to $500,000 Per Piece. Art consultant Martin Galindo said that he wasn't a fan of Biden's art but was confident the pieces would sell for hefty prices. Biden's art dealer's roster of artists includes Sylvester Stallone and Bahraini royal family member Sheikh Rashid Al Khalifa.

President Joe Biden on Friday vowed there would be consequences for Russia after another round of ransomware attacks but he didn't detail what those might be. He called his Russian counterpart to demand Putin 'take action' about the ransomware attacks on the United States, warning him that he will take 'any necessary action' to defend the U.S.'It went well. 'I will deliver it to him,' he told reporters at the White House when asked his message for the Russian president. Kaseya provides services to more than 40,000 organizations and it was considered the single, largest global ransomware attack on record. Since the Geneva summit 'we have undertaken expert-level talks that are continuing, and we expect to have another meeting next week focused on ransomware attacks,' she said.

This stemmed from a compromise reached by the United States and Russia, both of which hailed what they called a rare instance of cooperation between them. The UN's cross-border aid authorization for northwest Syria, due to expire Saturday, will now be prolonged by six months, with a possible six month renewal. The United States had pressed for the border crossing from Turkey to be renewed for a full year, and sees this resolution as doing just that. US President Joe Biden, meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin recently in Geneva, pressed for an extension of the border crossing authorization. "And it's an important moment for the UN and the Security Council, which today showed we can do more than just talk.

The White House says that the new measures aim to “lower prices for families, increase wages for workers, and promote innovation and even faster economic growth”. Specifically, the executive order goes for quick wins by attempting to boost competition for many everyday items and services bought by Americans. Here are some of the highlights from the order which includes 72 initiatives involving more than a dozen federal agencies. Shockingly, the White House says that only 14 per cent of the 48 million Americans with hearing loss use hearing aids as they cost on average $5,000 and are often not covered by health insurance. The order also establishes a White House Competition Council, led by Brian Deese, the director of the National Economic Council, which will monitor progress on finalising and implementing the initiatives.

This is true across healthcare, financial services, agriculture and more.” (We published a separate article today that dives into the broadband portions of the executive order.) Labor market overhaulWith the order, Biden appears to be positioning himself as an antitrust champion, name-checking famed trust-buster Teddy Roosevelt. By law, Amtrak trains are supposed to be given preference, but in practice, that’s not always the case. Biden’s executive order could help Amtrak get its trains back on time. “Encouraging” orderMany parts of the executive order “encourage” different agencies to take action.

DeWine was one of the earliest high-profile Republicans to acknowledge Biden’s victory, and Scott said he voted for Biden during the 2020 campaign. DeWine joined Cox and Walz at a public event where the president lauded state governments’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, and Cox and Gordon both joined the president on a virtual meeting last month focused on the severe wildfires erupting in Western states this year.

On Friday, the White House announced a potentially important, if modest, effort to further tamp down the power of the technology industry. But in tackling the power of a tech sector that has not only wrested control of the economy but remade it in its own data-hungry image, the Biden administration is still throwing pebbles at its enemy’s parapets. The tech industry has had 20 years to establish a stranglehold over our personal data, attention, and consumer choice. Despite promising to take on the power of Big Tech, President Joe Biden and his administration have so far taken a cautiously incrementalist approach. In this proliferating legal war against Big Tech—premised on a lack of competition and companies’ abusing their monopoly status—any of these cases could yield billion-dollar fines for one of the tech giants.

The list includes internet providers, as broadband remains a key point of focus in the president's domestic agenda. Four of the order's parts relate specifically to broadband internet and call on the Federal Communications Commission to enact a number of measures to improve competition and transparency among all broadband providers. Partnerships between landlords and internet providers are a challenge when it comes to addressing and mitigating the digital divide. Restore net neutrality rulesIn 2017, the Trump administration repealed net neutrality protections enacted during the Obama administration, which once again allowed ISPs to slow internet access at their discretion. In this executive order, Biden specifically encourages the FCC to restore net neutrality, which would once again prohibit ISPs from intentionally blocking or slowing a customer's internet service.

The progressive lawmaker responded to videos of flooding in subway stations and on New York's Major Deegan Expressway as examples of why the legislation is needed. Ocasio-Cortez also condemned those who have referred to the Green New Deal as "unrealistic," as climate change heightens natural disasters across the country. New York faced intense downpours on Thursday as tropical storm Elsa pummeled the Northeast. Flooding was spotted both inside, and above, the 157th Street subway station in #WashingtonHeights earlier today as severe storms move through. Video: @NoxlucKeep track of the weather here: https://t.co/2CPjKXI0Au pic.twitter.com/UgK32DzWkF — Spectrum News NY1 (@NY1) July 8, 2021The tropical storm made landfall in Florida on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden speaks about the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)President Joe Biden speaks about the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. The conversation came less than a month after the two leaders met in Geneva, when Biden warned against continuing cyberattacks emanating from Russia. The White House statement announcing the hourlong call with Putin highlighted a U.S.-Russian agreement that will allow humanitarian aid to flow into Syria. The Biden administration took office on the heels of a massive cyberespionage campaign known as SolarWinds that U.S. officials have linked to Russian intelligence operatives.

Five under-vaccinated regions of the U.S. could be putting the entire nation at risk, according to researchers at Georgetown University. The Biden administration is sounding the alarm about a rapid rise in the Delta variant, which is significantly more widespread than previously thought. A study published in the journal Nature on Thursday suggests that having only one dose of a vaccine offers little protection against the Delta variant. In Missouri, the Delta variant accounts for 73% of new COVID cases, according to the CDC. "We believe that this is an outbreak of the Delta variant," said Dr. Philip Keiser, Galveston County's local health authority.

A century from now, our descendants may look back on the next year or so as a hinge in history. Or consider an alternative exhibit, in some side gallery, that sadly reflects on an enormous lost opportunity. Despite recognizing the epic stakes in the fight against climate change, the president goes too small, capitulates too easily. Only in the long view can we appreciate the consequence of the moment. And in the long view, we’re running out of time.

“Those two things must go hand in hand for it to have my support,” she said. Mr. Manchin, who represents a coal-rich state, is unlikely to support a plan designed to end demand for coal. adviser in the Clinton administration, speaking of Democrats’ failed attempt to use the reconciliation process to raise the minimum wage. Democrats could lose their thin Senate majority in next year’s midterm elections, effectively ending the road for Mr. Biden’s legislative agenda. Absent a clean electricity standard, Mr. Biden could still use regulations governing utilities and tailpipe emissions to try to tamp down emissions.

This is not the transformative climate deal that activists have been pushing for. A large portion of the bipartisan deal, $109 billion, injects funding into repairing and building roads, bridges, and other major projects. While it’s not clear which climate policies are on the table now, what’s missing from the infrastructure deal tells us a great deal about what could be coming next. Federal investments and tax credits for clean energy: Congress would have to follow up with serious cash to transform the grid into a clean power sector. “In effect, that means no reconciliation package, no bipartisan deal,” Beachy told Vox.

Gone was nearly all of the climate change portion of the bill that Biden proposed, which would have rolled climate change solutions into a much larger bill. Biden and the moderates are so desperately trying to get largely climate-denying Republicans on board in the name of “bipartisanship” that the sweeping measures needed to fight climate change are continually at risk of getting weakened. I sure hope Democrats are able to jam through a big climate change bill using reconciliation. Of course, that’s not as friendly and bipartisan as we’d hope, but the days of a sane Republican party are over . Enjoy the cartoon, and be sure to check out some of my behind-the-scenes videos and sketches over on my Patreon pages — where you can support my work and keep the cartoons coming!

That's a problem because, in the long run, climate change is the most serious problem we face. There's abundant evidence about the climate change problem. In the June Gallup Poll, climate change rated a measly 3 percent. For this reason, the White House press secretary, and other administration press channels, did not talk about climate change. In addition, for many years, Fox News (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/2021-fox-news-still-spreading-dangerous-climate-denial ) has denigrated climate change and spread the lie that human activity is not overheating our climate.

I propose that President Biden call his rural/underserved communities vaccine outreach program “Operation Warp Speed II” and, at the same time, double his efforts. As part of this, President Biden should address the nation. He should credit President Trump and Operation Warp Speed with the amazing achievement of funding the vaccines, reducing Covid and allowing this amazing economic recovery along with the Biden administration’s work to get the vaccines distributed and administered. Invite President Trump to make a statement encouraging vaccination, or play the clip from Fox News where he said people should get vaccinated. I realize that giving President Trump more credit than he deserves and minimizing his otherwise disastrous response to Covid may give President Trump a certain legitimacy he doesn’t deserve and potentially help him in 2024.

We have people within our own country who are doing Putin’s work. In the U.S., one party has become a major illiberal outlier: The Republican Party. Trump is not just Putin’s puppet, he’s unwittingly acting in the interests of the Chinese government as well. President Biden, meanwhile, has been not only working to pass progressive legislative policies, he’s been working to strengthen our very system of democracy. In other words, he’s been doing America’s work.

Working on the next stepWelcome ? to Friday’s Roundup of Good News! ? Out with the Bad, In with the Good ?Having tfg in office led to the deaths of so many. There`s this federal law that is designed to shield gun manufacturers from lawsuits, that this runs right up against. Here`s blue state New York today going on offense to say, hey, we`ll test it. 1, 2, 3: We open, share, and then savor the Roundup , because outreach, timing, acceleration, distractions, and the vicissitudes of memory.

As NPR reports, low vaccination rates in Republican counties are creating centers of disease that threaten to spread into a fourth wave across the nation. This is particularly true of southwest Missouri, which has emerged as the go-to place for a delta variant explosion. As KMOV reports, Missouri has been ranked as the “least safe state” both on the chances of testing positive for COVID-19 and the chances of dying from the disease. Instead, as ABC News reports, Republican Gov. Carlson probably regrets making those statements on Tuesday, because they actually came before President Biden discussed door-to-door volunteers, leaving Carlson with a shortage of superlatives for his next assault.

Taylor's campaign came to an end months later, though, when former state Rep. and eventual winner Barry Moore narrowly edged her out 20.5-19.9 for the second spot in the runoff. In the Senate race, Littwin mentions that some Republicans "are encouraging" former state Rep. Clarice Navarro to run, but there's no word on her interest. ? GA-Sen: Republican Rep. Governors? AK-Gov: Former Democratic state Rep. Les Gara announced Wednesday that he had formed an exploratory committee for a potential bid against Republican Gov. House? AZ-02: State Rep. Daniel Hernandez recently earned an endorsement from the Arizona Federation of Teachers for next year's open seat Democratic primary.

So there’s a lot of, “You know, I was a reporter.” Walter Hussman can legitimately say that—with a few important asterisks. When I was 27, I was a beat reporter going to fires, murder scenes, protests and government meetings. As a Black woman, she had to work longer and harder than I did to get ahead in newsrooms. In a new survey of 1,137 likely voters from June 30th to July 1st, Data for Progress examined likely voter support towards the components of the infrastructure bill. Voters support each individual component of the proposed bill, with notable support across parties.

That's right, Democratis Sen. Kyrsten Sinema who has forced this whole rigamarole of "bipartisan negotiations" because she refuses to just support her president. Rob PortmanBecause, remember, the whole point for Republicans is delay, delay, delay and stop anything good from happening. Or as GOP leadership team member Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming says, "I want to make Joe Biden a one-half-term president." If McConnell wasn't able to scuttle this deal on his own, he's now got some heavyweight conservative groups helping him out. That should mean fully funding the IRS and raising corporate taxes.

And that’s why we’re asking the Congress to consider changing the law.” But that’s just not true, advocates and experts responded. “Biden is wrong about evacuating our allies to the United States and processing them here,” responded American Immigration Council policy counsel Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. President Biden has said U.S. forces are set to leave the nation on Aug. 31. “We need to act now to bring all these allies to Guam, if President Biden truly meant ‘speed is safety,’ it would apply to Afghan allies’ lives, not just American ones. President Biden stated that ‘speed is safety’ regarding Americans leaving Afghanistan, and that’s no less true for Afghan allies.”

What do the events of the War on Terror say about what's going to occur within U.S. borders? As The Washington Post reported about the infamous revelations from 2019's Afghanistan papers: "Dark money sloshed all around. Indeed, it was nothing unusual; attempting to bribe Afghanistan officials had been central to Washington's strategy since the start of the war. These units are critical to the Houthis' ability to defend territory, harass enemy forces, and plan and launch offensives. As conditions in the core of the empire worsen, it's becoming inevitable that an equivalent armed anti-colonial proletarian resistance will emerge within U.S. borders.

However, there's little discussion on the pushes and pulls that are making our world less safe and how to use arms control to dampen those tensions. In addition, there's little discussion of the history of diplomacy and the various times the world was plunged into war and how many lives were lost. As writer Daryl Kimball stated in this story "Engage China on Arms Control? As stated by Kimball, Biden should work toward a bilateral nuclear security with China that takes Chinese concerns into account. However, a real discussion will not take place without leadership, perhaps from Blinken.

Associated Press headline, July 8: "Biden with few options to stabilize Haiti in wake of slaying." State Department spokesman Ned Price says "It is still the view of the United States that elections this year should proceed." The way forward and out of that culpability is less, not more, interference in Haiti's affairs. If the US government really needs a "Haiti policy," that policy should include two elements: Free trade and welcoming refugees. Beyond that, hands off Haiti.

That's a problem because, in the long run, climate change is the most serious problem we face. There's abundant evidence about the climate change problem. During the Trump Administration, it was well known that Donald Trump did not regard climate change as a serious problem. For this reason, the White House press secretary, and other administration press channels, did not talk about climate change. In addition, for many years, Fox News (Click Here ) has denigrated climate change and spread the lie that human activity is not overheating our climate.

And they can do it largely because Congress has imposed few restrictions on their pricing in the United States — including in the Medicare program, which is not permitted to negotiate drug prices, House Democrats say. “Despite Big Pharma’s lip service about innovation, many drug companies are not actually spending significant portions of their research-and-development budget to discover innovative new treatments,” Maloney told reporters in a conference call. 3, included in a massive bill that Democrats are preparing under what is known as the budget reconciliation process. “With the savings on the lower drug prices, we can invest in transformational improvements in American health care,” Pelosi said. It also notes that the company identified about $5.19 billion in R&D for Humira, about 7.4% of the drug’s net U.S. revenue.

And the increase in ghost guns is hard to convincingly connect to an increase in violent crime. In 2019, BPD seized 30 ghost guns and 43 obliterated guns out of a total of 2,202 guns. In 2020, BPD seized 128 ghost guns and 59 obliterated guns out of a total of 2,242 guns. This year, as of May 19, 2021, BPD seized 140 ghost guns and 60 obliterated guns out of a total of 823 guns. In particular, he explained, “ghost guns” are often invoked as part of the world of right-wing militias.

And they can do it largely because Congress has imposed few restrictions on their pricing in the United States — including in the Medicare program, which is not permitted to negotiate drug prices, House Democrats say. “Despite Big Pharma’s lip service about innovation, many drug companies are not actually spending significant portions of their research-and-development budget to discover innovative new treatments,” Maloney told reporters in a conference call. “With the savings on the lower drug prices, we can invest in transformational improvements in American health care,” Pelosi said. It also notes that the company identified about $5.19 billion in R&D for Humira, about 7.4% of the drug’s net U.S. revenue. “We are committed to working with policymakers on commonsense, bipartisan solutions that address the real challenges patients face,” Newell said.

After being targeted by progressive climate campaigners, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made clear on Wednesday that he will work to include the creation of a Civilian Climate Corps in evolving federal infrastructure legislation. Schumer (D-N.Y.) issued a lengthy statement outlining his support for the inclusion of a Civilian Climate Corps (CCC), which was inspired by a New Deal-era program and formally unveiled as legislation earlier this year by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) “In the upcoming American Jobs and Families Plans legislation, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to confront the climate crisis and create millions of middle-class, family-sustaining union jobs,” Schumer said. “We must go big and bold with a Civilian Climate Corps. “I also want to enlist a new generation of climate, conservation, and… resilience workers, like FDR did… preserving our landscape with a Civilian Conservation Corps,” the president said.

Yet, land and water defenders fighting to save the planet face threats ranging from intimidation to imprisonment to assassination. On Monday, the Honduran Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, found Roberto David Castillo guilty of ordering the murder of Berta Cáceres. His conviction won’t bring Berta Cáceres back, but it might deter similar attacks and ultimately save lives. “Berta Cáceres was someone who called out Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration constantly,” Pitzer College professor Suyapa Portillo, said on the Democracy Now! As the climate emergency intensifies, we all have a responsibility to protect front line defenders like Berta Cáceres.

Under President Trump, the Justice Department declared safe consumption sites illegal. Safe drug consumption sites operate in countries across the world and are known by many names, including supervised injection sites, supervised consumption services and overdose prevention programs. Safe consumption sites in Canada and other countries also provide pathways to addiction treatment for those who want it. During Senate confirmation hearings, Garland said he could not comment on safe consumption sites because the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Safehouse was still pending. Whether any of that money will eventually reach safe consumption sites may depend on how the Biden-Harris administration reacts to the news out of Rhode Island.

While missiles in flight and buildings collapsing to rubble make for engrossing evening news, the ongoing violence in occupied Palestine is far more quotidian in nature. The rule also prohibits Palestinians from publishing any political material without prior approval from the Israeli military. The United States is directly supporting a country administering a widespread ethnonationalist project punctuated by a brutal military occupation. The United States is directly supporting a country administering a widespread ethnonationalist project punctuated by a brutal military occupation. Again, we the tax-paying public of the United States are funding this.

“No president in history has been dealt a better hand on day one than President Biden,” Miller said on Fox News’ “Hannity” program. Miller went on to tout what he considered Trump’s major accomplishments, suggesting that they have helped Biden since he took office earlier this year. “Think about what President Trump left him and what it’s become,” Miller said. “He left him a Middle East that was at the dawn of a new peace, the most secure border in American history, energy abundance — and we had more energy than we knew what to do with.”Stephen Miller: No President in history has been dealt a better hand on day one than President Biden. However, the most obvious omission by Miller was the coronavirus pandemic, with the daily death rate in the U.S. at its highest during the weeks as Trump left office and Biden assumed the presidency.

And so, this is just, you know, again, one of the worst bills — this would make it the worst voter suppression bill in the country. Among them, “don’t come relying on activists to out-organize voter suppression to compensate for your legislative failures. We are litigating at the Legal Defense Fund in Georgia, challenging their voter suppression law. Twenty-five million dollars is not nearly enough to combat the kind of voter suppression that we’re seeing. The denial of the vote to D.C. is one of the oldest forms of voter suppression.

U.S. immigration officers will avoid arresting pregnant, nursing or postpartum immigrants. WASHINGTON – The Biden administration will avoid the arrest of pregnant, nursing or postpartum undocumented immigrants, the latest move by the president to unwind his predecessor's hardline immigration policies. The report found that ICE detained pregnant women more than 4,600 times between 2016 and 2018. The Biden directive expands on the Obama administration policy, which focused on pregnant women. "This move brings us closer to more humane treatment by ICE of people who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing," she said in a statement.

In seeking to protect workers and consumers from what his administration views as the harmful consequences of corporate consolidation, President Biden is enlisting support from regulators across the executive branch in what the White House has described as an overarching, “whole-of-government” effort. The order takes aim at a number of highly specific practices the White House has identified as problematic in sectors as diverse as agriculture, health care, transportation and technology. It directs the Department of Health and Human Services to propose rules within 120 days allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter. And it encourages the Federal Trade Commission to curb the power of farm equipment manufacturers who often block farmers from repairing their own appliances. It directs the Federal Communications Commission to bar internet companies from charging consumers termination fees when they switch providers.

President Biden’s administration is expected to begin releasing pregnant women and those who recently gave birth after they are apprehended illegally crossing the US-Mexico border. Although fewer than 20 people currently held by the government would be released, prior Biden administration policy changes have been panned for unintentionally fueling the ongoing border crisis. “ICE is committed to safeguarding the integrity of our immigration system and preserving the health and safety of pregnant, postpartum and nursing individuals,” said acting ICE Director Tae Johnson. The number of US-Mexico border detentions hit a 21-year monthly high of more than 180,000 in May. Unaccompanied minors walk up the bank of the Rio Grande after crossing the US-Mexico border in Roma, Texas.

The liberal Washington Post editorial board on Thursday broke rank with the left and pondered why Democrats are so opposed to giving poor children a choice in schooling. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Perhaps that's why public support for school choice is also at an all-time high. According to a recent poll from RealClear Opinion Research, a 74-percent majority support school choice, while 16 percent oppose it and 10 percent are unsure. More than 15 other states across the country either established new programs or expanded existing ones to meet rising parent demand for alternatives to traditional public schools.

EXCLUSIVE: The conservative House Freedom Caucus is pushing back on President Biden's latest door-to-door vaccine push decrying the home visits as a "deeply disturbing" violation of Americans' privacy. WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS DOOR-TO-DOOR VACCINATION PUSH AMID BACKLASHCommunity members have been doing this since April and it has been effective, with vaccination rates among adults going up 3% in Alabama and 4.4% in Florida, Psaki said. After Biden first mentioned the idea of going door-to-door, Republicans in Congress were quick to push back against it. "The government now wants to go door-to-door to convince you to get an ‘optional’ vaccine," Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., wrote. "The door-to-door spying on Americans is one more example of the burgeoning surveillance state by the national government."

Apple will be the next major target in the United States' latest crack down on Big Tech, IAC CEO Joey Levin predicted on CNBC on Friday. Levin said on "Squawk Box" that he believes "Apple's next, and I think Apple is, in many senses, worse" than Google, which was sued this week by a group of state attorneys general. Apple has "forced companies into the system," said Levin, whose company operates internet properties, such as Angi, which have apps on Apple's App Store. Attorneys general from 36 states and the District of Columbia, coming from both parties, are challenging Google in an antitrust lawsuit. Barry Diller, chairman of IAC and Expedia, told CNBC in May that Apple overcharges companies that have apps on the iPhone maker's App Store "in a disgusting manner."

US President Joe Biden (L) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin meet for talks at the Villa La Grange. WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action to stem recent ransomware attacks from Russian-based groups in a phone call Friday, the White House said. The attack is the latest in a string of serious ransomware attacks carried out this spring and summer by groups originating in Russia. Putin has consistently denied any involvement in the three most recent ransomware attacks that originated in Russia. In June, Biden met with Putin in person in Geneva, where he warned the Russian president to crack down on cyberattacks originating in Russia.

(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)Ata Mohammad Noor, chief of Jamiat-e-Islami and a powerful northern warlord, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his house in Mazar-e-Sharif north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, July 8, 2021. He said Washington’s quick exit left the Afghan military logistically unprepared for the Taliban onslaught. “It was surprising for me that in 24 hours, 19 districts of Badakhshan were surrendered without a fight,” said Noor. Noor also criticized the Afghan government’s fighting strategy, saying the Afghan National Security and Defense forces’ leadership has overused its elite commando units. Though the Afghan air force has well-trained pilots, Noor said the fleet was overused and under-maintained.

Senate Republicans have burned Democrats twice in filling Supreme Court vacancies. In 2016, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made the unprecedented decision to deny a Supreme Court seat to President Barack Obama for nearly a year, saying it was because it was a presidential election year. McConnell and Republicans kept the seat empty until Donald Trump was in the White House and could fill it with a GOP-backed nominee, Neil Gorsuch. Then, in 2020, McConnell broke from his own supposed standard for confirming Supreme Court nominees ? expediting confirmation of another Trump Supreme Court pick, Amy Coney Barrett, just weeks before the 2020 presidential election. McConnell seems intent on preventing Biden from filling a Supreme Court vacancy, too.

President Joe Biden speaks about the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)President Joe Biden speaks about the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a nationwide increase in violent crime — particularly involving firearms — President Joe Biden will meet Monday with law enforcement, local elected officials and advocates to discuss his efforts to address gun crimes. The White House says Biden will highlight his administration’s push to increase funding for local law enforcement to improve community policing practices through the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill he signed into law earlier this year. Biden’s budget request to Congress also calls for more funding for federal and state law enforcement, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to improve that agency’s ability to track and disrupt gun trafficking.

The Biden administration will stop detaining migrants facing deportation if they are pregnant or recently gave birth in a reversal of a Trump-era policy. The Biden administration will stop detaining migrants facing deportation if they are pregnant or recently gave birth in a reversal of a Trump-era policy. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. immigration authorities will no longer routinely jail migrants facing deportation if they are pregnant or recently gave birth, reversing a Trump-era immigration policy. Women and immigrant advocacy groups have criticized medical care at immigrant detention centers and condemned the practice of detaining pregnant migrants as a threat to maternal and fetal health. Under Obama, ICE adopted a policy in August 2016 that pregnant migrants would be presumed eligible for release as their cases made their way through immigration courts.

Telecom and large-cap technology stocks on Friday shrugged off President Joe Biden's executive order partially aimed at promoting competition among Big Tech and internet service providers. The White House released a "fact sheet" on Friday morning as a precursor to Biden signing the executive order later in the day. The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission were among a dozen agencies targeted by the executive order. Technology Stocks: Internet Regulation Re-ImposedThe executive order encourages federal agencies to take a harder stance versus corporate consolidation and business practices that may stifle competition. The Nasdaq Composite, which includes many technology stocks, rose 0.8% to 14,680 in midday trading.

And he even skipped a rally in Sarasota headlined by former President Donald Trump, whose early endorsement was crucial in helping DeSantis win the governor’s race in 2018. But unlike the former president, DeSantis is showing that he can tone down some of his most extreme partisan rhetoric during a disaster. DeSantis’ handling of the tragedy appears to have caught some Democrats off guard, leaving them with no unified response. Nikki Fried, Florida’s Democratic agriculture commissioner who has also announced a bid for governor, praised local officials, Biden and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Friction between the two spilled into the public for the first time last week when Trump rebuffed DeSantis’ entreaties to postpone the rally in Sarasota.

Here are the 7 markets his plan will target:LaborThe executive order will target policies and laws that prevent qualified workers from easily starting a new career or switching jobs within an industry in search of higher wages or better benefits and working conditions. TransportationThe order largely focuses on the airline industry, with the White House noting that just four commercial airlines control about two-thirds of the U.S. market. In a fact sheet explaining the executive order, it links recent consolidation in the industry with its ability to charge ever higher fees on things like ticket cancellation and baggage. “Though subject to federal review federal agencies have not formally denied a bank merger application in more than 15 years,” the White House said in a fact sheet explaining the executive order. “Importantly though,” they added, “The order will give the political cover necessary to the executive branch agencies to not only comply with Biden’s order but also explore previously underutilized authorities to pursue antitrust enforcement.”

President Joe Biden on Friday spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the ongoing ransomware attacks by criminals based in Russia that have hit the U.S. and other countries, the White House said in a statement. Biden "underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia," and the president reiterated that the U.S. "will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge," the White House added.

Wells Fargo WFC, +3.38% customers have begun receiving notification that their personal line of credit accounts will close, and the company confirmed Thursday that it will no longer offer the product. How your credit score could be affectedThe effect of a Wells Fargo line of credit depends on your unique credit profile, said Tommy Lee, principal scientist for the FICO FICO, +1.21% data and credit scoring company, in an emailed statement. But once you’re ready to borrow again, credit cards and personal loans are the closest alternatives to personal lines of credit. Credit cards: A credit card is another revolving credit line — you draw money by swiping the card and make monthly payments toward the balance. Credit limits are lower and purchases on credit cards are usually smaller than what you’re used to on a personal line of credit.

Here are the 7 markets his plan will target:LaborThe executive order will target policies and laws that prevent qualified workers from easily starting a new career or switching jobs within an industry in search of higher wages or better benefits and working conditions. TransportationThe order largely focuses on the airline industry, with the White House noting that just four commercial airlines control about two-thirds of the U.S. market. In a fact sheet explaining the executive order, it links recent consolidation in the industry with its ability to charge ever higher fees on things like ticket cancellation and baggage. “Though subject to federal review federal agencies have not formally denied a bank merger application in more than 15 years,” the White House said in a fact sheet explaining the executive order. “Importantly though,” they added, “The order will give the political cover necessary to the executive branch agencies to not only comply with Biden’s order but also explore previously underutilized authorities to pursue antitrust enforcement.”

The White House Covid Response Team shared a picture of the Taiwan flag on Twitter this week (EPA)The White House has apologised for making an “honest mistake” in including the Taiwan flag in a tweet about vaccine allocation. The United States, similar to other countries, does not formally recognise Taiwan’s government due to its relations with China. A spokesman for the White House National Security Council also called the use of the Taiwan flag in the tweet “an honest mistake” and said it was not an indication of a US policy shift towards the country, according to Reuters. On Tuesday, Kurt Campbell, the White House coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, took part in an online discussion hosted by the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI). He said that the country had an “unofficial relationship” with Taiwan but that “we do not support Taiwan independence”.

Many of us assumed that COVID-19 vaccines were the answer, and the U.S. government poured more than $18 billion into Operation Warp Speed to develop and test them. Researchers are also experimenting with a wide variety of medicines that can help reduce hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19. In June, the Biden administration announced a $3-billion investment to accelerate the discovery, development and manufacturing of antiviral medicines for COVID-19 patients. If you have COVID-19 and are mildly ill, using monoclonal antibodies [proteins that mimic the body’s own immune defenders] is a great option. Government scientists have said they hope to see an antiviral pill by the end of the fall.

And it's the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country," he said. Addressing critics of his decision directly, Biden asked: "How many thousands more Americans, daughters and sons, were you willing to risk? Biden said the United States plans to move thousands of Afghan interpreters out of the country in August and they can safely apply for U.S. visas. But Biden said Afghan troops far outnumber the Taliban, 300,000 to 75,000, and that a Taliban takeover can be stopped. "There's going to be no circumstance you're going to see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy in the -- of the United States from Afghanistan.

They are 458 men and women whom the USOC recognizes as 1980 Olympians, but who didn’t compete at the 1980 Olympics. They, as a 1980 Olympic team, feel “forgotten,” cheated out of legacies and life-changing experiences. So before she could drive, she moved away from family in Jacksonville, Florida, to nearby Gainesville, to chase the Moscow Olympics. One in particular was scrawled on journal pages and the training center wall: Make the Olympic team. *****Members of the United State 1980 Olympic team were given medals acknowledging their place on the team.

Associated PressPresident Joe Biden is set to sign on Friday an executive order that the White House bills as an effort to target anticompetitive practices in tech, health care and other parts of the economy while boosting workers' wages and consumer protections. The sweeping order includes 72 actions and recommendations that the White House says “will lower prices for families, increase wages for workers, and promote innovation and even faster economic growth.” The order includes calls for banning or limiting noncompete agreements to help boost wages, allowing rule changes that would pave the way for hearing aids to be sold over the counter at drugstores and banning excessive early termination fees by internet companies.

Chris Christie, left, and Donald Trump. REUTERS/Scott AudetteTrump was "convinced" that Chris Christie gave him COVID-19, according to a new book. Chris Christie, according to a forthcoming book by journalist Michael Wolff. But he was furious with Christie following a final debate session in which Christie had assumed the role of Biden and attacked Trump, according to the book. After their bouts with COVID-19, Christie went on to criticize Trump's handling of the pandemic in the country.

The order contains 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies and establishes a White House Competition Council to monitor the agencies' progress. Biden is set to sign the order and deliver remarks at 1:30 p.m. at the White House. President Joe Biden delivers remark regarding the Afghanistan drawdown in the East Room of the White House on July 8, 2021. "Our economy needs both large and small businesses to thrive — not centralized government dictates. TransportationThe White House argues "inadequate competition" has reduced incentives for airlines to provide good service.

The rate on an average 10-year fixed-rate private student loan plummeted to near record lows last week, reaching 5.47%, according to data from Credible . If you're thinking about refinancing your private student loan, now is a good time to consider financing your student loan balance into a 10-year fixed-rate student loan to reduce your rate. Consider taking out a private student loan now while interest rates are near record lows. While federal student loan rates are currently lower, at 3.73% as of July 1, 2021, not all students qualify for federal aid. However, there is also other criteria that affects your student loan interest rate, such as having a creditworthy cosigner, the loan type or the student loan repayment term.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that Democrats may work into August in order to pass both a bipartisan infrastructure package and a separate reconciliation bill that would dramatically expand the government-funded safety net. The party used the method earlier this year to muscle through the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan without any GOP votes. "Please be advised that time is of the essence and we have a lot of work to do," Schumer wrote. "There aren't the votes to pass just the bipartisan plan without the reconciliation plan," Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the House Progressive Caucus, said recently during an interview with CNN. "Now I am calling on President Biden to engage Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi and make sure they follow his lead."

Over the next three weeks, the Senate likely will vote on the infrastructure deal that Biden reached last month with a group of Republican and Democratic centrist senators. AdvertisementNewsletter Get our Essential Politics newsletter The latest news, analysis and insights from our politics teams from Sacramento to D.C. Enter email address Sign Me Up You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. At least 10 Republicans will be needed to pass the bipartisan measure through the Senate, not a sure thing. “I’ve not historically been a Biden guy, but I’m astonished about how well he is doing,” said former Vermont Gov.

HIDALGO, Texas -- From a church outpost in this small border city, Roland and Megan Gonzalez navigate an obstacle course that would defeat many others. They supply food to desperate migrants across the green waters of the Rio Grande in the much larger city of Reynosa, Mexico. The violence was an emotional blow as news trickled out to migrants, Rhodes said. (Veronica Cardenas / Special Contributor)Before the pandemic, some of the Border Missions food would simply go to the poorer areas around Reynosa. Border Missions was trying to hustle up fresh blankets to replace the soggy, muddy blankets the migrants have in Reynosa.

Zeke Miller and Eric TuckerAssociated PressWashington — President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday phone call that he must “take action” against cybercriminals acting in his country and that the U.S. reserves the right to “defend its people and its critical infrastructure,” the White House said. The conversation came less than a month after the two leaders met in Geneva, when Biden warned against continuing cyberattacks on U.S. businesses and infrastructure emanating from Russia. A new ransomware attack linked to the REvil hacking group based in Russia caused widespread disruption last weekend, affecting as many as 1,500 businesses. The White House said “President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware. “President Biden reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge,” the White House added.

.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday phone call that he must “take action” against cybercriminals acting in his country and that the U.S. reserves the right to “defend its people and its critical infrastructure,” the White House said. The conversation came less than a month after the two leaders met in Geneva, when Biden warned against continuing cyberattacks on U.S. businesses and infrastructure emanating from Russia. A new ransomware attack linked to the REvil hacking group based in Russia caused widespread disruption last weekend, affecting as many as 1,500 businesses. The White House said “President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware. “President Biden reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge,” the White House added.

For nearly two decades, Mark Levin, the nation’s top conservative talker, has been penning New York Times bestselling warnings about the Left’s takeover of America. Like “American Crisis” pamphleteer Thomas Paine, who wrote under the pseudonym “Common Sense” during the American Revolution, Levin has called on the nation to wake up before falling off a political cliff. Already considered his best yet, Mark Levin's newest book is set for release next week. “The other day I was thinking to myself, ‘Rush, we need you now more than ever.’ But Rush isn’t here,” said Levin. “My hope is that this book will have the kind of influence that the ‘American Crisis’ had,” he said.

Because of the determination and strength of President Biden, Gov. Beshear and Democrats, millions of us have been vaccinated. At home, Frankfort Republicans have fought Beshear, fought science and fought relief for Kentuckians when they needed their commonwealth to stand by them the most. President Biden, Gov. This year, as we come together again at home, at school, at work we can confidently say America is back.

At least 1,000 Afghan troops this week retreated into Tajikistan, prompting the country mobilize an extra 20,000 soldiers to guard its frontier. At the moment, authorities in Kabul still control all of the 34 provincial capitals, although two of them near the borders of China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are now being contested. “The situation in Afghanistan is an important factor for the security of CPEC.”With an economy that has grown by about five times since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, China is a particularly ripe target. More than 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees are already in Pakistan, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. A win for the Taliban would ultimately embolden all sympathizers across the region, said Madiha Afzal, a non-resident fellow at Washington-based Brookings Institution.

The order outlines 72 initiatives across the federal government and announces the creation of a White House Competition council to monitor progress. Story continuesThe White House also reversed former president Donald Trump's actions on net neutrality, requiring internet providers to allow access to all services without discrimination or unfair fees. The White House also directed US health authorities to work to import prescription drugs from Canada and to increase supply of generic and biosimilar drugs. "Instead of changing antitrust rules, the White House should ensure that agencies properly enforce existing antitrust laws. For everything else, the White House should defer to Congress."

By contrast, in March 2020 just 29% of Americans accepted the lab leak theory. Whether or not they believe the lab leak theory, Americans are united about the need to investigate COVID's origins, with almost two-thirds of Republicans and Democrats calling the issue 'very' or 'extremely' important. Redfield, who was CDC director under the Trump administration, first revealed back in March that he believes the virus escaped from the Wuhan lab. Biden's chief medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, has flip-flopped on the issue, but recently said it was worth looking intoDid Covid leak from a Wuhan lab? He said his emails are 'ripe to be taken out of context' but he 'can't guarantee everything that is going on in the Wuhan lab'.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted out images of the arriving vaccine doses, which will total 3.3 million doses, amid a surge of coronavirus cases in the long-struggling country. The first shipment of 1.4 million Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine doses arrives at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Nevertheless, Taliban forces have seized control of a number of districts amid the U.S. drawdown. A second shipment of vaccines donated by the United States through the COVAX global sharing program will bring the total to 3.3 million doses, UNICEF said. The deliveries are part of President Joe Biden's pledge to share 80 million vaccine doses globally, most through COVAX, which is run by the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

The United States added 34 entities to its economic blacklist, including 14 Chinese companies over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang. The United States added 34 entities to its economic blacklist, including 14 Chinese companies over alleged human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims and high-tech surveillance in XinjiangWorkers walk around a camp for Uyghurs Muslims in the Xinjiang region of China. The Commerce Department is punishing companies for their involvement in human rights abuses against UyghursIranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei. In a Federal Registry update Friday, the Commerce Department said in total it was adding 34 entities listed under 43 entries. Generally, entities added to the economic blacklist are required to apply for licenses from the Commerce Department and face tough scrutiny when they seek permission to receive items from U.S. suppliers.

John Kerry will travel to Russia next week to discuss 'global climate ambition,' the State Department announced. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will meet with Russian officials in Moscow next weekRep. John Katko told DailyMail.com last week the U.S. is 'facing a time of reckoning' in relations with Russia. 'I will deliver it to him,' he told reporters at the White House when asked his message for the Russian president. President Biden said at the time that he was 'heartened' that Putin called for collaborating with other countries to advance carbon dioxide removal. 4 globally due to its dependence on coal burning, is an outsize contributor to climate change relative to the size of its economy and population.

Donald Trump lashed out against attorney general Bill Barr after a fruitless attempt to recruit a federal attorney to probe the 2020 election and called him a 'phony', a new book claims. In the weeks following the November election, Barr - until then a staunch Trump ally - publicly began distancing himself from the former president's wild claims of widespread fraud. In the months leading up to the election Barr also echoed his boss's unfounded criticisms of mail-in voting. Kelly allegedly admonished Trump that 'You cannot ever say anything supportive of Adolf Hitler,' though the book claims Trump continued. Trump said in January 2021, according to an excerpt of Wolff's book in The Times.

US President Joe Biden told Russian leader Vladimir Putin to take action against ransomware groupsAdvertising Read moreWashington (AFP)US President Joe Biden spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Friday and told him to "take action" against ransomware groups operating in Russia, the White House said. Biden also said the United States will take "any necessary action" to defend Americans and critical infrastructure threatened by cyberattacks, it said. "President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware," it said. "President Biden reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge." Ransomware attacks on the United States and other countries have increased sharply in the past year and have included a high-profile attack that shut down a major fuel pipeline in the eastern United States.

A related problem is landlords and Internet service providers entering exclusivity deals or collusive arrangements that leave tenants with only one option. AdvertisementRestoring net neutrality rulesFinally, Biden encouraged the FCC to "restore net neutrality rules undone by the prior administration." Without the Obama-era net neutrality rules, "big providers can use their power to discriminatorily block or slow down online services," Biden wrote. For example, former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's net neutrality repeal simultaneously wiped out the Obama-era price-transparency rules that Biden wants to bring back. The actual monthly price consumers pay to Internet service providers has been rising far faster than inflation for years.

President Joe Biden speaks about the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)President Joe Biden speaks about the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Friday phone call that he must “take action” against cybercriminals acting in his country and that the U.S. reserves the right to “defend its people and its critical infrastructure,” the White House said. The White House said “President Biden underscored the need for Russia to take action to disrupt ransomware groups operating in Russia and emphasized that he is committed to continued engagement on the broader threat posed by ransomware. “President Biden reiterated that the United States will take any necessary action to defend its people and its critical infrastructure in the face of this continuing challenge,” the White House added.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned that lawmakers may need to cut short their annual summer recess in order to pass two pieces of legislation aimed at overhauling the nation’s infrastructure system. Democratic moderates in the Senate, however, have expressed their discomfort with a large, follow-up infrastructure bill that is not paid for. In addition to the intraparty debate over what kind of funding to include in the second infrastructure package, Democrats have varying opinions on how and whether they should pay for it. Those kinds of decisions have not been made yet, presenting another field of landmines for the party as members race to pass an infrastructure overhaul this year. Democratic moderates support a corporate tax rate hike, but not as large as the one the president proposed.

From his parents’ Brooklyn home on Wednesday, Jonathan told CNN affiliate WPVI he remembers texting his mom moments after the collapse. “We extend our deepest condolences to Andreas’ family, friends, classmates and faculty as they deal with this unimaginable tragedy,” a statement read. “We don’t know anything, we don’t have any closure and that’s what hurts,” Fernández told CNN. 6 Colombian citizensSix Colombian citizens are unaccounted for following the collapse, Colombian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Camila Mugno told CNN on Friday. 3 members of Velasquez familyThree members of the Velasquez family are also believed missing after the building collapse, according to family members.

(CNN) The most populous county in the US is seeing "exponential growth" of Covid-19 cases as the Delta variant takes over as the dominant coronavirus strain, health officials in Los Angeles County said. "We do continue to see an uptick in cases and hospitalizations," Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday. The Delta variant, first detected in India, has been found in 43% of new sequenced samples in California, the state said. A Pfizer spokesperson later told CNN the company planned to request FDA emergency use authorization for a booster shot in August. And if Americans ultimately need a booster shot, "people shouldn't get too worked up about that," he said.

CHICAGO – Public schools in Illinois will be required to teach a unit of Asian American history under a new law education experts say is the first of its kind nationwide. "It is a watershed moment in history in terms of teaching Asian American history in K-12 schools." "Asian American history is American history." Others are focused on integrating Asian American history into existing American history courses or offering shorter survey courses on various groups. Meanwhile, Kwoh's nonprofit, the Asian American Education Project, spun out of the group Asian Americans Advancing Justice last year.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will order the Transportation Department on Friday to consider new rules to crack down on fees enforced by airlines that travelers have long complained are costly tack-ons for sometimes lackluster service. The president will also direct the department to consider rules that would require airlines to clearly disclose baggage, change and cancellation fees for consumers. US plans to make airlines refund fees if bags are delayedSummer travel:American, Southwest airlines surge in flight delays could hint at hard summer for travelersThe U.S. airline industry is dominated by four companies: American, Southwest, Delta and United. "Reduced competition contributes to increasing fees like baggage and cancellation fees," the White House said in a statement. Biden's order comes after the Transportation Department already proposed airlines be required to refund fees on checked baggage if the bags aren't delivered to passengers quickly enough.

WASHINGTON — President Biden will sign a sweeping executive order on Friday aimed at spurring competition across the economy, encouraging federal agencies to take a wide range of actions, including more closely scrutinizing the tech industry, cracking down on high fees charged by sea shippers and allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter. The order reflects the administration’s growing embrace of warnings by some economists that declining competition is hobbling the economy’s vitality, raising prices and reducing choices for consumers in key areas, while dampening pay and restricting freedom to change jobs for workers. But Mr. Biden may find challenges in addressing that competition decline across diverse sectors of the economy — including Silicon Valley, Wall Street, chain restaurants and large hospital networks — solely through executive action. Experts warn that in many areas, the president will need to work with Congress to change federal laws if he hopes to have more success than former President Donald J. Trump, who also issued competition-focused executive orders and saw limited results from them. In interviews this week, senior administration officials acknowledged the limitations of executive authority, but said the order chose actions, like directing federal regulators to take steps to boost competition in several areas, that had the best chance of success in driving change across the economy.

Jill Biden’s ex-husband revealed that he had an intimate relationship with the first wife of accused killer and New York real estate heir Robert Durst — just 10 days before she vanished in 1982. He said he first met Kathie Durst in the 1960s when they spent summers near one another in the Poconos as children. According to Stevenson, Kathie and Jill had an instant connection. Robert Durst and Kathie Durst are seen before she mysteriously vanished in 1982. Kathie vanished 10 days later.

Howie Kurtz on President Biden defending decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, Donald Trump denying he fought with Mike Pence over hiring Corey Lewandowski and FDA disagreeing with Pfizer over vaccine booster shot. Follow Howie on Twitter: @HowardKurtzFor more #MediaBuzz click here

The 2021 MLB All-Star Game will be played on July 13 at Coors Field in Denver and will feature the top talent baseball has to offer. The MLB All-Star game was first played in 1933 at Comiskey Park, in Chicago, and has been the annual Mid-Summer Classic ever since. The All-Star Game will air on Fox. Here’s what you need to know:**Coors in the All-Star GameThe All-Star Game was played at Denver's Coors Field once before, in 1998, when the American League defeated the National League, 13-8. **Recent results2020: Not held due to coronavirus pandemic2019: American League, 4-32018: American League, 8-6 (10 innings)2017: American League, 2-1 (10 innings)2016: American League 4-2**How to watchMLB All-Star Weekend essentially begins Sunday afternoon at Coors Field with the MLB All-Star Futures Game featuring some of the top young players in baseball.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailFTC commissioner Noah Phillips on the push for Big Tech regulationNoah Phillips, FTC commissioner, joins "TechCheck" to discuss the new push from the Biden administration and lawmakers to regulate Big Tech.

FILE - In this March 17, 2021, file photo, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)FILE - In this March 17, 2021, file photo, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington. The U.S. Education Department has announced it will forgive student loans for more than 1,800 borrowers who attended for-profit colleges that made false recruiting claims. ADVERTISEMENTLast month, the Biden administration erased student debt for more than 18,000 borrowers of the ITT Technical Institute, another defunct for-profit college. Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued new rules meant to scale back loan forgiveness, which she said had become too easy to obtain.

SAUL LOEB via Getty Images President Joe Biden is taking his first big swing against noncompete agreements, which experts say depress wages and limit mobility in the workforce. President Joe Biden has railed for years against the proliferation of noncompete clauses in employment, which can lock workers into their jobs and depress wages. He criticized them while serving as vice president under President Barack Obama, and he called for a federal ban on them during his campaign for the White House last year. In many cases, noncompete clauses are only “agreements” in theory, since not signing one means not getting the job. “The Biden administration is really leaning into the issue, and it’s good for workers,” Walter said.

As U.S. troops wrap up a withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden administration officials have struggled to shape a plan to protect Afghans who worked for the U.S. government and now face retribution from the Taliban. Veterans groups, refugee advocates and lawmakers have called for an urgent evacuation and accused the administration of moving too slowly, potentially putting Afghan partners' lives at risk. Administration officials afterward said applicants for the Special Immigrant Visa program, which was set up for Afghan and Iraqi interpreters, could not legally be flown to the U.S. before their visas were approved. The administration also had to consider the human rights records of the countries accepting the Afghans, the officials added. Administration officials also were discussing the pool of Afghans to be evacuated, with the decision hinging in part on the status of the Afghans' visa applications.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote to his members this morning, explaining not only what the governing majority intends to do, but also when the work might get done. The warning to senators that they should be ready to work during the August break is a step the majority leader has not previously taken. If his members need any additional convincing, I'd remind them that as recently as 2018, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) scaled back the chamber's summer break dramatically. It's possible that Schumer is entirely sincere about members "remaining in Washington into the previously-scheduled August state work period." It's also possible that the majority leader added this line to today's letter as added motivation for senators, in effect saying, "Let's get our work done or I'll start chipping away at your summer break."

(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)Ata Mohammad Noor, chief of Jamiat-e-Islami and a powerful northern warlord, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his house in Mazar-e-Sharif north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, July 8, 2021. He said Washington’s quick exit left the Afghan military logistically unprepared for the Taliban onslaught. “It was surprising for me that in 24 hours, 19 districts of Badakhshan were surrendered without a fight,” said Noor. Noor also criticized the Afghan government’s fighting strategy, saying the Afghan National Security and Defense forces’ leadership has overused its elite commando units. Abdur Rasool Sayyaf’s past militias have been linked to brutal crimes against the Hazara ethnic minority during the 1990s civil war.

Environmentalists and renewable energy advocates are debating whether creating more energy by burning the excess waste is a safe idea. Environmentalists and renewable energy advocates are debating whether creating more energy by burning the excess waste is a safe idea. Communities have also opposed waste-to-energy plants because of concerns about airborne particulate matter that can have negative health consequences. Attempts to convert more pandemic garbage into energy are likely to be controversial, said Frank Roethel, director of the Waste Reduction and Management Institute at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. “And waste to energy doesn’t necessarily get the recognition, but it could certainly reduce emissions.”___Associated Press writer Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. Biden is set to sign an executive order the White House bills as an effort to target anticompetitive practices in tech, health care and other parts of the economy while boosting workers’ wages and consumer protections. “Inadequate competition holds back economic growth and innovation.”The White House said Biden’s order follows in the tradition of past presidents who took action to slow growing corporate power. The order includes several provisions that could affect the agricultural industry.

President Joe Biden plans to give a speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday on "actions to protect the sacred, constitutional right to vote," the White House said on Friday in a statement. His administration has faced growing complaints from civil rights activists and other Democrats that it hasn't done enough on the issue of voting rights.

In the wake of the Aduhelm decision, scientists are warning that the agency may be showing signs of de-emphasizing that role. Since the Aduhelm approval, the two main biotech exchange-traded funds and the S&P 500 Pharmaceuticals index are all slightly outperforming the broader market. After Aduhelm, investors don’t know quite what to make of the agency, or whether to expect rigor from their decisions. Beyond consistency in its approval decisions, the assumptions built into the biopharma industry require FDA approval to be the global gold standard. “FDA approval rarely was followed by noncoverage.”That has changed for many reasons, including higher prices and a more complicated payer system.

The delta variant has been detected in 10 of those countries, said the agency. “The end to this precipitous rise is still weeks away,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa. Don’t miss: Top U.K. scientists and health officials are worried about the delta variant. The CDC’s vaccine tracker is showing that 158 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, equal to 47.7% of the population. The U.S. leads the world with a total of 33.79 million cases and in deaths with 606,483.

Hello and welcome to Extra Credit, a weekly look at the news through the lens of consumer debt. In the business world and financial media, this area of coverage — student loans, mortgages, credit cards and other credit products — are often referred to, somewhat sterilely, as consumer finance. (Read more of MarketWatch reporter’s Andrew Keshner’s coverage of the expanded child tax credit here). They’re also urging congress to pass a bill that would protect the child tax credit and EITC from seizure permanently. During my time covering student debt, I’ve been pitched countless stories about surprising ways to fix the student-debt crisis, but only one has really gained traction: Income-share agreements.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two men believed to be Haitian Americans — one of them purportedly a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Port au Prince — have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti’s president, Haitian officials said Thursday. James Solages and Joseph Vincent were among 17 suspects detained in the brazen killing of President Jovenel Moïse by gunmen at his home in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday. The oldest suspect is 55 and the youngest, Solages, is 35, according to a document shared by Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections. He would not provide additional details about Solages’ background, nor provide the name of the second Haitian American. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian Americans were in custody but could not confirm or comment.

In announcing the shift, Cardona said gay, lesbian and transgender students “have the same rights and deserve the same protections” as workers. The Biden administration is erasing more than $55 million in debt for former students of Westwood College, the Marinello Schools of Beauty and the Court Reporting Institute. The chain told students their course could be transferred to other colleges, but that often was not the case, the Education Department said. Last month, the Biden administration erased student debt for more than 18,000 borrowers of the ITT Technical Institute, another defunct for-profit college. DeVos also implemented a new formula that offered only partial loan relief even if claims were granted.

President Biden on Friday will sign a sweeping new executive order aimed at cracking down on anti-competitive behavior by Big Tech and other sectors including labor, health care and financial services. The order is intended to "reduce the trend of corporate consolidation, increase competition, and deliver concrete benefits to America’s consumers, workers, farmers, and small businesses," the White House said. Biden is expected to sign the order at 1:30 p.m. Big Tech is also under mounting pressure on Capitol Hill as lawmakers take up a series of sweeping new antitrust bills that could break up some of Silicon Valley's most powerful companies. It would also prevent the companies from favoring their own products over competitors using their services.

Former Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney argued that the Biden administration's policies show they care more about politics than economics on FOX Business’ "Varney & Co."BIDEN IS RAISING ‘REGULATORY BARRIERS’ US HASN’T SEEN IN 45 YEARS: KUDLOWMICK MULVANEY: Biden economic policies are not about economics. They're not raising taxes to raise money, to pay for things. They use it as an excuse to raise taxes. GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREThe Biden tax policies are social policy. But you have to stop asking economics questions about the Biden economic policies.

Following news of an expected executive order from President Joe Biden regulating big tech, Jim Cramer had some words about the administration's treatment of business. "I'm mystified by President Biden," Cramer said. "He's using a shotgun when he should be using a rifle."

This executive order is in fact much broader and attempts to change the landscape for the future of American business if it sticks. Safe to say that this executive order will be met with a friendly reception at the FTC, and the goals of this executive order could very well be pursued with great enthusiasm. I am already long term long Amazon and Apple. If forced in order to stay competitive to break these firms up into pieces, what would they be worth? (Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS member club.

WASHINGTON — While the global struggle continues against the death and devastation of COVID-19, a panel of independent experts is warning that the world is alarmingly unprepared to deal with the next pandemic. “I think for the next quarter-century, the risks to human well-being, security, and prosperity from global health issues are at least comparable to — and maybe greater than — the risks from climate change,” he said. The report echoed recent calls for reforms by two other high-level groups empaneled by the World Health Organization. Another new initiative would be a Global Health Threats Board, loosely modeled on the financial stability board the G20 created after the 2008 financial crisis. “I don’t think anybody, even at the World Health Organization, is fully satisfied with the job the World Health Organization has done,” he told the Globe.

Communities have also opposed waste-to-energy plants because of concerns about airborne particulate matter that can have negative health consequences. In Portland, Maine, residential waste was up 12% and commercial was up 2% in June, said Matt Grondin, spokesman for ecomaine, which operates a waste-to-energy power plant. Converting all that new garbage to energy is the best available option, Grondin said. Attempts to convert more pandemic garbage into energy are likely to be controversial, said Frank Roethel, director of the Waste Reduction and Management Institute at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. “And waste to energy doesn’t necessarily get the recognition, but it could certainly reduce emissions.”___Associated Press writer Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans contributed to this report.

The first hurdle for Schumer and the Democrats is for Congress to approve a budget resolution. The budget would then let them push a massive spending bill through the Senate without facing a GOP filibuster. That spending bill — a pillar of Biden's domestic agenda — would finance health care, family, climate and other programs. Republicans are expected to solidly oppose Biden's domestic spending spending bill. Schumer hopes the Senate will approve that bill before departing for recess.

Carlos DeLuna was convicted of Lopez’s murder on 20 July 1983 and sentenced to death the next day. Based on the implacably swift timeline of the proceedings, DeLuna’s case could seem open and shut, the easy conviction of an easily caught culprit. “The story is proof that the death penalty requires certainty if there is to be any justification for it,” Forbes tells me. “Because we can’t ensure that we get these cases right every time, we must eliminate the death penalty,” he tweeted at the time. Perhaps even more troubling than the profound uncertainty at the heart of DeLuna’s case is the likelihood it could have remained hidden indefinitely.

Six 'assassins' have been arrested and three killed over the murder of Haiti president Jovenel Moïse, police said. 'We are shocked and saddened to hear of the horrific assassination of President Jovenel Moise and the attack on First Lady Martine Moise,' the US President said in a statement. 'We are shocked and saddened to hear of the horrific assassination of President Jovenel Moise and the attack on First Lady Martine Moise,' Biden said in a statement. Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the pontiff, who is recovering in hospital following surgery, offered his condolences to the Haitian people and the widow of President Jovenel Moise. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that he was 'shocked and saddened at the death of President Moise.'

To finish the wall along the Texas border, Abbott has put forth a $250 million “down payment” drawn from state disaster relief funds and crowdfunded almost another $500,000 as of June 23. It’s also not clear whether Abbott can use disaster funds to pay for the wall under Texas state law. Abbott’s push for a wall is as much a political stunt as an actual projectAbbott and the Texas GOP’s embrace of a border wall seems to be part of their strategy for the 2022 midterm elections. The Texas Republicans appear to be trying to appeal to their right-wing base in order to fend off potential primary challengers. “Nothing dominates the public opinion landscape of Texas Republicans like immigration and border security,” Henson said.

Trump was "convinced" that Chris Christie gave him COVID-19, according to a new book. Chris Christie, according to a forthcoming book by journalist Michael Wolff. But he was furious with Christie following final debate session in which Christie had assumed the role of Biden and attacked Trump, according to the book. Whether or not Christie gave coronavirus to Trump, the former president was "convinced" that he did, Wolff wrote. After their bouts with COVID-19, Christie went on to criticize Trump's handling of the pandemic in the country.

Political Cartoons on World Leaders View All 91 ImagesAt least seven Afghan pilots, including Zamaray, have been assassinated off base in recent months, according to two senior Afghan government officials. Afghan military pilots are particularly attractive assassination targets, current and former U.S. and Afghan officials say. PRECIOUS, OVER-STRETCHEDTwo Afghan Air Force pilots were killed on June 7 while trying to evacuate troops wounded during a surge of fighting against the Taliban insurgency. Along with Afghanistan's Special Forces, the Afghan Air Force is a pillar of the nation's strategy for preventing a Taliban takeover of cities. Asadi said the Afghan Air Force had failed to do enough to protect pilots vulnerable to off-base assassinations.

Media magnate Rupert Murdoch made the final decision for Fox News to call Arizona for Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election, a move that infuriated Donald Trump, according to a report in Business Insider. The controversial decision to call Arizona for Biden enraged Trump and his campaign officials, some of whom called for Rupert Murdoch to reverse the network's call. Trump personally called Murdoch, screamed at him and demanded a retraction, according to a report in Vanity Fair. Fox News put the head of its decision desk, Arnon Mishkin, on air to defend the call. However, during Trump's re-election bid, Murdoch complained Trump would lose due to his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas, a rising star in the GOP, is currently on a three-day swing through New Hampshire, the state that for a century has held the first primary in the presidential nominating calendar. CRENSHAW: U.S. MILITARY ‘MOST INCLUSIVE, LEAST RACIST’ INSTITUTION IN AMERICA"The era of putting America first is apparently over," Crenshaw, who served as a U.S. Navy SEAL officer in Afghanistan, added. The fundraising dinner was the first stop for Crenshaw in New Hampshire during his trip. Political pundits see 37-year-old Crenshaw as a possible contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and the swing through New Hampshire will only fuel more speculation. Asked in March about any national ambitions in 2024, Crenshaw told well-known radio host Hugh Hewitt: "I would say pretty much, pretty much ruled it out."

"It’s a crisis unlike anything I've ever seen and it’s a serious one...because first border security is national security. "These are national security issues that we deal with on the border well beyond just the movement of illegal migrants. That, in and of itself, those movements of those illegal migrants, here is the second point, is operated and controlled by criminal organizations. The Biden administration has pushed back, claiming the border is "closed" and pointing instead to root causes like poverty, violence and climate change in Central America. "So you talk about addressing root causes, root causes are much broader than just focusing on overseas and our foreign partners."

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House at a celebration of Independence Day in Washington, U.S., July 4, 2021. President Joe Biden next Tuesday will travel to Philadelphia to deliver an address about the actions his administration is taking to "protect the sacred constitutional right to vote," a source familiar with the matter told NBC News on Friday. The Department of Justice last month sued Georgia over its recently passed election law, alleging the changes violate federal voting protections for minorities. The Biden administration has taken other steps toward the fight over voting rights in the weeks leading up to the Philadelphia speech. In a speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month, Biden said that voting rights are "under assault with an incredible intensity like I've never seen."

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — It was once the epicenter of America’s longest war. Now the Bagram Airfield is virtually deserted, a relic of America’s time in Afghanistan. But when NBC News visited the Bagram Airfield on Wednesday,some Afghan soldiers were visibly angry about the decision to pull out on the night of July 2. America's longest war has cost the lives of around 2,300 U.S. troops and left thousands more wounded. Richard Engel and Marc Smith reported from the Bagram Airfield, and Rhea Mogul from Hong Kong.

The memo, obtained by POLITICO, was based off of a series of focus groups conducted in battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. They include suburban college-educated voters who supported Biden in 2020, Black voters who support Biden but are less likely to turn out in midterm elections, and white working-class voters, particularly women. The United the Country memo had some welcome findings for Biden in addition to the warnings. Their focus groups found strong support for cutting taxes by expanding the child tax credit, with the PAC describing the policy as “a home run even among the most hard-core” Trump supporters. “He hasn't told anyone to inject bleach yet,” one focus group member, identified only as “white non-college union man” from Pennsylvania said.

The student loan relief, which Biden extended on his first day in office, is set to expire at the end of September. Still, student advocacy groups have urged the Biden administration not to resume collecting student loan payments until the Education Department has enacted a series of reforms to the system. The pandemic relief is saving student loan borrowers approximately $5 billion in interest payments each month, according to the Education Department. Some progressives who are pushing for an extension of student loan relief hope that it’s a prelude to the widespread cancellation of student loan debt that they’ve been seeking. Some private student loan industry players are also hoping the Education Department turns on payments this fall, at least for some borrowers.

REUTERS/Johannes P. ChristoVENICE, Italy, July 9 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund wants G20 countries to decide on a clear path over the next two days for allowing rich countries to contribute some $100 billion worth of newly issued IMF reserves to poorer countries, the Fund's No. The IMF SDR plan will distribute reserves to all 190 member countries in proportion to their ownership, with the lion's share going to G20 countries. Okamoto said the PRGT can only accept $30 billion in SDRs, leaving potentially up to $70 billion for new facilities. Regarding which countries can benefit from the new Resilience and Sustainability Trust, Okamoto said there will be some prioritization of countries based on need. "We’re giving an eye towards countries who need the most amount of support coming out of this crisis," Okamoto said.

There were 13 pregnant women in ICE custody as of Thursday who are now being considered for release, officials told The Washington Post. During Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigration, no presumption of release was offered for pregnant women. The number of women who miscarried in ICE custody nearly doubled under Trump, the Daily Beast reported in 2019. Johnson’s new memo bars the use of restraints on pregnant women, except in extreme circumstances. ICE officers must obtain permission from a superior to request detention of a pregnant or nursing immigrant, the memo states.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will deliver remarks in Philadelphia on Tuesday about his administration’s actions “to protect the sacred constitutional right to vote,” a source familiar with the matter tells NBC News. New rules imposed in some Republican-controlled states will restrict when voting can happen, imposing voter ID requirements and overhauling election administration. On Thursday, Biden met with leading civil rights groups, who have called on him to take a stronger stance in support of federal voting legislation championed by Democrats, including to support calls to abolish the filibuster for voting rights legislation. Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off that effort Thursday, announcing the DNC’s $25 million expansion of its “I Will Vote” Campaign, focused on voter registration, education and turnout efforts. “We are going to assemble the largest voter-protection team we have ever had to ensure that all Americans can vote and have your vote counted in a fair and transparent process,” Harris said.

Biden Moves To Restrict Non-Compete Agreements, Saying They're Bad For WorkersEnlarge this image toggle caption Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesPresident Biden is making a good on a campaign promise to curtail non-compete agreements. Meanwhile, businesses who support the use of non-compete agreements say they are vital for protecting trade secrets and investments. States have traditionally regulated the issueTo date, the regulation of non-compete agreements has been left to states. Three states — California, North Dakota and Oklahoma — already ban non-compete agreements, and close to a dozen states prohibit their use with low wage workers. Non-compete agreements are widely used in the private sectorThe White House estimates that non-compete agreements are used by roughly half of private-sector businesses for at least some of their employees, affecting anywhere between 36 and 60 million workers.

Hello and welcome to Extra Credit, a weekly look at the news through the lens of consumer debt. In the business world and financial media, this area of coverage — student loans, mortgages, credit cards and other credit products — are often referred to, somewhat sterilely, as consumer finance. (Read more of MarketWatch reporter’s Andrew Keshner’s coverage of the expanded child tax credit here). They’re also urging congress to pass a bill that would protect the child tax credit and EITC from seizure permanently. During my time covering student debt, I’ve been pitched countless stories about surprising ways to fix the student-debt crisis, but only one has really gained traction: Income-share agreements.

The delta variant has been detected in 10 of those countries, said the agency. “The end to this precipitous rise is still weeks away,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa. Don’t miss: Top U.K. scientists and health officials are worried about the delta variant. The CDC’s vaccine tracker is showing that 158 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, equal to 47.7% of the population. The U.S. leads the world with a total of 33.79 million cases and in deaths with 606,483.

Here are six things to know about the now-defunct cloud computing contract. WHAT WAS THE JEDI CONTRACT? WHAT WILL REPLACE THE JEDI CONTRACT? WHAT WAS TRUMP'S ROLE IN THE JEDI CONTRACT AWARD? Amazon in its lawsuit cited a 2019 book that reported Trump had directed the Defense Department to "screw Amazon" out of the JEDI contract.

ReutersPresident Joe Biden's planned executive order to promote greater U.S. competition will target bank mergers by pushing the Federal Reserve and the Department of Justice to update merger guidelines and increase scrutiny of deals, according to a source familiar with the matter. It will also ask the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to issue rules giving consumers full control of their financial data to make it easier for customers to switch banks, the source said. The planned order, which is expected to be signed by Biden on Friday, is likely to chill M&A in the banking sector after a rash of deals unleashed by the Trump administration's more industry-friendly regulatory policy.

President Biden on Friday will sign a sweeping new executive order aimed at cracking down on anti-competitive behavior by Big Tech and other sectors including labor, health care and financial services. The order is intended to "reduce the trend of corporate consolidation, increase competition, and deliver concrete benefits to America’s consumers, workers, farmers, and small businesses," the White House said. Biden is expected to sign the order at 1:30 p.m. Big Tech is also under mounting pressure on Capitol Hill as lawmakers take up a series of sweeping new antitrust bills that could break up some of Silicon Valley's most powerful companies. It would also prevent the companies from favoring their own products over competitors using their services.

Former Treasury Department spokesperson Monica Crowley told "Mornings with Maria" Friday that the Biden administration and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are pushing for a "globalist tax scheme" that Americans will eventually have to pay the price for. YELLEN MAY PUSH FOR GLOBAL MINIMUM TAX RATE HIGHER THAN 15%, TREASURY OFFICIAL SAYSMONICA CROWLEY: If you're in Ireland and you've been reaping all of the benefits of a relatively low corporate tax rate, why would you go along with this globalist tax scheme to raise it and put yourself back at a disadvantage? Now, this whole point, Maria, is to try to sink U.S. tax rates with those of high tax socialist European nations, which will have the effect of undermining international tax competition. …GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREInternational tax competition has tended to drive down international tax rates and has historically benefited the United States. So, of course, Biden and Yellen hate this kind of international tax competition and they're trying to kill it.

Former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit targeting Google, Twitter and Facebook will transform tech platforms, according to Parler CEO George Farmer. "I think this is the lawsuit that will redefine what free speech, when it comes to tech platforms, looks like," Farmer told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo. "We've seen many times the authoritarian arm of Big Tech come down and censor people unwarranted," Farmer pointed out. Farmer believes that Trump’s lawsuit brings more awareness to how Big Tech censors free speech. "You saw Big Tech censor and control and try to de-platform the leader of the Republican Party who was the sitting president.

"ICE is committed to safeguarding the integrity of our immigration system and preserving the health and safety of pregnant, postpartum, and nursing individuals," acting ICE director Tae Johnson said in a statement. Most pregnant women detained in recent years have been apprehended after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border seeking refuge in the United States, according to the GAO. Advocates for immigrants counter that detaining pregnant and postpartum women endangers their physical and mental health. The new directive does not limit the "temporary placements" of pregnant women in "family staging centers" in South Texas, where several hundred pregnant women traveling with children have passed through this fiscal year, according to ICE data. AdvertisementThirteen pregnant women were in ICE custody as of Thursday, and they are being considered for release under the new policy, officials said.

Aamer MadhaniAssociated PressPresident Joe Biden is set to sign on Friday an executive order that the White House bills as an effort to target anticompetitive practices in tech, health care and other parts of the economy while boosting workers' wages and consumer protections. “In total, higher prices and lower wages caused by lack of competition are now estimated to cost the median American household $5,000 per year,” the White House said in a fact sheet outlining the order Biden is expected to sign at an afternoon ceremony. “Inadequate competition holds back economic growth and innovation.”The White House said Biden’s order follows in the tradition of past presidents who took action to slow growing corporate power. The order includes several provisions that could affect the agricultural industry. It calls on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to consider issuing new rules defining when meat can use “Product of USA” labels.

.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........President Joe Biden is set to sign on Friday an executive order that the White House bills as an effort to target anticompetitive practices in tech, health care and other parts of the economy while boosting workers’ wages and consumer protections. “In total, higher prices and lower wages caused by lack of competition are now estimated to cost the median American household $5,000 per year,” the White House said in a fact sheet outlining the order Biden is expected to sign at an afternoon ceremony. “Inadequate competition holds back economic growth and innovation.”The White House said Biden’s order follows in the tradition of past presidents who took action to slow growing corporate power. The order includes several provisions that could affect the agricultural industry. It calls on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to consider issuing new rules defining when meat can use “Product of USA” labels.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved a $650 billion expansion in resources to support economically vulnerable nations as they battle the coronavirus pandemic. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Friday that the new support, the largest such expansion in the history of the 190-nation lending institution, would be a “shot in the arm for the world.”To put the size of the funding expansion in context, the IMF approved a $250 billion boost in SDR reserves following the 2008 financial crisis. It is a reversal of the stance taken by the Trump administration and it began in February when the Biden administration got behind the effort. Republican members of Congress have objected to the funding, saying that the expanded IMF resources would benefit U.S. adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran. Eric LeCompte, executive director of the religious-affiliated development group Jubilee USA Network, said that the IMF action would allow developing countries to immediately receive more than $200 billion in support.

President Joe Biden is set to sign on Friday an executive order that the White House bills as an effort to target anticompetitive practices in tech, health care and other parts of the economy while boosting workers' wages and consumer protections. “In total, higher prices and lower wages caused by lack of competition are now estimated to cost the median American household $5,000 per year,” the White House said in a fact sheet outlining the order Biden is expected to sign at an afternoon ceremony. “Inadequate competition holds back economic growth and innovation.”The White House said Biden’s order follows in the tradition of past presidents who took action to slow growing corporate power. The order includes several provisions that could affect the agricultural industry. It calls on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to consider issuing new rules defining when meat can use “Product of USA” labels.

North Dakota filed a lawsuit this Wednesday against the Biden administration over its suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water, claiming it will lose the state more than $4 billion in revenue and keep more than half a billion barrels of oil in the ground. North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said in a statement that he sued 'to protect North Dakota's economy, the jobs of our hardworking citizens, and North Dakota's rights to control its own natural resources.' North Dakota is the nation's second-largest oil producer behind Texas. The bureau and the Department of the Interior, the federal agency that oversees the oil and gas leases, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Stenehjem said that oil and gas production from leased federal and tribal land generates nearly $100 million annually in royalty revenue for the state.

President Joe Biden is set to sign a sweeping executive order with 72 initiatives meant to boost competition – with a special efforts to impose competition on Big Tech firms. Biden will urge agencies to closely scrutinize mergers where the tech firms gobble up smaller firms in efforts to freeze out competition through 'killer acquisitions.' 'Inadequate competition holds back economic growth and innovation,' the White House fact sheet said. It directs the FTC to issue rules to address competition concerns from Big Tech companies and ban or limit non-compete agreements. Biden will deliver remarks and sign the executive order at 1:30 pm.

Rupert Murdoch personally made the decision to allow Fox News to broadcast that it had called Arizona for Joe Biden in the 2020 election, a new book reveals. Donald Trump and his aides were furious when Fox News became the first network on election night to call Arizona for Biden. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows phoned Fox News's decision desk while senior adviser Hope Hicks, who had returned to the White House after a spell working at Fox Corp., got in contact with Raj Shah, a former Trump White House staffer whom she hired at Fox, about getting the call reversed. Former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway reached out to Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier to complain. And White House senior adviser Jared Kushner contacted Rupert Murdoch to try and get it retracted.

Share this Story: Taliban say they control 85 per cent of Afghanistan as U.S. withdraws troopsTaliban say they control 85 per cent of Afghanistan as U.S. withdraws troops Local Afghan officials said Taliban fighters, emboldened by the withdrawal, had captured an important district in Herat province, home to tens of thousands of minority Shi'ite Hazaras Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFPArticle content Taliban officials said on Friday the Sunni Muslim insurgent group had taken control of 85 per cent of territory in Afghanistan, and its fighters were tightening their grip on strategic areas. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Try refreshing your browser, or Taliban say they control 85 per cent of Afghanistan as U.S. withdraws troops Back to video But local Afghan officials said Taliban fighters, emboldened by the withdrawal, had captured an important district in Herat province, home to tens of thousands of minority Shi’ite Hazaras. Torghundi, a northern town on the border with Turkmenistan, had also been captured by the Taliban overnight, Afghan and Taliban officials said. Three visiting Taliban officials sought to address those concerns during their visit to Moscow.

The executive order also includes plans to allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter at pharmacies and to make it easier for people to fix their phones or other equipment themselves, according to information viewed by NPR ahead of the announcement. Big Tech will face more scrutinySome of the most sweeping measures target the tech sector. The White House wants Obama-era net neutrality rules to be restored — measures that prevent internet providers from throttling their service. For example, he said, hearing aids — an expensive market dominated by a few players — is one area ripe for competition. The Obama administration tried to make it possible to buy more types of hearing aids at pharmacies, just like reading glasses, rather than treating them like expensive medical devices.

Pro-Trump supporters have organised a rally in Florida this weekend at the state’s Capitol building, calling for the release of “political prisoners” who have been arrested in connection with the 6 January Capitol riots. The “free our patriots” rally has been organised by a Republican candidate challenging Marco Rubio for Senate and is billed as a “peaceful demonstration” against the “corrupt federal government”. According to a press release, protesters are planning to gather on 10 July at 1pm at the Florida Capitol Building in Tallahassee. On 6 January, pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol in Washington in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election result following a Save America rally hosted by former President Donald Trump. The former president has baselessly maintained that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him without evidence and the “free our patriots” release pushed similar inaccurate sentiments.

A year ago, after we watched the disastrous federal response to the crisis, I wouldn't have bet on that. That's the sort of dangerous fear-mongering conservative viewers see every day, even as thousands of them are still dying. We are seeing the beginnings of another COVID surge among the unvaccinated, and the largest cohort among them are Trump voters in red states with low vaccination rates. The Kaiser Foundation reported this week:One of the main factors driving differences in COVID-19 vaccination rates across the country is partisanship. Lambda, the latest to be recognized by the WHO, is dominant in Peru and spreading rapidly in South America.

At fault is the grants’ prohibitive requirements, which burden programs and re-traumatize a highly vulnerable population, multiple health department officials and service providers warned The Intercept. Everyone is [to] some degree wishing we didn’t have to do it or blood-boiling pissed off about it.” The “odious” GPRA tool, as that official called it, has real consequences. Officials and providers who’ve sought a waiver of the GPRA tool have faced issues with SAMHSA. Similarly, at least two state officials say they’ve been told that their grants could be jeopardized if they don’t satisfactorily conduct the GPRA tool. With no apparent way out of the GPRA requirement, the officials and providers are calling for changes to the tool.

Taliban officials announced Friday that the Sunni Muslim insurgent group had taken control of 85% of territory in Afghanistan and its fighters were tightening their grip on strategic areas. Local Afghan officials said Taliban fighters, emboldened by the withdrawal, had captured an important district in Herat province, home to tens of thousands of minority Shi’ite Hazaras. Three visiting Taliban officials sought to address those concerns during their visit to Moscow. "We will take all measures so that Islamic State will not operate on Afghan territory... and our territory will never be used against our neighbors," one of the Taliban officials, Shahabuddin Delawar, told a news conference. He said "you and the entire world community have probably recently learned that 85% of the territory of Afghanistan has come under the control" of the Taliban.

Banning or limiting noncompete agreements and occupational licensing requirements that the Biden administration called unnecessary and cumbersome. Importing cheap prescription drugs from Canada to help drive down prices in the United States, and placing new rules on drug pricing in the United States. Banning certain broadband fees and requirements that make it harder for some consumers to change and compare internet providers. Forcing airlines to disclose “add-on fees” for things like seating and baggage, and make it easier for people to get refunds for flights. Strengthening the Department of Agriculture’s tools “to stop the abusive practices of some meat processors.”

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailIAC CEO on Biden antitrust order, the care economy, competition and moreIAC CEO Joey Levin joined CNBC's Julia Boorstin at the Sun Valley Conference to discuss the media landscape, President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order to target corporate consolidation, the company's push for the care economy to be covered in a federal infrastructure bill and more.

REUTERS/Tingshu WangWASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Friday added 14 Chinese companies and other entities to its economic blacklist over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang. They include the China Academy of Electronics and Information Technology; Xinjiang Lianhai Chuangzhi Information Technology Co; Shenzhen Cobber Information Technology Co; Xinjiang Sailing Information Technology; Beijing Geling Shentong Information Technology; Shenzhen Hua'antai Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.; and Chengdu Xiwu Security System Alliance Co., Ltd. The action follows the department's decision last month to add five other companies and other Chinese entities to the blacklist over allegations of forced labor in the far western region of China. "The Chinese side will take all necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies and rejects U.S. attempts to interfere in China's internal affairs," said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Friday. This is not the first time the U.S. government has targeted Chinese firms linked to allegations of high-tech surveillance activity in Xinjiang.

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — It was once the epicenter of America’s longest war. Now the Bagram Airfield is virtually deserted, a relic of America’s time in Afghanistan. But when NBC News visited the Bagram Airfield on Wednesday,some Afghan soldiers were visibly angry about the decision to pull out on the night of July 2. America's longest war has cost the lives of around 2,300 U.S. troops and left thousands more wounded. Richard Engel and Marc Smith reported from the Bagram Airfield and Rhea Mogul from Hong Kong.

President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. Biden is set to sign an executive order the White House bills as an effort to target anticompetitive practices in tech, health care and other parts of the economy while boosting workers’ wages and consumer protections. “Inadequate competition holds back economic growth and innovation.”The White House said Biden’s order follows in the tradition of past presidents who took action to slow growing corporate power. The order includes several provisions that could affect the agricultural industry.

Dow Jones Leads, Nasdaq Struggles As Stocks Bounce; Biden Order Targets Big Tech Stocks; GM, Ford Rally3:00 AM ET Ford, General Motors and Dow Jones financial names were early leaders Friday, as stocks rebounded from Thursday losses. 3:00 AM ET Ford, General Motors and Dow Jones financial names were early...

Finance ministers from the Group of 20 countries will push for agreement on proposals backed by U.S. President Joe Biden to deter tax dodging by multinational companies in Venice this weekend. Biden’s proposal for a 15% global corporate minimum tax resulted in a breakthrough in stalled international tax talks. European officials have downplayed concerns, saying their digital tax will not clash with the OECD agreement. The part of the deal letting countries tax companies with no physical presence would require countries to sign a diplomatic agreement. That might be difficult given the partisan environment, despite the provisions removing burdensome national digital tax taxes on U.S. tech companies.

The Department of Education announced Friday that it would cancel the debt of 1,800 students who were scammed by their schools, resulting in $55.6 million in relief. Friday’s announcement impacts students who attended Westwood College, Marinello Schools of Beauty and Court Reporting Institute — the first new schools from which claims were approved since 2017. “ The announcement impacts students who attended Westwood College, Marinello Schools of Beauty and Court Reporting Institute — the first new schools from which claims were approved since 2017. Former students at Corinthian and other for-profit colleges, organized by activists, began flooding the Department with claims for debt relief. At the Court Reporting Institute, students were misled about the time it would take to complete their court reporting program, the Department found.

The movement to get the FCC to restore net neutrality just gained some serious traction. In other words, it's targeting anticompetitive practices across a wide range of industries, including internet services and tech. The order contains 72 proposals and actions, among which it specifically says "the President encourages the FCC to restore Net Neutrality rules undone by the prior administration." The order also looked at how "dominant tech firms are undermining competition and reducing innovation," and announced an administration policy of greater scrutiny of mergers. In other industries, like banking and personal finance, the order similarly asked for more robust scrutiny of mergers.

Torghundi, a northern town on the border with Turkmenistan, had also been captured by the Taliban overnight, Afghan and Taliban officials said. Three visiting Taliban officials sought to address those concerns during a visit to Moscow. He said "you and the entire world community have probably recently learned that 85% of the territory of Afghanistan has come under the control" of the Taliban. A U.S. donation of more than 1.4 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine arrived on Friday, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said. In Afghanistan, a prominent anti-Taliban commander said he would support efforts by Afghan forces to claw back control of parts of western Afghanistan, including a border crossing with Iran.

MOSCOW (AP) — The Taliban claimed on Friday that they now control 85% of Afghanistan's territory amid a surge in wins on the ground and as American troops complete their pullout from the war-battered country. Earlier this week, Taliban advances forced hundreds of Afghan soldiers to flee across the border into Tajikistan, which hosts a Russian military base. Since mid-April, when President Joe Biden announced the end to Afghanistan’s “forever war,” the Taliban have made strides throughout the country. “We will not seize provincial capitals in order not to inflict death on Afghan citizen,” said Taliban negotiator Mawlawi Shahabuddin Delawar. He added that the Taliban now control 85% of Afghan territory.

* Announces a policy that enforcement should focus in particular on labor markets, agricultural markets, healthcare markets (which includes prescription drugs, hospital consolidation and insurance), and the tech sector. LABOR MARKETS* Encourages the FTC to ban or limit non-compete agreements. Story continues* Directs HHS to issue a comprehensive plan within 45 days to combat high prescription drug prices and price gouging. Health Insurance* Directs HHS to standardize plan options in the National Health Insurance Marketplace so people can comparison shop more easily. * Directs the DOT to consider issuing rules that require baggage, change and cancellation fees to be clearly disclosed to the customer.

President Joe Biden delivers remark regarding the Afghanistan drawdown in the East Room of the White House on July 8, 2021. The order contains 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies and establishes a White House Competition Council to monitor the agencies' progress. Biden is set to sign the order and deliver remarks at 1:30 p.m. at the White House. Story continuesThe executive order calls for greater scrutiny of mergers, new FTC rules to curb data collection and surveillance and rules to bar unfair competition on internet marketplaces. TransportationThe White House argues "inadequate competition" has reduced incentives for airlines to provide good service.

The Street's Jim Cramer looks at the latest legal attacks on big tech and shares his thoughts about giving. TheStreet.com Founder Jim Cramer was concerned about lawsuits against tech companies and he shared his thoughts with Jeff Marks, senior portfolio analyst at Action Alerts PLUS, the investing club tied to Cramer's charitable trust. This is one of several legal actions that have been taken against big tech companies. On Friday, President Joe Biden was set to sign an executive order directing regulatory agencies to more closely investigate industry mergers and tech companies’ use of consumer data. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells the stocks?

Stocks rebounded Friday from the previous session's broad losses that were fueled by worries global growth could be stalled by the spread of COVID-19 variants. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose early Friday to 1.341%, putting an end to an eight-day bond market rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 364 points, or 1.06%, to 34,786, the S&P 500 gained 0.72% and the Nasdaq was up 0.26%. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Facebook are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS investing club. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells the stocks?

President Biden will sign a sweeping executive order designed to promote competition across American industries, calling on regulators to increase scrutiny of technology companies, drug prices, shipping and more. He will sign the order later Friday after delivering remarks on the American economy. Biden will urge the FTC Federal Trade Commission to stop pharmaceutical manufacturers from paying generic drugmakers to delay entry of lower-priced versions of medications into the market. That idea is part of pending legislation in the Senate and aligns with campaign promises Biden made last year. The executive order will also encourage the FTC to ban or limit noncompete agreements and ban unnecessary occupational licensing restrictions.

Hickman’s fellow GOP supervisors Steve Chucri, Bill Gates and Jack Sellers were also approached individually with text messages or phone calls and also largely ignored them. Rather than talk to the president, Ducey certified state election results that helped defeat him. Like Ducey, Maricopa Country Recorder Stephen Richer has faced insults because he wouldn’t play ball with Republican Party leadership. And no doubt Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich will endure more of that pain if he decides to investigate these GOP intrusions into the Arizona election. Trump has already assailed Brnovich because he wouldn’t play trombone in Trump’s “Stop the Steal” parade.

And he even skipped a rally in Sarasota headlined by former President Donald Trump, whose early endorsement was crucial in helping DeSantis win the governor’s race in 2018. Since that victory, DeSantis has often taken his cues from Trump. But unlike the former president, DeSantis is showing that he can tone down some of his most extreme partisan rhetoric during a disaster. DeSantis’ handling of the tragedy appears to have caught some Democrats off guard, leaving them with no unified response. Friction between the two spilled into the public for the first time last week when Trump rebuffed DeSantis’ entreaties to postpone the rally in Sarasota.

The agreement sealed last week in global talks in Paris is up for discussion Friday and Saturday among the Group of 20 finance ministers meeting in Venice. While the tax deal is complex in its details, the idea behind the minimum tax is simple: If a multinational company escapes taxation abroad, it would have to pay the minimum at home. The OECD estimates tax avoidance costs anywhere from $100 billion to $240 billion, or from 4% to 10% of global corporate income tax revenues. Biden has proposed a 15% floor for the global talks, though it could be higher. The global minimum tax would be voluntary.

Biden has brought in outside advocates for meetings at the White House and has consulted advisers on the best strategy for combating restrictive new laws. Most Republicans have similarly dismissed a separate bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore sections of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court previously weakened. Biden believes “that voting is a fundamental right for the American people,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki this week. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling last week upheld voting limits in Arizona that a lower court had found discriminatory under the federal Voting Rights Act. “Where’s your voting rights tour?

Brian Kemp won the 2018 Republican primary for Georgia governor propelled by grassroots conservatives and a late endorsement from then-President Donald Trump. Ahead of his Saturday reelection campaign launch, The Associated Press talked to Kemp about the race ahead, Abrams, Trump and the new Georgia political landscape. But look, my role — and I’m going to always do this — I’m going to follow the law and the Constitution. KEMP: I can’t really control what they’re casting me as, but I know what the truth is. And I think Georgians, at least a lot more of them than in November 2018, know what the truth is versus what they were saying.

His group, which works out of a cramped office in the shadow of Disney World, is targeting Latino would-be voters. We’re in the community and we’re staying.”Even as Joe Biden flipped heavily Hispanic Arizona to Democratic to clinch the presidency last November, he underperformed with many Latino voters elsewhere. But Democrats say a problem for them was that they waited until just before the election to intensify outreach to Latino communities. More Latino voters aren’t always a boon to Democrats in other parts of the country, either. Still, some conservative groups already have achieved the kind of ever-active Latino outreach campaigns Democrats envision.

Militia attacks have only been increasing against the U.S. in military bases in both Iraq and Syria. “Iran isn’t the way it used to be, with 100% control over the militia commanders,” said one Shiite political leader. The Biden administration has responded by twice targeting Iraqi militia groups operating inside Syria, including close to the Iraqi border. But as soon as he leaves the meeting, they disregard his recommendations,” said another Shiite political leader. Almost weekly, various factional leaders hold face-to-face meetings with him in Lebanon, said Shiite political leaders.

© Evan Vucci/AP In this Jan. 20, 2021 file photo, President Biden waits to sign his first executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. President Biden plans to sign an executive order Friday designed to rein in Big Business and boost competition, promising a raft of new initiatives designed to give workers, consumers and small businesses a stronger hand. The White House, referencing the antitrust efforts of President Theodore Roosevelt a century earlier, promised a “whole-of-government effort” to foster competition. The sweeping order will touch on a range of industries including Big Tech, health care and manufacturing, according to a fact-sheet released ahead the Friday afternoon signing. But the initiatives are sweeping in their scope and ambition, purporting to reverse long-standing economic trends through regulation and enforcement.

AdvertisementThis is the moment a baying mob captured Colombian ex-military mercenaries in Haiti, dragging them bloody and beaten through the slums of Port-au-Prince, amid chaos in the power vacuum left by the president's assassination. Six 'assassins' have been arrested and three killed over the murder of Haiti president Jovenel Moïse, police said. 'We are shocked and saddened to hear of the horrific assassination of President Jovenel Moise and the attack on First Lady Martine Moise,' the US President said in a statement. 'We are shocked and saddened to hear of the horrific assassination of President Jovenel Moise and the attack on First Lady Martine Moise,' Biden said in a statement. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that he was 'shocked and saddened at the death of President Moise.'

Ashton Kutcher has claimed that China could “create a problem” using TikTok in the South China Sea as the video-sharing app can be utilised to create “an anti-US propaganda”, and an “anti-Taiwanese propaganda effort”. While discussing how children need their own privacy, the actor claimed that he sees “a massive regulatory battle on the horizon” with regards to TikTok, which was created by the Beijing-based technology company ByteDance. Ashton Kutcher on Protecting Children and the Values for SuccessIn June, US president Joe Biden set about withdrawing Trump’s executive orders and ordered a new commerce department review of security concerns posed by the apps. “I think that most people believe that there is media manipulation happening and misinformation campaigns happening, just not through their sources,” Kutcher said in his interview. “I think that’s wrong and I think we’re about to face a reckoning in that particular domain and it’s going to probably change what social media looks like in the future.”

The Taliban claimed on Friday that they now control 85% of Afghanistan s territory amid a surge in wins on the ground and as American troops complete their pullout from the war-battered country. Earlier this week, Taliban advances forced hundreds of Afghan soldiers to flee across the border into Tajikistan which hosts a Russian military base. Since mid-April, when President Joe Biden announced the end to Afghanistan’s “forever war,” the Taliban have made strides throughout the country. “We will not seize provincial capitals in order not to inflict death on Afghan citizen,” said Taliban negotiator Mawlawi Shahabuddin Delawar. He added that the Taliban now control 85% of Afghan territory.

Coronavirus vaccines are predicted to have saved nearly 300,000 lives in the US since their mass rollout amid the ongoing pandemic, a new study has said. “The study states the vaccination campaign markedly curbed the US pandemic,” White House Covid-19 response director Jeff Zients said at a press briefing on Thursday. Over 600,000 people have died in the US of Covid-19 since the pandemic gripped the country in March 2020. Since the mass vaccine rollout began in December, 183,237,046 people, or 55.2 per cent of the population, have had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The broadcaster points out that groups that have been most affected by Covid-19 remain the most underrepresented among vaccinated groups.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called out GOP colleagues in Congress for blocking her Green New Deal amid flooding in New York and New Jersey. Torrential rain brought by storm Elsa on Thursday flooded New York City’s subway, with footage shared to Twitter of commuters wading through several feet of water. Retweeting that footage on Thursday, the Democrat called out the GOP for failing to adopt her Green New Deal, and for taking orders from fossil fuel firms, including Exxon Mobil. It followed criticism issued by dozens of Twitter users for the astonishing flooding of New York City’s subway — widely cited as a failure in climate adaptation and infrastructure. That bill, which still must pass a 60-vote filibuster in Congress, now features little of the fossil fuel reductions that Democrats, including Ms Ocasio-Cortex, had asked for.

Even as he runs for a second term as governor of Florida, DeSantis is being mentioned as a top White House contender. Ron DeSantis at a July 1 briefing on the condo collapseHe's still the conservative populist who rarely parts with Trump. But unlike the former president, DeSantis is showing that he can tone down some of his most extreme partisan rhetoric during a disaster. If DeSantis´ popularity rises and he threatens Trump´s status as the undisputed leader of the party, many Republicans privately expect Trump to turn on the governor. Friction between the two spilled into the public for the first time last week when Trump rebuffed DeSantis´ entreaties to postpone the rally in Sarasota.

Both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have been considering a slew of changes to American antitrust policy. In contrast, President Joe Biden's new "Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy" simply tells federal agencies to make a slew of changes in line with the president's values. For instance, Biden "encourages the [Federal Trade Commission (FTC)] to ban unnecessary occupational licensing restrictions that impede economic mobility." But Biden also urges more burdensome meddling in private business practices and more aggressive federal involvement in many aspects of U.S. markets. For instance, the order "encourages the FTC to ban or limit non-compete agreements" and to establish new rules on internet user data.

Since Biden took office, he's taken a number of actions to address the $1.7 trillion student-debt crisis. Democrats are pushing for him to cancel $50,000 in student debt per person, which the DOJ is reviewing. Since then, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has cancelled student debt for borrowers with disabilities and borrowers defrauded by for-profit schools. They have been keeping the pressure on the president to cancel $50,000 in student debt per person using his executive authority. Detailed below is everything Biden has done to date to confront the student debt crisis:

One of the main factors driving differences in COVID-19 vaccination rates across the country is partisanship. To create a longer time series, we also looked at vaccination rates in April 2021. By May 11, the gap had increased to 6.5% and by July 6, 11.7%, with the average vaccination rate in Trump counties at 35% compared to 46.7% in Biden counties. Although there has been an overall significant slow-down in COVID-19 vaccination rates in the U.S., these findings show a widening divide of communities at risk for COVID-19 along partisan lines. A key component of any effort to boost vaccination rates among Republicans will be identifying the right messengers.

The Texas legislature began its second attempt to introduce new voting restrictions on Thursday, unveiling a pair of bills that could become some of the harshest election laws passed this year. Greg Abbott (R) announced the special session last month following a dramatic walkout by Democrats to block the initial barrage of restrictive legislation. Tamir Kalifa via Getty Images Members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus take part in a voting rights rally outside of the Texas State Capitol on July 8. The governor, however, was furious and vowed to pursue the voting restrictions as well as other issues such as bail reform and anti-transgender legislation. Republicans claim the bills are meant to ensure “election integrity.”This week, the White House unveiled a massive effort to counter such legislation.

The policy adds to the growing list of immigrants exempt from arrest or deportation for violating civil immigration laws. Critics have said that Biden is abandoning his responsibility to enforce U.S. laws, but the president has said he wants a more humane approach to immigration, especially for parents and children arriving in increasing numbers from regions such as Central America.

Many Americans also share a feeling of cultural or ethnic affinity with the rich democracies that does not extend to the poor democracies. Poor and rich democracies alike have been moving in an illiberal direction in recent years. The rich democracies of the G-7 recently announced they intend to donate 870 million vaccine doses over the next year. The rich countries say they will support poor countries in their transitions to sustainable energy, but few significant investments have materialized. The new rules banned practices that all the rich democracies employed in the past.

WASHINGTON – Two men believed to be Haitian Americans were detained in connection with Wednesday's brazen assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, an attack that jolted the Caribbean country and fueled further political chaos. Haitian police say the manhunt for Moïse's killers is ongoing, even after they killed four suspects and detained others. Former Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe told USA TODAY that 28 mercenaries were involved in the operation. But Moïse had named a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, just one day before his murder. He said American and Haitian officials have been in regular contact since the assassination.

Taliban forces have taken over nearly 10 percent of Afghanistan in the last week alone, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and they now control 195 of the country’s 407 districts — while contesting another 129. It is “time … for Afghan forces to show the capacity and the capability that we know that they have,” Kirby said. “It’s not a question of whether they have the capacity,” Biden said of Afghanistan’s government leaders and security forces. “The likelihood that there’s going to be a Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely,” Biden said. “They’ve got the capacity.

The shooting Wednesday occurred the same day President Joe Biden traveled to the Chicago area and discussed persistently high levels of gun violence in the nation’s third-largest city. Charging documents accuse McClaurin of shooting the other ATF agent and a Chicago task-force officer, though the charge pertains to one agent. “We will not relent in this fight against gun violence and protecting the people of Chicago,” he said. The three officers were on their way to an assignment when they were shot, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown told reporters Wednesday. With Wednesday’s shooting, 36 Chicago officers have been shot or shot at this year, Brown said.

If these vying world powers don't reach an agreement, Syrian civilians could go without food, medicine and other supplies, with aid agencies warning that many won't survive. "If they close the crossing people will die," said Mohamed Salam Khan, 45, who lives in the rebel-held enclave of Idlib. "Everything comes through the crossing," he said, adding that people felt "under a siege from everywhere" and that "people are exhausted." Workers carry boxes of humanitarian aid near Bab al-Hawa crossing at the Syrian-Turkish border. "The idea of sending aid to the Syrian population but bypassing the Syrian government is unacceptable to Russia."

XDow Jones futures jumped 0.7%, rebounding more than 230 points after a mixed-volume reversal on Thursday. Dow Jones Today: AmEx, BoeingInterest-rate-sensitive issues fell hardest among Dow Jones stocks Thursday, with Travelers (TRV), American Express (AXP) and Goldman Sachs (GS) all ending down more than 2%. Goldman and AmEx remain two of the index's fastest moving stocks so far this year, up 36.1% and 38.5% through Thursday. Both Goldman and JPMorgan were rebounding briskly, along with bond yields, early Friday. Only a handful of Dow Jones stocks gained on Thursday.

Stocks look set for a higher open Friday as bond yields bounce back from Thursday’s tumble. S&P 500 futures have risen 0.5%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures have gained 260 points, or 0.8%, and Nasdaq Composite futures are little changed. That’s helped boost cyclical stocks, which tend to do better when yields rise—if the increase is based on economic optimism. The stocks aren’t getting hit hard—but they’re not rising either. Deutsche Bank (DB) has gained 2.9% after getting upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital.

President Joe Biden on Friday afternoon is slated to sign an executive order that seeks to rein in the power of big business, with the much-anticipated measure targeting agriculture, banking, tech, transportation and other sectors. The extensive order’s provisions include one that announces a policy of greater scrutiny of mergers, especially by dominant internet platform, and another that aims to ensure vigorous enforcement against ocean shippers that levy exorbitant charges on U.S. exporters, according to a White House fact sheet.

With the Delta variant producing a spike in new cases in Japan, fans will be banned from attending events, which will take place before empty seats. The magnitudes varied from day to day, but they were always negative, the trendline always down. Story continuesWhat does this mean for the United States, where just 48 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated and many of the holdovers are opposed to receiving the shot? By March 2021, with the vaccines becoming more widely available and cases falling fast, the school began reopening. Or if the Israeli study is right and the Pfizer vaccine is significantly less effective against it, raising the likelihood of vaccinated teachers getting sick?

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in Antalya, Turkey, on June 18, 2021. Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesThe killing of Haiti's president has left Haitians feeling even more distressed about the future. One top expert on Haitian politics told Insider he's "shocked" and "dumbfounded" over the killing. "I'm quite a pessimistic guy, but I didn't expect any assassination," Fatton added. "It's speculation," Fatton said, adding that he was "dumbfounded" by the assassination and didn't see anyone benefiting from Moïse's killing in terms of the current political situation.

U.S. stock futures rallied Friday as the major averages looked to put their steepest one-day decline in nearly a month in the rearview mirror. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 243 points, or 0.71%, while S&P 500 futures rose 0.46% and Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up 0.01%. The major averages on Thursday lost between 0.72% and 0.86%, making for the biggest one-day drops since June 18. GOLD INVESTORS CALL FED’S INFLATION BLUFFIn stocks, financials bounced back as selling in the U.S. Treasury market swung the yield curve steeper. The apparel maker also hiked its quarterly dividend by 2 cents to 8 cents a share.

President Biden issued an order to regulators, requiring inquiries into tech mergers and use of consumer data. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook are subjects. Shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) - Get Report, Amazon (AMZN) - Get Report, Apple (AAPL) - Get Report and Facebook (FB) - Get Report were little changed on Friday after reports said President Joe Biden would push for changes in the technology industry. Last month, two key Apple analysts issued reports with different takes on the company. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Facebook are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS investing club.

“Within a half-hour of returning,” Joseph told me, “the hospital called. But if you have to pay for it, then I would not recommend it.”The healthcare industry repeatedly tells people that they need to be good medical consumers. But if people are denied the information they need to make well-informed choices — or any choice, for that matter — how can they be good medical consumers? “Patients can’t be effective consumers if they can’t find out what they’re purchasing and what it costs,” he told me. Needless to say, all this lunacy goes away with a Medicare-for-all system that would create a transparent baseline for all medical costs.

But after a deadly building collapse, the Republican governor is largely hitting pause on the culture wars. And he even skipped a rally in Sarasota headlined by former President Donald Trump, whose early endorsement was crucial in helping DeSantis win the governor’s race in 2018. But unlike the former president, DeSantis is showing that he can tone down some of his most extreme partisan rhetoric during a disaster. Jeb Bush of Florida and Chris Christie of New Jersey were widely praised for their response to devastating storms. DeSantis’ handling of the tragedy appears to have caught some Democrats off guard, leaving them with no unified response.

It’s not weeks and weeks,” Heintz said. Goods that were previously readily available or only a week or two away are now out-of-stock, discontinued or only shipping months after being ordered. Heintz, who estimated national demand for appliances was up 700 percent, said customers typically come in when appliances that had been limping along finally stop working. Now that amped-up online shopping is running headfirst into widespread supply shortages at a time when virtually anything that could go wrong with the global supply chain has gone wrong. A lack of petroleum-derived foam has even affected the furniture business because there’s nothing to stuff sofas and chairs with.

Bill Stevenson told Long Island's News 12 on Thursday that he had an affair with Kathie Durst and slept with her ten days before she went missing in 1982. It was give years after his marriage to First Lady Jill Biden endedThis photo shows Jill and Bill Stevenson, in the 1970s, before their marriage fell apartKathie and Robert Durst on their wedding day. TIMELINE OF BIDEN AND DURST MARRIAGES 1970: Jill and Bill marry 1973: Kathie and Robert Durst marry 1974: Bill says he and Jill hosted Robert and Kathie Durst at their home 1974/1975: Jill and Bill separate 1977: Jill and Joe marry 1982: Kathie Durst disappears Advertisement'This is something that has to be righted. He says in 1974, he and Jill hosted Kathie and Robert Durst at their home. Years later, once his marriage to Jill had broken up and after Jill and Joe had gotten married, Kathie started confiding in Stevenson, he says.

And he even skipped a rally in Sarasota headlined by former President Donald Trump, whose early endorsement was crucial in helping DeSantis win the governor’s race in 2018. Since that victory, DeSantis has often taken his cues from Trump. But unlike the former president, DeSantis is showing that he can tone down some of his most extreme partisan rhetoric during a disaster. DeSantis’ handling of the tragedy appears to have caught some Democrats off guard, leaving them with no unified response. Friction between the two spilled into the public for the first time last week when Trump rebuffed DeSantis’ entreaties to postpone the rally in Sarasota.

President Biden is setting the federal government's sights on the power of Big Tech and Big Telecom in a competition order that will urge more regulation and enforcement against the sectors. Details: According to a White House fact sheet, the order takes aim at Big Tech by ... The White House also wants internet service providers to offer a "broadband nutrition label" detailing their internet packages to give consumers more transparency when they're buying service. What's next: Biden will give remarks about the executive order at a signing ceremony Friday afternoon, according to the White House. Go deeper: More highlights from the orderEditor's note: This story has been updated to include additional details from the White House on the executive order.

The White House has issued a “fact sheet” listing the industries and policies it’s addressing via an executive order that President Biden will sign later today — and technology is directly in the crosshairs. That includes internet service providers, as Biden will encourage the Federal Communications Commission to restore net neutrality rules undone during the prior administration, require providers to report prices and subscription rates, and prevent ISPs from making deals with landlords that limit tenants’ choices. Related Democrats are gearing up to fight for net neutralityRight-to-repair efforts should get a shot in the arm as the Federal Trade Commission is now tasked with trying to “limit powerful equipment manufacturers from restricting people’s ability to use independent repair shops or do DIY repairs.” It also includes language spurring the FTC to place bans or limit on non-competes that have been common in the tech industry. And when it comes to Big Tech, the administration’s agenda now specifically includes a mandate to require “greater scrutiny of mergers, especially by dominant internet platforms, with particular attention to the acquisition of nascent competitors, serial mergers, the accumulation of data, competition by ‘free’ products, and the effect on user privacy.” Via the FTC, the Biden administration plans a push to place more rules on surveillance and data collection, which should affect many of the largest tech companies in the world. In the document, the administration claims that 72 initiatives are being undertaken to promote competition and raise wages, although it will be up to the various agencies, as well as Congress, to provide funding and action to make these things happen.

A partner in that deal, Tony Bobulinski, has publicly stated that all the partners knew the “Big Guy” (or BG) was Joe Biden. It seems that Joe Biden was the key to all Hunter’s business deals. Actually, they have only one connection: Joe Biden. Yet Hunter Biden reeled it in, despite having no investment experience. The White House press team dismisses all this evidence and depicts Joe Biden as if he were Sgt.

The possibility that nuclear weapons could be used in regional or global conflicts is growing, said a newly disclosed Pentagon doctrinal publication on nuclear war fighting that was updated last year. “Despite concerted US efforts to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in international affairs and to negotiate reductions in the number of nuclear weapons, since 2010 no potential adversary has reduced either the role of nuclear weapons in its national security strategy or the number of nuclear weapons it fields. See Joint Nuclear Operations, JP 3-72, April 2020. The document replaces a 2019 edition titled Nuclear Operations that was briefly disclosed and then withdrawn from a DoD website. “By design, nuclear weapons are highly destructive and have harmful effects that conventional weapons do not have.

Afghan military pilots are particularly attractive assassination targets, current and former U.S. and Afghan officials say. loadingloadingPRECIOUS, OVER-STRETCHEDTwo Afghan Air Force pilots were killed on June 7 while trying to evacuate troops wounded during a surge of fighting against the Taliban insurgency. Along with Afghanistan's Special Forces, the Afghan Air Force is a pillar of the nation's strategy for preventing a Taliban takeover of cities. Asadi said the Afghan Air Force had failed to do enough to protect pilots vulnerable to off-base assassinations. Asadi complained that not all Afghan pilots got paid the same or even regularly.

Expensive hearing aidsToday, President Biden is issuing an executive order that tries to address the economy’s competition problem. It directs regulators to take specific steps to reduce monopoly rents in multiple industries. “Having healthy competition is vital to an effective capitalist system,” Brian Deese, Biden’s top White House economic adviser, told me. The problem of monopoly rents has grown so large that even a modest reduction in them could be significant. economist, has estimated that the economy’s lack of fair competition costs the typical American household more than $5,000 a year, through both higher prices and lower wages.

In an analysis of publicly reported ransomware attacks against health-care providers, municipalities and schools, The Washington Post found that ransomware attacks in the United States more than doubled from 2019 to 2020. The numbers are very likely an undercount, as the true count of ransomware attacks is unknown. The numbers are very likely an undercount, as the true count of ransomware attacks is unknown. The numbers are very likely an undercount, as the true count of ransomware attacks is unknown. In April, the Justice Department created a task force to disrupt the criminal ecosystem that fuels ransomware attacks.

Dow to recover some of the losses in Thursday's sell-offTraders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. All three stock benchmarks were on track to finish lower for the week. Concern about a slowdown in economic growth, due to the spread of the Covid delta variant, hurt sentiment Thursday, with investors buying bonds for their perceived safety and driving yields lower. 10-year Treasury yield bounces off February lowsBond yields, which move inversely to prices, rose Friday. The 10-year Treasury yield was back above 1.34% after falling Thursday as low as 1.25% to levels not seen since February.

President Biden announced that all U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by August 31st, saying “the United States did what we went to do in Afghanistan.” NBC News’ Monica Alba and Courtney Kube break down the president’s decision to speed up the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and how the Afghan military can cope as the Taliban is advances rapidly.

Dems gear up for crunch time on Biden agendaBUZZER BEATER: It’s game time for Democrats, who are entering their most consequential stretch of legislating since the passage of Obamacare. But major decisions still have yet to be made, as Democrats try to land on the size and scope of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda. A failed bipartisan result would force Democrats to write one huge spending bill marrying all their priorities.”In other words, Dems have some big decisions to make. But Dems only have slim majorities in both chambers to pull off the — as Ciara would put it — one-two-step. Biden instead is throwing his support behind Afghan leaders as he seeks to remove the country from the nation’s longest war by the end of the month.

REUTERS/Andrew KellyWASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Friday that includes 72 initiatives he wants over a dozen agencies to undertake to promote competition throughout the U.S. economy, according to a fact sheet released by the White House. Reuters first reported Biden's plan to issue a competition executive order in late June. It directs the FTC to issue rules to address competition concerns from Big Tech companies and ban or limit non-compete agreements. The order also establishes a White House Competition Council, led by the Director of the National Economic Council, to monitor progress on finalizing the initiatives in the order. Biden will deliver remarks and sign the executive order at 1:30 pm ET (1730 GMT).

Waiting for Tish — NYPD won’t release Adams’ disciplinary records — Mayor sued over homeless moves Presented by Association of American UniversitiesA new-ish bit in New York political circles and Twitter feeds is naming the warmer months after whichever elected official has embraced leisure and recreation. And potential Democratic primary challengers are waiting to see if they’d face a wounded Cuomo, a vindicated Cuomo, or perhaps no Cuomo at all. WHAT CITY HALL'S READINGNYPD won't release Adams’ disciplinary records, by POLITICO’s Erin Durkin: The NYPD has refused to release disciplinary records for Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams despite a state law meant to lift the veil of secrecy around such documents. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, was an NYPD cop for 22 years, retiring as a captain in 2006. — The New York State Association of Counties and New York State Association of County Coroners and Medical Examiners have relaunched their “See the Signs, Save a Life” campaign.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden plans to sign a sweeping executive order Friday aimed at cracking down on corporate consolidation and encouraging competition in the U.S. economy, the White House said. Families across the country are paying high prices for such things as internet service, prescription drugs and hearing aids, the White House said. Biden’s executive order seeks to ultimately “lower prices for families, increase wages for workers, and promote innovation and even faster economic growth,” it said. Under the order, the federal government would ban or limit non-compete agreements to make it easier for people to switch jobs. The president’s order will also form a White House Competition Council that will monitor progress on these initiatives.

Eviction Prevention Programs Are Racing Against A Moratorium ClockEnlarge this image toggle caption John Moore/Getty Images John Moore/Getty ImagesThe federal eviction moratorium is set to expire at the end of this month, which doesn't leave much time to help an estimated 7 million tenants who are still behind on their rent. Efforts have been stepped up to distribute some $46 billion in emergency rental assistance, and to head off eviction cases before they end up in court. Shelley Miller, of the Alexandria Eviction Prevention Partnership in Northern Virginia, says it's a challenge. He also hadn't filled out a necessary form declaring his eligibility for the eviction moratorium. Biden senior advisor Gene Sperling warned that the country is in a race with time, with emergency rental aid only trickling out.

Stocks look set for a higher open Friday as bond yields bounce back from Thursday’s tumble. S&P 500 futures have risen 0.4%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures have gained 244 points, or 0.7%, and Nasdaq Composite futures have dipped 0.1%. That’s helped boost cyclical stocks, which tend to do better when yields rise—if the increase is based on economic optimism. The stocks are getting hit hard—but they’re not rising either. Deutsche Bank (DB) has gained 2.9% after getting upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital.

The Dow DJIA, -0.75% closed 259.86 points lower, off 0.7%, at 34,421.93, after dropping more than 500 points at its session low. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.86% ended 0.9% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.72% gave up 0.7% a day after both indexes closed at their latest in a string of records. Yields were edging back up Friday though, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.332% up 5 basis points at 1.342%. Falling bond yields point to ‘growth scare’In the end, falling yields should be a positive for stocks, argued Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, in a Friday note. Falling yields hint that inflation and the potential for a more aggressive than expected withdrawal of easy money policies by the Federal Reserve are a fading cause for concern, she said.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan's attorney general has opened an investigation after a Republican-led state legislative panel said people are making baseless allegations about 2020 presidential election results in a northern Michigan county to raise money or publicity for their own ends. Election night results in rural Antrim County, which has roughly 23,000 residents, initially erroneously showed a local victory for Joe Biden over then-President Donald Trump. Colbeck has called the report “shoddy” and has called for the panel's GOP senators to be censured. Dominion has accused Colbeck of "knowingly sowing discord in our democracy" and soliciting “exorbitant amounts of money” — over $1 million — to his business. The report called it a “serious breach.”The attorney general’s office did not elaborate on the probe's specifics, saying it is an open investigation.

At least seven Afghan pilots, including Zamaray, have been assassinated off base in recent months, according to two senior Afghan government officials. Afghan military pilots are particularly attractive assassination targets, current and former U.S. and Afghan officials say. PRECIOUS, OVER-STRETCHEDTwo Afghan Air Force pilots were killed on June 7 while trying to evacuate troops wounded during a surge of fighting against the Taliban insurgency. Along with Afghanistan's Special Forces, the Afghan Air Force is a pillar of the nation's strategy for preventing a Taliban takeover of cities. Asadi said the Afghan Air Force had failed to do enough to protect pilots vulnerable to off-base assassinations.

President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order promoting economic competition on Friday that includes three provisions designed to improve opportunities for workers. “Barriers to competition are also driving down wages for workers,” the White House said in a statement on Friday. Between 36 million and 60 million private-sector workers were subject to noncompete agreements in 2019, according to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute. “Noncompete agreements reduce wages. About 30% of U.S. jobs require this kind of licensing, according to estimates by the Federal Trade Commission.

Not your truth, or my truth, but truth or Truth as a pronoun. "OK, we're going to do this, so we can say we did this, and then it will be over. It was then that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) showed their faces, as if but one, but masked. The rails and maritime transport came under attack from the Biden administration. He has been streamlining this business and trying to untangle the mess that Wells Fargo had been in since he got here.

Here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:TOP STORIESNewsom asks Californians to cut water usageGov. Only Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco and Ventura are not under a regional drought state of emergency at this time. Enter email address Sign Me Up You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. An influx of diverse, innovative dining options from Los Angeles is transforming the Strip. Support our journalism Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times.

Bank of America debuts digital retirement program to help employees get on track: Employees will receive personalized insights, guidance and tools to build a financially secure retirement, according to FinancialPlanning. Don’t Let Your Clients Buy Bitcoin (or any other cryptocurrency): Joe Sweeney advises against investing in bitcoin in your client’s portfolios. Inflation Inflection: Tiffany Wilding and Andrew Balls of PIMCO forecast that inflation in developed markets will peak in the coming months. Some Advisers Stop Giving Rollover Advice Due To DOL Rule Complexities: ERISA experts say that other advisers are underestimating the complexities of the new fiduciary rule, according to Financial Advisor. A sin premium might arise in the future though, if exclusion policies reach the scale needed to significantly raise the cost of capital of sin stocks.

It was yet another extortionate ransomware attack, in which hackers effectively kidnap a business’ digital lifeblood and offer to restore it — for a price. Notable ransomware attacks this year have struck Colonial Pipeline, which had to curtail gasoline deliveries to customers in the Northeast during the episode, and JBS Foods, an international meat processor. The consumer information service Comparitech documented 92 ransomware attacks in the U.S. healthcare field in 2020, affecting more than 600 clinics, hospitals and other organizations and more than 18 million patient records. Finnegan believes that his attackers gained access to his data through a different method, the use of a stolen password. “Responsible countries need to take action against criminals who conduct ransomware activities on their territory,” Biden said after the meeting.

Many of us assumed that COVID-19 vaccines were the answer, and the U.S. government poured more than $18 billion into Operation Warp Speed to develop and test them. Researchers are also experimenting with a wide variety of medicines that can help reduce hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19. In June, the Biden administration announced a $3-billion investment to accelerate the discovery, development and manufacturing of antiviral medicines for COVID-19 patients. If you have COVID-19 and are mildly ill, using monoclonal antibodies [proteins that mimic the body’s own immune defenders] is a great option. Government scientists have said they hope to see an antiviral pill by the end of the fall.

Over the course of four days in April, Major League Baseball found itself at a political crossroads. The league – three months older than Colorado – has canceled its All-Star Game just twice, in 1945 and 2020, and moved it just once, from the Atlanta suburbs to Denver this year. And MLB started to field questions about its All-Star Game, which was slated to be played in Atlanta’s suburbs about 100 days later. In 2010, a small group of liberals urged MLB to move the 2011 All-Star Game out of Arizona in response to a new immigration law they viewed as xenophobic and racist. Newcombe replied, “Well, that could be your answer.”The 1948 All-Star Game was played in St. Louis’ Sportsman’s Park, a notoriously racist ballpark.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s government on Friday criticized new U.S. moves to reduce access to American financial markets and said it will protect Chinese companies but gave no indication of possible retaliation. The S&P Dow Jones Indices and FTSE Russell removed more Chinese companies from their indexes after President Joe Biden expanded a blacklist of companies that are off limits to American investors. Such indexes are the basis for billions of dollars of investment in stocks and bonds. Biden's June 3 order raised the number of Chinese companies on the list to 59 from Trump's 44. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s government on Friday criticized new U.S. moves to reduce access to American financial markets and said it will protect Chinese companies but gave no indication of possible retaliation. The S&P Dow Jones Indices and FTSE Russell removed more Chinese companies from their indexes after President Joe Biden expanded a blacklist of companies that are off limits to American investors. Such indexes are the basis for billions of dollars of investment in stocks and bonds. They include telecom, oil, aerospace and other companies. Biden's June 3 order raised the number of Chinese companies on the list to 59 from Trump's 44.

Taliban militants are continuing to make rapid military advances across Afghanistan as western forces withdraw after two decades of conflict. At least 56 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan in the last week alone, according to the World Health Organisation. It came after US President Joe Biden strongly defended his decision to pull military forces out of Afghanistan despite large parts of country being overrun by the Taliban and his acknowledgment a new civil war could erupt. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Afghanistan: What happens if Taliban return? "The likelihood there's going to be one unified government in Afghanistan controlling the whole country is highly unlikely," he added.

“We didn’t know that he would never come back.”At least seven Afghan pilots, including Zamaray, have been assassinated off base in recent months, according to two senior Afghan government officials. Afghan military pilots are particularly attractive assassination targets, current and former U.S. and Afghan officials say. PRECIOUS, OVER-STRETCHEDTwo Afghan Air Force pilots were killed on June 7 while trying to evacuate troops wounded during a surge of fighting against the Taliban insurgency. Along with Afghanistan’s Special Forces, the Afghan Air Force is a pillar of the nation’s strategy for preventing a Taliban takeover of cities. Asadi said the Afghan Air Force had failed to do enough to protect pilots vulnerable to off-base assassinations.

President Joe Biden has defended his decision to pull out of Afghanistan in a speech at the White House. Biden said he “will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan”, after confirming his target of removing all US troops by September. “Just one more year fighting in Afghanistan is not a solution, but a recipe for being there indefinitely,” Biden said. Biden’s decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan after two decades was first announced in April, but yesterday’s speech is his most extensive commentary on the policy. “We achieved those objectives.”'Thank you for your service'According to an Ipsos poll from April, a majority of Americans support Biden’s decision to move troops out of Afghanistan.

Joe Biden has insisted that the American mission in Afghanistan has not failed 'yet' even as the Taliban recaptures swathes of territory in the wake of US withdrawal. Meanwhile Russia said the Taliban controls about two-thirds of the Afghan-Tajik border and urged all sides in Afghanistan to show restraint. 'Certainly the Taliban negotiators that I've met at these talks have seemed the Taliban of old,' she said. Plans for an American withdrawal from Afghanistan were drawn up under President Trump, before Joe Biden recommitted himself to the idea following his election win. Some '85 percent of Afghanistan's territory' was under the group's control, said Taliban negotiator Shahabuddin Delawar.

Biden sets August 31 Afghan exit deadline as Taliban surround cityThe US military mission in Afghanistan will end on August 31, President Joe Biden announced Thursday, as Afghan commandos battled the Taliban for control of a provincial capital in the most brazen assault by the militants since Washington stepped up its troop withdrawal. FRANCE 24's Theo Merz tells us more.

Murdoch made the decision to call Arizona for Biden in the 2020 election, Michael Wolff reported. "F--- him," the Fox News proprietor reportedly said of Trump when making the call. The decision was a pivotal moment on election night, indicating Trump was on course for defeat. The Fox News proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, personally gave final approval to the network's decision to call Arizona for Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election, according to a Daily Beast report of Michael Wolff's upcoming book. Murdoch reportedly started to sour on Trump late last year, believing — according to reports — that Trump had botched his response to the coronavirus and was on course to lose the election.

Biden has brought in outside advocates for meetings at the White House and has consulted advisers on the best strategy for combating restrictive new laws. Most Republicans have similarly dismissed a separate bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore sections of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court previously weakened. Biden believes “that voting is a fundamental right for the American people,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki this week. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling last week upheld voting limits in Arizona that a lower court had found discriminatory under the federal Voting Rights Act. “Where’s your voting rights tour?

Washington — Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs on Wednesday called for the state's attorney general to investigate possible efforts by former President Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others to pressure Maricopa County election officials during vote-counting in November. Giuliani, too, reportedly called Maricopa County supervisors and left voicemails that were obtained by the news outlet. President Biden defeated Mr. Trump in the state by 10,457 votes, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Arizona since 1996. In addition to a possible investigation in Arizona, Mr. Trump is also under scrutiny by the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, for his alleged attempts to influence the outcome of the election in the state. In a January 2 call with its secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, Mr. Trump pressured him to "find" enough votes to crown him the winner.

At least seven Afghan pilots, including Zamaray, have been assassinated off base in recent months, according to two senior Afghan government officials. Afghan military pilots are particularly attractive assassination targets, current and former U.S. and Afghan officials say. loadingloadingPRECIOUS, OVER-STRETCHEDTwo Afghan Air Force pilots were killed on June 7 while trying to evacuate troops wounded during a surge of fighting against the Taliban insurgency. Along with Afghanistan's Special Forces, the Afghan Air Force is a pillar of the nation's strategy for preventing a Taliban takeover of cities. Asadi said the Afghan Air Force had failed to do enough to protect pilots vulnerable to off-base assassinations.

That is a priority.”Another focus will be attention to public housing, established to provide safe and affordable rentals for eligible low-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities. “About 70 percent of people who live in public housing are people of color,” Fudge said. Fudge, who’s part of what is informally known as President Joe Biden’s jobs Cabinet, has also been hitting the road to amplify Biden's infrastructure plan. “Some of our children have lost an entire year of education because they didn’t have broadband or high-speed internet where they lived, especially in public housing. So I’m especially pleased to be on the jobs Cabinet because, if we pass this infrastructure jobs plan, it’s putting people to work," she said.

In March, the Biden administration extended the "Obamacare" enrollment-period to Aug. 15 and signed into law new funding for premium subsidies. Instead, I would be charged the unsubsidized, adult rate she would incur if she formally had her own plan. In both cases, a 24-year-old child can stay on the parents plan at the rate of the plan. How many thousands of families since the 2014 launch have tried but failed to keep their older children on their ACA policies? Think, too, of the hundreds of thousands of dollars these frustrated, cashed-strapped parents have shelled out for separate plans for their older children.

Exclusive: As the first pitch in the relocated MLB All-Star Game approaches, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is targeting Stacey Abrams and other prominent Democrats in a new ad campaign and reiterating his pledge to fight legal challenges to the state’s controversial election law. MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred pulled the All-Star Game out of Atlanta in April, citing concerns that Georgia’s GOP-backed law would limit voter access. This year’s All-Star Game was later relocated to Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. Fair Fight Action, Abrams' voting rights organization, did not respond to a request for comment.

The EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) would impose levies on the carbon content of imported goods in an effort to discourage "carbon leakage", the transfer of production to countries with less onerous emission restrictions. Approaches could include regulatory restrictions and emissions standards, direct public investments, public subsidies to incentivize private investments, and carbon markets. The Biden administration is pursuing major public investments to decarbonize the U.S. power and transportation sectors, she said. She also said the Biden administration was still considering a range of other carbon reduction policies, including some that would put an "implicit price" on carbon emissions, and provide a point of comparison to other countries' carbon prices. She did not provide details of these measures but Biden administration officials have said they would consider carbon border adjustment measures.

The executive order also includes plans to allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter at pharmacies, and make it easier for people to fix their phones or other equipment themselves, according to information viewed by NPR ahead of the announcement. Big Tech to get more scrutinySome of the most sweeping measures are targeted at the tech sector. The White House wants Obama-era net neutrality rules to be restored — measures that prevent internet providers from throttling their service. For example, he said, hearing aids — an expensive market dominated by a few players — is one area ripe for competition. The Obama administration tried to make it possible to buy more types of hearing aids at pharmacies, just like reading glasses, rather than treating them like expensive medical devices.

KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban fighters seized control on Thursday of a key district in western Afghanistan that includes a major border crossing with Iran, Afghan security officials said, as the Islamist insurgents continued their rapid military advances around the country. Pitched battles between Taliban fighters and Afghan government forces were also underway in the northern Balkh province bordering Uzbekistan. Two senior security officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the Islam Qala border crossing with Iran, located in Herat province, had fallen to the Taliban and that Afghan security and customs officials had fled across the border. Tariq Arian, spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry, denied the reports and said the border crossing was still under the control of government forces. Western security officials say the Taliban have captured more than 100 districts in Afghanistan.

With almost three months left to go in fiscal year 2021, the Coast Guard has caught more than 500 people from Cuba at sea. A U.S. Coast Guard crew member swims a woman to safety on Tuesday, July 6, 2021, off Key West. She was among 13 people rescued by the Coast Guard and a merchant vessel crew that afternoon. With the legal incentive to migrate to the United States long over, what is behind the latest influx of Cubans willing to take the risk to leave their homeland? Story continues? The all-but-total elimination of commercial and charter air travel from the United States to Cuba, with the exception of Havana.

The Taliban have captured a major border crossing between Afghanistan and Iran, according to Afghan officials. Video footage appeared to show Taliban forces taking down the Afghan flag from the roof of the border customs office. The Afghan government on Friday acknowledged the loss of the Islam Qala border crossing, in Herat province. News of the capture of the border crossing came hours after US President Joe Biden defended his administration's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has insisted that Afghan security forces are capable of keeping the Taliban at bay, and Afghan forces appear to have retaken lost ground in some areas.

Nearly all deaths and hospitalizations nationwide are among unvaccinated people, said Jeff Zients, who leads the White House's COVID-19 response team. He said the spread of the Delta variant is particularly dangerous to young people. Research suggests it may cause more severe disease among younger people than other variants of the coronavirus. The CDC earlier this week said that the Delta variant of COVID-19 has already become the dominant strain in the United States. The variant, which is highly contagious, has also become dominant in other countries around the world.

During his 2020 presidential campaign, President Joe Biden was compared to children’s television figure Mr. Rogers of "Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood" — well, now you can really be Joe and Jill Biden’s neighbor. A neighboring property to Biden’s custom-built three-bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom Wilmington, Delaware home was listed Monday for $2.39 million, according to Realtor.com. But whoever buys this French house won’t spend their days "keeping up with the Joneses" — or, er, the Bidens. "But I think it [the proximity to President Biden] is a selling point." A LOOK AT FOUR OF JOE BIDEN'S HOUSES BEFORE THE WHITE HOUSEKelczewski said several New Yorkers and New Jerseyans have already requested tours of the property, which was listed Monday.

And they lobbied state lawmakers into writing not one but two separate bills to ban the teaching of "critical race theory." James, who is Black, believes these "buzzwords" are code for critical race theory, which he says is a divisive and harmful narrative that has no place in Ohio schools. Supporters are split on whether what they're teaching fits under the umbrella of critical race theory, or CRT. Critical race theory is an academic field of study like philosophy, sociology or economics, said Ohio University professor Vince Jungkunz. The school board said in a statement that it wasn't teaching critical race theory or the 1619 Project.

The White House on Friday will announce a new executive order aimed at cracking down on anticompetitive practices in Big Tech, labor and numerous other sectors, CNBC's Ylan Mui reported. "The impulse for this executive order is really around where can we encourage greater competition across the board," White House chief economic advisor Brian Deese told Mui in an exclusive interview. The order could provide some relief to small and medium-sized businesses that have complained of the allegedly crippling grip of tech firms such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google over digital markets. Biden's executive order doesn't impose its will on Big Tech companies unilaterally, and instead calls on the independent FTC to take action. WATCH: How US antitrust law works, and what it means for Big Tech

Gun homicides surged across the United States during the coronavirus pandemic, in the same year that Americans bought a record-breaking number of guns. But some of America’s leading gun violence researchers have concluded that what might seem like an obvious cause-and-effect – a surge in gun buying leads to a surge in gun violence – is not supported by the data. “There are a lot of strategies that can address some of the more social determinants of violence,” Schleimer said, including supporting violence interrupters and other community-based violence intervention programs, and focusing on economic policies that might help reduce gun violence, which is deeply correlated with poverty and concentrated disadvantage. But, she said, “Our findings, from this current study, in this particular context, are not supporting that.”The new study has several limitations, including the complexity of factors that might have influenced gun violence during 2020, and the lack of official data on both gun sales and gun injuries. The researchers estimated gun sales using federal background check data, and relied on shooting incident data collected from media reports by the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.

Good morningA Florida entrepreneur has been accused of involvement in the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse. Authorities said the assassination was carried out by a heavily armed commando unit that included 26 Columbians and two Haitian Americans. The head of a maintenance and repair company and a Haitian charity, he has an extensive online presence, reports Julian Borger. The US state department said it was aware of reports of Americans being arrested but did not confirm their identities. Last Thing: I lived in an airport for seven monthsHassan al Kontar arriving in Canada in 2018 after living in Kuala Lumpur airport for seven months.

Taliban forces have moved relentlessly forward, taking control of nearly one-third of Afghanistan’s districts and threatening many more. Civil war is not Afghanistan’s only danger. The resulting instability threatens not only Afghanistan but will spill over and roil its neighbors. Intelligence officials and military strategists warned that a U.S. (and allied) withdrawal would imperil the survival of the government in Kabul. China too is watching developments in Afghanistan, worried about the potential impact of instability on its western, predominately Muslim provinces.

AdvertisementThis is the moment a baying mob captured Colombian ex-military mercenaries in Haiti, dragging them bloody and beaten through the slums of Port-au-Prince, amid chaos in the power vacuum left by the president's assassination. Six 'assassins' have been arrested and three killed over the murder of Haiti president Jovenel Moïse, police said. 'We are shocked and saddened to hear of the horrific assassination of President Jovenel Moise and the attack on First Lady Martine Moise,' the US President said in a statement. 'We are shocked and saddened to hear of the horrific assassination of President Jovenel Moise and the attack on First Lady Martine Moise,' Biden said in a statement. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that he was 'shocked and saddened at the death of President Moise.'

"I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan", defends Joe BidenPresident Joe Biden says the US military operation in Afghanistan will end on Aug. 31, delivering an impassioned argument for exiting the nearly 20-year war without sacrificing more American lives even as he bluntly acknowledged there will be no “mission accomplished” moment to celebrate. FRANCE 24's Kethevane Gorjestani tells us more.

Advertising Read moreAt a press conference in Moscow, Taliban negotiator Shahabuddin Delawar said that "85 percent of Afghanistan's territory" is under the group's control, including some 250 of the country's 398 districts. More than 1,000 Afghan troops fled into Tajikistan this week after a blistering Taliban offensive in northern Afghanistan. Taliban claim key border crossing with IranMeanwhile in western Afghanistan, the Taliban on Friday claimed to have captured the country's biggest border crossing with Iran. There was no immediate confirmation of the government's loss of control of the border crossing, and the Taliban's claim could not be independently verified. Last month the Taliban captured Shir Khan Bandar, Afghanistan's main border crossing with Tajikistan, after fierce fighting that saw hundreds of Afghan troops flee to the neighbouring country.

John F. Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said the military was looking at relocating Afghan interpreters and their families to U.S. territories, American military installations outside the United States, and in other countries outside of Afghanistan. In essence, Mr. Biden said the longest war in United States history should have ended a decade ago, when Bin Laden was killed. The rapid American withdrawal, he said, was a matter of safety. “Our military commanders advised me that once I made the decision to end the war, we needed to move swiftly to conduct the main elements of the drawdown,” Mr. Biden said. At another time in the country’s history, Mr. Biden’s speech, and the final withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, might have roiled politics in the United States.

The Taliban have claimed to be in control of 85% of Afghanistan, including a key border crossing with Iran, following a sweeping offensive launched as US troops pull out. Hours after Joe Biden issued a staunch defence of the US withdrawal, the Taliban said fighters had seized the border town of Islam Qala – completing an arc of territory from the Iranian border to China. A delegation of Taliban officials in Moscow said the groups controlled 250 of Afghanistan’s 398 districts, a claim impossible to independently verify and disputed by the government. The Taliban have been emboldened by the troop withdrawal and with peace talks with the government deadlocked, appear to be pressing for a full military victory. This week more than 1,000 Afghan troops fled into Tajikistan in the face of a Taliban onslaught.

At least 14 Chinese companies are set to be added as early as Friday to the Entity List over reported abuses of Muslim Uighurs. The Biden administration is set to add more than 10 Chinese companies to its economic blacklist as early as Friday for alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang, two sources told the Reuters news agency. One of the sources said the department plans to add 14 Chinese companies to the Entity List for reported abuses in Xinjiang. Some companies from other countries are also set to be added to the department’s blacklist as soon as Friday. The White House declined to comment, while the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AP Top Stories July 9 AHere's the latest for Friday July 9th: Biden defends Afghanistan pullout; Suspects detained in Haiti assassination; Tests show some vaccines work against COVID-19 delta variant; Tropical Storm Elsa moves up East Coast.

WASHINGTON – Two men believed to be Haitian Americans were arrested in connection with Wednesday's brazen assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, an attack that jolted the Caribbean country and fueled further political chaos. Haitian authorities say Moïse was killed by a group of "mercenaries" at his private residence early Wednesday morning. Former Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe told USA TODAY that 28 mercenaries were involved in the operation, many of them Venezuelan nationals. "I am a prime minister," Henry told the Nouvelliste newspaper on Wednesday. He said American and Haitian officials have been in regular contact since the assassination.

The U.S. Marshals-led Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force took 23-year-old Bryan Rhoden into custody when he surrendered in Chamblee, FOX 5 Atlanta reported Thursday evening. The site was about 25 miles southeast of where police found three bodies on the golf course July 3. Daniels alleged that she was paid $130,000 in 2016 by Trump's personal lawyer to stay silent about the fling. "Instead we will do the adult thing, which is take orders from fossil fuel exes & make you swim to work." Fox News’ Go Watch page is now available, providing visitors with Pay TV provider options in their area carrying Fox News Channel & Fox Business Network.

US President Joe Biden speaks about the situation in Afghanistan from the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, July 8, 2021. The White House on Friday will announce a new executive order aimed at cracking down on competitive practices in Big Tech, CNBC's Ylan Mui reported. The tech giants' tightened grip has led to a decline in innovation, White House chief economic advisor Brian Deese told Mui in an exclusive interview. Biden's executive order doesn't impose its will on Big Tech companies unilaterally, and instead calls on the independent FTC to take action. WATCH: How US antitrust law works, and what it means for Big Tech

A failed bipartisan result would force Democrats to write one huge spending bill marrying all their priorities. House Budget Committee Chair John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) pauses for reporters after meeting with the House Democratic Caucus and Biden administration officials to discuss progress on an infrastructure bill at the Capitol. While both Budget Committee Democrats and the bipartisan group have been aiming to wrap their work by then, no one is setting hard deadlines yet. McConnell spent the July 4 break barnstorming Kentucky, saying he thought the bipartisan bill had a "decent chance" but also asking that it be “credibly” financed. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., speaks during a Senate committee hearing.

Chan School of Public Health who designed the poll. “Usually, our polls find a big split between Republicans and Democrats, so this is unique,” he said. Democratic lawmakers have also faced pressure to look more closely at the lab leak scenario, though they worry Republicans will stoke uncertainty about the virus origin for political gain. The finding also surprised Blendon, who said the public isn’t typically invested in such a scientific inquiry. The broad attention on the issue underscores the stakes for the Biden administration’s upcoming report on the virus origin, due in August.

It will also ask the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to issue rules giving consumers full control of their financial data to make it easier for customers to switch banks, the source said. Reuters first reported Biden's plan to issue a competition executive order. Biden's order also pushes to allow customers to switch banks by taking their financial transaction history data with them. In October, the CFPB sought comment on a potential proposal to increase consumers' access to their own financial data, which is collected by a growing number of financial institutions and apps. The source said the White House hopes the executive order would spur the agency to push ahead with the changes.

And he even skipped a rally in Sarasota headlined by former President Donald Trump, whose early endorsement was crucial in helping DeSantis win the governor’s race in 2018. But unlike the former president, DeSantis is showing that he can tone down some of his most extreme partisan rhetoric during a disaster. DeSantis’ handling of the tragedy appears to have caught some Democrats off guard, leaving them with no unified response. Nikki Fried, Florida’s Democratic agriculture commissioner who has also announced a bid for governor, praised local officials, Biden and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Friction between the two spilled into the public for the first time last week when Trump rebuffed DeSantis’ entreaties to postpone the rally in Sarasota.

It’s official: After just shy of 20 years of war, the United States will be ending military operations in Afghanistan on Aug. 31, President Joe Biden said Thursday. Still up in the air, though, is what will happen to thousands of Afghan translators who will be in harm’s way once the U.S. withdrawal is complete. Among the countries still in discussion to house the Afghan nationals and their families include United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Guam, a U.S. territory, The Wall Street Journal reported. Biden says that the State Department has approved around 2,500 Afghan Special Immigrant Visas since he took office. But as we head for the exits, it's telling how far down the list of priorities this planning apparently was.

When Chinese authorities swiftly shut down one of its country’s most popular apps in an antitrust crackdown, there were immediate debilitating consequences for Chinese companies already trading in the U.S. But the longer-term ramifications of the move could sting the U.S. IPO market, as well as American tech giants like Apple Inc. Anyone who wants to do business there has to sell its soul.”The consequences for the U.S. IPO market, investors, and prospective Chinese tech companies could be disquieting. In May, Rubio introduced an act that would bar U.S. listings for Chinese companies out of compliance with American regulators. “Though they do have governmental surveillance, they want to make sure that’s not the case for the tech companies.

Biden (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)President Joe Biden on Thursday said the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on Aug. 31, saying “speed is safety” as the United States seeks to end the nearly 20-year war. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said in a speech to update his administration’s ongoing efforts to wind down the U.S. war in Afghanistan. “Afghan leaders have to come together and drive toward a future.”Biden also amplified the justification of his decision to end U.S. military operations even as the Taliban make rapid advances in significant swaths of the country. The effort to further explain his thinking on Afghanistan comes as the administration in recent days has repeatedly sought to frame ending the conflict as a decision that Biden made after concluding it’s an “unwinnable war” and one that “does not have a military solution.”

Former ambassador to the United Nationsand national security adviser to President Donald Trump,John Bolton, blamed the past three U.S. presidents Thursday for allowing public opinion to turn against the nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan. "I do think that public opinion has turned against this war and I blame it squarely on our political leadership for at least the last 12 years," Bolton told Chuck Todd, host of NBC News' "Meet the Press." Bolton's comments came on the day President Joe Biden announced his decision to fully withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Aug. 31. Story continuesBut Bolton indicated Thursday that withdrawal is in Americans' best interest when he told Todd the U.S. cannot win the war. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: John Bolton: Public opinion turned against war in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday defended the rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan as the country appeared increasingly at risk of spiraling into civil war. When asked whether he trusted the Taliban, Biden responded: "Is that a serious question?" But I trust the capacity of the Afghan military, who is better trained, better equipped and more competent in terms of conducting war," Biden continued. Many military outposts have been surrendered without a fight, according to Afghan military and government sources. Afghan security forces are vowing to reclaim the lost territories from the Taliban and turn the tide.

The NSA denied Carlson's allegations in a rare, carefully worded statement. If Swan's anonymous sources are correct, the NSA might have scooped up Carlson's texts and emails while monitoring a suspected foreign agent he was communicating with. "Of course, the recipients of Carlson's texts and emails also knew about their content," and they could have shared the information, too, Swan notes. After Carlson said he filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the NSA, BuzzFeed News FOIA ninjas Jason Leopold and David Mack and The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein filed FOIA requests for Carlson's FOIA request. Story continuesOn Thursday night's show, Carlson appeared scandalized that Klippenstein, known for filing FOIAs and exposing government surveillance abuses, would FOIA his FOIA.

Exclusive: White House to target bank mergers, financial data with competition order FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his proposed "American http://content.reuters.com/auth-server/content/tag:reuters.com,2021:newsml_RC2OGO9IPIXA:937523049/tag:reuters.com,2021:binary_RC2OGO9IPIXA-BASEIMAGE?action=download&mediatype=picture&mex_media_type=picture&token=%22tzhIULctfScN5uO50u8b%2BAhddamUP2s6ImvrSv5CoSE%3D%22Families Plan" legislation at McHenry County College during a visit to the northwest Chicago suburb Crystal Lake, Illinois, U.S., July 7, 2021. Reuters first reported Biden's plan to issue a competition executive order. Biden's order also pushes to allow customers to switch banks by taking their financial transaction history data with them. In October, the CFPB sought comment on a potential proposal to increase consumers' access to their own financial data, which is collected by a growing number of financial institutions and apps. The source said the White House hopes the executive order would spur the agency to push ahead with the changes.

“If the sound of beef sizzling on the grill brings tears of joy to your eyes, you’re a real beefatarian.” That’s the opening line of a TV ad produced by a European advertising campaign called Proud of European Beef. “If you support sustainable farming by choosing European beef, you are real beefatarians,” says the Proud of European Beef advertisement — but without offering any explanation of why European beef is sustainable. Red meat — beef, lamb, and pork — is listed as a Group 2A carcinogen, indicating that it probably causes cancer. Arguably, beef advertising should go the same way as tobacco advertising. Americans eat four times as much beef as the world average, and beef production alone is responsible for more than 3% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Pacing up and down their shabby, three-bedroom apartment, Issak, a Somali refugee facing the threat of eviction, struggled to accept the fact that the baby might not have a home to come back to. Most of the tenants are former refugees from Somalia, Eritrea, Congo and other countries. In some situations, the landlord's actions violate Ohio law, according to Ben Horne, advocacy director at the Legal Aid Society of Columbus. “It’s a population that doesn't usually want to create waves, so they can be more easily taken advantage of,” Horne said. In other cases, the landlord gave tenants less than 30 days to move out in violation of Ohio law, Horne said.

And though Biden was successful on the international stage in winning backing for the deal, he faces opposition from Republicans in the U.S. Congress. The U.S. already has a tax on big companies' overseas earnings — but Biden seeks to roughly double the rate to 21%. As part of a broader plan to raise money for infrastructure and clean energy investment, the administration is further urging Congress to boost the U.S. domestic corporate tax rate from 21%, where it is currently, to 28%. Support for the global minimum is regarded as a boost to domestic passage of Biden's plans. It's very difficult to imagine Europe, Japan and China getting together on this without the U.S. chipping in."

Among the 10 biggest corporate PAC donors that pledged to pause their contributions to election objectors, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Verizon have followed through on their promises, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings. ADVERTISEMENTBut many companies that are focused more on government funding, and not consumer dollars, have resumed PAC donations to election objectors after a brief pause. For decades, corporate PACs avoided scrutiny while regularly donating to incumbents on both sides of the aisle. They’re part of the small group of corporations that pledged to pause donations to election objectors but never ruled out funding closely tied GOP groups. Pfizer, Walmart and Home Depot also donated to one or both of the GOP party committees, which are working to reelect Republican election objectors.

Ahead of the meetings, Treasury Department officials said that the countries still need to settle on a global minimum tax rate, which the United States and France would like to be higher than 15 percent. Republican lawmakers have expressed some skepticism about the global minimum tax, in part because they see it as a stalking horse for the Biden administration to raise the U.S. corporate tax rate. President Biden has tied his proposal to raise the corporate tax rate in the United States to 28 percent from 21 percent to a global minimum tax, saying that it would dissuade companies from simply moving operations offshore. Republicans, who cut the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent rate in 2017, have said they will oppose any changes to those tax cuts. Treasury officials have expressed confidence that the global tax can pass muster in the United States.

The executive order includes several measures specifically targeting big tech companies like Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon, people with knowledge of its contents said. The order will tell the federal agencies that approve mergers that they should scrutinize the tech industry’s practices more closely. The order is Mr. Biden’s latest acknowledgment of concerns that the tech giants have obtained outsize market power, becoming gatekeepers to commerce, communications and culture. A growing group of lawmakers, academics and rival companies say government regulators failed to check the growth of the companies for more than a decade. To address the companies’ market power, they say, policymakers need to aggressively enforce antitrust laws and possibly rewrite them to better capture Silicon Valley’s business models.

The 2020 Scripps National Spelling Bee was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making this year's competition extra special for its 11 finalistsAnd the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner is ... Zaila Avant-garde! Zaila, who is also a basketball prodigy, is the first Black American student to be crowned the champion in the bee's nearly century-long history, as well as the first winner from Louisiana. Eleven finalists traveled down to Florida for the finals that normally take place in Washington, D.C., as do the preliminary rounds during the competition's usual in-person "Bee Week." They should be proud of all they have accomplished by winning spelling bees at the classroom, school and regional level." Jacques Bailly said the competition would end after 20 rounds, and anyone who spelled three more words correctly would be crowned co-champions.

Added: 09.07.2021 9:30 | 6 views | 0 commentsPresident Joe Biden has nominated the first out lesbian to an ambassador-level position in U.S. history. Chantale Wong has been appointed U.S.

Added: 09.07.2021 1:29 | 22 views | 0 commentsJOE BIDEN has defended his decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, stating the US has completed its objectives.

Added: 09.07.2021 8:10 | 9 views | 0 commentsSKY News Australia host Alan Jones branded President Joe Biden as being unable to "find his way home after dark" as he voiced his growing concerns the free world depends on a "barely cogent" leader.

AP Top Stories July 9 AAdded: 09.07.2021 10:06 | 7 views | 0 commentsSource: www.scoopnest.comHere's the latest for Friday July 9th: Biden defends Afghanistan pullout; Suspects detained in Haiti assassination; Tests show some vaccines work against COVID-19 delta variant; Tropical Storm Elsa moves up East Coast. More in rssfeeds.usatoday.com » Tags: Afghanistan

Photo: ShutterstockThere was considerable dismay among voting rights advocates when the U.S. Supreme Court, on the final day of its 2021-2022 term, upheld two Arizona voting restrictions by a 6-3 vote in Brnovich v. DNC. The more voting rights advocates examine Alito’s reasoning in Brnovich, though, the more they fear the decision itself could have serious and immediate negative consequences. What Hasen is describing is a sort of chess game between SCOTUS and voting rights advocates that the latter keep losing. “There’s no getting around the reality that the new Supreme Court has its conservative favorites and its progressive enemies, and that the court stands ready to recraft American democracy in its image,” writes Hasen. The fact that serious analysts don’t rule out this Supreme Court majority reaching that conclusion crystallizes the uncertainty about which federal election rules, if any, it considers beyond challenge.

America’s longest war will be coming to an end sooner than expected. President Biden announcing Thursday that U.S. troops will be out of Afghanistan by August 31, earlier than his original September 11 deadline. In the month of July two billionaires are set to take flight aboard the spacecrafts built by their respective companies. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is set to launch the VSS Unity on July 11th, just nine days before Jeff Bezos takes off in Blue Origin’s rocket, New Shepard. As the two men prepare to launch into space, they are creating new buzz surrounding the burgeoning space tourism industry.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailGlobal minimum corporate tax rate should be at least 21%, former Australian treasurer saysWayne Swan, former deputy prime minister and treasurer of Australia, credits President Joe Biden for breaking the deadlock at the OECD, but urges G-20 leaders to "seriously consider a higher rate" than the currently proposed 15% so that countries can invest in their social safety nets.

read moreIn a statement on its website, FTSE Russell said the additional Chinese companies will be deleted from its indexes on July 28. "Excluding quality Chinese companies from the indices will only hurt the image of and cause losses to the indices themselves," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. The United States is unjustifiably oppressing Chinese companies, he told a regular briefing in Beijing on Friday. The stocks will be removed from FTSE GEIS, the FTSE Global China A Inclusion indices and associated indices. FTSE Russell has previously removed Chinese companies including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (0981.HK) and Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co (002415.SZ) from its indexes due to U.S. sanctions.

President Joe Biden has nominated the first out lesbian to an ambassador-level position in U.S. history. Chantale Wong has been appointed U.S. director of the Asian Development Bank, which works to foster economic growth in the Asia-Pacific Region. Chantale Wong has been appointed U.S. director of the Asian Development Bank. Jones, an out lesbian and former Air Force pilot, ran last year to represent Texas’ 23rd Congressional District as a Democrat. Shawn Skelly, a Navy veteran and transgender woman, also awaits confirmation to become assistant secretary of defense for readiness.

File image: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (via REUTERS)North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has lost about 20 kilograms of weight but all signs so far indicate that there are no major health issues affecting him, Seoul’s spy agency has claimed. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service briefed lawmaker Kim Byung-kee about Mr Kim’s health, who then told the media that the North Korean leader has lost 10-20 kilograms of weight. The lawmaker said that Mr Kim continues to host long meetings and there’s also nothing unusual about how his walking posture. In November, reports had quoted intelligence official saying that Mr Kim weighed about 140 kilograms. Over the past few weeks, the North Korean leader has been making statements on issues related to foreign policy, food shortage and Covid-19.

But with payments set to resume in a few months, servicers — the companies that manage student loan payments — are already fielding thousands of calls a day from borrowers seeking student loan help, according to Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, a nonprofit trade organization for student loan servicers. Cash-strapped borrowers can find legitimate student loan help for free with organizations such as The Institute of Student Loan Advisors. Financial planners can also help, but it’s best to look for one with student loan expertise, such as a certified student loan professional. If your issue is with your servicer, contact the Federal Student Loan Ombudsman Group, which resolves federal student aid disputes. Avoid scammersLegitimate student loan help organizations won’t seek you out with offers of debt resolution through unsolicited texts, emails or phone calls.

The U.S. Commerce Department action will follow its announcement last month adding five other companies and other Chinese entities to the blacklist over allegations of forced labor in the far western region of China. "The Chinese side will take all necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies and rejects U.S. attempts to interfere in China's internal affairs," said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Friday. One of the sources for the economic blacklist additions said the Commerce Department plans to add 14 Chinese companies to the Entity List over reported abuses in Xinjiang. The White House declined to comment, while the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Generally, entity-listed companies are required to apply for licenses from the Commerce Department and face tough scrutiny when they seek permission to receive items from U.S. suppliers.

Last week, when reporters asked President Joe Biden whether he worried that Afghanistan’s government might collapse in the face of Taliban military advances, he responded with ill-concealed annoyance. It’s no mystery why: Subjects like job-creation reports or the U.S. recovery from the pandemic let Biden talk about successes. “The devastation and the killings … President Biden is going to own these ugly images,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) warned this week. Even if Biden would rather talk about “happy things,” he’ll have to remain engaged in Afghanistan — for political reasons as well as for national security and humanitarian ones. The last two decades have been painful for American foreign policy, but at least they have taught some useful lessons.

The Taliban have said they have captured a key border crossing with Iran, hours after Joe Biden issued a staunch defence of the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan. The insurgents now hold an arc of territory from the Iranian border to the frontier with China. “All Afghan security forces including the border units are present in the area, and efforts are under way to recapture the site,” said an interior ministry spokesperson, Tareq Arian. A Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Friday the crossing was “under our full control”. Biden said the US “did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build” and that the Afghan people alone should determine their future.

NATIONALPresident Moon Jae-in (L) greets a visiting delegation of the US Congressional Study Group on Korea at the presidential office in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap)President Moon Jae-in on Friday expressed gratitude for the support the US Congress has provided in the advancement of the decades-old Seoul-Washington alliance during a meeting with a group of visiting US lawmakers at Cheong Wa Dae.Moon hosted a reception for the visiting members of the US Congressional Study Group on Korea (CSGK), a bipartisan study group on South Korea, at the presidential office. Ami Bera (D-CA) also praised the results of the recent bilateral summit as a success and highlighted that the arrival of the CSGK delegation exemplified the importance of the US-South Korea relationship. He also expressed thanks for Seoul's support to the United States at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.Korean American Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) told Moon that she is proud of her Korean heritage and praised highly the two country's summit agreement to cooperate in improving the human rights condition in North Korea.Kim also asked for the South Korean government's help to free two North Korean families that are reportedly in Chinese custody after having escaped from their home country. The congresswoman requested that Seoul contact Beijing to bring the families in question safely to South Korea.

Yet, racial gaps in our nation’s health care recovery persist. Yet without health care data that reflects these realities, it is impossible to reach the full range of Americans who need a COVID-19 vaccine or treatment for other serious chronic diseases. Health care bias:I survived childbirth during three pandemics – COVID, racism, Black maternal health crisisWith the right information, health insurance providers and other stakeholders could better provide solutions to more communities. Leaders in the health care community, as well as policymakers in Congress and the Biden administration, should support this change. But for many, dismantling systems that deny access to health care can be as simple as ensuring that the person who wants a COVID-19 vaccine has a ride to the doctor.

A host of conservative interest groups are mobilizing in opposition to a plan to sharply increase funding for the IRS — a key element of the financing for the bipartisan infrastructure deal. The negotiators estimate that the tax agency could generate an additional $140 billion with the increased funding by focusing on taxes that currently go unpaid. According to The Washington Post Thursday, a set of conservative groups including the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, FreedomWorks and the Conservative Action Project are preparing a campaign to influence Republican lawmakers, with the goal of eliminating the additional funding for the IRS. Why it matters: “A successful effort could imperil bipartisan support for the $974 billion infrastructure package,” the Post’s Jeff Stein, Tony Romm and Yeganeh Torbati say. The bottom line: The bipartisan infrastructure plan faces any number of hurdles, and organized opposition to increased IRS funding will make it that much harder for the package to advance.

Scott J. Applewhite/APConservative groups are escalating their opposition to Biden's bipartisan infrastructure deal. Prominent conservative groups are gearing up to pressure Republicans to oppose President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure deal, blasting it as a "basic betrayal of conservative values." Stephen Moore, one of the signatories, assailed the extra IRS funding in the bipartisan infrastructure deal. Story continuesRead the letter below:Dear Conservative Member of Congress: As conservative leaders, we are troubled that Republicans fell into the Democratic trap on an infrastructure spending bill. This budget-busting bill is only the gateway to another $2 trillion spending bill and a $3 trillion tax hike.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. and Chinese flags outside the PentagonBEIJING (Reuters) - China will take all necessary measures to protect its companies, the foreign ministry said on Friday when asked about a Reuters report that the United States is set to add more Chinese firms to its economic blacklist. The Biden administration is expected as early as Friday to add at least 10 more Chinese companies and other entities to the list over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, the report said. Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin made the comments at a regular news conference in Beijing on Friday. (Reporting by Cate Cadell; Writing by Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Gareth Jones)

However, it is possible for the agency to collect the communications of Americans if they are in contact with a foreign surveillance target. Indeed, his Fox News colleague Chris Wallace won Fox News its first Emmy nomination for his 2018 Putin interview. On June 29, the NSA denied that Carlson was 'an intelligence target'The NSA, in their June 29 statement, denied that Carlson had been deliberately targeted. Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the Agency and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air. 'NSA has a foreign intelligence mission.

"All Afghan security forces including the border units are present in the area, and efforts are under way to recapture the site," interior ministry spokesman Tareq Arian told AFP. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the crossing was "under our full control". Hours earlier, Biden said the US military mission will end on August 31 -- nearly 20 years after it began -- having "achieved" its goals. Biden said the United States "did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build" and that the Afghan people alone should determine their future. The Taliban have been emboldened by the troop withdrawal and with peace talks with the government deadlocked, appear to be pressing for a full military victory.

President Moon Jae-in (L) greets a visiting delegation of the US Congressional Study Group on Korea at the presidential office in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap)President Moon Jae-in on Friday expressed gratitude for the support the US Congress has provided in the advancement of the decades-old Seoul-Washington alliance during a meeting with a group of visiting US lawmakers at Cheong Wa Dae. Moon hosted a reception for the visiting members of the US Congressional Study Group on Korea (CSGK), a bipartisan study group on South Korea, at the presidential office. Kim also asked for the South Korean government's help to free two North Korean families that are reportedly in Chinese custody after having escaped from their home country. The congresswoman requested that Seoul contact Beijing to bring the families in question safely to South Korea.

Reverend Al Sharpton from the National Action Network and other leading civil rights leaders hold a press conference at the White House following a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, where they discussed voting rights, in Washington, U.S., July 8, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) - U.S. civil rights leaders emerged from a White House meeting with President Joe Biden on Thursday vowing a "summer of activism" to battle new voting restrictions enacted in Republican-led states in recent months. Biden and Harris met with civil rights groups including the NAACP, National Urban League and the National Action Network. Senate Republicans, however, have shown no intention of approving any voting rights legislation, likely dooming efforts in the chamber, which is thinly controlled by Democrats and where 10 Republican votes would be needed to pass a bill. Al Sharpton told reporters after the White House meeting to expect "a summer of activism."

Group continues advances as foreign forces withdraw, with sources saying some Afghan security officials have fled to Iran. Taliban fighters have seized control of a key district in western Afghanistan that includes an important border crossing with Iran, Afghan security officials said, as the armed group continues its rapid military advances around the country. Pitched battles between Taliban fighters and Afghan government forces were also under way in the northern Balkh province bordering Uzbekistan. Two senior security officials told Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity that the Islam Qala border crossing with Iran, located in Herat province, had fallen to the Taliban and that Afghan security and customs officials had fled across the border. Western security officials say the Taliban has captured more than 100 districts in Afghanistan.

Image Source: Getty / Jim WatsonFor the first time in the competition's 93-year history, an African American student has been crowned the winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. 14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde, an eighth grader from Harvey, LA, secured her victory on Thursday by spelling the word "Murraya." the spelling bee captioned a post on its Instagram account. "She won the 93rd Bee by spelling the word "Murraya." Help us in congratulating #Speller133 Zaila Avant-garde on her new title!

In the US, most people make their money from a regular job; they get a paycheck and pay income taxes. While federal income tax has a maximum tax rate of 37 percent, the tax rate for capital gains tops out at just 20 percent. It’s why Warren Buffett, one of the richest people in America, has often said that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. President Biden has a plan to raise that maximum tax rate from 20 percent to 39.6 percent, and proponents see that as one way to tax the rich. Watch the video above to learn about how the richest people in the US avoid paying taxes.

"The Green New Deal, which is a blueprint to create millions of good jobs rebuilding infrastructure to stem climate change & protect vulnerable communities, is unrealistic," she quoted in the tweet. Biden has been criticized by progressives who say he has not followed through strongly enough on campaign promises to tackle climate change. Biden has also been on the receiving end of criticism from progressives who believe that the toned-down infrastructure deal falls short of his $2.3 trillion plan that he outlined in March. It also would spend $55 billion to improve drinking water and wastewater systems and $47 billion in resiliency efforts to tackle climate change. Last April, Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., reintroduced the Green New Deal that critics say is a blueprint for socialism.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Friday after stocks pulled back from their recent record highs on Wall Street as bond yields fell and investors turned cautious. Longer-term bond yields tend to move along with investors’ expectations for inflation and economic growth. But Wall Street increasingly suspects they’ve already topped out as the economy moves past the initial catapult phase of its recovery from the pandemic. Part of the sharp drop in long-term bond yields could also be attributed to investors quickly reversing bets that they would continue rising as the economy continued its sharp recovery. The report, published by The Wall Street Journal, cited an unnamed source familiar with the situation.

Iraqi Shiite militias are showing a degree of defiance of their patron Iran by escalating rocket and drone attacks on the U.S. presence in the country, militia and Shiite political leaders say. Iraqi Shiite militias are showing a degree of defiance of their patron Iran by escalating rocket and drone attacks on the U.S. presence in the country, militia and Shiite political leaders say. The Biden administration has responded by twice targeting Iraqi militia groups operating inside Syria, including close to the Iraqi border. But as soon as he leaves the meeting, they disregard his recommendations,” said another Shiite political leader. Almost weekly, various factional leaders hold face-to-face meetings with him in Lebanon, said Shiite political leaders.

Militia attacks have only been increasing against the U.S. in military bases in both Iraq and Syria. “Iran isn’t the way it used to be, with 100% control over the militia commanders,” said one Shiite political leader. The Biden administration has responded by twice targeting Iraqi militia groups operating inside Syria, including close to the Iraqi border. But as soon as he leaves the meeting, they disregard his recommendations,” said another Shiite political leader. Almost weekly, various factional leaders hold face-to-face meetings with him in Lebanon, said Shiite political leaders.

In a week that's seen U.S. Treasury yields dive as much as 20 basis points in three sessions and European stocks suffer one of their worst days in two months, perhaps investors are heeding the words from Taylor Swift's "You need to calm down." Stock futures point to a brighter start for Europe, where indices were a sea of red just a day ago. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields are up 5 bps -- a sign that the relentless push into safe-haven debt markets of the last few days is abating. But compared to the last few sessions, a sense of calm finally appears to be taking hold as the week draws to an end. - ECB Andrea Enria participated in panel discussion- Fitch Ratings review on Russia, Lithuania- G20 kick off two-day summit in Venice, Italy.

In a week that's seen U.S. Treasury yields dive as much as 20 basis points in three sessions and European stocks suffer one of their worst days in two months, perhaps investors are heeding the words from Taylor Swift's "You need to calm down." Stock futures point to a brighter start for Europe, where indices were a sea of red just a day ago. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields are up 5 bps -- a sign that the relentless push into safe-haven debt markets of the last few days is abating. But compared to the last few sessions, a sense of calm finally appears to be taking hold as the week draws to an end. - ECB Andrea Enria participated in panel discussion- Fitch Ratings review on Russia, Lithuania- G20 kick off two-day summit in Venice, Italy.

Ron DeSantis of Florida. Ron DeSantis is the biggest rising star in Republican politics today. Brian Ballard, the president of the top lobbying firm Ballard Partners: Ballard is considered Florida's most powerful Republican lobbyist, fundraiser, and political consultant. He opposed DeSantis during the 2018 GOP gubernatorial primary but now calls himself a "big fan" of the governor. She's a former TV journalist who hit airwaves in 2018 with an ad touting DeSantis' support for Trump that later went viral.

And he even skipped a rally in Sarasota headlined by former President Donald Trump, whose early endorsement was crucial in helping DeSantis win the governor's race in 2018. Since that victory, DeSantis has often taken his cues from Trump. But unlike the former president, DeSantis is showing that he can tone down some of his most extreme partisan rhetoric during a disaster. DeSantis' handling of the tragedy appears to have caught some Democrats off guard, leaving them with no unified response. Friction between the two spilled into the public for the first time last week when Trump rebuffed DeSantis’ entreaties to postpone the rally in Sarasota.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan's attorney general has opened an investigation after a Republican-led legislative committee said people are making baseless allegations about the 2020 presidential election results in Antrim County to raise money or publicity for their own ends. Lynsey Mukomel, spokeswoman for Democrat Dana Nessel, said Thursday that the department accepted the request from Sen. Ed McBroom and the Senate Oversight Committee he chairs. Election night results in northern Michigan’s rural Antrim County, which has roughly 23,000 residents, initially erroneously showed a local victory for Joe Biden over then-President Donald Trump. A hand recount validated the results as accurate. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan's attorney general has opened an investigation after a Republican-led legislative committee said people are making baseless allegations about the 2020 presidential election results in Antrim County to raise money or publicity for their own ends. Lynsey Mukomel, spokeswoman for Democrat Dana Nessel, said Thursday that the department accepted the request from Sen. Ed McBroom and the Senate Oversight Committee he chairs. Election night results in northern Michigan’s rural Antrim County, which has roughly 23,000 residents, initially erroneously showed a local victory for Joe Biden over then-President Donald Trump. But it was attributed to human errors, not any problems with machines, and corrected. A hand recount validated the results as accurate.

A powerful picture posted to Twitter on Thursday shows a Border Patrol agent carrying an injured illegal immigrant to safety during an operation along the United States-Mexico border. The photo was posted by Brian Hastings, the chief Border Patrol agent for Texas' Rio Grande Valley neighborhood, which has been inundated in recent months with an influx of illegal immigrants. Mexican authorities subsequently contact the US Border Patrol El Centro Sector, which was able to track the injured woman's location via her GPS and eventually located her at 10.22am. Border Patrol agents have also rescued a number of children who have been dumped over the border, according to FOX News. On June 25, Harris finally caved to pressure and visited El Paso, Texas – a border town with Mexico.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Whether dribbling a basketball or identifying obscure Latin or Greek roots, Zaila Avant-garde doesn't show much stress. Now she has become the first African American winner in the 96-year history of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Zaila twirled and leaped with excitement after spelling the winning word "murraya," a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees. "In sixth grade I was my school’s spelling bee champion. In 2019, Scripps' word list was no match for the deep and talented field, and the bee ended in an eight-way tie.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File PhotoWASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's frustrations with Afghanistan boiled over more than a decade ago, and they never again eased. Karzai shot back that the United States was indifferent to the deaths of Afghan civilians. While the United States will maintain diplomatic and humanitarian support for Afghans, Biden said their future was up to them. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who accompanied Biden on the 2009 Afghanistan trip, said this week that al Qaeda could re-emerge in Afghanistan and lay the groundwork for another attack on the United States. But it also removed another reason for the United States to maintain a strong presence in the region.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Friday after stocks pulled back from their recent record highs on Wall Street as bond yields fell and investors turned cautious. Longer-term bond yields tend to move along with investors’ expectations for inflation and economic growth. But Wall Street increasingly suspects they’ve already topped out as the economy moves past the initial catapult phase of its recovery from the pandemic. Part of the sharp drop in long-term bond yields could also be attributed to investors quickly reversing bets that they would continue rising as the economy continued its sharp recovery. The report, published by The Wall Street Journal, cited an unnamed source familiar with the situation.

Ahead of his Saturday reelection campaign launch, The Associated Press talked to Kemp about the race ahead, Abrams, Trump and the new Georgia political landscape. Ahead of his Saturday reelection campaign launch, The Associated Press talked to Kemp about the race ahead, Abrams, Trump and the new Georgia political landscape. Brian Kemp won the 2018 Republican primary for Georgia governor propelled by grassroots conservatives and a late endorsement from then-President Donald Trump. Ahead of his Saturday reelection campaign launch, The Associated Press talked to Kemp about the race ahead, Abrams, Trump and the new Georgia political landscape. But look, my role — and I’m going to always do this — I’m going to follow the law and the Constitution.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Friday after stocks pulled back from their recent record highs on Wall Street as bond yields fell and investors turned cautious. Longer-term bond yields tend to move along with investors’ expectations for inflation and economic growth. But Wall Street increasingly suspects they’ve already topped out as the economy moves past the initial catapult phase of its recovery from the pandemic. Part of the sharp drop in long-term bond yields could also be attributed to investors quickly reversing bets that they would continue rising as the economy continued its sharp recovery. The report, published by The Wall Street Journal, cited an unnamed source familiar with the situation.

By Humeyra Pamuk and David ShepardsonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration is set as early as Friday to add more than 10 Chinese companies to its economic blacklist over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang, two sources told Reuters. The U.S. Commerce Department action will follow its announcement last month adding five other companies and other Chinese entities to the blacklist over allegations of forced labor in the far western region of China. One of the sources said the department plans to add 14 Chinese companies to the Entity List over reported abuses in Xinjiang. Some companies from other countries are also set to be added to the department's blacklist as soon as Friday. The White House declined to comment, while the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ReutersThe Biden administration is set as early as Friday to add more than 10 Chinese companies to its economic blacklist over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang, two sources told Reuters. The U.S. Commerce Department action will follow its announcement last month adding five other companies and other Chinese entities to the blacklist over allegations of forced labor in the far western region of China. The additions to Commerce Department's Entity List are part of the Biden administration's efforts to hold China accountable for human rights violations, the sources said.

So far, he said, the numbers of those who have decided to leave Afghanistan are not so high that they can’t be handled with a range of installations. “Our message to those women and men is clear,” Biden said. “There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose. “We went for two reasons: one, to bring Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, as I said at the time," Biden said. "The second reason was to eliminate al-Qaida’s capacity to deal with more attacks on the United States from that territory.

By Trevor HunnicuttWASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s frustrations with Afghanistan boiled over more than a decade ago, and they never again eased. Karzai shot back that the United States was indifferent to the deaths of Afghan civilians. He returned to Washington with a stern warning to President-elect Barack Obama: Now is not the time to put more troops in Afghanistan. While the United States will maintain diplomatic and humanitarian support for Afghans, Biden said their future was up to them. But it also removed another reason for the United States to maintain a strong presence in the region.

Using playful charts, it showed that traffic at the Ministry of Public Security was among the busiest, while China’s anti-corruption agency was relatively quiet. At the time, it looked like an innocuous peek at the potential of big data to make the government more efficient. More broadly, the crackdown shows how big data is quickly turning into the next major battleground in a clash of superpowers, with implications that potentially could reshape the global economy for decades to come. | REUTERSPerhaps more than any other major country, China has sought to harness the potential of data to transform its economy. That includes everything from personal health information to genetic information to “harm from access to large data repositories” — not unlike those held by China’s big tech firms.

Bit leaves on Sunday to go spend a week with Mom while she goes to CNA school. It’s so ... 2 RecsA Moment Together I can’t really talk about everything that went on, not yet, anyway. But first: Top Comments appears nightly, as a round-up of the best comments on Daily Kos. Surely ... you come across comments daily that are perceptive, apropos and .. well, perhaps even humorous.... 21 RecsPWB Peeps Open Thread: Too Darn Hot! It’s too darn hot It’s too darn hot I’d like to sup with my baby tonight And play the pup with my baby tonight but I ain’t up to my baby tonight, ‘cause it’s too darn hot.

For those too young to remember, it’s where the phrase “drinking the Kool Aid” came from and its appropriate to the bizarre and sad relationship between Donald Trump and his cult followers. We have got to be wary of anyone who can have such control over people that they lose their ability to think independently.”Generally, “drinking the Kool Aid” suggests a person who’s been taken in by fantastical ideas or theories. But its Trump’s lies about Covid that genuinely qualify as Kool Aid in the original context of the saying. Dozens to hundreds of Trump followers died of Covid today. But Trump, unlike Jones, now has an entire political party and a massive media machine following him to the Kool Aid pails.

President Biden: "Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31st." — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 8, 2021x President Biden: "We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build." — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 8, 2021KAMALA HARRISx VP Harris is announcing a $25 million expansion of the DNC's 'I Will Vote' initiative. https://t.co/3gHlaHJbU8 — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 8, 2021PENNSYLVANIAx Penn. https://t.co/6INFA3NDVl — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 8, 2021

In significantly sadder news, even as COVID infections and deaths continue to plummet in much of the country, both are now spiking in pockets of Trump Country where his duped followers are refusing to get vaccinated. Republican Governor Mike Parson just signed a law passed by the GOP-dominated state legislature to shield businesses and churches from COVID-related lawsuits. He spoke to criticism from those who believe he's pulling out from America's longest war too soon, with the Taliban already taking back control of the country as the U.S. leaves. "So now you can get not only rightwing media news, you can get your rightwing weather, that will tell you only things about the weather that you want to hear!" That includes "the unnecessary deaths of many Americans" fueled by sowing doubt about COVID-19 and spreading lies about the 2020 Presidential election.

One of those two Republicans is Mark Moores, who won re-election 53-47 as Biden was taking his Albuquerque-based seat 51-46. We’ll now turn to the House, which is up every two years and where Biden won 47 districts compared to 23 for Trump. Democrats won a 44-26 majority in 2020 after the GOP netted two seats, but Republican state Rep. Phelps Anderson became an independent in February after he voted to repeal the state’s anti-abortion law. Altogether, there are three Republicans in Biden seats. Anderson, meanwhile, won re-election as a Republican without opposition last year in a Roswell-area seat that Trump took by a giant 74-23.

ICE was sued over the practice of transferred detainees just days ago, after officials transferred immigrants from a New Jersey facility to unknown locations. Essex County Correctional Center in Newark announced this past April that it would be ending its contract of more than a decade with ICE. Officials could just release detained immigrants to shelter at home; instead, they transferred them elsewhere, likely adding to the numbers reported by the Times. Rather than releasing detained immigrants, ICE flew a number of people from facilities in New York and Pennsylvania to Texas, BuzzFeed News reported in April 2020. “News of Covid spreading in detention centers … feels like deja vu to a year ago except it's Biden and not Trump and instead of detention numbers going down, they're going up,” tweeted Detention Watch Network executive director Silky Shah.

Detectives are still working to verify that each of those listed as missing was actually in the building when it collapsed. Zaila twirled and leaped with excitement after spelling the winning word, “murraya,” a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees. Seven other suspected assailants were killed in a gunfight with police, according to Haiti’s director of National Police Léon Charles. Avenatti, 50, rose to prominence by sparring publicly with Trump, but criminal fraud charges on two coasts disrupted his rapid ascent. Both would require that voters have identification for mail voting and would ban drive-thru and overnight options for early voting.

The Post estimated that Trump actually charged $566.64 per night for a four-bedroom “cottage” at Trump’s Bedminster. A White House spokesman told the newspaper President Biden hasn't charged the Secret Service rent since he became president, but he reportedly charged the Secret Service $2,200 a month to rent a cottage on his Delaware property when he was vice president. Nearly 14% of the Secret Service workforce was infected with COVID-19 between March of 2020 and March of 2021, Talking Points Memo reported. "The Secret Service’s essential law enforcement mission required agency employees to remain in continuous contact with the public during the pandemic," Secret Service spokesperson Justine Whelan told ABC News last month. “Now and throughout the pandemic, the Secret Service was fully prepared and staffed to successfully meet these challenges.”RELATED: Newly released records show just how many Secret Service agents contracted COVID-19 under Trump

Last year, Trump's racist lab leak theory was thrown out by both the Democratic establishment and most of the mainstream media. A CNBC headline screamed: "Biden orders closer review of Covid origins as U.S. intel weighs Wuhan lab leak theory." While just a couple weeks ago, Yahoo News quietly reminded us: "There's still no evidence of a Chinese lab leak." So they, uh, perpetrated a biological attack on American citizens to find out what would happen in the event of a biological attack on American citizens?! " Apparently we wanted to deter biological weapons attacks on Americans by dropping biological weapons on Americans first.

Biden pretends not only that the war was launched for good reason, but that it succeeded, that it "degraded the terrorist threat." The war on terrorism has taken a couple of hundred cave-dwellers and expanded them into thousands spread across continents. This has long been largely an air war, and you can't end an air war by removing ground troops. Oh, and he plans to get other nations to control an airport in Afghanistan in support of course of Afghanistan's rights and responsibilities. This effort compares with what's needed as Biden's domestic health, wealth, environment, infrastructure, education, retirement, and labor efforts compare with what's needed.)

This time we will talk about China, a backwards country that turned into one of the most influential nations in the world. China is digging its talons into the crumbled Russia slowly and steadily. It will be able to formally keep its national symbols, but China will de facto rule the country. Ironically, Russia currently believes China to be its greatest ally in the fight against the West. If we look at the resources available to both nations, we can't talk about Russia cooperating with China, but instead China cooperating with Russia.

A nonpartisan government watchdog group has issued a new report detailing a number of reforms and changes that could be implemented at the Supreme Court in order to establish more public trust and decrease partisanship in the institution. Last year, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) organized a panel of former judges and legal experts to examine issues facing the High Court. The report also suggested that term limits for justices should be considered. “A limit of service on the Supreme Court necessarily creates more opportunities for appointments to the Court,” the POGO panel on reforms wrote. Before becoming president, Joe Biden pledged to form a commission to investigate ideas for reforming the Supreme Court.

The National Education Association (NEA), the largest union in the US with roughly 3 million members, concluded its annual Representative Assembly (RA) on July 3. The teachers unions have admitted that over 1,000 educators have perished from the virus so far, but refuse to publish precise numbers or the names of those lost. Last summer, the two national American teachers’ unions, the NEA and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), cynically used the COVID-19 crisis to insist that union-administration partnerships must be expanded to embed the union apparatus more firmly in districts and government. Teachers, students, and families protest against school reopenings in New York City on Aug. 3, 2020. These immense bureaucracies had ample resources to raise the alarm at the start of the pandemic by educating and mobilizing parents, educators, students and workers nationally.

At that time, it appeared that the contract would be awarded to Amazon because the company had won other major cloud computing bids with the US military-intelligence state. However, before the arrangements with Amazon could be finalized, then-President Donald Trump intervened and forced the contract to be signed with Microsoft in October 2019. Amazon sued and, in February 2020, a judge imposed an injunction on the deal with Microsoft. The conflict over the JEDI contract remained unresolved when Biden was sworn in as president. A primary concern of the Pentagon is to maintain technological superiority over international rivals such as Russia and China.

In addition to Ukraine and the UK, military personnel from the United States, Denmark, Sweden and Canada will also participate in the planned exercises. While Ukraine and NATO often declare that their military exercises are “defensive” in nature, “Cossack Mace” differs in that it openly states that its forces are practicing for an offensive. The ongoing military exercises and equipment procurements signal that Ukraine is continuing the integration of its military forces with Western imperialism. Despite the obvious interference of the US, Zelensky denied any pressure from his major NATO military backers. The allegations have been regularly promoted by the United States as a foreign policy weapon against Beijing.

Bennett, who is even more right-wing than Netanyahu, has a very tenuous grip on power. Far from being resolved, Israel’s political crisis is set to deepen. Their applications would be rejected by the Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, notorious for her hatred of the Palestinians, pending new legislation to renew the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law. The law, introduced in 2003 amid the second Palestinian intifada, must be renewed annually, as has happened for the past 17 years. He stated bluntly that the law was more about demographic engineering and “is of security importance.” He tweeted, “[There’s] no need to hide from the purpose of the [citizenship] law.

According to The New York Times tracker, the two-week change has seen a 35 percent rise to an average of 15,259 daily COVID-19 cases. Yesterday, they reported over 1,660 COVID-19 cases. Arkansas is at 94 percent, and Mississippi, with the lowest vaccination rate in the nation, has seen the 14-day rate of cases rise at 86 percent. In fact, 32 states are seeing their COVID-19 infections climb, including highly vaccinated states like California, New York, and Illinois. The US should only look to the UK to see what happens when the Delta variant becomes totally dominant.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Saudi Prince Khalid bin Salman (Twitter)The prince is the first senior member of the Saudi ruling family to visit the US since Democratic President Joe Biden took office last January. The Biden administration ordered sanctions against the assassins and the senior advisor who supervised their bloody work, but took no action whatsoever against MBS himself. At the State Department, he held talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and Counselor Derek Chollet. At the Pentagon, he met with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark Milley. The official statements issued by the different US government agencies hosting the Saudi prince were all virtually identical.

Scott Applewhite)Biden has sought to counter this criticism by naming Vice President Kamala Harris to lead his efforts on voting rights and pledging to campaign publicly on the issue, but he has not actually done anything. Thursday’s meeting was the first White House event of the year devoted to the issue. While visiting in Florida earlier this week, where he met with families who lost relatives in the Surfside building collapse, Biden reiterated his pledge to take action on voting rights. That decision significantly limited the scope of Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, eight years after the high court gutted the main enforcement mechanism in the law, Section 5. They do not expect either the courts or the Congress to overturn the new straitjackets on voters being established by Republican state governments.

The paper, entitled “The Origins of SARS-CoV-2: A Critical Review,” was published as a preprint on Zenodo. The “Wuhan Lab” theory consists of piling speculative leaps on top of one another and claiming they add up to a convincing argument. The scientists’ response takes each of these speculations—for which there is no evidence to begin with—and explains their impossibility. With the resurgence of the pandemic caused by the Delta variant, governments around the world are doubling down on the demand that the population “live with” the COVID-19 pandemic. The Wuhan Lab theory has never been a real “theory,” in the sense of a scientific explanation rooted in empirical evidence.

Finalists in the Scripps National Spelling Bee got a visit from one of the nation’s most prominent educators: first lady Jill Biden. The first lady met with spellers and their families before the bee Thursday evening and made brief remarks onstage. Only the 11 finalists are competing in person, at an ESPN campus near Walt Disney World in Florida. First lady Jill Biden visits with friends and family members of the Scripps Spelling Bee contestants before the event. “In sixth grade I was my school’s spelling bee champion.

President Biden acknowledged it was “a God-awful thing to say,” but he said it anyway. “If Haiti just quietly sunk into the Caribbean or rose up 300 feet, it wouldn’t matter a whole lot in terms of our interest,” the longtime senator from Delaware said in a 1994 TV interview. He was justifying why he seemed so much more engaged in the turmoil afflicting the Balkans than the troubles facing this small country in America’s backyard, which the United States and its allies had just invaded to restore democratically elected leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power after a 1991 military coup. In Biden’s view, the war in Bosnia carried geopolitical relevance that Haiti — no matter its proximity to the United States or the suffering of its people — never could.

The NSA has reportedly leaked private emails from "Tucker Carlson Tonight" host Tucker Carlson to reporters, and legal scholar Jonathan Turley argued this could be a serious breach of federal law. "If reporters were given that information, it would be even more serious because even if your email itself was not classified, the intercept is," he said. I do national security work and it takes years for me to get access to a FISA warrant, I should say, or an NSA surveillance document." Turley explained that Tucker’s emails could have been lawfully intercepted if they had been shared with someone subject to NSA surveillance, or forwarded to someone who was intercepted. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP"We have journalists who are investigated in the Bush administration, the Obama administration, the Trump administration, the Biden administration," he said.

John Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate, will travel to Russia next week to discuss global collaboration to fight climate change with officials in the country, the State Department said in a statement. The meeting comes weeks after President Biden’s high stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and days after a $70 million global ransomware attack linked to Russian hackers that affected up to 1,500 businesses worldwide. JOHN KERRY CAUGHT MASKLESS AT AIRPORT IN 2ND MASK MISHAP THIS YEAR"The United States looks forward to working with Russia and other countries on that endeavor," Biden said at the time. China and then the United States lead the globe in climate-damaging emissions of coal and petroleum fumes, but Russia, at No. Kerry, former Secretary of State in the Obama administration, is encouraging other governments to commit to tough targets to cut emissions ahead of a U.N. global climate summit later this year.

EXCLUSIVE U.S. set to add more Chinese companies to blacklist over Xinjiang China · 3:56 AM UTCThe Biden administration is set as early as Friday to add more than 10 Chinese companies to its economic blacklist over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang, two sources told Reuters.

Some ultra conservative Republicans are trying to compare the Biden administration's tactics to get Americans vaccinated to those used in Nazi Germany. We discuss that with Eugene Robinson and Matthew Dowd.

Civil Rights leaders met with Pres. Biden and Vice Pres. Harris pushing the White House to react as Republicans continue to push laws aimed at voter suppression. Ashley Parker, Jonathan Lemire, and Melissa Murray all join to discuss.

His group, which works out of a cramped office in the shadow of Disney World, is targeting Latino would-be voters. We’re in the community and we’re staying.”Even as Joe Biden flipped heavily Hispanic Arizona to Democratic to clinch the presidency last November, he underperformed with many Latino voters elsewhere. But Democrats say a problem for them was that they waited until just before the election to intensify outreach to Latino communities. More Latino voters aren’t always a boon to Democrats in other parts of the country, either. Still, some conservative groups already have achieved the kind of ever-active Latino outreach campaigns Democrats envision.

Biden has brought in outside advocates for meetings at the White House and has consulted advisers on the best strategy for combating restrictive new laws. Most Republicans have similarly dismissed a separate bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore sections of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court previously weakened. Biden believes “that voting is a fundamental right for the American people,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki this week. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling last week upheld voting limits in Arizona that a lower court had found discriminatory under the federal Voting Rights Act. “Where’s your voting rights tour?

And he even skipped a rally in Sarasota headlined by former President Donald Trump, whose early endorsement was crucial in helping DeSantis win the governor’s race in 2018. But unlike the former president, DeSantis is showing that he can tone down some of his most extreme partisan rhetoric during a disaster. DeSantis’ handling of the tragedy appears to have caught some Democrats off guard, leaving them with no unified response. Nikki Fried, Florida’s Democratic agriculture commissioner who has also announced a bid for governor, praised local officials, Biden and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Friction between the two spilled into the public for the first time last week when Trump rebuffed DeSantis’ entreaties to postpone the rally in Sarasota.

President Joe Biden speaks about the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)President Joe Biden speaks about the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said in a Thursday speech from the White House’s East Room. Biden said that prolonging U.S. military involvement, considering Trump had already agreed to withdraw U.S. troops, would have led to an escalation of attacks on American troops and NATO allies. Biden added that 2,500 Afghans have been granted special immigrant visas since he took office in January.

Ahead of his Saturday reelection campaign launch, The Associated Press talked to Kemp about the race ahead, Abrams, Trump and the new Georgia political landscape. Ahead of his Saturday reelection campaign launch, The Associated Press talked to Kemp about the race ahead, Abrams, Trump and the new Georgia political landscape. Brian Kemp won the 2018 Republican primary for Georgia governor propelled by grassroots conservatives and a late endorsement from then-President Donald Trump. Ahead of his Saturday reelection campaign launch, The Associated Press talked to Kemp about the race ahead, Abrams, Trump and the new Georgia political landscape. But look, my role — and I’m going to always do this — I’m going to follow the law and the Constitution.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki lobbed a parting shot at former President Donald Trump's lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, and Google. A reporter, referencing Trump's lawsuit, asked Psaki if Biden stands by comments he made on the 2020 campaign trail about the need to "immediately" revoke Section 230. Trump contends those social media giants unfairly censor him and other influential conservatives — while also promoting liberal viewpoints. "I think it's safe to say that the president spends a lot less time obsessing over social media than the former president." Washington Examiner VideosTags: News, Joe Biden, Jen Psaki, White House, Donald Trump, Section 230, Facebook, Big Tech, Twitter, GoogleOriginal Author: Christian DatocOriginal Location: Psaki ends press briefing with a parting shot at Trump's long shot social media lawsuit

Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from New Orleans, Louisiana, won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, becoming the first African American contestant to win in 93 editions of the competition. Thursday night’s win is just one in a long list of achievements for the champion. On Instagram, where she has gained a following of more than 14,000 people, she has shared her victorious journey toward the national spelling bee as well as videos of her playing basketball, impressing her followers with her hoop skills. In addition to her spelling bee crown, Avant-garde was the Guinness World Records title holder for most bounce juggles in one minute. The National Spelling Bee competition began with 209 spellers, ranging from 9 to 15 years old, from five countries: the US, the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana and Japan.

President Joe Biden has reversed many of former President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration and border enforcement policies. More than 2,000 migrants crossed the Yuma border during the Fourth of July weekend, according to the Yuma Sun. The point of heightened border enforcement is to deter migrants from crossing the border, he said. They specifically point to prevention through deterrence, the set of policies the Border Patrol implemented in the 1990s. "But the way the Border Patrol goes about resolving this problem just exacerbates the problem."

Now she has become the first African-American winner in the 96-year history of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The only previous Black winner was also the only champ from outside the United States: Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica in 1998. It was moved from its usual location just outside Washington, D.C., to an ESPN campus in Florida, and only the top 11 spellers competed in person. “In sixth grade I was my school’s spelling bee champion. In 2019, Scripps’ word list was no match for the deep and talented field, and the bee ended in an eight-way tie.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)In 2020, it was widely reported that Joe Biden wanted to be a “transitional” president. At a campaign event in Detroit, appearing with several younger, more progressive Democratic politicians, he seemed to endorse this idea. Only his gains among moderate to conservative voting groups allowed him to prevail.”That brings me to why Biden needs a do-over. The base of the Democratic Party is obsessed with the idea that a massive transformation of American government is possible. Moreover, the longer the Democratic Party is committed to this fantasy, the longer it will be a minority party.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)I mostly disagreed with Steve Sebelius’ Sunday column (“Lombardo has a Donald Trump problem”), but one paragraph in particular stood out like a sore thumb. Mr. Sebelius writes that left-wing figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “make a lot of noise but don’t exercise the same chokehold” over the Democrats that Trump did in the GOP. Joe Biden ran and campaigned as a moderate who would unite the people and heal the country’s wounds. Try to be a little more honest, Mr. Sebelius.

Biden pushed back against the notion the U.S. mission has failed but also noted that it remains unlikely the government would control all of Afghanistan after the U.S. leaves. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said in a Thursday speech from the White House’s East Room. Biden said that prolonging U.S. military involvement, considering Trump had already agreed to withdraw U.S. troops, would have led to an escalation of attacks on American troops and NATO allies. The Pentagon said the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Scott Miller, is expected to end his tour of duty this month as final arrangements are made for a reduced U.S. military mission. Biden added that 2,500 Afghans have been granted special immigrant visas since he took office in January.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said the American military mission in Afghanistan will conclude by Aug. 31, arguing that the U.S. achieved its goals and should not seek to rebuild the nation. “I want to be clear: the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan continues through the end of August,” Biden said in a speech at the White House on Thursday. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome,” Biden said. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed earlier Thursday on the progress of the troop withdrawal. U.S. President Joe Biden speaks on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan at the White House on Thursday.

AdvertisementLouisiana teenager Zaila Avant-garde, 14, has made history by becoming the first African American student to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee in its 96-year history. Zaila has described spelling as a side hobby, although she routinely practiced for seven hours a day. 'In sixth grade, I was my school's spelling bee champion. The Scripps National Spelling Bee later tweeted: 'No one envies the judges on having to make these calls. Walker is a Heisman Trophy winner and helped steer the University of Georgia to a college football national championship.

Top White House officials said the order seeks to ensure small businesses and consumers have access to fair markets. “The overarching objective with the executive order is to make sure the president is encouraging competition in industries around the country,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday. That order — largely the work of Jason Furman, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers — came near the end of Obama’s presidency. Biden’s order will go a step beyond Obama’s by offering pointed suggestions for steps to take, rather than leaving implementation entirely to the agencies. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has yet to issue standards that would govern consumer requests and transfers, however, although it started a potential rulemaking on the subject in October.

U.S. and Chinese flags seen at the US Department of State on May 23, 2018. The Biden administration is set as early as Friday to add more than 10 Chinese companies to its economic blacklist over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang, two sources told Reuters. The U.S. Commerce Department action will follow its announcement last month adding five other companies and other Chinese entities to the blacklist over allegations of forced labor in the far western region of China. The additions to Commerce Department's Entity List are part of the Biden administration's efforts to hold China accountable for human rights violations, the sources said. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sen. Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulDemocrat Charles Booker launches Senate challenge against Rand Paul The Hill's Morning Report - Bidens to visit Surfside, Fla., collapse site Republicans raise early concerns over Biden infrastructure deal MORE (R-Ky.) vowed on Thursday to fight part of the public transportation mask mandate that requires passengers to wear face coverings when traveling on planes. "When the Senate returns to session, I will be introducing an immediate repeal of the mask mandate on planes," Paul wrote on Twitter. ADVERTISEMENTWhen the Senate returns to session, I will be introducing an immediate repeal of the mask mandate on planes. — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 8, 2021Paul's promise to tackle air travel masks requirements targets a portion of the public transportation executive order signed by Biden on his first day in office that requires face coverings on all public transportation, including airports and airplanes. https://t.co/NDCRUE3wCV — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 7, 2021Paul in May announced that he would not be getting the COVID-19 vaccine because he had already contracted the disease in March 2020.

A copy of the Fox host’s request, which was filed by one of his producers, showed that Carlson’s request for information from the NSA was extremely broad and covered a period dating back to Jan. 2019. “I am requesting any call records, texts, or emails the NSA has obtained from journalist Tucker Carlson’s cell phone or email,” the Tucker Carlson Tonight producer wrote. “I am requesting any memos or documents related to surveilling journalist Tucker Carlson. Following Carlson’s over-the-top reaction to his FOIA request, Klippenstein noted on Twitter that it was “funny” since he was “seemingly one of the few people” who thought it was plausible the NSA could have incidentally collected information on the Fox host. “So I FOIA’d his FOIA to find out specifics,” Klippenstein added.

A suspect charged in connection with the drive-by shooting that wounded three undercover law enforcement officers in Chicago claimed he mistook them for members of a rival gang, according to a federal indictment filed Thursday. Eugene “Gen Gen” McClaurin, 28, was accused of shooting two federal agents and a local cop as they drove in an unmarked police vehicle on Chicago’s South Side early Wednesday. After his arrest, McClaurin told investigators he followed the officers because he thought they were part of an opposing gang, the indictment states. He then allegedly admitted to pulling up alongside the officers’ vehicle, rolling down his window and opening fire inside. Eugene “Gen Gen” McClaurin is accused of shooting two federal agents and one Chicago police officer.

Apparently, they don’t think so. The Biden administration is no longer accepting excuses. The Biden administration is no longer pro-choice. So, does the Biden Administration have a right, based on the money they spend fighting these diseases, to your medical information? This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the July 8, 2021, edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

The Biden administration is set as early as Friday to add at least 10 more Chinese companies and other entities to its economic blacklist over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang, two sources told Reuters. The U.S. Commerce Department action will follow its announcement last month adding five other Chinese entities to the blacklist over forced labor allegations in Xinjiang. The new additions to Commerce Department's Entity List are part of the Biden administration's ongoing efforts to hold China accountable for human rights violations, the sources said. Some companies from other countries are also set to be added to the blacklist as soon as Friday. The White House declined to comment, while the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The truth is just the opposite: The West cannot survive without a strong Europe. During the Cold War, Washington wasn’t shy about exercising its power in a more naked fashion when dealing with Japan, Indonesia or the Philippines. First, as China replaced Russia as the main rival to the United States, Europe is now far removed from the center of the action. If Europe is at risk of being taken over by Russia or China, who is in a position to stop them? The European Union would be in a position of weakness.

REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang/File PhotoWASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) - The Biden administration is set as early as Friday to add more than 10 Chinese companies to its economic blacklist over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang, two sources told Reuters. The U.S. Commerce Department action will follow its announcement last month adding five other companies and other Chinese entities to the blacklist over allegations of forced labor in the far western region of China. One of the sources said the department plans to add 14 Chinese companies to the Entity List over reported abuses in Xinjiang. Some companies from other countries are also set to be added to the department's blacklist as soon as Friday. The White House declined to comment, while the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber Commerce have endorsed the bipartisan infrastructure plan. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, a former union president, says that labor organizations and the business community both want the “good-paying jobs” the Biden infrastructure plan will create.

At least 10 more Chinese companies will soon be added to the U.S. economic blacklist over alleged human-rights violations, Reuters reported Thursday night. The Biden administration is set to announce the move as soon as Friday, according to Reuters.

KABUL (Reuters) - A prominent anti-Taliban commander with private militia will help Afghan forces in their fight against Taliban insurgents to claw back control over parts of western Afghanistan including a border crossing with Iran, local officials said on Friday. A former minister Mohammad Ismail Khan and a survivor of a Taliban attack in 2009 was a key member of the Northern Alliance whose militia helped U.S. forces in toppling the Taliban in 2001. Taliban and Afghan government officials were not immediately available to share details about the intense clashes in Herat. Political members of the Taliban visiting Moscow assured Russian officials of their commitment to allow foreign embassies and aid groups to operate in Afghanistan even after the final exit of foreign forces. The mastermind of that attack, Osama bin Laden, was killed by a U.S. military team in neighbouring Pakistan in 2011.

Bonds, meanwhile, rallied strongly as investors factored in a lower-for-longer interest rate scenario, easing expectations that reflating economies would force rates to rise through the second half of the year. "The reflation trade is shocked but not dead," said Jim Vogel, interest rate strategist at FHN Financial in Memphis, since rates will eventually have to rise. "People have been persistently too optimistic because the first four months of year were just gang-busters good," he said. Investor optimism about the pace of recovery is being tempered after months spent overlooking some bearish economic signals. Spot gold prices fell $4.375 or 0.24%, to $1,799.03 an ounce.

The Biden administration is set as early as Friday to add at least 10 more Chinese companies and other entities to its economic blacklist over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang, two sources told Reuters. The U.S. Commerce Department action will follow its announcement last month adding five other Chinese entities to the blacklist over forced labor allegations in Xinjiang. CHINA’S CYBER WATCHDOG TO POLICE CHINESE OVERSEAS LISTINGSThe exact number of entities being added or their identities were not immediately known. Some companies from other countries are also set to be added to the blacklist as soon as Friday. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESSThe White House declined to comment, while the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two men believed to be Haitian Americans — one of them purportedly a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Port au Prince — have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti’s president, Haitian officials said Thursday. The oldest suspect is 55 and the youngest, Solages, is 35, according to a document shared by Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections. He would not provide additional details about Solages’ background, nor provide the name of the second Haitian American. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian Americans were in custody but could not confirm or comment. On his bio page for the charity, Solages said he previously worked as a bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti.

KABUL – A prominent anti-Taliban commander with private militia will help Afghan forces in their fight against Taliban insurgents to claw back control over parts of western Afghanistan including a border crossing with Iran, local officials said on Friday. A former minister Mohammad Ismail Khan and a survivor of a Taliban attack in 2009 was a key member of the Northern Alliance whose militia helped U.S. forces in toppling the Taliban in 2001. Taliban and Afghan government officials were not immediately available to share details about the intense clashes in Herat. Political members of the Taliban visiting Moscow assured Russian officials of their commitment to allow foreign embassies and aid groups to operate in Afghanistan even after the final exit of foreign forces. The mastermind of that attack, Osama bin Laden, was killed by a U.S. military team in neighbouring Pakistan in 2011.

The immigration pathway established to serve Afghans who assisted American forces is called the special immigrant visa (SIV). With the American option looking unlikely, many are fleeing to other countries instead, fearing murder at the hands of the Taliban. Two men who were unable to get visas through the SIV program have told Reason the stories of their dangerous escapes from Afghanistan. He and his family tried Turkey, but they were denied visas. When asked what life is like for his wife and young children in their new country, Saberi says: "It is really bad and tough for them."

Now she has become the first African American winner in the 96-year history of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Zaila twirled and leaped with excitement after spelling the winning word “murraya,” a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees. I know what you are and I can’t get you.”Zaila only started spelling in time to qualify for the 2019 bee. “In sixth grade I was my school’s spelling bee champion. In 2019, Scripps’ word list was no match for the deep and talented field, and the bee ended in an eight-way tie.

Eleven students competed in the 93rd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Orlando, Florida on Thursday. But Zaila Avant-garde, 14, from New Orleans, won the Scripps Cup after spelling "Murraya." Murraya is "a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees having pinnate leaves and flowers with imbricated petals," according to Spelling Bee officials. After correctly spelling "Murraya," Avant-garde took home $50,000, the Scripps Cup and a slate of other prizes. A historic spelling bee returnsIn 2020, the spelling bee was canceled for the first time since 1945 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Fox News host Sean Hannity blasted the Biden administration for portraying weakness in the face of America's foreign adversaries Thursday on "Hannity." And so does America's enemies," Hannity said. "Today yet again he struggled to get words out during his one and only publicly scheduled event," Hannity said. "As I said earlier this week, I honestly can no longer laugh, I can't joke about Biden's cognitive struggles. Now, the Biden administration is planning on withdrawing from Afghanistan leaving many concerned the Taliban will immediately take full controlHannity said, "Biden is getting steamrolled by America's enemies… None of these hostile actors fear or respect Joe Biden, neither does the Taliban."

But now, the younger Biden's art can be added to that category, the host said. OBAMA ETHICS CHIEF BLASTS SECRET HUNTER BIDEN ART SCHEME ARRANGED BY WHITE HOUSE"The idea's that even Hunter won't know, but the WH has outsourced government ethics to a private art dealer," Shaub continued. The host noted that art consultant Martin Galindo recently told the New York Post that another of Hunter Biden's pieces – which Steyn also presented – "looks like COVID." Further, Steyn proffered that Hunter Biden's secretive art sales are a much more effective "grift" than previous Democratic presidential families allegedly questionable ethics. Well Hunter's half-million dollar Coronascape is the Clinton Foundation diarrhea speech of contemporary art," he said, calling it a "better racket than the Clinton Foundation."

People who are fully vaccinated do not need a COVID-19 booster, health and drug officials said Thursday. The agencies said that those who are vaccinated are protected from variants, including the surging delta variant. The United States leads the world with the highest reported death toll at more than 600,000, followed by Brazil and India. Research shows two doses of mRNA vaccines offer strong protection against the highly contagious delta variant. “This process takes into account laboratory data, clinical trial data, and cohort data — which can include data from specific pharmaceutical companies, but does not rely on those data exclusively.

JERUSALEM, July 8 (Reuters) - Israel will this year double its supply of water to Jordan and encourage Amman to export more to the Palestinians, Israeli officials said on Thursday after a source told Reuters the new Israeli prime minister had secretly met the Jordanian king. Jordan is a key security partner for Israel but relations have suffered in recent years over Israeli-Palestinian tensions. Separately, a source who declined to be identified by name or nationality said Netanyahu's successor, Naftali Bennett, made an unannounced Amman visit last week to see King Abdullah. Lapid said Israel would sell its neighbour 50 million cubic metres of water this year. A Jordanian official said Israel gives the kingdom 30 million cubic metres annually under their 1994 peace treaty.

People who are fully vaccinated do not need a Covid-19 booster, health and drug officials said Thursday. The agencies said that those who are vaccinated are protected from variants, including the surging delta variant. The United States leads the world with the highest reported death toll at more than 600,000, followed by Brazil and India. Research shows two doses of mRNA vaccines offer strong protection against the highly contagious delta variant. The delta variant, which is more transmissible and has been linked to more severe illness in younger adults, is now the dominant strain in the United States, the CDC said last week.

Two suspects in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise are moved to be displayed to the press at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)Two suspects in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise are moved to be displayed to the press at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two men believed to be Haitian Americans — one of them purportedly a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Port au Prince — have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti’s president, Haitian officials said Thursday. The oldest suspect is 55 and the youngest, Solages, is 35, according to a document shared by Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian Americans were in custody but could not confirm or comment.

Biden has brought in outside advocates for meetings at the White House and has consulted advisers on the best strategy for combating restrictive new laws. Most Republicans have similarly dismissed a separate bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore sections of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court previously weakened. AdvertisementBiden believes "that voting is a fundamental right for the American people,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki this week. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling last week upheld voting limits in Arizona that a lower court had found discriminatory under the federal Voting Rights Act. “Where’s your voting rights tour?

Biden and Lightfoot met after a brutal July 4 weekend with 104 people shot and 19 of them killed. Lightfoot was in San Francisco on a trip to promote Chicago as a national tech center. “And no, we don’t need federal troops; we need federal resources of a different kind. I asked Lightfoot if she expected the Biden team to need the whole month. The strike force will likely focus on illegal gun trafficking to stop the flow of illegal weapons to the city.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will meet with Russian officials in Moscow next week, making him the highest-ranking Biden administration official to visit Russia so far, at a time when the two countries are at odds. 4 globally due to its dependence on coal burning, is an outsize contributor to climate change relative to the size of its economy and population. Kerry, former Secretary of State in the Obama administration, is encouraging other governments to commit to tough targets to cut emissions ahead of a U.N. global climate summit later this year. Russian President Vladimir Putin took part by video in President Joe Biden's April climate summit. The trip comes as the two nations spar over ransomware attacks blamed on gangs linked to Russia, putting Biden under domestic pressure to punish Russia over the hacking.

The origins of Sars-Cov-2, which was first identified in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019, have become a highly contentious topic. US President Joe Biden also upped the ante by calling for more investigations into the so-called "lab leak" theory earlier this year after questions were raised by the intelligence community. But the scientists said that the recent focus on the lab leak theory should not preclude proper study into the zoonotic origins. "The 'lab leak' scenario flip-flops between it was made in a lab versus it was an accidental release of a natural virus, neither of which there’s any evidence for. If there was any evidence, of course we’d take any scenario seriously - that’s how science works, it’s fully about evaluating and re-evaluating evidence.

Group mind-reading, especially when directed toward such a disparate section of the political media, is hazardous. Stewart’s declaration demolished the charges of racist bigotry on the part of the former president, on this subject at least. Trump has retained the support of more than 40 percent of Americans, and larger percentages of Republicans, in polling since leaving office. Conrad Black is an essayist and author of 10 books, including three on Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and Donald Trump. He co-hosts the "Scholars & Sense" podcast with former Education Secretary Bill Bennett and Hoover Institution scholar Victor Davis Hanson.

The possibility that nuclear weapons will be used in a regional or global conflict has increased over the past decade, according to a newly released report from the Pentagon. In an eye-catching introduction to the first chapter, the report states that while the US has tried to “reduce the number and salience of nuclear weapons, others, including Russia and China, have moved in the opposite direction. “They have added new types of nuclear capabilities to their arsenal, increased the salience of nuclear forces in their strategies and plans, and engaged in increasingly aggressive behavior,” the report continues. Meanwhile, the U.S. envoy to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva said Thursday that China is “looking at” developing naval and aerial autonomous nuclear weapons systems. The report name-checks North Korea and Iran as potential nuclear threats.

Leaders from top civil rights groups visited the White House Thursday to urge the administration to work with Congress and pass voting legislation. "We informed them this is going to come not from the White House down but from our houses up." The civil rights groups said Congress needs to pass the "For the People Act" and the "John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act" to counter what they believe is a targeted attack against minority voters. The White House meeting comes one week after the Supreme Court ruled to uphold new voting regulations in Arizona. But Democrats have argued GOP-led legislation on voting rights nationwide is an attempt to weaken Democratic votes in the lead up to the 2022 midterms.

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., has long advocated for a plan to evacuate the nearly 18,000 Afghan interpreters, allies and their families from Afghanistan before the full withdrawal of U.S. troops. He told CNBC's "The News with Shepard Smith" that President Joe Biden's speech Thursday represented a step in the right direction. "This was a huge win today, for all of our Afghan friends and allies," said Moulton, a Marine who served four tours in Iraq. Biden defended the U.S. military's rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan after a reporter asked if the Taliban takeover in the country is inevitable. "The Afghan troops have 300,000 well equipped, as well equipped as any army in the world, and an air force, against something like 75,000 Taliban," Biden said.

And it's the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country," he said. Addressing critics of his decision directly, Biden asked: "How many thousands more Americans, daughters and sons, were you willing to risk? Biden said the United States plans to move thousands of Afghan interpreters out of the country in August and they can safely apply for U.S. visas. But Biden said Afghan troops far outnumber the Taliban, 300,000 to 75,000, and that a Taliban takeover can be stopped. "There's going to be no circumstance you're going to see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy in the -- of the United States from Afghanistan.

The cleavages in American society have become so extreme that where one lives and how one votes increasingly has life and death consequences. And no recent issue better exemplifies this phenomenon than the growing red state/blue state divide over Covod-19 vaccinations. So far, only 18 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have surpassed the 70 percent marker for vaccinations. Decades ago, most American states saw similar improvements in life expectancy; all boats tended to rise as one. On the anniversary of our independence, America is less a country united and far more a house divided.

President Joe Biden speaks about the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)President Joe Biden speaks about the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 8, 2021, in Washington. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said in a speech from the White House’s East Room. Biden said that prolonging U.S. military involvement, considering Trump had already agreed to withdraw U.S. troops, would have led to an escalation of attacks on American troops and NATO allies. Biden added that 2,500 Afghans have been granted special immigrant visas since he took office in January.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will meet with Russian officials in Moscow next week, making him the highest-ranking Biden administration official to visit Russia so far, at a time when the two countries are at odds. Kerry, former Secretary of State in the Obama administration, is encouraging other governments to commit to tough targets to cut emissions ahead of a U.N. global climate summit later this year. Russian President Vladimir Putin took part by video in President Joe Biden’s April climate summit. The trip comes as the two nations spar over ransomware attacks blamed on gangs linked to Russia, putting Biden under domestic pressure to punish Russia over the hacking. Arms control is one area where both Russia and the United States are pursuing new agreements.

A group of more than 20 prominent business and labor groups urged Congress on Thursday to move forward with the $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal reached through negotiations by a bipartisan group of Senate lawmakers. The coalition said the proposed infrastructure deal would be a "critical component of long-term economic growth and improved quality of life for every American." Portman and Sinema touted support from business and labor groups in a joint statement. "We welcome the support of a strong and diverse coalition of employers and workers for this bipartisan infrastructure framework," the senators said. "The $1.2 trillion "bipartisan" package that was announced last week was a betrayal of basic conservative values of fiscal responsibility.

J.B. Pritzker said he would ban local jails from detaining people facing deportation by signing the Illinois Way Forward Act into law. The governor spoke Thursday to a crowd of about 500 people gathered outside the Thompson Center at a rally organized by the Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) to push Illinois leaders to support immigration legislation. “In Illinois, all our families deserve to feel safe and secure,” Pritzker said during his speech. This is about keeping a promise and this is us holding them accountable.”Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Marie Newman (D-Ill.) urged support for immigration reform. The crowd ended the rally by marching from the Thompson Center to Federal Plaza chanting, “Abolish ICE,” and “Power to the people.”

By Mark Hicks and Ben WilsonThe Detroit NewsDetroit — The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said a proposed bipartisan infrastructure deal would upgrade water infrastructure to help Michigan communities in flood-prone areas and replace 10 million lead pipes nationally as well as in Michigan. "President Biden and a bipartisan infrastructure framework will help us eliminate these lead pipes, improve the resiliency of our infrastructure, and most importantly, support communities for recovery from disaster," said EPA Administrator Michael Regan. "We see the need to replace and upgrade water infrastructure to revitalize those communities — for the next century," he said. Regan estimated that over the next 20 years, Michigan's drinking water infrastructure could require $13 billion in additional funding. FEMA officials were in the field assessing damage on Thursday as Duggan detailed a plan to help residents recover with federal help.

WASHINGTON — The White House has helped develop a system for Hunter Biden to sell pieces of his art without him, or anyone in the administration, knowing who bought them, the latest effort to respond to criticism over how President Biden’s son makes his money. Under the arrangement, a New York City art dealer would sell the paintings, which the dealer has said he is pricing at between $75,000 and $500,000, while keeping secret all information about the sales, according to a person familiar with the plan. The gallerist, Georges Bergès, has agreed to not share any information about the buyers or prices of Hunter Biden’s work with anyone. Mr. Bergès has also agreed to reject any offer that appears suspicious, such as one well beyond the asking price, the person familiar with the matter said. Hunter Biden has been under scrutiny for years over business dealings around the world that often intersected with his father’s official duties.

Five from Florida charged with violent acts during Jan. 6 riots at U.S. Capitol. Group members carried zip-ties, punched and hit officers with flagpoles, according to Justice Department officials. WASHINGTON — Five people from Florida have been charged with attacking police officers and other offenses during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol building, according to documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice Thursday. Doolin, Perkins, Hutchinsonand Pollock were charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, among other charges. Doolin, armed with zip-tie handcuffs and a riot-control chemical canister, is the only defendant not accused of assaulting officers, according to the report.

Spot the difference:We say: Make up your mind, American Federation of Teachers. Last month, the nation’s second-largest teachers union bragged that its “educators” are “teaching critical race theory” in schools. Yet this week, AFT President Randi Weingarten denied it, even as she also vowed to defend those who teach it. [which] continue to terrorize migrant communities.”— Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), in a video interview uploaded WednesdayRep. Rashida Tlaib wants to eliminate ICE and Homeland Security from the US. ), which is plainly pushing prices up.

John F. Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said the military was looking at relocating Afghan interpreters and their families to U.S. territories, American military installations outside the United States, and in other countries outside of Afghanistan. In essence, Mr. Biden said the longest war in United States history should have ended a decade ago, when Bin Laden was killed. The rapid American withdrawal, he said, was a matter of safety. “Our military commanders advised me that once I made the decision to end the war, we needed to move swiftly to conduct the main elements of the drawdown,” Mr. Biden said. At another time in the country’s history, Mr. Biden’s speech, and the final withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, might have roiled politics in the United States.

It’s for stopping the worst. Democrats also hold a nine-seat majority in the House of Representatives. Since 1946, the sitting president’s party has lost an average of 25 House seats in midterm elections. “The American people right now, I think, have given us a 50-50 government,” McConnell said Thursday. I don’t think the American people voted for all of this.”It’s unclear if Sen. Ron Johnson will run again.

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute 82% of hate crime suspects investigated from 2005 to 2019, according to a report released by the department Thursday. The report follows Attorney General Merrick Garland's recent efforts to improve the Justice Department's role in combating hate crimes and hate incidents. Decisions to prosecute hate crimes generally lie with the office of United States attorneys in the nation's 94 judicial districts. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on the report's findings. The conviction rate for all hate crimes increased from 83% during 2005 to 2009 to 94% in 2015 to 2019.

The figures were based on records released by the Secret Service in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the newspaper. No law prevents Trump from charging the Secret Service — and there are no caps on what he can charge, the Post reported. But it’s highly unusual for a former president to earn income from Secret Service charges. The Post could find only one other individual under Secret Service protection who had charged the agency rent: Joe Biden. The former president extended Secret Service protection to 13 family members and at least three of his top appointees for an additional six months after his term expired.

Two suspects in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise are moved to be displayed to the press at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)Two suspects in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise are moved to be displayed to the press at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two men believed to be Haitian Americans — one of them purportedly a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Port au Prince — have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti’s president, Haitian officials said Thursday. The oldest suspect is 55 and the youngest, Solages, is 35, according to a document shared by Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian Americans were in custody but could not confirm or comment.

Biden has brought in outside advocates for meetings at the White House and has consulted advisers on the best strategy for combating restrictive new laws. Most Republicans have similarly dismissed a separate bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore sections of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court previously weakened. Biden believes “that voting is a fundamental right for the American people,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki this week. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling last week upheld voting limits in Arizona that a lower court had found discriminatory under the federal Voting Rights Act. “Where’s your voting rights tour?

After the White House rebuked Gov. Mike Parson Thursday for saying Missouri would not welcome a federal door-to-door vaccination outreach strategy, the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) appeared to walk back his statements. “Door-to-door outreach is not an action we have taken at the state level, but that’s not to say it hasn’t been utilized at the local level,” Cox wrote. Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, told reporters any door-to-door outreach was being conducted on a local level by doctors, faith leaders and other trusted community messengers in partnership with the administration. It is not clear if any local health officials in Missouri have attempted physical door-to-door vaccine outreach efforts.

Their frustration with the White House stems both from its response to Richardson’s disqualification and from the general lack of movement forward on marijuana policy. In response, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) called Biden’s strategy “impractical at best and disingenuous at worst,” in part because the group argues that it would do little to harmonize state and federal marijuana laws. At the same time, they said they wished the White House had tried to do more to push legalization forward. In March, The Daily Beast reported that the White House had punished dozens of young staffers for marijuana use. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)Some advocates for marijuana legalization also expressed disappointment with Vice President Kamala Harris.

The stock market has been booming. ‘Biden World’ wants to tax profits to death. They want to raise, capital gains tax, the estate tax, the individual tax, and Lord knows what else they will propose. We were the swing producers in the global oil market but now we've given that key role back to Saudi Arabia, Russia and OPEC. I will wonder out loud if it's affecting the stock market, the economy, business etc.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Two men believed to be Haitian-Americans — one of them purportedly a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince — have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti’s president, a senior Haitian official said Thursday. The US State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian Americans were in custody but could not confirm or comment. Joseph, meanwhile, was supposed to be replaced by Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who had been named prime minister by Moïse a day before the assassination. Henry told the AP that he is the prime minister, calling it an exceptional and confusing situation. “I am the prime minister in office,” he said.

The goal, Downing said during Thursday, would be to increase capacity in the system and eliminate “child care deserts” in parts of the state where demand can sometimes outpace available seats by a three-to-one margin. The cap, Downing said, would be phased in over three to five years as the state increases direct investment in child care centers to expand capacity. Advertisement“That’s all a matter of building consensus for the funding, whether it’s Fair Share or comprehensive tax reform, but you have to find a way to do it,” Downing said. In addition to waitlists made longer after many home-based centers were forced to close during the pandemic, the average cost of child care in Massachusetts is $21,000, according to Downing’s campaign. Downing also said he would create a Childcare Coordinating Council to help families access non-child care services, such as health care, diaper banks, and supplemental nutrition benefits.

James Solages and Joseph Vincent were among 17 suspects detained in the brazen killing of President Jovenel Moïse by gunmen at his home in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday. The oldest suspect is 55 and the youngest, Solages, is 35, according to a document shared by Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections. He would not provide additional details about Solages’ background, nor provide the name of the second Haitian American. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian Americans were in custody but could not confirm or comment. On his bio page for the charity, Solages said he previously worked as a bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti.

Pete Buttigieg has called out lawmakers who believe it is politically advantageous to “pick on” transgender children, while talking about overall LGBT+ progress. Mr Buttigieg is the first openly gay person to be confirmed to the US Cabinet by the Senate. Mr Buttigieg explained, “It wasn’t that long ago, if you look at the ‘50s, there was a historical episode called the Lavender Scare. “High school is terrifying when you’re transgender. “And these kids have the courage to be who they are, and they just want to be accepted, go to the bathroom like everybody else and play sports like everybody else and live,” Mr Buttigieg added.

In April, Montana’s senate Bill 314 set a figure that would allow hunters to kill up to 85 per cent of the state’s wolves. It’s hiring contract killers to get paid to kill wolves,” she tells The Independent. He claims there is widespread evidence, not only that wolves attack and kill livestock, but that they do not simply kill for food but also “surplus kill”. “I hope more wolves are shot and more wolves killed, and will have more elk and will have more big game and more livestock,” he says. “The US Fish and Wildlife Service should immediately return Endangered Species Act protections to these wolves to halt the impending statewide slaughters before it’s too late.”In some places, wolves have been doing better.

The president of Haiti has been killed in an attack at his home, an official has said. The interim prime minister, Dr Claude Joseph, said Jovenel Moise had died in an assassination at his private home in the Caribbean country. “The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti,” said President Biden. The French Foreign Minister, Jean Yves Le Drian, called it a “cowardly assassination”, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “shocked and saddened”. The interim prime minister said Haiti’s police and army were in control of the country’s safety.

The Democratic National Committee will launch a $25m effort to promote voting rights and register more Americans to vote following a nationwide campaign among Republican lawmakers to restrict ballot access. Last week, the US Supreme Court court upheld two Arizona laws that voting rights advocates argued have disproportionately hurt minority voters in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Democratic lawmakers and voting rights advocates urged Congress to revive proposals to expand voting access and restore the Voting Rights Act, now hobbled by two decisions from the nation’s high court within the last decade. “After all we have been through to deliver the promise of this nation to all Americans, we should be fully enforcing voting rights laws, not weakening them,” he said. This is all designed, I believe, to make it harder for you to vote, so you don’t vote,” the vice president said.

Mr Biden was a young man when the Vietnam War raged. Those words echoed when Mr Biden mentioned in his address on Thursday that the US would exit by 31 August of this year. At the same time, Mr Biden also has the opportunity to rectify his own sins in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. “I feel put upon in being presented an all-or-nothing number,” Mr Biden said at the time. There are pros and cons to both: Mr Biden risks being a captive to the past.

"I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome,” said the president. Biden vows, "I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome." “There is a home for you in the US if you so choose,” Mr Biden said on Thursday, addressing the Afghans. But the Taliban, Mr Biden, added, lack the capability to overwhelm Afghanistan’s government and do not pose a significant threat of taking over. They're not remotely comparable in terms of capability,” Mr Biden asserted.

The US Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority is looking to take away your rights. Yet a look at past decisions cast by the Supreme Court Justices means we need to take this challenge seriously. Justice Thomas has criticized abortion jurisprudence and said that the Supreme Court should be open to reconsidering precedent, including on abortion rights, in the past. This issue and others that progressives face with a testosterone-heavy, conservative Supreme Court could be changed by President Biden and the Democratically-held Congress. In April of this year, Biden issued an executive order to study reforms to the Supreme Court.

Security forces conduct an investigation as a soldier stands guard at the entrance to the residence of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (AP)Leadership chaos as incoming prime minister declares interim prime minister illegitimateThe country’s interim prime minister Claude Joseph has assumed leadership of Haiti, placing police and military in control of security. I am an appointed Prime Minister, Claude was an interim Prime Minister who resumed his positions as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Bocchit Edmond speaks of the late Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, during an interview with the Associated Press in his office at the Embassy of Haiti in Washington, Wednesday. Mr Biden’s formal statement from the White House released earlier said: "We are shocked and saddened to hear of the horrific assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the attack on First Lady Martine Moïse of Haiti.

Civil rights leaders said they informed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris activists would be 'getting back into the streets' as voting rights legislation has stalled on Capitol Hill. Sharpton also divulged that Harris - who has been tasked by Biden to deal with voting rights - agreed to participate in some direct action. The focus on voter rights comes ahead of the 2022 midterms and after several states have passed more restrictive voting rights laws. Senate Republicans last month blocked national voting rights legislation. 'Certainly he conveyed he wants to speak to the country about voting rights and how he's going to address it moving forward.

Jonathan Ferro, co-anchor of Bloomberg Surveillance on Bloomberg Television, took Buttigieg to task over the policy, which he said was illogical. 'I have spoken to scientists about this, and there is no scientific rationale for that policy,' said Ferro. Jonathan Ferro (left) spoke to Pete Buttigieg, the Transport Secretary, on Thursday morning for Bloomberg Television. 'You didn't have to watch your father's funeral down the screen of an iPhone on Tuesday,' he told Buttigieg. You didn't have to watch your mum stand by your father's casket at a funeral two days ago because you won't do what I'm describing.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki is seen speaking answering questions in a daily press briefing at the White House in Washington on Thursday, in this image captured from the White House website. (White House website)WASHINGTON -- The United States is still considering the possibility of its first lady, Jill Biden, traveling to Japan for the summer Olympics there, a White House spokeswoman said Thursday. Her remarks come shortly after Tokyo said the Olympics will take place without any spectators, amid a resurgence in COVID-19 infection cases in Japan. Psaki earlier noted President Joe Biden would not attend the Tokyo Olympic Games as the US continues to advise its people to avoid visiting Japan. The US has a Level 3 travel advisory on Japan, the second highest warning that advises US travelers to "reconsider" visiting Japan due to COVID-19.

McConnell, speaking at an event in Kentucky, said that American voters have a "big decision" to make in 2022, when control of both the House and Senate are up for grabs. If the House and Senate were to return to Republican hands that doesn't mean nothing happens," McConnell said. "The Georgia Senate races, however, do determine whether or not the Democrats will control the entire government. McConnell and Biden have a decades-long relationship including serving in the Senate together and cutting deals during the Obama administration. But McConnell has repeatedly said that he personally likes Biden while accusing his former colleague of shifting to the left.

Brussels, Jul 8 (EFE).- The Belgian Parliament passed on Thursday a resolution condemning the Chinese state’s repression of Uyghur ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region as crimes against humanity with serious risk of genocide. “The parliament took a very courageous decision,” said green party Belgian legislator Samuel Cogolati, co-author of the document, who mentioned the chamber had heard shocking testimony and proof of “torture, but also of illegal arrests of more than a million innocent Uyghur people.”The Belgian Chamber of Representatives is the sixth national parliament to recognize the Uyghur genocide, following the Netherlands, Canada, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. United States President Joe Biden is also part of the group classifying Beijing’s mass detention of Uyghurs in “reeducation camps” as genocide. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, among other international NGOs, have also condemned the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the use of internment camps. The resolution has been a source of diplomatic tension between the European nation and China, which urged Belgium to amend its “mistake” after the resolution moved from the foreign affairs committee onto the general assembly.

US war in Afghanistan ending, support will endureUS officials say "support for the Afghan people, for the Afghan government will endure," as President Joe Biden says the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on Aug. 31.

In June, the European Union officially recommended its member countries reopen their borders to American tourists after more than a year of tight restrictions. The United Kingdom has also placed the United States on an “amber” list, which means American travelers are allowed in, but must quarantine for 10 days and show proof of a negative coronavirus test. Although President Donald J. Trump briefly ordered an end to the ban on European travelers during his last week in office, President Biden quickly rescinded the move. Discussions about when to resume inbound travel have been opaque. In late June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was too soon to say when the United States would lift travel curbs for European Union citizens.

But for legal weed, the future looks bright green, which is why even conservative small towns like mine are authorizing so-called dispensaries. “I thought you guys still made some stuff here, but the only signs I saw were for weed stores,” one of them said. Here is the future that Big Dope wants (Big Finance and Big Tech, too): a nation of drug-addled semi-employed morons addicted to junk food delivered by wage slaves, pornography, Internet gambling and whatever crass entertainment is suggested by the algorithm. The glory days of the Big Three and the United Auto Workers are never coming back. A world in which slinging dope is a generation’s only meaningful employment prospect is one that will eventually destroy itself.

The D.C.-based think tank said predicting the “X Date” in which the country will no longer be able to meet its financial obligations “could be particularly unpredictable,” forecasting it would likely default “sometime in fall 2021” if Congress does not take action to raise the debt ceiling. “The Treasury Department’s actions inadvertently bought Congress additional time, but they should not fritter it away,” Akabas continued. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has urged Congress to take action on the debt ceiling before the end of July. Greg Nash/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo“In 2019, the possibility of an earlier than expected X Date forced Congress’ hand and spurred action prior to the August recess. The current debt limit suspension is slated to expire on July 31, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging lawmakers to act before the end of the month.

Al Sharpton visited the White House on Thursday to talk political strategy with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. “We informed them this is going to come not from the White House down but from our houses up.”Sharpton tweeted an image of the small group that met with Biden, Harris and White House officials. Sharpton, 66, gained national fame through his bombastic and factually flexible commentary on race relations — and it’s unclear how exactly Biden and Harris intend to harness his talents to pass legislation. Al Sharpton leaves the West Wing of the White House on July 8, 2021. The two topics on which Biden and Harris solicited Sharpton’s views have significantly different federal outlooks.

You could witness the defunders’ plea for attention in the wee hours of the morning Thursday at Washington Square Park. The effect was to foreground the misery of the numerous addicts who call the park and nearby streets home: a world bathed in crack smoke, drenched in urine, murmuring with the fragmentary, delusional self-talk of lost souls. My guide to this other Washington Square world — the world of the addicts — was Damon (not his real name). In the most generous telling, I think, that’s the moral fire that animates the militant kids in the park. Related Video Video length 49 seconds :49 Vendor attacked in chaotic June night at Washington Square Park Vendor attacked in chaotic June night at Washington Square ParkIn this sense, the defunders aren’t radical enough (in the sense of going to the root of something).

That the opposition has embraced such a radical and risky course reflects profound frustration at the failure of the outside world to act decisively against the coup. While the United States and the European Union have adopted some sanctions, China and Russia have blocked action by the U.N. Security Council, and the response of Asian countries, including India and Japan, has been weak. There are steps the West could take to substantially raise the pressure, including blocking the nearly $500 million in annual revenue the regime receives for natural gas exports. member France has resisted that step; the French company Total is a partner in the gas production. The Biden administration could probably block the flow of funds unilaterally, since they are denominated in dollars, but that would contravene its policy of working in concert with European allies.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the Democratic National Committee is making a $25 million investment in countering GOP legislation and laws tightening voting requirements. The vice president did not say if certain states would be prioritized over others. Harris and President Biden also met Thursday with civil rights leaders to discuss voting in the U.S., along with criminal justice reform. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued that Arizona’s new voting regulations were merely "quintessential examples of the usual burdens of voting." But Harris said Thursday that the 28 new voting laws implemented across the U.S. served one purpose – to "make it harder for you to vote."

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailPresident Biden says U.S. will complete Afghanistan withdrawal by August 31NBC News' Courtney Kube joins CNBC's "The News with Shepard Smith" to report on how the Afghan military might contend with surging Taliban forces, as the U.S. begins a complete withdrawal of troops after nearly 20 years of war in the country.

Over the past week, the White House has trickled out information on various aspects of the order and how it will encourage greater consumer protections and competition. Top White House officials said the order seeks to ensure small businesses and consumers have access to fair markets. “The overarching objective with the executive order is to make sure the president is encouraging competition in industries around the country,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday. That order — largely the work of Jason Furman, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers — came near the end of Obama’s presidency. Biden’s order will go a step beyond Obama’s by offering pointed suggestions for steps to take, rather than leaving implementation entirely to the agencies.

Haitian president's assassination Valerie Baeriswyl/AFP/Getty ImagesHaiti's National Police director Léon Charles said Wednesday night his officers killed four suspects in the early morning assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and captured two others. There is a very long list of suspects, a leading Haitian businessman told The Wall Street Journal. Claude Joseph, the prime minister Moïse tried to fire on Monday, says he is running Haiti under emergency powers with help from the police and military. Story continues"So far this looks like an execution and not a coup d'état," says Jean-Max Bellerive, a former Haitian prime minister. "But it could start looking like a coup d'état if the interim prime minister starts taking charge of everything without trying to achieve consensus."

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden will sign a sweeping executive order designed to promote competition across American industries in a ceremony at the White House on Friday. The president’s action will prompt the federal government to set new regulations on everything from airline luggage fees to non-compete clauses. He will sign the order after delivering remarks on the American economy, according to a public schedule released by the White House. “The overarching objective with this executive order is to make sure the president is encouraging competition in industries around the country,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. The executive order will also encourage the Federal Trade Commission to ban or limit non-compete agreements and ban unnecessary occupational licensing restrictions, according to a person familiar with the plans.

And those deaths are highly concentrated in counties — many of them in the Midwest and Southeast — where vaccination rates are precariously low. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. Walensky depicted a national scenario that has become highly fractured as a result of stark differences in vaccination rates. “Those deaths were preventable with a simple, safe shot,” the CDC director said. For weeks, the path of the pandemic has been steadily bifurcating, with parts of the country returning to normal and others seeming to slip back into rising case rates.

Seligman testified that Garcetti staffers made comments to her over the past year that she took to mean that she should remain silent about Jacobs’ behavior. She said Jacobs’ behavior was widely known among Garcetti’s aides. Neither Jacobs nor his lawyers responded to requests for comment on Seligman’s deposition testimony. AdvertisementJacobs denies sexually harassing anyone, but conceded in his own deposition testimony that he might have hugged members of the security detail and made sexual jokes. AdvertisementSeligman testified that nothing was done by the mayor’s office after her complaint.

The Biden administration’s defense of its final troop withdrawal from Afghanistan is predicated on claims and assumptions that many say are shaky at best. The Biden administration insists the Taliban now knows it must behave according to globally accepted norms to enjoy international recognition. “What we know is that the world will not accept an imposition by force of a government in Afghanistan,” he continued. Critics say the U.S. government rhetoric is aimed at saving face while accepting Taliban assurances that should not be believed. Asked what that meant, given the reality on the ground, Price declined to say, adding it was up to the Taliban to define terms.

So it should come as no surprise that Jimmy Carter, a one-term president like Trump, is having his day in court. He still buys his clothes at Dollar General, a convicted murderer was his daughter’s White House nanny, he lived in public housing long before he moved into the White House, he loaded 300 tons of fertilizer into 100- and 200-pound bags to make a living. (Lyndon B. Johnson, who ascended to the White House after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, doesn’t count.) And Bird’s biography redeems his presidency and reminds us of how callous we might have been during his years in office. THE OUTLIER: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy CarterBy Kai BirdCrown, 784 pages, $38David M. Shribman, for a decade the Globe’s Washington bureau chief, is a nationally syndicated columnist.

Clark County Superintendent Jesus Jara, from left, talks with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., and Gov. Vilsack was in town to promote the American Families Plan that will further the efforts to end food insecurity for children and to highlight the work already done in Clark County schools. “(Biden’s American Families Plan) will double down on our efforts to get nutrition into the hands of students, which they need to succeed in school,” Lee said. “It’s necessary that we also recognize that investing in American families is the human infrastructure that’s going to ensure a competitive future for our country,” Vilsack said. “And that American Families Plan addresses a lot of the challenges, a lot of the stresses that American families feel today.”Contact Rory Appleton at rappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0276.

Psaki said: “President Biden expressed his personal support for the two ATF officials and the Chicago police officer who were shot earlier today,” Psaki said. “He reiterated his commitment to working with the mayor and leaders in Chicago in the fight against gun violence and conveyed that the Department of Justice would soon be in touch about the strike force announced just a few weeks ago that will be working with cities like Chicago.”

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders in early May took a clear stance against reviving federal deductibility of state and local taxes, for which a $10,000 cap was imposed in 2017. Interviewing Sanders (I-Vt.) for "Axios on HBO," reporter Jonathan Swan posed a question characterizing the proposed repeal of this SALT deductibility limit as a "tax break for rich people in blue states." On that front, the draft budget resolution backed by Sanders that includes $120 billion for SALT changes appears linked to Schumer’s new full-throated support for expanding Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision coverage. SALT, like policing, raises pragmatic party questions. Pelosi has voiced support for easier SALT deductibility.

“Our message to those women and men is clear,” Biden said. “There is a home for you in the United States if you so choose. “We went for two reasons: one, to bring Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, as I said at the time," Biden said. "The second reason was to eliminate al-Qaida’s capacity to deal with more attacks on the United States from that territory. “That’s why I believe this is the right decision and quite frankly overdue.”—Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer in Oklahoma City and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed reporting.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Thursday the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan will end on Aug. 31, delivering an impassioned argument for exiting the nearly 20-year war without sacrificing more American lives even as he bluntly acknowledged there will be no “mission accomplished” moment to celebrate. Biden pushed back against the notion the U.S. mission has failed but also noted that it remains unlikely the government would control all of Afghanistan after the U.S. leaves. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build,” Biden said in a speech from the White House’s East Room. “How many more, how many more thousands of American daughters and sons are you willing to risk?” Biden said to those calling for the U.S. to extend the military operation. But by setting Aug. 31 as the drawdown date, the administration nodded to the reality that the war is in its final phase, while providing some cushion to deal with outstanding matters.

A group of civil rights leaders urged President Joe Biden to use the White House bully pulpit to pressure Congress to act on critical voting rights legislation. Their meeting on 8 July follows a US Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act, its second decision in the last decade to undermine a portion of the landmark civil rights law, and a blockade from Senate Republicans against a sweeping expansion of voting rights that Democrats had hoped to serve as an antidote to GOP-sponsored laws in several states. “We must have the president use his voice, use his influence, use his power, and use what he clearly understands about this moment,” she said. At least 24 of those bills have been signed into law. National Urban League president and former New Orleans mayor Marc Morial called the coordinated GOP blitz in nearly every state legislature “an effort to impose a system of American apartheid.”

Every single one of the 92 COVID-19 deaths recorded in Maryland in June was among unvaccinated people. Ricci also revealed that unvaccinated people accounted for 95 percent of total cases and 93 percent of hospitalizations in the state last month. The state has recorded over 463,000 cases and just under 10,000 deaths since the pandemic first began in March 2020. Across the U.S., unvaccinated Americans accounted for 99 percent of COVID-19 deaths recorded in May, according to an analysis by the Associated Press last month. On Wednesday, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pleaded with unvaccinated Americans to put politics aside and receive the shots during an appearance on MSNBC.

AdvertisementJill Biden donned the dress she wore for her Vogue cover during a trip to Georgia to push people to get their COVID vaccine. She toured a pop-up vaccination site at a Savannah high school with Senator Raphael Warnock. You know, you've already delivered for this state,' she said, adding that Warnock invited her to come visit his home town. Biden and Warnock toured a vaccine site at A. E. Beach high school. There Biden offered to call the family members of a man after he said some of his relatives had gotten the COVID vaccine but some hadn't.

After raising a paltry sum of money from supporters and attracting little interest from former President Donald Trump, a web page created to fundraise for Rudy Giuliani’s legal defense fund has vanished. As of early Thursday evening, the “Rudy Giuliani Legal Defense Fund” page had yet to return. But links to the legal defense fund page they gave to now automatically redirect to Fundly’s general landing page for “politics and public policy” causes. In addition to the now-MIA Fundly page, portals at credit card processors Square and Rallypay are also advertising donations for the Giuliani fund. As the dispute over Giuliani’s legal bills spilled into the Times, web registration records collected by DomainTools show Kerik reserved rudygiulianifreedomfund.com, a website to solicit donations for Giuliani’s legal fund.

During a Wednesday press conference to promote his “Build Back Better” agenda, President Biden pledged to end tax breaks for energy companies in the fossil-fuel business, raising $90 billion dollars in revenue for the federal government. The president justified the proposal as it would “make polluters pay to clean up the messes they’ve made,” seemingly nodding to oil spills, natural gas leaks, and other mishaps. We’re just not going to subsidize them anymore, they’re doing well thank you,” Biden said in reference to the oil conglomerates. Biden’s comments come as gas prices have surged across the nation, reaching their highest levels in years, amid inflationary pressures resulting from pandemic supply and demand squeezes. We see with our own eyes, and it’s time to act,” Biden said.

Officials in the city of Tucson plan to ignore Arizona's new "Second Amendment sanctuary" law that bars state and local governments from enforcing certain federal gun regulations, possibly setting up a court fight as a growing number of cities and counties in the U.S. declare themselves similar firearm havens. Ducey signed a bill in April 2021, declaring that Arizona is a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary. Ducey signed a bill in April 2021, declaring that Arizona is a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary. Doug Ducey signed a bill in April declaring that Arizona is a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary. “The Second Amendment is clear on our right to keep and bear arms,” Karamargin said in an email.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., is a staunch supporter of passing congressional legislation by bringing both Republicans and Democrats on board, an approach that has taken on increased urgency in the 50-50 split U.S. Senate. Sinema's first high-profile demonstration of her approach is the framework for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal she recently co-negotiated and President Joe Biden endorsed. But can Sinema's approach to bipartisanship in an era marked by extreme partisanship help deliver legislation beyond spending money on the nation's roads, bridges and water systems? Binder breaks down Sinema's position in the U.S. Senate to lead negotiations on infrastructure and how she compares to other centrist Democrats. Listen to the episodeThe best way to listen is to subscribe to The Gaggle on your favorite podcast app, but you also can stream the full episode below.

Mark Brnovich claims to be concerned with election security. So why, then, does this self-styled crusader for election integrity seem so unconcerned about an actual, documented instance of attempted fraud? That, of course, should not be surprising: None of this bluster—by Brnovich and by others in states like Pennsylvania, where Republicans are seeking their own Arizona-style “audit”—has ever actually been about election security. That Brnovich can talk about the need to secure elections—hobbling the Voting Rights Act in the process—while apparently ignoring an actual, documented threat to election security, one that targeted a fellow Republican, underscores just how brazen this all is. “It looks to me as if attempted election tampering is now legal in Arizona,” as the Arizona Republic’s EJ Montini put it in a column Monday.

The sources agreed that DeSantis and Trump are on an inevitable collision course as the 2024 GOP field takes shape. Asked for comment, Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington said: “Governor DeSantis has shown great respect.”Part of Trump’s irritation with DeSantis is that Trump famously claims credit for anyone in his orbit who gains attention. For much of the 2018 gubernatorial primary, DeSantis trailed Florida agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam. But after Trump endorsed DeSantis in June, DeSantis zoomed 12 points ahead. “Heading into 2024, DeSantis is primed to push Trump off the throne,” former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg told me.

As I explain in my book We the Gamers: How Games Teach Ethics and Civics, games can help players practice important skills related to civics and public life, like communication, empathy and compassion, critical thinking, and problem-solving. To win, players need to collect items, build shelters, find weapons, and avoid bad weather. advertisementThe in-game goal is to kill the other players’ characters, but these other tasks help players develop strategic thinking skills like managing limited resources. Minecraft Minecraft players can find and break apart bricks that yield materials they can use to craft items like tools, buildings and food. Plague, Inc.: The CureNdemic Creations Some games even help players more directly solve civic problems.

But that’s scheduled to change starting Oct. 1, when federal student loan payments are set to resume. That has many wondering whether President Joe Biden will extend federal student loan forbearance again. The answer: a big, fat “maybe.”Advocates Push for Another Student Loan Forbearance ExtensionAs one of his first moves as president, Biden extended the federal student loan forbearance through Sept. 30 to give struggling student loan borrowers some extra breathing room. Whether or not student loan payments restart on a tiered basis, borrower advocates are worried about the nearing deadline. The Loan Forgiveness Debate, ExplainedLeft out of Pandemic Relief, Private Student Loan Borrowers Are Still Struggling a Year Later

"A market moment, not a trend setter," says George Ball, chairman of Houston-based investment firm Sanders Morris Harris. Other action in the stock market today: The small-cap Russell 2000 declined 0.9% to 2,231.declined 0.9% to 2,231. Kansas City Southern (KSU, -7.9%), CSX (CSX, -6.2%) and Union Pacific (UNP, -4.4%) were among those that closed lower. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, -0.9%), Intel (INTC, -1.0%) and Micron (MU, -1.4%) were among the chip stocks that lost ground today. (AMD, -0.9%), (INTC, -1.0%) and (MU, -1.4%) were among the chip stocks that lost ground today.

First Son Hunter Biden is expecting to score big for the abstract expressionist works he’ll showcase in a solo SoHo exhibition in October. If he does, it’ll be just his latest sleazy cash-in on the family name. Yet the White House is pretending it can all be kept clean by having the dealer keep the buyers anonymous along with guarantees to reject any suspicious offers above the asking price. But Hunter says he expects to pull up to half a million bucks apiece, which makes the asking price plenty suspicious. It’s the Biden family way.

A powerful photo shows a Border Patrol agent carrying a hurt illegal immigrant to safety during an operation along the US-Mexico border. The undated photo was posted on Twitter Thursday by Brian Hastings, the chief Border Patrol agent for Texas’ Rio Grande Valley sector — the epicenter of the ongoing crisis along the southwestern frontier. “[Border Patrol] Special Operations Detachment carry a migrant out of the brush and to safety. Of those rescues, 6,898 (97.4 percent) took place along the US-Mexico border. REUTERSUS Customs and Border Protection reported that they did over 7,000 rescues in a nearly seven-month span.

Hunter Biden’s art is going up for sale at an NYC gallery this fall. Mark Tribe, chairman of the MFA Fine Arts Department at New York City’s School of Visual Arts, told The Post Hunter Biden’s artwork could fetch a pretty penny. see also Hunter Biden art show sparks ethics concerns Government ethics watchdogs and art critics are voicing their concerns... Buyers of Hunter Biden’s artwork have been promised anonymity. And, as long as his old man in office, Hunter Biden will never feel the need to get a normal job.

Suspects in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise sit on the floor handcuffed after being detained, at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 8, 2021. A Haitian judge involved in the murder investigation said that President Moise was shot a dozen times and his office and bedroom were ransacked. (AP Photo/Jean Marc Hervé Abélard)Suspects in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise sit on the floor handcuffed after being detained, at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 8, 2021. A Haitian judge involved in the murder investigation said that President Moise was shot a dozen times and his office and bedroom were ransacked. (AP Photo/Jean Marc Hervé Abélard)PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two men believed to be Haitian Americans — one of them purportedly a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Port au Prince — have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti’s president, a senior Haitian official said Thursday.

Russia circulated a rival resolution Thursday that would authorize a six-month extension “with the anticipation of renewal” subject to a report from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on “transparency” in aid deliveries and progress on sending aid directly across conflict lines within Syria. Story continuesNebenzia was asked why Russia agreed to a one-year extension last year but is opposed this year. The Security Council approved four border crossings when aid deliveries began in 2014, three years after the start of the Syrian conflict. But in January 2020, Russia used its veto threat in the council first to limit aid deliveries to two border crossings in the northwest, and then last July to cut the crossings to just Bab al-Hawa. But last week, Nebenzia called that idea “a non-starter,” so Norway and Ireland revised their proposal to just keeping the Bab al-Hawa crossing open.

Stocks closed lower Thursday on Wall Street as bond yields fell again and investors turned cautious following the market’s recent run of record highs. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.9%, weighed down by a broad slide driven mainly by technology, financial, industrial and communication companies. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.30%, the lowest level since February, after slipping to 1.32% a day earlier. AdvertisementThe S&P 500 fell 37.31 points to 4,320.82. Investors are also gauging the potential impact from COVID-19 variants stymying a resurgence in commerce and travel.

Since Trump left office in January, US taxpayers have paid Trump’s businesses more than $50,000 for rooms used by Secret Service agents, records show. The Secret Service released a bill it paid to Trump Bedminster in May, totaling $10,199.52. AdvertisementSeparately, the Secret Service also released other bills showing $3,400 in charges from Trump Bedminster before Trump himself arrived. Those receipts — from January, February, and early May — did not say why the Secret Service was at the club. A Secret Service spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the agency does not talk about protective operations.

Biden pushed back against the notion the US mission has failed but also noted that it remains unlikely the government would control all of Afghanistan after the US leaves. Advertisement“We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said in a speech from the White House’s East Room. Biden said that prolonging US military involvement, considering Trump had already agreed to withdraw US troops, would have led to an escalation of attacks on American troops and NATO allies. Biden, answering questions from reporters after his remarks on Thursday, said that Kabul falling to the Taliban would not be an acceptable outcome. Biden added that 2,500 Afghans have been granted special immigrant visas since he took office in January.

Biden pushed back against the notion the U.S. mission has failed but also noted that it remains unlikely the government would control all of Afghanistan after the U.S. leaves. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said in a speech from the White House’s East Room. Biden said that prolonging U.S. military involvement, considering Trump had already agreed to withdraw U.S. troops, would have led to an escalation of attacks on American troops and NATO allies. The Pentagon said the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Scott Miller, is expected to end his tour of duty this month as final arrangements are made for a reduced U.S. military mission. “We went for two reasons: one, to bring Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, as I said at the time,” Biden said.

WASHINGTON – Ex-president Donald Trump will headline the three-day Conservative Political Action Conference at the Hilton Anatole near downtown Dallas. (Stephen M. Dowell / TNS)Schlapp said the Dallas event was planned on fairly short notice and many party leaders already had vacation plans. So I do think they’re probably each thinking about how they approach Donald Trump and plan a run for president. Cruz cited a family commitment for skipping CPAC Dallas; earlier this week he posted a vacation photo from Northern California, and he’s been spotted at a resort near Lake Tahoe. Fuentes tweeted that he plans to try to get into the Dallas event on Saturday.

FEMA is working with the state to provide on-the-ground assistance starting early next week in response to an increase in COVID-19 cases and stagnant vaccination rates. Steve Sisolak announced last week that the state would ask for more federal help — particularly, for the Las Vegas area — from “surge response teams” to help with outreach efforts. “We are grateful for FEMA’s responsiveness and support,” she said during an online news briefing on the state’s COVID-19 response on Thursday. Sisolak’s Chief of Staff Michelle White said teams will be on the ground early next week and more will be coming the following week. In remarks on July 6, President Joe Biden said the federal government was mobilizing “COVID-19 surge response teams,” which include representatives from FEMA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

His group, which works out of a cramped office in the shadow of Disney World, is targeting Latino would-be voters. We’re in the community and we’re staying.”Even as Joe Biden flipped heavily Hispanic Arizona to Democratic to clinch the presidency last November, he underperformed with many Latino voters elsewhere. But Democrats say a problem for them was that they waited until just before the election to intensify outreach to Latino communities. More Latino voters aren’t always a boon to Democrats in other parts of the country, either. Still, some conservative groups already have achieved the kind of ever-active Latino outreach campaigns Democrats envision.

Biden pushed back against the notion the U.S. mission has failed but also noted that it remains unlikely the government would control all of Afghanistan after the U.S. leaves. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation build,” Biden said in a speech from the White House’s East Room. Biden said that prolonging U.S. military involvement, considering Trump had already agreed to withdraw U.S. troops, would have led to an escalation of attacks on American troops and NATO allies. The Pentagon said the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Scott Miller, is expected to end his tour of duty this month as final arrangements are made for a reduced U.S. military mission. Biden added that 2,500 Afghans have been granted special immigrant visas since he took office in January.

Biden and his team have repeatedly promised a major push on voting rights after Senate Republicans blocked a sweeping election reform bill last month. Most Republicans have similarly dismissed a separate bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore sections of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court previously weakened. Biden believes “that voting is a fundamental right for the American people,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki this week. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling last week upheld voting limits in Arizona that a lower court had found discriminatory under the federal Voting Rights Act. “Where’s your voting rights tour?

Joe Biden pledged on Thursday that he would not send “another generation of Americans” to war in Afghanistan and said the US would withdraw its forces from the nation by 31 August. “Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31,” Biden said. Biden on Thursday warned that remaining in Afghanistan would mean additional US casualties to continue a war started two decades ago. The president noted that 2,448 Americans had been killed in the war in Afghanistan, and another 20,722 have been wounded. Apart from repatriating troops from America’s longest war, Biden is under huge pressure to bring Afghan interpreters and other vulnerable people to the US.

AdvertisementJill Biden donned the dress she wore for her Vogue cover during a trip to Georgia to push people to get their COVID vaccine. She toured a pop-up vaccination site at a Savannah high school with Senator Raphael Warnock. You know, you've already delivered for this state,' she said, adding that Warnock invited her to come visit his home town. Biden and Warnock toured a vaccine site at A. E. Beach high school. There Biden offered to call the family members of a man after he said some of his relatives had gotten the COVID vaccine but some hadn't.

Arizona secretary of state Katie Hobbs has written the state attorney general seeking a criminal investigation into efforts by former President Donald Trump and key allies in their efforts to 'stop the counting' of state ballots. 'Arizona law protects election officials from those who would seek to interfere with their sacred duties to ascertain and certify the will of the voters,' wrote Hobbs. In Arizona, interfering with election officials is a felony,' she tweeted. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani is heard on voicemails calling Arizona county election officials and telling them Trump wants to talk to them'Just a check in from the President of the United States ... Hickman told the paper he heard similar audio when Trump sought to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

A century and multiple interventions later, some Haiti watchers say it's time for new ideas. After the assassination, President Joe Biden's administration reiterated that Haiti should go ahead with elections in September to bestow legitimacy on a new leader. "If Biden had intervened sooner, Jovenel Moise would not have been shot." Fatton, however, said that Haiti could be of vital interest to Biden as a further implosion could set off boat people further inflaming the domestic debate on immigration. "To put it crudely, I doubt that the US would allow chaos and massive disorder in its backyard," he said.

Women have taken up arms in heavily-contested regions of Afghanistan as the Taliban continues to make nationwide gains during the U.S. military's withdrawal. Government forces have already withdrawn from seven districts, focusing troops and resources around holding the capital province of Badakhshan. In response, hundreds of women have taken to the streets carrying guns and protesting the Taliban, The Guardian reported. "The majority of these women were those who had recently escaped from Taliban areas," Faizzada said. "A lot of gains have been made, and so I'm deeply concerned about the plight of women and girls in that country."

On primary night, David Freedlander, a reporter with New York magazine who had questioned stories like these, tweeted that he had been excluded from Adams’s June 22nd victory event in retribution. Adams is the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York, which probably assures him of election in November, as the second Black mayor in the city’s history. The political analysts who made a case for Adams’s victory generally emphasized the strength of this coalition in a party whose heroes often entice only voters with college degrees. No one really knows what Eric Adams’s city would be like. In this sense, Adams may be, as he declared himself, the new face of the Democratic Party, somebody whose aims are still a little undefined.

The agency acknowledged last month that there was not convincing evidence that Aduhelm slowed patients’ cognitive decline. Instead, it based its approval on the drug’s ability to reduce levels of a protein called amyloid, which clumps into plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. But many Alzheimer’s experts have said there is not solid evidence that reducing amyloid levels has any effect on people’s cognitive problems. On Thursday, Dr. Lon Schneider, director of the California Alzheimer’s Disease Center at the University of Southern California, said the F.D.A. Before becoming interim commissioner in January, Dr. Woodcock was the longtime leader of the arm of the agency responsible for approving drugs.

Biden makes his case on U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as the Taliban gain ground. President Biden argued that the U.S. had achieved its military objectives against Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, and that the drawdown would continue on schedule even as the Taliban gained ground. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome,’’ Mr. Biden said. “The young woman said ‘you can’t leave, you can’t leave’ — it was heartbreaking,” Mr. Biden said. In a speech on Wednesday, Mr. Biden gave no hint that he was scaling back his ambitions.

The paintings created by President Joe Biden's son could fetch upwards of $500,000 at an upcoming art show this fallThe Controversy Surrounding Hunter Biden's Art Career: 'We Don't Know Who is Paying For This Art'An upcoming art sale is causing a stir for President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, despite the White House's best attempts to avoid controversy. The Post reports that the agreement was crafted in part by White House officials, and will keep the sales information confidential from even Hunter Biden himself. "Because we don't know who is paying for this art and we don't know for sure that [Hunter Biden] knows, we have no way of monitoring whether people are buying access to the White House," Shaub told the Post. "That means things like the White House should not be promoting the art show, which as far as I know they're not doing." Hunter Biden Hunter Biden | Credit: Paul Morigi/GettyHunter has leaned on painting in wake of the increased scrutiny he faced during the 2020 election as he found himself at the center of numerous conservative conspiracy theories.

College Officials Clamp Down on Student Behavior Over Covid-19 FearsAdded: 20.08.2020 10:27 | 14 views | 0 commentsJoe Biden criticized President Trump’s virus response and outlined a strategy to fight the pandemic. Overburdened health care specialists are finding themselves on the front lines as schools reopen.

Tracking the political appointees Biden is nominating to fill the top roles in his administrationAdded: 08.07.2021 20:17 | 8 views | 0 commentsFollow the president-elect’s progress filling nearly 800 positions, among the 1,200 that require Senate confirmation, in this tracker from The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service.

Biden says U.S. has accomplished its primary objectives in Afghanistan as he defends troop withdrawal amid Taliban gainsAdded: 08.07.2021 20:05 | 14 views | 0 commentsIn remarks at the White House, President Biden dismissed comparisons to Vietnam and said the United States was not in Afghanistan to “nation-build.”

Added: 29.07.2020 15:10 | 13 views | 0 commentsPresumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says he's close to choosing a running mate. The former vice president said the decision will come next week. Ed O'Keefe reports from the campaign trail.

Gas prices are above $3. Biden doesn't have a magic wand to fix thatAdded: 08.07.2021 17:57 | 17 views | 0 commentsPresident Joe Biden is being attacked for $3 gasoline. But the truth is the White House isn't to blame for high gas prices -- and has few options to lower them.

Added: 08.07.2021 21:36 | 10 views | 0 commentsWith the Taliban advancing across rural parts of Afghanistan, and criticism mounting over what some view as an overly hasty departure, the Biden administration is staring down a few short weeks to make a handful of critical decisions it's put off until the last minute.

Added: 08.07.2021 22:01 | 13 views | 0 commentsHere's the latest for Thursday, July 8: Biden says U.S. will be out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31; More arrests in Haitian president's assassination; Tropical storm moves up Atlantic coast; No fans during Tokyo Olympics.

The announcement comes as Republican-controlled states around the country have passed a wave of restrictive voting rights laws fueled in part by former President Donald Trump’s false claims about the results of the 2020 election. President Joe Biden has been criticized by some Democrats and civil rights advocates for not taking a more aggressive approach to fighting those new laws after Senate Republicans blocked voting rights legislation last month. So instead of some sort of face-saving gesture, we should interpret Harris’s announcement as representing part of a fallback strategy for voting rights that is the only responsible course to take. Another prong of this strategy was announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland last month: deployment of an expanded cadre of attorneys from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to challenge state voter-suppression and election-subversion measures under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. What Harris announced should be treated as a serious and important contribution to the cause of voting rights, not dismissed as an excuse for failure to do the impossible in Congress.

And the magnitude of these differences dwarfs other divisions in society, along such lines as gender, race and ethnicity, religious observance or education. As Pew noted, partisan polarization (between Democrats and Republicans) is partly attributable to the ideological sorting out of the two parties that began during the civil-rights era. But nostalgia for the good old days ignores the price that many Americans had to pay for this suspension of political hostilities. Is partisan polarization dangerous? Is an absence of partisan polarization dangerous too?

Since signing up with Nori, Garrett has raked in nearly $150,000 for capturing carbon in his soil, though it’s hard to know exactly how much carbon Garrett is actually storing. It’s called the “additionality problem.” And in the 30 years that people have been selling carbon offsets, no one has been able to solve it. Startups laden with venture capital money, like Nori, have begun funneling money to farmers and foresters in hopes of creating those incentives. Christian Charisius/picture-alliance/dpa/APIt’s not as if you can’t find any examples of carbon offsets leading to on-the-ground changes. The Family Forest Carbon Program, the organization working with Louise Hartman and Susan Benedict, is piloting a new approach.

And most Americans don't believe police treat people equally. “Now faced with COVID-19, we have no other choice but to hold the Games in a limited way," said Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto. He risked his life helping US troops in Afghanistan before seeking asylum in Iowa. Most Americans don't believe police treat people equally, poll saysOnly 22% of Americans said police treat all people equally, according to a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll. Even fewer of those polled, 17%, said the criminal justice courts and lawyers treat everyone equally.

AP Top Stories July 8 PHere’s the latest for Thursday, July 8: Biden says U.S. will be out of Afghanistan by Aug. 31; More arrests in Haitian president’s assassination; Tropical storm moves up Atlantic coast; No fans during Tokyo Olympics.

Biden defends U.S. troop pullout from AfghanistanPresident Joe Biden defended his administration's decision to wind down the nearly 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan, insisting the United States did not go "to nation build" and saying he can't justify sending another generation of Americans.

Do the police treat all people equally? The stats: Just 1 in 5 Americans, 22%, said the police treat all Americans equally. Even fewer, 17%, said the criminal justice courts and lawyers treat everyone equally. Skepticism about the fairness of the criminal justice system crossed racial and partisan lines. The meeting comes as advocacy groups argue the White House is not doing enough to push voting rights legislation in Congress or using the federal government's abilities to expand voting access.

Bolton said terrorist forces in Afghanistan will not allow the U.S. to win the war. "I do think that public opinion has turned against this war and I blame it squarely on our political leadership for at least the last 12 years," Bolton told Chuck Todd, host of NBC News' "Meet the Press." "When people explain the reason and the reasons are good, the American people will support the disposition of American forces to protect them," he continued. But Bolton indicated Thursday that withdrawal is in Americans' best interest when he told Todd the U.S. cannot win the war. Unfortunately, the disposition of terrorist forces in Afghanistan and many other parts of the world hasn't allowed that to happen," he said.