United States President Joe Biden called on the Americans to show unity as the country prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

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On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the horrific 9/11 attacks, President Biden honors the lives of those we lost and highlights how even at our most vulnerable – unity is our greatest strength.<a href="https://t.co/TdVhw9TVpb">pic.twitter.com/TdVhw9TVpb</a>
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1436454819028508672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Speaking in a six-minute recording at the White House that was shared on the official Twitter handle on Friday, Biden said, “To me, that’s the central lesson of September 11. It’s that at our most vulnerable, in the push and pull of all that makes us human, in the battle for the soul of America, unity is our greatest strength.”

The President’s appeal for unity comes at a time when the US is facing rising instances of hate crimes. According to a report by the FBI, hate crimes against African and Asian Americans surged in the past one year.

Also read |<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/america-was-very-far-away-how-afghans-remember-911-412095">&nbsp;'America was very far away': How Afghans remember 9/11</a>

Moreover, hate crimes against Arab Americans, Muslims and others perceived as Arab or Muslim had also surged post the 9/11 attacks. And while they have subsided in recent years, the numbers have never returned to levels seen before the attacks, the FBI data shows. More recently, the United States has also seen a rise in anti-Semitic discrimination.

“Unity doesn't mean we have to believe the same thing, but we must have a fundamental respect and faith in each other and in this nation," Biden said in the video.

Also watch

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On Saturday, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit New York City—where two airliners destroyed the World Trade Center and killed around 2,700 people—the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia—where a third airliner crashed—and Shanksville, Pennsylvania—where passengers forced down a fourth aircraft believed to have been headed to the U.S. Capitol or White House.

Joe Biden will then be joined at Ground Zero in New York by former president Barack Obama, whom he served for two terms as vice-president.

Small memorial ceremonies will be held across the US, and millions are expected to tune in to coverage that will blanket the TV networks throughout the day.

There will be six moments of silence during the ceremony, marking the moment each tower was struck and the time each fell, as well as the moment when the Pentagon was attacked, and the time that Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers stopped it from reaching its likely intended target of the US Capitol.

As three of the four most recent US presidents attend official ceremonies, Donald Trump will also reportedly visit the 9/11 memorial on Saturday afternoon, once the ceremony has finished and after Biden has left the city.

(With inputs from agencies)

United States President Joe Biden called on the Americans to show unity as the country prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

United States President Joe Biden called on the Americans to show unity as the country prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the horrific 9/11 attacks, President Biden honors the lives of those we lost and highlights how even at our most vulnerable – unity is our greatest strength.pic.twitter.com/TdVhw9TVpb — The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 10, 2021 × Speaking in a six-minute recording at the White House that was shared on the official Twitter handle on Friday, Biden said, “To me, that’s the central lesson of September 11. It’s that at our most vulnerable, in the push and pull of all that makes us human, in the battle for the soul of America, unity is our greatest strength.” The President’s appeal for unity comes at a time when the US is facing rising instances of hate crimes. According to a report by the FBI, hate crimes against African and Asian Americans surged in the past one year. Also read | 'America was very far away': How Afghans remember 9/11 Moreover, hate crimes against Arab Americans, Muslims and others perceived as Arab or Muslim had also surged post the 9/11 attacks. And while they have subsided in recent years, the numbers have never returned to levels seen before the attacks, the FBI data shows. More recently, the United States has also seen a rise in anti-Semitic discrimination. “Unity doesn't mean we have to believe the same thing, but we must have a fundamental respect and faith in each other and in this nation," Biden said in the video. Also watch On Saturday, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit New York City—where two airliners destroyed the World Trade Center and killed around 2,700 people—the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia—where a third airliner crashed—and Shanksville, Pennsylvania—where passengers forced down a fourth aircraft believed to have been headed to the U.S. Capitol or White House. Joe Biden will then be joined at Ground Zero in New York by former president Barack Obama, whom he served for two terms as vice-president. Small memorial ceremonies will be held across the US, and millions are expected to tune in to coverage that will blanket the TV networks throughout the day. There will be six moments of silence during the ceremony, marking the moment each tower was struck and the time each fell, as well as the moment when the Pentagon was attacked, and the time that Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers stopped it from reaching its likely intended target of the US Capitol. As three of the four most recent US presidents attend official ceremonies, Donald Trump will also reportedly visit the 9/11 memorial on Saturday afternoon, once the ceremony has finished and after Biden has left the city. (With inputs from agencies)

US President Joe Biden calls for unity on the eve of 9/11 attacks

At least 22,000 civilians— and potentially over 40,000 civilians—have been killed by US-led drone and airstrikes across West Asia and Africa since the 9/11 terror attacks, according to an analysis done by UK-based monitoring group, Airwars.

Basing its findings on the declaration made by the US that it launched at least 91,340 strikes across seven major conflict zones, including Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Libya, the London-based group sought to find the number of civilian casualties linked to the ‘forever wars’, spanning two decades of conflict which formally ended on August 31 with the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

Based on that total, Airwars concluded “US actions likely killed at least 22,679 civilians, with that number potentially as high as 48,308”.

According to research compiled by Airwars, the deadliest year in the past two decades for civilian victims of US airstrikes was 2003 when a minimum of 5,529 civilians were reported to have been killed, almost all during the invasion of Iraq that year.

Also read |<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/is-911-a-day-or-is-it-an-era-411151">&nbsp;Is 9/11 a day, or is it an Era?</a>

The next deadliest year was 2017 when at least 4,931 civilians were likely killed, the vast majority in coalition&nbsp;bombing of Iraq and Syria.

Since taking the office, Joe Biden—the fourth to manage the “forever wars” after his predecessors George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump—promised to reduce US reliance on airstrikes amid a formal review of the government's drone policy.&nbsp;

“The threat from terrorism continues, but it’s changed. Our strategy needs to change too,” Biden said, vowing action against the Daesh branch in Afghanistan (Daesh-K) after the group claimed responsibility for the August 26 attack at Kabul airport that killed over 160 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members.

The US military has not provided the official estimates of civilian deaths nor have they published such findings. Airwaves cited&nbsp;its data from sources like the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, The Iraq Body Count NGO and The Nation.

(With&nbsp;inputs from agencies)

At least 22,000 civilians— and potentially over 40,000 civilians—have been killed by US-led drone and airstrikes across West Asia and Africa since the 9/11 terror attacks, according to an analysis done by UK-based monitoring group, Airwars.

At least 22,000 civilians— and potentially over 40,000 civilians—have been killed by US-led drone and airstrikes across West Asia and Africa since the 9/11 terror attacks, according to an analysis done by UK-based monitoring group, Airwars. Basing its findings on the declaration made by the US that it launched at least 91,340 strikes across seven major conflict zones, including Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and Libya, the London-based group sought to find the number of civilian casualties linked to the ‘forever wars’, spanning two decades of conflict which formally ended on August 31 with the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Based on that total, Airwars concluded “US actions likely killed at least 22,679 civilians, with that number potentially as high as 48,308”. According to research compiled by Airwars, the deadliest year in the past two decades for civilian victims of US airstrikes was 2003 when a minimum of 5,529 civilians were reported to have been killed, almost all during the invasion of Iraq that year. Also read | Is 9/11 a day, or is it an Era? The next deadliest year was 2017 when at least 4,931 civilians were likely killed, the vast majority in coalition bombing of Iraq and Syria. Since taking the office, Joe Biden—the fourth to manage the “forever wars” after his predecessors George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump—promised to reduce US reliance on airstrikes amid a formal review of the government's drone policy. “The threat from terrorism continues, but it’s changed. Our strategy needs to change too,” Biden said, vowing action against the Daesh branch in Afghanistan (Daesh-K) after the group claimed responsibility for the August 26 attack at Kabul airport that killed over 160 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members. The US military has not provided the official estimates of civilian deaths nor have they published such findings. Airwaves cited its data from sources like the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, The Iraq Body Count NGO and The Nation. (With inputs from agencies)

US airstrikes potentially killed over 40,000 civilians since 9/11, says report

Social media platform&nbsp;Twitter is abuzz today with "Maskless Obama", "#ObamaVariant", "Obamas" and "Michelle" trending. So, what is all the fuss about?

Barack Obama turned sixty years old on Wednesday, and today the Obama family threw him a birthday party on the upscale island Martha's Vineyard.

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Also read |&nbsp;<a data-ctorig="https://www.wionews.com/world/obama-scales-back-60th-birthday-bash-over-surging-delta-variant-402974" data-cturl="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=006054055338965708568:09spwrlibei&amp;q=https://www.wionews.com/world/obama-scales-back-60th-birthday-bash-over-surging-delta-variant-402974&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjU86fK-KHyAhWt7XMBHRipDf8QFjAAegQIBBAC&amp;usg=AOvVaw2wxw5kFwy4lSLaYkPN39A5" dir="ltr" href="https://www.wionews.com/world/obama-scales-back-60th-birthday-bash-over-surging-delta-variant-402974" target="_blank">Obama scales back 60th birthday bash over surging Delta variant&nbsp;</a>

On the internet, some pictures and videos from the bash have been leaked that show Barack Obama boogieing on the dance floor. However, the former president and his guests were spotted without a mask. Due to this, these&nbsp;videos have sparked a social media storm.

Watch the video here:

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The discussion very soon gained a political tinge, with the Twitterati reeling&nbsp;in dismay upon seeing the photos, quickly calling out Obama for flouting the rules.

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Let's get one thing straight: 
 
These pics of Obamas birthday party shows us all that we should NEVER listen to Democrats again. 
 
No one wore a mask 
 
No one complied with the covid guidelines established by the American Democrat Marxists. 
 
The Obamas are enemies to Americans. <a href="https://t.co/Tq6iw2Xumo">pic.twitter.com/Tq6iw2Xumo</a>
— Antino Christhope (@AChristhope) <a href="https://twitter.com/AChristhope/status/1424400353773056000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The entire mainstream media colluded to lie to the American people and pretend that Obama was scaling back his party. 
He didn’t. He went all in, maskless, inside. 
 
But your children will be masked at school and you will mask on planes because you are the peasants they rule over. <a href="https://t.co/OP9ojxvvbE">https://t.co/OP9ojxvvbE</a>
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO/status/1424387265699229710?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The fact that no one on the left is outraged at maskless Obama is another example of how they don’t really care about spreading Covid and all this time they’ve just been using Covid as a tool to try and shame and control people they don’t like. Bunch of hypocrites!
— Miabanana85 (@miabanana85) <a href="https://twitter.com/miabanana85/status/1424411829900615681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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However, many others have pointed out that he is actually not at fault.

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I think this maskless Obama madness is even funnier because it's mostly anti mask/vax folks who think it's a "well clearly it's not real if a Democrat isn't wearing a mask" or a "well he's not being responsible either" moment whilst hospitals continue to exceed capacity.
— an art officialnacho (@ConnelJade) <a href="https://twitter.com/ConnelJade/status/1424412622066233348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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A bunch of unvaccinated folks are complaining about, “maskless Obama,” in a group of people who were probably both vaccinated and tested. 
 
But tbh, with the delta variant, he should have masked anyway.
— Murray Burns (@sardinest) <a href="https://twitter.com/sardinest/status/1424410494438281217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Maskless Obama, all fully vaccinated, still tested beforehand and outside. 
Just a lot of jealous, radical right wing hypocrites. They can't help but hate. <a href="https://t.co/J0rhJwAwTx">https://t.co/J0rhJwAwTx</a>
— Nicole (@ElixirChartreus) <a href="https://twitter.com/ElixirChartreus/status/1424409294439600139?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Which one is true? You don't have to do any research because we did it for you. Obama is not breaking any rules, as some Twitter users correctly pointed out.

According to the CDC guidelines and the regulations of Martha's Vineyard, fully vaccinated individuals are required to wear masks in indoor locations, on private and public transportation etc.

Even the&nbsp;Massachusetts government&nbsp;website says that&nbsp;"Masks are still&nbsp;mandatory for all individuals on public and private transportation systems (including rideshares, livery, taxi, ferries, MBTA, Commuter Rail and transportation stations), in healthcare facilities and in other settings hosting vulnerable populations, such as congregate care settings."

However, since Obama's party is outdoors the guests are not bound to wear masks.&nbsp;

Social media platform Twitter is abuzz today with "Maskless Obama", "#ObamaVariant", "Obamas" and "Michelle" trending. So, what is all the fuss about? Barack Obama turned sixty years old on Wednesday, and today the Obama family threw him a birthday party on the upscale island Martha's Vineyard.

Social media platform Twitter is abuzz today with "Maskless Obama", "#ObamaVariant", "Obamas" and "Michelle" trending. So, what is all the fuss about? Barack Obama turned sixty years old on Wednesday, and today the Obama family threw him a birthday party on the upscale island Martha's Vineyard. Also read | Obama scales back 60th birthday bash over surging Delta variant On the internet, some pictures and videos from the bash have been leaked that show Barack Obama boogieing on the dance floor. However, the former president and his guests were spotted without a mask. Due to this, these videos have sparked a social media storm. Watch the video here: × The discussion very soon gained a political tinge, with the Twitterati reeling in dismay upon seeing the photos, quickly calling out Obama for flouting the rules. Let's get one thing straight: These pics of Obamas birthday party shows us all that we should NEVER listen to Democrats again. No one wore a mask No one complied with the covid guidelines established by the American Democrat Marxists. The Obamas are enemies to Americans. pic.twitter.com/Tq6iw2Xumo — Antino Christhope (@AChristhope) August 8, 2021 × The entire mainstream media colluded to lie to the American people and pretend that Obama was scaling back his party. He didn’t. He went all in, maskless, inside. But your children will be masked at school and you will mask on planes because you are the peasants they rule over. https://t.co/OP9ojxvvbE — Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) August 8, 2021 × The fact that no one on the left is outraged at maskless Obama is another example of how they don’t really care about spreading Covid and all this time they’ve just been using Covid as a tool to try and shame and control people they don’t like. Bunch of hypocrites! — Miabanana85 (@miabanana85) August 8, 2021 × However, many others have pointed out that he is actually not at fault. I think this maskless Obama madness is even funnier because it's mostly anti mask/vax folks who think it's a "well clearly it's not real if a Democrat isn't wearing a mask" or a "well he's not being responsible either" moment whilst hospitals continue to exceed capacity. — an art officialnacho (@ConnelJade) August 8, 2021 × A bunch of unvaccinated folks are complaining about, “maskless Obama,” in a group of people who were probably both vaccinated and tested. But tbh, with the delta variant, he should have masked anyway. — Murray Burns (@sardinest) August 8, 2021 × Maskless Obama, all fully vaccinated, still tested beforehand and outside. Just a lot of jealous, radical right wing hypocrites. They can't help but hate. https://t.co/J0rhJwAwTx — Nicole (@ElixirChartreus) August 8, 2021 × Which one is true? You don't have to do any research because we did it for you. Obama is not breaking any rules, as some Twitter users correctly pointed out. According to the CDC guidelines and the regulations of Martha's Vineyard, fully vaccinated individuals are required to wear masks in indoor locations, on private and public transportation etc. Even the Massachusetts government website says that "Masks are still mandatory for all individuals on public and private transportation systems (including rideshares, livery, taxi, ferries, MBTA, Commuter Rail and transportation stations), in healthcare facilities and in other settings hosting vulnerable populations, such as congregate care settings." However, since Obama's party is outdoors the guests are not bound to wear masks.

Watch: Obama dances maskless on birthday; Twitter bursts into debate

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/barack-obama">Barack Obama</a> has scaled back plans for a big 60th birthday party this weekend, paring down a guest list of the rich and famous numbering in the hundreds due to the spread of the Delta variant of the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus">coronavirus</a>, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.&nbsp;

"The outdoor event was planned months ago in accordance with all public guidelines and Covid safeguards in place," Hannah Hankins said in a statement issued a day after the planned bash drew criticism, mainly from conservatives.

"Due to the new spread of the Delta variant over the past week, the president and Mrs Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends," Jenkins said.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-bruce-springsteen-barack-obama-to-release-book-based-on-podcast-399774" hreflang="en">Bruce Springsteen, Barack Obama to release book based on podcast</a>

The celebration is to take place Saturday on the upscale island of Martha's Vineyard, and it had been expected to draw hundreds of former Obama administration officials, Democratic donors and celebrities, reportedly including George Clooney, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, according to The Washington Post.

It is to be held outdoors at an oceanside estate in full compliance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with all guests needing to be vaccinated and test negative for the virus, news reports said.

Still, conservatives lashed out at Obama, who turned 60 on Wednesday.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-obamas-teaming-up-with-netflix-for-film-tv-projects-again-397806" hreflang="en">Obamas teaming up with Netflix for film, TV projects again</a>

Republican congressman Jim Jordan, a loyalist of Obama's successor Donald Trump, took to Twitter to joke that "if this was President Trump's birthday," Democrats would be saying "How can someone be so reckless?" or "They're killing people."

"Is there an exception for parties attended by rich liberal celebrities?" demanded Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman.

The Trump administration made headlines on numerous occasions for organizing maskless events in the White House or in government departments, or holding campaign rallies, including at the height of the pandemic and before vaccines were widely available.&nbsp;

In particular, a ceremony in honor of Amy Coney Barrett, whom Trump appointed to the Supreme Court, was suspected of being a superspreader event that led to the infection of a dozen people, including Trump himself.&nbsp;

Eighteen Trump campaign rallies were the source of more than 30,000 coronavirus cases and likely led to more than 700 deaths, according to a December 2020 study by researchers at Stanford University.

President Joe Biden — who served as Obama's vice president — was not expected to attend the Obama party.

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Happy birthday, <a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BarackObama</a>. I’m proud to call you a brother and a friend — and I’m grateful for your selfless service to this nation. <a href="https://t.co/jZ9XnX2Dxt">pic.twitter.com/jZ9XnX2Dxt</a>
— President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1422949440701308928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2021</a></blockquote>
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But he didn't forget to send his best wishes, tweeting: "Happy birthday, @BarackObama. I'm proud to call you a brother and a friend — and I'm grateful for your selfless service to this nation."

Barack Obama has scaled back plans for a big 60th birthday party this weekend, paring down a guest list of the rich and famous numbering in the hundreds due to the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Barack Obama has scaled back plans for a big 60th birthday party this weekend, paring down a guest list of the rich and famous numbering in the hundreds due to the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. "The outdoor event was planned months ago in accordance with all public guidelines and Covid safeguards in place," Hannah Hankins said in a statement issued a day after the planned bash drew criticism, mainly from conservatives. "Due to the new spread of the Delta variant over the past week, the president and Mrs Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends," Jenkins said. Also read | Bruce Springsteen, Barack Obama to release book based on podcast The celebration is to take place Saturday on the upscale island of Martha's Vineyard, and it had been expected to draw hundreds of former Obama administration officials, Democratic donors and celebrities, reportedly including George Clooney, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, according to The Washington Post. It is to be held outdoors at an oceanside estate in full compliance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with all guests needing to be vaccinated and test negative for the virus, news reports said. Still, conservatives lashed out at Obama, who turned 60 on Wednesday. Also read | Obamas teaming up with Netflix for film, TV projects again Republican congressman Jim Jordan, a loyalist of Obama's successor Donald Trump, took to Twitter to joke that "if this was President Trump's birthday," Democrats would be saying "How can someone be so reckless?" or "They're killing people." "Is there an exception for parties attended by rich liberal celebrities?" demanded Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman. The Trump administration made headlines on numerous occasions for organizing maskless events in the White House or in government departments, or holding campaign rallies, including at the height of the pandemic and before vaccines were widely available. In particular, a ceremony in honor of Amy Coney Barrett, whom Trump appointed to the Supreme Court, was suspected of being a superspreader event that led to the infection of a dozen people, including Trump himself. Eighteen Trump campaign rallies were the source of more than 30,000 coronavirus cases and likely led to more than 700 deaths, according to a December 2020 study by researchers at Stanford University. President Joe Biden — who served as Obama's vice president — was not expected to attend the Obama party. Happy birthday, @BarackObama. I’m proud to call you a brother and a friend — and I’m grateful for your selfless service to this nation. pic.twitter.com/jZ9XnX2Dxt — President Biden (@POTUS) August 4, 2021 × But he didn't forget to send his best wishes, tweeting: "Happy birthday, @BarackObama. I'm proud to call you a brother and a friend — and I'm grateful for your selfless service to this nation."

Obama scales back 60th birthday bash over surging Delta variant

Amazon.com, founded by Jeff Bezos, is&nbsp;tired of ringing doorbells and is seeking a ‘key’ to your residence.

Is it a creative and lucrative idea or an opportunity for hackers to steal data? Only time will tell.

The E-commerce&nbsp;giant is pushing landlords around the United States&nbsp;to give its drivers the ability to unlock apartment-building doors themselves with a mobile device.

The service, dubbed Key for Business, is pitched as a way to cut down on stolen packages by making it easy to leave them in lobbies and not outside.&nbsp;

The benefit to Amazon is that&nbsp;it enables delivery workers to make their rounds faster and fewer stolen packages reduce costs and could give the company an edge over competitors.

Those who have installed the device say it reduces the constant buzzing by delivery people and is a safer alternative to giving out codes to scores of delivery people.

But the Amazon programme, first announced in 2018, may stir security and privacy concerns as it gains traction.

According to&nbsp;Ashkan Soltani, a privacy researcher who was a senior tech advisor to former President Barack Obama,&nbsp;any device connected to the internet could be hacked, including the Amazon one, and bad actors could try to unlock the doors.

“You’re essentially introducing a foreign internet-connected device into an otherwise internal network,” said Soltani, who was also a former chief technologist at the US&nbsp;Federal Trade Commission.

The company said that it does background checks on delivery people and that they can unlock doors only when they have a package in hand to scan.

But tenants may not know that Amazon drivers have access to their building’s front doors, since Amazon leaves it up to the building to notify them.

Amazon salespeople have been fanning out to cities across the country to knock on doors, make cold calls or approach building managers on the street to urge them to install the device.

The company has even partnered with local locksmiths to push it on building managers while they fix locks. Amazon installs the device for free and sometimes throws in a $100 Amazon gift card to whoever lets them in.

Amazon.com Inc's cloud service,&nbsp;Amazon&nbsp;Web Services has been hacked previously&nbsp;by a former employee who&nbsp;obtained personal information including names and addresses of about 100 million individuals.

The perpetrator gained access through a misconfiguration of the web application and not the underlying cloud-based infrastructure.

The company had issued a fix to rectify security flaws in certain of its Blink home camera systems after a cybersecurity firm found vulnerabilities that could let hackers hijack the device.

Tenable Inc, which discovered the issues, said seven severe vulnerabilities in Blink’s XT2 camera systems could have given attackers full control over the device and allow them to view the camera footage remotely.

(With inputs from agencies)

Amazon.com, founded by Jeff Bezos, is tired of ringing doorbells and is seeking a ‘key’ to your residence. Is it a creative and lucrative idea or an opportunity for hackers to steal data?

Amazon.com, founded by Jeff Bezos, is tired of ringing doorbells and is seeking a ‘key’ to your residence. Is it a creative and lucrative idea or an opportunity for hackers to steal data? Only time will tell. The E-commerce giant is pushing landlords around the United States to give its drivers the ability to unlock apartment-building doors themselves with a mobile device. The service, dubbed Key for Business, is pitched as a way to cut down on stolen packages by making it easy to leave them in lobbies and not outside. The benefit to Amazon is that it enables delivery workers to make their rounds faster and fewer stolen packages reduce costs and could give the company an edge over competitors. Those who have installed the device say it reduces the constant buzzing by delivery people and is a safer alternative to giving out codes to scores of delivery people. But the Amazon programme, first announced in 2018, may stir security and privacy concerns as it gains traction. According to Ashkan Soltani, a privacy researcher who was a senior tech advisor to former President Barack Obama, any device connected to the internet could be hacked, including the Amazon one, and bad actors could try to unlock the doors. “You’re essentially introducing a foreign internet-connected device into an otherwise internal network,” said Soltani, who was also a former chief technologist at the US Federal Trade Commission. The company said that it does background checks on delivery people and that they can unlock doors only when they have a package in hand to scan. But tenants may not know that Amazon drivers have access to their building’s front doors, since Amazon leaves it up to the building to notify them. Amazon salespeople have been fanning out to cities across the country to knock on doors, make cold calls or approach building managers on the street to urge them to install the device. The company has even partnered with local locksmiths to push it on building managers while they fix locks. Amazon installs the device for free and sometimes throws in a $100 Amazon gift card to whoever lets them in. Amazon.com Inc's cloud service, Amazon Web Services has been hacked previously by a former employee who obtained personal information including names and addresses of about 100 million individuals. The perpetrator gained access through a misconfiguration of the web application and not the underlying cloud-based infrastructure. The company had issued a fix to rectify security flaws in certain of its Blink home camera systems after a cybersecurity firm found vulnerabilities that could let hackers hijack the device. Tenable Inc, which discovered the issues, said seven severe vulnerabilities in Blink’s XT2 camera systems could have given attackers full control over the device and allow them to view the camera footage remotely. (With inputs from agencies)

E-commerce company Amazon is seeking a ‘key’ to your residence

Barack Obama and Bruce Spingsteen are collaborating on a new project. They will be bringing their podcast to novel form.&nbsp;

This comes after they launched their podcast for Spotify.&nbsp;

Publishing house Penguin Random House announced that they will publish a book of the same, ‘Renegades: Born in the USA’, in partnership with former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground.

‘Renegades: Born in the USA’ will chronicle the candid conversations Obama and Springsteen began in their Spotify co-produced podcast. It is an eight-episode podcast series with the friends sitting down and discussing everything from race to fatherhood to modern manhood and the state of America today.

In the upcoming collection, Obama and Springsteen will also “reveal their passion for—and the occasional toll of—telling a bigger, truer story about America throughout their careers and explore how our fractured country might begin to find its way back toward unity.”

Barack Obama and Bruce Spingsteen are collaborating on a new project. They will be bringing their podcast to novel form. This comes after they launched their podcast for Spotify.

Barack Obama and Bruce Spingsteen are collaborating on a new project. They will be bringing their podcast to novel form. This comes after they launched their podcast for Spotify. Publishing house Penguin Random House announced that they will publish a book of the same, ‘Renegades: Born in the USA’, in partnership with former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground. ‘Renegades: Born in the USA’ will chronicle the candid conversations Obama and Springsteen began in their Spotify co-produced podcast. It is an eight-episode podcast series with the friends sitting down and discussing everything from race to fatherhood to modern manhood and the state of America today. In the upcoming collection, Obama and Springsteen will also “reveal their passion for—and the occasional toll of—telling a bigger, truer story about America throughout their careers and explore how our fractured country might begin to find its way back toward unity.”

Bruce Springsteen, Barack Obama to release book based on podcast

In a fresh blow&nbsp;to immigration laws in the US, the 'Dreamers' programme was deemed unlawful by a US federal judge.

Deeming it unlawful, Judge Andrew Hanen of the United States District Court in Houston said that while instituting DACA via executive order, former US President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/barack-obama">Barack Obama</a> exceeded his authority.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/a-divided-us-house-passes-immigration-bills-including-pathway-for-dreamers-371541">A divided US House passes immigration bills, including pathway for 'Dreamers'</a>

US president&nbsp;Joe Biden&nbsp;criticised the curtailment of the&nbsp;program that protects migrant children brought to the United States, calling the decision "deeply disappointing."&nbsp;&nbsp;

Biden said the Justice Department will appeal Hanen's ruling, adding that&nbsp;"only Congress can ensure a permanent solution by granting a path to citizenship for Dreamers,".

<div>Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)&nbsp; was introduced by Obama in 2012. It is an immigration programme that protected undocumented migrants brought to the country as children.</div>

Each year, the programme covers around 700,000 people called 'Dreamers', for many of whom America is the only 'home' they've known.

Judge Hanen says that the ruling does not dictate that Homeland Security or the Department of Justice take any additional measures such as deporting, detaining or prosecuting any DACA recipients, applicants, beyond what it would take otherwise.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-signals-hes-flexible-on-immigration-overhaul-364503">Biden signals he’s flexible on immigration overhaul</a>

He added that the government has to stop accepting people into the programme. However, the government can still receive applications. People already enrolled in the programme will also not be affected by the ruling.

Applicants to this programme had to fulfill a few criteria to be eligible. They must have reached the United States before the age of 16 to be eligible for protection and the right to work.

Additionally, applicants must be&nbsp;currently in school or have a high school diploma or equivalent qualification, or have served in the military and been discharged honourably, and have a clean criminal record.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/bidens-us-immigration-reform-bill-to-be-unveiled-on-thursday-364547">Biden's US immigration reform bill to be unveiled on Thursday</a>

The challenges to this programme stem from a 2017 effort to eliminate it by the-then President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> who attempted to dismantle the programme claiming it was unconstitutional. These efforts triggered a lengthy court battle.&nbsp;

DACA survived that and got reinstated in December last year.&nbsp;

Following in Obama's footsteps <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a> has sought to strengthen the programme and implement wider immigration reforms.

Following Friday's ruling, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also issued a statement that said: "Democrats call on Republicans in Congress to join us in respecting the will of the American people and the law, to ensure that Dreamers have a permanent path to citizenship."

(With inputs from agencies)

In a fresh blow to immigration laws in the US, the 'Dreamers' programme was deemed unlawful by a US federal judge. Deeming it unlawful, Judge Andrew Hanen of the United States District Court in Houston said that while instituting DACA via executive order, former US President Barack Obama exceeded his authority.

In a fresh blow to immigration laws in the US, the 'Dreamers' programme was deemed unlawful by a US federal judge. Deeming it unlawful, Judge Andrew Hanen of the United States District Court in Houston said that while instituting DACA via executive order, former US President Barack Obama exceeded his authority. Also read | A divided US House passes immigration bills, including pathway for 'Dreamers' US president Joe Biden criticised the curtailment of the program that protects migrant children brought to the United States, calling the decision "deeply disappointing." Biden said the Justice Department will appeal Hanen's ruling, adding that "only Congress can ensure a permanent solution by granting a path to citizenship for Dreamers,". Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was introduced by Obama in 2012. It is an immigration programme that protected undocumented migrants brought to the country as children. Each year, the programme covers around 700,000 people called 'Dreamers', for many of whom America is the only 'home' they've known. Judge Hanen says that the ruling does not dictate that Homeland Security or the Department of Justice take any additional measures such as deporting, detaining or prosecuting any DACA recipients, applicants, beyond what it would take otherwise. Also read | Biden signals he’s flexible on immigration overhaul He added that the government has to stop accepting people into the programme. However, the government can still receive applications. People already enrolled in the programme will also not be affected by the ruling. Applicants to this programme had to fulfill a few criteria to be eligible. They must have reached the United States before the age of 16 to be eligible for protection and the right to work. Additionally, applicants must be currently in school or have a high school diploma or equivalent qualification, or have served in the military and been discharged honourably, and have a clean criminal record. Also read | Biden's US immigration reform bill to be unveiled on Thursday The challenges to this programme stem from a 2017 effort to eliminate it by the-then President Donald Trump who attempted to dismantle the programme claiming it was unconstitutional. These efforts triggered a lengthy court battle. DACA survived that and got reinstated in December last year. Following in Obama's footsteps President Joe Biden has sought to strengthen the programme and implement wider immigration reforms. Following Friday's ruling, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also issued a statement that said: "Democrats call on Republicans in Congress to join us in respecting the will of the American people and the law, to ensure that Dreamers have a permanent path to citizenship." (With inputs from agencies)

'Dreamers' programme deemed unlawful by US Federal Judge, Biden says 'deeply disappointed'

The Obamas’ Higher Ground and Fatherhood producers have teamed up with Netflix again for a new project.&nbsp;

The two companies are developing ‘Blackout’, a film and TV ‘event’ that is being adapted from six different love stories, each written by a different writer. It is being developed as a TV series and film adaptation. This means that some stories could become films while others can be made into series.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, ‘Blackout’ is based in New York during a power outage on a hot summer night. It is told from the perspective of 12 teens with six shots of love.&nbsp;

The six writers attached to pen stories for the film and TV project are Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk and Nicola Yoon.

Temple Hill will executive produce the project, which marks a reunion with Netflix and Higher Ground following Kevin Hart feature ‘Fatherhood’.&nbsp;

Apart from ‘Blackout’, Obamas have also been attached to other Netflix projects like ‘American Factory’, ‘Becoming’, ‘Crip Camp’, kids-focused entry ‘Ada Twist’ and ‘We the People’, with several others in various stages of development.&nbsp;

The Obamas’ Higher Ground and Fatherhood producers have teamed up with Netflix again for a new project. The two companies are developing ‘Blackout’, a film and TV ‘event’ that is being adapted from six different love stories, each written by a different writer.

The Obamas’ Higher Ground and Fatherhood producers have teamed up with Netflix again for a new project. The two companies are developing ‘Blackout’, a film and TV ‘event’ that is being adapted from six different love stories, each written by a different writer. It is being developed as a TV series and film adaptation. This means that some stories could become films while others can be made into series. Meanwhile, ‘Blackout’ is based in New York during a power outage on a hot summer night. It is told from the perspective of 12 teens with six shots of love. The six writers attached to pen stories for the film and TV project are Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk and Nicola Yoon. Temple Hill will executive produce the project, which marks a reunion with Netflix and Higher Ground following Kevin Hart feature ‘Fatherhood’. Apart from ‘Blackout’, Obamas have also been attached to other Netflix projects like ‘American Factory’, ‘Becoming’, ‘Crip Camp’, kids-focused entry ‘Ada Twist’ and ‘We the People’, with several others in various stages of development.

Obamas teaming up with Netflix for film, TV projects again

President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure agreement contains all of the contradictions and promises of the Biden brand. It is a deal that dramatically curbs Democrats’ policy goals in the pursuit of bipartisanship, but also opens a portal to what could be the most ambitious expansion of government into the economy in decades.

It is an attempt for the president to have it both ways — compromising with Republicans in pursuit of a bold and progressive agenda — just as he promised Democratic voters he would during the 2020 primary campaign. He has negotiated a deal that satisfies moderates, while promising liberals that the agreement will not become law unless his party’s moderates also supply votes for a far more expensive companion plan.

At its core, it is a risk. Biden’s two-track strategy could easily collapse before any infrastructure bills get to his desk, leaving him empty-handed on his top domestic priority.

But White House officials also believe it was the only route for the president to secure trillions of dollars in new spending to fight climate change, increase worker pay, expand education and carry out scores of other initiatives — and that Biden is now better positioned than ever to achieve that goal.

Biden aspires to go down in history as a transformational president akin to Franklin D. Roosevelt or Lyndon B. Johnson, on the wings of a wholesale re-imagining of the federal role in the economy. He wants to guarantee four additional years of public education for students across the country, to speed a transition to low-emission energy, to provide paid leave for workers, to send ongoing checks to families in an effort to halve child poverty and to strengthen care for children, older Americans and the disabled to help ease the strain on working women. He would pile new taxes on high earners and the rich, reversing decades of attempts to stimulate the economy from the top down.

But Biden does not enjoy the large congressional majorities that Johnson and Roosevelt had. That hinders his ability to push sweeping legislation with only the backing of his party. It also emboldens his natural craving as a decadeslong member of the Senate to reach across the aisle and seek compromise.

Former President Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice president, tried to walk a similar tightrope. Obama had campaigned on uniting the country, and he attempted to build large bipartisan coalitions to expand health care and jolt the economy out of the recession that followed the 2008 financial crisis. He ended up with bills that disappointed many progressives and failed to attract much support from Republicans.

Biden’s majorities are significantly thinner than Obama’s, and the left flank of his party in Congress is larger, louder and more liberal. Senate centrists like Joe Manchin of West Virginia have pushed him toward compromise for months. Progressives in both chambers have pushed the president to go even further than he has proposed to reduce carbon emissions, fight poverty and expand access to health care.

Early in his term, Biden sided with the progressives, pressuring centrists to quickly fall in line behind a $1.9 trillion economic aid bill for the coronavirus pandemic. This time, he indulged the moderates first and foremost.

His agreement with Senate centrists, including at least five Republicans, includes just under $600 billion in new federal spending, focused on physical infrastructure like highways and broadband. In the pursuit of enough Republican votes to clear a Senate filibuster, the deal excludes all the president’s proposals to more heavily tax corporations and the rich, much of his push to curb climate change and all his proposed investments in the “human infrastructure” of education, paid leave and child and elder care.

“Neither side got everything they wanted in this deal, and that’s what it means to compromise,” Biden told reporters in the East Room. “And it reflects something important: It reflects consensus. The heart of democracy requires consensus.”

That consensus represents a small slice of Biden’s $4 trillion economic agenda, and liberals were quick to call it insufficient. That is why Biden also said Thursday that he would not sign the bipartisan agreement unless it was accompanied by a second bill, probably passed with only Democratic votes and funded by some tax increases on corporations and high earners, that would spend heavily on the parts of his agenda that were cut out of the deal at the insistence of Republicans.

“If this is the only thing that comes to me, I’m not signing it,” Biden said, just moments after extolling the virtues of consensus. “It’s in tandem.”

Congressional leaders echoed him. “All parties understand, we won’t get enough votes to pass either unless we have enough votes to pass both,” Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said on the Senate floor. “The bottom line is both tracks need to make progress concurrently.”

Top Republicans were quick to denounce the two-step. “That’s not the way to show you’re serious about getting a bipartisan outcome,” Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, said Thursday. “So I hope our colleagues can recover and get their good-faith efforts back on track.”

White House officials, though, say the president made clear to Republicans throughout the negotiations that he was pursuing both a bipartisan deal and a second bill to pass only with Democratic votes through a process known as budget reconciliation. They do not expect Republicans to walk away from the agreement struck this week.

Some Republicans remain hopeful that Biden will ultimately end up signing only the bipartisan deal into law, and that Democrats will be unable to find consensus on the details of the spending and tax provisions in a partisan bill. That is the bet many business lobbyists have made in urging Republicans to engage in talks in hopes of warding off the business tax increases that would most likely be included in a more expensive infrastructure plan that Democrats would do on their own.

If Republicans were to scuttle the deal, accusing Democrats of bad faith, Biden would be left to shoehorn his entire agenda into a partisan bill. The odds would rise of centrists and progressives failing to find agreement. Biden’s brand of bipartisanship could take a hit in the eyes of voters.

But now that a deal has been announced, administration officials say, the reverse could be true. Republican defections could anger the Democratic centrists, making them more amenable to a partisan bill. Even Republicans’ immediate endorsement of the bipartisan framework, which includes tax increases on polluting companies and more money for the IRS, could shift the policy conversation in Washington in Democrats’ direction.

In other words, Biden has now achieved the appearance of bipartisanship, whether it ultimately endures or not. And that appearance, by itself, could give him the political fuel he needs to push a far more aggressive plan into law.

It is not a typical political calculation. But it is a distinctly Biden one.

President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure agreement contains all of the contradictions and promises of the Biden brand. It is a deal that dramatically curbs Democrats’ policy goals in the pursuit of bipartisanship, but also opens a portal to what could be the most ambitious expansion of government into the economy in decades.

President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure agreement contains all of the contradictions and promises of the Biden brand. It is a deal that dramatically curbs Democrats’ policy goals in the pursuit of bipartisanship, but also opens a portal to what could be the most ambitious expansion of government into the economy in decades. It is an attempt for the president to have it both ways — compromising with Republicans in pursuit of a bold and progressive agenda — just as he promised Democratic voters he would during the 2020 primary campaign. He has negotiated a deal that satisfies moderates, while promising liberals that the agreement will not become law unless his party’s moderates also supply votes for a far more expensive companion plan. At its core, it is a risk. Biden’s two-track strategy could easily collapse before any infrastructure bills get to his desk, leaving him empty-handed on his top domestic priority. But White House officials also believe it was the only route for the president to secure trillions of dollars in new spending to fight climate change, increase worker pay, expand education and carry out scores of other initiatives — and that Biden is now better positioned than ever to achieve that goal. Biden aspires to go down in history as a transformational president akin to Franklin D. Roosevelt or Lyndon B. Johnson, on the wings of a wholesale re-imagining of the federal role in the economy. He wants to guarantee four additional years of public education for students across the country, to speed a transition to low-emission energy, to provide paid leave for workers, to send ongoing checks to families in an effort to halve child poverty and to strengthen care for children, older Americans and the disabled to help ease the strain on working women. He would pile new taxes on high earners and the rich, reversing decades of attempts to stimulate the economy from the top down. But Biden does not enjoy the large congressional majorities that Johnson and Roosevelt had. That hinders his ability to push sweeping legislation with only the backing of his party. It also emboldens his natural craving as a decadeslong member of the Senate to reach across the aisle and seek compromise. Former President Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice president, tried to walk a similar tightrope. Obama had campaigned on uniting the country, and he attempted to build large bipartisan coalitions to expand health care and jolt the economy out of the recession that followed the 2008 financial crisis. He ended up with bills that disappointed many progressives and failed to attract much support from Republicans. Biden’s majorities are significantly thinner than Obama’s, and the left flank of his party in Congress is larger, louder and more liberal. Senate centrists like Joe Manchin of West Virginia have pushed him toward compromise for months. Progressives in both chambers have pushed the president to go even further than he has proposed to reduce carbon emissions, fight poverty and expand access to health care. Early in his term, Biden sided with the progressives, pressuring centrists to quickly fall in line behind a $1.9 trillion economic aid bill for the coronavirus pandemic. This time, he indulged the moderates first and foremost. His agreement with Senate centrists, including at least five Republicans, includes just under $600 billion in new federal spending, focused on physical infrastructure like highways and broadband. In the pursuit of enough Republican votes to clear a Senate filibuster, the deal excludes all the president’s proposals to more heavily tax corporations and the rich, much of his push to curb climate change and all his proposed investments in the “human infrastructure” of education, paid leave and child and elder care. “Neither side got everything they wanted in this deal, and that’s what it means to compromise,” Biden told reporters in the East Room. “And it reflects something important: It reflects consensus. The heart of democracy requires consensus.” That consensus represents a small slice of Biden’s $4 trillion economic agenda, and liberals were quick to call it insufficient. That is why Biden also said Thursday that he would not sign the bipartisan agreement unless it was accompanied by a second bill, probably passed with only Democratic votes and funded by some tax increases on corporations and high earners, that would spend heavily on the parts of his agenda that were cut out of the deal at the insistence of Republicans. “If this is the only thing that comes to me, I’m not signing it,” Biden said, just moments after extolling the virtues of consensus. “It’s in tandem.” Congressional leaders echoed him. “All parties understand, we won’t get enough votes to pass either unless we have enough votes to pass both,” Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said on the Senate floor. “The bottom line is both tracks need to make progress concurrently.” Top Republicans were quick to denounce the two-step. “That’s not the way to show you’re serious about getting a bipartisan outcome,” Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, said Thursday. “So I hope our colleagues can recover and get their good-faith efforts back on track.” White House officials, though, say the president made clear to Republicans throughout the negotiations that he was pursuing both a bipartisan deal and a second bill to pass only with Democratic votes through a process known as budget reconciliation. They do not expect Republicans to walk away from the agreement struck this week. Some Republicans remain hopeful that Biden will ultimately end up signing only the bipartisan deal into law, and that Democrats will be unable to find consensus on the details of the spending and tax provisions in a partisan bill. That is the bet many business lobbyists have made in urging Republicans to engage in talks in hopes of warding off the business tax increases that would most likely be included in a more expensive infrastructure plan that Democrats would do on their own. If Republicans were to scuttle the deal, accusing Democrats of bad faith, Biden would be left to shoehorn his entire agenda into a partisan bill. The odds would rise of centrists and progressives failing to find agreement. Biden’s brand of bipartisanship could take a hit in the eyes of voters. But now that a deal has been announced, administration officials say, the reverse could be true. Republican defections could anger the Democratic centrists, making them more amenable to a partisan bill. Even Republicans’ immediate endorsement of the bipartisan framework, which includes tax increases on polluting companies and more money for the IRS, could shift the policy conversation in Washington in Democrats’ direction. In other words, Biden has now achieved the appearance of bipartisanship, whether it ultimately endures or not. And that appearance, by itself, could give him the political fuel he needs to push a far more aggressive plan into law. It is not a typical political calculation. But it is a distinctly Biden one.

On infrastructure, Biden tests the limits of having it both ways

Former US President Barack Obama lauded Manchester United star Marcus Rashford for his contribution in tackling child food poverty. Rashford and Obama discussed how young people can make an impact on society via video call.&nbsp;

ALSO READ:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/sports/football-turkey-beat-azerbaijan-2-1-in-build-up-to-euro-2020-387925" hreflang="en">Football: Turkey beat Azerbaijan 2-1 in build-up to Euro 2020</a>

"A lot of the young people I meet -- including Marcus -- they're ahead of where I was when I was 23," Obama said in a Zoom call organised by publishers Penguin.

"They're already making changes and being positive forces in their communities.

"Even if you do something positive on a small scale, that's making a difference, and it's the accumulation of people doing positive things over time that makes us a little bit better with each successive generation."

The Manchester United forward said it was "surreal" talking to the former U.S. President.

"I mean, it's quite surreal, isn't it? I'm sitting in my kitchen in Manchester, speaking to President Obama. But immediately he made me feel at ease," Rashford said.

"It wasn't long before I realised just how aligned our experiences as children were in shaping the men you see today - adversity, obstacles and all."

Rashford led a campaign last year to end child food poverty and successfully lobbied the British government to continue providing free school meals during the holidays. The England striker also was awarded an MBE for services to vulnerable children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Inputs from Reuters)

Former US President Barack Obama lauded Manchester United star Marcus Rashford for his contribution in tackling child food poverty. Rashford and Obama discussed how young people can make an impact on society via video call.

Former US President Barack Obama lauded Manchester United star Marcus Rashford for his contribution in tackling child food poverty. Rashford and Obama discussed how young people can make an impact on society via video call. ALSO READ: Football: Turkey beat Azerbaijan 2-1 in build-up to Euro 2020 "A lot of the young people I meet -- including Marcus -- they're ahead of where I was when I was 23," Obama said in a Zoom call organised by publishers Penguin. "They're already making changes and being positive forces in their communities. "Even if you do something positive on a small scale, that's making a difference, and it's the accumulation of people doing positive things over time that makes us a little bit better with each successive generation." The Manchester United forward said it was "surreal" talking to the former U.S. President. "I mean, it's quite surreal, isn't it? I'm sitting in my kitchen in Manchester, speaking to President Obama. But immediately he made me feel at ease," Rashford said. "It wasn't long before I realised just how aligned our experiences as children were in shaping the men you see today - adversity, obstacles and all." Rashford led a campaign last year to end child food poverty and successfully lobbied the British government to continue providing free school meals during the holidays. The England striker also was awarded an MBE for services to vulnerable children during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Inputs from Reuters)

'Already making changes': Barack Obama lauds Marcus Rashford's efforts for child food poverty campaign

Obama family's dog, Bo, passes away of cancer

Australia&nbsp;is reviewing the 99-year lease of a commercial and military port in the country's north to a Chinese firm, a government source said on Monday, a move that could further inflame tensions between Beijing and Canberra.

Australia&nbsp;overhauled its foreign investment laws late last year, giving the government the retrospective power to impose new conditions or even force a divestment on deals that have already been approved.

Defence officials are looking into whether the Landbridge Group, which is owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, should be forced to give up its ownership of Darwin Port on national security grounds, the source told Reuters.

Landbridge, which has close ties to the Chinese military according to media reports, won a bidding process in 2015 to operate the port in a deal worth A$506 million ($390 million).

"Advice has been sought on the port and that will go to national security committee in due time," a government source said. The source declined to be named as he is not authorised to talk to the media on the subject.

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, which first reported the review, quoted Defence Minister Peter Dutton as saying the government would "look at options that are in our national interests after that.”

The defence department, the&nbsp;Australian offices of Landbridge and the Chinese embassy in Canberra did not respond to requests for comment.

The awarding of the contract to Landbridge by the Northern Territory government came just a few years after the United States posted the first of a rotating group of US&nbsp;Marines in Darwin. The posting was part of former President Barack Obama's pivot to Asia following China’s increased assertiveness in the region and Obama reportedly expressed his displeasure at not receiving a heads up on the port deal.

Touted as&nbsp;Australia’s front door to Asian markets, and a potential hub for resources and agriculture exports, Darwin is the centerpiece of the government's plan to develop its remote north.

The review comes at a low point in relations between&nbsp;Australia&nbsp;and China, which have fluctuated for years. Relations deteriorated again last year after Canberra called for an international inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting trade reprisals from Beijing.

Morrison has said the new foreign investment powers, which were used for the first time in April, were needed to ensure consistency in foreign relations and were not aimed at any one country.

The government has so far cancelled four deals using the new law, two of which were Belt and Road initiatives struck by Victoria state with the Chinese government. The other two deals were education agreements with Syria and Iran, also with Victoria state.

The federal government said the Belt and Road cancellations were needed to ensure foreign policy consistency. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman responded by urging&nbsp;Australia&nbsp;to abandon its "Cold War mentality and ideological bias" and "immediately correct its mistakes and change course".

Australia is reviewing the 99-year lease of a commercial and military port in the country's north to a Chinese firm, a government source said on Monday, a move that could further inflame tensions between Beijing and Canberra.

Australia is reviewing the 99-year lease of a commercial and military port in the country's north to a Chinese firm, a government source said on Monday, a move that could further inflame tensions between Beijing and Canberra. Australia overhauled its foreign investment laws late last year, giving the government the retrospective power to impose new conditions or even force a divestment on deals that have already been approved. Defence officials are looking into whether the Landbridge Group, which is owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, should be forced to give up its ownership of Darwin Port on national security grounds, the source told Reuters. Landbridge, which has close ties to the Chinese military according to media reports, won a bidding process in 2015 to operate the port in a deal worth A$506 million ($390 million). "Advice has been sought on the port and that will go to national security committee in due time," a government source said. The source declined to be named as he is not authorised to talk to the media on the subject. The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, which first reported the review, quoted Defence Minister Peter Dutton as saying the government would "look at options that are in our national interests after that.” The defence department, the Australian offices of Landbridge and the Chinese embassy in Canberra did not respond to requests for comment. The awarding of the contract to Landbridge by the Northern Territory government came just a few years after the United States posted the first of a rotating group of US Marines in Darwin. The posting was part of former President Barack Obama's pivot to Asia following China’s increased assertiveness in the region and Obama reportedly expressed his displeasure at not receiving a heads up on the port deal. Touted as Australia’s front door to Asian markets, and a potential hub for resources and agriculture exports, Darwin is the centerpiece of the government's plan to develop its remote north. The review comes at a low point in relations between Australia and China, which have fluctuated for years. Relations deteriorated again last year after Canberra called for an international inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting trade reprisals from Beijing. Morrison has said the new foreign investment powers, which were used for the first time in April, were needed to ensure consistency in foreign relations and were not aimed at any one country. The government has so far cancelled four deals using the new law, two of which were Belt and Road initiatives struck by Victoria state with the Chinese government. The other two deals were education agreements with Syria and Iran, also with Victoria state. The federal government said the Belt and Road cancellations were needed to ensure foreign policy consistency. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman responded by urging Australia to abandon its "Cold War mentality and ideological bias" and "immediately correct its mistakes and change course".

Australia reviewing lease of Darwin port to Chinese firm: Sources

The founder of the militant terrorist organisation al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, was killed by US security forces in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011. The confidential mission was conducted by US Seal 6 team.

How America's pursuit of Bin Laden ended in Abbottabad

Sarah Onyango Obama, the grandmother of former US President Barack Obama died on Monday (March 29) in a hospital in Kisumu. She was said to be 99 years old.

Marsat Obama, Sarah's daughter, told local newspapers her mother died at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kisumu at 4.45am on March 29. She had been admitted to the hospital on Sunday (March 28) morning.

Sarah, popularly known as 'Mama Sarah' in her Nyangoma-Kogelo home village, was a Kenyan educator and philanthropist who promoted education for girls and orphans. She was the third wife of the paternal grandfather of Barack Obama.

Former President Obama often referred to her as "Granny" in his memoir, "Dreams from My Father." He described meeting her during his 1988 trip to Kenya, his father's homeland and their initial awkwardness and communication struggles that eventually developed into a warm bond. She attended his first inauguration as president in 2009.

In recognition of her work to support education, she was honoured by the United Nations in 2014, receiving the inaugural Women's Entrepreneurship Day Education Pioneer Award.

Her body is expected to be buried on Tuesday (March 30).

Sarah Onyango Obama, the grandmother of former US President Barack Obama died on Monday (March 29) in a hospital in Kisumu. She was said to be 99 years old. Marsat Obama, Sarah's daughter, told local newspapers her mother died at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kisumu at 4.

Sarah Onyango Obama, the grandmother of former US President Barack Obama died on Monday (March 29) in a hospital in Kisumu. She was said to be 99 years old. Marsat Obama, Sarah's daughter, told local newspapers her mother died at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kisumu at 4.45am on March 29. She had been admitted to the hospital on Sunday (March 28) morning. Sarah, popularly known as 'Mama Sarah' in her Nyangoma-Kogelo home village, was a Kenyan educator and philanthropist who promoted education for girls and orphans. She was the third wife of the paternal grandfather of Barack Obama. Former President Obama often referred to her as "Granny" in his memoir, "Dreams from My Father." He described meeting her during his 1988 trip to Kenya, his father's homeland and their initial awkwardness and communication struggles that eventually developed into a warm bond. She attended his first inauguration as president in 2009. In recognition of her work to support education, she was honoured by the United Nations in 2014, receiving the inaugural Women's Entrepreneurship Day Education Pioneer Award. Her body is expected to be buried on Tuesday (March 30).

Former US President Barack Obama's Kenyan grandmother dies aged 99

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that cooperation between allies was more important than at any time in recent history and that relations with NATO and the European Union would be crucial to overcoming challenges.

Speaking on the last day of his three-day visit to Brussels, Blinken continued what many European officials said was a charm offensive to win back the support of allies sidelined during four abrasive years under US&nbsp;President Joe Biden's predecessor Donald Trump.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-will-not-push-allies-into-us-or-them-choice-on-china-says-antony-blinken-372854" hreflang="en">US will not push allies into 'us-or-them choice' on China, says Antony Blinken</a>

"I came here very much with one particular focus in mind, and that was to make clear the United States' determination to revitalise our alliances and partnerships," Blinken said alongside Belgium's Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes.

He later told US&nbsp;diplomats in Brussels he wanted to mend and "modernise" relationships to focus on new challenges, which he has listed as China's rise, COVID-19, climate change, a newly assertive Russia and keeping a technological edge on rivals.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/antony-blinken-pushes-turkey-over-russian-s-400-at-nato-373120/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"There's a greater premium than any time since I've been involved in these issues, on finding ways to work together, again," said Blinken, a long-time Biden confidant involved in US&nbsp;foreign policy for decades.

Blinken won European Union support on Wednesday for a US&nbsp;plan to confront Chinese power together through a formal dialogue that Beijing had hoped to avoid, praising EU officials who Trump actively sought to undermine.

"A basic tenet of the Biden-Harris administration is consulting with our friends, early and often," Blinken said.

Biden will address EU leaders via video conference later on Thursday, the first such gesture since President Barack Obama did so in 2009.

Issues remain, however, including Turkey's purchase of Russian missiles and discussions with Moscow to buy more, and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under construction between Russia and Germany, which Blinken reiterated that Washington opposes.

"Some of our allies are moving in the wrong direction," he said on Wednesday, referring to backsliding on democracy in Hungary, Poland and Turkey, although he did not name countries.

He stressed that alliances need to serve U.S. interests and that NATO allies must help pay for their own security, saying: "We can't sustain effective alliances without showing how they deliver for the American people."

But China's decision on Monday to retaliate strongly against Western sanctions over human rights abuses has appeared to bring Europe and the United States closer together. European governments have summoned Chinese envoys to explain measures against EU nationals that were seen as going far beyond what Brussels imposed.

"We're convinced that it is (through) enduring relationships, like the one between our countries, and like the ones that exist through the European Union and through NATO ... that we can overcome any of these challenges," Blinken said.

Citing the "devastating" COVID-19 pandemic, Blinken promised to work with the EU and NATO on global distribution of vaccines, and to ensure they are prepared for future pandemics.

While insisting Europe does not have to choose between the United States and China, Blinken insisted throughout his trip that the West must show authoritarian states that democracy is a superior system and stand up for liberal values.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that cooperation between allies was more important than at any time in recent history and that relations with NATO and the European Union would be crucial to overcoming challenges.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that cooperation between allies was more important than at any time in recent history and that relations with NATO and the European Union would be crucial to overcoming challenges. Speaking on the last day of his three-day visit to Brussels, Blinken continued what many European officials said was a charm offensive to win back the support of allies sidelined during four abrasive years under US President Joe Biden's predecessor Donald Trump. Also read| US will not push allies into 'us-or-them choice' on China, says Antony Blinken "I came here very much with one particular focus in mind, and that was to make clear the United States' determination to revitalise our alliances and partnerships," Blinken said alongside Belgium's Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes. He later told US diplomats in Brussels he wanted to mend and "modernise" relationships to focus on new challenges, which he has listed as China's rise, COVID-19, climate change, a newly assertive Russia and keeping a technological edge on rivals. "There's a greater premium than any time since I've been involved in these issues, on finding ways to work together, again," said Blinken, a long-time Biden confidant involved in US foreign policy for decades. Blinken won European Union support on Wednesday for a US plan to confront Chinese power together through a formal dialogue that Beijing had hoped to avoid, praising EU officials who Trump actively sought to undermine. "A basic tenet of the Biden-Harris administration is consulting with our friends, early and often," Blinken said. Biden will address EU leaders via video conference later on Thursday, the first such gesture since President Barack Obama did so in 2009. Issues remain, however, including Turkey's purchase of Russian missiles and discussions with Moscow to buy more, and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under construction between Russia and Germany, which Blinken reiterated that Washington opposes. "Some of our allies are moving in the wrong direction," he said on Wednesday, referring to backsliding on democracy in Hungary, Poland and Turkey, although he did not name countries. He stressed that alliances need to serve U.S. interests and that NATO allies must help pay for their own security, saying: "We can't sustain effective alliances without showing how they deliver for the American people." But China's decision on Monday to retaliate strongly against Western sanctions over human rights abuses has appeared to bring Europe and the United States closer together. European governments have summoned Chinese envoys to explain measures against EU nationals that were seen as going far beyond what Brussels imposed. "We're convinced that it is (through) enduring relationships, like the one between our countries, and like the ones that exist through the European Union and through NATO ... that we can overcome any of these challenges," Blinken said. Citing the "devastating" COVID-19 pandemic, Blinken promised to work with the EU and NATO on global distribution of vaccines, and to ensure they are prepared for future pandemics. While insisting Europe does not have to choose between the United States and China, Blinken insisted throughout his trip that the West must show authoritarian states that democracy is a superior system and stand up for liberal values.

West needs to revitalise alliances more than ever, says US Secretary of State Blinken

As Democrats pushed this month to pass the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, they were eager to rebuke Republicans for opposing en masse a measure filled with aid to struggling Americans. But they had another target as well: the core policy of President Barack Obama’s first-term agenda.

Party leaders from President Joe Biden on down are citing Obama’s strategy on his most urgent policy initiative — an $800 billion financial rescue plan in 2009 in the midst of a crippling recession — as too cautious and too deferential to Republicans, mistakes they were determined not to repeat.

The pointed assessments of Obama’s handling of the 2009 stimulus effort are the closest Democrats have come to grappling with a highly delicate matter in the party: the shortcomings in the legacy of Obama, one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party and a powerful voice for bipartisanship in a deeply divided country.

The re-examination has irked some of the former president’s allies but thrilled the party’s progressive wing, which sees Biden’s more expansive plan as a down payment on his ambitious agenda. And it has sent an early signal that Biden’s administration does not intend to be a carbon copy of his Democratic predecessor’s. Times, all concede, have changed.

“This time, the feeling was, ‘We’re not very willing to negotiate what we think is needed,’ ” said former Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who retired before the 2010 midterm elections. “In 2009, I think the feeling was, ‘Oh we wanted more, but we didn’t get what we wanted.’ ”

The careful dance around Obama and his accomplishments continues a dynamic from the Democratic presidential primary. While taking care not to disparage his administration, several candidates stressed the need for the party to embrace a more take-no-prisoners political approach with Republicans; others criticized Obama’s policies on immigration: though he used an executive order to aid the Dreamers, he also pushed deportations and border detentions.

It also highlights the rapid change in Washington over a decade of partisan brawling. Both Obama and Biden came into office on promises of unity and bipartisanship in the face of an economic crisis, but Biden is the beneficiary of a changed landscape in the party. Democrats are now more cognizant of Republican obstruction, less deferential to the deficit hawks and energized by a growing progressive wing that has pulled the party’s ideological midpoint to the left.

A decade ago, Obama’s strategy reflected the Democratic Party’s mainstream, an insistence on negotiating with Republicans, keeping the Senate filibuster and trimming his own ambitions for a nation that he and others worried could handle only so much change after electing its first Black president. Now, the progressive criticism of that posture has become party canon.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a leading progressive voice, said the changes should be attributed partly to the growth of the left, but partly to an inadequate Democratic response to the Great Recession, which she said “created so much damage economically, for people, but it also created a lot of political damage for the party” by not being larger in scope.

“I came of age watching Democratic governance fail me and fail my family,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Obama is himself a person who carefully takes stock of his presidential legacy and his place in Democratic Party politics. He has not publicly responded to the recent criticism of his stimulus strategy, and through a spokesperson he declined a request to comment for this article.

But for friends and allies who are close to him, the characterizations of Obama’s 2009 efforts sting.

Some describe it as an attempt, in a different political era, to act as Monday-morning quarterback, and bristle that figures who were involved in the 2009 negotiations — like Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., or Biden — have now publicly expressed regret over them. Others describe it as the natural course of politics: past actions being used as a baseline for improvement.

Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s former senior adviser, said the administration was acting on the evidence and the political possibilities of the time.

“This was the worst economic recession since the Great Depression,” she said. “And therefore, there wasn’t a body of evidence about the size of the package and the impact it would have.” She also mentioned a political incentive: “It was important to show the country early in President Obama’s time in office, he was willing to work with Republicans.”

In many ways, the maneuvering is a stand-in for larger tensions within the party. Obama’s close-knit circle is keenly devoted to protecting his policy legacy. A growing left wing wants more investments in health care and combating climate change, and a break from hard-line policy on immigration. Biden’s administration is seeking to chart its own path.

In a recent address to House Democrats, Biden argued that it was Obama’s “humility” that cost Democrats at the time, because the president didn’t spend enough time explaining the benefits of his stimulus package to the American people.

“Barack was so modest, he didn’t want to take, as he said, a ‘victory lap,’ ” Biden said. “I kept saying, ‘Tell people what we did.’ He said, ‘We don’t have time, I’m not going to take a victory lap,’ and we paid a price for it, ironically, for that humility.”

The White House recently announced that Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and some key administration figures would travel the country.

But Obama’s own public comments since his presidency hint at a changing worldview. At the funeral for Congressman John Lewis, the civil rights icon who died in 2020, Obama seemed to endorse ending the Senate filibuster as a way to expand voting rights — a move he had long avoided. He said during the Democratic primary that while he was proud of his presidential campaigns, the landscape had changed and required more expansive policy proposals.

“I want candidates now to propose beyond what we were able to get done then, because the politics have changed,” he said at a 2019 fundraiser.

That task is now left to Biden, who lacks the cult of personality that surrounded his former boss but is also less interested in cultivating one. In passing his first piece of signature legislation without a Republican vote, the president has subtly rejected the way Jarrett framed unity — he will pursue it not by endlessly wooing Republicans but by passing legislation that most Americans support.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican who backed Obama’s stimulus measure after it was pared back, said Biden’s approach was a reversion on his campaign promise to be a unifying figure.

Biden “showed that he had absolutely no interest in trying to negotiate a bipartisan agreement.’’ Collins recently told reporters.

Progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Ocasio-Cortez say the willingness to forego Republican buy-in is proof the entire party now agrees on the need for structural reform, and the hardball tactics that may be required.

“Schumer spoke to the very real pain of delaying decisive action, which is a self-inflicted wound, I would say, for the party,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Where you delay and you water down, and you just kind of hand Susan Collins a pen, to have her diminish legislation for months, just for her to not even vote for it in the end.”

As Democrats pushed this month to pass the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, they were eager to rebuke Republicans for opposing en masse a measure filled with aid to struggling Americans.

As Democrats pushed this month to pass the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, they were eager to rebuke Republicans for opposing en masse a measure filled with aid to struggling Americans. But they had another target as well: the core policy of President Barack Obama’s first-term agenda. Party leaders from President Joe Biden on down are citing Obama’s strategy on his most urgent policy initiative — an $800 billion financial rescue plan in 2009 in the midst of a crippling recession — as too cautious and too deferential to Republicans, mistakes they were determined not to repeat. The pointed assessments of Obama’s handling of the 2009 stimulus effort are the closest Democrats have come to grappling with a highly delicate matter in the party: the shortcomings in the legacy of Obama, one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party and a powerful voice for bipartisanship in a deeply divided country. The re-examination has irked some of the former president’s allies but thrilled the party’s progressive wing, which sees Biden’s more expansive plan as a down payment on his ambitious agenda. And it has sent an early signal that Biden’s administration does not intend to be a carbon copy of his Democratic predecessor’s. Times, all concede, have changed. “This time, the feeling was, ‘We’re not very willing to negotiate what we think is needed,’ ” said former Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who retired before the 2010 midterm elections. “In 2009, I think the feeling was, ‘Oh we wanted more, but we didn’t get what we wanted.’ ” The careful dance around Obama and his accomplishments continues a dynamic from the Democratic presidential primary. While taking care not to disparage his administration, several candidates stressed the need for the party to embrace a more take-no-prisoners political approach with Republicans; others criticized Obama’s policies on immigration: though he used an executive order to aid the Dreamers, he also pushed deportations and border detentions. It also highlights the rapid change in Washington over a decade of partisan brawling. Both Obama and Biden came into office on promises of unity and bipartisanship in the face of an economic crisis, but Biden is the beneficiary of a changed landscape in the party. Democrats are now more cognizant of Republican obstruction, less deferential to the deficit hawks and energized by a growing progressive wing that has pulled the party’s ideological midpoint to the left. A decade ago, Obama’s strategy reflected the Democratic Party’s mainstream, an insistence on negotiating with Republicans, keeping the Senate filibuster and trimming his own ambitions for a nation that he and others worried could handle only so much change after electing its first Black president. Now, the progressive criticism of that posture has become party canon. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a leading progressive voice, said the changes should be attributed partly to the growth of the left, but partly to an inadequate Democratic response to the Great Recession, which she said “created so much damage economically, for people, but it also created a lot of political damage for the party” by not being larger in scope. “I came of age watching Democratic governance fail me and fail my family,” Ocasio-Cortez said. Obama is himself a person who carefully takes stock of his presidential legacy and his place in Democratic Party politics. He has not publicly responded to the recent criticism of his stimulus strategy, and through a spokesperson he declined a request to comment for this article. But for friends and allies who are close to him, the characterizations of Obama’s 2009 efforts sting. Some describe it as an attempt, in a different political era, to act as Monday-morning quarterback, and bristle that figures who were involved in the 2009 negotiations — like Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., or Biden — have now publicly expressed regret over them. Others describe it as the natural course of politics: past actions being used as a baseline for improvement. Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s former senior adviser, said the administration was acting on the evidence and the political possibilities of the time. “This was the worst economic recession since the Great Depression,” she said. “And therefore, there wasn’t a body of evidence about the size of the package and the impact it would have.” She also mentioned a political incentive: “It was important to show the country early in President Obama’s time in office, he was willing to work with Republicans.” In many ways, the maneuvering is a stand-in for larger tensions within the party. Obama’s close-knit circle is keenly devoted to protecting his policy legacy. A growing left wing wants more investments in health care and combating climate change, and a break from hard-line policy on immigration. Biden’s administration is seeking to chart its own path. In a recent address to House Democrats, Biden argued that it was Obama’s “humility” that cost Democrats at the time, because the president didn’t spend enough time explaining the benefits of his stimulus package to the American people. “Barack was so modest, he didn’t want to take, as he said, a ‘victory lap,’ ” Biden said. “I kept saying, ‘Tell people what we did.’ He said, ‘We don’t have time, I’m not going to take a victory lap,’ and we paid a price for it, ironically, for that humility.” The White House recently announced that Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and some key administration figures would travel the country. But Obama’s own public comments since his presidency hint at a changing worldview. At the funeral for Congressman John Lewis, the civil rights icon who died in 2020, Obama seemed to endorse ending the Senate filibuster as a way to expand voting rights — a move he had long avoided. He said during the Democratic primary that while he was proud of his presidential campaigns, the landscape had changed and required more expansive policy proposals. “I want candidates now to propose beyond what we were able to get done then, because the politics have changed,” he said at a 2019 fundraiser. That task is now left to Biden, who lacks the cult of personality that surrounded his former boss but is also less interested in cultivating one. In passing his first piece of signature legislation without a Republican vote, the president has subtly rejected the way Jarrett framed unity — he will pursue it not by endlessly wooing Republicans but by passing legislation that most Americans support. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican who backed Obama’s stimulus measure after it was pared back, said Biden’s approach was a reversion on his campaign promise to be a unifying figure. Biden “showed that he had absolutely no interest in trying to negotiate a bipartisan agreement.’’ Collins recently told reporters. Progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Ocasio-Cortez say the willingness to forego Republican buy-in is proof the entire party now agrees on the need for structural reform, and the hardball tactics that may be required. “Schumer spoke to the very real pain of delaying decisive action, which is a self-inflicted wound, I would say, for the party,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Where you delay and you water down, and you just kind of hand Susan Collins a pen, to have her diminish legislation for months, just for her to not even vote for it in the end.”

Democrats, pushing stimulus, admit to regrets on Obama’s 2009 response

A year after Meghan Markle married Prince Harry in a fairy-tale wedding, she said in an extraordinary interview broadcast on Sunday night, her life as a member of the British royal family had become so emotionally desolate that she contemplated suicide.

At another point, members of the family told Harry and Meghan, a biracial former actress from the United States, that they did not want the couple’s unborn child, Archie, to be a prince or princess and expressed concerns about how dark the color of the baby’s skin would be.

An emotional but self-possessed Meghan said of her suicidal thoughts: “I was ashamed to have to admit it to Harry. I knew that if I didn’t say it, I would do it. I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.”

Meghan, 39, made the disclosures in an eagerly anticipated, at times incendiary, interview on CBS with Oprah Winfrey that aired in the United States in prime time. In describing a royal life that began as a fairy tale but quickly turned suffocating and cruel, Meghan's blunt answers raised the combustible issues of race and privilege in the most rarefied echelon of British society.

For an American audience that has lapped up the palace intrigue depicted in the popular TV series 'The Crown,' it was the equivalent of an explosive bonus episode — one promoted in a week of charges and countercharges about the role Meghan played in the House of Windsor.

For the royal family, already preoccupied by the hospitalization of its patriarch, Prince Philip, it was both an embarrassing airing of dirty laundry and a painful reminder, a year after Harry and Meghan turned their backs on royal life, that the wounds from that rupture had yet to heal.

Meghan said that while her husband was deeply concerned about her emotional fragility — gripping her hand tightly at public events — her efforts to seek medical help were rebuffed by palace officials, who worried about the effect on the monarchy. She described herself as a sort of prisoner in Kensington Palace.

“I couldn’t just call an Uber to the palace,” she said.

Meghan did not say which family member had raised questions about her baby’s skin color, nor did she fully explain why the royal family had not automatically planned to confer a royal title, which would have provided security protection for the child. By convention, Archie would assume a royal title once his grandfather Prince Charles ascended to the throne.

Still, the lack of detail did not rob the moment of its power: Meghan's reference to her child’s skin tone provoked a stunned “what?” from Winfrey.

In other, less provocative disclosures, Meghan corrected the record on some family business and revealed the sex of their unborn child.

It was her sister-in-law, Kate, she said, who drove her to tears in a clash over dresses for the flower girls, rather than the reverse as had been widely reported. In another awkward encounter with of her own aides, she said that the aide told her she shouldn’t go out to lunch with friends because she was overexposed, even though she had left her residence only twice in four months.

Harry and Meghan disclosed that their second child, due this summer, will be a girl.

Meghan, her baby bump clearly visible, spoke casually and with humor about her early encounters with her future in-laws. She described learning how to curtsy moments before she was introduced to Queen Elizabeth II, with whom she said she always had a warm relationship, and insisted she knew nothing about what was going to be expected of her as a working royal.

“I didn’t do any research about what that would mean,” she said. “I never looked up my husband online.”

Harry, who joined Meghan for the second half of the interview, said the couple broke away because of a lack of support or understanding from his family, particularly about the racism that he said his wife confronted in news coverage.

“No one from my family said anything over those three years,” Harry said.

The prince, who remains sixth in line to the throne, described being financially cut off by his family after he and Meghan announced plans to withdraw from royal duties. He said his relationship with his father was particularly strained — Charles stopped taking his calls at one point — because “there’s a lot of hurt that has happened.”

On both sides of the Atlantic, this was the most eagerly anticipated royal interview since Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, told the BBC in 1995 that “there were three of us in this marriage,” referring to her husband, Charles, and his extramarital relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he later married.

Like Meghan, Diana was a glamorous outsider who brought a shower of stardust to the House of Windsor when she married Charles, only to become deeply unhappy within the confines of royal life. Unlike Meghan, her marriage crumbled amid competing claims of infidelity, and by the time she spoke to the BBC journalist, Martin Bashir, she said the palace viewed her as a “threat of some kind.”

A vivid bookend to her turbulent years in the royal family, Diana’s interview was a pop-cultural moment that drew one of the largest British television audiences in history, lived on in parodies on “Saturday Night Live,” and deepened the media’s fathomless hunger for all things Diana. Two years later, she was dead in Paris, the victim of a car crash after a high-speed chase with photographers.

Harry invoked that tragedy with Winfrey, saying of his wife’s recurring clashes with the tabloid press, “My biggest concern was history repeating itself.” He has long blamed journalists for his mother’s death and said one of the reasons the couple moved to California was to escape the unrelenting media glare.

Even Meghan’s choice of wardrobe seemed calculated to telegraph the message of a new start. Her elegant black dress, designed by Giorgio Armani, featured a striking lotus flower design that her staff said symbolized revival and a will to live. She also wore a diamond tennis bracelet that once belonged to Diana.

But the couple’s effort to relaunch their public image did not go unchallenged back home. In the days leading up to the broadcast, new allegations surfaced that Meghan had bullied members of her staff, reducing junior aides to tears and driving two personal assistants out of the palace. Meghan dismissed the claims as character assassination, while Buckingham Palace said it would look into them.

“What is going on is a significant struggle for the control of the narrative,” said Peter Hunt, a former BBC royal correspondent. “What is our settled judgment for why Harry and Meghan left the royal family? Do we accept two hours of Oprah or do we believe those charges of bullying?”

Early headlines in the British tabloids suggested that Meghan’s bombshells will reverberate for weeks. “I wanted to kill myself,” said a headline on The Daily Mail’s website. “I felt suicidal,” said a headline on The Sun’s site.

Meghan has no shortage of defenders. Patrick J. Adams, an actor who worked with her on the television series, “Suits,” described her on Twitter last week as having “a deep sense of morality and a fierce work ethic.” The royal family, Adams said, was “obscene” to promote accusations of bullying against her.

Critics have long detected a whiff of racism in how some people react to Meghan, a professional woman who had been divorced before she met Harry. While initially rapturous in their coverage of the couple, Britain’s tabloids turned against them, publishing unflattering articles about how they flew on carbon-spewing private jets and restricted access to their newborn son.

Some also point out the hypocrisy of Buckingham Palace investigating claims of bullying against Meghan when Prince Andrew, the queen’s second son and Harry’s uncle, has declined to speak to U.S. authorities about allegations of sex trafficking by his late friend, the convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

Though British papers have covered every conceivable angle of the interview, some made clear there were limits to the interest it was generating. The Sunday Times of London reported that the queen herself had no plans to watch the program, which is quite predictable, since it aired after midnight London time. It was to be shown on Monday evening on Britain’s ITV network.

Others in Britain tried to play down its significance, pointing out that there are other more important things going on in the country: Schools are to reopen on Monday, and the coronavirus vaccine rollout continues at full speed. At least one prominent British leader said he had no plans to stay up for it.

“Of course, I’m interested in all sorts of stuff around the news around the world,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday, when asked about Harry and Meghan. “I think it’s quite late our time, so I’ll probably miss it.”

A year after Meghan Markle married Prince Harry in a fairy-tale wedding, she said in an extraordinary interview broadcast on Sunday night, her life as a member of the British royal family had become so emotionally desolate that she contemplated suicide.

A year after Meghan Markle married Prince Harry in a fairy-tale wedding, she said in an extraordinary interview broadcast on Sunday night, her life as a member of the British royal family had become so emotionally desolate that she contemplated suicide. At another point, members of the family told Harry and Meghan, a biracial former actress from the United States, that they did not want the couple’s unborn child, Archie, to be a prince or princess and expressed concerns about how dark the color of the baby’s skin would be. An emotional but self-possessed Meghan said of her suicidal thoughts: “I was ashamed to have to admit it to Harry. I knew that if I didn’t say it, I would do it. I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.” Meghan, 39, made the disclosures in an eagerly anticipated, at times incendiary, interview on CBS with Oprah Winfrey that aired in the United States in prime time. In describing a royal life that began as a fairy tale but quickly turned suffocating and cruel, Meghan's blunt answers raised the combustible issues of race and privilege in the most rarefied echelon of British society. For an American audience that has lapped up the palace intrigue depicted in the popular TV series 'The Crown,' it was the equivalent of an explosive bonus episode — one promoted in a week of charges and countercharges about the role Meghan played in the House of Windsor. For the royal family, already preoccupied by the hospitalization of its patriarch, Prince Philip, it was both an embarrassing airing of dirty laundry and a painful reminder, a year after Harry and Meghan turned their backs on royal life, that the wounds from that rupture had yet to heal. Meghan said that while her husband was deeply concerned about her emotional fragility — gripping her hand tightly at public events — her efforts to seek medical help were rebuffed by palace officials, who worried about the effect on the monarchy. She described herself as a sort of prisoner in Kensington Palace. “I couldn’t just call an Uber to the palace,” she said. Meghan did not say which family member had raised questions about her baby’s skin color, nor did she fully explain why the royal family had not automatically planned to confer a royal title, which would have provided security protection for the child. By convention, Archie would assume a royal title once his grandfather Prince Charles ascended to the throne. Still, the lack of detail did not rob the moment of its power: Meghan's reference to her child’s skin tone provoked a stunned “what?” from Winfrey. In other, less provocative disclosures, Meghan corrected the record on some family business and revealed the sex of their unborn child. It was her sister-in-law, Kate, she said, who drove her to tears in a clash over dresses for the flower girls, rather than the reverse as had been widely reported. In another awkward encounter with of her own aides, she said that the aide told her she shouldn’t go out to lunch with friends because she was overexposed, even though she had left her residence only twice in four months. Harry and Meghan disclosed that their second child, due this summer, will be a girl. Meghan, her baby bump clearly visible, spoke casually and with humor about her early encounters with her future in-laws. She described learning how to curtsy moments before she was introduced to Queen Elizabeth II, with whom she said she always had a warm relationship, and insisted she knew nothing about what was going to be expected of her as a working royal. “I didn’t do any research about what that would mean,” she said. “I never looked up my husband online.” Harry, who joined Meghan for the second half of the interview, said the couple broke away because of a lack of support or understanding from his family, particularly about the racism that he said his wife confronted in news coverage. “No one from my family said anything over those three years,” Harry said. The prince, who remains sixth in line to the throne, described being financially cut off by his family after he and Meghan announced plans to withdraw from royal duties. He said his relationship with his father was particularly strained — Charles stopped taking his calls at one point — because “there’s a lot of hurt that has happened.” On both sides of the Atlantic, this was the most eagerly anticipated royal interview since Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, told the BBC in 1995 that “there were three of us in this marriage,” referring to her husband, Charles, and his extramarital relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he later married. Like Meghan, Diana was a glamorous outsider who brought a shower of stardust to the House of Windsor when she married Charles, only to become deeply unhappy within the confines of royal life. Unlike Meghan, her marriage crumbled amid competing claims of infidelity, and by the time she spoke to the BBC journalist, Martin Bashir, she said the palace viewed her as a “threat of some kind.” A vivid bookend to her turbulent years in the royal family, Diana’s interview was a pop-cultural moment that drew one of the largest British television audiences in history, lived on in parodies on “Saturday Night Live,” and deepened the media’s fathomless hunger for all things Diana. Two years later, she was dead in Paris, the victim of a car crash after a high-speed chase with photographers. Harry invoked that tragedy with Winfrey, saying of his wife’s recurring clashes with the tabloid press, “My biggest concern was history repeating itself.” He has long blamed journalists for his mother’s death and said one of the reasons the couple moved to California was to escape the unrelenting media glare. Even Meghan’s choice of wardrobe seemed calculated to telegraph the message of a new start. Her elegant black dress, designed by Giorgio Armani, featured a striking lotus flower design that her staff said symbolized revival and a will to live. She also wore a diamond tennis bracelet that once belonged to Diana. But the couple’s effort to relaunch their public image did not go unchallenged back home. In the days leading up to the broadcast, new allegations surfaced that Meghan had bullied members of her staff, reducing junior aides to tears and driving two personal assistants out of the palace. Meghan dismissed the claims as character assassination, while Buckingham Palace said it would look into them. “What is going on is a significant struggle for the control of the narrative,” said Peter Hunt, a former BBC royal correspondent. “What is our settled judgment for why Harry and Meghan left the royal family? Do we accept two hours of Oprah or do we believe those charges of bullying?” Early headlines in the British tabloids suggested that Meghan’s bombshells will reverberate for weeks. “I wanted to kill myself,” said a headline on The Daily Mail’s website. “I felt suicidal,” said a headline on The Sun’s site. Meghan has no shortage of defenders. Patrick J. Adams, an actor who worked with her on the television series, “Suits,” described her on Twitter last week as having “a deep sense of morality and a fierce work ethic.” The royal family, Adams said, was “obscene” to promote accusations of bullying against her. Critics have long detected a whiff of racism in how some people react to Meghan, a professional woman who had been divorced before she met Harry. While initially rapturous in their coverage of the couple, Britain’s tabloids turned against them, publishing unflattering articles about how they flew on carbon-spewing private jets and restricted access to their newborn son. Some also point out the hypocrisy of Buckingham Palace investigating claims of bullying against Meghan when Prince Andrew, the queen’s second son and Harry’s uncle, has declined to speak to U.S. authorities about allegations of sex trafficking by his late friend, the convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. Though British papers have covered every conceivable angle of the interview, some made clear there were limits to the interest it was generating. The Sunday Times of London reported that the queen herself had no plans to watch the program, which is quite predictable, since it aired after midnight London time. It was to be shown on Monday evening on Britain’s ITV network. Others in Britain tried to play down its significance, pointing out that there are other more important things going on in the country: Schools are to reopen on Monday, and the coronavirus vaccine rollout continues at full speed. At least one prominent British leader said he had no plans to stay up for it. “Of course, I’m interested in all sorts of stuff around the news around the world,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday, when asked about Harry and Meghan. “I think it’s quite late our time, so I’ll probably miss it.”

Meghan and Harry's interview: Depth of pain from royal life spills into view

Former US presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama have expressed confidence that golf legend Tiger Woods will overcome his injuries following a brutal car crash near Los Angeles on Tuesday

Trump, who honoured Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019, called the incident "very tragic".&nbsp;

Watch |&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/golf-legend-tiger-woods-injured-after-roll-over-car-crash-365774/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"He will be back. I have no doubt about it. He will be back," Trump told Fox News.

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/sports/tiger-woods-receives-serious-injuries-after-car-crash-near-los-angeles-365776">Tiger Woods receives 'serious injuries' after car crash near Los Angeles</a>

He added that Woods has "overcome a lot," and he is going to continue living an "ïncredible life".&nbsp;

Trump's predecessor Barack Obama in a tweet on Wednesday wished Woods a "speedy recovery," adding that never "count Tiger out".&nbsp;

"Sending my prayers to @TigerWoods and his family tonight -- here's to a speedy recovery for the GOAT (Greatest of all Time) of golf. If we've learned anything over the years, it's to never count Tiger out," Obama tweeted.&nbsp;

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Sending my prayers to <a href="https://twitter.com/TigerWoods?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TigerWoods</a> and his family tonight—here’s to a speedy recovery for the GOAT of golf. If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s to never count Tiger out.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1364391500864499715?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Woods' car flew off the road and then rolled over, something which a law enforcement official described as "very fortunate" to come out alive.&nbsp;

Trump, who himself is an avid golf lover, also said that television ratings were high when Woods was playing.&nbsp;

"All I say is get better and get out there, because we all miss him. We need Tiger," Trump said.&nbsp;

"It's very few people that cause that kind of a phenomenon."

Former US presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama have expressed confidence that golf legend Tiger Woods will overcome his injuries following a brutal car crash near Los Angeles on Tuesday Trump, who honoured Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019, called the incident "very tragic".

Former US presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama have expressed confidence that golf legend Tiger Woods will overcome his injuries following a brutal car crash near Los Angeles on Tuesday Trump, who honoured Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019, called the incident "very tragic". Watch | "He will be back. I have no doubt about it. He will be back," Trump told Fox News. Also read | Tiger Woods receives 'serious injuries' after car crash near Los Angeles He added that Woods has "overcome a lot," and he is going to continue living an "ïncredible life". Trump's predecessor Barack Obama in a tweet on Wednesday wished Woods a "speedy recovery," adding that never "count Tiger out". "Sending my prayers to @TigerWoods and his family tonight -- here's to a speedy recovery for the GOAT (Greatest of all Time) of golf. If we've learned anything over the years, it's to never count Tiger out," Obama tweeted. Sending my prayers to @TigerWoods and his family tonight—here’s to a speedy recovery for the GOAT of golf. If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s to never count Tiger out. — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 24, 2021 × Woods' car flew off the road and then rolled over, something which a law enforcement official described as "very fortunate" to come out alive. Trump, who himself is an avid golf lover, also said that television ratings were high when Woods was playing. "All I say is get better and get out there, because we all miss him. We need Tiger," Trump said. "It's very few people that cause that kind of a phenomenon."

'He will be back': Trump, Obama express confidence on Tiger Woods' recovery

Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen are coming together on Spotify for an eight-part podcast.&nbsp; 
 
Obama announced on Twitter that he and the storied musician&nbsp;teamed up on a podcast series titled 'Renegades: Born in the USA'

The tweet included a video trailer, which is narrated by Obama.

"On the surface, Bruce and I don't have a lot in common. He's a white guy from a small town in Jersey. I'm a Black guy of mixed race born in Hawaii. He's a rock-'n'-roll icon. I'm not as cool. In our ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys. Looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning, truth, then community with the larger story of America. And over the course of a few days, all just a few miles from where he grew up, we talked. What we discovered during these conversations was that we still share a fundamental belief in the American idea. Not as an act of nostalgia but as a compass for the hard work that lies before us." 
&nbsp;

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Last year, I sat down with my good friend Bruce <a href="https://twitter.com/springsteen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Springsteen</a> for a long and meaningful conversation that touched on so much of what we’re all dealing with these days. I’m excited to share it with you over the next few weeks: <a href="https://t.co/sQACD08AWx">https://t.co/sQACD08AWx</a> <a href="https://t.co/biMoxCLhAG">pic.twitter.com/biMoxCLhAG</a>
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1363905910389805060?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

 
 
The first two episodes dropped Monday—"Outsiders: An Unlikely Friendship" and "American Skin: Race in the United States." Both begin with powerful monologues by the 44th President of the United States.

The series is produced by Higher Ground, Barack and Michelle Obama's production company that also revealed a new slate of upcoming projects with Netflix earlier this month. Higher Ground previously entered a podcast partnership with Spotify in June 2019. The former first lady's podcast, The Michelle Obama Podcast, debuted last summer.

&nbsp;

Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen are coming together on Spotify for an eight-part podcast. Obama announced on Twitter that he and the storied musician teamed up on a podcast series titled 'Renegades: Born in the USA' The tweet included a video trailer, which is narrated by Obama.

Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen are coming together on Spotify for an eight-part podcast. Obama announced on Twitter that he and the storied musician teamed up on a podcast series titled 'Renegades: Born in the USA' The tweet included a video trailer, which is narrated by Obama. "On the surface, Bruce and I don't have a lot in common. He's a white guy from a small town in Jersey. I'm a Black guy of mixed race born in Hawaii. He's a rock-'n'-roll icon. I'm not as cool. In our ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys. Looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning, truth, then community with the larger story of America. And over the course of a few days, all just a few miles from where he grew up, we talked. What we discovered during these conversations was that we still share a fundamental belief in the American idea. Not as an act of nostalgia but as a compass for the hard work that lies before us." Last year, I sat down with my good friend Bruce @Springsteen for a long and meaningful conversation that touched on so much of what we’re all dealing with these days. I’m excited to share it with you over the next few weeks: https://t.co/sQACD08AWx pic.twitter.com/biMoxCLhAG — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 22, 2021 × The first two episodes dropped Monday—"Outsiders: An Unlikely Friendship" and "American Skin: Race in the United States." Both begin with powerful monologues by the 44th President of the United States. The series is produced by Higher Ground, Barack and Michelle Obama's production company that also revealed a new slate of upcoming projects with Netflix earlier this month. Higher Ground previously entered a podcast partnership with Spotify in June 2019. The former first lady's podcast, The Michelle Obama Podcast, debuted last summer.

Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen launch a podcast series together

On the occasion of Valentine`s Day, former US President Barack Obama posted a new family photo with a sweet message to the three women in his life who never fail to make him smile.

Taking to Twitter, Obama shared an updated picture of him with his wife, Michelle Obama; and his daughters, Sasha, 19, and Malia, 22.

In the picture, the former president is seen standing in the centre between Michelle Obama and his elder daughter Malia while his younger daughter Sasha is seen beaming in a white dress."Happy Valentine`s Day to the three who never fail to make me smile. Your dazzling light makes everything brighter," he tweeted.

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Happy Valentine’s Day to the three who never fail to make me smile. Your dazzling light makes everything brighter. <a href="https://t.co/fMcdwf2j20">pic.twitter.com/fMcdwf2j20</a>
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1360952254627520512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Meanwhile, Michelle Obama also took social media to wish her husband on the occasion."Happy Valentine`s Day, @barackobama! Life is always brighter when I am by your side," she said in a tweet.

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Happy Valentine’s Day, <a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@barackobama</a>! Life is always brighter when I'm by your side. ❤️ <a href="https://t.co/cqwRMgF5s1">pic.twitter.com/cqwRMgF5s1</a>
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) <a href="https://twitter.com/MichelleObama/status/1360952923937792003?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2021</a></blockquote>
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According to The Hill, the former US first couple has been married for nearly three decades and they celebrated their 28th-anniversary last year in October.&nbsp;

On the occasion of Valentine`s Day, former US President Barack Obama posted a new family photo with a sweet message to the three women in his life who never fail to make him smile.

On the occasion of Valentine`s Day, former US President Barack Obama posted a new family photo with a sweet message to the three women in his life who never fail to make him smile. Taking to Twitter, Obama shared an updated picture of him with his wife, Michelle Obama; and his daughters, Sasha, 19, and Malia, 22. In the picture, the former president is seen standing in the centre between Michelle Obama and his elder daughter Malia while his younger daughter Sasha is seen beaming in a white dress."Happy Valentine`s Day to the three who never fail to make me smile. Your dazzling light makes everything brighter," he tweeted. Happy Valentine’s Day to the three who never fail to make me smile. Your dazzling light makes everything brighter. pic.twitter.com/fMcdwf2j20 — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 14, 2021 × Meanwhile, Michelle Obama also took social media to wish her husband on the occasion."Happy Valentine`s Day, @barackobama! Life is always brighter when I am by your side," she said in a tweet. Happy Valentine’s Day, @barackobama! Life is always brighter when I'm by your side. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/cqwRMgF5s1 — Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) February 14, 2021 × According to The Hill, the former US first couple has been married for nearly three decades and they celebrated their 28th-anniversary last year in October.

The 3 who never fail to make me smile: Barack Obama's sweet tribute to family on Valentine's Day

Marjorie Taylor Greene had just finished questioning whether a plane really flew into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, and flatly stating that President Barack Obama was secretly Muslim when she paused to offer an aside implicating another former president in a crime.

“That’s another one of those Clinton murders,” Greene said, referring to John F. Kennedy Jr.’s death in a 1999 plane crash, suggesting that he had been assassinated because he was a potential rival to Hillary Clinton for a New York Senate seat.

Greene casually unfurled the cascade of dangerous and patently untrue conspiracy theories in a previously unreported 40-minute video that was originally posted to YouTube in 2018. It provides a window into the warped worldview amplified by the freshman Republican congresswoman from Georgia, who in the three months since she was elected has created a national brand for herself as a conservative provocateur who has proudly brought the hard-right fringe to the Capitol.

In the process, Greene, 46, has also created a dilemma for Republican leaders, who for months have been unwilling to publicly rebuke or punish her in any way for her inflammatory statements, in part for fear of alienating voters delighted by her incendiary brand of politics and conspiratorial beliefs.

After avoiding the issue for months in the hope that it would resolve itself, Republicans are now facing calls from Democrats to expel Greene from Congress, pressure from a prominent group of Jewish Republicans to discipline her, and private consternation from within their own ranks.

Their reticence to take action is yet another example of how Republican leaders have allowed those forces to fester and strengthen. Some leaders have privately said they are eager to move past the fringe movements and the charged messaging used by President Donald Trump that fueled the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the minority leader, has yet to say anything personally about Greene’s comments or conduct, even after a week in which a slew of problematic social media posts and videos have surfaced from the years before she was elected. In them, Greene circulated and endorsed a seemingly endless array of hate speech and conspiracy theories explicitly rooted in Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and the belief that government actors were secretly behind a sweeping range of violence.

Greene suggested in 2018 that a devastating wildfire that ravaged California was started by “a laser” beamed from space and controlled by a prominent Jewish banking family with connections to powerful Democrats. She endorsed executing Democratic lawmakers, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She served as a prolific writer for a now-defunct conspiracy blog called “American Truth Seekers,” writing posts with headlines including “MUST READ — Democratic Party Involved With Child Sex, Satanism, and The Occult.” And she argued that the 2018 midterm elections — in which the first two Muslim women were elected to the House — were part of “an Islamic invasion of our government.”

Greene has repeatedly claimed in multiple videos and social media posts that several school shooting massacres were “false flag” events perpetrated by government officials in an attempt to drum up support for gun control laws. In an October 2020 video surfaced Friday by Mother Jones, she said that the “only way you get your freedoms back is it’s earned with the price of blood.”

Greene is perhaps best known for having endorsed QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy movement that claims that Trump was facing down a shadowy cabal of Democratic pedophiles. (She told Fox News last year that she “chose a different path,” and a spokesman, Nick Dyer, told The New York Times this week that she did not support QAnon.)

Sent a list of detailed questions about her beliefs and postings, Dyer declined to respond to any of them. In her own statement posted on Twitter on Friday afternoon, Greene assailed the “radical, left-wing Democrat mob” and reporters she said were trying to smear her, and claimed she was profiting politically and financially from the outrage she has provoked, saying that every negative news report “strengthens my base of support at home and across the country.”

She also issued what amounted to a threat to top Republicans who might be contemplating punishing her, warning that they would pay steep consequences.

“If Republicans cower to the mob, and let the Democrats and the fake news media take me out,” Greene said, “they’re opening the door to come after every single Republican until there’s none left.”

The statement came as internal pressure was mounting for Republican leaders to address Greene’s comments. The Republican Jewish Coalition, which over the summer intervened in a rare move to back Greene’s primary challenger, disavowed the congresswoman in a scathing statement and said it was “working closely with the House Republican leadership regarding next steps.”

“She repeatedly used offensive language in long online video diatribes, promoted bizarre political conspiracy theories, and refused to admit a mistake after posing for photos with a longtime white supremacist leader,” the group said. “It is unfortunate that she prevailed in her election despite this terrible record.”

A spokesman for McCarthy told Axios this week that newly surfaced Facebook posts written by Greene and reported by CNN, in which she discussed executing top Democratic politicians, were “deeply disturbing” and that McCarthy planned to “have a conversation” with her about them next week.

But McCarthy’s silence so far reflects, in part, the sway Trump still has over the Republican Party and its leaders. The former president has praised Greene effusively and refused to condemn QAnon, despite being asked to disavow it repeatedly while in office.

On Friday evening, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., chair of the House Rules Committee, suggested Democrats could move unilaterally to strip Greene of her committees if Republicans did not act.

“We could break precedent,” McGovern said on CNN. “We should talk about that if nothing changes.”

In her own telling, Greene became more outspoken about her politics in 2016 after she sold the CrossFit gym she owned and felt she no longer needed to worry about alienating her customers by stating her beliefs.

She began traveling to Washington for conservative events, including a prayer rally hosted by the White House, and to lobby lawmakers against passing gun safety measures. On one such trip, Greene accosted David Hogg, a student who had survived a 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, who was also on Capitol Hill, but to lobby in support of stricter gun laws. In a video that CNN unearthed this week, Greene follows Hogg as he walks toward the Capitol, calling him a “coward” and accusing him of “using kids” to promote his own political agenda.

When Greene decided to run for Congress, she initially started her campaign in a Georgia district held by Rep. Lucy McBath, a Democrat. But after Rep. Tom Graves, a Republican, announced he would retire, Greene moved her campaign to his more conservative district. She eventually placed first in a crowded primary race and advanced to a runoff election against Dr. John Cowan, a mild-mannered neurosurgeon.

On the campaign trail, Greene presented herself as a deeply conservative, pro-Trump Christian mother and business owner, arguing that her work in the construction industry had imbued her with the toughness that comes from working in a male-dominated field. She railed against the ascendant progressive wing in Congress, emphasized the importance of the Second Amendment while toting an AR-15, and warned of “thousands” of immigrants “pouring over” the southwestern border.

Greene largely veered away from the conspiratorial on the trail, though she did cut a campaign ad claiming that “‘Deep State’ actors tried to sabotage President Donald J. Trump before he even took office” and claimed on her campaign accounts that George Soros, the billionaire investor and Democratic donor, was “bankrolling left-wing movements worldwide who want to destroy Israel.”

The messaging raised alarm at the time among House Republican leaders and some members of the Georgia delegation who worried that if elected, Greene could create a grave problem for their party. But they never mobilized to defeat her.

While the top three House Republicans condemned a series of racist videos Greene made, surfaced by Politico, only Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, endorsed Cowan. McCarthy and Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking leader, stayed neutral.

Privately, according to a person familiar with their thinking, top Republicans hoped that outside groups would swoop into the primary race in support of Cowan and weaponize Greene’s incendiary comments against her, dooming her candidacy. But the outside effort never materialized.

Instead, Greene’s campaign received an important boost when the political arm of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus endorsed her, as did Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, the group’s chairman, and Jim Jordan of Ohio, a founder. She handily won the runoff in August and cruised to victory in November.

That left Republican leaders hoping that, once sworn in, Greene would clean up her act, disavowing her past comments and dialing back her outlandish rhetoric.

Instead, she charged into Congress and immediately faced scrutiny for her support of the “Stop the Steal” campaign that falsely claimed that Trump had won the 2020 presidential election.

She referred to Jan. 6, the day Congress was slated to formalize the election results, as Republicans’ “1776 moment” in the lead up to the violent storming of the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters. After the rampage, she pledged that Trump would “remain in office” and that attempts to remove him from the White House constituted “an attack on every American who voted for him.”

Days later, she announced she would file articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden.

“Troll level: EXPERT,” Dinesh D’Souza, a right-wing firebrand, wrote on Twitter.

Greene liked the post.

Marjorie Taylor Greene had just finished questioning whether a plane really flew into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, and flatly stating that President Barack Obama was secretly Muslim when she paused to offer an aside implicating another former president in a crime.

Marjorie Taylor Greene had just finished questioning whether a plane really flew into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, and flatly stating that President Barack Obama was secretly Muslim when she paused to offer an aside implicating another former president in a crime. “That’s another one of those Clinton murders,” Greene said, referring to John F. Kennedy Jr.’s death in a 1999 plane crash, suggesting that he had been assassinated because he was a potential rival to Hillary Clinton for a New York Senate seat. Greene casually unfurled the cascade of dangerous and patently untrue conspiracy theories in a previously unreported 40-minute video that was originally posted to YouTube in 2018. It provides a window into the warped worldview amplified by the freshman Republican congresswoman from Georgia, who in the three months since she was elected has created a national brand for herself as a conservative provocateur who has proudly brought the hard-right fringe to the Capitol. In the process, Greene, 46, has also created a dilemma for Republican leaders, who for months have been unwilling to publicly rebuke or punish her in any way for her inflammatory statements, in part for fear of alienating voters delighted by her incendiary brand of politics and conspiratorial beliefs. After avoiding the issue for months in the hope that it would resolve itself, Republicans are now facing calls from Democrats to expel Greene from Congress, pressure from a prominent group of Jewish Republicans to discipline her, and private consternation from within their own ranks. Their reticence to take action is yet another example of how Republican leaders have allowed those forces to fester and strengthen. Some leaders have privately said they are eager to move past the fringe movements and the charged messaging used by President Donald Trump that fueled the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the minority leader, has yet to say anything personally about Greene’s comments or conduct, even after a week in which a slew of problematic social media posts and videos have surfaced from the years before she was elected. In them, Greene circulated and endorsed a seemingly endless array of hate speech and conspiracy theories explicitly rooted in Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and the belief that government actors were secretly behind a sweeping range of violence. Greene suggested in 2018 that a devastating wildfire that ravaged California was started by “a laser” beamed from space and controlled by a prominent Jewish banking family with connections to powerful Democrats. She endorsed executing Democratic lawmakers, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She served as a prolific writer for a now-defunct conspiracy blog called “American Truth Seekers,” writing posts with headlines including “MUST READ — Democratic Party Involved With Child Sex, Satanism, and The Occult.” And she argued that the 2018 midterm elections — in which the first two Muslim women were elected to the House — were part of “an Islamic invasion of our government.” Greene has repeatedly claimed in multiple videos and social media posts that several school shooting massacres were “false flag” events perpetrated by government officials in an attempt to drum up support for gun control laws. In an October 2020 video surfaced Friday by Mother Jones, she said that the “only way you get your freedoms back is it’s earned with the price of blood.” Greene is perhaps best known for having endorsed QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy movement that claims that Trump was facing down a shadowy cabal of Democratic pedophiles. (She told Fox News last year that she “chose a different path,” and a spokesman, Nick Dyer, told The New York Times this week that she did not support QAnon.) Sent a list of detailed questions about her beliefs and postings, Dyer declined to respond to any of them. In her own statement posted on Twitter on Friday afternoon, Greene assailed the “radical, left-wing Democrat mob” and reporters she said were trying to smear her, and claimed she was profiting politically and financially from the outrage she has provoked, saying that every negative news report “strengthens my base of support at home and across the country.” She also issued what amounted to a threat to top Republicans who might be contemplating punishing her, warning that they would pay steep consequences. “If Republicans cower to the mob, and let the Democrats and the fake news media take me out,” Greene said, “they’re opening the door to come after every single Republican until there’s none left.” The statement came as internal pressure was mounting for Republican leaders to address Greene’s comments. The Republican Jewish Coalition, which over the summer intervened in a rare move to back Greene’s primary challenger, disavowed the congresswoman in a scathing statement and said it was “working closely with the House Republican leadership regarding next steps.” “She repeatedly used offensive language in long online video diatribes, promoted bizarre political conspiracy theories, and refused to admit a mistake after posing for photos with a longtime white supremacist leader,” the group said. “It is unfortunate that she prevailed in her election despite this terrible record.” A spokesman for McCarthy told Axios this week that newly surfaced Facebook posts written by Greene and reported by CNN, in which she discussed executing top Democratic politicians, were “deeply disturbing” and that McCarthy planned to “have a conversation” with her about them next week. But McCarthy’s silence so far reflects, in part, the sway Trump still has over the Republican Party and its leaders. The former president has praised Greene effusively and refused to condemn QAnon, despite being asked to disavow it repeatedly while in office. On Friday evening, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., chair of the House Rules Committee, suggested Democrats could move unilaterally to strip Greene of her committees if Republicans did not act. “We could break precedent,” McGovern said on CNN. “We should talk about that if nothing changes.” In her own telling, Greene became more outspoken about her politics in 2016 after she sold the CrossFit gym she owned and felt she no longer needed to worry about alienating her customers by stating her beliefs. She began traveling to Washington for conservative events, including a prayer rally hosted by the White House, and to lobby lawmakers against passing gun safety measures. On one such trip, Greene accosted David Hogg, a student who had survived a 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, who was also on Capitol Hill, but to lobby in support of stricter gun laws. In a video that CNN unearthed this week, Greene follows Hogg as he walks toward the Capitol, calling him a “coward” and accusing him of “using kids” to promote his own political agenda. When Greene decided to run for Congress, she initially started her campaign in a Georgia district held by Rep. Lucy McBath, a Democrat. But after Rep. Tom Graves, a Republican, announced he would retire, Greene moved her campaign to his more conservative district. She eventually placed first in a crowded primary race and advanced to a runoff election against Dr. John Cowan, a mild-mannered neurosurgeon. On the campaign trail, Greene presented herself as a deeply conservative, pro-Trump Christian mother and business owner, arguing that her work in the construction industry had imbued her with the toughness that comes from working in a male-dominated field. She railed against the ascendant progressive wing in Congress, emphasized the importance of the Second Amendment while toting an AR-15, and warned of “thousands” of immigrants “pouring over” the southwestern border. Greene largely veered away from the conspiratorial on the trail, though she did cut a campaign ad claiming that “‘Deep State’ actors tried to sabotage President Donald J. Trump before he even took office” and claimed on her campaign accounts that George Soros, the billionaire investor and Democratic donor, was “bankrolling left-wing movements worldwide who want to destroy Israel.” The messaging raised alarm at the time among House Republican leaders and some members of the Georgia delegation who worried that if elected, Greene could create a grave problem for their party. But they never mobilized to defeat her. While the top three House Republicans condemned a series of racist videos Greene made, surfaced by Politico, only Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, endorsed Cowan. McCarthy and Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking leader, stayed neutral. Privately, according to a person familiar with their thinking, top Republicans hoped that outside groups would swoop into the primary race in support of Cowan and weaponize Greene’s incendiary comments against her, dooming her candidacy. But the outside effort never materialized. Instead, Greene’s campaign received an important boost when the political arm of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus endorsed her, as did Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, the group’s chairman, and Jim Jordan of Ohio, a founder. She handily won the runoff in August and cruised to victory in November. That left Republican leaders hoping that, once sworn in, Greene would clean up her act, disavowing her past comments and dialing back her outlandish rhetoric. Instead, she charged into Congress and immediately faced scrutiny for her support of the “Stop the Steal” campaign that falsely claimed that Trump had won the 2020 presidential election. She referred to Jan. 6, the day Congress was slated to formalize the election results, as Republicans’ “1776 moment” in the lead up to the violent storming of the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters. After the rampage, she pledged that Trump would “remain in office” and that attempts to remove him from the White House constituted “an attack on every American who voted for him.” Days later, she announced she would file articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden. “Troll level: EXPERT,” Dinesh D’Souza, a right-wing firebrand, wrote on Twitter. Greene liked the post.

GOP quiet as pressure mounts to address lawmaker’s conspiracy claims

Joe Biden will continue the tradition of having pets inside the White House. The arrival of the Bidens and their dogs Major and Champ at the White House this week will mark the return of a longstanding tradition - four-legged furry friends have always been a part of the 18-acre estate that is home to the US president. 
 
Outgoing President Donald Trump was the first president since Andrew Johnson in the 1860s not to share the presidential digs with a dog or a cat - or even a raccoon, like the one kept by Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s. 
 
Major, a German Shepherd, is the first rescue dog to move in at the White House. The Bidens adopted him in November 2018 from the Delaware Humane Association. Champ, also a German Shepherd, joined the family in 2008. 
 
"From shelter pup at the Delaware Humane Association to First Dog at the White House, Major Biden is barking proof that every dog can live the American dream," said the group, which <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/indoguration-for-major-biden-as-joe-biden-prepares-white-house-move-355817">hosted an online 'indoguration'&nbsp;fundraiser </a>on January 17 to celebrate Major`s move into the White House on January 20. 
 
Former President Barack Obama was dog-less while campaigning, but promised his daughters Sasha and Malia a puppy during his acceptance speech after winning the 2008 election. The Obamas eventually had a portugues Water Dog called Bo who was gifted to the family by the late Senator Ted Kennedy.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-inauguration-day-2021-live-updates-trump-pardons-73-people-including-ex-aide-steve-bannon-357872">US Inauguration Day 2021 Live updates</a> 
 
The Obamas adopted a second dog of the same breed, Sunny, in 2013, according to the Presidential Pet Museum. 
 
The 'first pets' of America enjoy perks as well. Like George W Bush`s Scottish Terrier, Barney, flew on Air Force One and starred in `Barney Cam` videos to celebrate the holiday season. "He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend," Bush said when Barney died in 2013. 
 
The Clintons` Chocolate Labrador Retriever, Buddy, joined cat Socks at the White House; while George HW Bush and family had several dogs in the White House, including Millie, the star of a children`s book written by Bush`s wife Barbara. 
About 67% of all U.S. homes had a pet in 2019, up from 56% three decades ago, the American Pet Products Association reported last year. 
 
And the pandemic has given pet ownership a further boost. Animal shelter adoptions jumped about 15% as people turned to furry friends to help them cope with the isolation from lockdown orders.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/from-religious-services-to-a-musical-night-a-comprehensive-guide-to-the-joe-bidens-inauguration-day-357933" hreflang="en">From religious services to a musical night: A comprehensive guide to the Joe Biden's inauguration day</a> 
 
Biden`s wife Jill has hinted that maybe they will also host a cat in the near future.&nbsp; 
 
Interestingly, the Naval Observatory, which is the home of the vice president, will be saying goodbye to four pets.&nbsp;

Vice President Mike Pence and his family had a cat named Hazel, a dog named Harley, a snake named Sapphira, and a bunny named Marlon Bundo. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband don`t own pets.

<h5><a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/lady-gaga-tom-hanks-justin-timberlake-the-complete-celebrity-line-up-at-joe-bidens-inaugural-ceremony-357942" hreflang="en">Lady Gaga, Tom Hanks, Justin Timberlake: The complete celebrity line up at Joe Biden's inaugural ceremony&nbsp;</a></h5>

(With inputs from Reuters)

Joe Biden will continue the tradition of having pets inside the White House. The arrival of the Bidens and their dogs Major and Champ at the White House this week will mark the return of a longstanding tradition - four-legged furry friends have always been a part of the 18-acre estate that is home to the US president.

Joe Biden will continue the tradition of having pets inside the White House. The arrival of the Bidens and their dogs Major and Champ at the White House this week will mark the return of a longstanding tradition - four-legged furry friends have always been a part of the 18-acre estate that is home to the US president. Outgoing President Donald Trump was the first president since Andrew Johnson in the 1860s not to share the presidential digs with a dog or a cat - or even a raccoon, like the one kept by Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s. Major, a German Shepherd, is the first rescue dog to move in at the White House. The Bidens adopted him in November 2018 from the Delaware Humane Association. Champ, also a German Shepherd, joined the family in 2008. "From shelter pup at the Delaware Humane Association to First Dog at the White House, Major Biden is barking proof that every dog can live the American dream," said the group, which hosted an online 'indoguration' fundraiser on January 17 to celebrate Major`s move into the White House on January 20. Former President Barack Obama was dog-less while campaigning, but promised his daughters Sasha and Malia a puppy during his acceptance speech after winning the 2008 election. The Obamas eventually had a portugues Water Dog called Bo who was gifted to the family by the late Senator Ted Kennedy. US Inauguration Day 2021 Live updates The Obamas adopted a second dog of the same breed, Sunny, in 2013, according to the Presidential Pet Museum. The 'first pets' of America enjoy perks as well. Like George W Bush`s Scottish Terrier, Barney, flew on Air Force One and starred in `Barney Cam` videos to celebrate the holiday season. "He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend," Bush said when Barney died in 2013. The Clintons` Chocolate Labrador Retriever, Buddy, joined cat Socks at the White House; while George HW Bush and family had several dogs in the White House, including Millie, the star of a children`s book written by Bush`s wife Barbara. About 67% of all U.S. homes had a pet in 2019, up from 56% three decades ago, the American Pet Products Association reported last year. And the pandemic has given pet ownership a further boost. Animal shelter adoptions jumped about 15% as people turned to furry friends to help them cope with the isolation from lockdown orders. From religious services to a musical night: A comprehensive guide to the Joe Biden's inauguration day Biden`s wife Jill has hinted that maybe they will also host a cat in the near future. Interestingly, the Naval Observatory, which is the home of the vice president, will be saying goodbye to four pets. Vice President Mike Pence and his family had a cat named Hazel, a dog named Harley, a snake named Sapphira, and a bunny named Marlon Bundo. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband don`t own pets. Lady Gaga, Tom Hanks, Justin Timberlake: The complete celebrity line up at Joe Biden's inaugural ceremony (With inputs from Reuters)

White House to be home for Joe Biden's pets Major and Champ: A brief history on 'first pets' of America 

From Kennedy to Trump: US presidential inaugurations throughout history

Former President Barack Obama blamed Donald Trump and Republicans for the attack on the US Congress Wednesday, calling it "a moment of great dishonour and shame for our nation."

Via a statement on his official Twitter account,&nbsp;Obama&nbsp;said the incident was incited by Republican President Donald Trump, adding that Republican leaders now "have a choice" towards "extinguishing the flames" or "keep stoking the raging fires."

"But we'd be kidding ourselves if we treated it as a total surprise," Obama said, adding that it was "incited" by Trump, "who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election."

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Here’s my statement on today’s violence at the Capitol. <a href="https://t.co/jLCKo2D1Ya">pic.twitter.com/jLCKo2D1Ya</a>
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1346983894298595330?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Obama also singled out the Republican party and its media supporters, whom he said have "too often been unwilling to tell their followers the truth" about Democrat Joe Biden's strong victory in the November 3 election.

"Now we're seeing the consequences, whipped up into a violent crescendo," he said in a statement.

George W. Bush, via a statement released on the George W. Bush Presidential Centre Twitter page, described the scenes as "sickening and heartbreaking," comparing it to a "banana republic". Bill Clinton, also via Twitter, said the incident was "an assault on our Capitol, Constitution, and our country."

Bill Clinton denounced the riot as "unprecedented assault" on the US Capitol and the nation itself.

"Today we faced an unprecedented assault on our Capitol, our Constitution, and our country," the Democratic former president said in a statement.

"The match was lit by Donald Trump and his most ardent enablers, including many in Congress, to overturn the results of an election he lost."

And the oldest member of the exclusive club, 96-year-old Democrat Jimmy Carter, said he was "troubled" by Wednesday's scenes, which he called a "national tragedy."&nbsp;

"We join our fellow citizens in praying for a peaceful resolution so our nation can heal and complete the transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries," he said in a statement.

Former President Barack Obama blamed Donald Trump and Republicans for the attack on the US Congress Wednesday, calling it "a moment of great dishonour and shame for our nation.

Former President Barack Obama blamed Donald Trump and Republicans for the attack on the US Congress Wednesday, calling it "a moment of great dishonour and shame for our nation." Via a statement on his official Twitter account, Obama said the incident was incited by Republican President Donald Trump, adding that Republican leaders now "have a choice" towards "extinguishing the flames" or "keep stoking the raging fires." "But we'd be kidding ourselves if we treated it as a total surprise," Obama said, adding that it was "incited" by Trump, "who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election." Here’s my statement on today’s violence at the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/jLCKo2D1Ya — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 7, 2021 × Obama also singled out the Republican party and its media supporters, whom he said have "too often been unwilling to tell their followers the truth" about Democrat Joe Biden's strong victory in the November 3 election. "Now we're seeing the consequences, whipped up into a violent crescendo," he said in a statement. George W. Bush, via a statement released on the George W. Bush Presidential Centre Twitter page, described the scenes as "sickening and heartbreaking," comparing it to a "banana republic". Bill Clinton, also via Twitter, said the incident was "an assault on our Capitol, Constitution, and our country." Bill Clinton denounced the riot as "unprecedented assault" on the US Capitol and the nation itself. "Today we faced an unprecedented assault on our Capitol, our Constitution, and our country," the Democratic former president said in a statement. "The match was lit by Donald Trump and his most ardent enablers, including many in Congress, to overturn the results of an election he lost." And the oldest member of the exclusive club, 96-year-old Democrat Jimmy Carter, said he was "troubled" by Wednesday's scenes, which he called a "national tragedy." "We join our fellow citizens in praying for a peaceful resolution so our nation can heal and complete the transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries," he said in a statement.

Former US President Barack Obama says attack on US Congress 'great shame' but not surprising

In past recessions, the uninsured rate would surge. Now, for the first time, Americans are experiencing a recession with the Affordable Care Act in place.

The health law’s expansion of Medicaid and its offer of subsidized health plans have provided a new safety net for those who have lost their jobs and their health insurance.

The Affordable Care Act gave states the option to cover poor residents through Medicaid, and it offered tax credits to help low- and middle-income Americans buy health insurance. Since the coronavirus pandemic set off job losses this spring, enrollment in both programs has been growing. Experts say sign-ups would probably be higher still if not for Trump administration moves that included slashing the ACA’s advertising budget and declining to have an additional sign-up period when the pandemic hit.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-trumpcare-or-bidencare-americans-vote-for-affordable-healthcare-339481" hreflang="en">US Election 2020: Trumpcare or Bidencare? Americans vote for affordable healthcare</a>

State Medicaid enrollment, according to one report, had an 11% increase from February to September in the 36 states that have released data. Another paper, from Manatt Health, shows those gains concentrated in states that have participated in the health law’s Medicaid expansion, with an enrollment growth rate of 22.2% between February and November.

Sign-ups for plans in marketplaces run by the federal government are up 6.6% compared with last year, according to a new federal tally. It is the only year during the Trump administration when enrollment increased, and amounts to a half-million more people seeking coverage from the federal marketplace. The total is still down compared with 2016, the last year the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/barack-obama">Obama </a>administration was running the program.

Final government estimates of the uninsured rate are months away, but at least one survey, from the research group the Commonwealth Fund, shows the share of Americans without coverage was holding steady through the spring. The Affordable Care Act is a crucial reason for that.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/we-are-still-deeply-divided-says-former-us-president-obama-while-referring-to-election-results-343490" hreflang="en">'We are still deeply divided', says former US President Obama while referring to election results</a>

“We’ve seen both the important security that it provides and a lot of the remaining holes in the safety net cast into stark relief in this twin crisis of dire health need and economic recession,” said Kate Baicker, dean of the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.

Charts based on an analysis of census data by Matt Bruenig, president of the People’s Policy Project, show how the overall health insurance landscape has changed since the Affordable Care Act took effect. In 2009, 16.7% of Americans lacked health insurance, and, for those of working age, the poorer you were, the more likely you were to fall in that category.

Medicaid enrollment among low-income Americans has since surged, particularly in states that expanded their programs, reducing the disparities. Enrollment in subsidized private coverage has also grown among those earning slightly more. As the population has aged, more people have also become eligible for another public program: Medicare. The 2020 chart shows survey results collected early in the year, so these numbers do not reflect the impact of the COVID recession. (There have been slight changes in census methodology in the intervening years, but they should not skew the patterns in a major way.)

Bruenig said he was struck by how many low-income people remained uninsured, a sign, he said, that the new system was not yet reaching everyone it was designed to help.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/joe-biden-advised-against-raid-that-killed-osama-bin-laden-says-obamas-new-book-342824" hreflang="en">Joe Biden advised against raid that killed Osama bin Laden, says Obama's new book</a>

“There’s a lot of uninsurance at the bottom, more than you might think,” he said. “Because for one reason or another, people are not getting on these plans.”

Addressing the growing need for health insurance during an economic downturn was a priority for the Affordable Care Act’s architects, who wrote the legislation as the country dug out of the Great Recession.

“Unemployment was a major concern,” said John McDonough, a Harvard professor who served as an adviser during the law’s drafting. “The whole point was to create an option primarily for working people who might find themselves unemployed, or worked for an employer who didn’t offer coverage that was affordable.”

While data is still coming, there are early signs that the Affordable Care Act is making health coverage less dependent on employment.

In a paper published in October, Dr. Benjamin Sommers and Dr. Sumit Agarwal looked at what happened to the health insurance status of Americans who lost a job. Before the Affordable Care Act, these newly unemployed workers experienced a 4.6-percentage-point increase in their uninsured rate.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/rahul-gandhi-like-a-child-trying-to-impress-teacher-barack-obama-says-in-his-new-memoir-a-promised-land-342781" hreflang="en">Rahul Gandhi like a child trying to impress teacher: Barack Obama says in his new memoir 'A Promised Land'</a>

After the law took effect, the association between job loss and higher uninsured rates disappeared.

“When someone lost a job, we saw the same big drop in employer coverage, but it was completely counterbalanced by gains in Medicaid and the marketplace,” said Sommers, a researcher and physician at Harvard.

Early, incomplete evidence suggests the law is serving that function during the coronavirus economic downturn. A federal report last month showed an increase in marketplace sign-ups this spring as the unemployment rate mounted. Between January and May, Healthcare.gov had about 150,000 more enrollments than usual.

A recent analysis of insurance industry data by Kaiser Family Foundation researchers found that roughly 2 million to 3 million Americans lost their job-based coverage between March and September. During the same period, around 5 million enrolled in Medicaid.

“When the economy suffers, the Affordable Care Act plays an important role in making sure people can still maintain insurance coverage in ways that didn’t exist before,” said Cynthia Cox, a vice president at the foundation. But Cox said that, even with this cushion, millions of Americans remain uninsured amid a public health crisis. Many of those people, she said, are eligible for free coverage, a sign that the programs are not reaching everyone they could.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/obama-asked-officials-about-the-existence-of-aliens-as-us-president-what-did-they-tell-him-346969" hreflang="en">Obama asked officials about the existence of aliens as US president. What did they tell him?</a>

Cox also noted that fewer workers have lost job-based coverage than in past downturns. That may be because the workers most affected by this recession never got their coverage at work. Or perhaps more employers are trying to keep workers covered during this emergency, even as they face fiscal stress.

“This is different than it was in the past, in part because of employers, but in part because of the ACA,” she said.

There are other ways that the Affordable Care Act is showing weak spots as a safety net program. While most Americans who buy coverage through the marketplace get a significant subsidy, they may still struggle to pay any share of a premium during this economic downturn.

“COVID has created more people who potentially can enroll, but those are the exact same people who have household budgets that are incredibly tight right now,” said Joshua Peck, co-founder of Get America Covered. “These are the people who are deferring mortgage payments. Adding health insurance is a pretty big challenge.”

Affordable Care Act programs can be hard to navigate, potentially discouraging even those who qualify for substantial financial help. Establishing eligibility often requires income checks and other paperwork. Annual ACA sign-up periods are typically limited to six weeks in most states. People who lose a job are eligible for a brief special enrollment period, but not everyone knows that. Besides cutting advertising, the Trump administration also cut the budget for outreach and for help picking a plan.

In California, which has invested heavily in advertising and outreach, and has offered more opportunities for the newly uninsured to sign up, enrollment in Medicaid and marketplace coverage is even higher, hinting at what the programs’ enrollment numbers might look like if the federal government were working harder to connect people with new coverage options.

“You can’t be a safety net, but then be asleep at the switch, and say we won’t do anything,” said Peter Lee, who runs California’s insurance marketplace, Covered California. That marketplace opened for sign-ups this spring and summer, and increased its marketing budget to help people learn about their options. Hundreds of thousands of people enrolled during those months, he said. Enrollment continues for 2021 plans.

Besides catching patients who have lost job-based coverage, the Affordable Care Act has aided doctors and hospitals, who saw their revenue plummet early in the pandemic as patients deferred and delayed medical care. Having more Americans with health coverage means more dollars flowing to those health providers.

“They’re receiving revenue for many patients who otherwise would have been uninsured,” said Cindy Mann, a partner at Manatt Health who previously ran Medicaid for the Obama administration. “That’s helped sustain them in a challenging environment.”

In past recessions, the uninsured rate would surge. Now, for the first time, Americans are experiencing a recession with the Affordable Care Act in place. The health law’s expansion of Medicaid and its offer of subsidized health plans have provided a new safety net for those who have lost their jobs and their health insurance.

In past recessions, the uninsured rate would surge. Now, for the first time, Americans are experiencing a recession with the Affordable Care Act in place. The health law’s expansion of Medicaid and its offer of subsidized health plans have provided a new safety net for those who have lost their jobs and their health insurance. The Affordable Care Act gave states the option to cover poor residents through Medicaid, and it offered tax credits to help low- and middle-income Americans buy health insurance. Since the coronavirus pandemic set off job losses this spring, enrollment in both programs has been growing. Experts say sign-ups would probably be higher still if not for Trump administration moves that included slashing the ACA’s advertising budget and declining to have an additional sign-up period when the pandemic hit. Also read| US Election 2020: Trumpcare or Bidencare? Americans vote for affordable healthcare State Medicaid enrollment, according to one report, had an 11% increase from February to September in the 36 states that have released data. Another paper, from Manatt Health, shows those gains concentrated in states that have participated in the health law’s Medicaid expansion, with an enrollment growth rate of 22.2% between February and November. Sign-ups for plans in marketplaces run by the federal government are up 6.6% compared with last year, according to a new federal tally. It is the only year during the Trump administration when enrollment increased, and amounts to a half-million more people seeking coverage from the federal marketplace. The total is still down compared with 2016, the last year the Obama administration was running the program. Final government estimates of the uninsured rate are months away, but at least one survey, from the research group the Commonwealth Fund, shows the share of Americans without coverage was holding steady through the spring. The Affordable Care Act is a crucial reason for that. Also read| 'We are still deeply divided', says former US President Obama while referring to election results “We’ve seen both the important security that it provides and a lot of the remaining holes in the safety net cast into stark relief in this twin crisis of dire health need and economic recession,” said Kate Baicker, dean of the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Charts based on an analysis of census data by Matt Bruenig, president of the People’s Policy Project, show how the overall health insurance landscape has changed since the Affordable Care Act took effect. In 2009, 16.7% of Americans lacked health insurance, and, for those of working age, the poorer you were, the more likely you were to fall in that category. Medicaid enrollment among low-income Americans has since surged, particularly in states that expanded their programs, reducing the disparities. Enrollment in subsidized private coverage has also grown among those earning slightly more. As the population has aged, more people have also become eligible for another public program: Medicare. The 2020 chart shows survey results collected early in the year, so these numbers do not reflect the impact of the COVID recession. (There have been slight changes in census methodology in the intervening years, but they should not skew the patterns in a major way.) Bruenig said he was struck by how many low-income people remained uninsured, a sign, he said, that the new system was not yet reaching everyone it was designed to help. Also read| Joe Biden advised against raid that killed Osama bin Laden, says Obama's new book “There’s a lot of uninsurance at the bottom, more than you might think,” he said. “Because for one reason or another, people are not getting on these plans.” Addressing the growing need for health insurance during an economic downturn was a priority for the Affordable Care Act’s architects, who wrote the legislation as the country dug out of the Great Recession. “Unemployment was a major concern,” said John McDonough, a Harvard professor who served as an adviser during the law’s drafting. “The whole point was to create an option primarily for working people who might find themselves unemployed, or worked for an employer who didn’t offer coverage that was affordable.” While data is still coming, there are early signs that the Affordable Care Act is making health coverage less dependent on employment. In a paper published in October, Dr. Benjamin Sommers and Dr. Sumit Agarwal looked at what happened to the health insurance status of Americans who lost a job. Before the Affordable Care Act, these newly unemployed workers experienced a 4.6-percentage-point increase in their uninsured rate. Also read| Rahul Gandhi like a child trying to impress teacher: Barack Obama says in his new memoir 'A Promised Land' After the law took effect, the association between job loss and higher uninsured rates disappeared. “When someone lost a job, we saw the same big drop in employer coverage, but it was completely counterbalanced by gains in Medicaid and the marketplace,” said Sommers, a researcher and physician at Harvard. Early, incomplete evidence suggests the law is serving that function during the coronavirus economic downturn. A federal report last month showed an increase in marketplace sign-ups this spring as the unemployment rate mounted. Between January and May, Healthcare.gov had about 150,000 more enrollments than usual. A recent analysis of insurance industry data by Kaiser Family Foundation researchers found that roughly 2 million to 3 million Americans lost their job-based coverage between March and September. During the same period, around 5 million enrolled in Medicaid. “When the economy suffers, the Affordable Care Act plays an important role in making sure people can still maintain insurance coverage in ways that didn’t exist before,” said Cynthia Cox, a vice president at the foundation. But Cox said that, even with this cushion, millions of Americans remain uninsured amid a public health crisis. Many of those people, she said, are eligible for free coverage, a sign that the programs are not reaching everyone they could. Also read| Obama asked officials about the existence of aliens as US president. What did they tell him? Cox also noted that fewer workers have lost job-based coverage than in past downturns. That may be because the workers most affected by this recession never got their coverage at work. Or perhaps more employers are trying to keep workers covered during this emergency, even as they face fiscal stress. “This is different than it was in the past, in part because of employers, but in part because of the ACA,” she said. There are other ways that the Affordable Care Act is showing weak spots as a safety net program. While most Americans who buy coverage through the marketplace get a significant subsidy, they may still struggle to pay any share of a premium during this economic downturn. “COVID has created more people who potentially can enroll, but those are the exact same people who have household budgets that are incredibly tight right now,” said Joshua Peck, co-founder of Get America Covered. “These are the people who are deferring mortgage payments. Adding health insurance is a pretty big challenge.” Affordable Care Act programs can be hard to navigate, potentially discouraging even those who qualify for substantial financial help. Establishing eligibility often requires income checks and other paperwork. Annual ACA sign-up periods are typically limited to six weeks in most states. People who lose a job are eligible for a brief special enrollment period, but not everyone knows that. Besides cutting advertising, the Trump administration also cut the budget for outreach and for help picking a plan. In California, which has invested heavily in advertising and outreach, and has offered more opportunities for the newly uninsured to sign up, enrollment in Medicaid and marketplace coverage is even higher, hinting at what the programs’ enrollment numbers might look like if the federal government were working harder to connect people with new coverage options. “You can’t be a safety net, but then be asleep at the switch, and say we won’t do anything,” said Peter Lee, who runs California’s insurance marketplace, Covered California. That marketplace opened for sign-ups this spring and summer, and increased its marketing budget to help people learn about their options. Hundreds of thousands of people enrolled during those months, he said. Enrollment continues for 2021 plans. Besides catching patients who have lost job-based coverage, the Affordable Care Act has aided doctors and hospitals, who saw their revenue plummet early in the pandemic as patients deferred and delayed medical care. Having more Americans with health coverage means more dollars flowing to those health providers. “They’re receiving revenue for many patients who otherwise would have been uninsured,” said Cindy Mann, a partner at Manatt Health who previously ran Medicaid for the Obama administration. “That’s helped sustain them in a challenging environment.”

Obamacare, in its first big test as safety net, is holding up so far

Former American President Barack Obama on Friday (local time) said that he spent this year binging on TV shows and watching movies due to the pandemic and shared a list of his favourite shows and movies of 2020. 
 
This comes as a part of Obama`s annual tradition of sharing his favourite entertainment programs, books, and music from the particular year. Some of the movies from Obama`s favourites include `Ma Rainey`s Black Bottom` Pixar`s animated flick `Soul` David Fincher`s `Mank,` the documentary `Time,` and Higher Ground Productions` `Crimp Cramp.`

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-ma-raineys-black-bottom-review-chadwick-bosemans-swansong-is-a-gut-wrenching-tale-of-trauma-and-ambition-350754" hreflang="en">'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' review: Chadwick Boseman's swansong is a gut-wrenching tale of trauma and ambition</a> 
 
Other films that were a part of the list were `Beanpole,` `Bacarau,` `Nomadland,` `Lover`s Rock,` `Collective,` `Martin Eden,` `Let Him Go` `Boys State,` and `Selah and the States.` 
 
While last year, the former commander-in-chief only picked out three of his favourite television shows, this time he expanded the list. "With streaming further blurring the lines between theatrical movies and television features, I`ve expanded the list to include visual storytelling that I`ve enjoyed this year, regardless of format," he tweeted.

<a href="http://13.235.153.162/entertainment/barack-obama-recalls-meeting-madonna-i-knew-how-to-handle-my-business-347621" hreflang="en">Barack Obama recalls meeting Madonna: 'I knew how to handle my business'</a> 
 
Some of the 2020 released TV series that attracted the former American President include Netflix`s `The Queen`s Gambit,` Michael Jordan`s `The Last Dance,` Amazon`s `The Boys` historical miniseries `Mrs America,` Michaela Coel`s transcendent drama `I May Destroy You.`Other TV series that were a part of Obama`s picks are `Better Call Saul,` `The Good Lord Bird,` `City So Real,` `The Good Place,` and `Devs.` 
 
Earlier this week, Obama had unveiled the list of his favourite books from the year which included his own book `A Promised Land,` and some other books like `Caste,` `The Vanishing Half,` `Twilight of Democracy` among others.&nbsp;

Former American President Barack Obama on Friday (local time) said that he spent this year binging on TV shows and watching movies due to the pandemic and shared a list of his favourite shows and movies of 2020.

Former American President Barack Obama on Friday (local time) said that he spent this year binging on TV shows and watching movies due to the pandemic and shared a list of his favourite shows and movies of 2020. This comes as a part of Obama`s annual tradition of sharing his favourite entertainment programs, books, and music from the particular year. Some of the movies from Obama`s favourites include `Ma Rainey`s Black Bottom` Pixar`s animated flick `Soul` David Fincher`s `Mank,` the documentary `Time,` and Higher Ground Productions` `Crimp Cramp.` 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' review: Chadwick Boseman's swansong is a gut-wrenching tale of trauma and ambition Other films that were a part of the list were `Beanpole,` `Bacarau,` `Nomadland,` `Lover`s Rock,` `Collective,` `Martin Eden,` `Let Him Go` `Boys State,` and `Selah and the States.` While last year, the former commander-in-chief only picked out three of his favourite television shows, this time he expanded the list. "With streaming further blurring the lines between theatrical movies and television features, I`ve expanded the list to include visual storytelling that I`ve enjoyed this year, regardless of format," he tweeted. Barack Obama recalls meeting Madonna: 'I knew how to handle my business' Some of the 2020 released TV series that attracted the former American President include Netflix`s `The Queen`s Gambit,` Michael Jordan`s `The Last Dance,` Amazon`s `The Boys` historical miniseries `Mrs America,` Michaela Coel`s transcendent drama `I May Destroy You.`Other TV series that were a part of Obama`s picks are `Better Call Saul,` `The Good Lord Bird,` `City So Real,` `The Good Place,` and `Devs.` Earlier this week, Obama had unveiled the list of his favourite books from the year which included his own book `A Promised Land,` and some other books like `Caste,` `The Vanishing Half,` `Twilight of Democracy` among others.

Barack Obama shares list of favourite films, TV shows of 2020

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had "NOTHING to do" with any potential prosecution of President-Elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter.

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I have NOTHING to do with the potential prosecution of Hunter Biden, or the Biden family. It is just more Fake News. Actually, I find it very sad to watch!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1339585047481917441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Trump's tweet came just one day after Jeffrey Rosen, the incoming Acting Attorney General, declined to say in an interview with Reuters whether or not he would appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and his foreign business dealings.

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Trump, who leaves office on Jan. 20, has privately been mulling whether to pressure the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel for Hunter Biden, according to a person familiar with the matter.

According to a US Senate Committee report,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-elections-2020-trump-applauds-selfs-approach-towards-covid-calls-bidens-approach-anti-science-329852">Joe Biden's</a>&nbsp;son Hunter was paid $50,000 a month to serve as the board of Burisma which is a Ukrainian natural gas company with a corrupt owner while his father was the US vice president&nbsp;to Democratic President Barack Obama.

The report said the Treasury records accessed by Chairman Grassley and Chairman Johnson showed Hunter<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/us-election-2020-facebook-removes-fake-pages-created-in-china-targeting-trump-biden-329641">&nbsp;Biden&nbsp;</a>and his family including his associates were involved in "potential criminal activity relating to transactions with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals."

On December 9, Hunter Biden disclosed his tax affairs were under investigation by the US&nbsp;Attorney for the District of Delaware.

However,&nbsp;Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied Trump's allegations saying&nbsp;that Joe Biden's son, Hunter did ''made very good money in Ukraine'' but Moscow is not aware of anything criminal about his&nbsp;past business.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had "NOTHING to do" with any potential prosecution of President-Elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter. I have NOTHING to do with the potential prosecution of Hunter Biden, or the Biden family.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had "NOTHING to do" with any potential prosecution of President-Elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter. I have NOTHING to do with the potential prosecution of Hunter Biden, or the Biden family. It is just more Fake News. Actually, I find it very sad to watch! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 17, 2020 × Trump's tweet came just one day after Jeffrey Rosen, the incoming Acting Attorney General, declined to say in an interview with Reuters whether or not he would appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and his foreign business dealings. Trump, who leaves office on Jan. 20, has privately been mulling whether to pressure the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel for Hunter Biden, according to a person familiar with the matter. According to a US Senate Committee report, Joe Biden's son Hunter was paid $50,000 a month to serve as the board of Burisma which is a Ukrainian natural gas company with a corrupt owner while his father was the US vice president to Democratic President Barack Obama. The report said the Treasury records accessed by Chairman Grassley and Chairman Johnson showed Hunter Biden and his family including his associates were involved in "potential criminal activity relating to transactions with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals." On December 9, Hunter Biden disclosed his tax affairs were under investigation by the US Attorney for the District of Delaware. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied Trump's allegations saying that Joe Biden's son, Hunter did ''made very good money in Ukraine'' but Moscow is not aware of anything criminal about his past business.

Have nothing to do with potential prosecution of Hunter Biden: Donald Trump

US President-elect Joe Biden announced several administration picks Thursday, including Obama-era officials such as former national security advisor Susan Rice as White House Domestic Policy Council director and ex-chief of staff Denis McDonough as veterans affairs secretary.

The appointments, laid out by Biden's presidential transition team, highlight the diversity which Biden pledged to bring to his cabinet.

"This is the right team for this moment in history, and I know that each of these leaders will hit the ground running on day one to take on the interconnected crises families are facing today," Biden said in a statement.

Rice, who is Black, had been a contender for secretary of state. But she was expected to face intense opposition from Republicans in the Senate confirmation process over her role in the Benghazi crisis of 2012, and that prestigious cabinet position went to close Biden advisor Antony Blinken.

Heading the Domestic Policy Council will assure Rice, 56, gets into the president-elect's White House inner circle and see her influence key elements of Biden's "build back better" agenda amid a surging coronavirus pandemic and strains over racial justice.

But it may be seen as a surprise appointment given her experience in foreign policy.&nbsp;The position, which she tweeted she was "humbled and excited" to take, does not need Senate confirmation.

McDonough, 51, served multiple roles in Barack Obama's administration, including White House chief of staff and deputy national security advisor.

He has been nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, a sprawling government agency tasked with managing a health care network that serves nine million enrolled veterans.&nbsp;

In a tweet, McDonough promised to "represent the voices of all veterans at every level, on every issue, every day."

Biden is scheduled to unveil his new picks at an event in Wilmington, Delaware on Friday.

- Biden to visit Georgia -

Biden has repeatedly stressed that his presidency will not equate to a third Obama term, and yet Thursday's announcement spotlights his close connection with his Democratic predecessor's brain trust.

He named 69-year-old Iowan Tom Vilsack, Obama's secretary of agriculture for two full terms, to the same role, which is seen as central to the coronavirus response as the department helps feed millions of Americans in need.

A tug of war over the agriculture post reportedly developed in recent weeks, with progressive congresswoman Marcia Fudge a leading candidate.

Instead Fudge, 68, was nominated to serve as secretary of housing and urban development, a position whose profile could also rise as the pandemic fuels a potential eviction crisis.

Biden also chose international trade expert Katherine Tai to be the US trade representative.&nbsp;

Tai, currently the chief trade lawyer for the House Ways and Means Committee, would be the first Asian American and first woman of color in the USTR role.

The transition team also confirmed that Biden will travel to Georgia Tuesday to boost two Democratic candidates in tight run-off elections that will determine which party controls the US Senate.

The trip coincides with the start of early voting there next Monday.

The runoffs feature former journalist Jon Ossoff challenging Republican Senator David Perdue, and Raphael Warnock, pastor at one of the most prominent Black churches in America, running to unseat Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler.

Biden narrowly won Georgia in the presidential race. The tight state contest has been challenged by President Donald Trump, who has made repeated accusations that the election was "rigged" and that massive fraud helped Biden win in Georgia and elsewhere.

No evidence has emerged to support such claims.

US President-elect Joe Biden announced several administration picks Thursday, including Obama-era officials such as former national security advisor Susan Rice as White House Domestic Policy Council director and ex-chief of staff Denis McDonough as veterans affairs secretary.

US President-elect Joe Biden announced several administration picks Thursday, including Obama-era officials such as former national security advisor Susan Rice as White House Domestic Policy Council director and ex-chief of staff Denis McDonough as veterans affairs secretary. The appointments, laid out by Biden's presidential transition team, highlight the diversity which Biden pledged to bring to his cabinet. "This is the right team for this moment in history, and I know that each of these leaders will hit the ground running on day one to take on the interconnected crises families are facing today," Biden said in a statement. Rice, who is Black, had been a contender for secretary of state. But she was expected to face intense opposition from Republicans in the Senate confirmation process over her role in the Benghazi crisis of 2012, and that prestigious cabinet position went to close Biden advisor Antony Blinken. Heading the Domestic Policy Council will assure Rice, 56, gets into the president-elect's White House inner circle and see her influence key elements of Biden's "build back better" agenda amid a surging coronavirus pandemic and strains over racial justice. But it may be seen as a surprise appointment given her experience in foreign policy. The position, which she tweeted she was "humbled and excited" to take, does not need Senate confirmation. McDonough, 51, served multiple roles in Barack Obama's administration, including White House chief of staff and deputy national security advisor. He has been nominated to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, a sprawling government agency tasked with managing a health care network that serves nine million enrolled veterans. In a tweet, McDonough promised to "represent the voices of all veterans at every level, on every issue, every day." Biden is scheduled to unveil his new picks at an event in Wilmington, Delaware on Friday. - Biden to visit Georgia - Biden has repeatedly stressed that his presidency will not equate to a third Obama term, and yet Thursday's announcement spotlights his close connection with his Democratic predecessor's brain trust. He named 69-year-old Iowan Tom Vilsack, Obama's secretary of agriculture for two full terms, to the same role, which is seen as central to the coronavirus response as the department helps feed millions of Americans in need. A tug of war over the agriculture post reportedly developed in recent weeks, with progressive congresswoman Marcia Fudge a leading candidate. Instead Fudge, 68, was nominated to serve as secretary of housing and urban development, a position whose profile could also rise as the pandemic fuels a potential eviction crisis. Biden also chose international trade expert Katherine Tai to be the US trade representative. Tai, currently the chief trade lawyer for the House Ways and Means Committee, would be the first Asian American and first woman of color in the USTR role. The transition team also confirmed that Biden will travel to Georgia Tuesday to boost two Democratic candidates in tight run-off elections that will determine which party controls the US Senate. The trip coincides with the start of early voting there next Monday. The runoffs feature former journalist Jon Ossoff challenging Republican Senator David Perdue, and Raphael Warnock, pastor at one of the most prominent Black churches in America, running to unseat Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler. Biden narrowly won Georgia in the presidential race. The tight state contest has been challenged by President Donald Trump, who has made repeated accusations that the election was "rigged" and that massive fraud helped Biden win in Georgia and elsewhere. No evidence has emerged to support such claims.

Biden taps Susan Rice for domestic policy role, other Obama vets

Barack Obama knows how to handle the royalty and this behaviour came through when he met the Queen of Pop Madonna. 
 
Recently, 'The Tonight Show'&nbsp;host Jimmy Fallon recalled&nbsp;introducing the former POTUS to Madonna when Obama appeared on the show in 2016 — and the commander-in-chief's very formal conduct when meeting her.

"We went over to see Madonna… she was very flirty, she's very sexy, and she was like, 'Hello, hi,'" Fallon recalls. "And you go, all business, 'Hello. Pleasure to meet you.' And I was like, 'That's right. That's the way Michelle would be like — that's right. That's how you do it.'" 
 
&nbsp;

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"Don't think that you elected a fool," Obama quips. "I knew how to handle my business."

The two also discussed Obama's two 'Slow Jam the News'&nbsp;sketches on Late Night in 2012 and The Tonight Show in 2016. "I saw a different President Obama the second time around," Fallon says, recalling that the first time, the strait-laced president refused to perform a mood-appropriate "Oooh yeeeeah." 
 
The second time, however, Obama was much more enthusiastic about singing bars from Rihanna's "Work."

"That is a jam, and I know that jam well," Obama says.

&nbsp;

Barack Obama knows how to handle the royalty and this behaviour came through when he met the Queen of Pop Madonna. Recently, 'The Tonight Show' host Jimmy Fallon recalled introducing the former POTUS to Madonna when Obama appeared on the show in 2016 — and the commander-in-chief's very formal conduct when meeting her.

Barack Obama knows how to handle the royalty and this behaviour came through when he met the Queen of Pop Madonna. Recently, 'The Tonight Show' host Jimmy Fallon recalled introducing the former POTUS to Madonna when Obama appeared on the show in 2016 — and the commander-in-chief's very formal conduct when meeting her. "We went over to see Madonna… she was very flirty, she's very sexy, and she was like, 'Hello, hi,'" Fallon recalls. "And you go, all business, 'Hello. Pleasure to meet you.' And I was like, 'That's right. That's the way Michelle would be like — that's right. That's how you do it.'" "Don't think that you elected a fool," Obama quips. "I knew how to handle my business." The two also discussed Obama's two 'Slow Jam the News' sketches on Late Night in 2012 and The Tonight Show in 2016. "I saw a different President Obama the second time around," Fallon says, recalling that the first time, the strait-laced president refused to perform a mood-appropriate "Oooh yeeeeah." The second time, however, Obama was much more enthusiastic about singing bars from Rihanna's "Work." "That is a jam, and I know that jam well," Obama says.

Barack Obama recalls meeting Madonna: 'I knew how to handle my business'

Even when the question of who will be the next US President seems to have settled, the actual power Joe Biden administration will wield has come to be decided on a single election in Georgia in US. The result of this election will decide which party will control US Senate and thereby the effective strength of Biden administration.

Republican Party currently controls US Senate with 52-48 majority. If Democratic party is able to win two Senate seats from Georgia, Republican Party will lose its majority in the Senate. Democratic Party already controls House of Representatives. Both Senate seats in Georgia are currently held by Republican Party.

Knowing the gravity of the situation, both parties have put in their best efforts to campaign for the Senate elections due next month. Major names from both parties are already addressing the people of Georgia

Former President Barack Obama and Vice President Pence campaigned for opposing candidates in Georgia on Friday (December 4), throwing political muscle into the January runoff elections that will determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/criminal-cruel-and-traitorous-donald-trump-belongs-in-prison-says-his-niece-mary-trump-347718">'Criminal, cruel and traitorous' Donald Trump belongs in prison, says his niece Mary Trump</a>

"You are now once again the center of our civic universe, because the special election in Georgia is going to determine ultimately the course of the Biden presidency and whether Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can deliver legislatively all the commitments they've made," Obama said during a virtual event featuring organized by the Democratic Party of Georgia.

A pair of Georgia U.S. Senate runoffs will be held on January 5 after no candidate won a majority in the Nov. 3 election. Republican Senator David Perdue is seeking re-election against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. And Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler is facing Democrat Raphael Warnock in the other runoff.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/i-wouldnt-demand-it-be-mandatory-biden-on-vaccine-347715">I wouldn't demand it be mandatory: Biden on vaccine</a> 
 
Pence visited Georgia on Friday, where he received a briefing on the pandemic at the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and then joined a rally for Perdue and Loeffler.

"We're going to keep Georgia. We're going to save the Senate and then we're going to save America," he told supporters.

Trump, a Republican who has still refused to concede to Biden, is scheduled to headline a rally with Perdue and Loeffler on Saturday.

(With Reuters inputs)

Even when the question of who will be the next US President seems to have settled, the actual power Joe Biden administration will wield has come to be decided on a single election in Georgia in US.

Even when the question of who will be the next US President seems to have settled, the actual power Joe Biden administration will wield has come to be decided on a single election in Georgia in US. The result of this election will decide which party will control US Senate and thereby the effective strength of Biden administration. Republican Party currently controls US Senate with 52-48 majority. If Democratic party is able to win two Senate seats from Georgia, Republican Party will lose its majority in the Senate. Democratic Party already controls House of Representatives. Both Senate seats in Georgia are currently held by Republican Party. Knowing the gravity of the situation, both parties have put in their best efforts to campaign for the Senate elections due next month. Major names from both parties are already addressing the people of Georgia Former President Barack Obama and Vice President Pence campaigned for opposing candidates in Georgia on Friday (December 4), throwing political muscle into the January runoff elections that will determine control of the U.S. Senate. Also Read | 'Criminal, cruel and traitorous' Donald Trump belongs in prison, says his niece Mary Trump "You are now once again the center of our civic universe, because the special election in Georgia is going to determine ultimately the course of the Biden presidency and whether Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can deliver legislatively all the commitments they've made," Obama said during a virtual event featuring organized by the Democratic Party of Georgia. A pair of Georgia U.S. Senate runoffs will be held on January 5 after no candidate won a majority in the Nov. 3 election. Republican Senator David Perdue is seeking re-election against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. And Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler is facing Democrat Raphael Warnock in the other runoff. Also Read | I wouldn't demand it be mandatory: Biden on vaccine Pence visited Georgia on Friday, where he received a briefing on the pandemic at the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and then joined a rally for Perdue and Loeffler. "We're going to keep Georgia. We're going to save the Senate and then we're going to save America," he told supporters. Trump, a Republican who has still refused to concede to Biden, is scheduled to headline a rally with Perdue and Loeffler on Saturday. (With Reuters inputs)

With US Senate majority in the pot, parties bring out big guns for Georgia elections

Former US Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and President-elect <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden </a>have said that they will take <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus-vaccine">coronavirus vaccine </a>on camera if that helps in instilling public confidence.&nbsp;

Obama said if top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci tells him that Covid-19 vaccine is safe, he will get himself inoculated.&nbsp;

Watch |&nbsp;

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"If Anthony Fauci tells me this vaccine is safe, and can vaccinate, you know, immunize you from getting Covid, absolutely, I'm going to take it," said Obama in an interview with SiriusXM radio.&nbsp;

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/how-uk-and-russia-are-gearing-up-for-roll-out-of-coronavirus-vaccine-347315/amp">How UK and Russia are gearing up for roll out of coronavirus vaccine</a>

"I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science, and what I don't trust is getting Covid."

Freddy Ford, Bush's chief of staff, said that the former president would take the vaccine "on camera" once it's deemed safe and given to "priority populations" to spread the awareness.&nbsp;

"First, the vaccines need to be deemed safe and administered to the priority populations," he told CNN.

"Then, president Bush will get in line for his, and will gladly do so on camera."

Clinton will also take the vaccine publicly on television, Angel Urena, his press secretary told CNN.&nbsp;

Biden also later told CNN that he would take the vaccine publicy once Fauci gives his approval to the drug.&nbsp;

"It's important to communicate to the American people it's safe," the president-elect said.&nbsp;

He also praised his predecessors' remarks to inoculate publicly, saying the former presidents had "set the model as to what should be done."

Former US Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and President-elect Joe Biden have said that they will take coronavirus vaccine on camera if that helps in instilling public confidence.

Former US Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and President-elect Joe Biden have said that they will take coronavirus vaccine on camera if that helps in instilling public confidence. Obama said if top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci tells him that Covid-19 vaccine is safe, he will get himself inoculated. Watch | "If Anthony Fauci tells me this vaccine is safe, and can vaccinate, you know, immunize you from getting Covid, absolutely, I'm going to take it," said Obama in an interview with SiriusXM radio. Also read | How UK and Russia are gearing up for roll out of coronavirus vaccine "I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science, and what I don't trust is getting Covid." Freddy Ford, Bush's chief of staff, said that the former president would take the vaccine "on camera" once it's deemed safe and given to "priority populations" to spread the awareness. "First, the vaccines need to be deemed safe and administered to the priority populations," he told CNN. "Then, president Bush will get in line for his, and will gladly do so on camera." Clinton will also take the vaccine publicly on television, Angel Urena, his press secretary told CNN. Biden also later told CNN that he would take the vaccine publicy once Fauci gives his approval to the drug. "It's important to communicate to the American people it's safe," the president-elect said. He also praised his predecessors' remarks to inoculate publicly, saying the former presidents had "set the model as to what should be done."

Former US presidents, Biden agree to get vaccinated on camera to spread awareness

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