US President Joe Biden found himself in hot soup after he was caught on hot microphone calling a journalist 'a ‘stupid son of a b****’ when asked about inflation.

US President Joe Biden caught cursing journalist on hot microphone

US President Joe Biden has declared unity among Western powers after crisis talks with European leaders on deterring Russia from an attack against Ukraine.

US, Europe call for unity against Russia over Ukraine tensions

The Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a US gun violence monitoring group, reported that there were over 5,000 more fatal shootings during Joe Biden's first year in office compared to Donald Trump's first year as president.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, the United States saw 44,868 gun deaths in Biden's first year as president.

The total number of murders, justifiable self-defence homicides, and accidental homicides involving firearms were 20,783 in 2021, compared to 15,727 in 2017 when Trump took office.&nbsp;

This means that in the past few years alone, gun violence has increased by 32 per cent.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-vows-to-do-more-to-end-gun-violence-but-rejects-calls-to-appoint-a-czar-378163">Biden vows to ‘do more’ to end gun violence but rejects calls to appoint a czar</a>

It is alarming to note, that there were 693 mass shootings in 2021, up from 348 in 2017. In addition, there were 1,060 deaths or injuries among children, compared to 724 in 2017.

In 2021, there were 24,090 suicides committed using a firearm in the United States. Prior to 2019, no national suicide statistics are available, but the site uses an estimate of 22,000 for previous years.

As of January 21, there had been 2,627 shootings in the United States, of which 1,518 were suicides and 1,109 intentional homicides, including 26 mass shootings and one mass murder.&nbsp;

Based on the current trend, the United States may end the year with over 19000 killings and 450 mass shootings.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/bidens-order-to-target-ghost-guns-in-reforms-against-increasing-gun-violence-375987">Biden's order to target 'ghost guns' in reforms against increasing gun violence</a>

In response to the sharp increase, a school gun control group March For Our Lives (M4OL) has called on Biden to put an end to the bloodshed.

The M4OL group, founded by the survivors of the 2018 mass shooting at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, stated that Biden has only "tinkered" with gun control measures in his first year in the White House.

Activists from a student-led group said that they were horrified by the escalating epidemic of violence that have continued under his administration.

"As a candidate, the president pledged to end the epidemic of gun violence, but as our leader in the White House, he has simply tinkered at the edges, rather than coordinating a whole-of-government response that treats this crisis like the emergency that it is."

Taking to Twitter the group said "While @POTUS &nbsp;has taken welcome and overdue steps to address this epidemic, he has not met the bare minimum of what’s necessary to reverse this trend."

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While <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> has taken welcome and overdue steps to address this epidemic, he has not met the bare minimum of what’s necessary to reverse this trend. 2/4
— March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) <a href="https://twitter.com/AMarch4OurLives/status/1484310431661707264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
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In its statement, the group noted that 2021 is one of the deadliest years in American history for gun violence, and asked bluntly: "Mr. President, have you done enough?"

Gun violence has become a persistent social issue in the United States without any apparent solution.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated that 17 million guns were sold between January 2021 and November 2021. In the first four days of 2022, around 400 Americans were killed in gun violence, according to the GVA.&nbsp;

Watch |&nbsp;Gravitas US Edition: Gun Terror in America: A WION Ground Report

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-us-edition-gun-terror-in-america-a-wion-ground-report-414754/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

In 2018, Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and injured the same number during&nbsp;a rampage on&nbsp;Valentine's Day, at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He used a semi-automatic military assault rifle to commit the crime.

In light of the event, more people have called for restrictions on gun ownership and purchasing, with Trump calling on state legislatures to act - where the federal Congress has failed to act for decades.

The Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a US gun violence monitoring group, reported that there were over 5,000 more fatal shootings during Joe Biden's first year in office compared to Donald Trump's first year as president.

The Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a US gun violence monitoring group, reported that there were over 5,000 more fatal shootings during Joe Biden's first year in office compared to Donald Trump's first year as president. According to the Gun Violence Archive, the United States saw 44,868 gun deaths in Biden's first year as president. The total number of murders, justifiable self-defence homicides, and accidental homicides involving firearms were 20,783 in 2021, compared to 15,727 in 2017 when Trump took office. This means that in the past few years alone, gun violence has increased by 32 per cent. Also read | Biden vows to ‘do more’ to end gun violence but rejects calls to appoint a czar It is alarming to note, that there were 693 mass shootings in 2021, up from 348 in 2017. In addition, there were 1,060 deaths or injuries among children, compared to 724 in 2017. In 2021, there were 24,090 suicides committed using a firearm in the United States. Prior to 2019, no national suicide statistics are available, but the site uses an estimate of 22,000 for previous years. As of January 21, there had been 2,627 shootings in the United States, of which 1,518 were suicides and 1,109 intentional homicides, including 26 mass shootings and one mass murder. Based on the current trend, the United States may end the year with over 19000 killings and 450 mass shootings. Also read | Biden's order to target 'ghost guns' in reforms against increasing gun violence In response to the sharp increase, a school gun control group March For Our Lives (M4OL) has called on Biden to put an end to the bloodshed. The M4OL group, founded by the survivors of the 2018 mass shooting at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, stated that Biden has only "tinkered" with gun control measures in his first year in the White House. Activists from a student-led group said that they were horrified by the escalating epidemic of violence that have continued under his administration. "As a candidate, the president pledged to end the epidemic of gun violence, but as our leader in the White House, he has simply tinkered at the edges, rather than coordinating a whole-of-government response that treats this crisis like the emergency that it is." Taking to Twitter the group said "While @POTUS has taken welcome and overdue steps to address this epidemic, he has not met the bare minimum of what’s necessary to reverse this trend." While @POTUS has taken welcome and overdue steps to address this epidemic, he has not met the bare minimum of what’s necessary to reverse this trend. 2/4 — March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) January 20, 2022 × In its statement, the group noted that 2021 is one of the deadliest years in American history for gun violence, and asked bluntly: "Mr. President, have you done enough?" Gun violence has become a persistent social issue in the United States without any apparent solution. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated that 17 million guns were sold between January 2021 and November 2021. In the first four days of 2022, around 400 Americans were killed in gun violence, according to the GVA. Watch | Gravitas US Edition: Gun Terror in America: A WION Ground Report In 2018, Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and injured the same number during a rampage on Valentine's Day, at the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He used a semi-automatic military assault rifle to commit the crime. In light of the event, more people have called for restrictions on gun ownership and purchasing, with Trump calling on state legislatures to act - where the federal Congress has failed to act for decades.

Trump vs Biden: Gun violence in Joe Biden's US sees a sharp escalation

The Biden administration is mulling to deploy several thousand troops, as well as warships and aircraft, to NATO allies in the Baltics and Eastern Europe amid fears of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to reports.

The US president is expected to make a decision as early as this week, the New York Times has reported citing unnamed Pentagon officials.

The reports state that the Pentagon officials met Biden on Saturday where several options were discussed to shift American military bases “much closer to Putin’s doorstep”.

Among the options discussed in the meet include sending 1,000 to 5,000 troops to Eastern European countries, with the potential to increase that number tenfold if things deteriorate.

It is being said that Biden’s latest offensive is to counter Russia’s troop build-up at Ukraine’s borders.

According to the Guardian report, Russia has amassed thousands of troops more along Ukraine’s borders.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/threat-of-war-forces-us-to-order-departure-of-ukrainian-embassy-staffs-kin-447011" hreflang="en">Threat of war forces US to order departure of Ukrainian embassy staff’s kin</a>

A large military force, including Iskander short-range ballistic missiles, elite spetsnaz troops and anti-aircraft batteries, has arrived in Belarus from Russia’s eastern military district, the report said.

Apart from that, six Russian landing ships capable of carrying main battle tanks, troops and other military vehicles travelled through the Channel en route to the Mediterranean last week in a deployment.

In a recent interview, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the US is focused on building deterrence to counter against any possible Ukraine invasion.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/uk-warns-russia-of-very-serious-consequences-if-it-installs-puppet-regime-in-ukraine-447008">UK warns Russia of 'very serious consequences' over Ukraine</a>

“Even as we’re engaged in diplomacy, we are very much focused on building up defence, building up deterrence,” he said on Sunday.

“NATO itself will continue to be reinforced in a significant way if Russia commits renewed acts of aggression. All of that is on the table,” he added.

Meanwhile, the US has warned its citizens not to travel to Russia amid “ongoing tension along the border with Ukraine”.

"Do not travel to Russia due to ongoing tension along the border with Ukraine," a statement from the US State Department said, adding that Americans could also face "harassment" and that the embassy would have "limited ability to assist US citizens."

(With inputs from agencies)

The Biden administration is mulling to deploy several thousand troops, as well as warships and aircraft, to NATO allies in the Baltics and Eastern Europe amid fears of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to reports.

The Biden administration is mulling to deploy several thousand troops, as well as warships and aircraft, to NATO allies in the Baltics and Eastern Europe amid fears of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to reports. The US president is expected to make a decision as early as this week, the New York Times has reported citing unnamed Pentagon officials. The reports state that the Pentagon officials met Biden on Saturday where several options were discussed to shift American military bases “much closer to Putin’s doorstep”. Among the options discussed in the meet include sending 1,000 to 5,000 troops to Eastern European countries, with the potential to increase that number tenfold if things deteriorate. It is being said that Biden’s latest offensive is to counter Russia’s troop build-up at Ukraine’s borders. According to the Guardian report, Russia has amassed thousands of troops more along Ukraine’s borders. Also read | Threat of war forces US to order departure of Ukrainian embassy staff’s kin A large military force, including Iskander short-range ballistic missiles, elite spetsnaz troops and anti-aircraft batteries, has arrived in Belarus from Russia’s eastern military district, the report said. Apart from that, six Russian landing ships capable of carrying main battle tanks, troops and other military vehicles travelled through the Channel en route to the Mediterranean last week in a deployment. In a recent interview, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the US is focused on building deterrence to counter against any possible Ukraine invasion. Also read | UK warns Russia of 'very serious consequences' over Ukraine “Even as we’re engaged in diplomacy, we are very much focused on building up defence, building up deterrence,” he said on Sunday. “NATO itself will continue to be reinforced in a significant way if Russia commits renewed acts of aggression. All of that is on the table,” he added. Meanwhile, the US has warned its citizens not to travel to Russia amid “ongoing tension along the border with Ukraine”. "Do not travel to Russia due to ongoing tension along the border with Ukraine," a statement from the US State Department said, adding that Americans could also face "harassment" and that the embassy would have "limited ability to assist US citizens." (With inputs from agencies)

Biden mulling to deploy thousands of troops to Eastern Europe, Baltics amid Russian invasion fears: Report

Thousands in Washington protest against 'tyranny' of COVID-19 vaccine mandates

Joe Biden's first year of Presidency saw 32% more gun violence than Trump's

Americans have started to receive free coronavirus tests from the U.S. government in the mail after it began accepting orders Tuesday.

The Biden administration said it would send 500 million rapid tests to Americans this month via the U.S. Postal Service after the omicron variant strained access to in-person and at-home tests. Each household is eligible for four free rapid tests and can order them at covidtests.gov.

Marcie Taylor, a marketing consultant in Santa Ana, California, said she received her tests Friday after she ordered them Tuesday at the recommendation of her friend who sent her a link to the website. She said the package, which included two boxes with two tests in each, arrived earlier than the tracking website had estimated.

Taylor said her husband and two children, a 16-year-old and a 20-year-old, would try to make the tests last as long as possible because it only amounted to one test per person.

“If you can order the kit, order it,” Taylor said in an interview. “It gives you peace of mind to have it since there is a shortage at drugstores.”

Taylor was one of several people who posted on social media after they received the tests at the end of the week.

“That bodes well for how things are going to go,” said Steve Hutkins, editor of the “Save the Post Office” blog.

Hutkins said the Postal Service’s mission to deliver 500 million tests in a short period of time was a significant task “but totally doable.”

To make these deliveries, the Postal Service has had to transform its operations.

Though postal workers usually handle packages that are ready to send, to manage the coronavirus test operation, workers are packing and labeling the test kits for delivery, according to a memo between the Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union.

The government has also updated 43 existing fulfillment centers across the country to be able to prepare the tests, the memo said.

David Partenheimer, a spokesman for the Postal Service, said in an email that to send out the tests, the agency was also using strategies that had helped it deliver 13.2 billion pieces of mail and packages during the 2021 holiday season.

“These strategies, including additional staffing, an investment in new processing equipment and operational efficiencies, and an expanded facility footprint, mean test kits can get to the Americans who want them in a timely and efficient manner,” Partenheimer said.

The operation has not been seamless, however.

Some people who live in apartment buildings said they were unable to place an order on the website when it went live Tuesday.

Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, said at a press briefing Friday that this problem affected “a very, very small percent of people who live in apartment buildings” that are not registered as multiunit buildings within the Postal Service’s database. To fix this issue, the Postal Service advised people to file a service request online or to contact the agency’s help desk at 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777).

Zients declined to say how many people had placed orders for the tests but said that the White House would provide that data in the next few days. Nearly 70 million people have visited the test website, according to the government’s digital analytics.

The Biden administration has said a second batch of 500 million tests would be available in the spring. 
&nbsp;

Americans have started to receive free coronavirus tests from the U.S. government in the mail after it began accepting orders Tuesday. The Biden administration said it would send 500 million rapid tests to Americans this month via the U.

Americans have started to receive free coronavirus tests from the U.S. government in the mail after it began accepting orders Tuesday. The Biden administration said it would send 500 million rapid tests to Americans this month via the U.S. Postal Service after the omicron variant strained access to in-person and at-home tests. Each household is eligible for four free rapid tests and can order them at covidtests.gov. Marcie Taylor, a marketing consultant in Santa Ana, California, said she received her tests Friday after she ordered them Tuesday at the recommendation of her friend who sent her a link to the website. She said the package, which included two boxes with two tests in each, arrived earlier than the tracking website had estimated. Taylor said her husband and two children, a 16-year-old and a 20-year-old, would try to make the tests last as long as possible because it only amounted to one test per person. “If you can order the kit, order it,” Taylor said in an interview. “It gives you peace of mind to have it since there is a shortage at drugstores.” Taylor was one of several people who posted on social media after they received the tests at the end of the week. “That bodes well for how things are going to go,” said Steve Hutkins, editor of the “Save the Post Office” blog. Hutkins said the Postal Service’s mission to deliver 500 million tests in a short period of time was a significant task “but totally doable.” To make these deliveries, the Postal Service has had to transform its operations. Though postal workers usually handle packages that are ready to send, to manage the coronavirus test operation, workers are packing and labeling the test kits for delivery, according to a memo between the Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union. The government has also updated 43 existing fulfillment centers across the country to be able to prepare the tests, the memo said. David Partenheimer, a spokesman for the Postal Service, said in an email that to send out the tests, the agency was also using strategies that had helped it deliver 13.2 billion pieces of mail and packages during the 2021 holiday season. “These strategies, including additional staffing, an investment in new processing equipment and operational efficiencies, and an expanded facility footprint, mean test kits can get to the Americans who want them in a timely and efficient manner,” Partenheimer said. The operation has not been seamless, however. Some people who live in apartment buildings said they were unable to place an order on the website when it went live Tuesday. Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, said at a press briefing Friday that this problem affected “a very, very small percent of people who live in apartment buildings” that are not registered as multiunit buildings within the Postal Service’s database. To fix this issue, the Postal Service advised people to file a service request online or to contact the agency’s help desk at 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777). Zients declined to say how many people had placed orders for the tests but said that the White House would provide that data in the next few days. Nearly 70 million people have visited the test website, according to the government’s digital analytics. The Biden administration has said a second batch of 500 million tests would be available in the spring.

Coronavirus tests from US government begin to arrive at some homes

Boris Epshteyn, who was a strategic adviser for former United States President Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, has acknowledged having his role in efforts to legitimise the alleged pro-Trump electors.&nbsp;

The electors are said to be from states that current President of the US Joe Biden won.

"Is that something you ever worked on or would support, for example, in Michigan?" MSNBC host Ari Melber asked him.

In reply, Epshteyn said, "Yes, I was part of the process to make sure there were alternate electors for when, as we hoped, the challenges to the seated electors would be heard, and would be successful."&nbsp;

Epshteyn is a lawyer and after insisting that the electors were "alternate" and not "fraudulent electors."&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trump-ordered-to-seize-voting-machines-after-electoral-loss-report-446705">Donald Trump ordered to seize voting machines after electoral loss: Report</a>

Watch the video here:

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Well, <a href="https://twitter.com/BorisEP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BorisEP</a> did say he was going on the show to talk about fraud. Who knew he was dumb enough to admit he was one of the ones to commit the fraud. Poor Boris Epshteyn. <a href="https://t.co/gb0TmFot6r">https://t.co/gb0TmFot6r</a>
— Russell Foster for Texas (@RussellFosterTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/RussellFosterTX/status/1484681690505265157?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2022</a></blockquote>
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On MSNBC, Epshteyn discussed the failed MAGA plot to overturn the presidential election, the House Select Committee's probe into the US Capitol riot and the Trump campaign's fake electors plot.&nbsp;

On being asked about the fraudulent electors plot, Epshteyn talked about the Trump campaign's basic plan but insisted those involved were "alternate electors".&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/how-is-ivanka-trump-involved-in-us-capitol-assault-probe-panel-asks-her-to-cooperate-446348">How is Ivanka Trump involved in US Capitol assault probe? Panel asks her to cooperate</a>

The congressional committee investigating the US Capitol riot issued subpoenas to Rudy Giuliani and three other allies of the defeated ex-president.

Attorney Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Boris Epshteyn have been subpoenaed.&nbsp;

"The four individuals we've subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former president about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes," panel chairman Bennie Thompson said in a statement.

"We expect these individuals to join the nearly 400 witnesses who have spoken with the select committee as the committee works to get answers for the American people about the violent attack on our democracy."

Congressional investigators are probing the violent attack a year ago on the Capitol by supporters of then-president Trump.

Boris Epshteyn, who was a strategic adviser for former United States President Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, has acknowledged having his role in efforts to legitimise the alleged pro-Trump electors.

Boris Epshteyn, who was a strategic adviser for former United States President Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, has acknowledged having his role in efforts to legitimise the alleged pro-Trump electors. The electors are said to be from states that current President of the US Joe Biden won. "Is that something you ever worked on or would support, for example, in Michigan?" MSNBC host Ari Melber asked him. In reply, Epshteyn said, "Yes, I was part of the process to make sure there were alternate electors for when, as we hoped, the challenges to the seated electors would be heard, and would be successful." Epshteyn is a lawyer and after insisting that the electors were "alternate" and not "fraudulent electors." ALSO READ | Donald Trump ordered to seize voting machines after electoral loss: Report Watch the video here: Well, @BorisEP did say he was going on the show to talk about fraud. Who knew he was dumb enough to admit he was one of the ones to commit the fraud. Poor Boris Epshteyn. https://t.co/gb0TmFot6r — Russell Foster for Texas (@RussellFosterTX) January 22, 2022 × On MSNBC, Epshteyn discussed the failed MAGA plot to overturn the presidential election, the House Select Committee's probe into the US Capitol riot and the Trump campaign's fake electors plot. On being asked about the fraudulent electors plot, Epshteyn talked about the Trump campaign's basic plan but insisted those involved were "alternate electors". ALSO READ | How is Ivanka Trump involved in US Capitol assault probe? Panel asks her to cooperate The congressional committee investigating the US Capitol riot issued subpoenas to Rudy Giuliani and three other allies of the defeated ex-president. Attorney Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Boris Epshteyn have been subpoenaed. "The four individuals we've subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former president about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes," panel chairman Bennie Thompson said in a statement. "We expect these individuals to join the nearly 400 witnesses who have spoken with the select committee as the committee works to get answers for the American people about the violent attack on our democracy." Congressional investigators are probing the violent attack a year ago on the Capitol by supporters of then-president Trump.

Former Trump campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn was 'part of the process' of 'alternate electors' plot

Momentum is building for a conflict in Ukraine. A gaffe by Joe Biden has given Russia the upper hand. The US President suggested he would tolerate a "minor invasion" in Ukraine. Palki Sharma tells you more.

Gravitas: Ukraine crisis: Will Russia go to war?

After his defeat in the 2020 elections, Donald Trump allegedly drafted an executive order directing the US’ top military leader to seize voting machines, a report has revealed.

The explosive document, released by the National Archives and obtained by Politico, has revealed the extreme measures Trump may have been willing to take to keep Joe Biden from being declared as the next president.

The three-page draft, dated December 16, 2020, ordered the Secretary of Defense to “seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information, and material records required for retention.”

The order also sought to appoint a special counsel to bring charges on any fraud allegations that arose from the seizures, but it was never signed.

It is also unclear as to who drafted the order.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/exclusive-jerusalem-extremism-analyst-who-predicted-jan-6-riots-talks-to-wion-442914">Exclusive: Jerusalem extremism analyst who predicted Jan 6 riots talks to WION</a>

The draft is part of the 750-plus documents submitted by the National Archives to the House of Representatives select committee investigating the 2021 Capitol insurrection.

The then-president sought to block the release of the documents citing the “executive privilege” doctrine, but the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected his appeal.

Trump and his allies spent months pushing a false narrative of widespread electoral fraud, despite the government officials rebuffing the charges.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/jan-6-panel-subpoenas-giuliani-digging-into-false-vote-fraud-claims-445946">Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Giuliani, digging into false vote fraud claims</a>

The claims were also rejected by Trump-appointed attorney general Bill Barr, and Trump was eventually impeached for inciting the attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters.

Meanwhile, the probe committee investigating on Thursday invited Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald Trump, to provide information and participate in a voluntary interview.

Ivanka was a senior White House advisor to her father. The committee wants to ask her about Trump’s actions, or inaction, and his state of mind on January 6, 2021, when hundreds of his supporters stormed the Capitol and temporarily stopped Congress from confirming President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

(With inputs from agencies)

After his defeat in the 2020 elections, Donald Trump allegedly drafted an executive order directing the US’ top military leader to seize voting machines, a report has revealed.

After his defeat in the 2020 elections, Donald Trump allegedly drafted an executive order directing the US’ top military leader to seize voting machines, a report has revealed. The explosive document, released by the National Archives and obtained by Politico, has revealed the extreme measures Trump may have been willing to take to keep Joe Biden from being declared as the next president. The three-page draft, dated December 16, 2020, ordered the Secretary of Defense to “seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information, and material records required for retention.” The order also sought to appoint a special counsel to bring charges on any fraud allegations that arose from the seizures, but it was never signed. It is also unclear as to who drafted the order. Also read | Exclusive: Jerusalem extremism analyst who predicted Jan 6 riots talks to WION The draft is part of the 750-plus documents submitted by the National Archives to the House of Representatives select committee investigating the 2021 Capitol insurrection. The then-president sought to block the release of the documents citing the “executive privilege” doctrine, but the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected his appeal. Trump and his allies spent months pushing a false narrative of widespread electoral fraud, despite the government officials rebuffing the charges. Also read | Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Giuliani, digging into false vote fraud claims The claims were also rejected by Trump-appointed attorney general Bill Barr, and Trump was eventually impeached for inciting the attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. Meanwhile, the probe committee investigating on Thursday invited Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald Trump, to provide information and participate in a voluntary interview. Ivanka was a senior White House advisor to her father. The committee wants to ask her about Trump’s actions, or inaction, and his state of mind on January 6, 2021, when hundreds of his supporters stormed the Capitol and temporarily stopped Congress from confirming President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. (With inputs from agencies)

Donald Trump ordered to seize voting machines after electoral loss: Report

What 'The Simpsons think today, the world thinks tomorrow. Known for eerily predicting some of the major events in the future, one of the prophecies made in 'The Simpons' movies seem to have come true yet again.&nbsp; 
 
US President Joe Biden's presidential inaugural committee recently created an ad featuring Tom Hanks to "celebrate the strength and perseverance of the American people” one year into Biden’s presidency. The ad aims to promote Biden administration successful one year run and features Sarah Lindsay, the first person to get the Covid-19 vaccine in the US. "I can feel the change,” Lindsay says.&nbsp;

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hZyaREUfnh0" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> 
 
Hanks involvement with the ad has drawn mockery and scorn from certain people. Many have gone back to &nbsp;2007 'The Simpsons Movie' which incidentally featured Hanks appearing as himself in cartoon and using his charm as a star to make an informational video for the government. Yes, you read that right.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/lifestyle/news-astroworld-tragedy-did-the-simpsons-know-all-along-about-travis-scotts-concert-mishap-428968" hreflang="en">Astroworld tragedy: Did 'The Simpsons' know all along about Travis Scott's concert mishap?</a> 
 
Hanks' cartoon version comes to the characters that their hometown will soon be destroyed by the government. Some even referenced Hanks’ opening line from the movie. "Hello, I’m Tom Hanks. The US government has lost its credibility, so it’s borrowing some of mine."

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JFC... The Simpsons predicted another one <a href="https://t.co/qGbjVAJZHn">pic.twitter.com/qGbjVAJZHn</a>
— Ahmed Al Assliken (@assliken) <a href="https://twitter.com/assliken/status/1484189554349207560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The Simpsons has always been prophetic. <a href="https://t.co/t9L2UoYDVs">https://t.co/t9L2UoYDVs</a> <a href="https://t.co/KsV8xnw7VN">pic.twitter.com/KsV8xnw7VN</a>
— Syd Steyerhart (@SydSteyerhart) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydSteyerhart/status/1484209344136814594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/the-simpsons-had-predicted-kamala-harris-inaugural-purple-outfit-21-years-ago-heres-proof-358554" hreflang="en">'The Simpsons' had predicted Kamala Harris' inaugural purple outfit 21 years ago. Here's proof</a>

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Oh my gosh it’s the Simpsons in real life. <a href="https://t.co/chbda7wwEB">https://t.co/chbda7wwEB</a> <a href="https://t.co/S22auEvc3O">pic.twitter.com/S22auEvc3O</a>
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) <a href="https://twitter.com/mattdizwhitlock/status/1484151584347111427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Those little moments that remind you we’re in an apocalypse, no matter how boring it is <a href="https://t.co/RDzgpZ5jUN">https://t.co/RDzgpZ5jUN</a>
— Cam (@cameron_kasky) <a href="https://twitter.com/cameron_kasky/status/1484196022301736967?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The 2022 video has Hanks claiming that the economy is “getting better,” exclaiming that businesses are reopening and jobs are being created as we move into “year three of the pandemic none of us wanted.”&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hollywood/news-not-again-simpsons-had-predicted-the-matrix-resurrections-christmas-release-15-years-ago-439614" hreflang="en">Not again! Simpsons had predicted 'The Matrix Resurrections' Christmas release 15 years ago</a> 
 
“We are stronger than we were a year ago today,” says Hanks in the video. The Academy Award-winning actor had also participated in inauguration celebrations for Biden last year.&nbsp; 
 
Biden too appears in the ad as he agrees with the actor in the video and claims that he’s “never been more optimistic about America’s future.”

What 'The Simpsons think today, the world thinks tomorrow. Known for eerily predicting some of the major events in the future, one of the prophecies made in 'The Simpons' movies seem to have come true yet again.

What 'The Simpsons think today, the world thinks tomorrow. Known for eerily predicting some of the major events in the future, one of the prophecies made in 'The Simpons' movies seem to have come true yet again. US President Joe Biden's presidential inaugural committee recently created an ad featuring Tom Hanks to "celebrate the strength and perseverance of the American people” one year into Biden’s presidency. The ad aims to promote Biden administration successful one year run and features Sarah Lindsay, the first person to get the Covid-19 vaccine in the US. "I can feel the change,” Lindsay says. Hanks involvement with the ad has drawn mockery and scorn from certain people. Many have gone back to 2007 'The Simpsons Movie' which incidentally featured Hanks appearing as himself in cartoon and using his charm as a star to make an informational video for the government. Yes, you read that right. Astroworld tragedy: Did 'The Simpsons' know all along about Travis Scott's concert mishap? Hanks' cartoon version comes to the characters that their hometown will soon be destroyed by the government. Some even referenced Hanks’ opening line from the movie. "Hello, I’m Tom Hanks. The US government has lost its credibility, so it’s borrowing some of mine." JFC... The Simpsons predicted another one pic.twitter.com/qGbjVAJZHn — Ahmed Al Assliken (@assliken) January 20, 2022 × The Simpsons has always been prophetic. https://t.co/t9L2UoYDVs pic.twitter.com/KsV8xnw7VN — Syd Steyerhart (@SydSteyerhart) January 20, 2022 × 'The Simpsons' had predicted Kamala Harris' inaugural purple outfit 21 years ago. Here's proof Oh my gosh it’s the Simpsons in real life. https://t.co/chbda7wwEB pic.twitter.com/S22auEvc3O — Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) January 20, 2022 × Those little moments that remind you we’re in an apocalypse, no matter how boring it is https://t.co/RDzgpZ5jUN — Cam (@cameron_kasky) January 20, 2022 × The 2022 video has Hanks claiming that the economy is “getting better,” exclaiming that businesses are reopening and jobs are being created as we move into “year three of the pandemic none of us wanted.” Not again! Simpsons had predicted 'The Matrix Resurrections' Christmas release 15 years ago “We are stronger than we were a year ago today,” says Hanks in the video. The Academy Award-winning actor had also participated in inauguration celebrations for Biden last year. Biden too appears in the ad as he agrees with the actor in the video and claims that he’s “never been more optimistic about America’s future.”

'The Simpsons' predicted Tom Hanks' appearance in a promotional govt advertisement years ago

Here are some of the top stories to start your day: US President Joe Biden has clarified his comments after he suggested that the allies were split over how to react to any potential "minor incursion" from Russia in Ukraine.

Here are some of the top stories to start your day: US President Joe Biden has clarified his comments after he suggested that the allies were split over how to react to any potential "minor incursion" from Russia in Ukraine. Also, read a report on how doctors in Alabama successfully transplanted a pair of kidneys from a genetically modified pig into a brain dead man. Click on headlines to read the full report: Joe Biden clarifies over Russia remark; Ukraine says there are no 'minor incursions' and small nations US President Joe Biden sought to clarify his comments as on he said that "I have been absolutely clear with President (Vladimir) Putin, he has no misunderstanding. If any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border that is an invasion". Russia, China block US bid to impose UN sanctions on North Koreans Russia and China moved to block the Biden administration's bid to impose sanctions on North Koreans as Kim Jong-Un's regime threatened to conduct nuclear weapons tests. US airlines plane bound for London turns around mid-flight An unruly passenger, who refused to wear a mask, forced a US airlines plane bound for London to turn around mid-flight on Wednesday. The mask-related disruption occurred on an American Airlines flight. In a first, two kidneys from genetically modified pig transplanted into brain dead man Doctors in Alabama successfully transplanted a pair of kidneys from a genetically modified pig into a brain dead man. WATCH | Gravitas: How Xi Jinping forced 10,000 'fugitives' to return to China ×

Morning news brief: Biden clarifies Russia remark, UN sanctions on North Koreans blocked and more

Joe Biden marked one year in the White House amid rising Covid-19 deaths and a potential war with Russia. Despite big promises, Biden's presidency has been a story of missed opportunities. Palki Sharma tells you more.

Gravitas: One year of Biden: No better than Trump

The Senate has only three Black members, a paltry number that is unrepresentative of the country, so when the chamber took up a voting rights bill this week aimed at preventing the disenfranchisement of voters of color, Sens. Cory Booker, Tim Scott and Raphael Warnock played an outsized role in the debate.

During a more than 10-hour discourse Wednesday that highlighted the Senate’s striking lack of diversity, the three men brought vastly different perspectives to an issue that each said had affected them in deeply personal ways, with the two Democrats — Warnock of Georgia and Booker of New Jersey — serving as self-described witnesses to Republican-engineered voter suppression, and Scott, R-S.C., countering that the real threat to democracy was coming from the left.

The protracted proceedings underscored how heavily the white leaders of both parties lean on the few Black members of their rank-and-file when issues of race arise. When Vice President Kamala Harris, a former senator from California who was the first Black woman to serve in that post, briefly presided over the debate Wednesday night, nearly half of the 11 African Americans who have ever served in the Senate were present at once.

But it also showed the power of representation and biography in a debate over policy.

The moral force that the three senators could marshal to their causes was clear. The back-and-forth between Scott, the son of a struggling single mother in working-class North Charleston, South Carolina, and Booker, a former Rhodes Scholar and big-city mayor, provided a striking moment, as they fought over the meaning of Jim Crow in the present day.

Scott used the elections of all three Black men — but especially himself and Warnock — to back up his case that America is a nation of expanding democratic opportunity, not voter suppression and inequity.

“It’s hard to deny progress when two of the three come from the Southern states which people say are the places where African American votes are being suppressed,” he said.

Warnock, who ministers from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the pulpit from which Martin Luther King Jr. preached, closed the debate with an appeal to every senator.

“Let the message go out: You cannot honor Martin Luther King and work to dismantle his legacy at the same time,” Warnock said Wednesday night, two days after King’s holiday, when virtually every senator of every political stripe produced an obligatory tribute to the slain civil rights leader.

“I will not sit quietly while some make Dr. King the victim of identity theft.”

The groundbreaking positions of the men, no doubt, are at least part of the reason they were thrust onto center stage. Scott was the first Black senator from the South since Reconstruction. Warnock is the first African American to represent Georgia in the Senate and the first Black Democrat to be elected to the Senate by a former state of the Confederacy. Booker is his state’s first Black senator.

Donna Brazile, a Black Democratic strategist who headed Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, recalled watching Wednesday’s debate and “thinking, ‘I thank God we have in 2022 three Black members of the United States Senate, regardless of party affiliation,’ because they all spoke uniquely from their own experiences of the journey of Black Americans.”

But it can be a bit overwhelming, said Carol Moseley Braun, who was the first Black woman to serve in the Senate and the only Black person in the entire chamber when she served.

“If it had to do with women, I got trotted out. If it had to do with Black people, I got trotted out,” she recalled in an interview Thursday. “I couldn’t win.”

In the end, no amount of pressure from Warnock could sway a single Republican to back the voting rights and election protection bill, or persuade the two balking Democrats, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, to support weakening the filibuster to advance it over GOP opposition.

Nor could Scott save his party from the fallout of defending voting restrictions passed by Republican legislatures that Democrats say are intended to disenfranchise minority voters. The South Carolina senator’s ardent defense of Georgia’s new voting law may have been lost amid the repercussions from a faux pas uttered Wednesday by Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.

Asked about protests from voters of color over new restrictions, McConnell said, “The concern is misplaced because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.” Critics interpreted the comment as implying that either Black voters are not wholly American, or that the top Senate Republican considered “American” synonymous with white.

In a statement provided to The New York Times on Thursday, McConnell sought to clarify his remarks, saying that he has “consistently pointed to the record-high turnout for all voters in the 2020 election, including African Americans.”

Warnock is the obvious face of the Democratic cause, not because of his skin color but because his tight election victory in 2020 — along with an even tighter win by his colleague, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. — gave the party its Senate majority, and because Warnock must face Georgia voters again this November, now under new election rules signed into law by the state’s Republican governor.

Indeed, in an evenly divided Senate where the net loss of a single seat would cost Democrats control, Warnock is perhaps the most endangered Democrat, and the party’s cause célèbre.

“Rev. Warnock is the moral authority and conscience on this issue by virtue of his background, his election and his extraordinary rhetorical capabilities,” said Marc Elias, the party’s top election lawyer. “He speaks for so many people, and articulates what so many people feel in their hearts about the importance of voting rights.”

Last year, at least 19 states passed 34 laws restricting access to voting, according to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, but in the Senate on Wednesday, Georgia’s law was front and center.

Scott fiercely defended the law — “supposedly the poster child of voter suppression” — as actually expanding access to the ballot, saying Democrats were distorting its effects to inject race into the voting rights fight when their real aim was political power.

He leaned in hard to his biography, which included a grandfather he escorted to the polls because he could not read, to burnish his credentials as he laid into the Democrats’ case for a far-reaching rewrite of election laws that have traditionally been the purview of state and local governments.

Speaking for “Americans from the Deep South who happen to look like me,” the conservative Republican recounted the Jim Crow era that his grandfather had lived through, when literacy tests, job losses, beatings and lynchings kept Black Southerners from the polls. The Georgia law is nothing like the “Jim Crow 2.0” that President Joe Biden and other Democrats have called it, he said.

“To have a conversation and a narrative that is blatantly false is offensive, not just to me or Southern Americans but offensive to millions of Americans who fought, bled and died for the right to vote,” Scott said.

That brought a sharp response from Booker. “Don’t lecture me about Jim Crow,” he said, adding, “It is 2022 and they are blatantly removing more polling places from the counties where Blacks and Latinos are overrepresented. I’m not making that up. That is a fact.”

But it was Warnock who brought to the debate the names of his own constituents: a woman who has not been able to vote for a decade because of long lines and constantly moving polling places; a student who could not vote for him in 2020 because the epic waits near her college would have made her miss class; another who waited eight hours in the rain to cast her ballot.

“One part of being a first of any kind is thinking, ‘How do I educate people?’” said Minyon Moore, who was a political director in the Clinton White House and a senior aide to Hillary Clinton. “I see that as a badge of honor, not a burden, and I know that Sens. Warnock and Booker do too. They have a responsibility to educate and explain. If they don’t do it, who will?”

Warnock, too, brandished his biography, which included growing up in the Kayton Homes housing project in Savannah, Georgia, the youngest of 12 children. His mother picked cotton in Waycross, Georgia, as a child, he said, and “the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton helped pick her youngest son as a United States senator” in 2021.

It was difficult enough when he beat the incumbent Republican, Kelly Loeffler, by about 93,000 votes with a huge minority turnout; this November will be worse with the state’s new law, he said.

Georgia’s legislators “have decided to punish their own citizens for having the audacity to show up,” Warnock said, adding, “Those are the fact of the laws that are being passed in Georgia and across the nation.”

Democrats have been wowed by such rhetorical performances, but the senator’s first year in electoral politics has yielded little in the way of victories. The voting rights push that he has framed as a moral imperative has been blocked. Another effort, to secure health care for the working poor in states like Georgia that have refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, got a boost when it was included in the Build Back Better Act that passed the House. But that, too, has been stymied in the Senate.

He was blunt Wednesday, when he said during the voting rights debate that he believed in bipartisanship, but then asked, “Bipartisanship at what cost?”

“Raphael Warnock feels that he went up there with this idea he can work with anyone,” said Jason Carter, a grandson of former President Jimmy Carter who was the Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia in 2014 and speaks regularly to Warnock. “There may come a time where he throws up his hands and says we can’t get anything done. I haven’t heard the frustration boiling over yet.”

The Senate has only three Black members, a paltry number that is unrepresentative of the country, so when the chamber took up a voting rights bill this week aimed at preventing the disenfranchisement of voters of color, Sens.

The Senate has only three Black members, a paltry number that is unrepresentative of the country, so when the chamber took up a voting rights bill this week aimed at preventing the disenfranchisement of voters of color, Sens. Cory Booker, Tim Scott and Raphael Warnock played an outsized role in the debate. During a more than 10-hour discourse Wednesday that highlighted the Senate’s striking lack of diversity, the three men brought vastly different perspectives to an issue that each said had affected them in deeply personal ways, with the two Democrats — Warnock of Georgia and Booker of New Jersey — serving as self-described witnesses to Republican-engineered voter suppression, and Scott, R-S.C., countering that the real threat to democracy was coming from the left. The protracted proceedings underscored how heavily the white leaders of both parties lean on the few Black members of their rank-and-file when issues of race arise. When Vice President Kamala Harris, a former senator from California who was the first Black woman to serve in that post, briefly presided over the debate Wednesday night, nearly half of the 11 African Americans who have ever served in the Senate were present at once. But it also showed the power of representation and biography in a debate over policy. The moral force that the three senators could marshal to their causes was clear. The back-and-forth between Scott, the son of a struggling single mother in working-class North Charleston, South Carolina, and Booker, a former Rhodes Scholar and big-city mayor, provided a striking moment, as they fought over the meaning of Jim Crow in the present day. Scott used the elections of all three Black men — but especially himself and Warnock — to back up his case that America is a nation of expanding democratic opportunity, not voter suppression and inequity. “It’s hard to deny progress when two of the three come from the Southern states which people say are the places where African American votes are being suppressed,” he said. Warnock, who ministers from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the pulpit from which Martin Luther King Jr. preached, closed the debate with an appeal to every senator. “Let the message go out: You cannot honor Martin Luther King and work to dismantle his legacy at the same time,” Warnock said Wednesday night, two days after King’s holiday, when virtually every senator of every political stripe produced an obligatory tribute to the slain civil rights leader. “I will not sit quietly while some make Dr. King the victim of identity theft.” The groundbreaking positions of the men, no doubt, are at least part of the reason they were thrust onto center stage. Scott was the first Black senator from the South since Reconstruction. Warnock is the first African American to represent Georgia in the Senate and the first Black Democrat to be elected to the Senate by a former state of the Confederacy. Booker is his state’s first Black senator. Donna Brazile, a Black Democratic strategist who headed Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, recalled watching Wednesday’s debate and “thinking, ‘I thank God we have in 2022 three Black members of the United States Senate, regardless of party affiliation,’ because they all spoke uniquely from their own experiences of the journey of Black Americans.” But it can be a bit overwhelming, said Carol Moseley Braun, who was the first Black woman to serve in the Senate and the only Black person in the entire chamber when she served. “If it had to do with women, I got trotted out. If it had to do with Black people, I got trotted out,” she recalled in an interview Thursday. “I couldn’t win.” In the end, no amount of pressure from Warnock could sway a single Republican to back the voting rights and election protection bill, or persuade the two balking Democrats, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, to support weakening the filibuster to advance it over GOP opposition. Nor could Scott save his party from the fallout of defending voting restrictions passed by Republican legislatures that Democrats say are intended to disenfranchise minority voters. The South Carolina senator’s ardent defense of Georgia’s new voting law may have been lost amid the repercussions from a faux pas uttered Wednesday by Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. Asked about protests from voters of color over new restrictions, McConnell said, “The concern is misplaced because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.” Critics interpreted the comment as implying that either Black voters are not wholly American, or that the top Senate Republican considered “American” synonymous with white. In a statement provided to The New York Times on Thursday, McConnell sought to clarify his remarks, saying that he has “consistently pointed to the record-high turnout for all voters in the 2020 election, including African Americans.” Warnock is the obvious face of the Democratic cause, not because of his skin color but because his tight election victory in 2020 — along with an even tighter win by his colleague, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. — gave the party its Senate majority, and because Warnock must face Georgia voters again this November, now under new election rules signed into law by the state’s Republican governor. Indeed, in an evenly divided Senate where the net loss of a single seat would cost Democrats control, Warnock is perhaps the most endangered Democrat, and the party’s cause célèbre. “Rev. Warnock is the moral authority and conscience on this issue by virtue of his background, his election and his extraordinary rhetorical capabilities,” said Marc Elias, the party’s top election lawyer. “He speaks for so many people, and articulates what so many people feel in their hearts about the importance of voting rights.” Last year, at least 19 states passed 34 laws restricting access to voting, according to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, but in the Senate on Wednesday, Georgia’s law was front and center. Scott fiercely defended the law — “supposedly the poster child of voter suppression” — as actually expanding access to the ballot, saying Democrats were distorting its effects to inject race into the voting rights fight when their real aim was political power. He leaned in hard to his biography, which included a grandfather he escorted to the polls because he could not read, to burnish his credentials as he laid into the Democrats’ case for a far-reaching rewrite of election laws that have traditionally been the purview of state and local governments. Speaking for “Americans from the Deep South who happen to look like me,” the conservative Republican recounted the Jim Crow era that his grandfather had lived through, when literacy tests, job losses, beatings and lynchings kept Black Southerners from the polls. The Georgia law is nothing like the “Jim Crow 2.0” that President Joe Biden and other Democrats have called it, he said. “To have a conversation and a narrative that is blatantly false is offensive, not just to me or Southern Americans but offensive to millions of Americans who fought, bled and died for the right to vote,” Scott said. That brought a sharp response from Booker. “Don’t lecture me about Jim Crow,” he said, adding, “It is 2022 and they are blatantly removing more polling places from the counties where Blacks and Latinos are overrepresented. I’m not making that up. That is a fact.” But it was Warnock who brought to the debate the names of his own constituents: a woman who has not been able to vote for a decade because of long lines and constantly moving polling places; a student who could not vote for him in 2020 because the epic waits near her college would have made her miss class; another who waited eight hours in the rain to cast her ballot. “One part of being a first of any kind is thinking, ‘How do I educate people?’” said Minyon Moore, who was a political director in the Clinton White House and a senior aide to Hillary Clinton. “I see that as a badge of honor, not a burden, and I know that Sens. Warnock and Booker do too. They have a responsibility to educate and explain. If they don’t do it, who will?” Warnock, too, brandished his biography, which included growing up in the Kayton Homes housing project in Savannah, Georgia, the youngest of 12 children. His mother picked cotton in Waycross, Georgia, as a child, he said, and “the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton helped pick her youngest son as a United States senator” in 2021. It was difficult enough when he beat the incumbent Republican, Kelly Loeffler, by about 93,000 votes with a huge minority turnout; this November will be worse with the state’s new law, he said. Georgia’s legislators “have decided to punish their own citizens for having the audacity to show up,” Warnock said, adding, “Those are the fact of the laws that are being passed in Georgia and across the nation.” Democrats have been wowed by such rhetorical performances, but the senator’s first year in electoral politics has yielded little in the way of victories. The voting rights push that he has framed as a moral imperative has been blocked. Another effort, to secure health care for the working poor in states like Georgia that have refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, got a boost when it was included in the Build Back Better Act that passed the House. But that, too, has been stymied in the Senate. He was blunt Wednesday, when he said during the voting rights debate that he believed in bipartisanship, but then asked, “Bipartisanship at what cost?” “Raphael Warnock feels that he went up there with this idea he can work with anyone,” said Jason Carter, a grandson of former President Jimmy Carter who was the Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia in 2014 and speaks regularly to Warnock. “There may come a time where he throws up his hands and says we can’t get anything done. I haven’t heard the frustration boiling over yet.”

'I will not sit quietly': 3 Black senators in spotlight on voting rights

The American president Joe Biden has predicted that Russia will make a move on Ukraine however badness said that Putin may not want a full-blown conflict. The US president has warned that Russia would pay very dearly in case of a full-blown invasion.

Ukraine crisis: 'Putin might make a move on Ukraine,' Biden warns of 'disaster for Russia'

Here are some of the top stories to start your day: Amid Russia and Ukraine tensions at the border, US President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin "has to do something" while adding that his "guess is he will move in".

Here are some of the top stories to start your day: Amid Russia and Ukraine tensions at the border, US President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin "has to do something" while adding that his "guess is he will move in". Also, watch the declassified videos from a botched US drone attack that killed 10 civilians in Afghanistan in August, in the final days before American troops withdrew from the country. Click on headlines to read the full report: 'Severe costs': My guess is he will move in, says Biden on Putin's Ukraine invasion plan As Russia and Ukraine tensions at the border continue, US President Joe Biden said Putin "has to do something" while adding that "my guess is he will move in". "What I'm concerned about is this could get out of hand, very easily get out of hand because of the borders of Ukraine and what Russia may or may not do," the US president said. Tsunami-hit Tonga to receive humanitarian aid as airport reopens Tsunami-hit Tonga to receive aid after humanitarian flights finally made their way to the Pacific nation, which has been cut off from the rest of the world after a massive undersea volcanic eruption. Aircraft from Australia and New Zealand will arrive in Tonga on Thursday carrying much-needed humanitarian supplies. Satellite photos show Russian troops deployed near Ukraine border Joe Biden predicted that Russian Putin's decision on whether Russia will move into Ukraine will depend 'on which side of the bed he gets up on.' Tennis star Novak Djokovic has majority stake in biotech firm developing COVID-19 drug Novak Djokovic, a tennis star from Serbia and currently the world number one is also a co-founder and majority shareholder of a biotech firm developing a coronavirus (COVID-19) treatment, CEO of the Danish company said on Wednesday (January 19). WATCH | Afghanistan evacuation: Declassified footage of Kabul drone attack released by the US ×

Morning news brief: Biden on Russia-Ukraine tensions, Tonga to receive humanitarian aid and more

US President Joe Biden predicted on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a military move into Ukraine and warned President Vladimir Putin that his country would pay a dearly price for a full-blown invasion.

US President Joe Biden predicts Russia would make a move on Ukraine

A British Pakistani took hostages in America's Texas this weekend. The terrorist was the brother of "Lady Al-Qaeda" - a woman who is serving an 86-year-long jail term in the US. Is Britain the new laboratory for radical Islam? Palki Sharma brings you a report.

Gravitas: United Kingdom: A new launchpad for terror attacks?

Just a few months ago at an international summit in Rome, President Joe Biden privately told Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy that when it came to showing that democracies can function well, “You are doing it.” For good measure, he added, according to a person in the room, the Italian had a “hell of a political operation.”

Since taking office last February, Draghi has stabilized Italy’s volatile politics, made populism unfashionable, and assured international markets with long-sought overhauls and tough coronavirus measures. He has turned a nation whose political chaos has often prompted derision into a leader on the European stage and imbued Italians with a renewed sense of pride and steadiness.

But suddenly Italians are facing the prospect that Draghi — formerly the president of the European Central Bank and widely credited with saving the euro — could exit as prime minister. Starting Jan. 24, Italian lawmakers vote for a new seven-year president, an influential but often ceremonial role that Draghi is widely understood to covet.

If he were to become president, his backers say, the political parties could clear the way for a new technocratic government or join forces again in another national unity government that could last until new elections in 2023. Draghi’s steadying influence as president, some hope, could extend a golden age of unusually unified Italian politics even far beyond that.

But the uncertainly around Draghi’s future has already unleashed pent-up political machinations and ambitions, pushing Italy back toward a dangerous, if familiar, precipice of instability. Members of Parliament and many Italians fear a mess that could lead to a significantly less effective administration or even a stumble into early elections, which almost no one wants.

Political chaos could derail Italy’s best chance in generations for more far-reaching and modernizing overhauls and jeopardize billions in European recovery funds contingent on the country’s continued competence.

“It would be a shame if we miss this opportunity” by losing Draghi’s leadership when key overhauls are being put in place and Italy has a chance to become a leader in Europe, said Vittorio Colao, Italy’s minister for technological innovation and digital transition who is a former chief executive of the telecoms group Vodafone and a close ally of Draghi.

Draghi took power as a caretaker prime minister amid a political crisis in February 2021, when he was chosen by the current president, Sergio Mattarella. What has made his time in office most opportune is the European Union’s agreement to extend Italy more than 200 billion euros (about $228 billion) in recovery funds — a pool of money that has the potential to amplify Draghi’s reform agenda and make it the most transformative in generations.

Italy must still meet stringent requirements for Brussels to release billions in future tranches. In June, for instance, Italy needs to show that its programs are still on track to receive a tranche of 24 billion euros from Brussels in the following months.

Having that money in the hands of Draghi has reassured global markets and European Union leaders and given Italy its best shot at modernization in decades.

Colao said the EU-funded overhauls will be a “permanent fixture of the Italian system until 2026.” But when asked if the government could move forward without Draghi, he said, “Completely without, or with him in another role, is the question.” No Draghi at all, he said, would be a “bad scenario.”

Supporters of Draghi note that a figure of his stature — and the connections he has with foreign leaders and the media attention he commands — could make the presidency more muscular.

Though an often-ceremonial position, the role is also imbued with enormous powers, especially in political crises — allowing the president to select prime ministers and the government, deny mandates to weak coalitions and dissolve Parliament.

But while some worry about diminishing his potential successor by essentially crowning Draghi king, others are more concerned about removing him from the levers of power and negotiations at the European level when there is so much money on the table.

Draghi would become the first sitting prime minister to make the leap to the presidency. Since he was called on by Mattarella to lead the government, the world has come to admire his management of the pandemic and Italy’s turnaround.

Still, Draghi’s national unity government has increasingly shown cracks, such as during the recent passage of judicial changes and the introduction this month of his government’s vaccination mandate for Italians 50 and older.

His supporters argue that all the political jostling for the presidency shows that his government is fast-approaching its expiration date anyway and that the country would be better served by seven years of Draghi, ideally with a replacement from among the technocrats in his government to extend the Draghi effect.

“Instead of seven more months, the golden period would continue for another seven years,” said Claudio Cerasa, editor of the newspaper Il Foglio, who has been a booster of Draghi. “Prime ministers come and go but the president is for keeps.”

Colao, who many believe has his own designs on replacing Draghi as prime minister, added that Draghi “really thinks strategically in a long term — but he has a very, very pragmatic approach to the short term.”

But Draghi’s election to the presidency is by no means assured. To the contrary, depending on the day, it appears likely or a long shot as a barrage of candidates, including former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, have come out of the woodwork.

The secrecy, and self-interested nature, of the vote makes it ripe for influence peddling. In recent days, opening gambits took the form of government-collapsing ultimatums, with Berlusconi saying that he would pull his party out of government if Draghi became president.

Secret negotiations between the nationalist League, led by Matteo Salvini, and the center-left Democratic Party, are already underway, with the aim of avoiding new elections, possibly by keeping Draghi as prime minister of a government consisting of political leaders rather than technocrats.

Many, though perhaps not Draghi, are hoping that after sufficient votes fail to materialize for presidential hopefuls in opening ballots, a reluctant Mattarella, 80, can be persuaded by a broad alliance to serve another term, or at least to stick around for a couple more years and leave a new term early.

In theory, that would allow Draghi to defer his dream job until after the vital recovery fund programs have been put in place. But a year or two is an eternity in constantly evolving Italian politics.

Draghi, no political neophyte, has added his own pressure, asking the political parties if it was at all imaginable for a government that splinters on the choice of a president — be it him or anyone else — to “come back together magically” to run the country.

But even Draghi has not been untarnished by the political sniping. His backers say that he has become a more politically cautious broker between the bickering parties than their firm leader. In his most recent news conference, the prime minister sounded defensive, insisting that he was the one really making decisions. His honeymoon period seems to have ended.

“There is a lot of noise in the system because of this presidential race,” Colao said, nevertheless acknowledging that political pressure had “on the margins” increased the urgency of getting modernizing projects into the pipeline.

It may end up being the instinct for self-preservation that decides Draghi’s fate.

In a 2019 referendum, Italy decided that the next legislature would have more than one-third fewer seats. The largest bloc in the current Parliament is still dominated by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which has imploded since coming to power. Many members are desperate for the legislature to continue so that they can keep their jobs.

And if snap elections are called before September, members of Parliament in their first terms — many of them first-time politicians loath to return to low-paying jobs — would also lose their right to lucrative pensions.

As a result, they are strongly interested in a president who would ensure more time in office. Berlusconi has promised not to allow elections until 2023.

But for Italy’s prosperity, Draghi’s supporters argue that he needs to stay on center stage, one way or another.

“I am convinced,” Colao said, “that the orchestra and the director have indicated that there is a different way of approaching things.”

Just a few months ago at an international summit in Rome, President Joe Biden privately told Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy that when it came to showing that democracies can function well, “You are doing it.

Just a few months ago at an international summit in Rome, President Joe Biden privately told Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy that when it came to showing that democracies can function well, “You are doing it.” For good measure, he added, according to a person in the room, the Italian had a “hell of a political operation.” Since taking office last February, Draghi has stabilized Italy’s volatile politics, made populism unfashionable, and assured international markets with long-sought overhauls and tough coronavirus measures. He has turned a nation whose political chaos has often prompted derision into a leader on the European stage and imbued Italians with a renewed sense of pride and steadiness. But suddenly Italians are facing the prospect that Draghi — formerly the president of the European Central Bank and widely credited with saving the euro — could exit as prime minister. Starting Jan. 24, Italian lawmakers vote for a new seven-year president, an influential but often ceremonial role that Draghi is widely understood to covet. If he were to become president, his backers say, the political parties could clear the way for a new technocratic government or join forces again in another national unity government that could last until new elections in 2023. Draghi’s steadying influence as president, some hope, could extend a golden age of unusually unified Italian politics even far beyond that. But the uncertainly around Draghi’s future has already unleashed pent-up political machinations and ambitions, pushing Italy back toward a dangerous, if familiar, precipice of instability. Members of Parliament and many Italians fear a mess that could lead to a significantly less effective administration or even a stumble into early elections, which almost no one wants. Political chaos could derail Italy’s best chance in generations for more far-reaching and modernizing overhauls and jeopardize billions in European recovery funds contingent on the country’s continued competence. “It would be a shame if we miss this opportunity” by losing Draghi’s leadership when key overhauls are being put in place and Italy has a chance to become a leader in Europe, said Vittorio Colao, Italy’s minister for technological innovation and digital transition who is a former chief executive of the telecoms group Vodafone and a close ally of Draghi. Draghi took power as a caretaker prime minister amid a political crisis in February 2021, when he was chosen by the current president, Sergio Mattarella. What has made his time in office most opportune is the European Union’s agreement to extend Italy more than 200 billion euros (about $228 billion) in recovery funds — a pool of money that has the potential to amplify Draghi’s reform agenda and make it the most transformative in generations. Italy must still meet stringent requirements for Brussels to release billions in future tranches. In June, for instance, Italy needs to show that its programs are still on track to receive a tranche of 24 billion euros from Brussels in the following months. Having that money in the hands of Draghi has reassured global markets and European Union leaders and given Italy its best shot at modernization in decades. Colao said the EU-funded overhauls will be a “permanent fixture of the Italian system until 2026.” But when asked if the government could move forward without Draghi, he said, “Completely without, or with him in another role, is the question.” No Draghi at all, he said, would be a “bad scenario.” Supporters of Draghi note that a figure of his stature — and the connections he has with foreign leaders and the media attention he commands — could make the presidency more muscular. Though an often-ceremonial position, the role is also imbued with enormous powers, especially in political crises — allowing the president to select prime ministers and the government, deny mandates to weak coalitions and dissolve Parliament. But while some worry about diminishing his potential successor by essentially crowning Draghi king, others are more concerned about removing him from the levers of power and negotiations at the European level when there is so much money on the table. Draghi would become the first sitting prime minister to make the leap to the presidency. Since he was called on by Mattarella to lead the government, the world has come to admire his management of the pandemic and Italy’s turnaround. Still, Draghi’s national unity government has increasingly shown cracks, such as during the recent passage of judicial changes and the introduction this month of his government’s vaccination mandate for Italians 50 and older. His supporters argue that all the political jostling for the presidency shows that his government is fast-approaching its expiration date anyway and that the country would be better served by seven years of Draghi, ideally with a replacement from among the technocrats in his government to extend the Draghi effect. “Instead of seven more months, the golden period would continue for another seven years,” said Claudio Cerasa, editor of the newspaper Il Foglio, who has been a booster of Draghi. “Prime ministers come and go but the president is for keeps.” Colao, who many believe has his own designs on replacing Draghi as prime minister, added that Draghi “really thinks strategically in a long term — but he has a very, very pragmatic approach to the short term.” But Draghi’s election to the presidency is by no means assured. To the contrary, depending on the day, it appears likely or a long shot as a barrage of candidates, including former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, have come out of the woodwork. The secrecy, and self-interested nature, of the vote makes it ripe for influence peddling. In recent days, opening gambits took the form of government-collapsing ultimatums, with Berlusconi saying that he would pull his party out of government if Draghi became president. Secret negotiations between the nationalist League, led by Matteo Salvini, and the center-left Democratic Party, are already underway, with the aim of avoiding new elections, possibly by keeping Draghi as prime minister of a government consisting of political leaders rather than technocrats. Many, though perhaps not Draghi, are hoping that after sufficient votes fail to materialize for presidential hopefuls in opening ballots, a reluctant Mattarella, 80, can be persuaded by a broad alliance to serve another term, or at least to stick around for a couple more years and leave a new term early. In theory, that would allow Draghi to defer his dream job until after the vital recovery fund programs have been put in place. But a year or two is an eternity in constantly evolving Italian politics. Draghi, no political neophyte, has added his own pressure, asking the political parties if it was at all imaginable for a government that splinters on the choice of a president — be it him or anyone else — to “come back together magically” to run the country. But even Draghi has not been untarnished by the political sniping. His backers say that he has become a more politically cautious broker between the bickering parties than their firm leader. In his most recent news conference, the prime minister sounded defensive, insisting that he was the one really making decisions. His honeymoon period seems to have ended. “There is a lot of noise in the system because of this presidential race,” Colao said, nevertheless acknowledging that political pressure had “on the margins” increased the urgency of getting modernizing projects into the pipeline. It may end up being the instinct for self-preservation that decides Draghi’s fate. In a 2019 referendum, Italy decided that the next legislature would have more than one-third fewer seats. The largest bloc in the current Parliament is still dominated by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which has imploded since coming to power. Many members are desperate for the legislature to continue so that they can keep their jobs. And if snap elections are called before September, members of Parliament in their first terms — many of them first-time politicians loath to return to low-paying jobs — would also lose their right to lucrative pensions. As a result, they are strongly interested in a president who would ensure more time in office. Berlusconi has promised not to allow elections until 2023. But for Italy’s prosperity, Draghi’s supporters argue that he needs to stay on center stage, one way or another. “I am convinced,” Colao said, “that the orchestra and the director have indicated that there is a different way of approaching things.”

Italy ponders a new role for Draghi. Let the politicking begin.

The man who died after holding four people hostage at a Texas synagogue was identified by the FBI as a 44-year-old British citizen named Malik Faisal Akram. US President Joe Biden has called this incident an “act of terror”.

FBI identifies Texas hostage-taker as British citizen named Malik Faisal Akram

In a crowd-pleasing speech in Arizona on Saturday (January 15), former United States President Donald Trump reiterated unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential elections were stolen from him.&nbsp;

In front of thousands of supporters who were waving flags written 'Trump 2020' and 'Trump 2024', the Republic leader&nbsp;said, "We are done having our lives controlled by politicians in Washington. We are done with the mandates."

He added, "The radical Democrats want to turn the United States into a communist country. We won those elections. We won them big. We can't let them get away with it."&nbsp;

"If an election were held today, we would trounce them so badly in a landslide in every way, just as we really did on Nov. 3. We trounced them. If we had an honest press, the election would have been much different," Trump added.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/hostage-crisis-at-us-synagogue-ends-everyone-out-alive-safe-445112">Hostage crisis at US synagogue ends: Everyone out alive, safe</a>

During the rally, other speakers had kept to similar themes as they slammed US President Joe Biden as "weak" and "deranged."

They included Kari Lake, whom Trump has endorsed for governor of Arizona in this year's race. She has previously said she would not have certified Biden's victory if she had been in office at the time.

Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, who has spent millions of dollars trying to overturn the election, with a focus on the machines used to count ballots, told the crowd he was not going to give up.

"And I will promise you this, there's not gonna be any election with any machines or computers done in 2022," he said.&nbsp;

During the rally, Trump walked out on a popular song of a former WWE professional wrestler known as The Undertaker.&nbsp;

Watch:

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Undertaker Theme at the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TrumpRally?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TrumpRally</a>💀 <a href="https://t.co/IXk87N3hWo">pic.twitter.com/IXk87N3hWo</a>
— (AD) Deo Non Fortuna (@_labour_first) <a href="https://twitter.com/_labour_first/status/1482537731586674692?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2022</a></blockquote>
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WATCH |&nbsp;Republican party threatens to boycott tradition of participating in the US presidential debates

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&nbsp;

In a crowd-pleasing speech in Arizona on Saturday (January 15), former United States President Donald Trump reiterated unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential elections were stolen from him.

In a crowd-pleasing speech in Arizona on Saturday (January 15), former United States President Donald Trump reiterated unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential elections were stolen from him. In front of thousands of supporters who were waving flags written 'Trump 2020' and 'Trump 2024', the Republic leader said, "We are done having our lives controlled by politicians in Washington. We are done with the mandates." He added, "The radical Democrats want to turn the United States into a communist country. We won those elections. We won them big. We can't let them get away with it." "If an election were held today, we would trounce them so badly in a landslide in every way, just as we really did on Nov. 3. We trounced them. If we had an honest press, the election would have been much different," Trump added. ALSO READ | Hostage crisis at US synagogue ends: Everyone out alive, safe During the rally, other speakers had kept to similar themes as they slammed US President Joe Biden as "weak" and "deranged." They included Kari Lake, whom Trump has endorsed for governor of Arizona in this year's race. She has previously said she would not have certified Biden's victory if she had been in office at the time. Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, who has spent millions of dollars trying to overturn the election, with a focus on the machines used to count ballots, told the crowd he was not going to give up. "And I will promise you this, there's not gonna be any election with any machines or computers done in 2022," he said. During the rally, Trump walked out on a popular song of a former WWE professional wrestler known as The Undertaker. Watch: Undertaker Theme at the #TrumpRally💀 pic.twitter.com/IXk87N3hWo — (AD) Deo Non Fortuna (@_labour_first) January 16, 2022 × WATCH | Republican party threatens to boycott tradition of participating in the US presidential debates ×

Donald Trump reiterates claims that 2020 US presidential election was stolen

With the White House legislative agenda in shambles less than a year before the midterm elections, Democrats are sounding alarms that their party could face even deeper losses than anticipated without a major shift in strategy led by the president.

The frustrations span the spectrum from those of the party’s liberal wing, which feels deflated by the failure to enact a bold agenda, to the concerns of moderates, who are worried about losing suburban swing voters and had believed Democratic victories would usher a return to normalcy after last year’s upheaval.

Democrats already anticipated a difficult midterm climate, given that the party in power historically loses seats during a president’s first term. But the party’s struggle to act on its biggest legislative priorities has rattled lawmakers and strategists, who fear their candidates will be left combating the perception that Democrats failed to deliver on President Joe Biden’s central campaign promise of rebooting a broken Washington.

“I think millions of Americans have become very demoralized — they’re asking, what do the Democrats stand for?” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent in charge of the Senate Budget Committee. In a lengthy interview, he added, “Clearly, the current strategy is failing, and we need a major course correction.”

Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from a blue-collar Ohio district who is running for the state’s open Senate seat, said his party isn’t addressing voter anxieties about school closures, the pandemic and economic security. He faulted the Biden administration, not just for failing to pass its domestic agenda but also for a lack of clear public health guidance around issues such as masking and testing.

“It seems like the Democrats can’t get out of their own way,” he said. “The Democrats have got to do a better job of being clear on what they’re trying to do.”

The complaints capped one of the worst weeks of the Biden presidency, with the White House facing the looming failure of voting rights legislation, the defeat of their vaccine-or-testing mandate for large employers at the Supreme Court, inflation rising to a 40-year high and friction with Russia over aggression toward Ukraine. Meanwhile, Biden’s top domestic priority — a sprawling $2.2 trillion spending, climate and tax policy plan — remains stalled, not just because of Republicans but also opposition from a centrist Democrat.

“I’m sure they’re frustrated — I am,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, when asked this week about the chamber’s inability to act on Biden’s agenda. Discussing the impact on voters before the midterm elections, he added, “It depends on who they blame for it.”

The end of the week provided another painful marker for Democrats: Friday was the first time since July that millions of U.S. families with children did not receive a monthly child benefit, a payment established as part of the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan that Democrats muscled through in March without any Republican support.

Plans to extend the expiration date for the payments, which helped keep millions of children out of poverty, were stymied with the collapse of negotiations over the sprawling domestic policy plan. And additional pandemic-related provisions will expire before the end of the year without congressional action.

“That’s just about as straightforward as it gets,” said Ryan. “If the Democrats can’t get on with a tax cut for working families, what are we for?”

In recent days, Biden has faced a wave of rising anger from traditional party supporters. Members of some civil rights groups boycotted his voting rights speech in Atlanta to express their disappointment with his push on the issue, while others, including Stacey Abrams, who is running for governor in Georgia, were noticeably absent. Biden vowed to make a new forceful push for voting right protections, only to see it fizzle the next day.

And last week, six of Biden’s former public health advisers went public with their criticisms of his handling of the pandemic, calling on the White House to adopt a strategy geared to the “new normal” of living with the virus indefinitely. Others have called for the firing of Jeffrey Zients, who leads the White House pandemic response team.

“There does not seem to be an appreciation for the urgency of the moment,” said Tré Easton, a senior adviser for Battle Born Collective, a progressive group that is pushing for overturning the filibuster to enable Democrats to pass a series of their priorities. “It’s sort of, ‘OK, what comes next?’ Is there something that’s going to happen where voters can say, yes, my life is appreciatively more stable than it was two years ago.”

White House officials and Democrats insist that their agenda is far from dead and that discussions continue with key lawmakers to pass the bulk of Biden’s domestic plans. Talks over an omnibus package to keep the government open beyond Feb. 18 have quietly resumed, and states are beginning to receive funds from the $1 trillion infrastructure law.

“I guess the truth is an agenda doesn’t wrap up in one year,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

While there’s widespread agreement around the electoral peril that the party faces, there’s little consensus over who, exactly, is to blame. Liberals have been particularly scathing in their critique of two centrist senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and their long-standing objections to undermining the Senate filibuster, as well as Manchin’s decision to abruptly reject the $2.2 trillion spending plan last month. For months, Democratic lawmakers, activists and officials have been raising concerns about sinking support among crucial segments of the party’s coalition — Black, female, young and Latino voters — ratings many worry could drop further without action on issues like voting rights, climate change, abortion rights and paid family leave.

“In my view, we are not going to win the elections in 2022 unless our base is energized and ordinary people understand what we are fighting for, and how we are different than the Republicans,” Sanders said. “That’s not the case now.”

But many in the party concede that the realities of their narrow congressional majorities and united Republican opposition have blocked their ability to pass much of their agenda. Some have faulted party leaders for catering to progressives’ ambitions, without the votes to execute.

“Leadership set out with a failed strategy, and while I guess, maybe they can message that they tried, it actually isn’t going to yield real laws,” said Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a Florida centrist, who is retiring but has signaled aspirations for a future Senate run.

Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat from rural Illinois, said Democrats should consider less ambitious bills that could draw some Republican support to give the party accomplishments it can claim in the midterm elections.

“We really kind of need to reset at this point,” said Bustos, who is retiring from a district that swung to Donald Trump in 2020. “I hope we focus on what we can get done and then focus like crazy on selling it.”

Biden effectively staked his presidency on the belief that voters would reward his party for steering the country out of a deadly pandemic and into economic prosperity. But even after a year that produced record job growth, widely available vaccines and stock market highs, Biden has not begun to deliver a message of success nor focused on promoting his legislative victories.

Many Democrats say they need to do more to sell their accomplishments or risk watching the midterms go the way of the off-year elections, when many in the party were surprised by the intensity of the backlash against them in races in Virginia, New Jersey and New York.

“We need to get into the business of promotion and selling and out of the business of moaning and groaning,” said Bradley Beychok, president of American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic group.

Others say that as president, Biden has fallen out of step with many voters by focusing on issues like climate change and voting rights. While crucial for the country, those topics aren’t topping the list of concerns for many voters still trying to navigate the uncertainties of a pandemic stretching into a third year.

“The administration is focused on things that are important but not particularly salient to voters and sometimes as president you have to do that,” said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a moderate Democratic think tank. “Now, we need to begin to move back to talking about the things that people do care about."

With the White House legislative agenda in shambles less than a year before the midterm elections, Democrats are sounding alarms that their party could face even deeper losses than anticipated without a major shift in strategy led by the president.

With the White House legislative agenda in shambles less than a year before the midterm elections, Democrats are sounding alarms that their party could face even deeper losses than anticipated without a major shift in strategy led by the president. The frustrations span the spectrum from those of the party’s liberal wing, which feels deflated by the failure to enact a bold agenda, to the concerns of moderates, who are worried about losing suburban swing voters and had believed Democratic victories would usher a return to normalcy after last year’s upheaval. Democrats already anticipated a difficult midterm climate, given that the party in power historically loses seats during a president’s first term. But the party’s struggle to act on its biggest legislative priorities has rattled lawmakers and strategists, who fear their candidates will be left combating the perception that Democrats failed to deliver on President Joe Biden’s central campaign promise of rebooting a broken Washington. “I think millions of Americans have become very demoralized — they’re asking, what do the Democrats stand for?” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent in charge of the Senate Budget Committee. In a lengthy interview, he added, “Clearly, the current strategy is failing, and we need a major course correction.” Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from a blue-collar Ohio district who is running for the state’s open Senate seat, said his party isn’t addressing voter anxieties about school closures, the pandemic and economic security. He faulted the Biden administration, not just for failing to pass its domestic agenda but also for a lack of clear public health guidance around issues such as masking and testing. “It seems like the Democrats can’t get out of their own way,” he said. “The Democrats have got to do a better job of being clear on what they’re trying to do.” The complaints capped one of the worst weeks of the Biden presidency, with the White House facing the looming failure of voting rights legislation, the defeat of their vaccine-or-testing mandate for large employers at the Supreme Court, inflation rising to a 40-year high and friction with Russia over aggression toward Ukraine. Meanwhile, Biden’s top domestic priority — a sprawling $2.2 trillion spending, climate and tax policy plan — remains stalled, not just because of Republicans but also opposition from a centrist Democrat. “I’m sure they’re frustrated — I am,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, when asked this week about the chamber’s inability to act on Biden’s agenda. Discussing the impact on voters before the midterm elections, he added, “It depends on who they blame for it.” The end of the week provided another painful marker for Democrats: Friday was the first time since July that millions of U.S. families with children did not receive a monthly child benefit, a payment established as part of the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan that Democrats muscled through in March without any Republican support. Plans to extend the expiration date for the payments, which helped keep millions of children out of poverty, were stymied with the collapse of negotiations over the sprawling domestic policy plan. And additional pandemic-related provisions will expire before the end of the year without congressional action. “That’s just about as straightforward as it gets,” said Ryan. “If the Democrats can’t get on with a tax cut for working families, what are we for?” In recent days, Biden has faced a wave of rising anger from traditional party supporters. Members of some civil rights groups boycotted his voting rights speech in Atlanta to express their disappointment with his push on the issue, while others, including Stacey Abrams, who is running for governor in Georgia, were noticeably absent. Biden vowed to make a new forceful push for voting right protections, only to see it fizzle the next day. And last week, six of Biden’s former public health advisers went public with their criticisms of his handling of the pandemic, calling on the White House to adopt a strategy geared to the “new normal” of living with the virus indefinitely. Others have called for the firing of Jeffrey Zients, who leads the White House pandemic response team. “There does not seem to be an appreciation for the urgency of the moment,” said Tré Easton, a senior adviser for Battle Born Collective, a progressive group that is pushing for overturning the filibuster to enable Democrats to pass a series of their priorities. “It’s sort of, ‘OK, what comes next?’ Is there something that’s going to happen where voters can say, yes, my life is appreciatively more stable than it was two years ago.” White House officials and Democrats insist that their agenda is far from dead and that discussions continue with key lawmakers to pass the bulk of Biden’s domestic plans. Talks over an omnibus package to keep the government open beyond Feb. 18 have quietly resumed, and states are beginning to receive funds from the $1 trillion infrastructure law. “I guess the truth is an agenda doesn’t wrap up in one year,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. While there’s widespread agreement around the electoral peril that the party faces, there’s little consensus over who, exactly, is to blame. Liberals have been particularly scathing in their critique of two centrist senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and their long-standing objections to undermining the Senate filibuster, as well as Manchin’s decision to abruptly reject the $2.2 trillion spending plan last month. For months, Democratic lawmakers, activists and officials have been raising concerns about sinking support among crucial segments of the party’s coalition — Black, female, young and Latino voters — ratings many worry could drop further without action on issues like voting rights, climate change, abortion rights and paid family leave. “In my view, we are not going to win the elections in 2022 unless our base is energized and ordinary people understand what we are fighting for, and how we are different than the Republicans,” Sanders said. “That’s not the case now.” But many in the party concede that the realities of their narrow congressional majorities and united Republican opposition have blocked their ability to pass much of their agenda. Some have faulted party leaders for catering to progressives’ ambitions, without the votes to execute. “Leadership set out with a failed strategy, and while I guess, maybe they can message that they tried, it actually isn’t going to yield real laws,” said Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a Florida centrist, who is retiring but has signaled aspirations for a future Senate run. Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat from rural Illinois, said Democrats should consider less ambitious bills that could draw some Republican support to give the party accomplishments it can claim in the midterm elections. “We really kind of need to reset at this point,” said Bustos, who is retiring from a district that swung to Donald Trump in 2020. “I hope we focus on what we can get done and then focus like crazy on selling it.” Biden effectively staked his presidency on the belief that voters would reward his party for steering the country out of a deadly pandemic and into economic prosperity. But even after a year that produced record job growth, widely available vaccines and stock market highs, Biden has not begun to deliver a message of success nor focused on promoting his legislative victories. Many Democrats say they need to do more to sell their accomplishments or risk watching the midterms go the way of the off-year elections, when many in the party were surprised by the intensity of the backlash against them in races in Virginia, New Jersey and New York. “We need to get into the business of promotion and selling and out of the business of moaning and groaning,” said Bradley Beychok, president of American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic group. Others say that as president, Biden has fallen out of step with many voters by focusing on issues like climate change and voting rights. While crucial for the country, those topics aren’t topping the list of concerns for many voters still trying to navigate the uncertainties of a pandemic stretching into a third year. “The administration is focused on things that are important but not particularly salient to voters and sometimes as president you have to do that,” said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a moderate Democratic think tank. “Now, we need to begin to move back to talking about the things that people do care about."

Frustrated Democrats call for 'reset' ahead of midterm elections

Ever since India has signed a $5 billion deal with Russia to purchase 5 units of S-400 air defence missile system, the White House under the Joe Biden administration has discussed the possibilities of invoking CAATSA Act against India.

Will Biden administration waive sanctions against India for buying Russian S-400?

US President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the federal government will send military medical teams to six states — New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Michigan, and New Mexico—to assist hospitals swamped by COVID-19.

The deployments were disclosed by Biden while describing new efforts the administration is making to combat an outbreak of diseases caused by the omicron variety.&nbsp;

The 120-person deployments come as hospitals struggle with staffing shortages as nurses and other medical employees become ill with omicron as a result of an increase in patients afflicted with the highly contagious form.

Since Thanksgiving, the US has deployed around 800 military and emergency workers, according to Biden.

According to the president, more than 14,000 National Guard members have been activated in 49 states to assist with the response to COVID.

According to Biden, the United States has also more than tripled its national supply of high-quality N95 masks.&nbsp; 
 
Watch | US hospitalisation witness an increase by 33% and deaths by 40%

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Pledges more tests, masks and federal medical help

The Biden administration intends to purchase 500 million more Covid tests, is working to make free masks more readily available, and will send extra federal medical teams to hospitals in six states to deal with crippling staffing shortages caused by an increase in hospitalizations.

The additional tests will be needed to meet future demand, according to President Joe Biden, and come on top of the 500 million fast at-home tests that the US is in the process of collecting to mail to Americans for free.

He said a website to obtain one of the free at-home tests would go live next week.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

US President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the federal government will send military medical teams to six states — New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Michigan, and New Mexico—to assist hospitals swamped by COVID-19.

US President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the federal government will send military medical teams to six states — New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, Michigan, and New Mexico—to assist hospitals swamped by COVID-19. The deployments were disclosed by Biden while describing new efforts the administration is making to combat an outbreak of diseases caused by the omicron variety. The 120-person deployments come as hospitals struggle with staffing shortages as nurses and other medical employees become ill with omicron as a result of an increase in patients afflicted with the highly contagious form. Since Thanksgiving, the US has deployed around 800 military and emergency workers, according to Biden. According to the president, more than 14,000 National Guard members have been activated in 49 states to assist with the response to COVID. According to Biden, the United States has also more than tripled its national supply of high-quality N95 masks. Watch | US hospitalisation witness an increase by 33% and deaths by 40% Pledges more tests, masks and federal medical help The Biden administration intends to purchase 500 million more Covid tests, is working to make free masks more readily available, and will send extra federal medical teams to hospitals in six states to deal with crippling staffing shortages caused by an increase in hospitalizations. The additional tests will be needed to meet future demand, according to President Joe Biden, and come on top of the 500 million fast at-home tests that the US is in the process of collecting to mail to Americans for free. He said a website to obtain one of the free at-home tests would go live next week. (With inputs from agencies)

Biden deploys military medical teams to hospitals in six states

President Joe Biden will endorse changing Senate rules to pass new voting rights protections during a speech in Atlanta on Tuesday, the most significant step he will have taken to pressure lawmakers to act on an issue he has called the biggest test of America’s democracy since the Civil War.

Biden will not go so far as to call for full-scale elimination of the filibuster, a Senate tradition that allows the minority party to kill legislation that fails to garner 60 votes, according to a senior administration official who previewed the speech. But Biden will say he supports a filibuster “carve-out” in the case of voting rights, the official said.

Citing “repeated obstruction” by Republicans, Biden will endorse changing the Senate rules, the official said. The president will contend that the filibuster has protected “extreme attacks on the most basic constitutional right.”

“The next few days, when these bills come to a vote, will mark a turning point in this nation,” Biden will say Tuesday, according to a preview of his remarks provided by the White House. “Will we choose democracy over autocracy, light over shadow, justice over injustice? I know where I stand.”

Biden’s visit to Georgia is intended to invigorate a Democratic-led effort to pass new voting rights protections in the 50-50 Senate in the coming days, although chances are slim that he will be able to rally the necessary votes. And even with his new call for a filibuster carve-out, changing the Senate rules would require the support of all 50 Democrats and the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris to break a tie. Sens. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both Democrats, have expressed strong public opposition to changing filibuster rules.

The president is taking a gamble by elevating an issue that he may not be able to deliver on. But having exhausted his political capital on other efforts, including a bipartisan infrastructure deal and a stalled social spending plan, he faces mounting frustration from allies who say he has not done enough as restrictive voting measures pass through Republican-led statehouses around the country. Biden’s advisers have promised that he will be forceful about his support for two voting rights bills that could beat back those efforts.

One bill introduced by Democrats, the Freedom to Vote Act, would, among other provisions, take the teeth out of state-led efforts to restrict mail-in or absentee voting, make Election Day a holiday, and stop state legislators from redrawing districts in a way that advocates say denies representation to minority voters. Another, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, would restore crucial anti-discrimination components of the Voting Rights Act that were stripped away by the Supreme Court in 2013.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, acknowledged that expectations around the speech were high.

“He wouldn’t be going to Georgia tomorrow if he wasn’t ready and prepared to elevate this issue and continue to fight for it,” she told reporters Monday.

But the president’s advisers have been far less specific about what solutions he might offer, and a bipartisan path forward is all but impossible. Biden, who spent 36 years in the Senate and sees himself as a consensus builder, has faced resistance from Republicans on voting rights legislation.

Last week, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, said Republicans could have until Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to drop their opposition to debate and votes on the issue, or face the prospect of overhauling filibuster rules.

Many Democrats say such a carve-out would apply only to issues grounded in constitutional rights such as voting. But Republicans and others say it would inevitably be extended to other legislation, diminishing the overall power of the filibuster.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., promised a scorched-earth response should Democrats go that route.

“Since Senator Schumer is hellbent on trying to break the Senate, Republicans will show how this reckless action would have immediate consequences,” McConnell said in a statement Monday.

Republicans have argued that Democrats are using the voting rights legislation to try to gain partisan advantage by seeking to impose their preferred rules on states that have long regulated their own elections. But activists say that critique ignores glaring examples of voter suppression. Voting rights groups in Georgia have already filed a federal lawsuit that accuses legislators of redrawing a congressional district to benefit Republican candidates and deny representation to Black voters.

On Tuesday, Biden will lean on the power of symbolism when he travels to Georgia. He and Harris will visit the crypt of Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King. They will visit the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where both King and Lewis, the Georgia congressman and civil rights icon for whom the legislation is named, were eulogized. Sen. Raphael Warnock, the state's first Black senator and a Democrat who is seeking a full term this year after a runoff victory, is a senior pastor there.

In the afternoon, Biden and Harris will speak at the Atlanta University Center Consortium, a consortium of four historically Black colleges and universities. On Monday evening, the vice president’s office said that Harris, whom Biden had asked to lead on voting rights, “will reaffirm that securing the right to vote is essential to safeguarding and strengthening our democracy” in her remarks.

Georgia, a state Biden won by only 11,779 votes, has also seen some of the most sweeping attempts by Republicans to assert partisan power in elections, particularly through restricting mail-in, absentee or early voting. Critics say similar laws have spread around the country in response to false claims by former President Donald Trump and his supporters that the 2020 election was rigged.

Last week, observing the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Biden denounced those theories: “You can’t be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.”

Some prominent activists are offering tempered support before the president’s speech, angered by what they said was a lack of attention as state-level restrictions go into effect.

Rep. Terri A. Sewell, D-Ala., who in August introduced the bill named for Lewis, said that she was “pretty clear” what her expectations were before she agreed to travel to Atlanta with Biden and Harris. She said she had been assured that the president would not only talk about the need for voting rights, but outline a plan for getting it done that would embrace a change of Senate rules.

“It was Georgia voters that gave him the presidency and gave us the slim majority that we have in the Senate,” Sewell said. “I know that he knows that we may have to walk this alone.”

Others are declining to attend. Stacey Abrams, the voting rights advocate and Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia, will not be able to attend the speech because of a conflict, an aide to Abrams said. The person declined to elaborate on the conflict.

One prominent family will attend. Martin Luther King III, the oldest living son of the civil rights leader, and his wife, Arndrea Waters King, will meet with Biden in Atlanta. King said that he would meet with the president and tell him that his visit to Georgia could not be just a formality.

“We’ve seen what’s possible when President Biden uses the full weight of his office to deliver for bridges,” King said in a statement. “And now we need to see him do the same for voting rights.” 
&nbsp;

President Joe Biden will endorse changing Senate rules to pass new voting rights protections during a speech in Atlanta on Tuesday, the most significant step he will have taken to pressure lawmakers to act on an issue he has called the biggest test of America’s democracy since the Civil War.

President Joe Biden will endorse changing Senate rules to pass new voting rights protections during a speech in Atlanta on Tuesday, the most significant step he will have taken to pressure lawmakers to act on an issue he has called the biggest test of America’s democracy since the Civil War. Biden will not go so far as to call for full-scale elimination of the filibuster, a Senate tradition that allows the minority party to kill legislation that fails to garner 60 votes, according to a senior administration official who previewed the speech. But Biden will say he supports a filibuster “carve-out” in the case of voting rights, the official said. Citing “repeated obstruction” by Republicans, Biden will endorse changing the Senate rules, the official said. The president will contend that the filibuster has protected “extreme attacks on the most basic constitutional right.” “The next few days, when these bills come to a vote, will mark a turning point in this nation,” Biden will say Tuesday, according to a preview of his remarks provided by the White House. “Will we choose democracy over autocracy, light over shadow, justice over injustice? I know where I stand.” Biden’s visit to Georgia is intended to invigorate a Democratic-led effort to pass new voting rights protections in the 50-50 Senate in the coming days, although chances are slim that he will be able to rally the necessary votes. And even with his new call for a filibuster carve-out, changing the Senate rules would require the support of all 50 Democrats and the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris to break a tie. Sens. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both Democrats, have expressed strong public opposition to changing filibuster rules. The president is taking a gamble by elevating an issue that he may not be able to deliver on. But having exhausted his political capital on other efforts, including a bipartisan infrastructure deal and a stalled social spending plan, he faces mounting frustration from allies who say he has not done enough as restrictive voting measures pass through Republican-led statehouses around the country. Biden’s advisers have promised that he will be forceful about his support for two voting rights bills that could beat back those efforts. One bill introduced by Democrats, the Freedom to Vote Act, would, among other provisions, take the teeth out of state-led efforts to restrict mail-in or absentee voting, make Election Day a holiday, and stop state legislators from redrawing districts in a way that advocates say denies representation to minority voters. Another, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, would restore crucial anti-discrimination components of the Voting Rights Act that were stripped away by the Supreme Court in 2013. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, acknowledged that expectations around the speech were high. “He wouldn’t be going to Georgia tomorrow if he wasn’t ready and prepared to elevate this issue and continue to fight for it,” she told reporters Monday. But the president’s advisers have been far less specific about what solutions he might offer, and a bipartisan path forward is all but impossible. Biden, who spent 36 years in the Senate and sees himself as a consensus builder, has faced resistance from Republicans on voting rights legislation. Last week, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, said Republicans could have until Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to drop their opposition to debate and votes on the issue, or face the prospect of overhauling filibuster rules. Many Democrats say such a carve-out would apply only to issues grounded in constitutional rights such as voting. But Republicans and others say it would inevitably be extended to other legislation, diminishing the overall power of the filibuster. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., promised a scorched-earth response should Democrats go that route. “Since Senator Schumer is hellbent on trying to break the Senate, Republicans will show how this reckless action would have immediate consequences,” McConnell said in a statement Monday. Republicans have argued that Democrats are using the voting rights legislation to try to gain partisan advantage by seeking to impose their preferred rules on states that have long regulated their own elections. But activists say that critique ignores glaring examples of voter suppression. Voting rights groups in Georgia have already filed a federal lawsuit that accuses legislators of redrawing a congressional district to benefit Republican candidates and deny representation to Black voters. On Tuesday, Biden will lean on the power of symbolism when he travels to Georgia. He and Harris will visit the crypt of Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King. They will visit the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where both King and Lewis, the Georgia congressman and civil rights icon for whom the legislation is named, were eulogized. Sen. Raphael Warnock, the state's first Black senator and a Democrat who is seeking a full term this year after a runoff victory, is a senior pastor there. In the afternoon, Biden and Harris will speak at the Atlanta University Center Consortium, a consortium of four historically Black colleges and universities. On Monday evening, the vice president’s office said that Harris, whom Biden had asked to lead on voting rights, “will reaffirm that securing the right to vote is essential to safeguarding and strengthening our democracy” in her remarks. Georgia, a state Biden won by only 11,779 votes, has also seen some of the most sweeping attempts by Republicans to assert partisan power in elections, particularly through restricting mail-in, absentee or early voting. Critics say similar laws have spread around the country in response to false claims by former President Donald Trump and his supporters that the 2020 election was rigged. Last week, observing the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Biden denounced those theories: “You can’t be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.” Some prominent activists are offering tempered support before the president’s speech, angered by what they said was a lack of attention as state-level restrictions go into effect. Rep. Terri A. Sewell, D-Ala., who in August introduced the bill named for Lewis, said that she was “pretty clear” what her expectations were before she agreed to travel to Atlanta with Biden and Harris. She said she had been assured that the president would not only talk about the need for voting rights, but outline a plan for getting it done that would embrace a change of Senate rules. “It was Georgia voters that gave him the presidency and gave us the slim majority that we have in the Senate,” Sewell said. “I know that he knows that we may have to walk this alone.” Others are declining to attend. Stacey Abrams, the voting rights advocate and Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia, will not be able to attend the speech because of a conflict, an aide to Abrams said. The person declined to elaborate on the conflict. One prominent family will attend. Martin Luther King III, the oldest living son of the civil rights leader, and his wife, Arndrea Waters King, will meet with Biden in Atlanta. King said that he would meet with the president and tell him that his visit to Georgia could not be just a formality. “We’ve seen what’s possible when President Biden uses the full weight of his office to deliver for bridges,” King said in a statement. “And now we need to see him do the same for voting rights.”

Biden will endorse changing Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation

From torture to deeply contentious political issue: Guantanamo Bay completes 20 years

Slew of disputes between former Cold War adversaries US and Russia

Last year on January 6, a year after the mob of hundreds of angry supporters of former United States President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in Washington DC, with an intention to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.&nbsp;

During the attack, the rioters vandalised property, assaulted some of the lawmakers and they even occupied the building for several hours. Many were injured and at least five people died either shortly before, during or following the incident.&nbsp;

Ever since the incident, one of the major questions that have been raised is: was there any lapse in internal security, did the intelligence agencies fail to anticipate the extent of destruction the attacks might cause.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-ready-to-talk-missiles-and-military-exercises-in-ukraine-with-russia-official-443265">US ready to talk missiles and military exercises in Ukraine with Russia: Official</a>

Last year <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/majority-media/peters-portman-klobuchar-blunt-release-bipartisan-report-investigating-january-6th-capitol-attack">a Senate probe</a> into the incident uncovered a "number of intelligence and security failures" leading up to and on the day violence erupted on Jan 6.

As per the 95-page report, warnings of the potential attack at the Capitol weren't issued by intelligence officers, including the FBI. The police officers were unprepared to deal with rioters.

The report, which was published by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Rules committees, had stated that the police's intelligence unit "knew about social media posts" that were circulated ahead of the attack. The posts mentioned violence at the Capitol including a plot to breach the building.

The report also highlighted other delays, and now a latest report by The Associated Press reiterates the same thing as it states the police agency for days underestimated the prospect of chaotic violence and disruptions and the intelligence reports show how.

As per the media report, those documents also obtained by AP, warned that crowds could number in thousands and include members of extremist groups like the Proud Boys.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden accused his predecessor Trump Thursday of attempting to block the democratic transfer of power on January 6, 2021 after losing the presidential election.

"For the first time in our history, a president not just lost an election; he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol," Biden said in a speech marking the first anniversary of the attack on the US Congress.

"This wasn't a group of tourists. This was an armed insurrection," he said.

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(With inputs from agencies)

Last year on January 6, a year after the mob of hundreds of angry supporters of former United States President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in Washington DC, with an intention to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Last year on January 6, a year after the mob of hundreds of angry supporters of former United States President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in Washington DC, with an intention to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. During the attack, the rioters vandalised property, assaulted some of the lawmakers and they even occupied the building for several hours. Many were injured and at least five people died either shortly before, during or following the incident. Ever since the incident, one of the major questions that have been raised is: was there any lapse in internal security, did the intelligence agencies fail to anticipate the extent of destruction the attacks might cause. ALSO READ | US ready to talk missiles and military exercises in Ukraine with Russia: Official Last year a Senate probe into the incident uncovered a "number of intelligence and security failures" leading up to and on the day violence erupted on Jan 6. As per the 95-page report, warnings of the potential attack at the Capitol weren't issued by intelligence officers, including the FBI. The police officers were unprepared to deal with rioters. The report, which was published by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Rules committees, had stated that the police's intelligence unit "knew about social media posts" that were circulated ahead of the attack. The posts mentioned violence at the Capitol including a plot to breach the building. The report also highlighted other delays, and now a latest report by The Associated Press reiterates the same thing as it states the police agency for days underestimated the prospect of chaotic violence and disruptions and the intelligence reports show how. As per the media report, those documents also obtained by AP, warned that crowds could number in thousands and include members of extremist groups like the Proud Boys. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden accused his predecessor Trump Thursday of attempting to block the democratic transfer of power on January 6, 2021 after losing the presidential election. "For the first time in our history, a president not just lost an election; he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol," Biden said in a speech marking the first anniversary of the attack on the US Congress. "This wasn't a group of tourists. This was an armed insurrection," he said. × (With inputs from agencies)

Did US intelligence reports fail to forecast Capitol riot?

The White House has confirmed that US President Joe Biden will deliver his first State of the Union address on March 1.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had sent the president a formal invitation to speak to Congress and the American public one year into his term.

After Biden accepted her invitation, Pelosi wrote him a letter saying ''Thank you for your bold vision and patriotic leadership which have guided America out of crisis and into an era of great progress, as we not only recover from the pandemic but Build Back Better!''

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The speech has been delayed due to the current explosion of Omicron-fueled coronavirus infections in the US is causing a breakdown in basic functions and services, the latest illustration of how COVID-19 keeps upending life more than two years into the pandemic.

This is the first time in US history that a State of the Union address or annual message will be delivered in March; for most of the past century presidents delivered their annual addresses to Congress in January or February.

The last State of the Union address was delivered by former US President Donald Trump on the eve of his acquittal by the Senate in his first impeachment trial.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-ready-to-talk-missiles-and-military-exercises-in-ukraine-with-russia-official-443265" hreflang="en">US ready to talk missiles, military exercises in Ukraine with Russia: Official</a>

Biden first addressed a joint session of Congress in April 2021, about 100 days into his time in the White House, which he used to promote twin infrastructure and domestic spending bills.

An address to Congress in the president's first year is not an official State of the Union address, and Biden's April speech bore little resemblance to one because of strict COVID-19 protocols.

It was marked by limitations on attendance, with no guests allowed, and lawmakers seated on both the floor of the House chamber and the galleries above.

March 1 also marks the start of the congressional election season as Texas will hold primary elections that day for Democrats and Republicans to choose their candidates for the Nov. 8 election.

Addresses by the president to a joint session of Congress are normally filled with pomp and circumstance, but have also become a vehicle for partisan posturing.&nbsp;

In 2020, Pelosi tore up the copy of former President Donald Trump's speech that he handed her as part of the ceremony.

In 2009 Republican Representative Joe Wilson shouted "You lie!" at Obama during a special speech to a joint session of Congress to pitch for the Obamacare healthcare bill.&nbsp;

Wilson was widely condemned for the breach of protocol by both Republicans and Democrats, and apologized publicly to the president. 
&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

The White House has confirmed that US President Joe Biden will deliver his first State of the Union address on March 1. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had sent the president a formal invitation to speak to Congress and the American public one year into his term.

The White House has confirmed that US President Joe Biden will deliver his first State of the Union address on March 1. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had sent the president a formal invitation to speak to Congress and the American public one year into his term. After Biden accepted her invitation, Pelosi wrote him a letter saying ''Thank you for your bold vision and patriotic leadership which have guided America out of crisis and into an era of great progress, as we not only recover from the pandemic but Build Back Better!'' The speech has been delayed due to the current explosion of Omicron-fueled coronavirus infections in the US is causing a breakdown in basic functions and services, the latest illustration of how COVID-19 keeps upending life more than two years into the pandemic. This is the first time in US history that a State of the Union address or annual message will be delivered in March; for most of the past century presidents delivered their annual addresses to Congress in January or February. The last State of the Union address was delivered by former US President Donald Trump on the eve of his acquittal by the Senate in his first impeachment trial. Also read | US ready to talk missiles, military exercises in Ukraine with Russia: Official Biden first addressed a joint session of Congress in April 2021, about 100 days into his time in the White House, which he used to promote twin infrastructure and domestic spending bills. An address to Congress in the president's first year is not an official State of the Union address, and Biden's April speech bore little resemblance to one because of strict COVID-19 protocols. It was marked by limitations on attendance, with no guests allowed, and lawmakers seated on both the floor of the House chamber and the galleries above. March 1 also marks the start of the congressional election season as Texas will hold primary elections that day for Democrats and Republicans to choose their candidates for the Nov. 8 election. Addresses by the president to a joint session of Congress are normally filled with pomp and circumstance, but have also become a vehicle for partisan posturing. In 2020, Pelosi tore up the copy of former President Donald Trump's speech that he handed her as part of the ceremony. In 2009 Republican Representative Joe Wilson shouted "You lie!" at Obama during a special speech to a joint session of Congress to pitch for the Obamacare healthcare bill. Wilson was widely condemned for the breach of protocol by both Republicans and Democrats, and apologized publicly to the president. (With inputs from agencies)

White House confirms Joe Biden will deliver first State of the Union address on March 1

Offering hugs and humour U.S president Joe Biden comforted Coloradans who are grappling with rebuilding homes and businesses that were destroyed last week by a rare wind-whipped winter fire that ripped through two towns in Colorado.

U.S president Joe Biden comforts Coloradans grappling with rebuilding homes, businesses

The former US President Donald Trump on Thursday fired back at President Joe Biden on the first anniversary of the Capitol riot, repeating his claim that the 2020 election is being rigged. This retaliation came after the current president attacked his predecessor labelling him as a dangerous threat to American democracy.

Trump used Biden's own language from his January 6 anniversary speech in several of his comments, accusing the veteran Democrat of a "web of lies" and asserting that the November 2020 election won by Biden was actually stolen from him.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/in-his-speech-on-the-anniversary-of-capitol-riots-biden-deems-trump-as-a-defeated-former-president-442730" hreflang="en">In his speech on the anniversary of Capitol riots, Biden deems Trump as a 'defeated former President'</a>

He alleged that it was Biden rather than himself, who prevented a "peaceful transfer" of power a year ago when Trump supporters attacked the Capitol demanding Biden's election results be overturned.

"They spread a 'web of lies' about me and Russia for four years to try to overturn the 2016 election, and now they lie about how they interfered in the 2020 election, too," Trump said.

"Never forget the crime of the 2020 Presidential Election. Never give up!"

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trumps-non-woke-social-media-app-rivalling-the-biased-big-tech-to-launch-soon-442778">Trump's 'non-woke' social media app rivalling the 'biased' big-tech to launch soon</a>

Trump's statement follows a forceful speech by Biden inside the Capitol marking the anniversary of the 2021 assault.

"The lies that drove the anger and madness we saw in this place, they have not abated," Biden said, referring to Trump's election claims.

"I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of our democracy," he said, never mentioning Trump's name directly, only referring to him as "the former president."

Nevertheless, <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Trump</a> accused <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Biden</a> of "political theater" and repeated his charge which is to date not backed up by any evidence-- that the 2020 vote count in key states like Georgia and Arizona was fraudulent, cheating him of a second term.

Watch |&nbsp;Gravitas: Capitol riots: One year on, America more polarised than ever

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Biden "used my name today to try to further divide America," Trump said.

"This political theater is all just a distraction for the fact Biden has completely and totally failed," Trump said.

"Just look at the numbers, they speak for themselves," the former president said.

"They are not justifiable, so the complicit media just calls it the Big Lie, when in actuality the Big Lie was the Election itself."

US courts, the states in question and the Justice Department have, however, repeatedly rejected Trump's claims of fraudulent voting and vote counts.

(With inputs from agencies)

The former US President Donald Trump on Thursday fired back at President Joe Biden on the first anniversary of the Capitol riot, repeating his claim that the 2020 election is being rigged.

The former US President Donald Trump on Thursday fired back at President Joe Biden on the first anniversary of the Capitol riot, repeating his claim that the 2020 election is being rigged. This retaliation came after the current president attacked his predecessor labelling him as a dangerous threat to American democracy. Trump used Biden's own language from his January 6 anniversary speech in several of his comments, accusing the veteran Democrat of a "web of lies" and asserting that the November 2020 election won by Biden was actually stolen from him. Also read | In his speech on the anniversary of Capitol riots, Biden deems Trump as a 'defeated former President' He alleged that it was Biden rather than himself, who prevented a "peaceful transfer" of power a year ago when Trump supporters attacked the Capitol demanding Biden's election results be overturned. "They spread a 'web of lies' about me and Russia for four years to try to overturn the 2016 election, and now they lie about how they interfered in the 2020 election, too," Trump said. "Never forget the crime of the 2020 Presidential Election. Never give up!" Also read | Trump's 'non-woke' social media app rivalling the 'biased' big-tech to launch soon Trump's statement follows a forceful speech by Biden inside the Capitol marking the anniversary of the 2021 assault. "The lies that drove the anger and madness we saw in this place, they have not abated," Biden said, referring to Trump's election claims. "I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of our democracy," he said, never mentioning Trump's name directly, only referring to him as "the former president." Nevertheless, Trump accused Biden of "political theater" and repeated his charge which is to date not backed up by any evidence-- that the 2020 vote count in key states like Georgia and Arizona was fraudulent, cheating him of a second term. Watch | Gravitas: Capitol riots: One year on, America more polarised than ever Biden "used my name today to try to further divide America," Trump said. "This political theater is all just a distraction for the fact Biden has completely and totally failed," Trump said. "Just look at the numbers, they speak for themselves," the former president said. "They are not justifiable, so the complicit media just calls it the Big Lie, when in actuality the Big Lie was the Election itself." US courts, the states in question and the Justice Department have, however, repeatedly rejected Trump's claims of fraudulent voting and vote counts. (With inputs from agencies)

Trump retaliates against Biden's Capitol riot anniversary speech, calls it 'political theatre'

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