The United States on Monday (April 11) said that energy imports are not banned from Russia and India is not violating any sanctions by purchasing energy from Moscow.&nbsp;

The remarks were made during a White House press briefing after US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual meeting and discussed several issues.&nbsp;

"This was a constructive call, it was a productive call. It's a relationship that is vitally important to the United States and to the president. I would not see it as an adversarial call," said the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki during Monday's news conference.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-us-22-dialogue-a-momentous-moment-in-global-affairs-470362">India-US 2+2 dialogue a 'momentous moment' in global affairs</a>

On being asked whether Biden has urged&nbsp;India to limit importing Russian energy, Psaki said, "Energy imports are not banned and they don't violate our sanctions. We certainly recognise that every country is going to take a step in their interest."&nbsp;

However, she added that Biden has told PM Modi that it was not in India's interest to increase its imports of energy from Russia. She added, "I will let Prime Minister Modi and Indians speak on that. It's only 1-2 per cent at this point in time, they export 10 per cent from the United States. It is no violation of any sanctions or anything along those lines."&nbsp;

Following Western sanctions on Russian entities in the wake of the Ukraine war, India purchased at least 13 million barrels of Russian crude oil at a discounted rate.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-desires-peace-and-stability-pm-modi-congratulates-newly-elected-pakistan-pm-shehbaz-sharif-470328">'India desires peace and stability': PM Modi congratulates newly elected Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif</a>

Psaki also mentioned other aspects related to India's response&nbsp;and the humanitarian support&nbsp;it has provided to Ukraine amid the ongoing war.

She said the US has seen India speak out more forcefully against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, particularly "as it relates to the horrific photos that we saw around Bucha".&nbsp;

"We have seen them to take steps to provide humanitarian assistance and a range of assistance, but it is something we always encourage leaders to do - to speak out, to be vocal, to ensure they are on the right side of history," she said.&nbsp;

WATCH |&nbsp;Gravitas: Ukraine invasion: What Modi told Biden

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(With inputs from agencies)

The United States on Monday (April 11) said that energy imports are not banned from Russia and India is not violating any sanctions by purchasing energy from Moscow.

The United States on Monday (April 11) said that energy imports are not banned from Russia and India is not violating any sanctions by purchasing energy from Moscow. The remarks were made during a White House press briefing after US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual meeting and discussed several issues. "This was a constructive call, it was a productive call. It's a relationship that is vitally important to the United States and to the president. I would not see it as an adversarial call," said the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki during Monday's news conference. ALSO READ | India-US 2+2 dialogue a 'momentous moment' in global affairs On being asked whether Biden has urged India to limit importing Russian energy, Psaki said, "Energy imports are not banned and they don't violate our sanctions. We certainly recognise that every country is going to take a step in their interest." However, she added that Biden has told PM Modi that it was not in India's interest to increase its imports of energy from Russia. She added, "I will let Prime Minister Modi and Indians speak on that. It's only 1-2 per cent at this point in time, they export 10 per cent from the United States. It is no violation of any sanctions or anything along those lines." Following Western sanctions on Russian entities in the wake of the Ukraine war, India purchased at least 13 million barrels of Russian crude oil at a discounted rate. ALSO READ | 'India desires peace and stability': PM Modi congratulates newly elected Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif Psaki also mentioned other aspects related to India's response and the humanitarian support it has provided to Ukraine amid the ongoing war. She said the US has seen India speak out more forcefully against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, particularly "as it relates to the horrific photos that we saw around Bucha". "We have seen them to take steps to provide humanitarian assistance and a range of assistance, but it is something we always encourage leaders to do - to speak out, to be vocal, to ensure they are on the right side of history," she said. WATCH | Gravitas: Ukraine invasion: What Modi told Biden × (With inputs from agencies)

US says India not violating any sanctions by importing Russian oil

Former President Donald Trump’s eldest son sent the White House chief of staff a text message two days after Election Day in 2020 that laid out strategies for declaring his father the winner regardless of the electoral outcome, people familiar with the exchange said Friday.

The text, which was reported earlier by CNN, was sent two days before Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election. The recipient, Mark Meadows, turned a cache of his text messages over to the House committee investigating the events leading up to the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as the Electoral College results in Biden’s favor were being certified.

“It’s very simple,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote to Meadows on Nov. 5, 2020. He wrote at another point, “We have multiple paths We control them all.”

The message went on to lay out a variety of options that the elder Trump or his allies ultimately employed in trying to overturn the results of the election, from legal challenges to promoting alternative slates of electors to focusing efforts on the statutory date of Jan. 6 for certification of the Electoral College results.

In a statement, the younger Trump’s lawyer, Alan Futerfas, confirmed that the text message was sent but suggested it was someone else’s idea that Donald Trump Jr. was passing along.

“After the election, Don received numerous messages from supporters and others,” Futerfas said. “Given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded.”

Still, the text message underscores the extraordinary lengths that the president’s allies and official aides were already exploring right after Election Day to keep him in power if the voters throughout the country failed to do so.

Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric called on Republicans to keep fighting on their father’s behalf in the immediate aftermath of Election Day, as votes were still being counted in a string of close races in battleground states like Pennsylvania and Arizona.

“The total lack of action from virtually all of the ‘2024 GOP hopefuls’ is pretty amazing,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter the day he sent the text to Meadows. “They have a perfect platform to show that they’re willing &amp;amp; able to fight but they will cower to the media mob instead. Don’t worry @realDonaldTrump will fight &amp;&nbsp;they can watch as usual!”

The House committee is investigating what led to the assault on the Capitol and the various efforts to try to thwart Biden’s victory, all of which failed. Ultimately, a mob of supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol during the certification. At least seven people died in connection with the riot.

Trump and a number of his advisers pressured Vice President Mike Pence to use his ceremonial role in the Electoral College certification to upend the process, something Pence was adamant was beyond his authority.

The text message that Donald Trump Jr. sent to Meadows acknowledged that scenario, which was championed by a lawyer advising the president, John C. Eastman. “We either have a vote WE control and WE win OR it gets kicked to Congress 6 January 2021,” the text message said.

The younger Trump also texted with Meadows during the riot, urging him to move the president to act as the violence played out. 
&nbsp;

Former President Donald Trump’s eldest son sent the White House chief of staff a text message two days after Election Day in 2020 that laid out strategies for declaring his father the winner regardless of the electoral outcome, people familiar with the exchange said Friday.

Former President Donald Trump’s eldest son sent the White House chief of staff a text message two days after Election Day in 2020 that laid out strategies for declaring his father the winner regardless of the electoral outcome, people familiar with the exchange said Friday. The text, which was reported earlier by CNN, was sent two days before Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election. The recipient, Mark Meadows, turned a cache of his text messages over to the House committee investigating the events leading up to the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as the Electoral College results in Biden’s favor were being certified. “It’s very simple,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote to Meadows on Nov. 5, 2020. He wrote at another point, “We have multiple paths We control them all.” The message went on to lay out a variety of options that the elder Trump or his allies ultimately employed in trying to overturn the results of the election, from legal challenges to promoting alternative slates of electors to focusing efforts on the statutory date of Jan. 6 for certification of the Electoral College results. In a statement, the younger Trump’s lawyer, Alan Futerfas, confirmed that the text message was sent but suggested it was someone else’s idea that Donald Trump Jr. was passing along. “After the election, Don received numerous messages from supporters and others,” Futerfas said. “Given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded.” Still, the text message underscores the extraordinary lengths that the president’s allies and official aides were already exploring right after Election Day to keep him in power if the voters throughout the country failed to do so. Donald Trump Jr. and his brother Eric called on Republicans to keep fighting on their father’s behalf in the immediate aftermath of Election Day, as votes were still being counted in a string of close races in battleground states like Pennsylvania and Arizona. “The total lack of action from virtually all of the ‘2024 GOP hopefuls’ is pretty amazing,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter the day he sent the text to Meadows. “They have a perfect platform to show that they’re willing &amp; able to fight but they will cower to the media mob instead. Don’t worry @realDonaldTrump will fight & they can watch as usual!” The House committee is investigating what led to the assault on the Capitol and the various efforts to try to thwart Biden’s victory, all of which failed. Ultimately, a mob of supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol during the certification. At least seven people died in connection with the riot. Trump and a number of his advisers pressured Vice President Mike Pence to use his ceremonial role in the Electoral College certification to upend the process, something Pence was adamant was beyond his authority. The text message that Donald Trump Jr. sent to Meadows acknowledged that scenario, which was championed by a lawyer advising the president, John C. Eastman. “We either have a vote WE control and WE win OR it gets kicked to Congress 6 January 2021,” the text message said. The younger Trump also texted with Meadows during the riot, urging him to move the president to act as the violence played out.

Text from Donald Trump Jr. set out strategies to fight election outcome

The Trump administration left office without providing the State Department with an accounting of the gifts former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials received from foreign governments in 2020, the department disclosed late Friday.

The department said that as a result, it could not fully account for the gifts officials received, the latest example to emerge in recent months of how the Trump administration’s flouting of laws and norms about the day-to-day operations of government now makes it harder to determine whether anything improper took place.

“It’s flagrant and it looks terrible,” said Richard W. Painter, the former top ethics lawyer for George W. Bush’s administration. “Either it was really stupid or really corrupt.”

Under federal law, each government department and agency is legally required to submit a list to the State Department of gifts over $415 its officials received from foreign governments. The measure is intended to ensure that foreign governments do not gain undue influence over American officials.

Departing White Houses typically provide the State Department with a list of the gifts officials receive before, or shortly after, they leave office to ensure they have followed the law.

But in the list of gifts for 2020 that the State Department released Friday, there are no gifts for any White House officials. Although the pandemic curtailed some of Trump’s travel, Trump went to Switzerland and India — where he received gifts, including a bust of Gandhi, a sculpture of Gandhi’s famous “three monkeys” metaphor and a spinning wheel. Top foreign leaders for at least a dozen countries visited the White House.

In a highly unusual disclosure, the department said that its Office of the Chief of Protocol, which was run by a Trump appointee until Jan. 20, 2021, had failed before Trump left office to ask the White House for a list of the gifts it received, and that Trump’s White House left office without providing one.

The department said it had tried to collect the information about the gifts Trump White House officials had received but had failed to come up with an accounting.

“As a result, the data required to fully compile a complete listing for 2020 is unavailable,” the State Department said in a footnote to its list of gifts government officials received that year.

A spokesman for Trump did not respond to an email seeking comment.

In February, it was revealed that classified documents and gifts from the White House had been improperly taken to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a matter federal authorities are now in the preliminary stages of investigating. Around that time, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol learned that significant chunks of time were missing from White House call records from the day of the attack.

The ethics expert, Painter, said that by failing to disclose the gifts, the Trump White House violated the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution, which makes it illegal to take gifts from foreigners without permission from Congress. But Painter said that because the emoluments clause is toothless and has no criminal or civil penalties, it is extremely difficult to hold a former official accountable.

Even before the latest disclosure, the Trump administration had a history of sloppy record keeping and poor oversight of gifts given to and received by administration officials from foreign leaders.

The State Department’s inspector general reported in November that tens of thousands of dollars in gifts given to Trump administration officials were missing. They included a 30-year-old Suntory Hibiki bottle of Japanese whisky given to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, worth $5,800, and a 22-karat gold commemorative coin valued at $560 given to another State Department official.

The inspector general also found that monogrammed commemorative pewter trays, marble trinket boxes and leather portfolios made with department funds to give to foreign leaders at the Group of 7 summit in 2020 that was canceled because of the pandemic were missing.

The New York Times reported in October that Trump administration officials had held onto white tiger and cheetah furs the Saudi government had given to the White House on a 2017 trip to the kingdom, even though the Endangered Species Act made possession of them illegal. When the furs were ultimately handed over to Interior Department, tests revealed that they were fake.

The Times also reported that government officials had questions about whether Pence’s wife, Karen Pence, wrongly took two gold-toned place card holders from the prime minister of Singapore without paying for them. The Trump administration, the Times reported, also failed to disclose that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had been given two swords and a dagger from the Saudis. A month after Trump left office, Kushner paid $47,920 for them along with three other gifts. 
&nbsp;

The Trump administration left office without providing the State Department with an accounting of the gifts former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials received from foreign governments in 2020, the department disclosed late Friday.

The Trump administration left office without providing the State Department with an accounting of the gifts former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials received from foreign governments in 2020, the department disclosed late Friday. The department said that as a result, it could not fully account for the gifts officials received, the latest example to emerge in recent months of how the Trump administration’s flouting of laws and norms about the day-to-day operations of government now makes it harder to determine whether anything improper took place. “It’s flagrant and it looks terrible,” said Richard W. Painter, the former top ethics lawyer for George W. Bush’s administration. “Either it was really stupid or really corrupt.” Under federal law, each government department and agency is legally required to submit a list to the State Department of gifts over $415 its officials received from foreign governments. The measure is intended to ensure that foreign governments do not gain undue influence over American officials. Departing White Houses typically provide the State Department with a list of the gifts officials receive before, or shortly after, they leave office to ensure they have followed the law. But in the list of gifts for 2020 that the State Department released Friday, there are no gifts for any White House officials. Although the pandemic curtailed some of Trump’s travel, Trump went to Switzerland and India — where he received gifts, including a bust of Gandhi, a sculpture of Gandhi’s famous “three monkeys” metaphor and a spinning wheel. Top foreign leaders for at least a dozen countries visited the White House. In a highly unusual disclosure, the department said that its Office of the Chief of Protocol, which was run by a Trump appointee until Jan. 20, 2021, had failed before Trump left office to ask the White House for a list of the gifts it received, and that Trump’s White House left office without providing one. The department said it had tried to collect the information about the gifts Trump White House officials had received but had failed to come up with an accounting. “As a result, the data required to fully compile a complete listing for 2020 is unavailable,” the State Department said in a footnote to its list of gifts government officials received that year. A spokesman for Trump did not respond to an email seeking comment. In February, it was revealed that classified documents and gifts from the White House had been improperly taken to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a matter federal authorities are now in the preliminary stages of investigating. Around that time, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol learned that significant chunks of time were missing from White House call records from the day of the attack. The ethics expert, Painter, said that by failing to disclose the gifts, the Trump White House violated the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution, which makes it illegal to take gifts from foreigners without permission from Congress. But Painter said that because the emoluments clause is toothless and has no criminal or civil penalties, it is extremely difficult to hold a former official accountable. Even before the latest disclosure, the Trump administration had a history of sloppy record keeping and poor oversight of gifts given to and received by administration officials from foreign leaders. The State Department’s inspector general reported in November that tens of thousands of dollars in gifts given to Trump administration officials were missing. They included a 30-year-old Suntory Hibiki bottle of Japanese whisky given to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, worth $5,800, and a 22-karat gold commemorative coin valued at $560 given to another State Department official. The inspector general also found that monogrammed commemorative pewter trays, marble trinket boxes and leather portfolios made with department funds to give to foreign leaders at the Group of 7 summit in 2020 that was canceled because of the pandemic were missing. The New York Times reported in October that Trump administration officials had held onto white tiger and cheetah furs the Saudi government had given to the White House on a 2017 trip to the kingdom, even though the Endangered Species Act made possession of them illegal. When the furs were ultimately handed over to Interior Department, tests revealed that they were fake. The Times also reported that government officials had questions about whether Pence’s wife, Karen Pence, wrongly took two gold-toned place card holders from the prime minister of Singapore without paying for them. The Trump administration, the Times reported, also failed to disclose that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, had been given two swords and a dagger from the Saudis. A month after Trump left office, Kushner paid $47,920 for them along with three other gifts.

Trump officials failed to provide accounting of foreign gifts

The White House on Wednesday (April 6) reiterated that the United States is ready to support India as another option for energy imports to counter ties with Russia.&nbsp;

Just like other countries, India has also been hit hard by rising crude values due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The conflict resulted in prices soaring, in some states, prices touched record highs.&nbsp;

In order to mitigate the rising cost of oil imports, PM Narendra Modi's government has turned to Russian barrels that are available at discounts, a move not liked by some countries like the US.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky-says-russia-hiding-thousands-killed-in-mariupol-468954">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia hiding 'thousands' killed in Mariupol</a>

Responding to the same, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference:&nbsp;"We do not think India should accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities even as, obviously, those decisions are made by individual countries."&nbsp;

She added, "And (the US is) also making clear that we stand ready to support India as in any efforts to diversify its imports and serve as a reliable supplier even as they're only importing about one to two per cent of their oil from Russia."&nbsp;

In reference to the US Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh's New Delhi visit last week, Psaki said that the US has a range of ways to "communicate and engage". Singh visited to discuss with Indian officials on the Russian sanctions.&nbsp;

ALSO&nbsp;READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/volodymyr-zelensky-impact-of-war-on-ukraines-comedian-president-and-an-unlikely-wartime-leader-468665">How Ukraine war took toll on comedian-turned unlikely war president Volodymyr Zelensky</a>

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Tune in for a briefing with Press Secretary Jen Psaki. <a href="https://t.co/q9KkGNNTM8">https://t.co/q9KkGNNTM8</a>
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She said, "We have a range of ways to communicate and engage. And obviously, sending our Deputy National Security Advisor is an example of that. But clearly, our preference would be to have a confirmed ambassador."&nbsp;

Meanwhile, on Wednesday (April 5), India's foreign minister said that the government is working to stabilise economic transactions with Russia.&nbsp;

India has also condemned the reports of killings of civilians in Ukraine and urged using diplomatic channels to defuse the situation and end the war.&nbsp;

WATCH |&nbsp;Gravitas: India condemns mass killings in Bucha

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&nbsp;

The White House on Wednesday (April 6) reiterated that the United States is ready to support India as another option for energy imports to counter ties with Russia.

The White House on Wednesday (April 6) reiterated that the United States is ready to support India as another option for energy imports to counter ties with Russia. Just like other countries, India has also been hit hard by rising crude values due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The conflict resulted in prices soaring, in some states, prices touched record highs. In order to mitigate the rising cost of oil imports, PM Narendra Modi's government has turned to Russian barrels that are available at discounts, a move not liked by some countries like the US. ALSO READ | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia hiding 'thousands' killed in Mariupol Responding to the same, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference: "We do not think India should accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities even as, obviously, those decisions are made by individual countries." She added, "And (the US is) also making clear that we stand ready to support India as in any efforts to diversify its imports and serve as a reliable supplier even as they're only importing about one to two per cent of their oil from Russia." In reference to the US Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh's New Delhi visit last week, Psaki said that the US has a range of ways to "communicate and engage". Singh visited to discuss with Indian officials on the Russian sanctions. ALSO READ | How Ukraine war took toll on comedian-turned unlikely war president Volodymyr Zelensky Tune in for a briefing with Press Secretary Jen Psaki. https://t.co/q9KkGNNTM8 — The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 6, 2022 × She said, "We have a range of ways to communicate and engage. And obviously, sending our Deputy National Security Advisor is an example of that. But clearly, our preference would be to have a confirmed ambassador." Meanwhile, on Wednesday (April 5), India's foreign minister said that the government is working to stabilise economic transactions with Russia. India has also condemned the reports of killings of civilians in Ukraine and urged using diplomatic channels to defuse the situation and end the war. WATCH | Gravitas: India condemns mass killings in Bucha ×

White House says US ready to become India's 'reliable supplier' to counter Russia dependence

Barack Obama returns to White House for the first time since departure in 2017 to celebrate the affordable care act. Obama said that after almost a century of trying Health Insurance reform becomes law in America

Barack Obama returns to White House for the first time since departure in 2017

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has said that India imports only 1-2 per cent of Russia's total energy imports.

Expressing the Biden administration's willingness to work with New Delhi, Psaki said that energy payments made by India to Russia are not sanctioned.

Psaki said that "certainly our expectation and our public and private message is, will continue to be that every country should abide by the sanctions that we have announced and that we are implementing around the world."

''We’ve been very clear that each country is going to make their own choices, even as we have made the decision and other countries have made the decision to ban energy imports."

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Meanwhile,&nbsp;US Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics Daleep Singh said that "We stand ready to help India diversify its energy resources, much like is the case for defence resources over a period of time. But there is no prohibition at present on energy imports from Russia."

"What we would not like to see is a rapid acceleration of India's imports from Russia as it relates to energy or any other exports that are currently being prohibited by us or by other aspects of the international sanctions regime."

"What Daleep did make clear to his counterparts during this visit was that we don’t believe it’s in India’s interest to accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities," Psaki said.

Washington is trying to convince India to not help Russia in the resurrection of the rouble by halting its trade with the long-term ally.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-russia-talks-amid-sanctions-moscow-offers-india-steep-discounts-on-oil-report-467379">Also read |&nbsp;India-Russia talks: Amid sanctions, Moscow offers India steep discounts on oil: Report</a>

"We would not like to see mechanisms that are designed to prop up the rouble or to undermine the dollar-based financial system, or to circumvent our financial sanctions," Singh said.

The Biden administration has highlighted that Russia's global boycott due to the invasion of Ukraine is tilting it towards China due to which Moscow will not help India during its border issues with Beijing.

"Russia is going to be the junior partner in this relationship with China," Singh said.&nbsp;

"And the more leverage that China gains over Russia, the less favourable that is for India," he added. 
&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has said that India imports only 1-2 per cent of Russia's total energy imports. Expressing the Biden administration's willingness to work with New Delhi, Psaki said that energy payments made by India to Russia are not sanctioned.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has said that India imports only 1-2 per cent of Russia's total energy imports. Expressing the Biden administration's willingness to work with New Delhi, Psaki said that energy payments made by India to Russia are not sanctioned. Psaki said that "certainly our expectation and our public and private message is, will continue to be that every country should abide by the sanctions that we have announced and that we are implementing around the world." ''We’ve been very clear that each country is going to make their own choices, even as we have made the decision and other countries have made the decision to ban energy imports." Meanwhile, US Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics Daleep Singh said that "We stand ready to help India diversify its energy resources, much like is the case for defence resources over a period of time. But there is no prohibition at present on energy imports from Russia." "What we would not like to see is a rapid acceleration of India's imports from Russia as it relates to energy or any other exports that are currently being prohibited by us or by other aspects of the international sanctions regime." "What Daleep did make clear to his counterparts during this visit was that we don’t believe it’s in India’s interest to accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities," Psaki said. Washington is trying to convince India to not help Russia in the resurrection of the rouble by halting its trade with the long-term ally. Also read | India-Russia talks: Amid sanctions, Moscow offers India steep discounts on oil: Report "We would not like to see mechanisms that are designed to prop up the rouble or to undermine the dollar-based financial system, or to circumvent our financial sanctions," Singh said. The Biden administration has highlighted that Russia's global boycott due to the invasion of Ukraine is tilting it towards China due to which Moscow will not help India during its border issues with Beijing. "Russia is going to be the junior partner in this relationship with China," Singh said. "And the more leverage that China gains over Russia, the less favourable that is for India," he added. (With inputs from agencies)

White House says India imports only 1-2% of Russia's total energy imports

Wedding bells to ring soon in the White House as the United States President and First Lady Jill Biden are all set to host a wedding reception for their granddaughter Naomi Biden later this year.&nbsp;

On Monday (April 4), Naomi tweeted: "Peter and I are endlessly grateful to my Nana and Pop for the opportunity to celebrate our wedding at the White House. We can't wait to make our commitment to one another official and for what lies ahead."&nbsp;

The news was also confirmed by the First Lady's communications director Elizabeth Alexander to CNN as the mentioned media outlet stated that the White House reception is set for November 19. However, there is no official statement yet on where the nuptial ceremony will take place.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/british-police-asks-parents-to-be-vigilant-over-menacing-cartoon-chararcter-going-viral-on-internet-468570">British police asks parents to be vigilant over menacing cartoon character going viral on internet</a>

"The president and first lady will host the wedding reception for their granddaughter Naomi Biden and her fiancee Peter Neal at the White House," Alexander tweeted.&nbsp;

"The first family, the couple, and their parents are still in the planning stages of all of the wedding festivities and look forward to announcing further details in the coming months," she added.&nbsp;

According to CNN, Neal, 24, proposed to attorney Biden, 28, near his childhood home in the fancy ski resort of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/cloning-pets-is-all-the-rage-and-it-can-cost-thousands-of-dollars-heres-how-it-works-468555">Cloning pets is all the rage, and it can cost thousands of dollars. Here's how it works</a>

Wedding bells to ring soon in the White House as the United States President and First Lady Jill Biden are all set to host a wedding reception for their granddaughter Naomi Biden later this year.

Wedding bells to ring soon in the White House as the United States President and First Lady Jill Biden are all set to host a wedding reception for their granddaughter Naomi Biden later this year. On Monday (April 4), Naomi tweeted: "Peter and I are endlessly grateful to my Nana and Pop for the opportunity to celebrate our wedding at the White House. We can't wait to make our commitment to one another official and for what lies ahead." The news was also confirmed by the First Lady's communications director Elizabeth Alexander to CNN as the mentioned media outlet stated that the White House reception is set for November 19. However, there is no official statement yet on where the nuptial ceremony will take place. ALSO READ | British police asks parents to be vigilant over menacing cartoon character going viral on internet "The president and first lady will host the wedding reception for their granddaughter Naomi Biden and her fiancee Peter Neal at the White House," Alexander tweeted. "The first family, the couple, and their parents are still in the planning stages of all of the wedding festivities and look forward to announcing further details in the coming months," she added. According to CNN, Neal, 24, proposed to attorney Biden, 28, near his childhood home in the fancy ski resort of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. ALSO READ | Cloning pets is all the rage, and it can cost thousands of dollars. Here's how it works

Bidens to host wedding reception of granddaughter Naomi in White House

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki has emerged as one of the most recognizable faces in the Joe Biden administration. As the press secretary of the executive of the federal government of the United States, Jen Psaki enjoys a prominent known cabinet post but a year into the job at the White House Jen Psaki is planning to leave her position.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki to leave White House

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki will reportedly step down from her post to join MSNBC. This news was first reported by Axios on Friday (April 1) and was later reported by several US media outlets citing sources.

As per the reports, Psaki will host her own show for MSNBC on streaming service Peacock.

NPR quoted an unnamed White House official to say that there was no confirmation from White House on this.&nbsp;

"We don't have anything to confirm about Jen's length of planned service or any consideration about future plans," said the official as quoted by NPR. "Jen is here and working hard every day on behalf of the President to get you the answers to the questions that you have, and that's where her focus is."

Jen Psaki was initially to remain White House Press Secretary for a year but her tenure was extended.

During former US president Barack Obama's tenure, Jen Psaki was White House communications director and also served as State Department spokesperson.

It is not unusual for White House press secretaries to be headhunted by media groups. During Trump years, Psaki worked at CNN as an analyst. Kayleigh McEnany, press secretary during Trump years joined Fox.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki will reportedly step down from her post to join MSNBC. This news was first reported by Axios on Friday (April 1) and was later reported by several US media outlets citing sources.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki will reportedly step down from her post to join MSNBC. This news was first reported by Axios on Friday (April 1) and was later reported by several US media outlets citing sources. As per the reports, Psaki will host her own show for MSNBC on streaming service Peacock. NPR quoted an unnamed White House official to say that there was no confirmation from White House on this. "We don't have anything to confirm about Jen's length of planned service or any consideration about future plans," said the official as quoted by NPR. "Jen is here and working hard every day on behalf of the President to get you the answers to the questions that you have, and that's where her focus is." Jen Psaki was initially to remain White House Press Secretary for a year but her tenure was extended. During former US president Barack Obama's tenure, Jen Psaki was White House communications director and also served as State Department spokesperson. It is not unusual for White House press secretaries to be headhunted by media groups. During Trump years, Psaki worked at CNN as an analyst. Kayleigh McEnany, press secretary during Trump years joined Fox.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki to quit and join media: Report

According to the New York Times, former US President Donald Trump hijacked White House staff photographer Shealah Craighead's book agreement by taking her photos and releasing them in his own book.

"Our Journey Together," which was published in December, makes Trump the first former president to try to benefit from a planned book by a White House photographer.

The official White House photographer has published a book of their most significant photos of the president under whom they served since Ronald Reagan.

According to the story, Craighead had already secured a publishing contract – including a six-figure advance – when she informed the White House about the book.

As is customary for presidents, Trump agreed to write the foreword.&nbsp;

However, her strategy began to unravel when Trump's advisors demanded a cut of the revenues for the forward and assistance in promoting the book.

Later, his team requested her to postpone the book's release so that Trump could publish his own book based on Craighead's and other White House photographers' work, for which he received a multimillion-dollar advance.

The book, which costs up to $230 a copy, sold out in its first 300,000 copies, generating a $20 million profit.

It's for sale on the Winning Team Publishing website, which Donald Trump Jr. and Republican campaign operative Sergio Gor co-founded.

"President Trump has always had an eye for beautiful and engaging curation, which came alive through the pages of his book," said Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich in a statement to the Times.

Insiders told the New York Times that Trump frequently disparaged Craighead and her photographic talents in front of visitors and other photographers.

None of the photographers featured in the 317-page book are given credit, including Craighead, whose work accounts for a significant percentage.

The acknowledgements on the last page include their names.

Trump's acts have been labelled as "shameful" and a "slap in the face" by White House insiders and photographers, but they aren't illegal.

Photographs shot by White House staff photographers during a president's tenure are in the public domain and not subject to copyright, according to federal law.&nbsp;

Craighead, who worked as a White House photographer during George W. Bush's presidency, told the New York Times that her own book had been put on hold indefinitely.

"As a neutral historical documentarian, I try to stay as apolitical as possible," she told the New York Times.

"I am able to maintain a keen observer by being impartial."

Trump came out to Craighead after his crew was interviewed for the Times report and promised to collaborate on another book in the future.

He assured her that he would be willing to write the forward this time.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

According to the New York Times, former US President Donald Trump hijacked White House staff photographer Shealah Craighead's book agreement by taking her photos and releasing them in his own book.

According to the New York Times, former US President Donald Trump hijacked White House staff photographer Shealah Craighead's book agreement by taking her photos and releasing them in his own book. "Our Journey Together," which was published in December, makes Trump the first former president to try to benefit from a planned book by a White House photographer. The official White House photographer has published a book of their most significant photos of the president under whom they served since Ronald Reagan. According to the story, Craighead had already secured a publishing contract – including a six-figure advance – when she informed the White House about the book. As is customary for presidents, Trump agreed to write the foreword. However, her strategy began to unravel when Trump's advisors demanded a cut of the revenues for the forward and assistance in promoting the book. Later, his team requested her to postpone the book's release so that Trump could publish his own book based on Craighead's and other White House photographers' work, for which he received a multimillion-dollar advance. The book, which costs up to $230 a copy, sold out in its first 300,000 copies, generating a $20 million profit. It's for sale on the Winning Team Publishing website, which Donald Trump Jr. and Republican campaign operative Sergio Gor co-founded. "President Trump has always had an eye for beautiful and engaging curation, which came alive through the pages of his book," said Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich in a statement to the Times. Insiders told the New York Times that Trump frequently disparaged Craighead and her photographic talents in front of visitors and other photographers. None of the photographers featured in the 317-page book are given credit, including Craighead, whose work accounts for a significant percentage. The acknowledgements on the last page include their names. Trump's acts have been labelled as "shameful" and a "slap in the face" by White House insiders and photographers, but they aren't illegal. Photographs shot by White House staff photographers during a president's tenure are in the public domain and not subject to copyright, according to federal law. Craighead, who worked as a White House photographer during George W. Bush's presidency, told the New York Times that her own book had been put on hold indefinitely. "As a neutral historical documentarian, I try to stay as apolitical as possible," she told the New York Times. "I am able to maintain a keen observer by being impartial." Trump came out to Craighead after his crew was interviewed for the Times report and promised to collaborate on another book in the future. He assured her that he would be willing to write the forward this time. (With inputs from agencies)

Trump tried to take profits from book of photos published by White House photographer

The White House has requested allocation of &nbsp;USD 26 billion for NASA in the year 2023. If passed, these funda will be USD 2 billion more than what NASA received in the current fiscal year.

The budget would enable NASA to fund Artemis moon landings, Earth science, address climate change, drive economic growth, and more as the agency aims to send people to Mars by 2040, NASA officials said.

"Greater than a number, statistic, or fact is what the President's budget request represents," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, in a statement.

"This budget reflects the Biden-Harris Administration's confidence in the extraordinary workforce that makes NASA the best place to work in the federal government.

"It's an investment in the businesses and universities that partner with NASA in all 50 states and the good-paying jobs they are creating. It's a signal of support for our missions in a new era of exploration and discovery," Nelson said.

As per the proposed budget, USD 7.6 billion have been allocated for deep space exploration. &nbsp;Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and person of colour on the lunar surface, deepen the US' scientific understanding of the Moon, and test technologies that will prepare for human exploration of Mars.

About $4.7 billion is for Common Exploration Systems Development to support lunar missions which includes funding for the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS). The budget's $1.5 billion for astronaut Moon landers will enable NASA to increase competition in the development of the final mode of transportation needed to take astronauts to the lunar surface.

With $2.4 billion allocated for Earth-observing satellites and related research, the budget will increase NASA's Earth science funding for climate and weather monitoring and measurement.

NASA also aims to support commercial space activities. The budget's $1.4 billion for space technology research and development will support new technologies to help the US commercial space industry grow, enhance mission capabilities, create good-paying jobs, and reduce costs.

About $970 million has been allocated for aeronautics research. This includes $500 million to reduce aviation's climate impact through efforts including a Sustainable Flight National Partnership to develop a next-generation passenger aircraft.

With $150 million for the Office of STEM Engagement for education and engagement activities, this budget would allow NASA to enhance its support for educational activities, including those that focus on historically underserved communities.

(With inputs from agencies) 
&nbsp;

The White House has requested allocation of USD 26 billion for NASA in the year 2023. If passed, these funda will be USD 2 billion more than what NASA received in the current fiscal year.

The White House has requested allocation of USD 26 billion for NASA in the year 2023. If passed, these funda will be USD 2 billion more than what NASA received in the current fiscal year. The budget would enable NASA to fund Artemis moon landings, Earth science, address climate change, drive economic growth, and more as the agency aims to send people to Mars by 2040, NASA officials said. "Greater than a number, statistic, or fact is what the President's budget request represents," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, in a statement. "This budget reflects the Biden-Harris Administration's confidence in the extraordinary workforce that makes NASA the best place to work in the federal government. "It's an investment in the businesses and universities that partner with NASA in all 50 states and the good-paying jobs they are creating. It's a signal of support for our missions in a new era of exploration and discovery," Nelson said. As per the proposed budget, USD 7.6 billion have been allocated for deep space exploration. Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and person of colour on the lunar surface, deepen the US' scientific understanding of the Moon, and test technologies that will prepare for human exploration of Mars. About $4.7 billion is for Common Exploration Systems Development to support lunar missions which includes funding for the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS). The budget's $1.5 billion for astronaut Moon landers will enable NASA to increase competition in the development of the final mode of transportation needed to take astronauts to the lunar surface. With $2.4 billion allocated for Earth-observing satellites and related research, the budget will increase NASA's Earth science funding for climate and weather monitoring and measurement. NASA also aims to support commercial space activities. The budget's $1.4 billion for space technology research and development will support new technologies to help the US commercial space industry grow, enhance mission capabilities, create good-paying jobs, and reduce costs. About $970 million has been allocated for aeronautics research. This includes $500 million to reduce aviation's climate impact through efforts including a Sustainable Flight National Partnership to develop a next-generation passenger aircraft. With $150 million for the Office of STEM Engagement for education and engagement activities, this budget would allow NASA to enhance its support for educational activities, including those that focus on historically underserved communities. (With inputs from agencies)

White House proposes budget of USD 26 billion for NASA in 2023 

US President Joe Biden's administration will include more taxes on the wealthiest Americans in its 2023 budget proposal, due to be released on Monday, US media reported Saturday.

The "Billionaire Minimum Income Tax" would require the 700 or so American households worth more than $100 million to pay at least 20 percent on their full income, the Washington Post and other US media reported, citing a&nbsp;White&nbsp;House document.

"This minimum tax would make sure that the wealthiest Americans no longer pay a tax rate lower than teachers and firefighters," said the document, cited by the Post.

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A study by the Biden administration this autumn found that 400 billionaire households paid an average of only 8.2 percent in taxes on their income between 2010 and 2018, a rate often well below that of many American households.

The tax would also target unrealized gains in the value of liquid assets, such as stocks, which are not taxed until they are sold.

The new measure, which requires congressional approval to be enacted, could raise up to $360 billion in new revenue over ten years, the document cited by the Post said.&nbsp;

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A longstanding goal of the political left, the plan could dramatically change the tax paid by US billionaires.&nbsp;

Tech titan Elon Musk would, for example, have to pay an additional $50 billion in taxes, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos some $35 billion more, according to calculations by University of California Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman, cited by the Post.

Watch |&nbsp;Joe Biden delivers remarks from Warsaw, says Putin is strangling democracy &amp; World order

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/joe-biden-delivers-remarks-from-warsaw-says-putin-is-strangling-democracy-world-order-465819/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

US President Joe Biden's administration will include more taxes on the wealthiest Americans in its 2023 budget proposal, due to be released on Monday, US media reported Saturday.

US President Joe Biden's administration will include more taxes on the wealthiest Americans in its 2023 budget proposal, due to be released on Monday, US media reported Saturday. The "Billionaire Minimum Income Tax" would require the 700 or so American households worth more than $100 million to pay at least 20 percent on their full income, the Washington Post and other US media reported, citing a White House document. "This minimum tax would make sure that the wealthiest Americans no longer pay a tax rate lower than teachers and firefighters," said the document, cited by the Post. Also read | Russian people, are not our enemy, US President Joe Biden says A study by the Biden administration this autumn found that 400 billionaire households paid an average of only 8.2 percent in taxes on their income between 2010 and 2018, a rate often well below that of many American households. The tax would also target unrealized gains in the value of liquid assets, such as stocks, which are not taxed until they are sold. The new measure, which requires congressional approval to be enacted, could raise up to $360 billion in new revenue over ten years, the document cited by the Post said. Also read | US calls for tougher UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea A longstanding goal of the political left, the plan could dramatically change the tax paid by US billionaires. Tech titan Elon Musk would, for example, have to pay an additional $50 billion in taxes, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos some $35 billion more, according to calculations by University of California Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman, cited by the Post. Watch | Joe Biden delivers remarks from Warsaw, says Putin is strangling democracy & World order

White House to propose new minimum tax on billionaires: Sources

As Russian forces concentrate their fire on cities and trapped residents in a nearly month-old invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden has added a visit in Poland to his journey to Europe this week for urgent consultations with NATO and European allies.

Biden will fly to Brussels first, then to Poland to meet with leaders, according to a statement sent by Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, on Sunday night.

In the Ukraine situation, Poland is a critical ally. 
 
Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/demoralised-russian-troops-shoot-selves-with-ukrainian-ammo-in-legs-to-avoid-fighting-say-reports-463966" hreflang="en">Demoralised? Russian troops shoot selves with Ukrainian ammo in legs to avoid fighting, say reports</a>

It is hosting thousands of American troops and has taken in more people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine — over 2 million — than any other country in the midst of Europe's worst refugee crisis in decades. 
 
Biden will head to Warsaw for a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda scheduled for Saturday. Biden will discuss how the U.S., along with its allies and partners, is responding to “the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created,” Psaki said. 
 
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Biden will meet with European leaders on Monday, ahead of his travel, to discuss the war.

According to the White House, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom are all slated to attend.

Biden has no plans to visit Ukraine, according to White House officials.

While in Poland earlier this month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken quickly went into neighbouring Ukraine to show sympathy with that country's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba.

Poland has been one of the most outspoken in its request for fellow NATO members to consider increasing their involvement in order to reduce the bloodshed. 
 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine largely has united the U.S. and NATO and European allies, as well as allies in Asia and elsewhere. The United States and European governments see Moscow’s military aggression as a threat to their security and strategic interests.

Biden and NATO have said repeatedly that while the U.S. and NATO will provide weapons and other defensive support to non-NATO member Ukraine, they are determined to avoid any escalation on behalf of Kyiv that risks a broader war with Russia.

The Pentagon on March 9 rejected a Polish proposal for providing Ukraine with MiG fighter jets via a NATO air base, saying allied efforts against the Russian invasion should focus on more useful weaponry and that the MiG transfer with a U.S. and NATO connection would run a “high risk” of escalating the war. 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

As Russian forces concentrate their fire on cities and trapped residents in a nearly month-old invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden has added a visit in Poland to his journey to Europe this week for urgent consultations with NATO and European allies.

As Russian forces concentrate their fire on cities and trapped residents in a nearly month-old invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden has added a visit in Poland to his journey to Europe this week for urgent consultations with NATO and European allies. Biden will fly to Brussels first, then to Poland to meet with leaders, according to a statement sent by Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, on Sunday night. In the Ukraine situation, Poland is a critical ally. Also Read: Demoralised? Russian troops shoot selves with Ukrainian ammo in legs to avoid fighting, say reports It is hosting thousands of American troops and has taken in more people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine — over 2 million — than any other country in the midst of Europe's worst refugee crisis in decades. Biden will head to Warsaw for a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda scheduled for Saturday. Biden will discuss how the U.S., along with its allies and partners, is responding to “the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created,” Psaki said. Also Read | Kyiv is safe: Czech zoo names newborn eastern black rhino after Ukrainian capital to show support Biden will meet with European leaders on Monday, ahead of his travel, to discuss the war. According to the White House, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom are all slated to attend. Biden has no plans to visit Ukraine, according to White House officials. While in Poland earlier this month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken quickly went into neighbouring Ukraine to show sympathy with that country's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba. Poland has been one of the most outspoken in its request for fellow NATO members to consider increasing their involvement in order to reduce the bloodshed. ALSO READ | Zelensky signs decree to combine national TV channels into one platform Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine largely has united the U.S. and NATO and European allies, as well as allies in Asia and elsewhere. The United States and European governments see Moscow’s military aggression as a threat to their security and strategic interests. Biden and NATO have said repeatedly that while the U.S. and NATO will provide weapons and other defensive support to non-NATO member Ukraine, they are determined to avoid any escalation on behalf of Kyiv that risks a broader war with Russia. The Pentagon on March 9 rejected a Polish proposal for providing Ukraine with MiG fighter jets via a NATO air base, saying allied efforts against the Russian invasion should focus on more useful weaponry and that the MiG transfer with a U.S. and NATO connection would run a “high risk” of escalating the war. (With inputs from agencies)

Ukraine-Russia conflict: US President Biden to visit Poland on Europe trip this week

In the first weeks of the first major European land war of the 21st century, the United States has sent tank-killing weapons to Ukrainian forces, but not fighter jets. It is equipping embattled Ukrainian troops with lightweight “kamikaze” attack drones, but not, at least in an obvious way, conducting an aggressive cyberwar to degrade Russia’s technological advantage.

The White House will commit no U.S. or NATO planes to the skies above Ukraine, a move U.S. officials fear could risk turning a regional war into a global conflagration, but it is providing Ukraine with missiles that could accomplish the same task of destroying Russian aircraft.

Such is the tenuous balance the Biden administration has tried to maintain as it seeks to help Ukraine lock Russia in a quagmire without inciting a broader conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary or cutting off potential paths to de-escalation.

Navigating this path has led to a tangle of decisions and sometimes tortured distinctions when it comes to what kinds of assistance Washington should provide, even as the situation on the ground evolves, pictures of dead civilians circulate around the globe, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine pleads with Congress and President Joe Biden to do more to help.

The balancing act informs every aspect of U.S. policy about the war, including the scope of the punishing sanctions imposed on the Russian economy, the granularity of the battlefield intelligence provided to Ukrainian troops, the killing power of the weapons systems coming over the border and whether, as Biden did this past week, to label President Vladimir Putin of Russia as a war criminal.

CIA officers are helping to ensure that crates of weapons are delivered into the hands of vetted Ukrainian military units, according to U.S. officials. But as of now, Biden and his staff do not see the utility of an expansive covert effort to use the spy agency to ferry in arms as the United States did in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union during the 1980s. They have judged that such a campaign would be an unnecessary provocation, in part because NATO supply lines remain open and there is a functioning government in Kyiv, Ukraine.

The new war has forced a recalculation on other fronts. In one example, U.S. officials have floated the idea of Turkey’s government providing Ukraine with the sophisticated S-400 anti-aircraft system. It is the very system, made by Russia, that U.S. officials punished Turkey — a NATO ally — for buying from Moscow several years ago. Now U.S. diplomats see a way to pull Turkey away from its dance with Russia — and give the Ukrainians one of the most powerful, long-range anti-aircraft systems in existence.

In the White House and the Pentagon, there have been active debates over which lethal weapons delivered to Ukraine meet the nuanced interpretations of what international law allows. U.S. officials acknowledge that the judgments of government lawyers are valuable only up to a point and that all that really matters is the judgment of one person: Putin.

The Russian president has his own complex calculus about when the military support to Ukraine from the United States and its NATO allies crosses the line. He has his own reasons not to escalate, given the combined power of the NATO members and his own military’s evident difficulties against Ukrainian forces. But he is also unlikely to accept defeat or a stalemate in Ukraine without further testing U.S. resolve, despite explicit public warnings from Washington against the use of chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons.

U.S. intelligence about Putin’s decision-making is maddeningly imprecise, and the West does not have a strong track record predicting what he might consider an aggression that cannot be tolerated. CIA Director William Burns told Congress this month that Putin’s views had “hardened over the years.”

The Russian threshold could also be changing by the day or even the hour. On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested that his country was prepared to raise the costs for any nation helping the Ukrainians in their struggle, declaring that all vehicles shuttling weapons into Ukraine would be considered legitimate military targets.

A Clash Over Fighter Planes

On Wednesday, the task of articulating the intricacies of the U.S.’ military policy toward Ukraine fell to a group of generals under a barrage of questions from top members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees.

Biden has made clear that he will not accede to Zelenskyy’s insistent pleas that NATO impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Clearing hostile aircraft from the skies would put the United States and its allies in combat with Russian forces. And a required step for a no-fly zone — suppressing enemy anti-aircraft weaponry — would mean attacking Russian air defense installations inside Russian territory.

But during the closed-door session, lawmakers pressed members of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff about another flashpoint: the administration’s decision not to help supply Ukraine with the MiG-29 fighter jets that Poland has offered and that Zelenskyy has said his forces desperately need.

Administration officials have said the move would be “escalatory,” and, according to people briefed on the exchanges, the lawmakers asked the generals if there was any hard intelligence that the jets might push Putin toward intensifying the conflict by treating the United States as a “co-belligerent” in the war.

Intelligence officials have, in fact, told the administration that the MiGs could trigger a Russian move against NATO. During the congressional briefing, the generals said that the main issue was the capability of a MiG-29 to threaten Russian soil.

In contrast to a Javelin anti-tank missile that has only limited range on the battlefield, a MiG-29 could fly from Kyiv to Moscow in a matter of minutes, the generals said, a capability that the Kremlin might see as a direct threat.

The same day, the White House put forth another consideration: that to be delivered to Ukraine, the MiGs would have to take off from an air base in a NATO country, possibly inviting retaliation on NATO territory by the Russians.

As a matter of international law, the provision of weaponry and intelligence to the Ukrainian army has made the United States a co-belligerent. But while Putin has made threats about launching attacks to impede the military assistance, he has not yet acted to stop it by attacking bases in neighboring countries — NATO allies — where the equipment originates.

That could change, U.S. officials said, especially if Putin thinks he is cornered or in danger of losing.

“It is a fine line the administration is still walking in every dimension of its support for Ukraine,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a former senior intelligence official who specialized in Russia and is now at the Center for a New American Security. “They are trying to figure out, how do you get right up to the line without crossing over in a way that would risk direct confrontation with Russia?”

Planes with pilots might be off the table, but armed drones are not. This past week, Biden announced that the United States would ship small Switchblade drones to Ukraine that could be used to blow up Russian armored vehicles. The single-use kamikaze drones have bladelike wings; do not require either a long runway or a complex satellite uplink; and can be controlled to dive-bomb tanks or troops, self-destructing when they explode.

Unlike the large Predator and Reaper drones used for decades in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries, the portable drones pose no threat to Russian soil. Still, the White House authorized an initial shipment of only 100 of them to Ukraine — a small batch that could be intended to see how Putin reacts to their deployment on the Ukrainian front lines. Depending on the response, hundreds or thousands more could be on the way.

The proposal for Turkey to supply Ukraine with Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft systems would also test what Putin is willing to accept from NATO — and how far a NATO ally that in recent years often appeared to be building bridges to Moscow is willing to go in reiterating its commitment to the alliance and backing Ukraine.

The idea came up when Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary of state, visited Turkey two weeks ago. Sherman declined to talk about her discussions.

A different senior U.S. official said the United States knew the proposal would anger Putin. Ukraine already uses Turkish-made drones, but Turkey is worried that providing the anti-aircraft systems could make the country a target of Russia’s wrath.

At the same time, the upside for Turkey could be substantial: It was suspended by the Trump administration from the F-35 fighter program — in which it was a buyer and a manufacturer of parts for the advanced aircraft — after its purchase of the Russian S-400s. A deal to send the anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine could open the door to reentry into the F-35 program.

The State Department declined to comment. Officials at Turkey’s embassy in Washington did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The Conflict of the Future, Delayed

The Ukraine war features tank columns and trenches, all features of Europe’s bloody conflicts of the past century. Thus far, there is little evidence that the United States — or Russia — is eager to escalate the conflict in the 21st century battleground of cyberspace.

Days before the war began, there was a flurry of cyberattacks on Ukrainian financial institutions and government ministries, including one that was found and partly neutralized by Microsoft. A European satellite system sometimes used by the Ukrainian military was also hit, knocking out service, although it is still unclear whether the Russians carried out the attack.

What has been missing thus far is a large-scale Russian cyberattack that knocks out the power grid or communications systems inside Ukraine, which for the most part continue to operate despite the withering Russian barrage of artillery and airstrikes.

Until the invasion began, U.S. Cyber Command had a unit based in Kyiv that was helping the government fend off attacks. It is now operating from a nearby NATO country. There is fragmentary evidence that the United States and its allies worked to counter some of the attacks and to prevent others from being launched. But action seems to have been limited.

Inside the Biden administration, there is a view that Putin could be choosing his moment to launch a cyberattack against the U.S. financial system in retaliation for the devastating financial sanctions imposed on his country by the United States and its allies. Unless and until that happens, the administration appears resolved not to launch a significant first strike and invite retaliation — especially given the risks to the U.S. economy and financial system if Russia were to target them.

Keeping the Temperature Down

“The water in Afghanistan must boil at the right temperature,” Pakistan’s then-president, Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, told his intelligence chief as Pakistan began supplying the mujahedeen in their grueling battle against Soviet troops in neighboring Afghanistan.

In other words, hot enough to convince the Russians that the country was not worth the struggle but not so hot as to provoke a broader war in the region.

The weapons that helped turn the tide of that conflict, shoulder-fired Stinger surface-to-air missiles, are now being unloaded from cargo planes in NATO countries and delivered to Ukrainian troops on the front lines to help keep Russia from controlling the skies.

U.S. officials are divided on how much the lessons from Cold War proxy wars, like the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan, can be applied to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Some officials say those conflicts established that the great powers could ship small arms and missiles to proxy forces without triggering a wider war.

At the same time, Ukraine is far more important to Putin than Afghanistan was to Soviet leaders.

Given Russia’s bloody history with Stinger missiles, U.S. officials have been wary of advertising their use in Ukraine. During a trip to an airfield near Ukraine’s border this month with Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reporters watched Stinger missiles being unloaded from a cargo plane but were barred from disclosing the whereabouts of the base.

Even after two senior U.S. officials told the House Armed Services Committee during a public hearing that Stinger missiles were among the munitions being sent to Ukraine, spokespeople avoided using the S-word from the lecterns at the White House and Pentagon.

Until this past week. On Wednesday, the White House released a detailed list of the weapons it was providing as part of an $800 million package of arms to Ukraine.

At the top of the list: “800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems.”

In the first weeks of the first major European land war of the 21st century, the United States has sent tank-killing weapons to Ukrainian forces, but not fighter jets.

In the first weeks of the first major European land war of the 21st century, the United States has sent tank-killing weapons to Ukrainian forces, but not fighter jets. It is equipping embattled Ukrainian troops with lightweight “kamikaze” attack drones, but not, at least in an obvious way, conducting an aggressive cyberwar to degrade Russia’s technological advantage. The White House will commit no U.S. or NATO planes to the skies above Ukraine, a move U.S. officials fear could risk turning a regional war into a global conflagration, but it is providing Ukraine with missiles that could accomplish the same task of destroying Russian aircraft. Such is the tenuous balance the Biden administration has tried to maintain as it seeks to help Ukraine lock Russia in a quagmire without inciting a broader conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary or cutting off potential paths to de-escalation. Navigating this path has led to a tangle of decisions and sometimes tortured distinctions when it comes to what kinds of assistance Washington should provide, even as the situation on the ground evolves, pictures of dead civilians circulate around the globe, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine pleads with Congress and President Joe Biden to do more to help. The balancing act informs every aspect of U.S. policy about the war, including the scope of the punishing sanctions imposed on the Russian economy, the granularity of the battlefield intelligence provided to Ukrainian troops, the killing power of the weapons systems coming over the border and whether, as Biden did this past week, to label President Vladimir Putin of Russia as a war criminal. CIA officers are helping to ensure that crates of weapons are delivered into the hands of vetted Ukrainian military units, according to U.S. officials. But as of now, Biden and his staff do not see the utility of an expansive covert effort to use the spy agency to ferry in arms as the United States did in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union during the 1980s. They have judged that such a campaign would be an unnecessary provocation, in part because NATO supply lines remain open and there is a functioning government in Kyiv, Ukraine. The new war has forced a recalculation on other fronts. In one example, U.S. officials have floated the idea of Turkey’s government providing Ukraine with the sophisticated S-400 anti-aircraft system. It is the very system, made by Russia, that U.S. officials punished Turkey — a NATO ally — for buying from Moscow several years ago. Now U.S. diplomats see a way to pull Turkey away from its dance with Russia — and give the Ukrainians one of the most powerful, long-range anti-aircraft systems in existence. In the White House and the Pentagon, there have been active debates over which lethal weapons delivered to Ukraine meet the nuanced interpretations of what international law allows. U.S. officials acknowledge that the judgments of government lawyers are valuable only up to a point and that all that really matters is the judgment of one person: Putin. The Russian president has his own complex calculus about when the military support to Ukraine from the United States and its NATO allies crosses the line. He has his own reasons not to escalate, given the combined power of the NATO members and his own military’s evident difficulties against Ukrainian forces. But he is also unlikely to accept defeat or a stalemate in Ukraine without further testing U.S. resolve, despite explicit public warnings from Washington against the use of chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons. U.S. intelligence about Putin’s decision-making is maddeningly imprecise, and the West does not have a strong track record predicting what he might consider an aggression that cannot be tolerated. CIA Director William Burns told Congress this month that Putin’s views had “hardened over the years.” The Russian threshold could also be changing by the day or even the hour. On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested that his country was prepared to raise the costs for any nation helping the Ukrainians in their struggle, declaring that all vehicles shuttling weapons into Ukraine would be considered legitimate military targets. A Clash Over Fighter Planes On Wednesday, the task of articulating the intricacies of the U.S.’ military policy toward Ukraine fell to a group of generals under a barrage of questions from top members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees. Biden has made clear that he will not accede to Zelenskyy’s insistent pleas that NATO impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Clearing hostile aircraft from the skies would put the United States and its allies in combat with Russian forces. And a required step for a no-fly zone — suppressing enemy anti-aircraft weaponry — would mean attacking Russian air defense installations inside Russian territory. But during the closed-door session, lawmakers pressed members of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff about another flashpoint: the administration’s decision not to help supply Ukraine with the MiG-29 fighter jets that Poland has offered and that Zelenskyy has said his forces desperately need. Administration officials have said the move would be “escalatory,” and, according to people briefed on the exchanges, the lawmakers asked the generals if there was any hard intelligence that the jets might push Putin toward intensifying the conflict by treating the United States as a “co-belligerent” in the war. Intelligence officials have, in fact, told the administration that the MiGs could trigger a Russian move against NATO. During the congressional briefing, the generals said that the main issue was the capability of a MiG-29 to threaten Russian soil. In contrast to a Javelin anti-tank missile that has only limited range on the battlefield, a MiG-29 could fly from Kyiv to Moscow in a matter of minutes, the generals said, a capability that the Kremlin might see as a direct threat. The same day, the White House put forth another consideration: that to be delivered to Ukraine, the MiGs would have to take off from an air base in a NATO country, possibly inviting retaliation on NATO territory by the Russians. As a matter of international law, the provision of weaponry and intelligence to the Ukrainian army has made the United States a co-belligerent. But while Putin has made threats about launching attacks to impede the military assistance, he has not yet acted to stop it by attacking bases in neighboring countries — NATO allies — where the equipment originates. That could change, U.S. officials said, especially if Putin thinks he is cornered or in danger of losing. “It is a fine line the administration is still walking in every dimension of its support for Ukraine,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a former senior intelligence official who specialized in Russia and is now at the Center for a New American Security. “They are trying to figure out, how do you get right up to the line without crossing over in a way that would risk direct confrontation with Russia?” Planes with pilots might be off the table, but armed drones are not. This past week, Biden announced that the United States would ship small Switchblade drones to Ukraine that could be used to blow up Russian armored vehicles. The single-use kamikaze drones have bladelike wings; do not require either a long runway or a complex satellite uplink; and can be controlled to dive-bomb tanks or troops, self-destructing when they explode. Unlike the large Predator and Reaper drones used for decades in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries, the portable drones pose no threat to Russian soil. Still, the White House authorized an initial shipment of only 100 of them to Ukraine — a small batch that could be intended to see how Putin reacts to their deployment on the Ukrainian front lines. Depending on the response, hundreds or thousands more could be on the way. The proposal for Turkey to supply Ukraine with Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft systems would also test what Putin is willing to accept from NATO — and how far a NATO ally that in recent years often appeared to be building bridges to Moscow is willing to go in reiterating its commitment to the alliance and backing Ukraine. The idea came up when Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary of state, visited Turkey two weeks ago. Sherman declined to talk about her discussions. A different senior U.S. official said the United States knew the proposal would anger Putin. Ukraine already uses Turkish-made drones, but Turkey is worried that providing the anti-aircraft systems could make the country a target of Russia’s wrath. At the same time, the upside for Turkey could be substantial: It was suspended by the Trump administration from the F-35 fighter program — in which it was a buyer and a manufacturer of parts for the advanced aircraft — after its purchase of the Russian S-400s. A deal to send the anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine could open the door to reentry into the F-35 program. The State Department declined to comment. Officials at Turkey’s embassy in Washington did not respond to messages seeking comment. The Conflict of the Future, Delayed The Ukraine war features tank columns and trenches, all features of Europe’s bloody conflicts of the past century. Thus far, there is little evidence that the United States — or Russia — is eager to escalate the conflict in the 21st century battleground of cyberspace. Days before the war began, there was a flurry of cyberattacks on Ukrainian financial institutions and government ministries, including one that was found and partly neutralized by Microsoft. A European satellite system sometimes used by the Ukrainian military was also hit, knocking out service, although it is still unclear whether the Russians carried out the attack. What has been missing thus far is a large-scale Russian cyberattack that knocks out the power grid or communications systems inside Ukraine, which for the most part continue to operate despite the withering Russian barrage of artillery and airstrikes. Until the invasion began, U.S. Cyber Command had a unit based in Kyiv that was helping the government fend off attacks. It is now operating from a nearby NATO country. There is fragmentary evidence that the United States and its allies worked to counter some of the attacks and to prevent others from being launched. But action seems to have been limited. Inside the Biden administration, there is a view that Putin could be choosing his moment to launch a cyberattack against the U.S. financial system in retaliation for the devastating financial sanctions imposed on his country by the United States and its allies. Unless and until that happens, the administration appears resolved not to launch a significant first strike and invite retaliation — especially given the risks to the U.S. economy and financial system if Russia were to target them. Keeping the Temperature Down “The water in Afghanistan must boil at the right temperature,” Pakistan’s then-president, Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, told his intelligence chief as Pakistan began supplying the mujahedeen in their grueling battle against Soviet troops in neighboring Afghanistan. In other words, hot enough to convince the Russians that the country was not worth the struggle but not so hot as to provoke a broader war in the region. The weapons that helped turn the tide of that conflict, shoulder-fired Stinger surface-to-air missiles, are now being unloaded from cargo planes in NATO countries and delivered to Ukrainian troops on the front lines to help keep Russia from controlling the skies. U.S. officials are divided on how much the lessons from Cold War proxy wars, like the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan, can be applied to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Some officials say those conflicts established that the great powers could ship small arms and missiles to proxy forces without triggering a wider war. At the same time, Ukraine is far more important to Putin than Afghanistan was to Soviet leaders. Given Russia’s bloody history with Stinger missiles, U.S. officials have been wary of advertising their use in Ukraine. During a trip to an airfield near Ukraine’s border this month with Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reporters watched Stinger missiles being unloaded from a cargo plane but were barred from disclosing the whereabouts of the base. Even after two senior U.S. officials told the House Armed Services Committee during a public hearing that Stinger missiles were among the munitions being sent to Ukraine, spokespeople avoided using the S-word from the lecterns at the White House and Pentagon. Until this past week. On Wednesday, the White House released a detailed list of the weapons it was providing as part of an $800 million package of arms to Ukraine. At the top of the list: “800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems.”

For the US, a tenuous balance in confronting Russia

It was nothing short of a charade.

The parade of questions by western media journalists at the recent White House briefing exposed their agenda: thirsting for Ukraine to fight a war with invading troops of Russia, with zero boots on ground from the US or European countries.

It was as if the journalists, men and women, were schooled by some larger, unknown handler to go and ask the same question, over and over again with different phrasing, to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

Look at this video for evidence:

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Reporters asked Press Secretary Jen Psaki why the administration isn't doing more to arm Ukraine. The Intercept's <a href="https://twitter.com/ryangrim?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RyanGrim</a> asked what the U.S. is doing to push for peaceful negotiations. <a href="https://t.co/8G9DMpNvqb">https://t.co/8G9DMpNvqb</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZHqGryRYHf">pic.twitter.com/ZHqGryRYHf</a>
— The Intercept (@theintercept) <a href="https://twitter.com/theintercept/status/1503923457461035011?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

Ever since the Russian invasion, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has been receiving an outpouring of support from across the world, especially the West.

On February 24, Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in order to overthrow the Zelensky regime, which the Kremlin believes harbours “Nazi ideology”.

The war, one of the biggest in Europe since 1945, has claimed thousands of lives and triggered a mass exodus of Ukrainians to neighbouring countries.

As expected, the war drew wide condemnation from all around the world. While US, UK and EU imposed tough economic sanctions on Russia, there are other countries like India, which reminded that the path of dialogue and diplomacy is the only way forward to resolve the issue.

As one of the biggest humanitarian crises unfolds, the press briefing of Jen Psaki, on Tuesday witnessed one of the unruly sides of the western media, a day ahead of Zelensky’s address to the US Congress.

The reporters repeatedly asked why the Biden administration isn’t doing more to provide military support to Ukraine.

One reporter asked, “Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have made clear that what they believe they need the most—more warplanes and fighter jets. So, why is the US assessing something different?”

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/struggling-russia-deploying-more-reinforcements-from-across-country-into-ukraine-uk-intel-462861">‘Struggling’ Russia deploying more reinforcements into Ukraine: UK intel</a>

Another wanted to know whether the Biden administration will supply more weapons to Ukraine.

“President Zelensky will be speaking to Congress tomorrow. He has been pushing for fighter jets and a no-fly zone. We expect to hear the same requests tomorrow as well. Has the administration’s thinking shifted on that at all?”

A video of the press briefing was shared on Twitter by US-based The Intercept news organisation. Many users slammed the reporters for fanning the flames of war.

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Because Putin's said he'll attack those ships carrying arms maybe? Wonder why some of these questioners are masked. <a href="https://t.co/o7zERDM8Dd">https://t.co/o7zERDM8Dd</a>
— Ramola D: Writer &amp; Journalist (@SatyaCovertCAS) <a href="https://twitter.com/SatyaCovertCAS/status/1503927885194792973?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2022</a></blockquote>
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"The link between MSM media and the U.S. war machine couldn't be clearer. While most journalists insist on pressing for an escalation,@ryangrim&nbsp;asked Jen Psaki about Zelensky's other request: can the U.S. be more involved in negotiations toward a peaceful resolution to the war?" a user wrote, referring to a journalist from The Intercept, whose question was more about peace.

Another user commented, "Most media is pushing for more military escalation. Glad someone asks about negotiations"

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/jumping-the-gun-as-calls-for-its-expulsion-grow-russia-announces-ruxit-from-council-of-europe-462722">Amid calls for its expulsion, Russia announces 'Ruxit'&nbsp;from Council of Europe</a>

It is evident from the sort of questions asked that the western media was repeatedly peddling motivated and agenda-driven questions surrounding the conflict instead of raising genuine questions on what is being done to de-escalate the tensions.

It was nothing short of a charade. The parade of questions by western media journalists at the recent White House briefing exposed their agenda: thirsting for Ukraine to fight a war with invading troops of Russia, with zero boots on ground from the US or European countries.

It was nothing short of a charade. The parade of questions by western media journalists at the recent White House briefing exposed their agenda: thirsting for Ukraine to fight a war with invading troops of Russia, with zero boots on ground from the US or European countries. It was as if the journalists, men and women, were schooled by some larger, unknown handler to go and ask the same question, over and over again with different phrasing, to White House press secretary Jen Psaki. Look at this video for evidence: Reporters asked Press Secretary Jen Psaki why the administration isn't doing more to arm Ukraine. The Intercept's @RyanGrim asked what the U.S. is doing to push for peaceful negotiations. https://t.co/8G9DMpNvqb pic.twitter.com/ZHqGryRYHf — The Intercept (@theintercept) March 16, 2022 × Ever since the Russian invasion, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has been receiving an outpouring of support from across the world, especially the West. On February 24, Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in order to overthrow the Zelensky regime, which the Kremlin believes harbours “Nazi ideology”. The war, one of the biggest in Europe since 1945, has claimed thousands of lives and triggered a mass exodus of Ukrainians to neighbouring countries. As expected, the war drew wide condemnation from all around the world. While US, UK and EU imposed tough economic sanctions on Russia, there are other countries like India, which reminded that the path of dialogue and diplomacy is the only way forward to resolve the issue. As one of the biggest humanitarian crises unfolds, the press briefing of Jen Psaki, on Tuesday witnessed one of the unruly sides of the western media, a day ahead of Zelensky’s address to the US Congress. The reporters repeatedly asked why the Biden administration isn’t doing more to provide military support to Ukraine. One reporter asked, “Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have made clear that what they believe they need the most—more warplanes and fighter jets. So, why is the US assessing something different?” Also read | ‘Struggling’ Russia deploying more reinforcements into Ukraine: UK intel Another wanted to know whether the Biden administration will supply more weapons to Ukraine. “President Zelensky will be speaking to Congress tomorrow. He has been pushing for fighter jets and a no-fly zone. We expect to hear the same requests tomorrow as well. Has the administration’s thinking shifted on that at all?” A video of the press briefing was shared on Twitter by US-based The Intercept news organisation. Many users slammed the reporters for fanning the flames of war. Because Putin's said he'll attack those ships carrying arms maybe? Wonder why some of these questioners are masked. https://t.co/o7zERDM8Dd — Ramola D: Writer & Journalist (@SatyaCovertCAS) March 16, 2022 × "The link between MSM media and the U.S. war machine couldn't be clearer. While most journalists insist on pressing for an escalation,@ryangrim asked Jen Psaki about Zelensky's other request: can the U.S. be more involved in negotiations toward a peaceful resolution to the war?" a user wrote, referring to a journalist from The Intercept, whose question was more about peace. Another user commented, "Most media is pushing for more military escalation. Glad someone asks about negotiations" Also read | Amid calls for its expulsion, Russia announces 'Ruxit' from Council of Europe It is evident from the sort of questions asked that the western media was repeatedly peddling motivated and agenda-driven questions surrounding the conflict instead of raising genuine questions on what is being done to de-escalate the tensions.

'Give Ukraine weapons': Is the western press asking same, agenda-driven, motivated questions?

The White House is weighing the possibility of President Joe Biden traveling to Europe in the coming weeks for face-to-face talks with European leaders about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to three US officials familiar with the deliberations.

The prospective trip is yet to be finalised. One possible destination for the meetings would be Brussels, which is the headquarters for NATO, one of the officials said Monday.&nbsp;

Another official said the White House was looking at Biden visiting NATO headquarters on March 24, with other potential stops in Europe.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/us-warns-china-not-to-help-russia-raises-concern-over-chinas-support-462376/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Biden’s potential trip would follow Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to the eastern flank NATO countries of Poland and Romania last week to discuss with leaders there the growing refugee crisis in eastern Europe sparked by the Russian invasion.&nbsp;

The trip would underscore the Biden administration’s support for NATO allies. NBC News first reported that the discussions for a potential Biden trip are underway.

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/we-dont-know-how-to-kill-residents-of-odessa-who-cannot-fight-help-with-war-efforts-in-other-ways-462454" hreflang="en">'We don't know how to kill': Residents of Odessa who cannot fight help with war efforts in other ways</a>

NATO members are worried about being drawn into a military conflict with nuclear power Russia. Biden has repeatedly said that the United States will not send forces into Ukraine, but will defend "every inch" of NATO territory.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said that the United States was closely engaged with its NATO partners and European allies but that there had not been any final decision about a presidential trip.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, the United States and its allies have coordinated broad sanctions against Moscow and President Vladimir Putin as punishment.

(With inputs from agencies)

The White House is weighing the possibility of President Joe Biden traveling to Europe in the coming weeks for face-to-face talks with European leaders about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to three US officials familiar with the deliberations.

The White House is weighing the possibility of President Joe Biden traveling to Europe in the coming weeks for face-to-face talks with European leaders about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to three US officials familiar with the deliberations. The prospective trip is yet to be finalised. One possible destination for the meetings would be Brussels, which is the headquarters for NATO, one of the officials said Monday. Another official said the White House was looking at Biden visiting NATO headquarters on March 24, with other potential stops in Europe. Biden’s potential trip would follow Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to the eastern flank NATO countries of Poland and Romania last week to discuss with leaders there the growing refugee crisis in eastern Europe sparked by the Russian invasion. The trip would underscore the Biden administration’s support for NATO allies. NBC News first reported that the discussions for a potential Biden trip are underway. Also see | 'We don't know how to kill': Residents of Odessa who cannot fight help with war efforts in other ways NATO members are worried about being drawn into a military conflict with nuclear power Russia. Biden has repeatedly said that the United States will not send forces into Ukraine, but will defend "every inch" of NATO territory. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said that the United States was closely engaged with its NATO partners and European allies but that there had not been any final decision about a presidential trip. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, the United States and its allies have coordinated broad sanctions against Moscow and President Vladimir Putin as punishment. (With inputs from agencies)

White House having early discussions about Biden traveling to Europe

United States President Joe Biden is banking on top TikTok influencers to help battle the Russian propaganda on the Ukraine war, the Washington Post reported.

According to the US-based newspaper, White House on Thursday held a Zoom call with 30 digital creators who have been covering Russia's invasion of Ukraine on their social media channels, including TikTok, YouTube and Twitter.

National Security Council special communications adviser Matt Miller and White House press secretary Jen Psaki briefed the influencers about the US’ strategic goals in the Eastern Europe, how US would respond to nuclear threats by Russia and answered questions on distributing to Ukraine.

TikTok users in Russia and Ukraine have been at the forefront of disseminating information since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine began February 24.

They have been continuously posting videos showing the aftermath of bombings and the effect of economic sanctions.

The US has been hoping to cash in on this information war and hence decided to rope in social media influencers to reach a broader —and younger —audience.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/watch-ivan-fedorov-mayor-of-ukrainian-city-abducted-by-russian-troops-461462">Watch: Ivan Fedorov, mayor of Ukrainian city abducted by Russian troops</a>

"The creators were given an overview of the latest in Ukraine, as well as where the US sees the conflict moving toward," a White House official told CNN, adding that officials also took questions from attendees.

"The material was similar to that given in traditional briefing calls to reporters over the last week," the official said.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/moscow-opens-case-against-meta-for-calling-for-murder-of-russians-461332">Moscow opens case against Meta for calling for 'murder' of Russians</a>

The official pointed to the “millions of views” that these creators have produced to explain the latest situation in Ukraine over the past few weeks.

According to audio obtained by the&nbsp;Washington Post,&nbsp;Psaki also said on the call that Russia hacked the 2016 election, when Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump.&nbsp;

'If you look back at 2014, and frankly even 2016, when Russia invaded Ukraine and then in 2016, when they, you know, of course, hacked our election here, we did not do that, we did not declassify information, she said.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

United States President Joe Biden is banking on top TikTok influencers to help battle the Russian propaganda on the Ukraine war, the Washington Post reported. According to the US-based newspaper, White House on Thursday held a Zoom call with 30 digital creators who have been covering Russia's invasion of Ukraine on their social media channels, including TikTok, YouTube and Twitter.

United States President Joe Biden is banking on top TikTok influencers to help battle the Russian propaganda on the Ukraine war, the Washington Post reported. According to the US-based newspaper, White House on Thursday held a Zoom call with 30 digital creators who have been covering Russia's invasion of Ukraine on their social media channels, including TikTok, YouTube and Twitter. National Security Council special communications adviser Matt Miller and White House press secretary Jen Psaki briefed the influencers about the US’ strategic goals in the Eastern Europe, how US would respond to nuclear threats by Russia and answered questions on distributing to Ukraine. TikTok users in Russia and Ukraine have been at the forefront of disseminating information since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine began February 24. They have been continuously posting videos showing the aftermath of bombings and the effect of economic sanctions. The US has been hoping to cash in on this information war and hence decided to rope in social media influencers to reach a broader —and younger —audience. Watch: Ivan Fedorov, mayor of Ukrainian city abducted by Russian troops "The creators were given an overview of the latest in Ukraine, as well as where the US sees the conflict moving toward," a White House official told CNN, adding that officials also took questions from attendees. "The material was similar to that given in traditional briefing calls to reporters over the last week," the official said. Also read | Moscow opens case against Meta for calling for 'murder' of Russians The official pointed to the “millions of views” that these creators have produced to explain the latest situation in Ukraine over the past few weeks. According to audio obtained by the Washington Post, Psaki also said on the call that Russia hacked the 2016 election, when Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump. 'If you look back at 2014, and frankly even 2016, when Russia invaded Ukraine and then in 2016, when they, you know, of course, hacked our election here, we did not do that, we did not declassify information, she said. (With inputs from agencies)

White House briefs TikTokers on Ukraine as information war against Russia heats up

The United States has condemned the airstrike at children's hospital in the southeastern city of Mariupol that has wounded at least 17 staff members on Wednesday (March 9). Calling it 'barbaric', the White House slammed the use of force against civilians after an apparent Russian airstrike.&nbsp;

Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters when questioned about the strike, "It is horrifying to see the type of, the barbaric use of military force to go after innocent civilians in a sovereign country."&nbsp;

IN PICS |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/from-tank-man-to-snake-island-defenders-brave-stories-of-resistance-by-ukrainians-against-vladimir-putin-460353">What are Czech hedgehogs?: Homemade obstacles that can destroy Russian tanks</a>

Authorities revealed that the attack injured women in labour and left children in the wreckage. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also slammed the airstrike and described it as a "war crime". He accused Russia of carrying out genocide.&nbsp;

In a televised address, Zelensky said, "What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals, is afraid of maternity hospitals, and destroys them?"&nbsp;

"We have not done and would never do anything like this war crime in any of the cities of the Donetsk or Lugansk regions, or of any region... because we are people. But are you?" Zelensky asked.&nbsp;

IN PICS |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/what-are-war-crimes-what-are-the-rules-of-war-460670">What are war crimes? What are the rules of war?</a>

As per the Mariupol city council, the hospital had been hit several times. The officials said airstrikes that held on maternity and paediatric units, blew out windows, ripped down partition walls and set fire to cars parked outside.&nbsp;

On being inquired on the same, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Russian forces do not fire on civilian targets." Russia calls its incursion a "special operation" to disarm its neighbour and dislodge leaders it calls "neo-Nazis."&nbsp;

WATCH |&nbsp;The US says Russia after Ukraine's bio-lab

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The United States has condemned the airstrike at children's hospital in the southeastern city of Mariupol that has wounded at least 17 staff members on Wednesday (March 9).

The United States has condemned the airstrike at children's hospital in the southeastern city of Mariupol that has wounded at least 17 staff members on Wednesday (March 9). Calling it 'barbaric', the White House slammed the use of force against civilians after an apparent Russian airstrike. Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters when questioned about the strike, "It is horrifying to see the type of, the barbaric use of military force to go after innocent civilians in a sovereign country." IN PICS | What are Czech hedgehogs?: Homemade obstacles that can destroy Russian tanks Authorities revealed that the attack injured women in labour and left children in the wreckage. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also slammed the airstrike and described it as a "war crime". He accused Russia of carrying out genocide. In a televised address, Zelensky said, "What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals, is afraid of maternity hospitals, and destroys them?" "We have not done and would never do anything like this war crime in any of the cities of the Donetsk or Lugansk regions, or of any region... because we are people. But are you?" Zelensky asked. IN PICS | What are war crimes? What are the rules of war? As per the Mariupol city council, the hospital had been hit several times. The officials said airstrikes that held on maternity and paediatric units, blew out windows, ripped down partition walls and set fire to cars parked outside. On being inquired on the same, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Russian forces do not fire on civilian targets." Russia calls its incursion a "special operation" to disarm its neighbour and dislodge leaders it calls "neo-Nazis." WATCH | The US says Russia after Ukraine's bio-lab ×

US condemns airstrike at children's hospital in Ukraine; Zelensky describes it as 'war crime'

US President Joe Biden, during a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, welcomed the decisions of Visa and Mastercard to suspend services in Russia, the White House said.

Earlier, Zelenskyy said on Twitter that he held phone talks with Biden on Saturday, discussing Western support for Kyiv and anti-Russia sanctions.

"President Biden highlighted the ongoing actions undertaken by the United States, its allies and partners, and private industry to raise the costs on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine. In particular, he welcomed the decision this evening by Visa and Mastercard to suspend service in Russia," the White House said in a Saturday statement following the Biden-Zelenskyy conversation.

According to the release, Biden and Zelenskyy discussed the recent talks between Russia and Ukraine.

The White House said that the Biden administration is boosting assistance to Kyiev and is "working closely with Congress to secure additional funding."

US President Joe Biden, during a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, welcomed the decisions of Visa and Mastercard to suspend services in Russia, the White House said.

US President Joe Biden, during a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, welcomed the decisions of Visa and Mastercard to suspend services in Russia, the White House said. Earlier, Zelenskyy said on Twitter that he held phone talks with Biden on Saturday, discussing Western support for Kyiv and anti-Russia sanctions. "President Biden highlighted the ongoing actions undertaken by the United States, its allies and partners, and private industry to raise the costs on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine. In particular, he welcomed the decision this evening by Visa and Mastercard to suspend service in Russia," the White House said in a Saturday statement following the Biden-Zelenskyy conversation. According to the release, Biden and Zelenskyy discussed the recent talks between Russia and Ukraine. The White House said that the Biden administration is boosting assistance to Kyiev and is "working closely with Congress to secure additional funding."

Biden welcomes decision by Visa, Mastercard to suspend services in Russia: White House

The US&nbsp;Centres for Disease Control Prevention (CDC) on Thursday said that almost 93 per cent of the population in the US lives in locations where the coronavirus level is so low that people do not need to wear masks indoors.

In an announcement on Friday, CDC eased its guidelines on when Americans should wear masks indoors, saying they can also drop them in counties experiencing low or medium COVID-19 levels.

COVID hospitalizations - a key benchmark for the new masking recommendations - continue to decline, as indicated by the latest figures.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/this-is-how-covid-could-reverse-all-the-progress-made-towards-gender-equality-458605">This is how Covid could reverse all the progress made towards gender equality</a>

The CDC, while&nbsp;announcing its revised guidelines said about 70 per cent&nbsp;of US&nbsp;counties and 72 per cent&nbsp;of the US&nbsp;population resides in communities where face coverings are no longer recommended.

The agency on Thursday said 85.4 per cent of counties are now ranked as low to medium risk and about 92.9 per cent of the population lives in those counties.

However, it is&nbsp;still to be determined whether the Biden administration will extend the mask&nbsp;requirements for travelling on airplanes, trains, buses or for transit hubs.

The current transit order expires on March 18 but can be&nbsp;extended. As per the White House the issue is still being evaluated.

The guidelines announced last week shifted its focus from COVID-19 transmission rates to infection rates, local hospitalisation and hospital capacity.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/covid-19-western-australia-ends-closures-as-the-country-fully-open-to-travel-458631">COVID-19: Western Australia ends closures as the country fully open to travel</a>

As per the earlier recommendations, only 5 per cent of the counties fell under the safe zone and could&nbsp;abandon wearing masks indoors, while&nbsp;95 per cent of were&nbsp;considered to be at risk for higher transmission.

Many federal agencies this week have told government employees that they can now stop wearing masks indoors in federal buildings in Washington, D.C. Area or in some low or medium Covid&nbsp;level areas including Pentagon, Transportation Department, Justice Department, State Department and Federal Aviation.

Watch |&nbsp;The five stages of the covid Pandemic, as told by Dr Anthony Fauci

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As per an earlier&nbsp;memo, the White House had directed agencies to revise federal employee masking and testing rules number by Friday.&nbsp;

The guidance said that Federal agencies in counties with low Covid community levels do not need to regularly screen unvaccinated employees for COVID-19. This guidance covers about 3.5 million employees.

(With inputs from agencies)

The US Centres for Disease Control Prevention (CDC) on Thursday said that almost 93 per cent of the population in the US lives in locations where the coronavirus level is so low that people do not need to wear masks indoors.

The US Centres for Disease Control Prevention (CDC) on Thursday said that almost 93 per cent of the population in the US lives in locations where the coronavirus level is so low that people do not need to wear masks indoors. In an announcement on Friday, CDC eased its guidelines on when Americans should wear masks indoors, saying they can also drop them in counties experiencing low or medium COVID-19 levels. COVID hospitalizations - a key benchmark for the new masking recommendations - continue to decline, as indicated by the latest figures. Also read | This is how Covid could reverse all the progress made towards gender equality The CDC, while announcing its revised guidelines said about 70 per cent of US counties and 72 per cent of the US population resides in communities where face coverings are no longer recommended. The agency on Thursday said 85.4 per cent of counties are now ranked as low to medium risk and about 92.9 per cent of the population lives in those counties. However, it is still to be determined whether the Biden administration will extend the mask requirements for travelling on airplanes, trains, buses or for transit hubs. The current transit order expires on March 18 but can be extended. As per the White House the issue is still being evaluated. The guidelines announced last week shifted its focus from COVID-19 transmission rates to infection rates, local hospitalisation and hospital capacity. Also read | COVID-19: Western Australia ends closures as the country fully open to travel As per the earlier recommendations, only 5 per cent of the counties fell under the safe zone and could abandon wearing masks indoors, while 95 per cent of were considered to be at risk for higher transmission. Many federal agencies this week have told government employees that they can now stop wearing masks indoors in federal buildings in Washington, D.C. Area or in some low or medium Covid level areas including Pentagon, Transportation Department, Justice Department, State Department and Federal Aviation. Watch | The five stages of the covid Pandemic, as told by Dr Anthony Fauci As per an earlier memo, the White House had directed agencies to revise federal employee masking and testing rules number by Friday. The guidance said that Federal agencies in counties with low Covid community levels do not need to regularly screen unvaccinated employees for COVID-19. This guidance covers about 3.5 million employees. (With inputs from agencies)

New CDC guidelines say that more than 90% of US population doesn't need masks anymore

Top US officials on Wednesday laid out a plan to move the nation to a new stage of the pandemic. The new plan focuses on four goals, to help the nation move forward safely. This includes protection against COVID, preparing for new variants, preventing shutdowns and continuing to vaccinate the world.&nbsp;

The White House claimed, "This plan lays out the road map to help us fight Covid-19 in the future as we move America from crisis to a time when Covid-19 does not disrupt our daily lives and is something we prevent, protect against and treat."

“America must maintain the tools — vaccines, boosters, treatments, tests and masks — to protect against Covid-19 and dramatically decrease the risk of the most severe outcomes. We must be prepared to respond to a new variant quickly and keep our schools and businesses open," the plan read.&nbsp;

The plan further aims to give schools and businesses the tools they need to prevent economic and educational shutdowns. This is being done so that the students can remain safe in school and workers can be safe at work. Also, this will help the economy to grow.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/uk-pm-boris-johnson-says-russia-already-guilty-of-war-crime-in-ukraine-458224">Also read |&nbsp;UK PM Boris Johnson says Russia already guilty of 'war crime' in Ukraine</a>

"The path forward in the fight against COVID-19 is clear: schools, workers, and workplaces have resources and guidance to prevent shutdowns," said the White House.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, reports state that nearly half of the 500 million free Covid tests made available to the public recently by the Biden administration remain unclaimed. COVIDtests.Gov had received over 45 million orders on the first day of the White House test giveaway in January. Now, the officials say that less than 100,000 orders a day are being witnessed for the packages of four free rapid tests per household, which are being delivered by the US Postal Service.&nbsp;

The White House views the programme as a step towards a deeper testing infrastructure, which will accommodate the demand surges and remain on standby when cases wane. &nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

Top US officials on Wednesday laid out a plan to move the nation to a new stage of the pandemic. The new plan focuses on four goals, to help the nation move forward safely.

Top US officials on Wednesday laid out a plan to move the nation to a new stage of the pandemic. The new plan focuses on four goals, to help the nation move forward safely. This includes protection against COVID, preparing for new variants, preventing shutdowns and continuing to vaccinate the world. The White House claimed, "This plan lays out the road map to help us fight Covid-19 in the future as we move America from crisis to a time when Covid-19 does not disrupt our daily lives and is something we prevent, protect against and treat." “America must maintain the tools — vaccines, boosters, treatments, tests and masks — to protect against Covid-19 and dramatically decrease the risk of the most severe outcomes. We must be prepared to respond to a new variant quickly and keep our schools and businesses open," the plan read. The plan further aims to give schools and businesses the tools they need to prevent economic and educational shutdowns. This is being done so that the students can remain safe in school and workers can be safe at work. Also, this will help the economy to grow. Also read | UK PM Boris Johnson says Russia already guilty of 'war crime' in Ukraine "The path forward in the fight against COVID-19 is clear: schools, workers, and workplaces have resources and guidance to prevent shutdowns," said the White House. Meanwhile, reports state that nearly half of the 500 million free Covid tests made available to the public recently by the Biden administration remain unclaimed. COVIDtests.Gov had received over 45 million orders on the first day of the White House test giveaway in January. Now, the officials say that less than 100,000 orders a day are being witnessed for the packages of four free rapid tests per household, which are being delivered by the US Postal Service. The White House views the programme as a step towards a deeper testing infrastructure, which will accommodate the demand surges and remain on standby when cases wane. (With inputs from agencies)

In a bid to help the nation move forward, White house unveils its Covid preparedness plan

Former Attorney General William Barr writes in a new memoir that former President Donald Trump’s “self-indulgence and lack of self control” cost him the 2020 election and says “the absurd lengths to which he took his ‘stolen election’ claim led to the rioting on Capitol Hill.”

In the book, “One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General,”&nbsp;Barr also calls on his fellow Republicans to pick someone else as the party’s nominee for the 2024 election, calling the prospect of another presidential run by Trump “dismaying.”

“Donald Trump has shown he has neither the temperament nor persuasive powers to provide the kind of positive leadership that is needed,” Barr writes.

The memoir — an account of Barr’s time as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush and under Trump — defends his own actions in the Trump administration that led to sharp criticism of a Justice Department setting aside its independence to bend to White House pressure.

Barr was long considered a close ally of Trump's. But the two fell out toward the end of the Trump administration, when Barr refused to go along with Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election had been stolen.

In a statement in June, Trump denounced his former attorney general, calling him a “swamp creature” and a “RINO” — meaning Republican in Name Only — who “was afraid, weak and frankly, now that I see what he is saying, pathetic.”

For his part, Barr portrays Trump as a president who — despite sometimes displaying “the menacing mannerisms” of a strongman ruler as a “schtick” to project an image of strength — had operated within guardrails set up by his advisers and achieved many conservative policy goals. But Trump “lost his grip” after the election, he writes.

“He stopped listening to his advisers, became manic and unreasonable, and was off the rails,” Barr writes. “He surrounded himself with sycophants, including many whack jobs from outside the government, who fed him a steady diet of comforting but unsupported conspiracy theories.”

Throughout the book, Barr scorns the news media, accusing them of “corruption” and “active support for progressive ideology.” The political left, he writes, became radicalized during President Barack Obama’s second term. He compares its support for social justice issues to “the same kind of revolutionary and totalitarian ideas that propelled the French Revolution, the Communists of the Russian Revolution and the fascists of 20th-century Europe.” 
&nbsp;

Former Attorney General William Barr writes in a new memoir that former President Donald Trump’s “self-indulgence and lack of self control” cost him the 2020 election and says “the absurd lengths to which he took his ‘stolen election’ claim led to the rioting on Capitol Hill.

Former Attorney General William Barr writes in a new memoir that former President Donald Trump’s “self-indulgence and lack of self control” cost him the 2020 election and says “the absurd lengths to which he took his ‘stolen election’ claim led to the rioting on Capitol Hill.” In the book, “One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General,” Barr also calls on his fellow Republicans to pick someone else as the party’s nominee for the 2024 election, calling the prospect of another presidential run by Trump “dismaying.” “Donald Trump has shown he has neither the temperament nor persuasive powers to provide the kind of positive leadership that is needed,” Barr writes. The memoir — an account of Barr’s time as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush and under Trump — defends his own actions in the Trump administration that led to sharp criticism of a Justice Department setting aside its independence to bend to White House pressure. Barr was long considered a close ally of Trump's. But the two fell out toward the end of the Trump administration, when Barr refused to go along with Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election had been stolen. In a statement in June, Trump denounced his former attorney general, calling him a “swamp creature” and a “RINO” — meaning Republican in Name Only — who “was afraid, weak and frankly, now that I see what he is saying, pathetic.” For his part, Barr portrays Trump as a president who — despite sometimes displaying “the menacing mannerisms” of a strongman ruler as a “schtick” to project an image of strength — had operated within guardrails set up by his advisers and achieved many conservative policy goals. But Trump “lost his grip” after the election, he writes. “He stopped listening to his advisers, became manic and unreasonable, and was off the rails,” Barr writes. “He surrounded himself with sycophants, including many whack jobs from outside the government, who fed him a steady diet of comforting but unsupported conspiracy theories.” Throughout the book, Barr scorns the news media, accusing them of “corruption” and “active support for progressive ideology.” The political left, he writes, became radicalized during President Barack Obama’s second term. He compares its support for social justice issues to “the same kind of revolutionary and totalitarian ideas that propelled the French Revolution, the Communists of the Russian Revolution and the fascists of 20th-century Europe.”

Barr rebukes Trump as ‘off the rails’ in new memoir

US National Archives and Records Administration told US Congress in a letter that former US president Donald Trump took classified material to his Florida home from the White House.&nbsp;

The Archives said it had informed the Department of Justice, which would handle any investigation.

"NARA has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes," David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, said in a letter to Democratic U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House of Representatives oversight committee.

Maloney's committee has been looking into Trump's handling of records by the Republican president, who left office in January 2021.

"These new revelations deepen my concern about former President Trump’s flagrant disregard for federal records laws and the potential impact on our historical record," Maloney said in a statement.

"The National Archives did not 'find' anything, they were given, upon request, presidential records in an ordinary and routine process to ensure the preservation of my legacy and in accordance with the Presidential Records Act," Trump said in a written statement.

"If this was anyone but “Trump,” there would be no story here."

The letter from Ferriero also said that some White House staff conducted official business using nonofficial electronic messaging accounts that were not copied or forwarded into official electronic messaging accounts and that it was in the process of obtaining some of those missing records.

The Washington Post reported last week that some of the documents taken to Trump's home were marked as classified, which could intensify the legal pressure Trump or his aides could face.

The Presidential Records Act requires the preservation of memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes and other written communications related to a president's official duties.

Claiming executive privilege, Trump sued unsuccessfully to stop the release of records from his White House, including to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.

(With inputs from agencies)

US National Archives and Records Administration told US Congress in a letter that former US president Donald Trump took classified material to his Florida home from the White House.

US National Archives and Records Administration told US Congress in a letter that former US president Donald Trump took classified material to his Florida home from the White House. The Archives said it had informed the Department of Justice, which would handle any investigation. "NARA has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes," David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, said in a letter to Democratic U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House of Representatives oversight committee. Maloney's committee has been looking into Trump's handling of records by the Republican president, who left office in January 2021. "These new revelations deepen my concern about former President Trump’s flagrant disregard for federal records laws and the potential impact on our historical record," Maloney said in a statement. "The National Archives did not 'find' anything, they were given, upon request, presidential records in an ordinary and routine process to ensure the preservation of my legacy and in accordance with the Presidential Records Act," Trump said in a written statement. "If this was anyone but “Trump,” there would be no story here." The letter from Ferriero also said that some White House staff conducted official business using nonofficial electronic messaging accounts that were not copied or forwarded into official electronic messaging accounts and that it was in the process of obtaining some of those missing records. The Washington Post reported last week that some of the documents taken to Trump's home were marked as classified, which could intensify the legal pressure Trump or his aides could face. The Presidential Records Act requires the preservation of memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes and other written communications related to a president's official duties. Claiming executive privilege, Trump sued unsuccessfully to stop the release of records from his White House, including to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. (With inputs from agencies)

Donald Trump took classified material from White House, says US National Archives

Schkeema Troutman had just started describing the many difficulties of trying to raise a family in a city with high levels of lead in its drinking water when Vice President Kamala Harris noticed the mother of three was not being heard.

Troutman’s microphone was not working, limiting her voice to nearly a whisper at a roundtable discussion here Friday. So Harris stood and handed her microphone over to amplify Troutman’s story.

“You have so many different things to worry about,” Troutman said of owning a home near lead service lines, and the dozens of people in the room could hear her.

“That’s the thing,” Harris responded. “You should not have to worry about that.”

The brief exchange highlighted Harris' aim in traveling to Newark, which the administration views as a model of how a community can overcome water contamination after years of neglect. But for Harris and the White House, the trip was also an opportunity to amplify issues directly affecting underserved communities, particularly amid rising anxiety from civil rights advocates and grassroots organizations after seeing President Joe Biden’s sprawling proposals centered on racial equity slimmed during negotiations with a divided Congress.

The White House has made removing every lead pipe within 10 years in the United States a centerpiece of its plan to address racial disparities and environmental issues in the wake of water contamination crises in recent years from Newark to Flint, Michigan. As many as 10 million lead service lines still deliver water to schools, offices, homes and day care centers throughout the country.

Harris said Newark, which removed roughly 23,000 lead pipes in nearly three years, could provide a road map for communities across the United States. She described the issue as not just as a “public health crisis,” but also one fueling racial disparities.

“Lead pipes do exist in high-income communities, but in high-income communities, they have the income to fix it, which means that whether it gets fixed or not might be a function of how much money you have,” Harris said. “And that’s not right.”

Harris used the event to highlight $15 billion in funding to remove lead pipes that is part of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that Biden signed in November.

Biden initially proposed $45 billion in the infrastructure bill for lead removal. Another $10 billion is tucked in a sprawling social-safety net and climate package torpedoed by congressional gridlock. Other administration proposals that supporters celebrated for promoting racial equity have since been cut or removed entirely as Democrats try to salvage the plan, including investments in affordable housing, clean energy provisions, home health care work and reconnecting neighborhoods divided by highways.

First lady Jill Biden confirmed to educators this week that Democrats had cut a proposal to provide two free years of community college from the legislation, adding to the frustrations of civil rights leaders who say the administration is not prioritizing legislation aimed at helping Black and Latino communities.

“Nationwide, frustration is building given the failure to cancel student debt, expand voting rights and pass police reform,” said Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP. “For the most part, this administration is saying all the right words, but there are far too few outcomes to back those up.”

(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.)

Along with providing Harris an opportunity to counter those complaints, the trip also gave her a chance to break out of Washington, amid concerns that she has lost political momentum and that the White House has sunk her with a portfolio that could produce few political victories.

“One of the tragedies of the first year, and it’s just been a year, has been that she’s been a prisoner of Washington, D.C., and she’s been a prisoner of the press and she’s not out in these streets,” Bakari Sellers, a former lawmaker in South Carolina and one of Harris’ top surrogates during her presidential campaign, told "The Breakfast Club," a New York-based radio show, last month. “I want her in these places actually talking to real people.”

(END OPTIONAL TRIM.)

Local officials and residents in Newark on Friday commended Harris for highlighting lead exposure, which can damage the brain and kidneys and interfere with red blood cells that carry oxygen to all parts of the body. The neurotoxin poses a particular danger to children, whose nervous systems are still developing.

But even as she won plaudits for her appearance Friday, her promotion of a solution whose future in Congress is partly uncertain risked creating another future political backlash for her.

“This is just what communities need: to be heard,” said Yvette Jordan, a teacher and chair of the Newark Education Workers Caucus, one of the plaintiffs who last year agreed to settle a federal lawsuit accusing Newark and state officials of violating safe water laws. “But this is a first step, not a last step.”

City officials in Newark were not always eager to talk about the issue. Mayor Ras Baraka, who sat with Harris on Friday, was long accused of neglecting the problem, even mailing a brochure to residents claiming that “the quality of water meets all federal and state standards,” despite evidence of alarming levels of lead.

But after intense scrutiny from community organizers and the federal government, the city began to acknowledge the severity of the issue. Newark accomplished its turnaround last year before the passage of the infrastructure bill; Baraka received $120 million in bonds from the county’s improvement authority.

If the Biden administration wants to see the progress replicated across the country, they will need the funding outlined in the sprawling social safety net package, known as Build Back Better, according to Erik Olson, senior strategic director for health at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. Even that might not be enough; removing every lead pipe in the nation could cost $60 billion, according to one industry estimate.

Olson’s organization has called for the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen federal regulations that would require localities to remove lead pipes and recently sent letter to the agency demanding the administration prioritize investments to underserved communities.

“We’re worried,” he said, “they will be left behind.”

Schkeema Troutman had just started describing the many difficulties of trying to raise a family in a city with high levels of lead in its drinking water when Vice President Kamala Harris noticed the mother of three was not being heard.

Schkeema Troutman had just started describing the many difficulties of trying to raise a family in a city with high levels of lead in its drinking water when Vice President Kamala Harris noticed the mother of three was not being heard. Troutman’s microphone was not working, limiting her voice to nearly a whisper at a roundtable discussion here Friday. So Harris stood and handed her microphone over to amplify Troutman’s story. “You have so many different things to worry about,” Troutman said of owning a home near lead service lines, and the dozens of people in the room could hear her. “That’s the thing,” Harris responded. “You should not have to worry about that.” The brief exchange highlighted Harris' aim in traveling to Newark, which the administration views as a model of how a community can overcome water contamination after years of neglect. But for Harris and the White House, the trip was also an opportunity to amplify issues directly affecting underserved communities, particularly amid rising anxiety from civil rights advocates and grassroots organizations after seeing President Joe Biden’s sprawling proposals centered on racial equity slimmed during negotiations with a divided Congress. The White House has made removing every lead pipe within 10 years in the United States a centerpiece of its plan to address racial disparities and environmental issues in the wake of water contamination crises in recent years from Newark to Flint, Michigan. As many as 10 million lead service lines still deliver water to schools, offices, homes and day care centers throughout the country. Harris said Newark, which removed roughly 23,000 lead pipes in nearly three years, could provide a road map for communities across the United States. She described the issue as not just as a “public health crisis,” but also one fueling racial disparities. “Lead pipes do exist in high-income communities, but in high-income communities, they have the income to fix it, which means that whether it gets fixed or not might be a function of how much money you have,” Harris said. “And that’s not right.” Harris used the event to highlight $15 billion in funding to remove lead pipes that is part of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package that Biden signed in November. Biden initially proposed $45 billion in the infrastructure bill for lead removal. Another $10 billion is tucked in a sprawling social-safety net and climate package torpedoed by congressional gridlock. Other administration proposals that supporters celebrated for promoting racial equity have since been cut or removed entirely as Democrats try to salvage the plan, including investments in affordable housing, clean energy provisions, home health care work and reconnecting neighborhoods divided by highways. First lady Jill Biden confirmed to educators this week that Democrats had cut a proposal to provide two free years of community college from the legislation, adding to the frustrations of civil rights leaders who say the administration is not prioritizing legislation aimed at helping Black and Latino communities. “Nationwide, frustration is building given the failure to cancel student debt, expand voting rights and pass police reform,” said Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP. “For the most part, this administration is saying all the right words, but there are far too few outcomes to back those up.” (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.) Along with providing Harris an opportunity to counter those complaints, the trip also gave her a chance to break out of Washington, amid concerns that she has lost political momentum and that the White House has sunk her with a portfolio that could produce few political victories. “One of the tragedies of the first year, and it’s just been a year, has been that she’s been a prisoner of Washington, D.C., and she’s been a prisoner of the press and she’s not out in these streets,” Bakari Sellers, a former lawmaker in South Carolina and one of Harris’ top surrogates during her presidential campaign, told "The Breakfast Club," a New York-based radio show, last month. “I want her in these places actually talking to real people.” (END OPTIONAL TRIM.) Local officials and residents in Newark on Friday commended Harris for highlighting lead exposure, which can damage the brain and kidneys and interfere with red blood cells that carry oxygen to all parts of the body. The neurotoxin poses a particular danger to children, whose nervous systems are still developing. But even as she won plaudits for her appearance Friday, her promotion of a solution whose future in Congress is partly uncertain risked creating another future political backlash for her. “This is just what communities need: to be heard,” said Yvette Jordan, a teacher and chair of the Newark Education Workers Caucus, one of the plaintiffs who last year agreed to settle a federal lawsuit accusing Newark and state officials of violating safe water laws. “But this is a first step, not a last step.” City officials in Newark were not always eager to talk about the issue. Mayor Ras Baraka, who sat with Harris on Friday, was long accused of neglecting the problem, even mailing a brochure to residents claiming that “the quality of water meets all federal and state standards,” despite evidence of alarming levels of lead. But after intense scrutiny from community organizers and the federal government, the city began to acknowledge the severity of the issue. Newark accomplished its turnaround last year before the passage of the infrastructure bill; Baraka received $120 million in bonds from the county’s improvement authority. If the Biden administration wants to see the progress replicated across the country, they will need the funding outlined in the sprawling social safety net package, known as Build Back Better, according to Erik Olson, senior strategic director for health at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. Even that might not be enough; removing every lead pipe in the nation could cost $60 billion, according to one industry estimate. Olson’s organization has called for the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen federal regulations that would require localities to remove lead pipes and recently sent letter to the agency demanding the administration prioritize investments to underserved communities. “We’re worried,” he said, “they will be left behind.”

Harris says replacing lead pipes is a priority, despite limited funding

A new feline addition to the White House has made headlines after catching attention of the netizens on Friday. The users on Twitter can’t stop talking about it.&nbsp;

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Willow, the new First Cat, has arrived at the White House. <a href="https://t.co/3fXjJJQBI0">pic.twitter.com/3fXjJJQBI0</a>
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1487049860532473860?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
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This comes as the First Lady Jill Biden made the announcement that Willow, a cat would be joining the presidential family on Friday morning. Jill Biden said, “Meet Willow.”&nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-is-a-damp-sock-puppet-musk-reacts-angrily-after-white-house-ceo-summit-snub-448702" hreflang="en">'Biden is a damp sock puppet’: Musk reacts angrily after White House CEO summit snub</a>

Over the announcement, many users expressed excitement. The critics termed it to be a ploy to deviate the attention from the various issues the Biden administration has been facing currently.&nbsp;

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White House seeks additional ideas to distract from failed policies 
 
Wednesday: Get ice cream 
 
Thursday: Leak retirement of Supreme Court Justice 
 
Friday: Get cat 
 
Saturday: ?
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanspicer/status/1487176381226229768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
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These include the state of the US economy and the possibility of an invasion in Ukraine by Russia, which may eventually involve the US and NATO.&nbsp;

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Dude this cat roams the White House what a badass!!!! <a href="https://t.co/xtPqcMEkZl">https://t.co/xtPqcMEkZl</a>
— Mando (@Mondeezul) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mondeezul/status/1487157079810842624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
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In response to the news, Democrat Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii said, "First Cat Willow is pawsitively purrfect." &nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/growth-is-surging-in-bidens-economy-why-dont-voters-feel-better-448733" hreflang="en">Growth is surging in Biden’s economy, why don’t voters feel better?</a>

Chelsea Clinton wrote, "So excited there is a cat back in @WhiteHouse!"&nbsp;

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👋 Willow! Wanted to share that it is possible for cats and dogs to peacefully share space in the ⁦<a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WhiteHouse</a>⁩ (even if they may not always play together!): <a href="https://t.co/EAgn0Qf0eW">pic.twitter.com/EAgn0Qf0eW</a>
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton/status/1487183680758063109?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
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"Don’t worry about Ukraine, the border, or inflation — look at this cute kitty!" wrote Lisa Boothe, a journalist.&nbsp;

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The new White House cat knows...😂😂😂 <a href="https://t.co/BZCFIN1NDh">pic.twitter.com/BZCFIN1NDh</a>
— il Donaldo Trumpo (@PapiTrumpo) <a href="https://twitter.com/PapiTrumpo/status/1487118822310039562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
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"The White House getting a new cat is getting more attention in the media than CNN deleting their reporting on Biden’s Ukraine call," said conservative media creator Benny Johnson on Twitter.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

A new feline addition to the White House has made headlines after catching attention of the netizens on Friday. The users on Twitter can’t stop talking about it.

A new feline addition to the White House has made headlines after catching attention of the netizens on Friday. The users on Twitter can’t stop talking about it. Willow, the new First Cat, has arrived at the White House. pic.twitter.com/3fXjJJQBI0 — Mike Sington (@MikeSington) January 28, 2022 × This comes as the First Lady Jill Biden made the announcement that Willow, a cat would be joining the presidential family on Friday morning. Jill Biden said, “Meet Willow.” Also Read: 'Biden is a damp sock puppet’: Musk reacts angrily after White House CEO summit snub Over the announcement, many users expressed excitement. The critics termed it to be a ploy to deviate the attention from the various issues the Biden administration has been facing currently. White House seeks additional ideas to distract from failed policies Wednesday: Get ice cream Thursday: Leak retirement of Supreme Court Justice Friday: Get cat Saturday: ? — Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) January 28, 2022 × These include the state of the US economy and the possibility of an invasion in Ukraine by Russia, which may eventually involve the US and NATO. Dude this cat roams the White House what a badass!!!! https://t.co/xtPqcMEkZl — Mando (@Mondeezul) January 28, 2022 × In response to the news, Democrat Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii said, "First Cat Willow is pawsitively purrfect." Also Read: Growth is surging in Biden’s economy, why don’t voters feel better? Chelsea Clinton wrote, "So excited there is a cat back in @WhiteHouse!" 👋 Willow! Wanted to share that it is possible for cats and dogs to peacefully share space in the ⁦@WhiteHouse⁩ (even if they may not always play together!): pic.twitter.com/EAgn0Qf0eW — Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) January 28, 2022 × "Don’t worry about Ukraine, the border, or inflation — look at this cute kitty!" wrote Lisa Boothe, a journalist. The new White House cat knows...😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/BZCFIN1NDh — il Donaldo Trumpo (@PapiTrumpo) January 28, 2022 × "The White House getting a new cat is getting more attention in the media than CNN deleting their reporting on Biden’s Ukraine call," said conservative media creator Benny Johnson on Twitter. (With inputs from agencies)

A distraction? New feline addition to White House catches netizens' attention

Tesla CEO Elon Musk called US President Joe Biden as a “damp sock puppet in human form” after he was snubbed from a White House summit meeting of top business leaders, including the CEOs of General Motors and Ford.

Musk was riled up when Biden left out the name of Tesla in a Twitter post where he said, “Companies like GM and Ford are building more electric vehicles here at home than ever before.”

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I meant it when I said the future was going to be made right here in America. Companies like GM and Ford are building more electric vehicles here at home than ever before. <a href="https://t.co/5E3ecA93MR">pic.twitter.com/5E3ecA93MR</a>
— President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1486494532007079937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Replying to Biden's Twitter post, Musk wrote the name of "Tesla" in all caps. In another tweet, he said, "Biden is a damp Socks puppet in human form."

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Starts with a T 
Ends with an A 
ESL in the middle
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1486758032038113281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Musk also said that "Biden is treating the American public like fools".

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Biden is a damp 🧦 puppet in human form
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1486767109275328516?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Biden's Twitter post came hours after he concluded&nbsp;his meeting with CEOs of General Motors and Ford at the White House, along with other business leaders to discuss his administration's “Build Back Better” legislation.

When asked why Tesla was not included in that event, White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted the three firms in attendance were “the three largest employers of the United Auto Workers” — an indication that Tesla was snubbed because its hourly employees aren’t unionized, reported the New York Post.

This is the second time that Musk was purposefully left out of the meeting.

Last year, Biden invited executives from these companies last year when signed an executive order with the goal of making all vehicles sold in the US electric by 2030.

Musk addressed Tesla’s exclusion from the electric vehicle summit at the Code Conference in California last September.

The billionaire noted that White House officials “didn’t mention Tesla once.”

He accused the Biden administration of being "a little biased" and "seems to be" controlled by unions.

(With inputs from agencies)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk called US President Joe Biden as a “damp sock puppet in human form” after he was snubbed from a White House summit meeting of top business leaders, including the CEOs of General Motors and Ford.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk called US President Joe Biden as a “damp sock puppet in human form” after he was snubbed from a White House summit meeting of top business leaders, including the CEOs of General Motors and Ford. Musk was riled up when Biden left out the name of Tesla in a Twitter post where he said, “Companies like GM and Ford are building more electric vehicles here at home than ever before.” I meant it when I said the future was going to be made right here in America. Companies like GM and Ford are building more electric vehicles here at home than ever before. pic.twitter.com/5E3ecA93MR — President Biden (@POTUS) January 27, 2022 × Replying to Biden's Twitter post, Musk wrote the name of "Tesla" in all caps. In another tweet, he said, "Biden is a damp Socks puppet in human form." Starts with a T Ends with an A ESL in the middle — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 27, 2022 × Musk also said that "Biden is treating the American public like fools". Biden is a damp 🧦 puppet in human form — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 27, 2022 × Biden's Twitter post came hours after he concluded his meeting with CEOs of General Motors and Ford at the White House, along with other business leaders to discuss his administration's “Build Back Better” legislation. When asked why Tesla was not included in that event, White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted the three firms in attendance were “the three largest employers of the United Auto Workers” — an indication that Tesla was snubbed because its hourly employees aren’t unionized, reported the New York Post. This is the second time that Musk was purposefully left out of the meeting. Last year, Biden invited executives from these companies last year when signed an executive order with the goal of making all vehicles sold in the US electric by 2030. Musk addressed Tesla’s exclusion from the electric vehicle summit at the Code Conference in California last September. The billionaire noted that White House officials “didn’t mention Tesla once.” He accused the Biden administration of being "a little biased" and "seems to be" controlled by unions. (With inputs from agencies)

'Biden is a damp sock puppet’: Musk reacts angrily after White House CEO summit snub

A senior United States administration official on Saturday (January 8) said that Washington is ready to discuss the missile systems, military exercises, Ukraine tensions with Russia. The talks that could begin as early as Sunday in Geneva, media reports stated, citing a special telephone briefing for reporters.&nbsp;

Amid escalating tensions between Russia and the West, US and Russian diplomats are meeting in Switzerland to try to defuse tensions.&nbsp;

The senior official said that "there are some areas... where we think it might be possible to make progress," provided any promises are "reciprocal".

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/ahead-of-talks-on-ukraine-blinken-says-nato-prepared-to-respond-to-russian-aggression-443219">Ahead of talks on Ukraine, Blinken says NATO prepared to respond to Russian aggression</a>

"Russia has said it feels threatened by the prospect of offensive missile systems being placed in Ukraine... The United States has no intention of doing that. So this is one area where we may be able to reach an understanding if Russia is willing to make a reciprocal commitment," said the official, who requested anonymity.&nbsp;

"Russia has also expressed an interest in discussing the future of certain missile systems in Europe, along the lines of the INF Treaty, which receive Russia violated and the previous US administration withdrew from. We are open to discussing this possibility as well," he added.

The official said that Moscow has also expressed an interest in discussing the future of certain missile systems in Europe, along the lines of the INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty). &nbsp;He added that the US is "open to discussing this.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/nato-members-express-solidarity-ahead-of-russia-talks-we-are-also-consulting-with-other-key-partners-443099">NATO members express solidarity ahead of Russia talks: 'We are also consulting with other key partners'</a>

US-Russia talks

According to a State Department spokesperson, US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman is to meet Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov for the Sunday evening talks.&nbsp;

Sherman will be accompanied by Lieutenant General James Mingus, the Joint Staff director of operations, and Ryabkov will attend the talks with Russian deputy defence minister Colonel General Aleksandr Fomin.

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(With inputs from agencies)

A senior United States administration official on Saturday (January 8) said that Washington is ready to discuss the missile systems, military exercises, Ukraine tensions with Russia.

A senior United States administration official on Saturday (January 8) said that Washington is ready to discuss the missile systems, military exercises, Ukraine tensions with Russia. The talks that could begin as early as Sunday in Geneva, media reports stated, citing a special telephone briefing for reporters. Amid escalating tensions between Russia and the West, US and Russian diplomats are meeting in Switzerland to try to defuse tensions. The senior official said that "there are some areas... where we think it might be possible to make progress," provided any promises are "reciprocal". ALSO READ | Ahead of talks on Ukraine, Blinken says NATO prepared to respond to Russian aggression "Russia has said it feels threatened by the prospect of offensive missile systems being placed in Ukraine... The United States has no intention of doing that. So this is one area where we may be able to reach an understanding if Russia is willing to make a reciprocal commitment," said the official, who requested anonymity. "Russia has also expressed an interest in discussing the future of certain missile systems in Europe, along the lines of the INF Treaty, which receive Russia violated and the previous US administration withdrew from. We are open to discussing this possibility as well," he added. The official said that Moscow has also expressed an interest in discussing the future of certain missile systems in Europe, along the lines of the INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty). He added that the US is "open to discussing this. ALSO READ | NATO members express solidarity ahead of Russia talks: 'We are also consulting with other key partners' US-Russia talks According to a State Department spokesperson, US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman is to meet Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov for the Sunday evening talks. Sherman will be accompanied by Lieutenant General James Mingus, the Joint Staff director of operations, and Ryabkov will attend the talks with Russian deputy defence minister Colonel General Aleksandr Fomin. × (With inputs from agencies)

US ready to talk missiles and military exercises in Ukraine with Russia: Official

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

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."

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An armed 25-year-old man was arrested who was on his way to the White House carrying a rifle and a ‘hit list’ which had names of President Joe Biden and the country’s medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci.

According to reports, Kuachua Brillion Xiong had an AR-15–type rifle, ammunition, and body armour when he was pulled over for driving aggressively on December 21 in Iowa state.

Xiong, who had the White House address on a GPS device, said he was on his way to “combat evil demons,” according to federal court records that were released on Tuesday.

He told investigators that he had found a “weak spot” in the building that would allow him to get inside.

During interrogation, Xiong said he was “the only person remaining who can free the United States of evil and it is necessary for him to kill those in position of power.”

According to court records, Xiong had compiled the “hit list” of targets from TikTok videos.

Apart from Biden and Fauci, the list also had names of former presidents Bill Clinton and Obama and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

“When concluding the interview, Xiong stated that nothing would stop him from carrying out his plan of gaining access to the White House and killing the persons on his hit list,” the complaint said.

Xiong also told the investigators that if released from custody he would immediately resume traveling to the White House in Washington, DC and “do whatever it takes to complete his plan”, according to the court records.

Xiong is scheduled to appear in federal court for a detention hearing on Thursday (US time), with the federal government arguing he should remain in custody for making a threat against a former president, which is a federal crime, the Times reported.

(With inputs from agencies)

An armed 25-year-old man was arrested who was on his way to the White House carrying a rifle and a ‘hit list’ which had names of President Joe Biden and the country’s medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci.

An armed 25-year-old man was arrested who was on his way to the White House carrying a rifle and a ‘hit list’ which had names of President Joe Biden and the country’s medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci. According to reports, Kuachua Brillion Xiong had an AR-15–type rifle, ammunition, and body armour when he was pulled over for driving aggressively on December 21 in Iowa state. Xiong, who had the White House address on a GPS device, said he was on his way to “combat evil demons,” according to federal court records that were released on Tuesday. He told investigators that he had found a “weak spot” in the building that would allow him to get inside. During interrogation, Xiong said he was “the only person remaining who can free the United States of evil and it is necessary for him to kill those in position of power.” According to court records, Xiong had compiled the “hit list” of targets from TikTok videos. Apart from Biden and Fauci, the list also had names of former presidents Bill Clinton and Obama and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. “When concluding the interview, Xiong stated that nothing would stop him from carrying out his plan of gaining access to the White House and killing the persons on his hit list,” the complaint said. Xiong also told the investigators that if released from custody he would immediately resume traveling to the White House in Washington, DC and “do whatever it takes to complete his plan”, according to the court records. Xiong is scheduled to appear in federal court for a detention hearing on Thursday (US time), with the federal government arguing he should remain in custody for making a threat against a former president, which is a federal crime, the Times reported. (With inputs from agencies)

25-year-old armed man with ‘hit list’ of Biden, Fauci arrested on way to White House

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