The White House has said that it would send special teams to hotspots around the US to battle the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant amid rising cases in parts of the country.

Delta Plus (B.1.617.2.1/(AY.1) is a new mutant strain of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, and has emerged as a new threat.

While the Delta variant, which was first detected by scientists in India, became a problem for the whole world, Delta Plus is currently limited to smaller areas in the country and is still under investigation. Experts believe Delta Plus has increased transmissibility but it is still not very clear as to how virulent this new strain is in comparison to other variants.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/covid-19-all-you-need-to-know-about-delta-plus-variant-393450">Also Read |&nbsp;COVID-19: All you need to know about Delta Plus variant</a>

White House Covid-19 senior adviser Jeffrey Zients told reporters that "surge response" teams would be ready to speed additional testing supplies and therapeutics to communities that were experiencing increases in Covid-19 cases.&nbsp;

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on a news call highlighted that more than 180 million people and more than 66 per cent of adults in the United States have received shots, but around 1,000 counties still have vaccination rates below 30 per cent.&nbsp;

Michael Newshel, a healthcare analyst for Evercore ISI, in a Tuesday analyst note that Nevada and Missouri have the highest rates of Covid-19 infection, and there have been recent outbreaks in states including Utah, Wyoming and Nebraska.

Medical experts are cautioning authorities and people against this new variant and are urging people to stay cautious and treat

Delta Plus as a highly infectious variant that may show resistance against monoclonal antibodies cocktail treatments. 
As of now, new specific symptoms have been reported. It is also not yet clear if the existing vaccines are effective against Delta Plus.

The White House has said that it would send special teams to hotspots around the US to battle the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant amid rising cases in parts of the country.

The White House has said that it would send special teams to hotspots around the US to battle the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant amid rising cases in parts of the country. Delta Plus (B.1.617.2.1/(AY.1) is a new mutant strain of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, and has emerged as a new threat. While the Delta variant, which was first detected by scientists in India, became a problem for the whole world, Delta Plus is currently limited to smaller areas in the country and is still under investigation. Experts believe Delta Plus has increased transmissibility but it is still not very clear as to how virulent this new strain is in comparison to other variants. Also Read | COVID-19: All you need to know about Delta Plus variant White House Covid-19 senior adviser Jeffrey Zients told reporters that "surge response" teams would be ready to speed additional testing supplies and therapeutics to communities that were experiencing increases in Covid-19 cases. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on a news call highlighted that more than 180 million people and more than 66 per cent of adults in the United States have received shots, but around 1,000 counties still have vaccination rates below 30 per cent. Michael Newshel, a healthcare analyst for Evercore ISI, in a Tuesday analyst note that Nevada and Missouri have the highest rates of Covid-19 infection, and there have been recent outbreaks in states including Utah, Wyoming and Nebraska. Medical experts are cautioning authorities and people against this new variant and are urging people to stay cautious and treat Delta Plus as a highly infectious variant that may show resistance against monoclonal antibodies cocktail treatments. As of now, new specific symptoms have been reported. It is also not yet clear if the existing vaccines are effective against Delta Plus.

White House to send special teams to hotspots due to highly contagious Delta variant

US president Joe Biden met his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani at the white house on Friday to demonstrate a continuing US commitment to Afghanistan. Watch this report to know more.

Our support for Afghanistan is not ending: Joe Biden

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

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

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

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

US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that a deal has been reached with a&nbsp;bipartisan&nbsp;group of senators to rebuild the nation's&nbsp;infrastructure, likely unlocking the most funding for roads, bridges, ports and broadband in decades.

The lawmakers have "come together and forged an agreement that will create millions of American jobs, and modernize our American&nbsp;infrastructure&nbsp;to compete with the rest of the world and own the 21st century," Biden said at the White House.

The president sat down with the senators earlier in the day to cap weeks of tense negotiations on Capitol Hill, where Democrats and Republicans have squared off over the size and scope of the funding.

But Biden hailed the breakthrough as a shining example of how Washington can reach consensus on major investments when both parties work together -- essentially a validation of his call for bipartisanship on the most necessary aspects of governing.

He described the deal as "breaking the ice that too often has kept us frozen in place and prevented us from solving the real problem facing the American people."

The deal came together late Wednesday, with the senators agreeing on a $973 billion package over five years, with some $559 billion in new funding.

Biden stressed that the massive&nbsp;plan&nbsp;-- which includes the largest-ever investment in US bridges and public transport -- met his requirement of not raising taxes on anyone making under $400,000 per year.

"We're going to do it all without raising a cent" in new taxes, he said.&nbsp;

Instead, the&nbsp;plan&nbsp;is to boost enforcement of existing tax law to recover underreported taxes from wealthier Americans.&nbsp;

"No one got everything they wanted in this package. We all gave some to get some because what we did was put first the needs of our country," said Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a centrist Democrat from Arizona.

"This does represent a&nbsp;historic investment in our country's&nbsp;infrastructure."

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy agreed, calling the bill "great progress."

"A&nbsp;bridge&nbsp;is coming near you. Not right away, not tomorrow, not next year," he said. "But we've begun the process."

'Tandem' bills&nbsp;

But negotiations on&nbsp;infrastructure&nbsp;are not over; selling the&nbsp;plan&nbsp;to Congress is just beginning.

Biden has proposed some $2 trillion in&nbsp;infrastructure&nbsp;spending over eight years, including funding for some of his priorities like climate change mitigation, child care, schools and social services.

Republicans firmly opposed any inclusion of such projects in the deal, saying only traditional&nbsp;infrastructure&nbsp;like roads, airports or broadband internet should be included.

But Democratic leaders are insisting that the "human&nbsp;infrastructure" projects be funded in a second track known as budget reconciliation, which can pass the 100-member Senate with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes necessary to advance major legislation.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/covid-19-delta-variant-is-infecting-vaccinated-people-says-israel-393811">Also Read |&nbsp;COVID-19: Delta variant is infecting vaccinated people, says Israel</a>

"We will not take up a bill in the House until the Senate passes a&nbsp;bipartisan&nbsp;bill and a reconciliation bill," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned earlier Thursday.

That statement drew applause from progressive Democrats, including congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the first votes on the&nbsp;bipartisan&nbsp;bill should be held in July.

He also said that while he was "encouraged" by the progress of the&nbsp;bipartisan&nbsp;group, he -- like Pelosi -- insists on two bills operating in tandem.

"If the Senate is going to move forward with a&nbsp;bipartisan&nbsp;infrastructure&nbsp;bill, we must also move forward on a budget resolution as well," he said.

Biden expressed support for that very&nbsp;plan, saying he will work to ensure that "both move through the legislative process promptly, and in tandem," and that if they both do not reach his desk, he will not sign either of them into law.

The president acknowledged he had no guarantee that the plans had enough votes to cross the finish line, but said that his several decades in Washington have given him "a pretty good read" of Congress.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that a deal has been reached with a bipartisan group of senators to rebuild the nation's infrastructure, likely unlocking the most funding for roads, bridges, ports and broadband in decades.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that a deal has been reached with a bipartisan group of senators to rebuild the nation's infrastructure, likely unlocking the most funding for roads, bridges, ports and broadband in decades. The lawmakers have "come together and forged an agreement that will create millions of American jobs, and modernize our American infrastructure to compete with the rest of the world and own the 21st century," Biden said at the White House. The president sat down with the senators earlier in the day to cap weeks of tense negotiations on Capitol Hill, where Democrats and Republicans have squared off over the size and scope of the funding. But Biden hailed the breakthrough as a shining example of how Washington can reach consensus on major investments when both parties work together -- essentially a validation of his call for bipartisanship on the most necessary aspects of governing. He described the deal as "breaking the ice that too often has kept us frozen in place and prevented us from solving the real problem facing the American people." The deal came together late Wednesday, with the senators agreeing on a $973 billion package over five years, with some $559 billion in new funding. Biden stressed that the massive plan -- which includes the largest-ever investment in US bridges and public transport -- met his requirement of not raising taxes on anyone making under $400,000 per year. "We're going to do it all without raising a cent" in new taxes, he said. Instead, the plan is to boost enforcement of existing tax law to recover underreported taxes from wealthier Americans. "No one got everything they wanted in this package. We all gave some to get some because what we did was put first the needs of our country," said Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a centrist Democrat from Arizona. "This does represent a historic investment in our country's infrastructure." Republican Senator Bill Cassidy agreed, calling the bill "great progress." "A bridge is coming near you. Not right away, not tomorrow, not next year," he said. "But we've begun the process." 'Tandem' bills But negotiations on infrastructure are not over; selling the plan to Congress is just beginning. Biden has proposed some $2 trillion in infrastructure spending over eight years, including funding for some of his priorities like climate change mitigation, child care, schools and social services. Republicans firmly opposed any inclusion of such projects in the deal, saying only traditional infrastructure like roads, airports or broadband internet should be included. But Democratic leaders are insisting that the "human infrastructure" projects be funded in a second track known as budget reconciliation, which can pass the 100-member Senate with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes necessary to advance major legislation. Also Read | COVID-19: Delta variant is infecting vaccinated people, says Israel "We will not take up a bill in the House until the Senate passes a bipartisan bill and a reconciliation bill," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned earlier Thursday. That statement drew applause from progressive Democrats, including congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the first votes on the bipartisan bill should be held in July. He also said that while he was "encouraged" by the progress of the bipartisan group, he -- like Pelosi -- insists on two bills operating in tandem. "If the Senate is going to move forward with a bipartisan infrastructure bill, we must also move forward on a budget resolution as well," he said. Biden expressed support for that very plan, saying he will work to ensure that "both move through the legislative process promptly, and in tandem," and that if they both do not reach his desk, he will not sign either of them into law. The president acknowledged he had no guarantee that the plans had enough votes to cross the finish line, but said that his several decades in Washington have given him "a pretty good read" of Congress.

White House, lawmakers strike deal on infrastructure

US&nbsp;President Joe Biden believes steps are needed to safeguard privacy, bolster innovation and deal with other problems created by big technology platforms, the White House said on Tuesday, signaling his support for legislation concerning Big Tech. 
 
Biden is encouraged by bipartisan work underway in Congress to tackle these issues, the official said, a day before the US&nbsp;House Judiciary Committee votes on a package of antitrust bills, some of which target the market power of large tech firms. 
 
"These platforms have transformed our daily lives, and showcase our country's ingenuity and potential, but also create real problems for users, small businesses, and tech startups," said the White House official. 
 
"The president believes we need to address the problems these platforms create to protect privacy, generate more innovation, and make sure the great tech companies of the future can emerge and grow right here in the US," the official said. 
 
The House Judiciary Committee will vote on Wednesday on a package of six antitrust bills, including two that address the issue of giant companies, such as Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, creating a platform for other businesses and then competing against those same businesses. 
 
The legislation drew fire on Tuesday from the US&nbsp;Chamber of Commerce, the largest US&nbsp;business group, which warned it would have 'dangerous consequences for America'. 
 
It said antitrust laws 'should not be rigged against a small number of companies'. 
 
The White House hoped the bipartisan proposals would move forward in the legislative process and looked forward to working with Congress on the issue, the official added. 
 
In a separate development, the Federal Trade Commission, whose new chairwoman has been critical of Amazon, has decided to review the company`s planned purchase of US&nbsp;movie studio MGM, a source familiar with the matter said. 
 
Lina Khan was sworn in as FTC chair on June 15 in what was broadly seen as a victory for progressives seeking tougher antitrust enforcement. 
 
(With inputs from agencies)

US President Joe Biden believes steps are needed to safeguard privacy, bolster innovation and deal with other problems created by big technology platforms, the White House said on Tuesday, signaling his support for legislation concerning Big Tech.

US President Joe Biden believes steps are needed to safeguard privacy, bolster innovation and deal with other problems created by big technology platforms, the White House said on Tuesday, signaling his support for legislation concerning Big Tech. Biden is encouraged by bipartisan work underway in Congress to tackle these issues, the official said, a day before the US House Judiciary Committee votes on a package of antitrust bills, some of which target the market power of large tech firms. "These platforms have transformed our daily lives, and showcase our country's ingenuity and potential, but also create real problems for users, small businesses, and tech startups," said the White House official. "The president believes we need to address the problems these platforms create to protect privacy, generate more innovation, and make sure the great tech companies of the future can emerge and grow right here in the US," the official said. The House Judiciary Committee will vote on Wednesday on a package of six antitrust bills, including two that address the issue of giant companies, such as Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, creating a platform for other businesses and then competing against those same businesses. The legislation drew fire on Tuesday from the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest US business group, which warned it would have 'dangerous consequences for America'. It said antitrust laws 'should not be rigged against a small number of companies'. The White House hoped the bipartisan proposals would move forward in the legislative process and looked forward to working with Congress on the issue, the official added. In a separate development, the Federal Trade Commission, whose new chairwoman has been critical of Amazon, has decided to review the company`s planned purchase of US movie studio MGM, a source familiar with the matter said. Lina Khan was sworn in as FTC chair on June 15 in what was broadly seen as a victory for progressives seeking tougher antitrust enforcement. (With inputs from agencies)

Biden sees work needed to address problems created by big tech firms: White House

White House downplayed Ebrahim Raisi's influence by saying that there are currently no plans for US President Joe Biden to meet with Iran's newly elected leader. In a news conference on Monday, Raisi backed talks to salvage a tattered nuclear deal with Washington but ruled out personally meeting with Biden.

White House: No plans for Joe Biden to meet Iran's new leader Raisi

The United States said on Sunday it saw as an "interesting signal" North Korean leader&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;Jong Un's comments that he is ready for "dialogue and confrontation," but added that Washington was still waiting for direct communication from Pyongyang to start any talks relating to the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

In his first direct comments on US President Joe Biden's administration,&nbsp;Kim&nbsp;urged preparation for both dialogue and confrontation with the United States, particularly the latter, state news agency KCNA said on Friday.

Speaking in an interview with ABC News, US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington would still need a direct and clear response from Pyongyang expressing its willingness for talks.

"His comments this week we regard as an interesting signal and we will wait to see whether they are followed up with any kind of more direct communication to us about a potential path forward," Sullivan said. "The clear signal they could send is to say 'yes, let's do it. Let's sit down and begin negotiations.'"

Kim's remarks came two days before the newly appointed US envoy for North Korea, Sung&nbsp;Kim, was set to arrive in South Korea on his first visit since taking up the role last month.

He will hold talks with South Korean and Japanese counterparts and meet other Seoul officials during his stay until June 23, the State Department said on Thursday.

North Korea lashed out at the United States and its ally, South Korea, last month, saying Washington's comments on its North Korean policy were proof of a hostile approach that required a corresponding response from Pyongyang.

The United States said on Sunday it saw as an "interesting signal" North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's comments that he is ready for "dialogue and confrontation," but added that Washington was still waiting for direct communication from Pyongyang to start any talks relating to the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

The United States said on Sunday it saw as an "interesting signal" North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's comments that he is ready for "dialogue and confrontation," but added that Washington was still waiting for direct communication from Pyongyang to start any talks relating to the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. In his first direct comments on US President Joe Biden's administration, Kim urged preparation for both dialogue and confrontation with the United States, particularly the latter, state news agency KCNA said on Friday. Speaking in an interview with ABC News, US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington would still need a direct and clear response from Pyongyang expressing its willingness for talks. "His comments this week we regard as an interesting signal and we will wait to see whether they are followed up with any kind of more direct communication to us about a potential path forward," Sullivan said. "The clear signal they could send is to say 'yes, let's do it. Let's sit down and begin negotiations.'" Kim's remarks came two days before the newly appointed US envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, was set to arrive in South Korea on his first visit since taking up the role last month. He will hold talks with South Korean and Japanese counterparts and meet other Seoul officials during his stay until June 23, the State Department said on Thursday. North Korea lashed out at the United States and its ally, South Korea, last month, saying Washington's comments on its North Korean policy were proof of a hostile approach that required a corresponding response from Pyongyang.

White House says comments by N.Korea's Kim are 'interesting signal'

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on Saturday, June 19, announced the passing away of their pet, Champ. "Our hearts are heavy today as we let you all know that our beloved German Shepherd, Champ, passed away peacefully at home", read a statement released by the President and the first lady.&nbsp;

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Our family lost our loving companion Champ today. I will miss him. <a href="https://t.co/sePqXBIAsE">pic.twitter.com/sePqXBIAsE</a>
— President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1406273358187044868?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Biden continued the tradition of having pets inside the White House. Champ was one of two German Shepherds living at the White House with the Bidens. The other one is Major, who is the first rescue dog to live in the White House. &nbsp;The Bidens adopted him in November 2018 from the Delaware Humane Association. Champ, also a German Shepherd, joined the family in 2008.

However, Major had to be briefly removed from the premises after two incidents of nipping staff at the White House.

Former President Barack Obama was dog-less while campaigning, but promised his daughters Sasha and Malia a puppy during his acceptance speech after winning the 2008 election. The Obamas eventually had a Portuguese Water Dog called Bo who was gifted to the family by the late Senator Ted Kennedy.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/lifestyle/news-white-house-to-be-home-for-joe-bidens-pets-major-and-champ-a-brief-history-on-first-pets-of-america-357949">Also Read |&nbsp;White House to be home for Joe Biden's pets Major and Champ: A brief history on 'first pets' of America&nbsp;</a>

The Obamas adopted a second dog of the same breed, Sunny, in 2013, according to the Presidential Pet Museum.

The 'first pets' of America enjoy perks as well. Like George W Bush`s Scottish Terrier, Barney, flew on Air Force One and starred in `Barney Cam` videos to celebrate the holiday season. "He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend," Bush said when Barney died in 2013.

The Clintons` Chocolate Labrador Retriever, Buddy, joined cat Socks at the White House; while George HW Bush and family had several dogs in the White House, including Millie, the star of a children`s book written by Bush`s wife Barbara.

About 67% of all U.S. homes had a pet in 2019, up from 56% three decades ago, the American Pet Products Association reported last year.

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on Saturday, June 19, announced the passing away of their pet, Champ. "Our hearts are heavy today as we let you all know that our beloved German Shepherd, Champ, passed away peacefully at home", read a statement released by the President and the first lady.

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on Saturday, June 19, announced the passing away of their pet, Champ. "Our hearts are heavy today as we let you all know that our beloved German Shepherd, Champ, passed away peacefully at home", read a statement released by the President and the first lady. Our family lost our loving companion Champ today. I will miss him. pic.twitter.com/sePqXBIAsE — President Biden (@POTUS) June 19, 2021 × Biden continued the tradition of having pets inside the White House. Champ was one of two German Shepherds living at the White House with the Bidens. The other one is Major, who is the first rescue dog to live in the White House. The Bidens adopted him in November 2018 from the Delaware Humane Association. Champ, also a German Shepherd, joined the family in 2008. However, Major had to be briefly removed from the premises after two incidents of nipping staff at the White House. Former President Barack Obama was dog-less while campaigning, but promised his daughters Sasha and Malia a puppy during his acceptance speech after winning the 2008 election. The Obamas eventually had a Portuguese Water Dog called Bo who was gifted to the family by the late Senator Ted Kennedy. Also Read | White House to be home for Joe Biden's pets Major and Champ: A brief history on 'first pets' of America The Obamas adopted a second dog of the same breed, Sunny, in 2013, according to the Presidential Pet Museum. The 'first pets' of America enjoy perks as well. Like George W Bush`s Scottish Terrier, Barney, flew on Air Force One and starred in `Barney Cam` videos to celebrate the holiday season. "He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend," Bush said when Barney died in 2013. The Clintons` Chocolate Labrador Retriever, Buddy, joined cat Socks at the White House; while George HW Bush and family had several dogs in the White House, including Millie, the star of a children`s book written by Bush`s wife Barbara. About 67% of all U.S. homes had a pet in 2019, up from 56% three decades ago, the American Pet Products Association reported last year.

Biden's German Shepherd Champ dies; President, first lady pay tribute

The Justice Department subpoenaed Apple for information in February 2018 about an account that belonged to Donald McGahn, former President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump’s</a> White House counsel at the time, and barred the company from telling him about it, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Apple told McGahn about the subpoena last month, said one of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. McGahn’s wife also received a similar notice from Apple, the person said.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/everyone-should-ban-them-trump-hails-nigerias-twitter-ban-390424" hreflang="en">'Everyone should ban them': Trump hails Nigeria's Twitter ban</a>

It is not clear what FBI agents were investigating, whether McGahn was their specific focus or whether he was swept up in a larger net because he had communicated with someone who was under scrutiny. As the top lawyer for the 2016 Trump campaign and then the White House counsel, McGahn was in contact with numerous people who may have drawn attention either as part of the Russia investigation or a later leak inquiry.

Still, the disclosure that agents had collected data of a sitting White House counsel, which they kept secret for years, is extraordinary.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/directionless-and-poor-management-senate-report-highlights-faulty-leadership-during-capitol-riots-390235" hreflang="en">Directionless and poor management: Senate report highlights faulty leadership during Capitol riots</a>

And it comes amid a political backlash after revelations that the Trump administration secretly seized the personal data of reporters and Democrats in Congress from phone and tech companies while investigating leaks.

Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill on Sunday ratcheted up pressure on the Justice Department and former officials to provide a fuller accounting of events. They called on the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, John Demers, and the former deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, to testify before Congress along with former attorneys general Jeff Sessions and William Barr.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-was-scared-biden-would-be-replaced-with-hillary-clinton-or-michelle-obama-book-claims-390209" hreflang="en">Trump was scared Biden would be replaced with Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama, book claims</a>

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment, as did a lawyer for McGahn. An Apple representative did not respond to a request for comment.

Apple told McGahn that it had complied with the subpoena in a timely fashion but declined to tell him what it had provided the government, according to a person briefed on the matter. Under Justice Department policy, gag orders for subpoenas may be renewed for up to a year at a time, suggesting that prosecutors went to court several times to prevent Apple from notifying the McGahns earlier.

In investigations, agents sometimes compile a large list of phone numbers and email addresses that were in contact with a subject, and seek to identify all those people by using subpoenas to communications companies for any account information like names, computer addresses and credit card numbers associated with them.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/our-president-donald-trump-attacks-fauci-hints-at-re-run-in-2024-election-390165" hreflang="en">'Our president': Donald Trump attacks Fauci, hints at re-run in 2024 election</a>

Apple told the McGahns that it had received the subpoena Feb. 23, 2018, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Under federal law, prosecutors generally need to obtain permission from a federal judge in order to compel a company like Apple to delay notifying people that their personal information has been subpoenaed, said Paul Rosen, a former federal prosecutor and a partner at Crowell and Moring.

“There is a lot here we don’t know, including the facts and circumstances surrounding the request for the delay and what was presented to the judge,” Rosen said. But, he added, prosecutors typically need to prove that either notifying the person “would endanger someone’s safety, risk the destruction of evidence or intimidation of witnesses, or seriously jeopardize an investigation.”

The subpoena was issued by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, the other person familiar with the matter said.

It is not clear why prosecutors obtained the subpoena. But several notable developments were unfolding around that time.

The federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia was the center of one part of the Russia inquiry led by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, that focused on Paul Manafort, a former chair of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.

Because McGahn had been the top lawyer for the Trump campaign in 2016, it is possible that at some earlier point he had been among those in contact with someone whose account the Mueller team was scrutinizing in early 2018.

Notably, Manafort had been hit with new fraud charges unsealed the day before the subpoena. Subsequent developments revealed that Mueller’s investigators were closely scrutinizing some of his communications accounts in the following days.

On the other hand, the Manafort case was largely handled in the District of Columbia, where he faced separate charges. Still, the Mueller team was also working with federal prosecutors in Virginia during that period on an unregistered foreign agent case related to Turkey and a business partner of Michael Flynn’s, Trump’s former national security adviser who had also advised him during the 2016 campaign.

It was also around that time that McGahn was involved in another matter related to the Russia investigation, one that included a leak.

In late January 2018, The New York Times reported, based on confidential sourcing, that Trump had ordered McGahn the previous June to have the Justice Department remove Mueller, but McGahn had refused to do so and threatened to resign. The Washington Post confirmed that account soon after in a follow-up article.

The Mueller report — and McGahn in private testimony before the House Judiciary Committee this month — described Trump’s anger at McGahn after the Times article and how he had tried to persuade McGahn to make a statement falsely denying it. Trump told aides that McGahn was a “liar” and a “leaker,” according to former Trump administration officials. In his testimony, McGahn said that he had been a source for the Post’s follow-up to clarify a nuance — to whom he had conveyed his intentions to resign — but he had not been a source for the original Times article.

There are reasons to doubt that McGahn was the target of any Justice Department leak investigation stemming from that episode, however. Information about Trump’s orders to dismiss Mueller, for example, would not appear to be a classified national security secret of the sort that it can be a crime to disclose.

&nbsp;

The Justice Department subpoenaed Apple for information in February 2018 about an account that belonged to Donald McGahn, former President Donald Trump’s White House counsel at the time, and barred the company from telling him about it, according to two people briefed on the matter.

The Justice Department subpoenaed Apple for information in February 2018 about an account that belonged to Donald McGahn, former President Donald Trump’s White House counsel at the time, and barred the company from telling him about it, according to two people briefed on the matter. Apple told McGahn about the subpoena last month, said one of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. McGahn’s wife also received a similar notice from Apple, the person said. Also read | 'Everyone should ban them': Trump hails Nigeria's Twitter ban It is not clear what FBI agents were investigating, whether McGahn was their specific focus or whether he was swept up in a larger net because he had communicated with someone who was under scrutiny. As the top lawyer for the 2016 Trump campaign and then the White House counsel, McGahn was in contact with numerous people who may have drawn attention either as part of the Russia investigation or a later leak inquiry. Still, the disclosure that agents had collected data of a sitting White House counsel, which they kept secret for years, is extraordinary. Also read | Directionless and poor management: Senate report highlights faulty leadership during Capitol riots And it comes amid a political backlash after revelations that the Trump administration secretly seized the personal data of reporters and Democrats in Congress from phone and tech companies while investigating leaks. Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill on Sunday ratcheted up pressure on the Justice Department and former officials to provide a fuller accounting of events. They called on the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, John Demers, and the former deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, to testify before Congress along with former attorneys general Jeff Sessions and William Barr. Also read | Trump was scared Biden would be replaced with Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama, book claims A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment, as did a lawyer for McGahn. An Apple representative did not respond to a request for comment. Apple told McGahn that it had complied with the subpoena in a timely fashion but declined to tell him what it had provided the government, according to a person briefed on the matter. Under Justice Department policy, gag orders for subpoenas may be renewed for up to a year at a time, suggesting that prosecutors went to court several times to prevent Apple from notifying the McGahns earlier. In investigations, agents sometimes compile a large list of phone numbers and email addresses that were in contact with a subject, and seek to identify all those people by using subpoenas to communications companies for any account information like names, computer addresses and credit card numbers associated with them. Also read | 'Our president': Donald Trump attacks Fauci, hints at re-run in 2024 election Apple told the McGahns that it had received the subpoena Feb. 23, 2018, according to a person briefed on the matter. Under federal law, prosecutors generally need to obtain permission from a federal judge in order to compel a company like Apple to delay notifying people that their personal information has been subpoenaed, said Paul Rosen, a former federal prosecutor and a partner at Crowell and Moring. “There is a lot here we don’t know, including the facts and circumstances surrounding the request for the delay and what was presented to the judge,” Rosen said. But, he added, prosecutors typically need to prove that either notifying the person “would endanger someone’s safety, risk the destruction of evidence or intimidation of witnesses, or seriously jeopardize an investigation.” The subpoena was issued by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, the other person familiar with the matter said. It is not clear why prosecutors obtained the subpoena. But several notable developments were unfolding around that time. The federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia was the center of one part of the Russia inquiry led by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, that focused on Paul Manafort, a former chair of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. Because McGahn had been the top lawyer for the Trump campaign in 2016, it is possible that at some earlier point he had been among those in contact with someone whose account the Mueller team was scrutinizing in early 2018. Notably, Manafort had been hit with new fraud charges unsealed the day before the subpoena. Subsequent developments revealed that Mueller’s investigators were closely scrutinizing some of his communications accounts in the following days. On the other hand, the Manafort case was largely handled in the District of Columbia, where he faced separate charges. Still, the Mueller team was also working with federal prosecutors in Virginia during that period on an unregistered foreign agent case related to Turkey and a business partner of Michael Flynn’s, Trump’s former national security adviser who had also advised him during the 2016 campaign. It was also around that time that McGahn was involved in another matter related to the Russia investigation, one that included a leak. In late January 2018, The New York Times reported, based on confidential sourcing, that Trump had ordered McGahn the previous June to have the Justice Department remove Mueller, but McGahn had refused to do so and threatened to resign. The Washington Post confirmed that account soon after in a follow-up article. The Mueller report — and McGahn in private testimony before the House Judiciary Committee this month — described Trump’s anger at McGahn after the Times article and how he had tried to persuade McGahn to make a statement falsely denying it. Trump told aides that McGahn was a “liar” and a “leaker,” according to former Trump administration officials. In his testimony, McGahn said that he had been a source for the Post’s follow-up to clarify a nuance — to whom he had conveyed his intentions to resign — but he had not been a source for the original Times article. There are reasons to doubt that McGahn was the target of any Justice Department leak investigation stemming from that episode, however. Information about Trump’s orders to dismiss Mueller, for example, would not appear to be a classified national security secret of the sort that it can be a crime to disclose.

Apple is said to have turned over data on Trump’s White House counsel in 2018

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday G7 leaders rallied around the need to "counter and compete" with China on challenges ranging from safeguarding democracy to the technology race. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-says-autocrat-putins-russia-might-be-weaker-than-it-seems-391216">Also read: Biden says 'autocrat' Putin's Russia might be weaker than it seems</a>

On China, the G7 meeting was "a significant move forward from where the G7 has ever been before and reflects a growing convergence that wasn't there a few years ago," Sullivan said aboard Air Force One on its way to Brussels. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/g7-adopts-global-infrastructure-plan-an-answer-to-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-391026">Also read: G7 adopts global infrastructure plan, an answer to China's Belt and Road Initiative</a> 
 
"There is a broad view that China represents a significant challenge to the world's democracies," Sullivan said, adding that leaders agreed on the need for a common agenda in addressing China, including elements where they would "stand up and counter and compete." 
 
Watch:

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/g7-summit-2021-whats-on-the-agenda-watch-wions-special-coverage-391193/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"Words like counter and compete were words coming out of the mouths of every leader in the room, not just Joe Biden," he said.

The Group of Seven rich nations pledged on Sunday to tackle China's growing influence, singling out China in their communique over human rights in Xinjiang and demanding freedoms and a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong.

Asked to comment on China's remarks about the G7 summit that days were over when "a small group of countries" decided the fate of the world, Sullivan said:

"That is sad. If their claim is that all of the other world's largest economies count as small countries, then they have a massive problem of perspective."

G7 leaders also sought to counter China's growing influence by offering developing countries an infrastructure plan that could rival Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative by supporting projects such as railways in Africa and wind farms in Asia.

Beijing has repeatedly hit back against what it perceives as attempts by Western powers to contain China. It says many major powers are still gripped by an outdated imperial mindset after years of humiliating China.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday G7 leaders rallied around the need to "counter and compete" with China on challenges ranging from safeguarding democracy to the technology race.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday G7 leaders rallied around the need to "counter and compete" with China on challenges ranging from safeguarding democracy to the technology race. Also read: Biden says 'autocrat' Putin's Russia might be weaker than it seems On China, the G7 meeting was "a significant move forward from where the G7 has ever been before and reflects a growing convergence that wasn't there a few years ago," Sullivan said aboard Air Force One on its way to Brussels. Also read: G7 adopts global infrastructure plan, an answer to China's Belt and Road Initiative "There is a broad view that China represents a significant challenge to the world's democracies," Sullivan said, adding that leaders agreed on the need for a common agenda in addressing China, including elements where they would "stand up and counter and compete." Watch: "Words like counter and compete were words coming out of the mouths of every leader in the room, not just Joe Biden," he said. The Group of Seven rich nations pledged on Sunday to tackle China's growing influence, singling out China in their communique over human rights in Xinjiang and demanding freedoms and a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong. Asked to comment on China's remarks about the G7 summit that days were over when "a small group of countries" decided the fate of the world, Sullivan said: "That is sad. If their claim is that all of the other world's largest economies count as small countries, then they have a massive problem of perspective." G7 leaders also sought to counter China's growing influence by offering developing countries an infrastructure plan that could rival Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative by supporting projects such as railways in Africa and wind farms in Asia. Beijing has repeatedly hit back against what it perceives as attempts by Western powers to contain China. It says many major powers are still gripped by an outdated imperial mindset after years of humiliating China.

G7 rally around the need to 'counter and compete' with China: White House

The summit meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next week in Geneva is about communicating America's views to the Russians and not about deliverables, the White House has said.

Biden and Putin are scheduled to meet in Geneva on June 16, after the US president attends the G-7 Summit in the United Kingdom, a NATO meeting and the US-European Union Summit in Brussels.

"We don't think in terms of US-Russia Summits as being about deliverables because if you are going to wait for really significant deliverables you could be waiting a long time conceivably," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House on Monday.

"So what we need to think about the summit is doing and is fundamentally, is giving us an opportunity to communicate from our president to their president what American intentions and capabilities are and to hear the same from their side. That has value in and of itself," he said.

Responding to a question, Sullivan said in terms of the timing, it is hard from US perspective to find a better context for a meeting with the Russian president than after time spent with the world's leading market economies, the G7, plus India, South Korea, Australia and South Africa.

"After his meeting with the presidents of the European Union. And then, and only then going into this session to be able to talk through the complex set of issues in the US-Russia relationship. That from our perspective is the right context within which to engage Russia," he said.

On the US-Russia Summit, he said as far as whether it comes too early in his presidency, "if you think about what we've dealt with from the outset on Russia it has been a busy time". "We've extended the New START Agreement. We've imposed costs for election interference and for SolarWinds. We've dealt with a Russian build up on the Ukraine border and of course, we are contending with a range of issues on the cyber and ransomware domain. So we feel that it is an effective and appropriate context and time period for us to have this summit," Sullivan said.

He said the relationship between the US and Russia is not about relationship and trust. "It's about a relationship of verification, it's about a relationship of clarifying what our expectations are and laying out that if certain types of harmful activities continue to occur there will be responses from the United States," Sullivan said.

(With inputs from agencies)

The summit meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next week in Geneva is about communicating America's views to the Russians and not about deliverables, the White House has said.

The summit meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin next week in Geneva is about communicating America's views to the Russians and not about deliverables, the White House has said. Biden and Putin are scheduled to meet in Geneva on June 16, after the US president attends the G-7 Summit in the United Kingdom, a NATO meeting and the US-European Union Summit in Brussels. "We don't think in terms of US-Russia Summits as being about deliverables because if you are going to wait for really significant deliverables you could be waiting a long time conceivably," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House on Monday. "So what we need to think about the summit is doing and is fundamentally, is giving us an opportunity to communicate from our president to their president what American intentions and capabilities are and to hear the same from their side. That has value in and of itself," he said. Responding to a question, Sullivan said in terms of the timing, it is hard from US perspective to find a better context for a meeting with the Russian president than after time spent with the world's leading market economies, the G7, plus India, South Korea, Australia and South Africa. "After his meeting with the presidents of the European Union. And then, and only then going into this session to be able to talk through the complex set of issues in the US-Russia relationship. That from our perspective is the right context within which to engage Russia," he said. On the US-Russia Summit, he said as far as whether it comes too early in his presidency, "if you think about what we've dealt with from the outset on Russia it has been a busy time". "We've extended the New START Agreement. We've imposed costs for election interference and for SolarWinds. We've dealt with a Russian build up on the Ukraine border and of course, we are contending with a range of issues on the cyber and ransomware domain. So we feel that it is an effective and appropriate context and time period for us to have this summit," Sullivan said. He said the relationship between the US and Russia is not about relationship and trust. "It's about a relationship of verification, it's about a relationship of clarifying what our expectations are and laying out that if certain types of harmful activities continue to occur there will be responses from the United States," Sullivan said. (With inputs from agencies)

Summit meeting with Russia is to communicate and not about deliverables: White House

President Joe Biden has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a White House visit this summer.&nbsp;

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden extended the invitation during a phone call on Monday with Zelenskyy, who has publicly raised concerns about the US&nbsp;President's plan to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and about a nearly completed Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline that would allow Russia to bypass Ukraine.

Biden made the invitation during a call that had been planned in advance of Biden's trip to Europe that culminates with a stop in Geneva next week for a face-to-face meeting with Putin as tensions in the US-Russia relationship remain high.

Zelenskyy tweeted his response: "Thank you @POTUS @JoeBiden for inviting me to visit the @WhiteHouse in July during our phone conversation. I look forward to this meeting to discuss ways to expand strategic cooperation between Ukraine and #USA."

Sullivan said Biden and Zelenskyy had the 'opportunity to talk at some length about all of the issues in the US-Ukraine relationship and President Biden was able to tell President Zelenskyy that he will stand up firmly for Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and its aspirations as we go forward."

The Ukrainians also indicated that the Biden administration had committed to sharing 900,000 COVID-19 vaccines with Kyiv. Last week, the White House announced plans to share 80 million vaccine doses 'most through the United Nations-backed COVAX programme'&nbsp;by the end of June.

About 6 million in the initial distribution of 25 million were to be directed by the White House to US&nbsp;Allies and partners, including Mexico, Canada, South Korea, the West Bank and Gaza, India, Ukraine, Kosovo, Haiti, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Yemen, as well as to United Nations frontline workers.

"It will save the lives of many Ukrainians," Zelenskky said in a statement.&nbsp;The Biden administration disappointed Ukraine 'as well as many Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Washington' when it announced last month that it would not punish the German company overseeing the Russia-to-Germany pipeline known as Nord Stream 2, because it did not want to levy sanctions against an important European ally.

Russian gas currently flows through Ukraine en route to Europe, and Zelenskyy was hopeful that Biden would move to block the project that faced bipartisan opposition in Congress.

Zelenskyy reiterated his concerns about the pipeline during the call, according to the statement from his office.

 
Zelenskyy, in an interview with Axios published on Sunday, said he had urged Biden to join him 'at any moment and at any spot on the planet' before the planned Geneva meeting with Putin next week.

Ukraine has harbored hopes for increased military aid during the Biden administration and is looking for backing in its bid for NATO membership. Ukraine has long battled against Russia-backed separatists in the east and in the halls of government in Kyiv.

Crimea and large swaths of eastern Ukraine's Donbas region are under Russian occupation. Fighting in the region has claimed thousands of Ukrainian lives.

Russia launched a buildup of troops near the border earlier this year before announcing in April that it would pull back those forces.

The provocative move alarmed the US&nbsp;and other European allies. Zelenskyy, in the call, emphasised to Biden that there was still a high concentration of Russian troops and heavy weaponry there.

Zelenskyy found himself ensnared in former President Donald Trump's first impeachment, which centered around a 16-minute phone call in which Trump pressured the Ukrainian leader to investigate Biden and his son's dealings in the Eastern European nation in 2019.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

President Joe Biden has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a White House visit this summer. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden extended the invitation during a phone call on Monday with Zelenskyy, who has publicly raised concerns about the US President's plan to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and about a nearly completed Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline that would allow Russia to bypass Ukraine.

President Joe Biden has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a White House visit this summer. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden extended the invitation during a phone call on Monday with Zelenskyy, who has publicly raised concerns about the US President's plan to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and about a nearly completed Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline that would allow Russia to bypass Ukraine. Biden made the invitation during a call that had been planned in advance of Biden's trip to Europe that culminates with a stop in Geneva next week for a face-to-face meeting with Putin as tensions in the US-Russia relationship remain high. Zelenskyy tweeted his response: "Thank you @POTUS @JoeBiden for inviting me to visit the @WhiteHouse in July during our phone conversation. I look forward to this meeting to discuss ways to expand strategic cooperation between Ukraine and #USA." Sullivan said Biden and Zelenskyy had the 'opportunity to talk at some length about all of the issues in the US-Ukraine relationship and President Biden was able to tell President Zelenskyy that he will stand up firmly for Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and its aspirations as we go forward." The Ukrainians also indicated that the Biden administration had committed to sharing 900,000 COVID-19 vaccines with Kyiv. Last week, the White House announced plans to share 80 million vaccine doses 'most through the United Nations-backed COVAX programme' by the end of June. About 6 million in the initial distribution of 25 million were to be directed by the White House to US Allies and partners, including Mexico, Canada, South Korea, the West Bank and Gaza, India, Ukraine, Kosovo, Haiti, Georgia, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Yemen, as well as to United Nations frontline workers. "It will save the lives of many Ukrainians," Zelenskky said in a statement. The Biden administration disappointed Ukraine 'as well as many Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Washington' when it announced last month that it would not punish the German company overseeing the Russia-to-Germany pipeline known as Nord Stream 2, because it did not want to levy sanctions against an important European ally. Russian gas currently flows through Ukraine en route to Europe, and Zelenskyy was hopeful that Biden would move to block the project that faced bipartisan opposition in Congress. Zelenskyy reiterated his concerns about the pipeline during the call, according to the statement from his office. Zelenskyy, in an interview with Axios published on Sunday, said he had urged Biden to join him 'at any moment and at any spot on the planet' before the planned Geneva meeting with Putin next week. Ukraine has harbored hopes for increased military aid during the Biden administration and is looking for backing in its bid for NATO membership. Ukraine has long battled against Russia-backed separatists in the east and in the halls of government in Kyiv. Crimea and large swaths of eastern Ukraine's Donbas region are under Russian occupation. Fighting in the region has claimed thousands of Ukrainian lives. Russia launched a buildup of troops near the border earlier this year before announcing in April that it would pull back those forces. The provocative move alarmed the US and other European allies. Zelenskyy, in the call, emphasised to Biden that there was still a high concentration of Russian troops and heavy weaponry there. Zelenskyy found himself ensnared in former President Donald Trump's first impeachment, which centered around a 16-minute phone call in which Trump pressured the Ukrainian leader to investigate Biden and his son's dealings in the Eastern European nation in 2019. (With inputs from agencies)

Biden invites Ukrainian president to White House this summer

US President Joe Biden on Thursday expanded a blacklist of Chinese firms that are off-limits to American investors over their links to Beijing's "military-industrial complex," in a sign of Washington's continued pressure campaign against China.

Former US President Donald Trump had prohibited Americans from buying stakes in 31 Chinese companies that were deemed to be supplying or supporting China's military and security apparatus, and Biden's move expands the blacklist to 59.

Also Read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-to-review-donald-trumps-china-investment-blacklist-report-389225">Biden to review Donald Trump's China investment blacklist: Report</a>

The latest batch of sanctions target companies involved in Chinese surveillance technology used to "facilitate repression or serious human rights abuses," which "undermine the security or democratic values of the United States and our allies," according to a White House statement.

The initial list published under Trump included major telecoms, construction and technology firms such as China Mobile, China Telecom, video surveillance firm Hikvision, and China Railway Construction Corp.

It was among a series of measures by the White House aimed at the Asian giant, which have left ties between the two countries severely strained.

Also Read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-to-blacklist-dozens-of-chinese-firms-including-smic-report-says-350642">US to blacklist dozens of Chinese firms including SMIC, report says</a>

Before the US order was released, Beijing repeated its outrage at the Trump-era blacklist Thursday and vowed to protect Chinese companies' rights, claiming the blacklist was "politically motivated" and "ignores the facts and actual situation" of the firms involved.

The ban "severely undermines normal market rules and order" and "damages... the interests of global investors, including US investors," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a routine briefing.

Previously, the sanctions and choice of targets were tied to a congressionally mandated Defense Department report.

While the Biden administration has pledged to take a more diplomatic line with China following the upheaval of his predecessor, he has said he will keep to a strict line on several issues including defense and technology.

Also Read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-delays-chinese-investment-bans-impact-on-certain-firms-359737">US delays Chinese investment ban's impact on certain firms</a>

A tough line on China has rare cross-party support in Congress, with lawmakers determined to keep a lid on its growing global clout.

Republican senators Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio, alongside Democrats Gary Peters and Mark Kelly, published a bi-partisan letter earlier this week urging the administration to publish a new list.

"The US government must continue to act boldly in blocking the Chinese Communist Party's economic predation against our industrial base," they said.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday expanded a blacklist of Chinese firms that are off-limits to American investors over their links to Beijing's "military-industrial complex," in a sign of Washington's continued pressure campaign against China.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday expanded a blacklist of Chinese firms that are off-limits to American investors over their links to Beijing's "military-industrial complex," in a sign of Washington's continued pressure campaign against China. Former US President Donald Trump had prohibited Americans from buying stakes in 31 Chinese companies that were deemed to be supplying or supporting China's military and security apparatus, and Biden's move expands the blacklist to 59. Also Read | Biden to review Donald Trump's China investment blacklist: Report The latest batch of sanctions target companies involved in Chinese surveillance technology used to "facilitate repression or serious human rights abuses," which "undermine the security or democratic values of the United States and our allies," according to a White House statement. The initial list published under Trump included major telecoms, construction and technology firms such as China Mobile, China Telecom, video surveillance firm Hikvision, and China Railway Construction Corp. It was among a series of measures by the White House aimed at the Asian giant, which have left ties between the two countries severely strained. Also Read | US to blacklist dozens of Chinese firms including SMIC, report says Before the US order was released, Beijing repeated its outrage at the Trump-era blacklist Thursday and vowed to protect Chinese companies' rights, claiming the blacklist was "politically motivated" and "ignores the facts and actual situation" of the firms involved. The ban "severely undermines normal market rules and order" and "damages... the interests of global investors, including US investors," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a routine briefing. Previously, the sanctions and choice of targets were tied to a congressionally mandated Defense Department report. While the Biden administration has pledged to take a more diplomatic line with China following the upheaval of his predecessor, he has said he will keep to a strict line on several issues including defense and technology. Also Read | US delays Chinese investment ban's impact on certain firms A tough line on China has rare cross-party support in Congress, with lawmakers determined to keep a lid on its growing global clout. Republican senators Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio, alongside Democrats Gary Peters and Mark Kelly, published a bi-partisan letter earlier this week urging the administration to publish a new list. "The US government must continue to act boldly in blocking the Chinese Communist Party's economic predation against our industrial base," they said.

Joe Biden blacklists 28 more Chinese firms to investors, says White House

The meat processor company, JBS, has claimed that its systems were hacked in a ransomware attack that they believe originated in Russia.

JBS claims they received a ransom demand from "a criminal organisation likely based in Russia," White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-agency-not-doing-its-job-to-halt-tech-to-chinas-military-congressional-report-388875">US agency not doing its job to halt tech to China's military: Report</a>

Considering the effect of this cyberattack and its alleged origin, the White House has offered to help the Brazilian company and has engaged in direct talks with the Russian government to find out the truth behind these allegations.

"The White House has offered assistance to JBS, and our team and the Department of Agriculture have spoken to their leadership several times in the last day," Jean-Pierre said.&nbsp; "The White House is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals."

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/will-blow-your-mind-faucis-emails-reveal-chaos-confusion-during-covid-388891" hreflang="en">'Will blow your mind': Fauci's emails reveal chaos, confusion during Covid</a>

While it was not clear whether the ransom amount was paid to the criminals, the company has assured that the operations will be up and running from Wednesday.

"We have cybersecurity plans in place to address these types of issues... the vast majority of our beef, pork, poultry and prepared foods plants will be operational tomorrow," Andre Nogueira, JBS chief (US) said.

The meat processor company, JBS, has claimed that its systems were hacked in a ransomware attack that they believe originated in Russia. JBS claims they received a ransom demand from "a criminal organisation likely based in Russia," White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.

The meat processor company, JBS, has claimed that its systems were hacked in a ransomware attack that they believe originated in Russia. JBS claims they received a ransom demand from "a criminal organisation likely based in Russia," White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said. Also read | US agency not doing its job to halt tech to China's military: Report Considering the effect of this cyberattack and its alleged origin, the White House has offered to help the Brazilian company and has engaged in direct talks with the Russian government to find out the truth behind these allegations. "The White House has offered assistance to JBS, and our team and the Department of Agriculture have spoken to their leadership several times in the last day," Jean-Pierre said. "The White House is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals." Also read | 'Will blow your mind': Fauci's emails reveal chaos, confusion during Covid While it was not clear whether the ransom amount was paid to the criminals, the company has assured that the operations will be up and running from Wednesday. "We have cybersecurity plans in place to address these types of issues... the vast majority of our beef, pork, poultry and prepared foods plants will be operational tomorrow," Andre Nogueira, JBS chief (US) said.

JBS cyberattack might have Russian links: White House

The infamous former US president, <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>, has assured a re-run in the 2024 elections, but only if his health permits him.

As per a few local reports, Trump told his aides that after losing to Joe Biden in <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/us-election">US election 2020</a>, he is planning to run for the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/the-white-house">White House</a> again in 2024 if he in good health.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/grand-jury-starts-investigating-donald-trumps-tax-evasions-hush-money-387399" hreflang="en">Grand jury starts investigating Donald Trump's tax evasions, hush money</a>

This has strengthened the rumours around Trump’s re-run. Rep Ronny Jackson had also hinted to a local reporter, few days back, that the former reality TV star will be returning to the race next term.

"He has been saying he's going to. He's seriously considering it — he's probably going to do it — so we'll see what happens," Jackson had said.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/53-of-republicans-still-view-trump-as-true-us-president-months-after-his-defeat-poll-387257" hreflang="en">53% of Republicans still view Trump as true US president, months after his defeat: Poll</a>

The claims have come at a time when the US media has been abuzz with the physical changes being spotted in Trump in his post-presidency days. Since leaving White House, Trump has shed nearly 15 pounds and has also given up on his favourite M&amp;M sweets, and several other snacks that the former lover of Diet Coke used to consume on daily basis.

This change in Trump’s physical health has happened due to his regular golfing sessions and dietary restrictions that he adopted after his health scare when he struggled to recover from the deadly coronavirus.

Trump has also told local news channel, Fox News, that he is “very seriously” considering re-running for the post in 2024 and has claimed to have support of majority of the Republicans.

The infamous former US president, Donald Trump, has assured a re-run in the 2024 elections, but only if his health permits him. As per a few local reports, Trump told his aides that after losing to Joe Biden in US election 2020, he is planning to run for the White House again in 2024 if he in good health.

The infamous former US president, Donald Trump, has assured a re-run in the 2024 elections, but only if his health permits him. As per a few local reports, Trump told his aides that after losing to Joe Biden in US election 2020, he is planning to run for the White House again in 2024 if he in good health. Also read | Grand jury starts investigating Donald Trump's tax evasions, hush money This has strengthened the rumours around Trump’s re-run. Rep Ronny Jackson had also hinted to a local reporter, few days back, that the former reality TV star will be returning to the race next term. "He has been saying he's going to. He's seriously considering it — he's probably going to do it — so we'll see what happens," Jackson had said. Also read | 53% of Republicans still view Trump as true US president, months after his defeat: Poll The claims have come at a time when the US media has been abuzz with the physical changes being spotted in Trump in his post-presidency days. Since leaving White House, Trump has shed nearly 15 pounds and has also given up on his favourite M&M sweets, and several other snacks that the former lover of Diet Coke used to consume on daily basis. This change in Trump’s physical health has happened due to his regular golfing sessions and dietary restrictions that he adopted after his health scare when he struggled to recover from the deadly coronavirus. Trump has also told local news channel, Fox News, that he is “very seriously” considering re-running for the post in 2024 and has claimed to have support of majority of the Republicans.

Trump promises re-run in US election 2024 if his health allows: Reports

Diplomats and intelligence officers of the United States are under attack. The officers are being picked off one by one, but it is unclear by whom. But all the affected US officials recount a similar experience - a loud shriek followed by a splitting headache.

The scientific community has no idea why this is happening. Their best guess is that this is an attack using radio waves. An unknown adversary is on the prowl - hunting American officials on foreign shores. Their modus operandi is classic spy novel stuff - no weapons, no evidence, just an untraceable mystery illness.

It all started in Havana in 2016 when US diplomats reported a series of unsettling events - a loud shriek, followed by a splitting headache, nausea, dizziness and hearing loss.

Soon, similar cases emerged in China, Russia and Europe. It then became clear that this wasn't a one-off incident and that someone was targeting American officials.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-us-officials-hit-by-mysterious-illness-abroad-387169/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

By November last year, the threat reached American shores after two cases were reported in Washington DC. Both Democrats and Republicans want answers but the experts are no closer to finding the truth. The National Security Council is leading this investigation. They are studying 130 cases across government agencies.

Some of the affected officials say the White House is playing dumb. They cited intel reports from the 1990s which talk of a hostile country using microwave signals to weaken enemies. The similarities are uncanny, but neither the CIA nor the National Security Council have confirmed this.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/did-covid-19-emerge-naturally-anthony-fauci-not-convinced-says-further-probe-needed-387110" hreflang="en">Did COVID-19 emerge naturally? Anthony Fauci 'not convinced', says further probe needed</a>

There are some clues in a paper published by the National Academy of Sciences which says the symptoms are consistent with “directed, pulsed radio frequencies”. The report talks about Soviet projects in this field but nothing conclusive. Scientists are divided on the radio wave theory. Some say the neurological damage confirms radio waves were used. Others have dismissed it as mass hysteria.

When people hear of symptoms, they start feeling sick themselves. Whatever the explanation, pressure is mounting on Joe Biden. If the report does identify the assailant, they will have no option but to respond with force. And if that assailant is Russia, Biden's reconciliation plans will go down the drain.

This is uncharted territory for Washington DC - an enemy in the shadows picking off US spies and diplomats. America's battles are loud and dramatic but this silent attack has caught them off guard.

Diplomats and intelligence officers of the United States are under attack. The officers are being picked off one by one, but it is unclear by whom. But all the affected US officials recount a similar experience - a loud shriek followed by a splitting headache.

Diplomats and intelligence officers of the United States are under attack. The officers are being picked off one by one, but it is unclear by whom. But all the affected US officials recount a similar experience - a loud shriek followed by a splitting headache. The scientific community has no idea why this is happening. Their best guess is that this is an attack using radio waves. An unknown adversary is on the prowl - hunting American officials on foreign shores. Their modus operandi is classic spy novel stuff - no weapons, no evidence, just an untraceable mystery illness. It all started in Havana in 2016 when US diplomats reported a series of unsettling events - a loud shriek, followed by a splitting headache, nausea, dizziness and hearing loss. Soon, similar cases emerged in China, Russia and Europe. It then became clear that this wasn't a one-off incident and that someone was targeting American officials. By November last year, the threat reached American shores after two cases were reported in Washington DC. Both Democrats and Republicans want answers but the experts are no closer to finding the truth. The National Security Council is leading this investigation. They are studying 130 cases across government agencies. Some of the affected officials say the White House is playing dumb. They cited intel reports from the 1990s which talk of a hostile country using microwave signals to weaken enemies. The similarities are uncanny, but neither the CIA nor the National Security Council have confirmed this. Also read: Did COVID-19 emerge naturally? Anthony Fauci 'not convinced', says further probe needed There are some clues in a paper published by the National Academy of Sciences which says the symptoms are consistent with “directed, pulsed radio frequencies”. The report talks about Soviet projects in this field but nothing conclusive. Scientists are divided on the radio wave theory. Some say the neurological damage confirms radio waves were used. Others have dismissed it as mass hysteria. When people hear of symptoms, they start feeling sick themselves. Whatever the explanation, pressure is mounting on Joe Biden. If the report does identify the assailant, they will have no option but to respond with force. And if that assailant is Russia, Biden's reconciliation plans will go down the drain. This is uncharted territory for Washington DC - an enemy in the shadows picking off US spies and diplomats. America's battles are loud and dramatic but this silent attack has caught them off guard.

A mysterious adversary is targeting US officials worldwide. Here's what we know so far

U.S. veterans of the Korean War are getting added attention in Washington, DC with a groundbreaking at the Korean War Memorial which was scheduled for late Friday (May 21), in addition to a Korean War veteran receiving the Medal of Honor at the White House.

'Wall of Remembrance' honors Korean War veterans

Vaxxing, not waxing is the new must-do before a hot date, with dating apps joining the White House on Friday to promote COVID-19 shots.

Tinder, Hinge, Match, OkCupid, BLK, Chispa, Plenty of Fish, Bumble, and Badoo are all adding vaccination status to the more expected details on dating profiles as part of a rollout over the next few weeks.

Getting the shot may also do more for lovers than keep them healthy, the White House said in a statement.

"According to research from OKCupid, people who are vaccinated or plan to get vaccinated receive 14 percent more Matches than people who don't plan to get vaccinated," it revealed.

Among the extra incentives being offered by&nbsp;Tinder, for example, is access to the "Super Like" feature to "help them stand out among potential matches," the White House said.

The apps include BLK, which is targeted at African Americans, and Chispa, which is largely used by the Hispanic community.

"These companies join organizations across the country that have answered the president's call by stepping up and offering incentives and information to help Americans get vaccinated," the White House said in a statement.

More than 60 percent of US adults have received at least one vaccine shot. President Joe Biden has set a goal of July 4 for that number to reach 70 percent.

As of Thursday, the United States has administered about 279.4 million doses, with 48.2 per cent&nbsp;of its people receiving at least one shot, according to the latest data from the US&nbsp;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Tinder's parent company&nbsp;Match said its campaigns will include information about where to find vaccine sites, as well as other new app features including profile badges to indicate users' vaccination status.

&nbsp;

Vaxxing, not waxing is the new must-do before a hot date, with dating apps joining the White House on Friday to promote COVID-19 shots. Tinder, Hinge, Match, OkCupid, BLK, Chispa, Plenty of Fish, Bumble, and Badoo are all adding vaccination status to the more expected details on dating profiles as part of a rollout over the next few weeks.

Vaxxing, not waxing is the new must-do before a hot date, with dating apps joining the White House on Friday to promote COVID-19 shots. Tinder, Hinge, Match, OkCupid, BLK, Chispa, Plenty of Fish, Bumble, and Badoo are all adding vaccination status to the more expected details on dating profiles as part of a rollout over the next few weeks. Getting the shot may also do more for lovers than keep them healthy, the White House said in a statement. "According to research from OKCupid, people who are vaccinated or plan to get vaccinated receive 14 percent more Matches than people who don't plan to get vaccinated," it revealed. Among the extra incentives being offered by Tinder, for example, is access to the "Super Like" feature to "help them stand out among potential matches," the White House said. The apps include BLK, which is targeted at African Americans, and Chispa, which is largely used by the Hispanic community. "These companies join organizations across the country that have answered the president's call by stepping up and offering incentives and information to help Americans get vaccinated," the White House said in a statement. More than 60 percent of US adults have received at least one vaccine shot. President Joe Biden has set a goal of July 4 for that number to reach 70 percent. As of Thursday, the United States has administered about 279.4 million doses, with 48.2 per cent of its people receiving at least one shot, according to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tinder's parent company Match said its campaigns will include information about where to find vaccine sites, as well as other new app features including profile badges to indicate users' vaccination status.

Swipe right on vaccinations: White House collaborates with Tinder's parent company

Indian-American policy expert Neera Tanden has been appointed as a senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, two months after she withdrew her nomination as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget due to stiff opposition from Republican senators.&nbsp;

Tanden has been entrusted with two tasks, launch a review of the US Digital Service, and plan contingencies that could result from the Supreme Court's consideration of Republican lawsuits seeking to strike down the Affordable Care Act.&nbsp;

Tanden, 50, is currently the president and CEO of a progressive think-tank, Center for American Progress (CAP). She expected to join the White House team on Monday.&nbsp;

"Neera's intellect, tenacity, and political savvy will be an asset to the Biden administration," CAP founder and director John Podesta said.&nbsp;

He said the White House has made remarkable progress combating numerous once-in-a-generation challenges from vaccinating millions of Americans to delivering real economic relief from the coronavirus pandemic, and from strengthening the Affordable Care Act to tackling climate change.&nbsp;

"Many of these bold policy solutions, which have bipartisan support from voters across the country, were developed and led by Neera at CAP over many years. The administration's efforts will be magnified with Neera Tanden on the team," Podesta added.&nbsp;

In March, she faced a tough time for the confirmation of her nomination as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) over her past social media outbursts against several lawmakers, including those from her own Democratic Party. She became the Biden administration's only Cabinet nominee rebuffed by the Senate.&nbsp;

Tanden previously served as a senior adviser for health reforms at the US Department of Health and Human Services. She worked with Congress and stakeholders on particular provisions of former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act.&nbsp;

Before that, Tanden was the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign, where she managed all domestic policy proposals.&nbsp;

Tanden also served as policy director for Hillary Clinton's first presidential campaign.&nbsp;

Before the 2008 presidential campaign, Tanden served as legislative director in Clinton's office, and deputy campaign manager and issues director for Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign.&nbsp;

She began her career as an associate director for domestic policy in former President Bill Clinton's White House, and senior policy adviser to the First Lady.&nbsp;

Tanden holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a law degree from the Yale Law School. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Indian-American policy expert Neera Tanden has been appointed as a senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, two months after she withdrew her nomination as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget due to stiff opposition from Republican senators.

Indian-American policy expert Neera Tanden has been appointed as a senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, two months after she withdrew her nomination as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget due to stiff opposition from Republican senators. Tanden has been entrusted with two tasks, launch a review of the US Digital Service, and plan contingencies that could result from the Supreme Court's consideration of Republican lawsuits seeking to strike down the Affordable Care Act. Tanden, 50, is currently the president and CEO of a progressive think-tank, Center for American Progress (CAP). She expected to join the White House team on Monday. "Neera's intellect, tenacity, and political savvy will be an asset to the Biden administration," CAP founder and director John Podesta said. He said the White House has made remarkable progress combating numerous once-in-a-generation challenges from vaccinating millions of Americans to delivering real economic relief from the coronavirus pandemic, and from strengthening the Affordable Care Act to tackling climate change. "Many of these bold policy solutions, which have bipartisan support from voters across the country, were developed and led by Neera at CAP over many years. The administration's efforts will be magnified with Neera Tanden on the team," Podesta added. In March, she faced a tough time for the confirmation of her nomination as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) over her past social media outbursts against several lawmakers, including those from her own Democratic Party. She became the Biden administration's only Cabinet nominee rebuffed by the Senate. Tanden previously served as a senior adviser for health reforms at the US Department of Health and Human Services. She worked with Congress and stakeholders on particular provisions of former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act. Before that, Tanden was the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign, where she managed all domestic policy proposals. Tanden also served as policy director for Hillary Clinton's first presidential campaign. Before the 2008 presidential campaign, Tanden served as legislative director in Clinton's office, and deputy campaign manager and issues director for Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign. She began her career as an associate director for domestic policy in former President Bill Clinton's White House, and senior policy adviser to the First Lady. Tanden holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a law degree from the Yale Law School.

Indian-American policy expert Neera Tanden appointed White House senior adviser  

The Biden administration and House Democrats have reached a tentative deal to allow President Donald Trump’s former White House counsel, Donald McGahn, to testify before Congress about Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Russia inquiry, according to a court filing late Tuesday.

The deal appears likely to avert a definitive court precedent that would draw a clear line in an ambiguous areas: the scope and limits of Congress’ constitutional power to compel testimony for its oversight responsibilities, and a president’s constitutional power to keep secret conversations with a White House lawyer.

An appeals court had been set to hear arguments on the case next week, but lawyers for the Justice Department, which has been defending McGahn since 2019 against a House subpoena seeking to compel his testimony, and for the House of Representatives asked the court in a joint letter to drop that plan as mooted by the deal.

“The Committee on the Judiciary and the executive branch have reached an agreement in principle on an accommodation and anticipate filing, as soon as possible, a joint motion asking the court to remove this case from the May 19, 2021, oral argument calendar in order to allow the parties to implement the accommodation,” the letter said.

What to do about the subpoena case, which President Joe Biden inherited from the Trump administration, has been a rare locus of institutional disagreement among Democrats in the two branches.

Lawyers in the Biden White House have been hesitant about establishing a precedent that Republicans might someday use to force them to testify about their own internal matters. House Democrats under Speaker Nancy Pelosi have been determined to push forward after frustration that the Trump administration’s uncompromising approach and litigation strategy ran out the clock, preventing any testimony by McGahn before the 2020 presidential election.

The two sides had been negotiating for several months, leading to delays in the appeals court case. The filing was terse and offered no details about the deal, including what limits, if any, there would be — like whether McGahn would testify in public and the scope of what lawmakers could ask him to disclose.

But the filing also flagged a potential wild card: “Former President Trump, who is not a party to this case, is not a party to the agreement in principle regarding an accommodation,” it said.

That absence leaves open the question of whether Trump could try to intervene to block McGahn from testifying by asserting executive privilege. An attempt to invoke it by Trump would raise novel questions about the extent to which a former president may assert the privilege when the incumbent president declines to do so.

Should Trump try to intervene, a rare but limited precedent is a 1977 case, Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, in which the Supreme Court ruled that Richard Nixon could assert executive privilege claims over official records from his White House even though he was no longer the president — but it also weighed that assertion against the contrary view of Jimmy Carter, the president at the time.

That dispute, however, centered on control of Nixon-era White House documents, not a subpoena for a former White House lawyer’s testimony.

The present dispute centers on the House Judiciary Committee’s desire to question McGahn about matters related to his role as a key witness in the report by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, about efforts by Trump to obstruct the Russia investigation.

After the Justice Department made most of the report public, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee subpoenaed McGahn to testify. After he refused to appear, on Trump’s instructions, the committee sued.

The case has gone through several rounds of convoluted legal fights over constitutional issues that have lacked definitive precedents because previous disputes have generally been resolved with a negotiated compromise, averting a need for a court ruling.

But the lawsuit over the McGahn subpoena is one of an unprecedented number of cases pitting the two branches against each other in court that arose after Democrats took the House in the 2018 midterm elections and Trump vowed to stonewall “all” subpoenas.

First, the Justice Department under Trump had argued that McGahn was “absolutely immune” from any compelled appearance before Congress to testify about his work duties. Last year, the full District of Columbia Circuit rejected that theory.

The Justice Department then continued to fight the subpoena on other legal grounds, arguing that Congress had no “cause of action” that authorized it to sue the executive branch. (The executive branch has taken that position under administrations of both parties, and the Biden administration had signaled that it was prepared to keep arguing it.)

The apparent resolution of the McGahn subpoena case — unless Trump disrupts it — is similar to a dispute in 2009, when President Barack Obama took office and inherited a House lawsuit over a subpoena for testimony by President George W. Bush’s former White House counsel Harriet Miers related to the firings of U.S. attorneys.

The Obama administration, a lawyer for the House and a legal representative of Bush worked out a deal under which Democrats were able to confidentially interview Miers about the topic, with limits. That accommodation mooted the case, so the District of Columbia Circuit never issued a binding ruling, leaving the legal questions it rose unresolved.

The Biden administration and House Democrats have reached a tentative deal to allow President Donald Trump’s former White House counsel, Donald McGahn, to testify before Congress about Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Russia inquiry, according to a court filing late Tuesday.

The Biden administration and House Democrats have reached a tentative deal to allow President Donald Trump’s former White House counsel, Donald McGahn, to testify before Congress about Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Russia inquiry, according to a court filing late Tuesday. The deal appears likely to avert a definitive court precedent that would draw a clear line in an ambiguous areas: the scope and limits of Congress’ constitutional power to compel testimony for its oversight responsibilities, and a president’s constitutional power to keep secret conversations with a White House lawyer. An appeals court had been set to hear arguments on the case next week, but lawyers for the Justice Department, which has been defending McGahn since 2019 against a House subpoena seeking to compel his testimony, and for the House of Representatives asked the court in a joint letter to drop that plan as mooted by the deal. “The Committee on the Judiciary and the executive branch have reached an agreement in principle on an accommodation and anticipate filing, as soon as possible, a joint motion asking the court to remove this case from the May 19, 2021, oral argument calendar in order to allow the parties to implement the accommodation,” the letter said. What to do about the subpoena case, which President Joe Biden inherited from the Trump administration, has been a rare locus of institutional disagreement among Democrats in the two branches. Lawyers in the Biden White House have been hesitant about establishing a precedent that Republicans might someday use to force them to testify about their own internal matters. House Democrats under Speaker Nancy Pelosi have been determined to push forward after frustration that the Trump administration’s uncompromising approach and litigation strategy ran out the clock, preventing any testimony by McGahn before the 2020 presidential election. The two sides had been negotiating for several months, leading to delays in the appeals court case. The filing was terse and offered no details about the deal, including what limits, if any, there would be — like whether McGahn would testify in public and the scope of what lawmakers could ask him to disclose. But the filing also flagged a potential wild card: “Former President Trump, who is not a party to this case, is not a party to the agreement in principle regarding an accommodation,” it said. That absence leaves open the question of whether Trump could try to intervene to block McGahn from testifying by asserting executive privilege. An attempt to invoke it by Trump would raise novel questions about the extent to which a former president may assert the privilege when the incumbent president declines to do so. Should Trump try to intervene, a rare but limited precedent is a 1977 case, Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, in which the Supreme Court ruled that Richard Nixon could assert executive privilege claims over official records from his White House even though he was no longer the president — but it also weighed that assertion against the contrary view of Jimmy Carter, the president at the time. That dispute, however, centered on control of Nixon-era White House documents, not a subpoena for a former White House lawyer’s testimony. The present dispute centers on the House Judiciary Committee’s desire to question McGahn about matters related to his role as a key witness in the report by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, about efforts by Trump to obstruct the Russia investigation. After the Justice Department made most of the report public, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee subpoenaed McGahn to testify. After he refused to appear, on Trump’s instructions, the committee sued. The case has gone through several rounds of convoluted legal fights over constitutional issues that have lacked definitive precedents because previous disputes have generally been resolved with a negotiated compromise, averting a need for a court ruling. But the lawsuit over the McGahn subpoena is one of an unprecedented number of cases pitting the two branches against each other in court that arose after Democrats took the House in the 2018 midterm elections and Trump vowed to stonewall “all” subpoenas. First, the Justice Department under Trump had argued that McGahn was “absolutely immune” from any compelled appearance before Congress to testify about his work duties. Last year, the full District of Columbia Circuit rejected that theory. The Justice Department then continued to fight the subpoena on other legal grounds, arguing that Congress had no “cause of action” that authorized it to sue the executive branch. (The executive branch has taken that position under administrations of both parties, and the Biden administration had signaled that it was prepared to keep arguing it.) The apparent resolution of the McGahn subpoena case — unless Trump disrupts it — is similar to a dispute in 2009, when President Barack Obama took office and inherited a House lawsuit over a subpoena for testimony by President George W. Bush’s former White House counsel Harriet Miers related to the firings of U.S. attorneys. The Obama administration, a lawyer for the House and a legal representative of Bush worked out a deal under which Democrats were able to confidentially interview Miers about the topic, with limits. That accommodation mooted the case, so the District of Columbia Circuit never issued a binding ruling, leaving the legal questions it rose unresolved.

House Democrats and White House reach deal on Russia enquiry testimony by ex-Trump aide

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

The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, has signed a bill imposing new limits on voting by mail and using ballot drop boxes. The White House swiftly criticized the law, saying Florida is “moving in the wrong direction”.

Florida governor tightens restrictions on mail voting and ballot drop boxes

As Facebook decided the fate of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump’s</a> account, current US President, Joe Biden urged social media platforms to “stop amplifying untrustworthy content”.

“The president’s view is that the major platforms have a responsibility related to the health and safety of all Americans to stop amplifying untrustworthy content, disinformation and misinformation, especially related to COVID-19, vaccinations and elections,” White House spokeswoman, Jen Psaki told reporters.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/facebook-oversight-board-upholds-ban-on-donald-trump-383012" hreflang="en">Facebook oversight board upholds ban on Donald Trump</a>

Statement from White House came after Facebook decided to continue the ban on former president &nbsp;Donald Trump’s social media account after he was accused of using social media for motivating his supporters to carry out Capitol riots in January.

While the White House refused to directly address the topic of Trump’s ban, Biden has indirectly talked about Trump’s repeated trials of accusing Biden of voter fraud on social media.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/from-the-desk-of-donald-trump-launches-his-own-social-media-space-382830" hreflang="en">'From the Desk of...': Donald Trump launches his own social media space</a>

The statement came a day after Trump launched his own version of social media platform where he can post messages, which can then be shared on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/twitter">Twitter</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/facebook">Facebook</a>. Local media has dubbed this new platform as "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump". The posts published on this platform will be open to liking and sharing. The platform has, reportedly, been built by Campaign Nucleus, the digital services company created by Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale.

Trump will be using this space once again to amplify his claims about the US election 2020 were manipulated and allege his opposition of voter fraud — without providing any proof.

“The fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!," Trump said.

As Facebook decided the fate of Donald Trump’s account, current US President, Joe Biden urged social media platforms to “stop amplifying untrustworthy content”. “The president’s view is that the major platforms have a responsibility related to the health and safety of all Americans to stop amplifying untrustworthy content, disinformation and misinformation, especially related to COVID-19, vaccinations and elections,” White House spokeswoman, Jen Psaki told reporters.

As Facebook decided the fate of Donald Trump’s account, current US President, Joe Biden urged social media platforms to “stop amplifying untrustworthy content”. “The president’s view is that the major platforms have a responsibility related to the health and safety of all Americans to stop amplifying untrustworthy content, disinformation and misinformation, especially related to COVID-19, vaccinations and elections,” White House spokeswoman, Jen Psaki told reporters. Also read | Facebook oversight board upholds ban on Donald Trump Statement from White House came after Facebook decided to continue the ban on former president Donald Trump’s social media account after he was accused of using social media for motivating his supporters to carry out Capitol riots in January. While the White House refused to directly address the topic of Trump’s ban, Biden has indirectly talked about Trump’s repeated trials of accusing Biden of voter fraud on social media. Also read | 'From the Desk of...': Donald Trump launches his own social media space The statement came a day after Trump launched his own version of social media platform where he can post messages, which can then be shared on Twitter and Facebook. Local media has dubbed this new platform as "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump". The posts published on this platform will be open to liking and sharing. The platform has, reportedly, been built by Campaign Nucleus, the digital services company created by Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale. Trump will be using this space once again to amplify his claims about the US election 2020 were manipulated and allege his opposition of voter fraud — without providing any proof. “The fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!," Trump said.

Social media platforms should not amplify 'untrustworthy' content: Biden

A senior White House official denied reports from Tehran that an agreement had been reached with Iran for the release of four Americans detained there. White House chief of staff Ron Klain said "there is no agreement to release these four Americans. We're working very hard to get them released".

US denies reports Iran poised to free four Americans

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the US is actively looking at ways to potentially ease patent restrictions on coronavirus vaccines. This comes after a group of Democrats sent President Joe Biden a letter asking him to 'prioritize people over pharmaceutical companies.'

Jake Sullivan: US is actively looking at ways to ease COVID-19 vaccines patent

The first US government assistance flight carrying COVID-19 emergency aid supplies landed in India on Friday morning.&nbsp;

A military aircraft Super Galaxy military transporter brought the first supplies to help India to fight the deadly second COVID-19 wave that has wreaked havoc across the country, straining its healthcare system.

The aircraft is carrying more than 400 oxygen cylinders and other hospital equipment and nearly one million rapid coronavirus tests landed at New Delhi’s international airport.

“The first of several emergency COVID-19 relief shipments from the United States has arrived in India! Building on over 70 years of cooperation, the United States stands with India as we fight the COVID-19 pandemic together. #USIndiaDosti,” the US Embassy tweeted.

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The first of several emergency COVID-19 relief shipments from the United States has arrived in India! Building on over 70 years of cooperation, the United States stands with India as we fight the COVID-19 pandemic together. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USIndiaDosti?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USIndiaDosti</a> <a href="https://t.co/OpHn8ZMXrJ">pic.twitter.com/OpHn8ZMXrJ</a>
— U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) <a href="https://twitter.com/USAndIndia/status/1387963303238897665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2021</a></blockquote>
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India is currently recording a world record infection rate of more than 380,000 cases and 3,500 deaths a day and a huge international aid operation has been launched with dozens of countries promising help.

The delivery, which flew in from the Travis military base in California, followed talks this week between US President Joe Biden and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The United States is delivering supplies worth more than $100 million in the coming days to provide urgent relief to our partners in India,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Thursday.

Coronavirus cases are surging in India amid a widespread oxygen shortage and slow vaccine rollout. The country's pandemic death toll surpassed 205,000 on Friday, amid reports that COVID fatalities and cases are going uncounted.

(With inputs from agencies)

The first US government assistance flight carrying COVID-19 emergency aid supplies landed in India on Friday morning. A military aircraft Super Galaxy military transporter brought the first supplies to help India to fight the deadly second COVID-19 wave that has wreaked havoc across the country, straining its healthcare system.

The first US government assistance flight carrying COVID-19 emergency aid supplies landed in India on Friday morning. A military aircraft Super Galaxy military transporter brought the first supplies to help India to fight the deadly second COVID-19 wave that has wreaked havoc across the country, straining its healthcare system. The aircraft is carrying more than 400 oxygen cylinders and other hospital equipment and nearly one million rapid coronavirus tests landed at New Delhi’s international airport. “The first of several emergency COVID-19 relief shipments from the United States has arrived in India! Building on over 70 years of cooperation, the United States stands with India as we fight the COVID-19 pandemic together. #USIndiaDosti,” the US Embassy tweeted. The first of several emergency COVID-19 relief shipments from the United States has arrived in India! Building on over 70 years of cooperation, the United States stands with India as we fight the COVID-19 pandemic together. #USIndiaDosti pic.twitter.com/OpHn8ZMXrJ — U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) April 30, 2021 × India is currently recording a world record infection rate of more than 380,000 cases and 3,500 deaths a day and a huge international aid operation has been launched with dozens of countries promising help. The delivery, which flew in from the Travis military base in California, followed talks this week between US President Joe Biden and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The United States is delivering supplies worth more than $100 million in the coming days to provide urgent relief to our partners in India,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Thursday. Coronavirus cases are surging in India amid a widespread oxygen shortage and slow vaccine rollout. The country's pandemic death toll surpassed 205,000 on Friday, amid reports that COVID fatalities and cases are going uncounted. (With inputs from agencies)

US stands with India: First of $100 million Covid aid from US arrives in India 

The United States said on Wednesday it was sending more than $100 million in supplies to Covid-ravaged India, including nearly one million instant tests on a first flight.

The White House said the first consignment would arrive on Thursday in New Delhi on a military plane, days after President Joe Biden promised to step up assistance to the emerging US ally.

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The first batch includes 960,000 rapid tests, which can detect Covid in 15 minutes, and 100,000 N95 masks for frontline health workers, the US Agency for International Development said.

The White House said total aid on flights in the coming days would be worth more than $100 million and include 1,000 refillable oxygen cylinders and 1,700 concentrators that produce oxygen for patients from the air.

"Just as India sent assistance to the United States when our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need," a White House statement said.

The White House said it was also sending supplies to India to produce more than 20 million vaccine doses.

The supplies are being diverted from US orders to produce the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has not been approved for use in the United States.

India's death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surged past 200,000 on Wednesday, worsened by shortages of hospital beds and medical oxygen. The last 24 hours brought 360,960 new cases for the world's largest single-day total, taking India's tally of infections to nearly 18 million.

The United States is determined to help the people of India in this moment of crisis, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said here as the first shipment of key life-saving medical supplies for the country took off from California.

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The United States is determined to help the people of India. We will continue to stand together in our shared battle against COVID-19. <a href="https://t.co/Om74VC0Fyx">https://t.co/Om74VC0Fyx</a>
— Jake Sullivan (@JakeSullivan46) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeSullivan46/status/1387557530533048325?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The move by the Biden administration came days after Sullivan, in a call with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, announced a series of COVID-19 relief aid to India.

On Monday, President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The US president is believed to have pledged all support that India would need in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden has directed the entire administration to work on a war footing to save lives in India. The Pentagon is deploying its resources as well.

USIAD said that it is airlifting vital medical supplies to India to save lives, stop the spread of COVID-19, and meet the urgent health needs of the Indian people.

"We're sending critical oxygen and O2 related supplies, N95 masks, &amp; rapid diagnostic testing kits to India w/more on the way soon," it tweeted.

(With inputs from agencies)

The United States said on Wednesday it was sending more than $100 million in supplies to Covid-ravaged India, including nearly one million instant tests on a first flight.

The United States said on Wednesday it was sending more than $100 million in supplies to Covid-ravaged India, including nearly one million instant tests on a first flight. The White House said the first consignment would arrive on Thursday in New Delhi on a military plane, days after President Joe Biden promised to step up assistance to the emerging US ally. The first batch includes 960,000 rapid tests, which can detect Covid in 15 minutes, and 100,000 N95 masks for frontline health workers, the US Agency for International Development said. The White House said total aid on flights in the coming days would be worth more than $100 million and include 1,000 refillable oxygen cylinders and 1,700 concentrators that produce oxygen for patients from the air. "Just as India sent assistance to the United States when our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need," a White House statement said. The White House said it was also sending supplies to India to produce more than 20 million vaccine doses. The supplies are being diverted from US orders to produce the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has not been approved for use in the United States. India's death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surged past 200,000 on Wednesday, worsened by shortages of hospital beds and medical oxygen. The last 24 hours brought 360,960 new cases for the world's largest single-day total, taking India's tally of infections to nearly 18 million. The United States is determined to help the people of India in this moment of crisis, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said here as the first shipment of key life-saving medical supplies for the country took off from California. The United States is determined to help the people of India. We will continue to stand together in our shared battle against COVID-19. https://t.co/Om74VC0Fyx — Jake Sullivan (@JakeSullivan46) April 29, 2021 × The move by the Biden administration came days after Sullivan, in a call with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, announced a series of COVID-19 relief aid to India. On Monday, President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The US president is believed to have pledged all support that India would need in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden has directed the entire administration to work on a war footing to save lives in India. The Pentagon is deploying its resources as well. USIAD said that it is airlifting vital medical supplies to India to save lives, stop the spread of COVID-19, and meet the urgent health needs of the Indian people. "We're sending critical oxygen and O2 related supplies, N95 masks, & rapid diagnostic testing kits to India w/more on the way soon," it tweeted. (With inputs from agencies)

US sending more than $100 million in COVID-19 supplies to India: White House

US&nbsp;President Joe Biden said on Sunday that the country&nbsp;will immediately send raw materials for COVID-19 vaccines, medical equipment, and protective gear to help India respond to a massive surge in coronavirus infections.

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Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, we are determined to help India in its time of need. <a href="https://t.co/SzWRj0eP3y">https://t.co/SzWRj0eP3y</a>
— President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1386401947729633280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2021</a></blockquote>
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National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said US&nbsp;officials were "working around the clock" to deploy available resources and supplies to help India manufacture the Covishield vaccine and tend to the millions of Indians who are sick and dying.

The United States will also send therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits and ventilators.

Washington was under mounting pressure to help India, the world's largest democracy, after Britain, France and Germany pledged aid over the weekend.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all citizens to be vaccinated and exercise caution, as the country set a global record for new COVID-19 infections in a single day.

The United States was also pursuing options to provide India with oxygen generation and related supplies, Horne said.

US&nbsp;Representative Ro Khanna, Democratic vice-chair of the Congressional India Caucus, welcomed the announcement but urged Biden to go further and give India the United States' unused COVID-19 vaccine doses from AstraZeneca Plc.

"Let's use the US&nbsp;military and get as much oxygen and AstraZeneca doses to India as fast as we can," he said.

The top US&nbsp;infectious disease official, Dr&nbsp; Anthony Fauci, told ABC News on Sunday such a move was "something that certainly is going to be actively considered."

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has directed the Pentagon to provide all necessary support to Indian healthcare workers battling the worsening coronavirus situation in the country.

Horne said the United States would send a team of experts to work with India from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US Agency for International Development.

In addition to the immediate aid, the US&nbsp;Development Finance Corporation will fund a substantial expansion of manufacturing capability for Indian vaccine maker Biological E Ltd, or BioE, enabling the company to produce at least 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022.

(With inputs from agencies)

US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that the country will immediately send raw materials for COVID-19 vaccines, medical equipment, and protective gear to help India respond to a massive surge in coronavirus infections.

US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that the country will immediately send raw materials for COVID-19 vaccines, medical equipment, and protective gear to help India respond to a massive surge in coronavirus infections. Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, we are determined to help India in its time of need. https://t.co/SzWRj0eP3y — President Biden (@POTUS) April 25, 2021 × National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said US officials were "working around the clock" to deploy available resources and supplies to help India manufacture the Covishield vaccine and tend to the millions of Indians who are sick and dying. The United States will also send therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits and ventilators. Washington was under mounting pressure to help India, the world's largest democracy, after Britain, France and Germany pledged aid over the weekend. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all citizens to be vaccinated and exercise caution, as the country set a global record for new COVID-19 infections in a single day. The United States was also pursuing options to provide India with oxygen generation and related supplies, Horne said. US Representative Ro Khanna, Democratic vice-chair of the Congressional India Caucus, welcomed the announcement but urged Biden to go further and give India the United States' unused COVID-19 vaccine doses from AstraZeneca Plc. "Let's use the US military and get as much oxygen and AstraZeneca doses to India as fast as we can," he said. The top US infectious disease official, Dr Anthony Fauci, told ABC News on Sunday such a move was "something that certainly is going to be actively considered." US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has directed the Pentagon to provide all necessary support to Indian healthcare workers battling the worsening coronavirus situation in the country. Horne said the United States would send a team of experts to work with India from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US Agency for International Development. In addition to the immediate aid, the US Development Finance Corporation will fund a substantial expansion of manufacturing capability for Indian vaccine maker Biological E Ltd, or BioE, enabling the company to produce at least 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of 2022. (With inputs from agencies)

US will 'immediately' send vaccine components, medical supplies to India, says Biden

Load of s**t! Activists dump crap outside White House to protest climate change

Israel, the UAE, Greece and&nbsp;Cyprus&nbsp;said they would seek to deepen their cooperation in fields ranging from energy to fighting COVID, saying budding ties could change the face of a region more synonymous with conflict.

"The evolving web of regional cooperation is creating a new narrative, one that is cracking the glass ceiling of the prevailing (one) of our neighbourhood as a region of turmoil, conflict and crisis," said Cypriot Foreign Minister and host Nikos Christodoulides.

The UAE and fellow Gulf state Bahrain in September became the first Arab states in a quarter of a century to sign agreements to establish formal ties with Israel, forged largely through shared fears of Iran.

The so-called Abraham Accords are US-brokered agreements which have ushered in public rapprochements between Israel and several Arab states.

Friday's encounter on the east Mediterranean island was attended by Anwar Gargash, a former UAE foreign minister who worked on the historic normalisation of relations with Israel last year. He was there in his capacity as diplomatic advisor to UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed.

"The Abrahamic accords were mainly driven by the necessity of an alternative strategic view of the region based on stability, prosperity and opportunity," Gargash said.

Discussions in&nbsp;Cyprus, he said, focussed on ways to enhance joint action in facing the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, medical research and the distribution of vaccines, as well as energy security in the region.

"This meeting is one of the results of the changes that have taken place in the Middle East over the past year, thanks to a brave and bold decision by leaders," said Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.

He said the accords had created a 'real opportunity' to change the face of the Middle East.

"And if you don't believe that, ask yourselves if you could have seen this picture only just a year ago," he said, standing at a podium next to Gargash, against the backdrop of the calm seas of the east Mediterranean.

Israel, the UAE, Greece and Cyprus said they would seek to deepen their cooperation in fields ranging from energy to fighting COVID, saying budding ties could change the face of a region more synonymous with conflict.

Israel, the UAE, Greece and Cyprus said they would seek to deepen their cooperation in fields ranging from energy to fighting COVID, saying budding ties could change the face of a region more synonymous with conflict. "The evolving web of regional cooperation is creating a new narrative, one that is cracking the glass ceiling of the prevailing (one) of our neighbourhood as a region of turmoil, conflict and crisis," said Cypriot Foreign Minister and host Nikos Christodoulides. The UAE and fellow Gulf state Bahrain in September became the first Arab states in a quarter of a century to sign agreements to establish formal ties with Israel, forged largely through shared fears of Iran. The so-called Abraham Accords are US-brokered agreements which have ushered in public rapprochements between Israel and several Arab states. Friday's encounter on the east Mediterranean island was attended by Anwar Gargash, a former UAE foreign minister who worked on the historic normalisation of relations with Israel last year. He was there in his capacity as diplomatic advisor to UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed. "The Abrahamic accords were mainly driven by the necessity of an alternative strategic view of the region based on stability, prosperity and opportunity," Gargash said. Discussions in Cyprus, he said, focussed on ways to enhance joint action in facing the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, medical research and the distribution of vaccines, as well as energy security in the region. "This meeting is one of the results of the changes that have taken place in the Middle East over the past year, thanks to a brave and bold decision by leaders," said Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. He said the accords had created a 'real opportunity' to change the face of the Middle East. "And if you don't believe that, ask yourselves if you could have seen this picture only just a year ago," he said, standing at a podium next to Gargash, against the backdrop of the calm seas of the east Mediterranean.

Let's shake narrative of bickering West Asia, say former foes in Cyprus

Facing swift blowback from allies and aid groups, the White House said President Joe Biden plans to lift his predecessor's historically low cap on refugees by next month, after initially moving only to expand the eligibility criteria for resettlements. 
 
In an emergency determination signed by Biden earlier Friday, he stated the admission of up to 15,000 refugees set by former President Donald Trump this year remains justified by humanitarian concerns and is otherwise in the national interest. But if the cap is reached before the end of the current budget year and the emergency refugee situation persists, then a presidential determination may be issued to raise the ceiling. 
 
That set off a deluge of criticism from top allies on Capitol Hill such as the second-ranking Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, who called that initial limit unacceptable.&nbsp;White House press secretary Jen Psaki said later that Biden is expected to increase the refugee cap by May 15, though she didn't say by how much. 
 
Biden has been consulting with his advisers to determine what number of refugees could realistically be admitted to the United States between now and October 1, the end of the fiscal year, Psaki said. Given the decimated refugee admissions program we inherited,&nbsp;she said it's now unlikely&nbsp;Biden will be able to boost that number to 62,500, as he had proposed in his plan to Congress two months ago. 
 
But Biden, she said, was urged by advisers to "take immediate action to reverse the Trump policy that banned refugees from many key regions, to enable flights from those regions to begin within days; today's order did that." The new allocations provide more slots for refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Central America and lift Trump's restrictions on resettlements from Somalia, Syria and Yemen. 
 
Critics from both sides of the political spectrum had accused the president of bowing to political pressure that has been mounting over the record pace of unaccompanied migrants crossing the US-Mexico border. 
Stephen Miller, a key architect of Trump's immigration policies, tweeted that keeping Trump's cap "reflects Team Biden's awareness that the border flood will cause record midterm losses."&nbsp;The White House indicated the border situation was partly why Biden had not acted before now, even though migrants at the border do not go through the same vetting process as refugees. 
 
"It is a factor",&nbsp;said Psaki, noting that the Office of Refugee Resettlement ?has personnel working on both issues and so we have to ensure that there is capacity and ability to manage both.? Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he didn't buy that. 
 
"This cruel policy is no more acceptable now than it was during the Trump Administration,"&nbsp;Blumenthal said. "To be clear: the asylum process at the southern border and the refugee process are completely separate immigration systems. Conflating the two constitutes caving to the politics of fear".&nbsp;Since the fiscal year began last October 1, just over 2,000 refugees have been resettled in the US. 
 
Secretary of State Antony Blinken notified Congress on February 12 of a plan to raise the ceiling on admissions to 62,500, but no presidential determination followed. The law does not require congressional approval and past presidents have issued such presidential determinations that set the cap on refugee admissions shortly after the notification to Congress. 
 
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Biden in a letter Friday that his inaction "undermines your declared purpose to reverse your predecessor's refugee policies."&nbsp;Menendez said it also makes it unlikely that the program can hit its target next budget year of 125,000, which Biden has pledged to do. 
 
Refugee resettlement agencies said it was important that admissions go higher even if it's not possible to meet the target to send a message that America will be a leader again in offering safe haven to the world's oppressed. 
 
Some 35,000 refugees have been cleared to go to the United States, and 100,000 remain in the pipeline and their lives remain in limbo, said David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. 
"This leadership is sorely needed,"&nbsp;he said. 
 
Under Biden's new allocation, 7,000 slots are reserved for refugees from Africa, 1,000 from East Asia, 1,500 from Europe and Central Asia, 3,000 from Latin America and the Caribbean and 1,500 from the Near East and South Asia. A reserve of about 1,000 slots can be used as needed. 
 
The State Department, which coordinates flights with resettlement agencies, booked 715 refugees to come to the United States with the anticipation that Biden would have acted by March, but those flights were canceled since the refugees were not eligible under Trump's rules, according to resettlement agencies. 
 
Most of the refugees are from Africa and fleeing armed conflict or political persecution. Trump limited most spots to people fleeing religious persecution, Iraqis who have assisted US forces there, and people from Central America's Northern Triangle.

Facing swift blowback from allies and aid groups, the White House said President Joe Biden plans to lift his predecessor's historically low cap on refugees by next month, after initially moving only to expand the eligibility criteria for resettlements.

Facing swift blowback from allies and aid groups, the White House said President Joe Biden plans to lift his predecessor's historically low cap on refugees by next month, after initially moving only to expand the eligibility criteria for resettlements. In an emergency determination signed by Biden earlier Friday, he stated the admission of up to 15,000 refugees set by former President Donald Trump this year remains justified by humanitarian concerns and is otherwise in the national interest. But if the cap is reached before the end of the current budget year and the emergency refugee situation persists, then a presidential determination may be issued to raise the ceiling. That set off a deluge of criticism from top allies on Capitol Hill such as the second-ranking Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, who called that initial limit unacceptable. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said later that Biden is expected to increase the refugee cap by May 15, though she didn't say by how much. Biden has been consulting with his advisers to determine what number of refugees could realistically be admitted to the United States between now and October 1, the end of the fiscal year, Psaki said. Given the decimated refugee admissions program we inherited, she said it's now unlikely Biden will be able to boost that number to 62,500, as he had proposed in his plan to Congress two months ago. But Biden, she said, was urged by advisers to "take immediate action to reverse the Trump policy that banned refugees from many key regions, to enable flights from those regions to begin within days; today's order did that." The new allocations provide more slots for refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Central America and lift Trump's restrictions on resettlements from Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Critics from both sides of the political spectrum had accused the president of bowing to political pressure that has been mounting over the record pace of unaccompanied migrants crossing the US-Mexico border. Stephen Miller, a key architect of Trump's immigration policies, tweeted that keeping Trump's cap "reflects Team Biden's awareness that the border flood will cause record midterm losses." The White House indicated the border situation was partly why Biden had not acted before now, even though migrants at the border do not go through the same vetting process as refugees. "It is a factor", said Psaki, noting that the Office of Refugee Resettlement ?has personnel working on both issues and so we have to ensure that there is capacity and ability to manage both.? Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he didn't buy that. "This cruel policy is no more acceptable now than it was during the Trump Administration," Blumenthal said. "To be clear: the asylum process at the southern border and the refugee process are completely separate immigration systems. Conflating the two constitutes caving to the politics of fear". Since the fiscal year began last October 1, just over 2,000 refugees have been resettled in the US. Secretary of State Antony Blinken notified Congress on February 12 of a plan to raise the ceiling on admissions to 62,500, but no presidential determination followed. The law does not require congressional approval and past presidents have issued such presidential determinations that set the cap on refugee admissions shortly after the notification to Congress. New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Biden in a letter Friday that his inaction "undermines your declared purpose to reverse your predecessor's refugee policies." Menendez said it also makes it unlikely that the program can hit its target next budget year of 125,000, which Biden has pledged to do. Refugee resettlement agencies said it was important that admissions go higher even if it's not possible to meet the target to send a message that America will be a leader again in offering safe haven to the world's oppressed. Some 35,000 refugees have been cleared to go to the United States, and 100,000 remain in the pipeline and their lives remain in limbo, said David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. "This leadership is sorely needed," he said. Under Biden's new allocation, 7,000 slots are reserved for refugees from Africa, 1,000 from East Asia, 1,500 from Europe and Central Asia, 3,000 from Latin America and the Caribbean and 1,500 from the Near East and South Asia. A reserve of about 1,000 slots can be used as needed. The State Department, which coordinates flights with resettlement agencies, booked 715 refugees to come to the United States with the anticipation that Biden would have acted by March, but those flights were canceled since the refugees were not eligible under Trump's rules, according to resettlement agencies. Most of the refugees are from Africa and fleeing armed conflict or political persecution. Trump limited most spots to people fleeing religious persecution, Iraqis who have assisted US forces there, and people from Central America's Northern Triangle.

After outcry, White House says Biden will lift refugee cap in May

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