Joe Biden has again been criticised for saying that his late son Beau “lost his life in Iraq” – a reference to the president’s long-held belief that toxic burn pits led to the younger Biden passing away from brain cancer at the age of 46. The president made his latest remarks to US troops stationed in Japan during his trip to the country, after making similar remarks at least twice last year. “My son was a major in the US Army. We lost him in Iraq,” said Mr Biden during an informal visit with troops at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni last Thursday in a video obtained by The New York Post. Right-wing media outlets have attempted to use Mr Biden’s comments on Beau’s death as a sign that the 80-year-old Democrat has memory issues ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Mr Biden’s son died of brain cancer in 2015 at the Walter Reed military hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. Last October Mr Biden made similar comments while speaking close to Vail, Colorado, as he designated Camp Hail as a national monument. The area, covering 436 square miles, was the training site of the 10th Mountain Division during the Second World War. Mr Biden spoke of the bravery of the division as they fought in Italy, before stating that he lost his son in Iraq. “Just imagine, I mean it sincerely, I say this as a father of a man who won the Bronze Star, the conspicuous service medal, and lost his life in Iraq. Imagine the courage, the daring, and the genuine sacrifice they all made,” the president said. A clip of the moment shared by the conservative Washington Examiner on Twitter has been viewed more than a million times. Beau Biden served in Iraq between 2008 and 2009 as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard. He was the Delaware Attorney General between 2007 and 2015. Just months after leaving the post, he passed away at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on 30 May 2015. After his passing, he was given the Delaware Conspicuous Service Cross for “heroism, meritorious service and outstanding achievement”. “Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015, more than five years after he returned from a year serving in Iraq. Joe Biden has attributed the cancer to Beau Biden’s proximity to burn pits in Iraq, though sometimes conceded he isn’t sure,” CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale tweeted. In 2016, then-Vice President Biden said his son’s cancer could have been caused by the toxic burn pits that he was exposed to during his service in the Middle East. The New York Times reported that Mr Biden said he was “stunned” when he read a chapter concerning the death of his son in the book The Burn Pits: The Poisoning of America’s Soldiers by Joseph Hickman. “Guys, I’m going to be the biggest pain in your neck as long as I live, until we figure out about these burn pits,” he said in a conference room in the congressional complex. Burn pits were used to get rid of waste, such as plastics, rubber, and batteries, in both Afghanistan and Iraq. The smoke from the pits could be toxic, Newsweek noted. The Department of Defence has stated that almost 3.5 million service members could have been exposed to toxins at harmful levels because of the practice. “I’ve always believed that we have a sacred obligation to equip those we send to war, and care for those and their families when they come home,” Mr Biden said during his State of the Union speech earlier this year. “And they come home, many of the world’s fittest and best-trained warriors in the world, never the same. Headaches. Numbness. Dizziness. A cancer that would put them in a flag-draped coffin.” While Mr Biden said he couldn’t be entirely sure that his son’s cancer was caused by the burn pits, he said his administration would be “finding out everything we can”. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) states on its website that it “understands that many Veterans are especially concerned about exposure to the smoke and fumes generated by open burn pits”. “In Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas of the Southwest Asia theater of military operations, open-air combustion of trash and other waste in burn pits was a common practice. The Department of Defense has now closed out most burn pits and is planning to close the remainder,” the agency adds. “Researchers, including experts at VA, are actively studying airborne hazards like burn pits and other military environmental exposures. Ongoing research will help us better understand potential long-term health effects and provide you with better care and services,” the site states. Read More DeSantis eases voting rules in counties devastated by Ian Trump supporter pleads guilty in staged ’Biden 2020’ arson attack he blamed on Antifa ‘The goose is cooked’: Why legal experts are now saying there’s enough evidence to charge Trump over Mar-a-Lago docs Biden ‘optimistic’ about McCarthy talks; AOC slams ‘dysfunctional’ debt ceiling E Jean Caroll targets Trump again after his derogatory CNN town hall smears Marjorie Taylor Greene’s boyfriend caught in drag video

Canada's government says it will stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram in response to Meta’s decision to block access to news content on their social platforms as part of a temporary test

A federal judge has again rejected a military contractor’s effort to toss out a lawsuit filed against it by former inmates of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison

Adore Delano said she didn't want her announcement to be unpleasant, but already, internet trolls are interrogating her about her physique

Tyrone Mings has backed England’s “serial winners” to deliver silverware. The Aston Villa defender believes the squad have enough experience to end their trophy drought. Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, John Stones, Kalvin Phillips and Kyle Walker linked up with the squad on Tuesday after Manchester City completed the treble following their Champions League win over Inter Milan on Saturday. Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw helped Manchester United with the Carabao Cup this term while Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson and Kieran Trippier have won league titles, with Declan Rice winning the Europa Conference League with West Ham. England face Malta on Friday before hosting North Macedonia in Manchester on Monday in two Euro 2024 qualifiers as they aim to go one better following their Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy. Mings said: “The manager always talks about your club experiences and adding to the group and we have a squad full of serial winners. “When you look around the European competitions and domestic competitions and the amount of players that were involved in those it can only help. “For sure (England can win a trophy) and that’s not just down to talent. “Talent gets you so far, but everything that the team experienced in the last few tournaments, everything we do in training and the level of consistency the team has shown these past few years, it all adds up and points in the right direction. “I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be looking at winning. There’s a nice blend of experience and youth, people coming into their peak years.” And the 30-year-old has no issue with Grealish – and his City team-mates – celebrating their 1-0 win over Inter. He said: “It is wild. The only thing he (Grealish) needs to do is do it at the right times and he’s just won the treble so I don’t think anybody can begrudge him going out and letting his hair down – those luscious locks of his now he has taken the hairband out. He’s certainly had a good few days.” Mings’ return to the England squad ends a season which started with him losing the captaincy at Villa after he was left out of Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Nations League games last summer. He returned to help Villa reach the Europa Conference League play-offs after finishing seventh in the Premier League with form which earned him an international recall having also been left out of the World Cup squad. “I guess it started being left out of the England squad but that was a whole summer of strange times really,” he said, when asked to assess his season. “Then sitting on the bench at Bournemouth and thinking, ‘I don’t know how all of this has happened in such a short space of time’. “From the captaincy to not starting first game of the season but then I look at the scenes at Villa Park on the last day of the season and to see how far the club have come and how far I’d come in terms of my personal journey over the course of the season was impressive. “I find I learn way more in times of uncertainty or disappointment compared to when it is going well and there isn’t much to think about because things are easy. “Did I need it? Probably. I think there is always a plateau in people’s careers where things are coasting. “I had been in every England squad for three years, two and a half years, and these things are sent to test you.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Rob Page welcomes break for Brennan Johnson ahead of Wales’ Euro 2024 qualifiers Ali McCann loving international life under Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill Brooks Koepka ready to ‘enjoy the chaos’ as he targets yet another major title

Remnants of Munich's main synagogue, which was demolished by the Nazis in June 1938, have resurfaced -- much to the amazement of the city's Jewish community.

Standard Chartered said on Thursday Andy Halford has decided to retire as group chief financial officer and group

Pep Guardiola speaks about his surprising 2021 Champions League final starting XI ahead of Saturday's crucial clash with Inter.

CAIRO Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation rate dropped to 35.8% in October from a record high of

Stock prices are mostly higher in Asia as investors watch for U.S. inflation figures and China's latest economic data

Author Haruki Murakami says he's strongly opposed to the redevelopment of a Tokyo park district that would remove his favorite jogging path and tear down the baseball stadium where he was inspired to become a novelist

Three Western states and the federal government are nearing a deal to leave millions of gallons of water in the Colorado River's Lake Mead.