List of All Articles with Tag 'politics'

Seven Republican presidential candidates have, as of Sunday, met the polling requirements to appear on the August debate stage following new polling from Fox Business in Iowa and South Carolina.

The Biden administration will centre White House efforts to address threats of various transmissible diseases, pathogens and other biological agents in a new permanent office headed by a member of the National Security Council (NSC). The White House announced the creation of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR) on Friday. OPPR will be “charged with leading, coordinating, and implementing actions related to preparedness for, and response to, known and unknown biological threats or pathogens that could lead to a pandemic or to significant public health-related disruptions in the United States”, according to a handout. The new office will shift the White House’s Covid reponse efforts from a standalone team to a broader group that will include experts working on a number of different potential “public health-related disruptions”, including new variants of the influenza (common flu) virus. “Under President Biden’s leadership, the Administration has taken significant steps to ensure all individuals have continued access to lifesaving protections such as vaccines, treatments, and tests, and that the nation is well prepared to manage the risks of COVID-19 or other causes of potential pandemics in the future,” a White House statement read. The office’s inaugural director will be Major General (retired) Paul Friedrichs, special assistant to President Biden and the Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense on the National Security Council. The new office comes three months after Mr Biden formally ended the national emergency declaration over the pandemic. More than 1.1 million Americans have died from Covid since it first emerged in the US in early 2020. Mr Biden lobbied Congress against passing the resolution to end the national emergency but nevertheless signed the bipartisan piece of legislation when it hit his desk in April. The president had previously declared the Covid pandemic “over” in 2022, telling CBS’s 60 Minutes: “We still have a problem with Covid. We're still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one's wearing masks.” Read More The fight over Alabama's congressional redistricting now shifts back to federal court DeSantis downplays Jan. 6, says it wasn't an insurrection but a 'protest' that 'ended up devolving' Biden names CIA Director William Burns to his Cabinet

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has given insight into the possible scope of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The Republican governor - who survived a Trump-backed attempt to oust him from office last year - told USA Today on Sunday that Mr Smith’s office had contacted him. However it is unclear what stage Mr Smith’s investigation has reached or whether Mr Kemp’s office had provided, or agreed to provide, evidence or testimony. “Our office has been contacted by Jack Smith’s office,” the governor’s spokesman said. Mr Kemp’s office declined to comment further when contacted byThe Independent. News of Mr Smith’s communications with Mr Kemp comes a week after his office reportedly delivered a target letter to Mr Trump’s legal team, a sign that charges are being prepared. The Department of Justice (DoJ) has indicated that the twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president is central to its investigation into the January 6 attack on the US Capitol and the broader effort by the Trump campaign to overturn the election. Mr Trump, who is running for re-election in 2024, announced the arrival of that letter on his Truth Social social media platform two days after he supposedly received it. “On Sunday night, while I was with my family...HORRIFYING NEWS for our country was given to me by my attorneys,” he wrote. “Deranged Jack Smith...sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.” The Independent reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the letter delivered to Mr Trump informed him that the DoJ is considering charging him with conspiracy to defraud the United States; obstruction of an official proceeding and deprivation of civil rights under colour of law. It set a deadline of midnight on Thursday for Mr Trump to report to the grand jury and declare whether he would testify or offer his own evidence during the pre-trial stage of the investigation. Sources have also told The Independent that an indictment could come anytime, now that deadline has passed. Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election were far from limited to Georgia. His campaign is known to have supported slates of false electors in other states where Mr Trump lost to Joe Biden including Arizona and Wisconsin. For weeks Mr Smith and the DoJ have been largely silent about the status of the Jan 6 investigation which has already led to the conviction of hundreds of rioters. If Mr Trump faces trial, it would almost certainly take place during the 2024 election cycle. A separate trial of the former president, involving the alleged illegal retention of classified materials and presidential records, is set to take place next spring. Read More Nervous Republicans turn to New Hampshire in hopes of stopping Trump The fight over Alabama's congressional redistricting now shifts back to federal court Capitol riot defendant gets probation after rare setback for prosecutors at Oath Keepers trial DeSantis defends Florida curriculum that suggests slaves benefited from forced labour Florida man pleads guilty over Jan 6 riot as state’s governor Ron DeSantis insists there was no insurrection Trump legal team tries again to block Georgia election interference grand jury probe

(Reuters) -Clashes flared in parts of Sudan on the 100th day of the war on Sunday as mediation attempts by

Republican Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah and Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado on Sunday challenged Americans to approach political disagreements with respect in their mission to elevate "civic dialogue across the country."

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis defended a hard-right school curriculum that went into effect in his state this week while on the campaign trail for the Republican presidential nomination. At an event in Utah, Governor DeSantis defended how slavery will now be taught in Florida middle schools. Children will now be taught that enslaved persons picked up skills that they later “parlayed” into profitable crafts after slavery was abolished. “They’re probably going to show that some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life,” Mr DeSantis told reporters on Friday. However at the same press conference, the GOP candidate also appeared to back away from the specific assertions of the teachings, saying of the curriculum: “I didn’t do it. I wasn’t involved in it.” He went on to say that the curriculum was “rooted in whatever is factual”. “It was not anything that was done politically,” he added. The Florida governor’s hard-right record will likely be a key talking point on the 2024 campaign trail - potentially presenting both a boon for Mr DeSantis in the GOP primary but also a challenge as he seeks to woo moderates in a general election. Florida Department of Education’s social studies standards for the 2023-2024 school year provide lesson topics for teachers including a “benchmark clarification” which instructs educators to teach students that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit”. It isn’t clear what “their personal benefit” would be in this scenario. The line is included as part of a broader lesson entitled: “Examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agriculturalwork, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation).” The majority of polling puts Mr DeSantis second in the crowded GOP primary field, though he trails former president Donald Trump by a wide margin and faces a number of rivals closing in on his position including Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley. Read More Biden will establish a national monument honoring Emmett Till, the Black teen lynched in Mississippi Southern California school board OKs curriculum after Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened a $1.5M fine Florida man pleads guilty over Jan 6 riot as state’s governor Ron DeSantis insists there was no insurrection Trump outstrips nearest Republican rival DeSantis by 30 points in latest poll - live Biden will establish a national monument honoring Emmett Till, the Black teen lynched in Mississippi Southern California school board OKs curriculum after Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened a $1.5M fine

By Emily Rose JERUSALEM Nearly 70% of Israeli startups have taken action to relocate parts of their business

Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was "playing politics" with the idea of expunging former President Donald Trump's two impeachments.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said he's "not yet convinced" that Donald Trump's actions on January 6, 2021, were criminal, as the former president faces a potential indictment over his actions that day.

Donald Trump will face trial for the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case on 20 May 2024, just six months before the presidential election. Judge Aileen Cannon gave the order on Friday morning. Meanwhile, the former president has been busy bullying his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, including Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson, on Truth Social as he braces for an imminent grand jury indictment over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his role in inciting the Capitol riot of 6 January 2021. Mr Trump announced on Tuesday that he had been sent a letter by special prosecutor Jack Smith informing him that he is the “target” of the investigation, citing three statutes under which he could be charged, including conspiracy to commit offence or to defraud the United States, deprivation of rights under colour of law and tampering with a witness, victim or informant. That indictment, Mr Trump’s third in four months, could be handed down any day now, The Independent learned. Meanwhile, the latest attorney to join Mr Trump’s legal team says he wants cameras in court when the former president is potentially put on trial over his alleged election interference. Read More What Donald Trump’s trial date means for the 2024 election Trump demands cameras in courtroom for potential election fraud case Trump legal team tries again to block Georgia election interference grand jury probe Trump calls for ‘immediate’ death penalty for child traffickers after watching QAnon-linked movie

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN in an exclusive interview that the US is attempting to strengthen "lines of communication" with China to avoid conflict between the two superpowers.

Can the nice guy finish first?