President Joe Biden - The African Mirror

Nov

2022

U.S. Senate up for grabs as Republicans move toward House majority

JOSEPH AX REPUBLICANS edged closer to securing a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives while control of the Senate hinged on a few tight races, two days after Democrats staved off an anticipated "red wave" of Republican gains in midterm elections. Republicans have captured at least 210 House seats, Edison Research projected, eight short of the 218 needed to wrest the House away from Democrats and effectively halt President Joe Biden's legislative agenda. While Republicans remain favoured, there were 33 House contests yet to be decided - including 21 of the 53 most competitive races, based on a Reuters analysis of the leading nonpartisan…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. military carries out air strike in Somalia

WORLD

THE United States yesterday carried out an air strike against al Shabaab militants in Somalia, the first strike in the country since President Joe Biden came into office. Al Qaeda-linked insurgent group al Shabaab is seeking to topple the government and establish its own rule in Somalia based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. In a statement, the Pentagon said the strike took place near Galkayo, Somalia. While the United States has frequently carried out air strikes in Somalia against al Shabaab, this was the first since Jan. 20 when Biden took office. The group's campaign of…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

US to share millions of vaccines

COVID-19

JEFF MASON THE White House has laid out a plan to share 55 million U.S. COVID-19 vaccine doses globally, with roughly 75% of the doses allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa through the COVAX international vaccine-sharing program. The plan fulfils President Joe Biden's commitment to share 80 million U.S.-made vaccines with countries around the world. The president sketched out his priorities for the first 25 million doses from that pledge earlier this month. "As we continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic at home and work to end the pandemic worldwide, President Biden has promised that the…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden talks down Russia, spurs allies in bid to back Putin into a corner

WORLD

SIMON LEWIS and TREVOR HUNNICUTT PRESIDENT Joe Biden on his first foreign foray sought to cast Russia not as a direct competitor to the United States but as a bit player in a world where Washington is increasingly pre-occupied by China. Aides said Biden wanted to send a message that Putin was isolating himself on the international stage with his actions, ranging from election interference and cyber-attacks against Western nations to his treatment of domestic critics. "He was clear and direct in where he was standing up and pushing back against Putin," Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden signs Juneteenth bill, creating holiday marking U.S. slavery’s end

WORLD

TREVOR HUNNICUTT and NANDITA BOSE U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris signed a bill into law on Thursday afternoon to make June 19 a federal holiday commemorating the end of the legal enslavement of Black Americans. The bill, which was passed overwhelmingly by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday after a unanimous vote in the Senate, marks the day in 1865 when a Union general informed a group of enslaved people in Texas that they had been made free two years earlier by President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War. "Juneteenth marks both a…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

World leaders commit to gas emissions target

WORLD

JEFF MASON and VALERIE VOLCOVICI THE United States yesterday pledged at a global climate summit hosted by President Joe Biden to slash greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, a target it hopes will spark other big countries to raise their ambition to combat global warming. The United States, the world's second-leading emitter after China, seeks to reclaim global leadership in the fight against global warming after former President Donald Trump withdrew the country from international efforts to cut emissions. Biden unveiled the goal to cut emissions by 50%-52% from 2005 levels at the start of a two-day climate summit…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden proposal: $174 billion for EVs, new funds for renewable power

WORLD

DAVID SHEPARDSON and NICHOLA GROOM 0606President Joe Biden's vast infrastructure plan includes $174 billion to boost the markets for electric vehicles and billions more for renewable power - both provisions aimed at weaning the U.S. off of fossil fuels and combating climate change. The $2 trillion plan, which also seeks to invest in traditional projects like roads and bridges, is a centerpiece of the administration's ambitious agenda to decarbonize the U.S. economy by 2050 and restore the nation's leadership in addressing global warming. It also vows to spend $165 billion on public transit, Amtrak and other rail projects - moves…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden’s immigration changes too late for grandfather deported on Inauguration Day

WORLD

MICA ROSENBERG, KRISTINA COOKE and JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ AS U.S. President Joe Biden took the oath of office last Wednesday, Felipe Ortega sat in a van handcuffed and chained at the waist and feet, headed toward Mexico and the end of his 30-year life in the United States. A day earlier, the 58-year-old grandfather of eight U.S. citizens was on his way to work when immigration agents surrounded his car in Midland, Texas, just blocks from his home. They told Ortega he had an outstanding deportation order from 15 years ago. After one sleepless night in jail and a long…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

White House website adds gender-neutral pronouns as Biden meets LGBT+ demands

LGBT+

RACHEL SAVAGE PEOPLE can now select gender-neutral pronouns when contacting the U.S. government, as President Joe Biden signed a raft of executive actions on his first day in office, including an order tackling discrimination against LGBT+ people. People who identify as non-binary - neither male nor female - can now select the gender-neutral title "Mx" on the White House website's contact page, which also added a drop-down list of personal pronouns, including "they/them". The website update marks a departure from Donald Trump's administration, which banned transgender people from enlisting in the military and issued orders emphasising the importance of "biological sex"…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. inauguration turns poet into best seller

WORLD

The US president's poet woke up a superstar yesterday, after a powerful reading at the U.S. inauguration catapulted 22-year-old Amanda Gorman to the top of Amazon's best-seller list. Hours after Gorman's electric performance at the swearing-in of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, her two books - neither out yet - topped Amazon.com's sales list. "I AM ON THE FLOOR MY BOOKS ARE #1 & #2 ON AMAZON AFTER 1 DAY!" Gorman, a Los Angeles resident, wrote on Twitter. Gorman's debut poetry collection 'The Hill We Climb' won top spot in the online retail giant's sale charts, closely…