Joe Biden News

Donald Trump becomes the first US ex-president to go on criminal trial Monday — pushing the nation's legal and electoral systems to the limit less than seven months before Americans decide whether to return the scandal-plagued Republican to the White House. Trump is accused of falsifying business records in a scheme to cover up an alleged sexual encounter with porn star Stormy Daniels so as not to doom his 2016 election campaign.

As the Middle-East braces for potential Iranian strike, commandos from Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard today rappelled down from a helicopter onto an Israeli-affiliated container ship near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the vessel. U.S. President Joe Biden had said on Friday he expected Iran to attack Israel «sooner, rather than later» and warned Tehran not to proceed. Israel did not claim responsibility for the airstrike on April 1. But Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Israel «must be punished and shall be» for an operation he said was equivalent to an attack on Iranian soil.

Editor’s note (March 18th 2024): This article has been updated to take in the latest developments. Running for the American presidency is a full-time job. “There was essentially no day or night" from the first presidential debate in September 1976 to election day, griped James Fallows, now a journalist, who worked on Jimmy Carter’s campaign. Donald Trump, now sure of the Republican Party’s nomination for this year’s election, will have to combine that gruelling endeavour with his role as a defendant in four criminal trials.

Philippines, the United States and Japan will change the dynamic in the South China Sea and the region, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday, while seeking to assure China it was not a target. «I think the trilateral agreement is extremely important,» Marcos told a press conference in Washington a day after meeting President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the nations' first trilateral summit. «It is going to change the dynamic, the dynamic that we see in the region, in ASEAN in Asia, around the South China Sea,» Marcos said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Regional tensions have intensified following Iran's warning of retaliation against Israel over an attack on its embassy in Damascus that resulted in the deaths of two Iranian generals. This development has heightened concerns about a potential escalation in the already volatile region, with countries like India, France, and Russia advising against travel to the area. Threat of Direct Iranian Attack on Israel Iran perceives the strike on its embassy as an attack on its territory, raising the possibility of a direct Iranian assault on Israel. This threat comes amid ongoing tensions over the war in Gaza, which has entered its seventh month.

market such as bonds and the dollar. Oil rose. Equities saw their worst day since January after a news report that Israel was bracing for an attack by Iran on government targets.

Nippon Steel, as expected, taking the merger one step closer to completion even as political opposition to the deal mounts. U.S. Steel said that over 98% of the votes were in favor of the deal under which Nippon will pay $55 per share, an amount that represented a hefty premium when the takeover was announced in December.

China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine, according to a US assessment. Two senior Biden administration officials, who discussed the sensitive findings Friday on the condition of anonymity, said that in 2023 about 90 per cent of Russia's microelectronics came from China, which Russia has used to make missiles, tanks and aircraft. Nearly 70 per cent of Russia's approximately USD 900 million in machine tool imports in the last quarter of 2023 came from China.

Dan Savickas, director of policy for the Taxpayer's Protection Alliance, spoke to FOX Business about former President Trump's proposed 60% tariff on Chinese imports and the effects of tariffs on American consumers.

Also read: Donald Trump criticised for insulting Jewish & Black supporters of Biden When asked which president did more to help people like them, roughly one-third say Donald Trump and about one-quarter say Joe Biden. Yet 30% of adults said neither Biden nor Trump benefitted them. It's another data point reflecting an electorate that has been largely disappointed with this year's general election choices, generating little enthusiasm among key parts of the Biden and Trump political coalitions.

Kwatra is here this week for a series of meetings with senior officials from the US Government and interaction with industry leaders to advance bilateral cooperation in areas like defence and technology. Kwatra held separate meetings with Richard Verma, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources and Kurt Campbell, Deputy Secretary of State at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department. «Productive catch up with Indian Foreign Secretary Kwatra on advancing ongoing US-India cooperation and the need for our countries' close partnership for regional security and prosperity,» Verma said in a post of X. Earlier in the day, Kwatra was hosted by the US India Business Council over a breakfast meeting with its Board Chair and NASDAQ Executive Vice Chairman Ed Knight.

Fed won't make its move until after Americans go to the polls. Rate futures markets now show investors see a first rate cut as most likely occurring at the Fed's Sept. 17-18 meeting after data showed inflation through the entire first quarter of 2024 was stiffer than expected and had demonstrably slowed progress on bringing it back to the Fed's 2% target.

Israel was on alert Thursday after its arch-foe Iran threatened reprisals over a strike in Syria this month that killed two Iranian generals, and as the war against Hamas ground on in Gaza. Days after Israel strengthened its air defences and paused leave for combat units, the United States also warned of the risk of an attack by Iran or its allied groups at a time when Middle East tensions have soared. Iran is «threatening to launch a significant attack on Israel», US President Joe Biden said Wednesday, pledging «ironclad» support for its top regional ally despite diplomatic tensions over Israel's military conduct in Gaza.

Joe Biden and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. unveiled a wide range of agreements to enhance security and economic ties during meetings held at the White House this week. Here are some of the most notable:

The Biden administration has approved construction of a deepwater oil export terminal off the Texas coast that would be the largest of its kind in the United States

Kishida cracked jokes and invoked a touchstone of American culture as he quoted from «Star Trek» at Wednesday's state dinner, telling guests at the White House that he hoped the «unshakable relationship» between his country and the U.S. would «boldly go where no one had gone before.» «I would like to propose a toast to our voyage to the frontier of the Japan-U.S. relationship with this word: boldly go,» Kishida said, quoting the iconic opening monologue of the original «Star Trek» series.

Fermi Paradox have stated that the contradiction between the high probability of alien life existing and the complete lack of evidence for it, may have been tied to the AI development among human on Earth. According to a report published by Michael Garrett, it is suggested that AI's evolution into Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) could be the ‘Great Filter’, keeping alien evidence away. The Great Filter theory says that a hurdle that intelligent life must overcome to become advanced and interstellar.

Consumer inflation remained persistently high last month, boosted by gas, rents, auto insurance and other item

Melania Trump be able to halt the falling popularity of her husband Donald Trump who is a Republican hopeful for the 2024 US Presidential Election? 'New York Post' has reported that she will join a fundraising event later this month as a strategy to portray herself as a «softer, more moderate voice» for the Trump campaign. Confirming her participation, Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf told the news outlet, «The Trump campaign recognizes that Melania is their secret weapon.» He added further, «Her appeal is critical to win battleground states and undecided voters, especially now that they’ve won the primary and are hyper-focused on the general.»

Joe Biden has marginally widened his lead over Donald Trump ahead of the November presidential election as the Republican candidate prepares for the start of the first of four upcoming criminal trials, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Some 41% of registered voters in the five-day poll, which closed on Monday, said they would vote for Biden, a Democrat, if the election were held today, compared with 37% who picked former President Trump. That 4 point lead was up from a 1 point lead Biden held in a Reuters/Ipsos poll in March.

Consumer inflation remained persistently high last month, boosted by gas, rents, auto insurance and other items, the government said Wednesday in a report that will likely give pause to the Federal Reserve as it weighs when and by how much to cut interest rates this year.