President Joe Biden talks about Armenian mass killing

Mr Biden’s statement, released as Armenia commemorates the start of the mass killings, said: “We remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring.

“And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms.”

Mr Biden said the intention was “not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated”.

He had previously welcomed a move by the US House of Representatives, which in 2019 voted overwhelmingly to recognised the mass killings as a genocide.

A Biden official told reporters that the decision to use the term formally as the administration turned its focus to human rights.

In 1981, then-President Ronald Reagan referred to the “Armenian genocide” in a proclamation on the Holocaust, but others have shied away from using the term since.

The administration of Mr Biden’s immediate predecessor Donald Trump said it did not consider the killings a genocide. Mr Trump instead called it “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th Century”.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Mr Biden’s words had “honoured the memory” of those who had died, adding in a tweet: “The US has once again demonstrated its unwavering commitment to protecting human rights and universal values.”

But the Turkish foreign ministry responded angrily, saying in a statement they “reject and denounce in the strongest terms the statement”, saying it had been “made under the pressure of radical Armenian circles and anti-Turkey groups”.

It warned the move would “open a deep wound that undermines our mutual trust and friendship”.

A further deterioration of relations between the two countries may be the most significant outcome of Mr Biden’s statement, which is largely symbolic and comes with no additional sanctions.

U.S troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11th

President Joe Biden plans to haul all military powers out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11, finishing U.S. presence in the Middle Eastern country by the twentieth commemoration of the 9/11 assaults that prodded America’s longest conflict.

The move will expand military presence in Afghanistan past the May 1 withdrawal date recently haggled by previous President Donald Trump.

Finishing up there is “no military arrangement” for the issues in Afghanistan, Biden will rather attempt to put the “full weight” of the U.S. government behind discretionary endeavors to agree between the Taliban and the Afghan government, a senior organization official said.

“But what we will not do is use our troops as bargaining chips in that process,” said the official, who agreed to brief reporters on the plans Tuesday on the condition of anonymity.

President Joe Biden will formally announce the withdrawal and other specifics in a White House speech Wednesday detailing “the way forward in Afghanistan,” press secretary Jen Psaki said.

The drawdown of more than 3,000 U.S. troops who stay in Afghanistan will start before May 1 in a joint effort with NATO partners and the withdrawal of their soldiers which number around 7,000.

President Biden’s organization cautioned the Taliban that any assaults on the U.S. during the withdrawal will be met with an intense reaction, as per the White House.

The White House said that the al-Qaeda terrorist network no longer possesses the capability to plot an attack that would threaten U.S. soil. Thus insisting Biden isn’t taking an eye off terrorism.

The administration instead views the terrorism threat more broadly – spanning to other countries and regions like Yemen, Syria, Somalia and Northern Africa – and not concentrated in Afghanistan like 20 years ago.

The White House said Biden will also seek “diplomatic, economic and humanitarian tools” with other countries to protect recent civil rights gained by Afghan women.

“He has to make decisions through the prism of what’s in the interest of the national security of the United States,” Psaki said when pressed on concerns that Afghan women could lose their progress under a U.S. exit. She said that means “keeping our focus” on where emerging threats are around the world.

Like Donald Trump, President Joe Biden campaigned on a promise to end America’s “forever wars.” The conflict in Afghanistan – which sought to establish democratic governance, defeat al-Qaeda and push the Taliban out of power – has cost more than $2 trillion and more than 2,300 American lives. More than 38,000 Afghan civilians have been killed.

Republicans, many who criticized Trump’s plans to leave Afghanistan, quickly slammed Biden’s timeline. Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said it would be a “grave mistake” and an “abdication of American leadership.”

“It would put our NATO partners in a shared fight that we have not yet won. It would abandon the women of Afghanistan whose freedoms and human rights will be in peril. It did not have to unfold like this.”

Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee raised concerns as well. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, the committee’s chairman, said he hadn’t been briefed by the White House on the withdrawal. He said he wouldn’t support future assistance to Afghanistan if there’s “backsliding” on “civil society” and rights for women under the Taliban after the U.S. withdraws.

He also expressed hesitation about leaving Afghanistan before achieving America’s objectives after “so much blood and national treasure.”

“I want to hear the administration’s rationale for it. I think the view is we don’t have enough troops there to change the tide and make some dramatic difference. So if we’re not going to do that, then why keep the troops that are there and put them at risk?”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, another Democratic ally of Biden and a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said she is “very disappointed” by the decsion. She said “the U.S. has sacrificed too much” to leave without assurances of a secure future in Afghanistan.

“It undermines our commitment to the Afghan people, particularly Afghan women,” she said, adding that she urges the Biden administration “make every effort between now and September” to protect the progress that has been made.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were in Brussels Tuesday to notify NATO allies of the decision. Biden also consulted with his Cabinet, members of Congress, the Afghan government and other global allies, the White House said.

Al-Qaeda used Afghanistan, under control of the Taliban, as a safe haven from which to plan the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

But instead of being driven out by military force, the Taliban now control vast swaths of the country, and it continues to be wracked by violence despite U.S.-brokered peace talks. Many experts say the situation in Afghanistan will not improve no matter how much longer the United States stays, or how much more money Washington invests.

A U.S. Intelligence report released Tuesday gave a bleak outlook of the immediate future for Afghanistan, predicting the “prospects for a peace deal will remain low during the next year.”

“The Taliban is likely to make gains on the battlefield, and the Afghan government will struggle to hold the Taliban at bay if the coalition withdraws support,” the assessment said.

Biden had faced increasing pressure on whether to stick to Trump’s May 1 deadline to fully withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Some of Biden’s key allies in Congress have warned a complete U.S. withdrawal would thrust Afghanistan further into chaos and violence. Others have said keeping U.S. troops on the ground any longer could spark a backlash among progressives who want to see an end to the war in Afghanistan.

Last month, the president said that even if the U.S. did not meet the May 1 deadline, U.S. troops would not be in Afghanistan for much longer.

The previous May 1 timetable was part of an agreement the Trump administration forged with the Taliban in February 2020. Under that deal, the U.S. agreed to withdraw all its forces; in exchange, the Taliban promised to sever its ties with al-Qaeda and end its attacks on American forces.

Biden to address Congress on 28th April

On Wednesday, 28th April President Joe Biden is set to deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress. This would be one day before his 100th day as president.

The White House confirmed that on Tuesday night, President Joe Biden accepted an invitation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to address a joint session on that date.

The speech will allow President Biden to claim progress during his first 100 days, a benchmark historically for the presidency. A time for President Joe Biden’s speech has not been announced.

Pelosi asked President Biden in a brief letter to the president to “share your vision for addressing the challenges and opportunities of this historic moment.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has previously indicated Biden’s first joint session address – which fulfills a constitutional requirement – could look different than past addresses because of precautions during the coronavirus pandemic.

All senators and House members of both parties, as well as Supreme Court justices, typically pack the House chamber for State of the Union and joint session presidential speeches. It’s unclear what steps could be taken.

President’s debut presidential speech to Congress will fall significantly later on the calendar than previous presidents, including Donald Trump and Barack Obama, who both addressed Congress for the first time in February.

President Biden’s presidential term began with heightened security at the Capitol following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and coincided with the Senate’s impeachment trial of Trump. Democrats in Congress spent the next several weeks working to pass Biden’s COVID-19 relief bill.

Since its passage, Biden has put forward a $2.25 trillion jobs and infrastructure proposal called the American Jobs Plan that Congress is expected to take up in the coming weeks.

Biden on gun violence

Gun violence issue finally addressed by President Joe Biden.

On Thursday, President Biden requested Congress to end the broad immunity that gun-makers have from being sued for shootings is a top priority for his administration.

“Most people don’t realize: The only industry in America, billion-dollar industry, that can’t be sued, exempt from being sued, are gun manufacturers,” President Biden said during a White House speech where he announced a series of executive actions aimed at getting rid of the on going gun violence.

“Imagine how different it would be had that same exemption been available to tobacco companies, who knew and lied about the danger they were causing,” deaths from cancer, President Joe Biden said as he called on Congress to revoke the gun industry’s protection from civil liability claims.

President Joe Biden spoke on the day a gunman killed five people in South Carolina, one of four mass shootings in the U.S. in the past three weeks. The others were in Georgia, Colorado, and California.

Congress in 2005 passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which gave gun manufacturers a significant degree of immunity from being sued for money damages by victims of gun violence and their relatives.

“If I get one thing on my list, Lord came down and said, ‘Joe, you get one of these,’ give me that one,” Biden said.

“Because I tell you what, there would be a come-to-the-Lord moment these folks would have, real quickly.”

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters later that Biden is calling for lawmakers in Congress to reintroduce past bills that sought to repeal the protection act.

A Pennsylvania appeals court last September ruled that the act was unconstitutional. The decision was the first by any court to conclude that the law violated the 10th Amendment. The ruling did not affect the law’s application nationwide.

Florida sues federal government

The Joe Biden administration is being sued by the state of Florida to reopen the cruise industry “immediately” and allow cruises to “resume safely,” Florida’s governor and attorney general announced Thursday.

“We don’t believe the federal government has the right to mothball a major industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data. And I think we have a good chance for success,” Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a news conference at the Port of Miami.

On Thursday, the complaint was filed by state Attorney General Ashley Moody in federal district court against the Health and Human Services Department and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Our litigation seeks to end this federal overreach and allow Floridians to safely get back to work and travel,” Moody said in a statement.

Florida is asking the court to block the CDC and HHS from enforcing an October “conditional sailing” order, which it suggested is effectively a ban on cruises, and “hold that cruises should be allowed to operate with reasonable safety protocols.”

“The CDC has continued these actions against the cruise industry even as it has treated similar industries differently, including ones that hold passengers in close quarters,” the complaint says, pointing to the CDC’s treatment of the airline industry.

The CDC on Friday put out direction laying out how it hopes to permit a resumption of sailings – suggesting, instead of requiring, that travelers be inoculated. The office said it needed to see “reenacted (preliminary) journeys that will permit group and port faculty to rehearse new Covid-19 operational techniques with volunteers prior to cruising with travelers.”

The CDC didn’t give a date it intends to permit US sailings again interestingly since March 2020.

In its complaint, the Florida attorney general’s office pointed to President Joe Biden’s deadline for all US adults to be eligible for Covid vaccines by April 19 and noted that Americans are traveling again, with other industries, like hotels and restaurants, safely reopening.

“But as these industries begin to restart and rebuild, the cruise industry has been singled out, and unlike the rest of America, prevented from reopening,” it said.

Governor Ron DeSantis said that tens of thousands of Floridians depend on the “viability of the cruise industry for their livelihoods, for their jobs, their ability to feed their families.”

The Cruise Lines International Association, an industry exchange bunch, said in an explanation Thursday that it’s “thankful for Governor DeSantis’ help of the voyage local area and we like his endeavors to restart cruising securely.”

“Tens of thousands of Floridians rely on cruising for their livelihoods, including longshoremen, taxi drivers, travel agents and tour operators, ports, and numerous suppliers and vendors that make the cruise industry work,” the group said. “Ultimately, the CDC and the entire U.S. cruise community want the same thing — the responsible resumption of cruising from the U.S. this summer.”

$62 million for the unaccompanied immigrant children.

According to government data, President Biden’s administration is spending at least $62 million a week to care for the unaccompanied migrant children who are in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services.

On March, the Department of Health and Human Services had announced the opening of at least 11 new facilities. Apparently, there are with more on the way, leaning on convention centers, military sites, and influx space to try to get kids out of Border Patrol stations, which are akin to jail-like conditions and not suited for children.

The department oversees a shelter network for migrant children, but that capacity was reduced over the last year in response to the pandemic, causing the agency to scramble to bring more expensive temporary facilities online.

According to CNN, the daily cost per child is more than twice that of the department’s already established shelter program at approximately $775 per day, compared to around $290 per day. The Department of Health and Human Services had foreseen the need to develop facilities and hire staff over a short period of time among the reasons why temporary shelters are more costly.

Combined, the sites will provide more than 16,000 beds to accommodate children, in addition to the about 13,721 beds in the department’s permanent shelter program, which until recently had been operating under a reduced capacity due to Covid-19.

There are around 8,876 children occupying beds in the department’s licensed shelter program and about 8,124 children at the temporary sites, as of Thursday, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Despite the higher expense, a White House official told CNN this week that there are no plans to ask Congress for additional funding as of now. In 2019, during that year’s border crisis, the Trump administration asked for $4.5 billion in emergency funding.

In March, US Customs and Border Protection encountered 18,890 unaccompanied children, a record high and nearly double the number of apprehensions of children in February, according to the agency’s data. The spike in arrivals has led to overcrowded conditions in border facilities and as a result, an urgent need to open facilities to accommodate children.

“By activating temporary shelters — and having potential shelters on reserve status — (the Office of Refugee Resettlement) has the capacity to respond to ever-changing levels of referrals and in this case an emergency situation,” the department said in a statement, adding that it’s difficult to predict final costs given continued need.

In March 2021, 13,832 unaccompanied children were turned over to the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services tasked with the care of children, marking the most referrals in the program’s history, according to HHS.

The growing number of children in the Department of Health and Human Services custody indicates some level of progress, as the number of unaccompanied migrant children in Border Patrol facilities dwindles. But it’s also likely to drive up the weekly cost.

As of Thursday, there were 16,941 children in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services and 3,881 in the custody of CBP — an agency not equipped to care for children — according to the latest available government data.

Still, the number of children encountered daily is surpassing those discharged from the Department of Health and Human Services, meaning there are more arrivals than releases to sponsors, indicating a need for more capacity.

“The basic problem right now is that each day more children are arriving than are being released to parents and sponsors. There will keep being a need for more capacity, unless either the number of arriving children goes down or the Department of Health and Human Services is able to more quickly release children,” said Mark Greenberg, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and former the Department of Health and Human Services official.

“The important thing it’s accomplishing is helping to get children out of CBP holding facilities, which are severely crowded, not a good place for children during any circumstances, particularly so during the pandemic,” Greenberg said, referring to building up capacity.

The average length of stay in HHS custody is 31 days, according to the internal documents obtained by CNN. The time in custody differs across sponsor categories, ranging from parents or guardians to distant relatives.

For example, children in custody who have a parent or guardian in the US are likely to be discharged to that sponsor in 25 days on average, compared to an unrelated sponsor or distant relative, which can take 54 days, the documents show.

In more than 80% of cases, the child has a family member in the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The Biden administration is trying to fast-track that process and encourage parents or guardians, many of whom are undocumented, to collect their kids from custody. But until a sponsor is identified and vetted, children remain in US custody.

Vaccination deadline for US adults moved to 19 April 2021

Vaccination deadline time for eligible adults in US have been cutoff by President Joe Biden. On Tuesday he had announced that he has moved the cutoff time for states to empower qualified residents to get them vaccinated by the 19th of April, 2021.

Within the 75 days that President Biden has been in power, he has effectively given 150 million coronavirus vaccine dosages. He will most likely have 200 million vaccination shots by his 100th day as president.

Regardless of whether the advancement is satisfying, the President is firm in battling the Covid ‘war’ together as Americans by rehearsing solidarity.

President Joe Biden is confident that Americans will be able to celebrate the 4th of July if American’s practice unity in defeating COVID-19.

He says that with joined endeavors from all residents, there is an exceptionally high opportunity for the country, all things considered, to return back to the ordinary. He unequivocally accepts the nation will have returned to typical in practically no time. We can say that the President has unquestionably accomplished his vaccination objective.

“We know what we have to do. We have to ramp up a whole of government approach that rallies the whole country and puts us on a war footing to truly beat this virus. And that’s what we’ve been doing, getting enough vaccine supply, mobilizing more vaccinators, creating more places to get vaccinated, and we’re now administering an average of 3 million shots per day, over 20 million shots a week,”, President Joe Biden said.

As indicated by reports, 75% of individuals over 65 years old have effectively got one shot. 55% have the two shots. President Biden is presently imagining 90% of grown-ups to get immunized by the nineteenth of April. Around 40,000 drug stores are taking part in the government drug store inoculation program.

As per the John Hopkins University report that has been given on Tuesday 555,600 residents died due to the infection. Moreover, the United States Center for Diseases Control and Prevention had noticed that 167 million vaccinations had been managed.

The racism acts towards the Asians in American has additionally spiraled in the midst of the Covid pandemic. As of late, a dissent in regards to this prejudice issue occurred in New York. Pop symbol Rihanna recently took part in a protest in New York as a responsible step towards doing away with the ongoing Asian hate.

There has additionally been the monetary strain and loss of occupations. A few understudies are additionally confronting inconvenience in taking care of credits. President Biden as of late thought about the matter.

Student loan crisis to be dealt with President Biden

President Joe Biden plans to handle student loan obligations particularly because of the monetary strain they are confronting as a result of the Covid pandemic. On President Biden’s first day at White House he had marked an authoritative request to broaden the suspension on educational loans as a feature of his Covid help plan.

On Thursday, Ron Klain, White House chief voiced out that President Joe Biden asked his schooling secretary to investigate the president’s power to scrap out educational loan obligation despite the fact that President Biden had confidence in his beginning of the administration that he has no position to do as such by chief request. In any case, his new advance can be viewed as a reasonable sign that President Joe Biden is following up on the issue.

Nonconformists demand that it would be unscrupulous benefit to the higher pay workers who have effectively accomplished their advanced degree as those people are mindful to repay their credits, regardless of the condition.

Nonetheless, President Joe Biden has been suspicious to redirect the issue of dropping understudy loan obligations to Congress. President Joe Biden said during his crusading days that his administration will help the individuals who have “crippling” understudy loans. In February at CNN city center, President Joe Biden had said “I Understand the effect of obligation.”

Besides, he added that understudy loans ought to have a 0% premium edge. He showed tolerance towards public area laborers by growing the understudy loan pardoning. He likewise got rid of obligations for the understudies who got fooled into the “revenue-driven” schools.

Regardless, President Joe Biden is doubtful on dropping credit obligations for understudies who went to top-level or world-class schools like Yale, Penn, and Harvard.

Throughout the decade, the sticker price on advanced education has quickly expanded making it so hard for understudies to achieve their advanced educations without an understudy loan. The high prerequisites from selection representatives make advanced education important to find a decent line of work, however, because of the expenses of advanced education, it makes it hard for understudies to accomplish them.

For as long as 20 years educational expenses in private and public universities have multiplied. America has gathered $1.7 trillion understudy loan obligations as more understudies select to accomplish more degrees to acquire space and fitness for great paying positions on the planet.

Democrats demand President Biden excuse the individuals who have $50,000 understudy loan per borrower. At CNN municipal center, President Biden had asked “Is that will be excused, as opposed to utilizing that cash to give cash to early training for little youngsters who come from hindered conditions?”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Senate greater part pioneer Chuck Summer accept that President Biden has the privileges to counterbalance the $50,000 credits and mentioned him to do that immediately. Sen Elizabeth and Chuck summer said in a proclamation the previous fall that: “Studies show that understudy obligation wiping out can significantly expand Black and Latinx family riches and help close the racial abundance hole, give quick alleviation to millions who are battling during this pandemic and downturn, and give a lift to our striving economy through a buyer-driven monetary boost that can bring about more prominent home-purchasing rates and lodging security, higher school finish rates, and more noteworthy private venture arrangement,”.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren likewise said that understudy loan debt holders were in an emergency even before the Covid pandemic had risen and placed America’s economy into mayhem.

Anyway, Ocasio-Cortez can’t help contradicting this arrangement as he says that easy-going understudy loan indebted individuals may cost youth schooling. On Twitter, she said that “Many will not completely feel $10k in pardoning until after a Biden administration is finished when they have gone through 10 years taking care of the other $20k+”. She felt free to say “Dems ought to advocate a strategy that individuals can feel ASAP. We need to pull out all the stops.”

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