DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

The spokesman, John F. Kirby, said Ukraine had a critical need for Patriot interceptor missiles as Russia has accelerated attacks against cities and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. “This decision demonstrates our commitment to supporting our partners when they’re in existential danger,” Mr. Kirby told reporters. He said the move would not affect weapons shipments to Israel or Taiwan. The Patriot is the Pentagon’s standard air-defense system for ground forces to defend against airborne threats. The United States first sent a Patriot battery to Ukraine in December 2022.

Persons: Biden, John F, Kirby, Mr Organizations: United States, Patriot Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Taiwan

☆ Biden Says He Won’t Commute Son’s Sentence on Gun Charges
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden said on Thursday that he would not commute the sentence of his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted this week on three federal felony counts for lying on a federal form about his drug addiction when he bought a handgun in 2018. In response to a question at the Group of 7 summit in Italy, Mr. Biden reiterated his earlier position that he would not pardon his son. “I’m extremely proud of my son Hunter,” Mr. Biden said. I am satisfied that, I’m not going to do anything. I will do that.”As he was leaving the stage, Mr. Biden was asked if he would use his authority to issue a commutation, which would leave the guilty verdict intact but wipe out some or all of the punishment.

Persons: Biden, Hunter Biden, “, Hunter, ” Mr, I’m Organizations: Group Locations: Italy

☆ Biden Says U.S. Is Considering Dropping Its Case Against Assange
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden said on Wednesday that the United States was considering dropping its prosecution of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who has been jailed in London for years while fighting extradition to face U.S. charges related to his publication of classified documents. Mr. Biden made the comment on the case of the embattled publisher, who is being detained in a high-security prison, in response to a question about a request from Mr. Assange’s home country of Australia that he be allowed to return there. “We’re considering it,” Mr. Biden said at the White House, where he was hosting Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan. Mr. Assange has been jailed for nearly five years after being indicted by the United States with 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act for publishing thousands of documents detailing secret military operations and diplomatic intelligence, as well as revelations about the civilian death tolls in the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Persons: Biden, Julian Assange, Assange’s, “, ” Mr, Fumio Kishida, Assange Organizations: WikiLeaks, White Locations: United States, London, Australia, Japan, U.S, Iraq, Afghanistan

☆ Harris Calls for an ‘Immediate Cease-Fire’ in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday called for an “immediate cease-fire” in Gaza, saying that Hamas should agree to the six-week pause currently on the table and that Israel should increase the flow of aid into the besieged enclave amid a humanitarian crisis. Her tone, sharper and more urgent than President Biden’s in recent days, showed the White House’s building frustration with Israel. “People in Gaza are starving,” Ms. Harris said. She also said that Israel must do more to allow for the flow of aid into Gaza, including opening borders, lifting any unnecessary restrictions on aid deliveries and restoring services to Gaza. “The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid,” she said.

Persons: Kamala Harris, Harris’s, Biden, Benny Gantz, Biden’s, “, Ms, Harris, Israel, ”, Gantz Organizations: Biden, White Locations: Gaza, Israel, Selma, Ala, Israel ., States

☆ U.S. Prepares ‘Major Sanctions’ Against Russia Over Navalny’s Death
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration is preparing “major sanctions” against Moscow in response to the death of the Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, a White House official said on Tuesday. John F. Kirby, a National Security Council spokesman, said the sanctions would be announced on Friday. President Biden has said there is “no doubt” that Vladimir V. Putin’s government was behind the death of Mr. Navalny. “Whatever story the Russian government decides to tell the world, it’s clear that President Putin and his government are responsible for Mr. Navalny’s death,” Mr. Kirby told reporters on Tuesday. Mr. Kirby declined to detail what would be included in the sanctions package, but said it would be devised to “hold Russia accountable for what happened to Mr. Navalny and, quite frankly, for all its actions over the course of this vicious and brutal war that has now raged on for two years.”

Persons: Biden, Aleksei A, John F, Kirby, Vladimir V, Navalny, Putin, Navalny’s, ” Mr, ” Organizations: White, National Security Council, Mr Locations: Moscow, Russian, Russia

☆ First Black Women to Cover the White House Are Honored in the Briefing Room
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-21 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On her first day covering the White House, Alice Dunnigan had every reason to stand out. She was the first Black woman to be credentialed to join the White House press corps, and she had even arrived an hour early to cover her first news conference with President Harry S. Truman. But as she sat in the lobby of the West Wing, she may as well have been invisible. “I sat there alone and apparently unnoticed, taking in all the activity while glancing now and then at my newspaper,” she wrote in her autobiography, “Alone Atop the Hill.” “If anyone wondered who I was or why I was there, they made no effort to find out.”More than 75 years later, Ms. Dunnigan’s memory is being honored in the same setting where her colleagues once ignored her. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, in November named a new lectern in the White House briefing room for Ms. Dunnigan of The Associated Negro Press and Ethel L. Payne, who joined her on the beat a few years later for The Chicago Defender.

Persons: Alice Dunnigan, Harry S, Truman, ”, Karine Jean, Pierre, Dunnigan, Ethel L, Payne Organizations: White House, Associated Negro Press, The Chicago Locations: ”

The soaring number of people crossing into the United States from Mexico has been a political vulnerability for President Biden for the past three years, chipping away at his approval rating and opening him up to political attacks. But now, the crisis is threatening to upend America’s support for the war in Ukraine, throwing the centerpiece of Mr. Biden’s foreign policy into jeopardy. After a meeting with Mr. Biden at the White House on Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson insisted that the Republican-led House would not pass legislation to send aid to Ukraine unless Democrats agreed to sweeping new restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border. And even if the two sides do come to some sort of agreement, many Republicans, especially in the House, would be loath to give an election-year win to Mr. Biden on an issue that has given them a powerful line of criticism toward the White House. The issue is also at the center of the candidacy of Mr. Biden’s likely opponent this fall, former President Donald J. Trump.

Persons: Biden, Mike Johnson, Biden’s, Donald J, Trump Organizations: White, Republican, Mr Locations: United States, Mexico, Ukraine, U.S

☆ Biden Signs Stopgap Spending Bill, Averting Partial Shutdown
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden on Friday signed legislation averting a partial government shutdown, which will fund agencies until early March as Congress continues to wrangle over spending proposals to fund the government for the remainder of the year. The Senate and the House approved the stopgap measure on Thursday; funding was to run out at midnight Friday. The six-week deal was passed over the opposition of hard-right Republicans in the House but with bipartisan majorities in both chambers. It will allow Congress to negotiate and pass bills totaling $1.66 trillion to fund the government through the fall. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said in a statement on Friday that the new measure “prevents a needless shutdown, maintains current funding levels and includes no extreme policies.”She indicated that the White House was prepared for fights ahead, as the new resolution was the third time since the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1 that Congress had temporarily extended funding.

Persons: Biden, Karine Jean, Pierre Organizations: Republicans, White House, White

☆ Biden Cancels Another $5 Billion in Student Loan Debt
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden on Friday canceled nearly $5 billion in student loan debt for 74,000 people, the latest effort by the administration to deliver piecemeal relief after the Supreme Court struck down Mr. Biden’s more ambitious loan cancellation plan last year. Most of the people who will benefit from the latest round are teachers, nurses, firefighters and others in public service, who qualify for relief under existing programs that have been plagued by bureaucratic and other problems for years. “My administration is able to deliver relief to these borrowers — and millions more — because of fixes we made to broken student loan programs that were preventing borrowers from getting relief they were entitled to under the law,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. His promise to forgive student loans is a sticking point for crucial voting blocs, particularly young people, and for Black borrowers who disproportionately shoulder the most student loan debt. More than 43 million people across the country owe $1.6 trillion in federal loans for college, according to government data.

Persons: Biden, ” Mr

☆ Harris Warns of ‘Profound Threat’ to America’s Freedoms
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Vice President Kamala Harris warned on Monday that American freedom was “under profound threat” in a speech honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in South Carolina, amplifying a message that the Biden administration has made a rallying cry of its re-election bid. Ms. Harris used her keynote address at a South Carolina N.A.A.C.P. She urged the crowd of more than 100 to continue to fight for the constitutional promises Dr. King spent his life holding America accountable for. Ms. Harris criticized “extremists” who have passed laws rolling back voting rights and reproductive rights, orchestrated book bans and denied parts of the nation’s Black history.

Persons: Kamala Harris, Martin Luther King Jr, Biden, Harris, King, ” Organizations: South Carolina N.A.A.C.P, Republican Locations: South Carolina

Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state who died this week, was a go-to adviser for many American presidents over his decades in politics. Here are some thoughts and stories over the years from several of those presidents, expressing awe, exasperation and sharp criticism. President Biden“I’ll never forget the first time I met Dr. Kissinger. I was a young senator, and he was secretary of state — giving a briefing on the state of the world,” the president said in a statement Thursday. Jill and I send our condolences to his wife Nancy, his children Elizabeth and David, his grandchildren, and all those who loved him.”

Persons: Henry A . Kissinger, Biden “ I’ll, Kissinger, “ Long, Jill, Nancy, Elizabeth, David, ”

☆ U.S. Has Warned Israel to Fight More Surgically in Gaza, Officials Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

The United States has warned Israel that it must fight more surgically and avoid further mass displacement of Palestinians in its war against Hamas to avoid a humanitarian crisis that overwhelms the world’s ability to respond, according to senior Biden administration officials. The United Nations has said the fighting has already displaced most of Gaza’s population of 2.2 million. The statements are the Biden administration’s strongest warning to Israeli officials to date about the next phase of their military operation. Gazan health officials say at least 13,000 people were killed during the nearly 50-day Israeli bombardment and ground invasion that followed. The Biden administration officials said the United States was planning to take advantage of the extra time.

Persons: Israel, Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, John F, Kirby, “, ” Mr, ” Organizations: Biden, United Nations, White, National Security Council Locations: States, Israel, Gaza, United States, Egypt

☆ Biden Navigates Divisions Over Gaza Inside the White House and Beyond
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Mr. Biden had invited a small group of prominent Muslim Americans to the White House to discuss Islamophobia in America. They told him that his embrace of Israel after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks was seen by many as permission for Israel’s bombing in Gaza. The private meeting, which had been scheduled for 30 minutes, stretched to more than an hour, attendees said. Mr. Biden waved off aides who tried to pull him out of the room as he listened to the criticism and shared his own experience with loss and grief. “He listened, he did show empathy and he promised to do better, particularly on humanizing Palestinians.”

Persons: Biden’s, Biden, “, ”, Wa’el Alzayat Locations: Israel, America, Gaza, Chicago

☆ Harris to Announce Steps to Curb Risks of A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to announce on Wednesday a slew of additional measures to curb the risks of artificial intelligence as she prepares to take part in a global summit in Britain where world and tech leaders will discuss the future of the technology. On her visit, which will kick off Wednesday with a policy address at the U.S. Embassy in London, Ms. Harris plans to outline guardrails that the American government will seek to put in place to manage the risks of A.I. Taken together, the steps Ms. Harris plans to announce seek to both flesh out a sweeping executive order President Biden signed this week and make its ideals part of broader global standards for a technology that holds great promise and peril. She is also set to announce that 30 other nations have joined a “political declaration” created by the United States that seeks to establish a “set of norms for responsible development, deployment and use of military A.I. capabilities,” as well as $200 million in philanthropic funding to help support the administration’s goals.

Persons: Kamala Harris, Harris, Biden, ” Organizations: U.S, Embassy, Management Locations: Britain, London, United States

The United States on Tuesday rejected growing calls to support a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas because such a move would only benefit Hamas, a White House spokesman said. But he said civilian casualties were all but inevitable as Israel tries to vanquish Hamas in Gaza. “We’re going to continue to make sure Israel has the tools and the capabilities that they need to defend themselves,” Mr. Kirby said. U.S. and Israeli officials have consistently rejected calls for a cease-fire, insisting that Israel must be given time to eradicate Hamas. On Tuesday, the U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, called for a humanitarian cease-fire in an address to the U.N. Security Council.

Persons: John F, Kirby, Israel, “ We’re, ” Mr, Mr, ”, António Guterres, Guterres, “, Biden, Antony J, Blinken Organizations: . Security, Capitol, Hamas, Gaza Health Ministry, Security Council, “, UNRWA Locations: States, Israel, Gaza, United States, “ Israel

☆ In Washington Visit, Zelensky Will Try to Shore Up Critical Support
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine plans to make his second wartime visit to Washington on Thursday, meeting with President Biden and congressional lawmakers as he tries to preserve his country’s most critical source of funding and weapons. Mr. Biden will be looking to get a “battlefield perspective” on the war from Mr. Zelensky, said John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman. The Ukrainian president, who was in New York this week rallying support at the U.N. General Assembly, also plans to visit Capitol Hill and the Pentagon. The visit comes at a crucial moment in the war, with Ukraine’s fight against Russian invaders heading into the harsh winter months. But it also comes as polls have detected a growing weariness over the war among the American public, which is focused on problems at home, and as dozens of Republicans say they are opposed to Mr. Biden’s latest request for $24 billion for additional military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Biden, Zelensky, John F, Kirby, Ukraine’s, Biden’s Organizations: General Assembly, Capitol, Pentagon, Russian Locations: Ukraine, Washington, New York

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday called on the nation to accept some of the ugliest truths in its history as she confronted the debates roiling the country about racism and violence against Black Americans. “If we’re going to continue to move forward as a nation we cannot allow concerns about discomfort to displace knowledge, truth or history,” Justice Jackson told a crowd of hundreds. “It is certainly the case that parts of this country’s story can be hard to think about. I know that atrocities like the one we’re memorializing today are difficult to remember and relive. “We cannot forget because we cannot learn from past mistakes we do not know exist.”

Persons: Ketanji Brown Jackson, Justice Jackson, ” Justice Jackson, ” Organizations: Black, Sixteenth, Baptist Church, Ku Klux, Sunday, ” Locations: Birmingham, Alabama

☆ Biden Marks 9/11 Anniversary With a Message of Unity
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden marked the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Monday with a message of unity, saying Americans must protect democratic ideals. Mr. Biden delivered remarks from a military base in Alaska, where he stopped on his way home from a diplomatic trip to Asia so that he could commemorate the anniversary on U.S. soil. “It shouldn’t take a national tragedy to remind us of the power of national unity,” he told a crowd of service members, first responders and their families. “That’s how we truly honor those we lost on 9/11.”“It’s more important than ever that we come together around the principle of American democracy, regardless of our political backgrounds,” he said. We must never allow ourselves to be pulled apart by petty manufactured grievances.”

Persons: Biden, Mr, ”, “ Locations: Alaska, Asia

☆ Biden Didn’t Hear Question on Maui He Appeared to Brush Off, White House Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Eleven days after President Biden drew criticism for appearing to brush off a query about the deadly wildfires in Hawaii with a “no comment,” a White House spokeswoman said on Thursday that the president never heard the question. Olivia Dalton, the deputy White House press secretary, made the clarification in response to a question from The New York Times. “He didn’t hear the question,” Ms. Dalton said. “He absolutely didn’t say ‘no comment’ in relation to Maui. And in fact, he had already spoken to the nation about Maui at that point, in addition to being in daily contact with senior staff, FEMA and state officials as he marshaled a whole-of-government response to the fires.”

Persons: Biden, ”, Olivia Dalton, Biden’s, Ms, Dalton, “ Organizations: White, The New York Times, Republican, FEMA Locations: Hawaii, Lahaina, Maui, Rehoboth Beach, Del

☆ Spin. Pilates. Prigozhin? Presidential Business Follows Biden on Vacation.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It is a dynamic that seems to come with the job: A crisis will almost certainly unfold during any presidential holiday. The only occasion when Mr. Biden was spotted doing a recreational activity so far was on Wednesday, holding a banana-blueberry smoothie after his workout at PeloDog, a Pilates and cycle studio. He was asked by reporters whether he believed President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was behind the plane crash. It looked that way, the president said, but he needed to find out more. (White House officials said the president was renting the house for “fair market value” but did not disclose details.)

Persons: Biden, Vladimir V, Putin, I’ve, ”, Theodore Roosevelt, Tevi Troy, George W, Bush Organizations: White House Locations: Russia, Maui, Steyer’s, Glenbrook, Nev, Lake Tahoe, Sagamore Hill, Long, Tahoe, Rehoboth

“From Day 1, President Biden has treated climate change with the urgency it requires,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said, pointing to measures like the Inflation Reduction Act, the most significant climate law in history. With research showing that recent heat waves in the United States and Europe would have been “virtually impossible” without the influence of man-made climate change, many climate experts said Mr. Biden needed to take a strong stand against new fossil fuels. Activists have long pushed Mr. Biden to do so, but the White House has expressed worries in the past about its authority to take such unilateral measures, fearing that they might be overturned in the courts. Instead, Ms. Jean-Pierre pointed to the ongoing benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, which Mr. Biden signed into law last year but whose funding will continue flowing for years to come. It contains nearly $370 billion in tax credits to spur wind and solar power and electric vehicle battery manufacturing in the United States and incentives for purchases of electric vehicles, induction stoves and electric heat pumps.

Persons: Biden, Ms, Jean, Pierre, Mr, ”, Jonathan Overpeck Organizations: School for Environment, Sustainability, University of Michigan, White Locations: United States, Europe

☆ Biden to Create Monument to Emmett Till Amid Fights Over Black History
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden on Tuesday will establish a national monument honoring Emmett Till, the Black teenager who was abducted and killed by white supremacists in 1955, and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, who helped galvanize the civil rights movement by bravely displaying her child’s brutalized body for the world to see. The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument will span three protected sites in Illinois, where Emmett was born 82 years ago, and in Mississippi, where he was killed at the age of 14 after being accused of whistling at a white woman. The president’s decision to dedicate a monument to two figures whose story underscores the legacy of racism in America comes in the midst of a divisive political battle over how to teach Black history in schools. Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, came under fire after education officials in his state introduced new standards for teaching Black history.

Persons: Biden, Emmett Till, Mamie Till, Mobley, Emmett, Ron DeSantis Organizations: Gov, Republican Locations: Illinois, Mississippi, America, Florida

Search resuls for: "More About Erica L. Green"

22 mentions found