President lifts Trump visa ban – follow Biden live

The Biden administration will release a declassified version of a US intelligence report that says Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, four U.S. officials familiar with the matter said.

The officials said the report, for which the CIA was the main contributor, assessed that the crown prince approved and likely ordered the murder of Khashoggi, whose Washington Post column had criticised the crown prince’s policies.

President Joe Biden told reporters on Wednesday he had read the report and expected to speak soon by phone with Saudi Arabian King Salman, 85, father of the crown prince, the country’s 35-year-old de facto ruler.

The report’s release is part of Biden‘s policy to realign ties with Riyadh after years of giving the Arab ally and major oil producer a pass on its human rights record and its intervention in Yemen’s civil war.

Additional reporting from Reuters

A Fox news station suspended its anchor following social media outrage for his tweet expressing annoyance over obese people getting the Covid-19 vaccine on priority.

“I’m annoyed obese people of all ages get priority vaccine access before all essential workers,” he said in the now-deleted tweet.

Shweta Sharma has the details

As well as reversing a Trump-era policy on immigration on Wednesday, President Biden also signed an executive order intended to boost manufacturing jobs by strengthening supply chains for advanced batteries, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals and semiconductors.

The United States has become increasingly reliant on imports of these goods which the Biden administration hopes to address with a planned 100-day review and the possibility of increased domestic production.

The Covid outbreak further highlighted some issues with supply chains after an initial shortage of masks, gloves and other protective medical equipment.

Automakers in the United States and Europe are now dealing with a lack of computer chips.“These are the kinds of common sense solutions that all Americans can get behind,” Biden said at a White House ceremony.

“It’s about resilience, identifying possible points of vulnerabilities in our supply chains and making sure we have the backup alternatives or workarounds in place.”

Additional reporting from AP

Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser has lost her sister to coronavirus

Mercia Bowser died at the age of 64 from Covid-19 after being treated for Covid-related pneumonia, the politician announced on Wednesday.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s approval rating among Republicans has plummeted since last week amid the controversy over his family trip to Cancun as the state grappled with power outages triggered by an unusual deep freeze, a new poll has found.

Heidi Cruz, the wife of Texas senator Ted Cruz, is reportedly on the hunt for the neighbour who leaked her text messages about their much-criticised trip to Cancun during a snow-storm that left thousands without heat or electricity.

“Ritz Carlton Cancun $309 plus tax,” she allegedly wrote in messages passed to The New York Times last week, that demonstrated the family was planning to violate government guidelines and the recommendations of her own husband.

They were later photographed on the beach in Mexico.

But who is the 48-year-old mother of two, who, like nearly all spouses of male politicians, is frequently referred to not by name but as his “lovely wife”?

Newly released video shows investigators confronting the South Dakota attorney general who is facing impeachment after he was charged last week with three misdemeanours for accidentally killing a man with his car last year.

The video, released on Tuesday by South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, shows officers interviewing attorney general Jason Ravsnborg, who struck and killed 55-year-old Joseph Boever last September as he walked along the shoulder of Highway 14.

In the clips, Mr Ravnsborg, who called the police directly after the accident and cooperated with their investigation, appears unaware of certain details of the crash, and the officers remind him of the gruesome particulars.

The White House has hit back at claims it is caging children of migrants two years after the Trump border separation scandal.

The president’s press secretary defended the administration from allegations it has continued a similar detention policy that was much maligned by Democrats under the ex-president.

The Biden administration has just reopened an emergency facility for migrant children in Carrizo Springs, Texas, because of the extra space needed to observe Covid protocols.

It will hold 700 youngsters between the age of 13 and 17, the Washington Post reported.

Virginia Democratic Representative Gerry Connolly blasted Ohio Republican Representative and staunch Trump ally Jim Jordan, telling him during a hearing on the postal service that he “will not be lectured” about partisanship by people who voted to overturn the election.

The hearing before the House Oversight Committee included questioning of the president of the American Postal Workers Union Mark Dimondstein and the Postmaster-General, Trump appointee Louis DeJoy.

Mr Jordan defended Mr DeJoy who he argued had been unfairly criticised by Democrats during the lead-up to the 2020 election, saying: “They accused you of things, they said you were restricting overtime – False. They told you you were taking the collection boxes, doing something that had never been done before, even though it had been done by every Postmaster-Genera

First Lady Jill Biden has shared her advice for navigating divorce while reflecting on her own experience ending a marriage during a conversation with Kelly Clarkson.

Dr Biden discussed the topic during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, where she offered some motherly guidance to Clarkson, who recently filed for divorce from her husband of nearly seven years, Brandon Blackstock.

“I want to tell you Kelly, I mean this is what I would say to you if I were your mother,” the first lady said during a preview clip of the upcoming interview. “You know, my mother always said to me: ‘‘Things are going to look better tomorrow. And if you can take one day at a time, things will get better.’”

Chelsea Ritschel reports.