Biden Targets China During State of Union Speech

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BEIJING — U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday criticized China’s “unfair economic practices” and insisted he has done a better job standing up to Beijing than did former President Donald Trump, his rival in this year’s presidential election. In his State of the Union address, Biden also touted other aspects of his China policy, including “standing up for peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits” and revitalizing “our partnerships and alliances in the Pacific.” “I’ve made sure that the most advanced American technologies can’t be used in China … frankly for all his tough talk on China, it never occurred tomore

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Judge Denies Trump Relief From $83.3 Million Defamation Judgment

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NEW YORK — The federal judge who oversaw a New York defamation trial that resulted in an $83.3 million award to a longtime magazine columnist from Donald Trump refused Thursday to relieve the ex-president from the verdict’s financial pinch. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told Trump’s attorney in a written order that he won’t delay deadlines for posting a bond that would ensure 80-year-old writer E. Jean Carroll can be paid the award if the judgment survives appeals. The judge said any financial harm to the Republican front-runner for the presidency results from his slow response to the late-January verdict in themore

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With Back-to-Back Actions, Biden Spotlights China Data Security Threat

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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration launched a series of actions against China in recent days, sustaining pressure against the United States’ key strategic rival even as it focuses on more urgent fronts, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. In the span of one week, the administration announced an executive order to protect Americans’ personal data from foreign adversaries, including China; launched an investigation into potential security threats posed by connected vehicles that use Chinese technology; and placed sanctions on Chinese entities for supporting Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The actions taken by President Joe Biden stand in contrast to the monthsmore

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Biden Deemed ‘Healthy, Active, Robust’ During Annual Physical Exam

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washington — U.S. President Joe Biden’s is a “healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency,” his physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, said in a statement released by the White House on Wednesday, following Biden’s annual physical examination.  “The president feels well, and this year’s physical identified no new concerns. He continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations,” O’Connor said following Biden’s visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, earlier Wednesday.   The checkup included consultations with optometry, dentistry,more

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Trump Seeks to Block Stormy Daniels, Cohen Testimony at Hush Money Trial

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NEW YORK — Donald Trump is seeking to block porn star Stormy Daniels and his former lawyer Michael Cohen from testifying at the former U.S. president’s upcoming criminal trial on charges stemming from hush money paid to Daniels before the 2016 election. The case is the first of four indictments Trump faces to reach trial as he campaigns to regain the presidency. New York state prosecutors in Manhattan say Trump falsified business records to cover up Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels for her silence about a 2006 sexual liaison she says she had with Trump. Trump denies having had sex withmore

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US Senate Republicans Block Democrats’ Bill Assuring Right to IVF

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WASHINGTON — Democrats on Wednesday failed in an attempt to rush legislation through the U.S. Senate guaranteeing Americans’ access to in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies, after an Alabama court designated frozen embryos as children. The state Supreme Court ruling on February 16 that frozen embryos should be considered children prompted at least three Alabama providers to halt the IVF procedure that involves combining eggs and sperm in a laboratory dish for couples having difficulty conceiving. Alabama’s court ruling has raised concerns that those involved in IVF could face prosecution because embryos that are found to be nonviable aremore

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McConnell to Step Down as US Senate Republican Leader in November

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s said on Wednesday he would step down from his leadership role, leaving a power vacuum atop the party he has piloted for nearly 17 years, more than any other party leader in the chamber’s history.  “I turned 82 last week. The end of my contributions are closer than I prefer,” McConnell said on the Senate floor, his voice breaking with emotion. “Father Time remains undefeated. I’m no longer the young man sitting in the back hoping colleagues remember my name. It’s time for the next generation of leadership.”  The Kentucky lawmaker’s departure willmore

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Former President Trump Beats Former UN Ambassador Haley in Her State

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Former US President Donald Trump won the Republican Presidential Primary in the Southern state of South Carolina on Saturday, defeating former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley in her home state. But Haley vowed to continue her campaign through Super Tuesday in early March, when a block of US states will have their say in who runs against President Joe Biden in November. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more. Camera: Henry Hernandez and Ostap Yarysh …

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Republican Trying to Block Party From Paying Trump’s Legal Bills

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — At least one member of the Republican National Committee is working to slow Donald Trump’s attempted takeover of the organization by pushing to keep the committee neutral until Trump is officially the presidential nominee and avoid picking up his legal bills. Two draft resolutions are being circulated by Henry Barbour, a national committeeman from Mississippi, for consideration at the RNC’s upcoming March meeting in Houston. Barbour said support for the resolutions among RNC members is growing but he does not yet have the needed co-sponsors, and any resolutions would ultimately be nonbinding. The effort comes after Trump lastmore

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Trump Wins South Carolina Primary; Haley Heads to Michigan

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charleston, south carolina — Former U.S. President Donald Trump won South Carolina’s Republican primary on Saturday, beating former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in her home state and further consolidating his path to a third straight GOP nomination.  Trump has now swept every contest that counted for Republican delegates, with wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The former president’s latest victory will likely increase pressure on Haley, who was Trump’s representative to the U.N. and South Carolina governor from 2011 to 2017, to leave the race.  Haley has vowed to stay in the race through atmore

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Trump Enters South Carolina’s Republican Primary Looking to Embarrass Haley

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CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — Former U.S. President Donald Trump is looking to win his fourth straight state primary Saturday over Nikki Haley in South Carolina, aiming to hand a home-state embarrassment to his last remaining major rival for the Republican nomination. Trump went into the primary with a huge polling lead and the backing of the state’s top Republicans, including U.S. Senator Tim Scott, a former rival in the race. Haley, who served as United Nations ambassador under Trump, has spent weeks crisscrossing the state that twice elected her governor warning that the dominant front-runner, who is 77 and faces fourmore

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Haley Seeks Key Win in Home State Against Front-Runner Trump

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Georgetown, South Carolina — The two-person contest for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination comes to South Carolina on Saturday, where former governor and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is looking for her home state to deliver her first win of the election season over former President Donald Trump. Polling shows Trump holds a strong lead over Haley, after securing wins in the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary in January. A Suffolk University/USA Today poll of South Carolina voters conducted last week found that 63% of the state’s voters prefer the former president. Earlier this week, Haley vowed to continuemore

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