Biden news: President pledges aid for Covid-stricken India in call with PM Modi

Press secretary Jen Psaki has begun her daily briefing, joined today by the Director of the National Economic Council, Brian Deese.

Follow live with The Independent.

Direct from The White House:

“President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, committing that the United States and India will work closely together in the fight against COVID-19.

The President pledged America’s steadfast support for the people of India who have been impacted by the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. In response, the United States is providing a range of emergency assistance, including oxygen-related supplies, vaccine materials, and therapeutics.

Prime Minister Modi expressed appreciation for the strong cooperation between both countries. The two leaders resolved that the United States and India will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the effort to protect our citizens and the health of our communities.”

Jen Psaki said she would check in with Kamala Harris’s team after the vice president told CNN she wasn’t going to the border because they have to “deal with Covid issues”.

Ms Psaki was asked what Ms Harris meant by Covid issues preventing a visit to the border, and if reports were true that her 2019 children’s book, Superheroes are Everywhere, is included in welcome kits.

“I’d have to certainly check on that, I hear it’s a good book,” she said.

The Department of Justice on Monday announced it will investigate the practices of the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, which was heavily criticized following the killing of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman accidentally shot during a no-knock drug search last March.

“We will follow the facts and the law wherever they lead,” US attorney general Merrick Garland said on Monday, announcing the probe, which will scrutinize the LMPD’s record on searches, stops, seizure, training, discipline, and response to protests.

Last week, the DOJ announced a similar “pattern or practice” investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department, following the death of George Floyd.

Josh Marcus reports.

In his remarks to a right-wing student conference, CNN political commentator and former US Senator Rick Santorum claimed “there was nothing here” when European colonisers “birthed a nation from nothing” upon arriving in what would become the United States.

He dismissed Native American culture and the slaughter of Indigineous people, saying “we have Native Americans but candidly there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.”

“We came here and created a blank slate. We birthed a nation from nothing,” he said in his hour-long speech to the Young America’s Foundation’s Standing Up For Faith & Freedom conference in Pennsylvania on 23 April.

Alex Woodward reports.

The US will begin sharing its entire pipeline of vaccines from AstraZeneca once it clears federal safety reviews.

As many as 60 million doses are expected to be available for export in the coming months, the Associated Press reports.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is widely in use around the world but not yet authorised for use in the US by the Food and Drug Administration.

In March, the White House announced the US would share approximately 4 million doses of the vaccine with Mexico and Canada.

Oliver O’Connell reports.

John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s international climate envoy, has said that the US will use satellites to monitor China’s progress on commitments to tackle the climate crisis.

The US hosted a virtual climate summit last week which elicited new emissions targets from South Korea, Japan, Canada and South Africa but not China, the world’s largest carbon emitter.

China’s President Xi Jinping told the summit that China would work alongside the US on climate and reiterated his announcement from last year that the superpower aims to reach peak emissions by 2030. He also said that China would “strictly control” coal projects, and limit increases of the fossil fuel over the next five years before phasing down.

Former secretary of state Mr Kerry toldThe Times that while China’s statements on coal reduction were a positive sign, the US was not taking any promises at “face value”.

Louise Boyle reports,

A North Carolina city and county declared a state of emergency on Monday ahead of the expected release of body camera footage showing yet another police shooting of a Black man, 42-year-old Andrew Brown Jr.

Pasquotank County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Mr Brown on Wednesday as they attempted to serve him with an arrest warrant, according to the sheriff’s office. Witnesses say police shot Mr Brown as he was driving away from officers.

Elizabeth City, North Carolina mayor Bettie Parker said she expects a “period of civil unrest” once the video is released to the public.

Josh Marcus reports,