Biden may express concern over India-Russia ties in meeting with prime minister Modi – live | US politics

Maryland has become the 15th US state to allow health professionals other than doctors to carry out abortions, as part of a bill expanding access to reproductive rights for women.

Under the new law, midwives, senior nurses and trained doctor’s assistants will be authorised to perform medical abortions from 1 July. The bill also directs the state to ring-fence $3.5m a year for abortion-care training.

The bill was vetoed by the Republican governor, Larry Hogan, but approved on Saturday with substantial majorities in the state house and senate.

Hogan claimed in an open letter the bill would “endanger the health and lives of women” and “set back standards for women’s health care and safety”.

There is no evidence that allowing advanced clinicians to provide abortion care in states including California, New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois and New Hampshire has led to lower standards.

The law, which may face legal challenge from anti-choice groups, also requires most insurance companies to cover the cost of an abortion at no cost to the patient. The average cost of an abortion is $500 but costs vary widely across the US and can be much higher when accounting for travel and days off work.

The Maryland legislation comes amid a surge in bills in Republican-run states seeking to severely restrict or ban access to abortion.

Last week, a young woman was jailed in Texas after being accused of causing the “death of an individual by self-induced abortion”.

Lizelle Herrera, 26 and from Starr county, was released on Sunday after charges were dropped amid widespread condemnation.

Read more here:

Juneteenth will be a paid holiday for city workers in New York for the first time this year, mayor Eric Adams has announced, further crystalizing recognition of the date commemorating the end of slavery in the US and fulfilling a promise made by his predecessor Bill de Blasio.

He made the announcement in a Monday morning tweet citing the urgency of the declaration.

As the second Black mayor of New York City, I know that I stand on the shoulders of countless heroes and sheroes who put their lives on the line to secure a more perfect union. Now is the time for me to do a small part and recognize one of our nation’s greatest wrongs.

Juneteenth is a time for reflection, assessment, and self-improvement. People across the country of all races, nationalities, and religions unite on this day to truthfully acknowledge the stain of slavery and celebrate the countless contributions of Black Americans. It’s time for our city to finally do what’s right and officially designate Juneteenth as a city holiday.

This decision is long overdue, which is why it will immediately take effect this year.

De Blasio promised to make 19 June, the official date of Juneteenth, a paid day off in 2020 as racial protests swept the nation, but was never able to agree a deal with union leaders.

Joe Biden declared Juneteenth a federal holiday last year, the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr Day was first celebrated in 1986.

Gun controls are back on Joe Biden’s radar, with the president set to announce this afternoon restrictions on so-called ghost guns, those made from kits and without serial numbers, thus rendering them untraceable.

A number of gun law activists have been invited to attend the Rose Garden event at the White House, including victims’ parents from the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre in Parkland, Florida, the worst high school shooting in the US with 17 students and staff killed.

One of the activists, Manuel Oliver, whose 17-year-old son Joaquin was among the victims, has grown increasingly impatient in recent months over a perceived lack of action by Biden, who campaigned for the White House partly on a promise of gun reforms.

He and his wife Patricia, Joaquin’s mother, have toured the country using drama and urban art to highlight gun deaths and promote their call for meaningful reforms.

2h ago14:52

Martin Pengelly

A federal judge has indicated that an attempt to stop the far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene running for re-election will be allowed to proceed, with a ruling expected as early as today.

The challenge from a group of Georgia voters says Greene should be disqualified under the 14th amendment to the US constitution, because she supported insurrectionists who attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

A similar challenge in North Carolina, against Madison Cawthorn, another prominent supporter of Donald Trump, was blocked.

But on Friday Amy Totenberg, a federal judge in Georgia, said she had “significant questions and concerns” about the ruling in the Cawthorn case, CNN reported.

Totenberg said she was likely to rule on Greene’s attempt to have her case dismissed on Monday, two days before a scheduled hearing before a state judge.

The 14th amendment was passed by Congress in 1866, a year after the end of the civil war, and ratified in 1868.

It says: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Congress can reverse any such prohibition.

Read more here:

A plain-talking Joe Biden is likely to greet the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, on their video call this morning, the president expected to seek a harder line from New Delhi towards Russia over the Ukraine war.

The US and allies are concerned by recent Indian actions, including abstaining from last week’s vote that saw Russia suspended from the United Nations human rights council, buying 3bn barrels of Russian crude while other nations were ramping up oil sanctions, and acquisition of Russia’s S-400 air defense systems.

According to the White House press secretary Jen Psaki, in a statement on Sunday, the Biden-Modi call will discuss: “Strengthening the global economy, and upholding a free, open, rules-based international order to bolster security, democracy, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.”

To many analysts, the softer language conceals what is expected to be a resolute US president setting out some hard truths to his Indian counterpart, and that consequences await if Modi’s government continues to court Moscow.

Vivian Salama, the Wall Street Journal’s national security reporter, characterizes (in this tweet) talk of deepening “ties between our governments, economies and people,” per Biden’s schedule announcing the meeting, thus: “This is White House speak for: ‘Potus to express deep disappointment in India’s ongoing ties with Moscow and will warn Modi about repercussions should he choose to accelerate energy imports from Russia.”

We’ll get the chance to assess the mood in the room when Biden and Modi appear briefly for reporters as they make the call, which is scheduled for 11am.

Good morning, happy Monday, and thanks for joining the blog for what promises to be another intriguing week in US politics.

Joe Biden will host a video call with the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi this morning, ostensibly billed as a meeting to “deepen ties between our governments, economy and people,” which the Wall Street Journal’s national security reporter Vivian Salama sees as White House speak for: “Potus to express deep disappointment in India’s ongoing ties with Moscow and will warn Modi about repercussions should he choose to accelerate energy imports from Russia.”

The Russian war continues to escalate in eastern Ukraine in particular, and you can follow developments in our live 24-hour blog here.

Here’s what else we’re watching in the US today:

• Biden will announce measures to restrict “ghost guns” – made from kits and without serial numbers – in an address at the White House at 2.15pm. The president will also introduce Steve Dettelbach, a former justice department prosecutor, as his nominee for director of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives (ATF).
• A federal judge in Georgia could rule as early as today on a motion that could allow the progression of a lawsuit to disqualify the far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress as an insurrectionist.
• The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, will deliver her first briefing of the week at 1pm.
• The vice-president, Kamala Harris, will announce new action on relieving medical debt later this afternoon.