Biden news live: Latest Covid updates as John Kerry apologises for Trump

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said it will be “very hard” for President Joe Biden to meet a past goal to raise the country’s refugee admissions cap to 62,500.

Speaking on ABC’s This Week, Mr Blinken said: “It’s going to be very hard to meet the 62,000 [target] this fiscal year”.

In February, Mr Biden had suggested he would be aiming to reach the goal, but earlier this week he revealed that he planned to maintain a Trump-era record low of 15,000 admissions, before walking back on that decision after facing backlash from progressives.

Mr Blinken said the White House would be “revisiting” the issue “over the coming weeks”.

One America News Network appears to have continued to fiercely defend former President Donald Trump, months after his departure from the White House.

Pointing out the network’s apparent dedication to the former US leader, The New York Times noted how OAN has continued to broadcast segments questioning the validity of the 2020 presidential election.

“There’s still serious doubts about who’s actually president,” the newspaper noted OAN correspondent Pearson Sharp had said in a 28 March report.

According to the newspaper, not everyone at OAN is in agreement with network’s coverage.

In interviews with 18 current and past newsroom employees, The Times found that 16 said they felt the network broadcasts misleading, inaccurate or untrue reports.

President Joe Biden is “committed” to raising the US’s cap on refugee admissions, national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Mr Sullivan said Mr Biden would stick to his vow on Saturday to raise the cap after he faced criticism for initially deciding to keep it at its historic low level of 15,000 admissions.

The low ceiling had been introduced under former President Donald Trump and Mr Biden had initially promised in his election campaign to increase the cap.

On Saturday, Mr Biden said he would follow through and raise the ceiling, though it is not clear how high.

Still, Mr Sullivan said: “He is committed to that and he will follow through on that.”

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser has said the US has warned Russia “there will be consequences” Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison.

Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union today, Jake Sullivan said the White House had delivered a strong warning to Russia.

Navalny, 44, nearly died in August 2020 after he was poisoned with chemical nerge agent Novichock.

He had accused President Vladimir Putin of being behind the incident, a claim the Kremlin has denied.

He was jailed in February over past embezzlement charges and has remained in custody since.

The United States and China have agreed to work with other nations to address the climate crisis.

The two countries, which are known as the world’s two biggest polluters, struck the accord last week during talks in Shanghai between US climate envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua.

“The United States and China are committed to cooperating with each other and with other countries to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands,” a joint statement released by the US State Department said.

Some of the Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol Building in January have sought to defend their actions by claiming to have been acting as “journalists” during the incident.

According to The Associated Press, at least eight people accused of attacking the building have claimed that they were only at the event to record history as journalists or filmmakers, not to help incite a deadly insurrection.

The finding comes following an AP review of court records in nearly 400 cases.

The insurrection ended in the deaths of five people, including a police officer.

Hundreds of injuries were also recorded in relation to the event.

One defendant, Shawn Witzemann, has claimed that he was inside the Capitol Building as part of his work livestreaming video at protests.

“I seek truth. I speak to sources. I document. I provide commentary. It’s everything that a journalist is,” Mr Witzemann told a New Mexico TV station following his arrest on 6 April.

Most Americans want to end lifetime appointments for US Supreme Court justices, an Ipsos poll conducted for Reuters has shown.

In the national poll, which was conducted on Thursday and Friday and saw 1,003 US adult residents surveyed, 63 per cent were in favour of term or age limits for Supreme Court justices.

Another 22 per cent said they were opposed to any limits, while the rest said they did not have an opinion.

The poll also found that only 38 per cent would be in favour of making the court bigger with the addition of four more justices, while 42 per cent said they would be against such a move and the rest were unsure.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has asked US drugmaker Pfizer Inc for additional supplies of the Covid-19 vaccine to help accelerate the country’s vaccination programme.

The request came after Mr Suga held talks with President Joe Biden at the White House, with the Japanese leader reportedly putting in a call to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla as his trip came to a close.

Today, Taro Kono, a Cabinet minister overseeing vaccinations, told a Japanese television talk show that an agreement had nearly been reached, according to The Associated Press.

Mr Suga reportedly asked that Mr Bourla provide additional supplies of the Covid vaccine to help Japan reach a goal of seeing all eligible recipients receive doses by September.

President Joe Biden has vowed to lift the US’s record low Trump-era cap on refugee admissions next month after facing backlash following an initial decision to maintain the ceiling.

Mr Biden had previously said that the 15,000-cap “remains justified by humanitarian concerns and is otherwise in the national interest”.

He did say that the ceiling could potentially be raised if the cap was met before the end of the current budget year.

However, many immigration advocates expressed outrage over the plan, particularly as Mr Biden had promised to raise the refugee cap significantly during the course of his 2020 presidential campaign.

On Saturday, Biden walked back on his plans, asserting that he would “increase the number” of refugee admissions.

The president made the vow speaking to reporters after a golfing session in Wilmington, Delaware.

“The problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended up on the border with young people,” he said. “We couldn’t…