United News of Bangladesh

Former US President Barack Obama has cautioned that the United States is edging dangerously close to becoming an autocracy, pointing to a decline in democratic norms and institutions. Speaking at a charity event in Connecticut on Tuesday, Obama made a thinly veiled criticism of Donald Trump, referencing threats to the rule of law, judicial independence, and the right to protest. “If you follow regularly what is said by those who are in charge of the federal government right now, there is a weak commitment to what we understood — and not just my generation, at least since World War II — our understanding of how a liberal democracy is supposed to work,” he said. Obama warned the country is nearing the point of undermining its own democratic foundations, reports the Telegraph.  “We’re not there yet completely, but I think that we are dangerously close to normalising behavior like that. And we need people both outside government and inside government saying, ‘Let’s not go over that cliff because it’s hard to recover.’” Speaking alongside historian and vocal Trump critic Heather Cox Richardson, the former president emphasized that democracy relies on government employees and the Justice Department taking their constitutional oaths seriously. “It requires them to take that oath seriously, and when that isn’t happening, we start drifting into something that is not consistent with American democracy,” he said. “It is consistent with autocracies. It is consistent with Hungary under Orban.” August 5 to be a public holiday to mark uprising day: Adviser Farooki His remarks come in the wake of a national uproar over Trump’s immigration crackdown, which triggered widespread protests and led to the detention of several Democratic officials by federal agents. This marks the second time in recent months that Obama has publicly criticised Trump administration policies. Back in March, he voiced alarm over government actions targeting universities and law firms. “That kind of behaviour is contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans,” he said. During his Connecticut appearance, Obama also critiqued liberals for becoming “comfortable in their righteousness” during his presidency, cautioning that their values are now facing serious challenges.

 Barack Obama is halfway to an EGOT. The former president won an Emmy Award on Saturday to go with his two Grammys. Obama won the best narrator Emmy for his work on the Netflix documentary series, “Our Great National Parks.” The five-part show, which features national parks from around the globe, is produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, “Higher Ground.” Also read: Michelle Obama’s book ‘The Light We Carry’ coming this fall He was the biggest name in a category full of famous nominees for the award handed out at Saturday night's Creative Arts Emmys, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Attenborough and Lupita Nyong'o. Barack Obama is the second president to have an Emmy. Dwight D. Eisenhower was given a special Emmy Award in 1956. Barack Obama previously won Grammy Awards for his audiobook reading of two of his memoirs, “The Audacity of Hope” and “A Promised Land.” Michelle Obama won her own Grammy for reading her audiobook in 2020. EGOT refers to a special category of entertainers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. To date, 17 people have done it. Also read: Obama appeals to young activists to stay in climate fight The late Chadwick Boseman also won an Emmy for his voice work on Saturday. The “Black Panther” actor won for outstanding character voiceover for the Disney+ and Marvel Studios animated show “What If...?" On the show, Boseman voiced his “Black Panther” character T'Challa in an alternate universe where he becomes Star-Lord from “Guardians of the Galaxy.” It was one of the last projects for Boseman, who died in 2020 of colon cancer at age 43.

The student reporter who gained national acclaim when he interviewed President Barack Obama at the White House in 2009 has died of natural causes, his family says. Damon Weaver was 23 when he died May 1, his sister, Candace Hardy, told the Palm Beach Post. Further details were not released. He had been studying communications at Albany State University in Georgia. Weaver was 11 when he interviewed Obama for 10 minutes in the Diplomatic Room on Aug. 13, 2009, asking questions that focused primarily on education. He covered school lunches, bullying, conflict resolution and how to succeed. Weaver then asked Obama to be his “homeboy,” saying then-Vice President Joe Biden had already accepted. “Absolutely,” a smiling Obama said, shaking the boy’s hand. Read:Biden opens 'Obamacare' window for uninsured as Covid-19 rages He used that meeting to later interview Oprah Winfrey and athletes like Dwyane Wade. “He was just a nice person, genuine, very intelligent,” Hardy said. “Very outspoken, outgoing. He never said no to anybody.” Weaver got his start in fifth grade when he volunteered for the school newscast at K.E. Cunningham/Canal Point Elementary in a farm community on the shores of Lake Okeechobee. “Damon was the kid who ran after me in the hall to tell me he was interested,” his teacher, Brian Zimmerman, told the Post in 2016. “And right away, I just saw the potential for the way he was on camera. You could see his personality come through. He wasn’t nervous being on camera.”

President-elect Joe Biden will take the stage for his inaugural address at perhaps the most difficult starting point for a president since Franklin Roosevelt began his first term by assuring a nation scarred by the Great Depression that “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

India's main opposition Congress party on Friday came down heavily on former US President Barack Obama for referring to Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi as a "nervous" leader in his newly published political memoir.

At a time when the US stands in front of a confluence of historic crises, former President Barack Obama has started stepping forward, emerging from his political hibernation and taking on an increasingly public role.   The US has been rocked by a series of crises that has exposed deep racial and socioeconomic inequalities in America and reshaped the November election, reports AP.   Obama is signalling a willingness to sharply critique his successor, President Donald Trump, and fill what many Democrats see as a national leadership void. On Wednesday, he held a virtual town hall event with young people to discuss policing and the civil unrest that has followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Former president Barack Obama on Saturday came down heavily on the US leadership’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak as the country tops the list with most confirmed cases and deaths.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is passionate about helping children in Greece and Africa. Kevin Love is trying to shine the brightest light he can on mental health by sharing his own struggles. Chris Paul is aiming to ensure that technology comes to schools where it hasn't been affordable.

Scrambling to salvage his presidential campaign, Joe Biden escalated his criticism of Pete Buttigieg on Saturday, mocking Buttigieg's experience as a small city mayor and cutting down the comparisons Buttigieg has drawn to the last Democratic president, declaring: "This guy's not a Barack Obama."

Washington, July 27 (AP/UNB) — In President Donald Trump's view, even the inadequate air conditioning at the White House is Barack Obama's fault.