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US President Joe Biden will address Americans on Tuesday in a State of the Union speech where he will appeal to them to unite against Republicans and build a blue-collar economy.

The excerpts of the speech from the White House were obtained by news agency AFP. Biden in his speech will say that American democracy is facing its “greatest threat since the Civil War” referring to the Republicans and Donald Trump fighting the 2024 elections.

However, only 43% of Americans approve of the job his administration is doing and his ratings have plummeted. The only respite for Biden is the recent midterm elections where a so-called red wave with Republicans making major gains were avoided.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha amid the row over the Adani group of companies and accused him of assisting Gautam Adani to expand his business empire in various sectors since he came to power in 2014. He further alleged that the Centre is favouring only one corporate 'who gets all the contracts, including the overseas ones'.

"Adani ji never fails in any business he ventures into - solar energy, wind energy. During my yatra people asked me how Adani attained such success in so many sectors, what is his relationship with the Prime Minister," Rahul Gandhi said.

Congress party has said that it would not "back down" till Prime Minister Narendra Modi agrees to have a discussion on Hindenburg Research`s report against Adani Group in Parliament. "We need PM Modi`s statement on the Adani issue, which has affected the lives of people and lost crores of money. We want a discussion under rule 267. We won`t back down till the PM agrees to have a discussion in Parliament," senior Congress senior leader Digvijay Singh said on Monday.

Congress is continuously cornering the government over the issue in Parliament forcing the adjournments of both Houses during the Budget Session. On Monday, both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned till 2 pm and then for the day.

While notifying the appointment of five additional judges for the Madras High Court, the Centre on Monday chose to ignore the Collegium's reiteration of Advocate R John Sathyan's name.

The names of those who have been appointed as additional judges of the Madras High Court are Advocate Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri, Advocate Pillaipakkam Bahukutumbi Balaji, Advocate Kandhasami Kulandaivelu Ramakrishnan, Judicial Officer Ramachandran Kalaimathi and Judicial Officer K Govindarajan Thilakavad.

The Centre had returned Satyan's name citing an online article critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that was shared by the advocate on social media. His name was recommended in February last year.

PM Narendra Modi, without naming Congress or the Rafale deal, launched a frontal attack on Monday, saying the successful operationalisation of the helicopter factory of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) had exposed the opposition party’s “lies and misinformation” they spread about the conspiracy to shut down the public sector concern. The PM noted that HAL has become a centre of global attraction by virtue of being the manufacturer of Tejas.

“The propaganda was to target the government and make allegations using HAL’s name. Such falsehood, no matter how big, frequent or high, is always defeated in the face of truth. This factory and the rising strength of HAL have exposed the purveyors of falsehood. Reality is speaking for itself,” said Modi after inaugurating HAL’s new helicopter factory in Tumakuru district’s Gubbi, around 92km from here.