Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called for cancelling Juneteenth after he had previously posted a video celebrating the holiday, NBC News reported. Mr Ramaswamy spoke in Vail, Iowa, about how to make elections more secure. In his speech, he called for Election Day to be made a national holiday. “Cancel Juneteenth or one of the other useless ones we made up,” he said. In addition, he called for paper ballots and voter identification cards despite the fact there is little evidence of widespread voter fraud. When asked if he considers Juneteenth a “useless” holiday, he said, “I basically do.” Juneteenth commemorates when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas on 19 June 1865 and announced that enslaved people were officially freed. In the ensuing years, it became a day of celebration in Black communities across Texas. In 2021, Congress voted overwhelmingly and President Joe Biden signed legislation to make Juneteenth a national holiday. But two months ago, Mr Ramaswamy posted a video celebrating Juneteenth. “We don’t just look back and flog ourselves, that’s beside the point,” Mr Ramaswamy said. “What we celebrate is how far we’ve come, and as a first-generation American myself, you better believe I’m proud of it. Happy Juneteenth, everybody.” When asked by NBC News whether he thought Veterans Day or Memorial Day were useless, Mr Ramaswamy deferred. “I stand with the presumption of time-tested traditions,” he said, calling Juneteenth “redundant” of Martin Luther King Jr Day and Presidents Day. “The reason for making it a holiday was under political duress. It was a political hostage situation on the back of the death of George Floyd,” he said. Read More Vivek Ramaswamy's Hindu faith is front and center in his GOP presidential campaign Republicans rage against Jack Smith after latest indictment of Donald Trump over 2020 election conspiracy Indictment ignored, Trump barely a mention, as GOP candidates pitch Iowa voters to challenge him Vivek Ramaswamy's Hindu faith is front and center in his GOP presidential campaign GOP presidential hopeful Chris Christie says 'inhumanity' of war is palpable during visit to Ukraine

British chip designing giant Arm has launched the process for a public stock listing in New York, in what could be the biggest...

Two Colorado gun control laws taking effect will require that firearm buyers wait three days before receiving their weapon and open up the gun industry to some legal liability

'1000-lb Sisters' star Tammy Slaton charges $50 for personalized videos

China-based hackers breached the email account of US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns as part of a recent targeted intelligence-gathering campaign, three US officials familiar with the matter told CNN.

Off-year primary elections are like the deep tracks of American politics. Not a lot of people might be paying attention, but there are some interesting things going on for those who do.

Julius Malema divides opinion like few other politicians but he is celebrating his party's 10th anniversary.

[Breaking news update, published at 8:07 a.m. ET]

A Connecticut judge has set Jan. 23 as the date for a new Democratic primary in the Bridgeport mayor’s race after having tossed out the September election results because of alleged ballot box stuffing

German sandals maker Birkenstock will launch on the New York stock exchange on Wednesday in an initial public offering that values the company at $8.6 billion...

The European Union’s top foreign policy official has warned that public sentiment in Europe could turn more protectionist if the bloc's trade deficit with China is not reduced

Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia has a “sufficient stockpile” of cluster bombs and reserves the right to use them in retaliation against Ukrainian forces, after Washington supplied Kyiv with the widely banned munitions. The Russian president’s threat, during an interview with state TV, came as an Estonian intelligence chief claimed that Ukraine was on the brink of a major breakthrough in its counteroffensive, after destroying Kremlin command posts and making gains near Bakhmut. Meanwhile, pro-Russian authorities in Crimea claimed to have thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack overnight at the port of Sevastopol, which houses Moscow’s Black Sea fleet, as Ukrainian officials said one civilian had been killed and eight wounded in Russian attacks in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Elsewhere, Ukrainian and Polish officials said that a large convoy carrying fighters from the Wagner private army was spotted entering Belarus from Russia, as Minsk’s defence ministry released footage showing what it claimed were Wagner fighters instructing Belarusian soldiers at a military camp. Polish deputy minister Stanislaw Zaryn said Warsaw believed there “may be several hundred” Wagner fighters currently in Belarus. Read More Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin ‘dead or in prison’ after Putin meeting, former US commander claims Russian general says he has been fired for telling truth about dire situation on Ukraine frontlines What to know about the harrowing Ukraine war doc '20 Days in Mariupol'