US president Joe Biden’s two dogs have reportedly been returned to the Biden family home in Delaware after displaying “aggressive behaviour” at the White House.

The family’s two German Shepherds, 3-year-old Major and 13-year-old Champ, were moved into the White House in January following Mr Biden’s inauguration.

But a source cited by CNN said the dogs were moved back to Wilmington, Delaware, last week after a “biting incident” involving Major and a member of White House security.

A huge wind farm off the Massachusetts coast is edging closer to federal approval, setting up what the Biden administration hopes will be a model for an increase in offshore wind power generation along the US east coast. 

The Vineyard Wind project, south of Martha’s Vineyard near Cape Cod, would create 800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 400,000 homes.

If approved, the $2bn project would be the first utility-scale wind power development in federal waters.

Vineyard Wind is significantly farther offshore than Cape Wind, a previous Massachusetts offshore wind project that failed amid opposition from the Kennedy family and businessman William Koch, among others, who considered it a bird-killing eyesore.

Supporters say Vineyard Wind, located nearly 15 miles offshore, is better situated than Cape Wind and uses superior technology with fewer and larger turbine blades.

Under a preferred alternative being considered, the project’s giant turbines will be located at least 1 nautical mile apart, allowing fishing boats easier movement around the blades, officials said. 

The Interior Department said on Monday it had completed an environmental analysis of Vineyard Wind, with a decision on whether to approve the project expected as soon as next month.

Missouri’s Roy Blunt on Monday became the fifth Republican senator to announce he will not seek reelection, a retirement wave that portends an ugly campaign period next year and gives Democrats fresh hope in preserving their razor-thin Senate majority.

History suggests Republicans are still well-positioned to reclaim at least one chamber of Congress next year.

But officials in both parties agree that the surge of GOP departures will make the Republicans’ challenge more difficult in the Senate. 

Joe Biden has ordered his administration to review federal rules guiding colleges in how they handle allegations of campus sexual assaults.  In an executive order, Mr Biden directed the education department to examine rules that the Trump administration issued around Title IX, the federal law that forbids sex discrimination in education.

Mr Biden directed the agency to “consider suspending, revising or rescinding” any policies that fail to protect students.  Mr Biden also signed a second executive order formally establishing the White House Gender Policy Council, which his transition team had announced before he took office.  “The policy of this administration is that every individual, every student is entitled to a fair education – free of sexual violence – and that all involved have access to a fair process,” Jennifer Klein, co-chair and executive director of the Gender Policy Council, told reporters at a White House briefing. 

John Kerry, the US special envoy for climate, travelled to Brussels on Tuesday to discuss transatlantic cooperation with European officials in the wake of Joe Biden’s decision to rejoin the global effort to curb climate change.

He will meet with the EU Commission vice-president in charge of climate action, Frans Timmermans, and discuss preparations for the next UN climate summit in Glasgow in November.

He will also talk with Ursula von der Leyen and join a weekly commission meeting on transatlantic climate action.

On Monday, he visited London for talks with Boris Johnson, Cop26 president Alok Sharma, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

On 22 April, Mr Biden will also host a leaders’ summit on climate change.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has dismissed a cease-and-desist letter from Donald Trump’s attorney asking the GOP to stop using the former president’s name in fundraising efforts.

Responding to the letter from the former president’s lawyer, Alex Cannon, RNC chief counsel Justin Riemer said that the committee “has every right” to use the Trump name. 

Defending the practice, Mr Riemer said that the committee “has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech, and it will continue to do so in pursuit of these common goals.”

Twitter has filed a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, claiming the Republican used his office to retaliate against it for banning the account of Donald Trump following the riot at the US Capitol. 

Days after the deadly January insurrection, Mr Paxton announced an investigation into Twitter and four other major technology companies for what he called “the seemingly coordinated de-platforming of the president”.

The attorney general’s office demanded that the companies produce a variety of records related to their content moderation policies and troves of internal communications. 

Twitter responded on Monday with a federal lawsuit alleging Mr Paxton is seeking to punish it for taking Mr Trump‘s account offline – a decision the social media company says is protected free speech.

It asks a judge to declare the decision to be under the ambit of the First Amendment and to, in essence, halt Mr Paxton’s investigation. 

“Paxton made clear that he will use the full weight of his office, including his expansive investigatory powers, to retaliate against Twitter for having made editorial decisions with which he disagrees,” lawyers for the company wrote in the suit filed in a Northern California court. 

Spokespersons for Mr Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AP. 

Donald Trump’s allies have hit out at Meghan Markle over her Oprah Winfrey interview.

“Here’s the question Oprah should have asked Harry & Meghan: isn’t the whole point of the Royal Family that it’s *not* about you but about your country? It’s about service to the UK and the Commonwealth,” tweeted former White House senior adviser Stephen Miller.

Donald Trump’s policy which stopped companies being criminally prosecuted for preventable bird deaths has been reversed.

The Biden administration on Monday did a U-turn on the rule imposed by the former president, which had drastically weakened the government’s power to enforce a century-old law that protects most American bird species.

Mr Trump’s move halted enforcement under the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which was most notably used to achieve a $100m settlement from BP after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster killed more than one million birds from 93 species.

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of US political news as Joe Biden continues rolling back policies enacted by his predecessor, Donald Trump.