US Vice President Biden not to run for president

WASHINGTON

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he will not run for president.

Making the announcement in a press conference at the White House, accompanied by his wife Jill Biden and U.S. President Barack Obama, the vice president has said the window for a presidential campaign "has closed".

"While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent," Biden said. "I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully to influence as much as I can, where we stand as a party and where we need a negotiation."

Speculations were going on for months that Biden might enter the race to be one of the Democratic presidential nominees. However, when he did not join the democrat party's first debate last week, it gave a clue about his decision to not run for the 2016 elections.

Biden's announcement came months after his son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer.

Biden spent a long political career with nearly 40 years in the Senate and two terms as vice president, which will probably end along with the Obama administration at the beginning of 2017.