Budget 2018-19

  he FBI says 34-year-old Miller allegedly called for the assassination of Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York A Texas man accused of taking part in the attack on the U.S. Capitol earlier this month while wearing a shirt with a message that stood for murder the media was arrested Tuesday, the FBI said. Nicholas DeCarlo, 30, was charged with obstructing an official proceeding, entering a restricted building and parading or demonstrating on Capitol grounds, according to a criminal complaint. Investigators say DeCarlo, of Burleson, Texas, was seen in photos smoking a cigarette inside the Capitol on January 6. He also claimed to work for MT Media News, which stands for Murder the Media News. In some photos of  U.S Capitol   Attack , DeCarlo was seen with Nicholas Ochs, one of the founders of Hawaii’s chapter of the Proud Boys, neofascist group. The pair was also seen in a photo standing in front of a door inside the Capitol that had the words MURDER THE ...

  Hawley and Cruz led objections in the Senate to Biden”s victory, despite the widespread recognition that the effort would fail Seven Democratic senators have asked the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate the actions of Republican senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley to fully understand their role in the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump. Thousands had gathered that day as Congress voted to formally certify President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in November. Hawley and Cruz led objections in the Senate to Biden’s victory, despite the widespread recognition that the effort would fail. In the end, Congress certified Biden’s Electoral College victory, but not before thousands marched to the Capitol at Trump’s urging, overwhelmed security and interrupted the proceedings. In the end, the violence led to five deaths, injured dozens of police officers and caused extensive damage to the  US Capitol . The Democratic senators said th...

  The Republican former Indiana governor and his wife Karen are expected to attend Biden”s inauguration and will then fly into the Columbus Municipal Airport Vice President Mike Pence will be returning to his southern Indiana hometown Wednesday afternoon following the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. The Republican former Indiana governor and his wife Karen are expected to attend  joe Biden ‘s inauguration and will then fly into the Columbus Municipal Airport, where they will be greeted by some supporters, the Indiana Republican Party said Tuesday. That group of about 50 people is expected to include Pence’s brother, U.S. Rep. Greg Pence, and some state lawmakers, said Barbara Hackman, the Bartholomew County Republican chairwoman. Pence grew up in Columbus and some family members still live there. But Pence hasn’t owned an Indiana home for at least the past eight years, during which time he lived in the Indiana governor’s residence in Indianapolis and then at the vic...

  Dozens of people on a terrorist watch list were found to have been in Washington on Jan. 6 for pro-Trump events that ultimately devolved into the assault on the Capitol International News:  Thousands of armed National Guard troops were on their way to Washington to bolster security for next week’s inaugural celebration as federal investigators turned their attention to the difficult question of how many military and police personnel took part in the violent attack on the Capitol, a law enforcement official said on Thursday. Adding to the tensions, dozens of people on a terrorist watch list were found to have been in Washington on Jan. 6 for pro-Trump events that ultimately devolved into the assault on the Capitol, according to two government officials briefed on the Justice Department investigation into the riot. Most were suspected white supremacists, according to The Washington Post, which earlier reported on their status on the list. It was not clear how many people on th...

  US security agencies have arrested more than 100 individuals for their criminal activities in last week’s siege of the Capitol US security agencies have arrested more than 100 individuals for their criminal activities in last week’s siege of the Capitol and are monitoring an extensive amount of concerning online chatter ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, FBI Director Christopher Wray said. The violence on January 6 by outgoing President Donald Trump’s supporters temporarily halted the counting of Electoral College votes and resulted in the deaths of five individuals, including a police officer. We and our partners have already arrested more than 100 individuals for their criminal activities in last week’s siege of the  US Capitol  and continue to pursue countless other related investigations, Wray said during a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence. And those help not only prevent those individuals from any effort to repeat that kind of ac...

  The group, whose participants have espoused misogynistic and anti-immigrant views, prayed for God to bring “reformation and revival” Before self-proclaimed members of the far-right group the Proud Boys marched toward the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, they stopped to kneel in the street and prayed in the name of Jesus. The group, whose participants have espoused misogynistic and anti-immigrant views, prayed for God to bring “reformation and revival.” They gave thanks for “the wonderful nation we’ve all been blessed to be in.” They asked God for the restoration of their “value systems,” and for the “courage and strength to both represent you and represent our culture well.” And they invoked the divine protection for what was to come. Then they rose. Their leader declared into a bullhorn that the media must “get the hell out of my way.” And then they moved toward the Capitol. The presence of Christian rituals, symbols and language was unmistakable on Wednesday in Washington. There was ...

  An Iraqi court has issued an arrest warrant for outgoing US President Donald Trump over the killing of deputy chief of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, commander of the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces An Iraqi court has issued an arrest warrant for outgoing US President Donald Trump over the killing of deputy chief of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, commander of the paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces, in January 2020. On January 3, 2020, a US drone strike struck a convoy near Baghdad International Airport that killed al-Muhandis, as well as Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. “A judge in Baghdad’s al-Rusafa court in charge of investigating the killing of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq’s paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces, issued an arrest warrant (on Thursday) against the US President  Donald Trump ,” Xinhua news agency quoted the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council as saying in a statement. The judge issued the warrant after hearing the...

The police chief of Washington, DC, says pro-Trump protesters deployed chemical irritants on police in order to break into the US Capitol US Capitol Protest :  The police chief of Washington, DC, says pro-Trump protesters deployed chemical irritants on police in order to break into the US Capitol. Police Chief Robert Contee says officials have declared the scene a riot. One civilian was shot inside the Capitol on Wednesday. Thirteen arrests were made of people from out of the area. Mayor Muriel Bowser says the behaviour of the Trump supporters was shameful, unpatriotic and above all is unlawful. She says,There will be law and order and this behaviour will not be tolerated. Metropolitan police have been sent to the Capitol, and authorities were coming in from Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey to help out. The National Guard was also deployed, as were Homeland Security investigators and Secret Service. Trump had encouraged his supporters to come to Washington to fight Congress formal...

  The police, outnumbered by the protesters, had a tough time in managing the crowd on Wednesday, as hundreds of protesters breached security and entered the Capitol building In an unprecedented attack on democracy, thousands of angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol and clashed with police, resulting in multiple injuries and interrupting a constitutional process to affirm Joe Biden’s victory in the November presidential election. The police, outnumbered by the protesters, had a tough time in managing the crowd on Wednesday, as hundreds of protesters breached security and entered the Capitol building, where members of the Congress were going through the process of counting and certifying the Electoral College votes. Both the House and Senate and the entire Capitol were placed under a lockdown. Members of the US Congress were asked to get hold of the gas masks under their seats as the police resorted to tear gas to disperse protestors. Multiple officers ha...

  The pandemic found three of the world’s most prominent democracies shockingly underprepared, governed by leaders as incompetent as they were deluded The year 2020 was, by any measure, rich in awakenings and reckonings. None were as earth-shaking as those forced upon the United States, Britain and India. The pandemic found three of the world’s most prominent democracies shockingly underprepared, governed by leaders as incompetent as they were deluded and encumbered with states that had steadily rendered themselves incapable of performing their most basic duty: protecting human lives. In each case, stridently advanced claims — whether to be a new superpower (India), to become one again (Britain) or to provide moral leadership to the world (U.S.) — were broken on the wheel of an unforgiving virus. The socio-economic challenges before these countries suddenly seem immense, greater even than those faced after the calamity of two world wars. The conventional formulas for national uplif...

  President Donald Trump has signed a $900 billion pandemic relief package that will deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals President Donald Trump has signed a USD 900 billion pandemic relief package that will deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals. It also averts a government shutdown. Trump announced the signing in a statement on Sunday night. The massive bill includes USD 1.4 trillion to fund government agencies through September and contains other end-of-session priorities such as money for cash-starved transit systems and an increase in food stamp benefits. Democrats are promising more aid to come once President-elect Joe Biden takes office, but Republicans are signalling a wait-and-see approach.

  The Trump administration is poised to add China’s top chipmaker SMIC and national offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, a document and sources say WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is poised to add China’s top chipmaker SMIC and national offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, according to a document and sources, curbing their access to U.S. investors and escalating tensions with Beijing weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Reuters reported earlier this month that the Department of Defense (DOD) was planning to designate four more Chinese companies as owned or controlled by the Chinese military, bringing the number of Chinese companies affected to 35. A recent executive order issued by President Donald Trump would prevent  U.S. investors  from buying securities of the listed firms starting late next year. It was not immediately clear when t...

  Kim Jong Un is one of the few world leaders who has yet to congratulate — or even acknowledge — the president-elect North Korea has greeted the last two U.S. presidents with tests of missiles or nuclear bombs within weeks of taking office. And experts see the same happening with Joe Biden, whom the regime has called “a rabid dog.” Kim Jong Un is one of the few world leaders who has yet to congratulate — or even acknowledge — the president-elect, particularly after Chinese President Xi Jinping did so on Wednesday. While it’s not unusual for North Korea to stay silent on the results of U.S. elections, Kim held unprecedented meetings with President Donald Trump that broke the mold of relations between the long-time adversaries. Ties now are poised to revert to the frostier days of the Obama administration, when the U.S. deployed “strategic patience” to avoid rewarding  North Korea  for provocations — a policy that stayed in place after Kim took power in 2011. For North Kor...

Jake Sullivan, formerly one of Hillary Clinton’s closest aides, is likely to be named Biden’s national security adviser President-elect Joe Biden intends to name his longtime adviser Blinken as secretary of State, according to three people familiar with the matter, setting out to assemble his cabinet even before Donald Trump concedes defeat. In addition, Jake Sullivan, formerly one of Hillary Clinton’s closest aides, is likely to be named Biden’s national security adviser, according to two people familiar with the matter. An announcement is expected Tuesday, the people said. Biden’s incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain said Sunday the president-elect would be making his initial cabinet announcements on Tuesday, but declined to specify which positions would be filled first. The people familiar with  J oe Biden ’s selections asked not to be identified because he hasn’t yet made the announcements. Both Sullivan, who is 43, and Blinken, 58, served stints as Biden’s national se...

  Biden may find that one of his first acts as president will be to send more troops to a war he wanted to end 11 years ago As President Donald Trump tries to end America’s longest war, he has settled on a compromise. Instead of withdrawing all US troops from Afghanistan by Christmas, as he boasted in a tweet in October, he will be leaving behind a small counterterrorism force. It’s tempting to view the development with a sense of relief. A full withdrawal from Afghanistan, or for that matter Iraq, would have been a humiliation for the US on the world stage and a likely prelude to the collapse of two elected governments for which America has invested significant blood and treasure. That said, avoiding calamity is not the same as wise statecraft. Trump’s final military act is reckless, particularly in  Afghanistan . Officially, the US will be reducing from around 4,500 US troops to 2,500. (Some 500 of the 3,000 Americans in Iraq will also come home.) That will still mean, in th...

  The president was dissuaded from moving ahead with a strike by advisers who warned that it could escalate into a broader conflict in his last weeks in office President Trump asked senior advisers in an Oval Office meeting on Thursday whether he had options to take action against Iran’s main nuclear site in the coming weeks. The meeting occurred a day after international inspectors reported a significant increase in the country’s stockpile of nuclear material, four current and former U.S. officials said on Monday. A range of senior advisers dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike. The advisers — including Vice President Mike Pence; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary; and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — warned that a strike against Iran’s facilities could easily escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of Mr. Trump’s presidency. Any strike — whether by missile or cyb...

  Announce resignation en masse shortly after colleagues are ousted Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition lawmakers said on Wednesday they would resign in protest against the dismissal of four of their colleagues from the city assembly after Beijing gave local authorities new powers to further curb dissent. The Chinese parliament earlier adopted a resolution allowing the city’s executive to expel lawmakers deemed to be advocating Hong Kong independence, colluding with foreign forces or threatening national security, without having to go through the courts. Shortly afterwards, the local government announced the disqualification of four assembly members who had previously been barred from running for re-election as authorities deemed their pledge of allegiance to Hong Kong was not sincere. The moves will raise further concern in the West about the level of  Hong Kong ‘s autonomy, promised under a “one country, two systems” formula when Britain ended its colonial rule and handed H...

  As President Trump and his administration insist he didn’t lose, the rest of the world has increasingly moved to accept Joe Biden’s victory President Trump, facing the prospect of leaving the White House in defeat in just 70 days, is harnessing the power of the federal government to resist the results of an election that he lost, something that no sitting president has done in American history. In the latest sign of defiance, the president’s senior cabinet secretary fueled concerns on Tuesday that Mr. Trump would resist handing over power to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. after legal challenges to the vote. “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Mr. Trump’s attorney general has at the same time authorised investigations into supposed vote fraud, his general services administrator has refused to give  Joe Biden ’s team access to transition offices and resources guaranteed under law and the White House is...

  Modi was among the first few foreign leaders to congratulate Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris over Twitter US President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday had congratulatory calls with leaders of France, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom, during which in addition to bilateral issues they discussed efforts to address global challenges like COVID-19 together. On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the first foreign leader to have spoken over the phone with the US President-elect. In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first five world leaders to have a congratulatory call with the then president-elect Donald Trump. Modi was among the first few foreign leaders to congratulate Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris over Twitter. Unlike Trump, Biden has not responded to the Twitter greetings of world leaders. During the call, President-elect Biden thanked President Emmanuel Macron of France for his congratulations and expressed his desire to...

  Even as US President-elect Biden makes his first moves towards the White House without a concession from incumbent Trump, Harsh Pant assesses the real import of the choice American voters have made. As US President-elect Joe Biden makes his first moves towards the White House without garnering a concession from the incumbent, it is time to assess the real import of the choice that American voters have made. This choice and the very nature of it will have an impact on how the global order shapes up in the coming years. For all the talk of American decline, the way most of the world has been obsessed with the Trump versus  Joe Biden  contest underscores the influence America continues to wield around the globe. In fact, China and Russia, two nations who never get tired of telling the world that the US is no longer the world’s superpower, are still waiting and watching till every last vote is being counted to officially congratulate the victor! Global economic order has un...