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Wed, 20 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT

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Wed, 20 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Trump Sends New Administration ‘Best Wishes’

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 23:11:06 GMT

In a farewell video released on his final full day in office, President Donald Trump offered prayers and best wishes to his successor, Democrat Joe Biden, but without ever mentioning him by name.

“This week, we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous,” Trump said in the video posted online 20 hours prior to the end of his presidency. “We also extend our best wishes. And we also want them to have luck — a very important word.”

In the nearly 20 minutes of remarks taped on Monday, Trump took credit for creating “the greatest economy in the history of the world.” He also said he was “especially proud to be the first president in decades who has started no new wars.”

As the video was released by the White House on YouTube, a private jet carrying President-elect Biden landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where Trump is to be sent off with a final ceremony Wednesday morning. The president will then make his final flight on Air Force One to the state of Florida.

Trump, breaking with tradition, is skipping the inaugural ceremony for Biden, who won both the popular and electoral votes in last November’s election. Trump falsely declared the polling fraudulent and has not congratulated Biden.

Vice President Mike Pence walks to the West Wing of the White House after addressing staff on the steps of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, in the White House complex, January 19, 2021, in Washington.

Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to attend the inauguration at a heavily fortified Capitol where Biden is to be sworn in at noon Wednesday, 15 minutes after Kamala Harris takes the oath of office as vice president.

Trump needs only to peer from the window of his third-floor bedroom in the White House to see the reviewing stand set up for the inaugural parade. It is decorated with bunting and banners reading “*2021* BIDEN HARRIS INAUGURATION.”

The parade and related activities have been scaled down or made virtual, due to security fears and the coronavirus pandemic.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to send an article of impeachment against Trump to the Senate later this week. That would initiate formal proceedings the next day and opening arguments on the Senate floor the following week.

The Democrat-controlled House, joined by 10 Republicans, last Wednesday impeached Trump for “incitement of an insurrection” following the January 6 storming of the Capitol just after the president urged his supporters to fight to overturn the results of the election.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) participates in a walk-through of Joe Biden's presidential inauguration events at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, January 19, 2021.

"The mob was fed lies,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people."

Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, who is one of the impeachment trial mangers, told ABC News on Sunday that “one of the other purposes of impeachment in this case is to make sure that President Trump is not able to run for federal office again, that he’s not able to seek the presidency.” He said anyone who “incited a riot, an attempted coup of the United States government, should not be president again.”

Trump has previously indicated he might make another run for president in 2024.

“All Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol. Political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans. It can never be tolerated,” Trump said in his farewell video. “Now, as I prepare to hand power over to a new administration at noon on Wednesday, I want you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning.”

Trump leaves office as one of the most polarizing presidents in U.S. history. While he still retains strong support among Republican voters, his overall approval rating has hit a record low, according to surveys.

In a Marist Poll taken last week, 16% of respondents characterized Trump as one of the best presidents in U.S. history, while 47% ranked him as one of the worst.

In his final days in office, Trump signed a slew of executive orders on a variety of matters from restricting purchases of foreign-made aerial drones to naming those who are to be honored with statues in a proposed National Garden of American Heroes.

Biden is expected to quickly reverse a significant number of Trump’s executive orders.

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Tue, 19 Jan 2021 23:00:00 GMT

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Tue, 19 Jan 2021 23:00:00 GMT

Biden Intelligence Pick Promises Return of Speaking Truth to Power

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:15:07 GMT

The woman tapped to lead the United States intelligence agencies following four years under President Donald Trump is telling lawmakers her first task will be to restore trust, both with the American people and Washington’s key allies.

Avril Haines, a former deputy director of at the Central Intelligence Agency and a former White House aide, called reestablishing confidence in the U.S. intelligence community “perhaps the greatest challenge” facing the country’s next top intelligence official, adding it is one she is prepared to take on.

"To be effective, the DNI (director of national intelligence) must never shy away from speaking truth to power. Ever. Especially when doing so may be inconvenient or difficult," Haines told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.

“The DNI must insist that when it comes to intelligence, there must be no place for politics. Ever," she said, adding she believes it is also what President-elect Joe Biden “will expect from us.”

"He will want to know what information we have that actually conflicts with his policy positions."

Haines also said that while some of her most pressing priorities involve looking inward, the new Biden administration will also need to face down a combination of traditional and evolving threats.

Evolving threats to US

Among state actors, she said, countering China will be a prime objective.

“Our approach to China has to evolve and essentially meet the reality of the particularly assertive and aggressive China that we see today,” Haines told lawmakers, suggesting Washington must adopt “an aggressive stance.”

Questioned about a possible return by the U.S. to the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Haines urged caution.

“Frankly, we're a long ways from that," she said, adding Tehran should never be allowed to develop a nuclear arsenal.

#Iran - "I don't believe Iran should ever be allowed to get a nuclear weapon" DNI nominee Haines tells @JohnCornyn
— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) January 19, 2021

“Iran is a threat and a destabilizing actor in the region," Haines said, noting concerns about the regime’s support of proxy actor and terror groups, as well as its advancing ballistic missile program.

"This is an issue that we need to focus in on,” she said.

Haines said other top threats include fallout from global climate change, cyberattacks, terrorism, corruption and disinformation campaigns, including those being waged by Russia and China.

And she promised that if confirmed, she would put the weight of U.S. intelligence agencies behind the effort to battle the coronavirus pandemic, “while also addressing the long-term challenge of future biological crises."

Restoring trust in US intelligence

Repeatedly, Haines’s testimony returned to the theme of restoring trust and confidence in the U.S. intelligence agencies, which for the past four years have endured an uneasy relationship with the outgoing president.

Time and again, Trump clashed with U.S. intelligence officials over their assessments, starting with their unclassified assessment that Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin ultimately used a variety of influence operations in an attempt to help Trump emerge victorious in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The developing animosity even carried over into public spats between Trump and his own intelligence officials; at one point, he rebuked them on social media by saying they “should go back to school!”

More from @POTUS on his intel chiefs and #Iran: "Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!" pic.twitter.com/mFKUaGOaiE
— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) January 30, 2019

More recently, critics have lashed out at Trump for appointing people they see as political partisans to key intelligence roles, a list that includes former acting DNI Richard Grennell, who had also served as ambassador to Germany, and current DNI John Ratcliffe, a former member of Congress.

In an apparent rebuke to Trump, Dan Coats, Trump’s former director of national intelligence, appeared Tuesday on Capitol Hill to personally introduce Haines, calling her an “exceptional choice” to lead the U.S. intelligence apparatus.

“Given the recent state of affairs in regard to the role and integrity of the intelligence community, Avril has a clear … recognition of the most needed responsibilities for the next director,” Coats told the panel.

"Most important to me, as a former director of national intelligence, is her commitment to bringing nonpoliticized truth to power and restoring trust and confidence in the intelligence community and the American public."

Biden, who announced his decision to nominate Haines to the top intelligence role in November, described her at the time as a “fierce advocate of telling the truth.”

Avril Haines as leader of @ODNIgov - "I picked a professional" per @JoeBiden "She's eminently qualified...and a fierce advocate of telling the truth"

"People will be able to take her word because she always calls it as she sees it"
— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) November 24, 2020

In addition to Coats, other former U.S. intelligence officials have praised Biden’s selection of Haines for the key intelligence role.

“Her professionalism and competence will play well with our allies and partners overseas that rely on a robust — if secret — relationship with the intelligence community,” said John Sipher, a 28-year veteran of the CIA who once ran the spy agency's Russia operations and a frequent Trump critic.

“She will be a far better steward of the intelligence community than patently partisan and unqualified people that Trump has put in the DNI position,” he added.

Following Tuesday’s hearing, the incoming chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, praised Haines.

“I urge the Senate to confirm her without any unnecessary delay,” Warner said in a statement.

Lawmakers indicated a vote is unlikely to come before Thursday at the earliest.

VOA Asia for Wednesday January 20

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:05:00 GMT

The eve of a transfer of power. U.S. Presidential Inauguration details, from tradition to the unique national mood of the moment, and unprecedented security. COVID hairstyling. News from above.

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Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:00:00 GMT

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Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Biden’s Homeland Security Nominee Vows to Follow US Immigration Law

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 21:52:16 GMT

The incoming Biden administration will work “to cease funding for further construction” of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary nominee Alejandro Mayorkas, who told senators Tuesday that U.S. law will dictate whether individuals in migrant caravans are allowed to remain in the United States.

Mayorkas appeared for his Senate confirmation hearing one day after reports surfaced that Biden intends to propose an eight-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants shortly after taking office Wednesday, signaling an immediate focus on a topic that has both consumed and paralyzed Congress for decades.

Biden to Propose 8-year Path to Citizenship for Immigrants

It would provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people living in the US without legal status

Republican lawmakers pressed Mayorkas on whether the Biden administration would spend $1.4 billion that Congress appropriated late last year to continue border wall construction, one of President Donald Trump’s top priorities that has been fiercely opposed by Democrats, including President-elect Joe Biden.

Mayorkas said he would examine whether existing funds must be spent and underscored Biden’s opposition to further wall appropriations. He did not signal any intention by the incoming administration to tear down wall sections already built.

FILE - President Donald Trump signs a plaque that bears his name on the 450th mile of the border wall in Texas, January 12, 2021.

The hearing came as a caravan of Central American migrants pushes north toward the United States. Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah asked Mayorkas if the caravan would be allowed to enter the United States or turned back at the border.

“We are a nation of immigrants and we are also a nation of laws, and I intend to apply the law,” the Cuban-born Mayorkas responded. “If people qualify under the law to remain in the United States, then we will apply the law accordingly. If they do not qualify to remain in the United States, then they won’t.”

The nominee rejected calls by progressive elements of the Democratic coalition that helped elect Biden to defund U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency within DHS that, among other duties, carries out deportations of undocumented immigrants.

Alejandro Mayorkas, nominee to be Secretary of Homeland Security, testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 19, 2021.

2015 DHS inspector general’s report

The hearing lasted more than two hours and featured repeated questions about Mayorkas’ role in the granting of U.S. visas to wealthy foreign investors when he served as director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) during the former Obama administration. A 2015 DHS inspector general’s report concluded that Mayorkas intervened in the EB-5 investor program at the behest of some powerful Democrats in a way that “created an appearance of favoritism and special access.”

Mayorkas noted that the report found no legal wrongdoing.

“The inspector general did not take issue with the disposition of the cases in which I became involved because I studied the law, and I followed the facts, and that is my North Star. And it always has been. And any suggestion to the contrary, is incorrect,” Mayorkas said.

FILE - District of Columbia National Guard stand outside the Capitol, January 6, 2021, after a day of rioting protesters.

DHS after Capitol riot

If confirmed, Mayorkas would be the first Latino and first immigrant to lead that Department of Homeland Security. In addition to leading USCIS, he served as Obama’s deputy secretary of DHS, the third-largest federal agency in the nation.

DHS was created after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, a period when threats originating abroad were seen as paramount.

Addressing the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol carried out by Trump loyalists, Mayorkas expressed horror and said authorities have yet to learn everything that happened that day.

He vowed to “do everything” to ensure that “the tragic loss of life, the assault on law enforcement, the desecration of the building that stands as one of the three pillars of our democracy, the terror that you felt your colleagues, staff and everyone present will not happen again.”

Africa News Tonight

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 16:05:00 GMT

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Tue, 19 Jan 2021 16:00:00 GMT

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Tue, 19 Jan 2021 16:00:00 GMT

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Tue, 19 Jan 2021 16:00:00 GMT

Thousands of Eritrean Refugees in Tigray Desperately Short of Aid

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 15:08:51 GMT

The U.N. refugee agency reports thousands of Eritrean refugees trapped by fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray province are in desperate need of food and other essential supplies and services.

The Ethiopian government has denied humanitarian agencies access to Eritrean refugee camps since it began its military offensive in early November. After repeated requests, the U.N. refugee agency reports the authorities finally granted the agency a one-time access to two refugee camps, Mai Aini and Adi Harush in northern Tigray.

UNHCR spokesman Babar Balloch says aid workers have found conditions in the camps dire and the Eritreans in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

“Refugees were cut off from any supplies and services for more than two months," Balloch said. "Wells were not functional without fuel for the pumps—leaving refugees to use water from a nearby creek for washing, cooking and drinking, resulting in diarrhea like illnesses.”

UN Slams Ethiopian Government for Blocking Aid to Conflict-Ridden Tigray

Lack of food, water and health services are affecting hundreds of thousands of people and leading to a rise in malnutrition and water-borne diseases

Balloch says a one-time food distribution by the World Food Program one month ago is the only assistance the refugees have received for more than two months. He says plans for a second distribution are underway.

In the meantime, U.N. staff who accessed the camps have distributed food to 25,000 refugees. Balloch says the number of beneficiaries is of concern because there were 50,000 Eritreans in the two camps before the conflict erupted. So, it is likely many fled in fear of their safety.

“Refugees told our staff that while they were not impacted directly from the fighting, they were threatened and harassed by various armed groups," Balloch said. "The refugees told us they continue to have safety concerns, reporting armed gangs roam the camps at night stealing and looting.”

Before the conflict began, Tigray sheltered 96,000 Eritrean refugees in four camps. Balloch says the authorities continue to deny aid agencies access to the Shimelba and Hitsats refugee camps further north in Tigray.

He says the UNHCR continues to receive reports of significant damage to those camps and of refugees fleeing in search of safety and food. Of even greater concern, he says, are worrying reports of refugees being abducted and forcibly returned to Eritrea where their lives could be at risk.

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Tue, 19 Jan 2021 15:00:00 GMT

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Tue, 19 Jan 2021 15:00:00 GMT

Garth Brooks Joins Lineup of Entertainers at Biden Inaugural

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 14:19:40 GMT

Add Garth Brooks to the lineup of entertainers at the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden

"This is a great day in our household," the country music superstar said during a virtual press conference Monday, two days before Biden is to be sworn in. "This is not a political statement. This is a statement of unity."

Brooks, who joins Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez among others, performed during the inaugural celebration of President Barack Obama in 2009. He turned down a chance to play for President Donald Trump in 2017, citing a scheduling conflict.

Invited by incoming first lady Jill Biden, Brooks has known the Bidens for more than a decade, when Joe Biden was Obama's vice president.

Brooks said that for this week's inaugural, he will perform solo doing "broken down, bare-bones stuff," and hinted at covering material by songwriters from outside the U.S.

He does not plan to sing his socially conscious "We Shall Be Free," which he performed at the Obama inaugural.

Brooks praised the Bidens for being "hellbent on making things good" and said he welcomed the chance to help the country heal.

"I want to spend the next 10 years of my life not divided. I'm so tired of being divided," he said.

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Tue, 19 Jan 2021 14:00:00 GMT

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