WORLD - The African Mirror

Jan

07

2021

U.S. Congress certifies Biden win hours after harrowing Capitol Hill assault

WORLD

PATRICIA ZENGERLE, JONATHAN LANDAY and RICHARD COWAN HOURS after hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a harrowing assault on American democracy, a shaken Congress formally certified Democrat Joe Biden's election victory. Immediately after the certification, the White House released a statement from Trump in which he pledged an "orderly transition" on January 20 when Biden will be sworn into office. Congress had resumed its work certifying Biden's Electoral College win late on Wednesday after the chaotic scenes on Capitol Hill, with debate stretching into the early hours of Thursday. After debate the Senate and the…

Jan

07

2021

By The African Mirror

Four die, 52 arrested in siege of U.S. Capitol Hill by Trump’s mob

WORLD

SARAH N LYNCH FOUR people died and 52 were arrested, Washington D.C.'s police chief said, after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol stop Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden's election victory. In a late night news conference, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert J. Contee said 47 of the 52 arrests to date were related to violations of Mayor Muriel Bowser's 6 p.m. curfew, with 26 of those involving people arrested on U.S. Capitol grounds. Several others were arrested on charges related to carrying unlicensed or prohibited firearms. In addition, Contee said, two pipe bombs were recovered from…

Jan

07

2021

By The African Mirror

Top China adviser reported among White House resignations after Capitol violence

WORLD

STEVE HOLLAND WHITE House deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger has resigned, according to media reports, joining a number of officials who are leaving the administration of President Donald Trump in the wake of violence on Capitol Hill. Pottinger, a leading figure in the development of Trump's China policy, resigned on Wednesday in response to Trump's reaction to a mob of protesters who breached the U.S. Capitol, CNN reported, citing a person close to Pottinger. Bloomberg first reported the resignation. The White House had no immediate comment, although sources had told Reuters Pottinger's departure was expected. Four people died during…

Jan

07

2021

By The African Mirror

North Korea’s Kim tells party congress economic plan failed ‘tremendously’

WORLD

HYONHEE SHIN NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his five-year economic plan had failed to meet its goals "on almost every sector" as he kicked off a congress of the ruling Workers' Party, state media KCNA reported on Wednesday. The rare political gathering, which Kim last hosted in 2016, has drawn international attention as he is expected to unveil a new five-year economic plan and address inter-Korean ties and foreign policy. The congress, attended by 250 party executives, 4,750 delegates and 2,000 spectators, comes just two weeks before U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office. In his opening speech, Kim…

Jan

07

2021

By The African Mirror

WikiLeaks’ Assange denied bail by London court over risk he might abscond again

WORLD

MICHAEL HOLDEN and ANDREW MacASKILL WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has been denied bail by a British judge who said there was a risk he might flee justice while the United States tries again to secure his extradition. Assange, who has spent more than eight years either holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London or in jail, had asked to be freed on bail after the court ruled on Monday that he should not be extradited because he would be at risk of suicide. "I am satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that if Mr Assange is released…

Jan

07

2021

By The African Mirror

Trump rebuffed by Pence, McConnell as allies challenge his election loss

WORLD

PATRICIA ZENGERLE and RICHARD COWAN IN a dramatic day in the U.S. Congress, Vice President Mike Pence rejected Donald Trump's demand that he try to overturn the results of the presidential election and the Senate's top Republican denounced a bid by the president's allies to challenge Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Pence, a loyal lieutenant during the four years of Trump's tumultuous presidency, presided over the opening of a joint session of Congress to formally certify Biden's November 3 victory over Trump. A band of Republican lawmakers quickly challenged the results, first from the election battleground state of Arizona…

Jan

06

2021

By The African Mirror

Guns and teargas as Trump supporters storm Capitol Hill

WORLD

ANDY SULLIVAN POLICE in the U.S. Capitol responded with drawn guns and tear gas as swarms of protesters stormed in and sought to force Congress to undo President Donald Trump's election loss shortly after some of Trump's fellow Republicans launched a last-ditch effort to throw out the results. Police evacuated the House of Representatives and the Senate after pro-Trump protesters marched through the halls of Congress, forcing both chambers to suspend deliberations as they were meeting to certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the November 3 election. One protester occupied the Senate dais and yelled, "Trump won that election." Video…

Jan

06

2021

By The African Mirror

‘We will not take it any more,’ Trump tells supporters as Congress meets to certify Biden win

WORLD

JONATHAN LANDAY OUTGOING U.S. President Donald Trump addressed thousands of supporters, including members of far-right groups, at a rally in Washington protesting the meeting of Congress to confirm his election loss to President-elect Joe Biden in November. Trump, who has spent much of his time since the November 3 election trying to overturn the results, falsely said he won as he spoke on an outdoor stage framing the White House, which Biden is due to move into in two weeks. Crowds gathered at the "Save America March" wore Trump-approved red baseball caps and cheered as Trump repeated the groundless conspiracy…

Jan

06

2021

By The African Mirror

Georgia voters cast runoff ballots with U.S. Senate at stake and Trump fuming

WORLD

NATHAN LAYNE and JOSEPH AX VOTERS have cast ballots in a pair of U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia that will determine control of the chamber - and with it the ability to block or advance Democratic President-elect Joe Biden's agenda - after a contentious campaign that broke spending and early-turnout records. Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are facing Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff, a documentary filmmaker, and the Reverend Raphael Warnock, a pastor at a Black church in Atlanta, in a state Biden narrowly carried in the Nov. 3 presidential election. The tumultuous contest's final days have been…

Jan

06

2021

By The African Mirror

Iran denies seized Korean ship and crew are being held as hostages

WORLD

SANGMI CHA and JOSH SMITH IRAN has denied that it was using a South Korean ship and its crew as hostages, a day after it seized the tanker in the Gulf while pressing a demand for Seoul to release $7 billion in funds frozen under U.S. sanctions. The seizure of the MT Hankuk Chemi and its 20-member crew near the strategic Strait of Hormuz has been seen as an attempt by Tehran to assert its demands, just two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office in the United States. Iran wants Biden to lift sanctions imposed by outgoing President Donald…