Twitter will make Joe Biden's @POTUS account as well as @WhiteHouse account to start afresh with zero followers once he is sworn in as the next president of the United States on January 20.

The micro-blogging platform will not transfer existing the followers of the existing accounts to the new administration, Rob Flaherty, Biden's digital director, was quoted as saying in media reports on Tuesday.

The accounts for @VP, @FLOTUS, @PressSec, @Cabinet, and @LaCasaBlanca will also have their followers gone.

While @POTUS currently has 33.2 million followers, @TheWhiteHouse has 26 million followers on Twitter.

According to The Verge, this is a reversal from what Twitter did in 2017 when the Trump administration took over accounts from the Obama administration.

"Back then, Twitter essentially duplicated the existing accounts, creating an archive of Obama-era tweets and followers and building a new set of accounts for the incoming administration that retained all of those followers without any of the tweets," the report mentioned.

The Wall Street Journal reported that there was contention between the Biden team and Twitter over whether followers would transfer over.

Twitter said it is "in ongoing discussions with the Biden transition team on a number of aspects related to White House account transfers."

The company last month said all existing tweets on those accounts will be archived and it will transfer the accounts -- reset to zero tweets -- to Biden.

Donald Trump's @POTUS account will be renamed @POTUS45 and "frozen as-is".

Trump will be in control of @realDonaldTrump, although with less protections than before.

(with inputs)

Twitter will make Joe Biden's @POTUS account as well as @WhiteHouse account to start afresh with zero followers once he is sworn in as the next president of the United States on January 20.

Twitter will make Joe Biden's @POTUS account as well as @WhiteHouse account to start afresh with zero followers once he is sworn in as the next president of the United States on January 20. The micro-blogging platform will not transfer existing the followers of the existing accounts to the new administration, Rob Flaherty, Biden's digital director, was quoted as saying in media reports on Tuesday. The accounts for @VP, @FLOTUS, @PressSec, @Cabinet, and @LaCasaBlanca will also have their followers gone. While @POTUS currently has 33.2 million followers, @TheWhiteHouse has 26 million followers on Twitter. According to The Verge, this is a reversal from what Twitter did in 2017 when the Trump administration took over accounts from the Obama administration. "Back then, Twitter essentially duplicated the existing accounts, creating an archive of Obama-era tweets and followers and building a new set of accounts for the incoming administration that retained all of those followers without any of the tweets," the report mentioned. The Wall Street Journal reported that there was contention between the Biden team and Twitter over whether followers would transfer over. Twitter said it is "in ongoing discussions with the Biden transition team on a number of aspects related to White House account transfers." The company last month said all existing tweets on those accounts will be archived and it will transfer the accounts -- reset to zero tweets -- to Biden. Donald Trump's @POTUS account will be renamed @POTUS45 and "frozen as-is". Trump will be in control of @realDonaldTrump, although with less protections than before. (with inputs)

Biden won't inherit Trump's millions of Twitter followers

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Morning news brief: Trump rejects Covid relief bill, Fauci gets coronavirus jab, and more

US President Donald Trump has rejected the massive Covid economic relief package passed by Congress -- less than a month before he must leave office and when millions of Americans are suffering fallout from the pandemic.

The Covid package is wrapped into a $2.3 trillion, almost 5,600-page "coronabus" bill that includes a so-called omnibus bill to fund the government for the coming year.

In a pre-recorded statement made in the White House and sent out on Twitter, the outgoing president branded the bill "a disgrace".

In his address, Trump said he would refuse to accept the bill as it is and demanded changes, notably a big increase in the proposed $600 direct payments to less well-off Americans.

"I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple," he said, referring to relief checks.

Tapping into his nationalist "America First" brand, Trump also castigated measures added onto the bill during complex negotiations that would provide funding for projects benefiting US partners abroad and other non-Covid related items like the environment.

"It really is a disgrace," he said. "I'm also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation, and just send me a suitable bill."

Trump has not yet received the bill and he did not explicitly say he would not sign. If he actually vetoed the package, Congress would almost certainly quickly override that, given the bipartisan support.

A congressional override of a veto would mark an embarrassing defeat for Trump, who is spending his final weeks in office before the January 20 inauguration of Democrat Joe Biden by pursuing unprecedented attempts to try and get the election results overturned.

However, until he has the bill on his desk he has no need to veto.

US President Donald Trump has rejected the massive Covid economic relief package passed by Congress -- less than a month before he must leave office and when millions of Americans are suffering fallout from the pandemic.

US President Donald Trump has rejected the massive Covid economic relief package passed by Congress -- less than a month before he must leave office and when millions of Americans are suffering fallout from the pandemic. The Covid package is wrapped into a $2.3 trillion, almost 5,600-page "coronabus" bill that includes a so-called omnibus bill to fund the government for the coming year. In a pre-recorded statement made in the White House and sent out on Twitter, the outgoing president branded the bill "a disgrace". In his address, Trump said he would refuse to accept the bill as it is and demanded changes, notably a big increase in the proposed $600 direct payments to less well-off Americans. "I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple," he said, referring to relief checks. Tapping into his nationalist "America First" brand, Trump also castigated measures added onto the bill during complex negotiations that would provide funding for projects benefiting US partners abroad and other non-Covid related items like the environment. "It really is a disgrace," he said. "I'm also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation, and just send me a suitable bill." Trump has not yet received the bill and he did not explicitly say he would not sign. If he actually vetoed the package, Congress would almost certainly quickly override that, given the bipartisan support. A congressional override of a veto would mark an embarrassing defeat for Trump, who is spending his final weeks in office before the January 20 inauguration of Democrat Joe Biden by pursuing unprecedented attempts to try and get the election results overturned. However, until he has the bill on his desk he has no need to veto.

Trump rejects Covid relief bill, terms it a 'disgrace'

Biden has pledged to rejoin the Paris agreement “on day one of my presidency”. He has similarly indicated he would revive the Iran nuclear deal as a top foreign policy objective.

Trump loyalists aim to block Biden's goal to rejoin Iran and Paris agreements

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned 15 people, including Republican allies, a 2016 campaign official accused of involvement in the Russia probe and former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad.

The pardons also included George Papadopoulos, a former campaign aide who pleaded guilty as part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Trump also pardoned former Republican Reps Duncan Hunter of California and Chris Collins of New York.

The pardons came at the recommendation of Trump allies in Congress and, in some cases, the conservative media.

Papadopoulos, 33, was an advisor to Trump's 2016 campaign. He pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents about the timing and significance of his contacts with people who claimed to have ties to top Russian officials.

Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing campaign funds. Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Trump to be president, was sentenced to two years and two months in federal prison.

Also included in the batch announced on Tuesday are Alex van der Zwaan, the Dutch lawyer who was sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to lying to Mueller investigators; two Border Patrol agents convicted in 2006 of shooting and wounding an unarmed undocumented immigrant and then covering it up; and several people convicted of non-violent drug crimes serving lengthy sentences.

Trump also reduced the sentences of three women -- Crystal Munoz, Tynice Nichole Hall and Judith Negron -- convicted of drug crimes at the recommendation of Johnson, who has worked on behalf of other inmates after the President commuted her own sentence.&nbsp;

Trump later granted Johnson a full pardon at this year's Republican National Convention.

Last month, Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation. The Flynn pardon drew condemnation from Democrats and other critics. 
In July, Trump commuted the sentence of longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone, sparing him from prison after he was convicted of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

(with inputs)

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned 15 people, including Republican allies, a 2016 campaign official accused of involvement in the Russia probe and former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned 15 people, including Republican allies, a 2016 campaign official accused of involvement in the Russia probe and former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad. The pardons also included George Papadopoulos, a former campaign aide who pleaded guilty as part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Trump also pardoned former Republican Reps Duncan Hunter of California and Chris Collins of New York. The pardons came at the recommendation of Trump allies in Congress and, in some cases, the conservative media. Papadopoulos, 33, was an advisor to Trump's 2016 campaign. He pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents about the timing and significance of his contacts with people who claimed to have ties to top Russian officials. Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing campaign funds. Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Trump to be president, was sentenced to two years and two months in federal prison. Also included in the batch announced on Tuesday are Alex van der Zwaan, the Dutch lawyer who was sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to lying to Mueller investigators; two Border Patrol agents convicted in 2006 of shooting and wounding an unarmed undocumented immigrant and then covering it up; and several people convicted of non-violent drug crimes serving lengthy sentences. Trump also reduced the sentences of three women -- Crystal Munoz, Tynice Nichole Hall and Judith Negron -- convicted of drug crimes at the recommendation of Johnson, who has worked on behalf of other inmates after the President commuted her own sentence. Trump later granted Johnson a full pardon at this year's Republican National Convention. Last month, Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation. The Flynn pardon drew condemnation from Democrats and other critics. In July, Trump commuted the sentence of longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone, sparing him from prison after he was convicted of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. (with inputs)

Trump issues series of pardons, including Russia probe figure George Papadopoulos

The Trump administration and Pfizer are close to a deal under which the pharmaceutical company would bolster supply of its coronavirus vaccine for the United States by at least tens of millions of doses next year in exchange for a government directive giving it better access to manufacturing supplies, people familiar with the discussions said.

An agreement, which could be announced as early as Wednesday, would help the United States at least partly offset a looming vaccine shortage that could leave as many as 110 million adult Americans uncovered in the first half of 2021.

So far, only two pharmaceutical companies — Pfizer and Moderna — have won federal authorization for emergency distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, and most of what they are capable of producing for the next six months has already been allocated through contracts with the United States and other governments.

In the negotiations, the government is asking for 100 million additional doses from Pfizer from April through June. The company has signaled that it should be able to produce at least 70 million, and perhaps more, if it can get more access to supplies and raw materials.

To help Pfizer, the deal calls for the government to invoke the Defense Production Act to give the company better access to roughly nine specialized products it needs to make the vaccine. One person familiar with the list said it included lipids, the oily molecules in which the genetic material that is used in both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines is encased.

Pfizer first started asking for the government’s help in obtaining supplies as early as September and has been unhappy about the lack of response, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.

Moderna and other companies that worked more closely than Pfizer with the administration through its Operation Warp Speed to develop their vaccines already receive favored treatment from suppliers, putting Pfizer at a disadvantage. That includes two companies — Sanofi and Novavax — that have yet to begin large-scale clinical trials in the United States.

Pfizer and the administration have been negotiating for more doses from Pfizer for more than a month. But a host of other issues have stood in the way of a deal, including Pfizer’s commitments to other nations that moved faster than the United States to lock in a big supply, according to people familiar with the situation.

Pfizer already has a federal contract, signed in July, to deliver 100 million doses of its vaccine by the end of March. Moderna has the same agreement, and has also pledged to sell the government 100 million more doses in the second quarter of the year, from the start of April to the end of June.

Because the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine both require two doses, that supply would cover only 150 million Americans out of the roughly 260 million who are eligible at the moment to be vaccinated. (Moderna’s vaccine is now restricted to those 18 and over, and Pfizer’s is limited to those 16 and over.)

If Pfizer provides another 100 million doses, that would leave about 60 million eligible Americans uncovered in the first half of the year. Other producers could also cover the shortfall should their vaccines prove successful.

It is not clear how many more doses Pfizer can quickly produce even if the administration uses the Defense Production Act to clear away supply obstacles. One person familiar with the situation said the firm may only be able to deliver 70 million by the end of June, even with better access to supplies.

Had the government agreed to prioritize its supply needs earlier, one person familiar with Pfizer’s situation said, the company might be better positioned now to fully meet the demands. Documents reviewed by The Times showed that Pfizer officials began asking Gen. Gustave F. Perna, the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, in September for help with supplies and brought up the issue repeatedly in weekly meetings.

A senior Trump administration official said the government was unwilling to intervene because Pfizer refused to promise that it would use those materials to produce vaccines solely for Americans.

“It’s our obligation under that type of priority rating to make sure that assets are used only for U.S. sales or production,” the official said, “and they weren’t willing to do that.”

People knowledgeable about the talks said Perna had raised a different concern with Pfizer, saying the government wanted to protect its investment in the other companies under Warp Speed’s umbrella, so it did not want to grant Pfizer the same priority with supplies.

According to a report last month by the Government Accountability Office, the Defense Production Act gives the federal government vast authority over private companies, including the power to prevent supplies from being diverted to a different purpose or products from being sold overseas. The administration has granted the kind of status that Pfizer has been seeking to multiple contractors for medical supplies since the pandemic began, including companies that produce ventilators and N95 respirators, the report states.

Because the Pfizer vaccine, developed with the German company BioNTech, is one of only two that the Food and Drug Administration has approved for emergency use, the company has had leverage in negotiating the new contract.

That advantage could erode if other vaccines are authorized. A third firm, Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson, is expected to announce results from its clinical trials next month. A fourth, AstraZeneca, has announced some interim results, but it has yet to fully enroll its trial in the United States.

With infections, hospitalizations and deaths surging to record levels from a pandemic that has already killed more than 320,000 Americans, the pressure on Pfizer and the government to come to terms is growing.

“The last thing we want is for this to turn acrimonious,” said Dr. Walid F. Gellad, who leads the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh. “This kind of corrosive back-and-forth is not helping the public feel any better about what’s going to happen in the future.”

Pfizer’s relationship with the administration has been tense for months. After he lost the election in November, President Donald Trump accused Pfizer of deliberately slow-walking federal approval of its vaccine to hurt him politically.

Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services, and his aides have complained that Pfizer has kept the government at arm’s length, has faced production problems and has sometimes been uncooperative in negotiations.

Another snag in the relationship surfaced Friday when a European official released on Twitter — and then quickly deleted — a price list showing that vaccine shipments to the U.S. government cost a third more per dose than shipments to European customers.

Pfizer completed a deal last month to sell the European Union 200 million doses at a cost of $14.50 each. The contract signed by the Trump administration with Pfizer in July for the original 100 million doses put the price at $19.50

It is unclear how much the United States would pay if Pfizer and the federal government struck a new deal. In a statement, Pfizer said only that the EU’s order was its largest to date, and that Pfizer and BioNTech “are using a tiered pricing formula based on volume and delivery dates.” It declined to disclose further details of the agreement.

Pfizer executives have been frustrated because, according to people familiar with the negotiations, they repeatedly urged the federal government this summer and fall to lock in more doses early, before other nations snapped them up. Administration officials declined, later saying that Pfizer refused to commit to specific dates when it would deliver them.

The pharmaceutical firm has struggled to navigate the politics of the situation. Pfizer’s chief executive, Dr. Albert Bourla, repeatedly suggested that the firm would know if its vaccine worked by October. Trump, who saw a vaccine breakthrough as crucial to his reelection chances, initially praised Bourla as a “great guy” — then blamed the firm for his loss when the results were released after Election Day.

At the same time, the president and his top aides have claimed credit for Pfizer’s success, even though, unlike the other five vaccine makers in the Operation Warp Speed program, Pfizer did not take federal subsidies for the vaccine development or manufacturing, assuming all of the risk itself.

Pfizer has also vacillated in describing its relationship with the federal government. A top Pfizer official at one point stated that “we were never part of Operation Warp Speed,” then the company backtracked and acknowledged the firm was.

Azar alluded to the friction with Pfizer in an interview last week with CNBC, saying the federal government was willing to help Pfizer manufacture more “if they are willing to take our help.” He added, “I do wish we would just stop talking about this Pfizer thing.”

He denied that there was any threat of a vaccine shortage, saying the government had commitments for three times as many doses as it has now ordered for the first half of next year. Azar’s total appears to include either doses of vaccines that have not yet been shown to work or doses described in contract options that are not set in stone and include no firm date of delivery, or both.

The Trump administration and Pfizer are close to a deal under which the pharmaceutical company would bolster supply of its coronavirus vaccine for the United States by at least tens of millions of doses next year in exchange for a government directive giving it better access to manufacturing supplies, people familiar with the discussions said.

The Trump administration and Pfizer are close to a deal under which the pharmaceutical company would bolster supply of its coronavirus vaccine for the United States by at least tens of millions of doses next year in exchange for a government directive giving it better access to manufacturing supplies, people familiar with the discussions said. An agreement, which could be announced as early as Wednesday, would help the United States at least partly offset a looming vaccine shortage that could leave as many as 110 million adult Americans uncovered in the first half of 2021. So far, only two pharmaceutical companies — Pfizer and Moderna — have won federal authorization for emergency distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, and most of what they are capable of producing for the next six months has already been allocated through contracts with the United States and other governments. In the negotiations, the government is asking for 100 million additional doses from Pfizer from April through June. The company has signaled that it should be able to produce at least 70 million, and perhaps more, if it can get more access to supplies and raw materials. To help Pfizer, the deal calls for the government to invoke the Defense Production Act to give the company better access to roughly nine specialized products it needs to make the vaccine. One person familiar with the list said it included lipids, the oily molecules in which the genetic material that is used in both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines is encased. Pfizer first started asking for the government’s help in obtaining supplies as early as September and has been unhappy about the lack of response, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. Moderna and other companies that worked more closely than Pfizer with the administration through its Operation Warp Speed to develop their vaccines already receive favored treatment from suppliers, putting Pfizer at a disadvantage. That includes two companies — Sanofi and Novavax — that have yet to begin large-scale clinical trials in the United States. Pfizer and the administration have been negotiating for more doses from Pfizer for more than a month. But a host of other issues have stood in the way of a deal, including Pfizer’s commitments to other nations that moved faster than the United States to lock in a big supply, according to people familiar with the situation. Pfizer already has a federal contract, signed in July, to deliver 100 million doses of its vaccine by the end of March. Moderna has the same agreement, and has also pledged to sell the government 100 million more doses in the second quarter of the year, from the start of April to the end of June. Because the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine both require two doses, that supply would cover only 150 million Americans out of the roughly 260 million who are eligible at the moment to be vaccinated. (Moderna’s vaccine is now restricted to those 18 and over, and Pfizer’s is limited to those 16 and over.) If Pfizer provides another 100 million doses, that would leave about 60 million eligible Americans uncovered in the first half of the year. Other producers could also cover the shortfall should their vaccines prove successful. It is not clear how many more doses Pfizer can quickly produce even if the administration uses the Defense Production Act to clear away supply obstacles. One person familiar with the situation said the firm may only be able to deliver 70 million by the end of June, even with better access to supplies. Had the government agreed to prioritize its supply needs earlier, one person familiar with Pfizer’s situation said, the company might be better positioned now to fully meet the demands. Documents reviewed by The Times showed that Pfizer officials began asking Gen. Gustave F. Perna, the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, in September for help with supplies and brought up the issue repeatedly in weekly meetings. A senior Trump administration official said the government was unwilling to intervene because Pfizer refused to promise that it would use those materials to produce vaccines solely for Americans. “It’s our obligation under that type of priority rating to make sure that assets are used only for U.S. sales or production,” the official said, “and they weren’t willing to do that.” People knowledgeable about the talks said Perna had raised a different concern with Pfizer, saying the government wanted to protect its investment in the other companies under Warp Speed’s umbrella, so it did not want to grant Pfizer the same priority with supplies. According to a report last month by the Government Accountability Office, the Defense Production Act gives the federal government vast authority over private companies, including the power to prevent supplies from being diverted to a different purpose or products from being sold overseas. The administration has granted the kind of status that Pfizer has been seeking to multiple contractors for medical supplies since the pandemic began, including companies that produce ventilators and N95 respirators, the report states. Because the Pfizer vaccine, developed with the German company BioNTech, is one of only two that the Food and Drug Administration has approved for emergency use, the company has had leverage in negotiating the new contract. That advantage could erode if other vaccines are authorized. A third firm, Johnson &amp; Johnson, is expected to announce results from its clinical trials next month. A fourth, AstraZeneca, has announced some interim results, but it has yet to fully enroll its trial in the United States. With infections, hospitalizations and deaths surging to record levels from a pandemic that has already killed more than 320,000 Americans, the pressure on Pfizer and the government to come to terms is growing. “The last thing we want is for this to turn acrimonious,” said Dr. Walid F. Gellad, who leads the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh. “This kind of corrosive back-and-forth is not helping the public feel any better about what’s going to happen in the future.” Pfizer’s relationship with the administration has been tense for months. After he lost the election in November, President Donald Trump accused Pfizer of deliberately slow-walking federal approval of its vaccine to hurt him politically. Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services, and his aides have complained that Pfizer has kept the government at arm’s length, has faced production problems and has sometimes been uncooperative in negotiations. Another snag in the relationship surfaced Friday when a European official released on Twitter — and then quickly deleted — a price list showing that vaccine shipments to the U.S. government cost a third more per dose than shipments to European customers. Pfizer completed a deal last month to sell the European Union 200 million doses at a cost of $14.50 each. The contract signed by the Trump administration with Pfizer in July for the original 100 million doses put the price at $19.50 It is unclear how much the United States would pay if Pfizer and the federal government struck a new deal. In a statement, Pfizer said only that the EU’s order was its largest to date, and that Pfizer and BioNTech “are using a tiered pricing formula based on volume and delivery dates.” It declined to disclose further details of the agreement. Pfizer executives have been frustrated because, according to people familiar with the negotiations, they repeatedly urged the federal government this summer and fall to lock in more doses early, before other nations snapped them up. Administration officials declined, later saying that Pfizer refused to commit to specific dates when it would deliver them. The pharmaceutical firm has struggled to navigate the politics of the situation. Pfizer’s chief executive, Dr. Albert Bourla, repeatedly suggested that the firm would know if its vaccine worked by October. Trump, who saw a vaccine breakthrough as crucial to his reelection chances, initially praised Bourla as a “great guy” — then blamed the firm for his loss when the results were released after Election Day. At the same time, the president and his top aides have claimed credit for Pfizer’s success, even though, unlike the other five vaccine makers in the Operation Warp Speed program, Pfizer did not take federal subsidies for the vaccine development or manufacturing, assuming all of the risk itself. Pfizer has also vacillated in describing its relationship with the federal government. A top Pfizer official at one point stated that “we were never part of Operation Warp Speed,” then the company backtracked and acknowledged the firm was. Azar alluded to the friction with Pfizer in an interview last week with CNBC, saying the federal government was willing to help Pfizer manufacture more “if they are willing to take our help.” He added, “I do wish we would just stop talking about this Pfizer thing.” He denied that there was any threat of a vaccine shortage, saying the government had commitments for three times as many doses as it has now ordered for the first half of next year. Azar’s total appears to include either doses of vaccines that have not yet been shown to work or doses described in contract options that are not set in stone and include no firm date of delivery, or both.

Pfizer nears deal with Trump administration to provide more vaccine doses

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Alex Padilla, California’s secretary of state, has been appointed to fill the Senate seat held by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday, capping months of intense political jockeying among Democratic factions in the state.

The son of Mexican-born immigrants who settled in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, Padilla, 47, will be the first Latino senator from California, where Latinos are about 40% of the population.

“I am honored and humbled by the trust placed in me by Governor Newsom, and I intend to work each and every day to honor that trust and deliver for all Californians,” Padilla said in a statement.

In an interview, Padilla said he was overwhelmed with emotion Monday evening when the governor offered him the position on a Zoom call. “There is a lot of work to get to, of course, but I couldn’t help but think of my parents, who came here from Mexico in pursuit of the American dream,” he said. “All I ever heard as a child was work hard, study hard, and all I ever wanted to do was honor their sacrifices.”

Padilla, an ally of the governor throughout his political career, has held public office since 1999, when he was elected at 26 to the Los Angeles City Council; he went on to serve two terms in the state Senate and then two terms as secretary of state, heading the office that runs California’s elections.

“Through his tenacity, integrity, smarts and grit, California is gaining a tested fighter in their corner who will be a fierce ally in D.C., lifting up our state’s values and making sure we secure the critical resources to emerge stronger from this pandemic,” Newsom said. “He will be a senator for all Californians.”

The decision followed months of deliberation by Newsom and lobbying by California’s myriad political factions for a position whose occupant will need not only the experience to work effectively in Washington but also the money and political base to hold the seat in 2022, when Harris’ term ends.

California progressives had pushed Newsom to appoint Rep. Barbara Lee or another like-minded Democrat. Newsom was also under pressure to appoint a Black woman to take the place of Harris, the only Black woman in the Senate. Rep. Karen Bass and Lee were at the top of that list.

As weeks passed after the presidential election, the back-channel advocacy that had gone on since Harris was chosen as the running mate of President-elect Joe Biden broke into the open with public endorsements, full-page newspaper ads and open letters. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus strongly backed Padilla. The LGBTQ community and Equality California lobbied for Robert Garcia, the mayor of Long Beach. Black Women United, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter and a range of Black elected officials pushed for Bass or Lee.

On Twitter, Lee congratulated Padilla as “a skilled legislator and a steadfast advocate for justice,” Bass cheered “another historic barrier shattered“ and Garcia promised his “100 percent support in his 2022 reelection.”

Nathalie Rayes, president and chief executive of the Latino Victory Fund, which had campaigned for Padilla, called the appointment “a long-overdue milestone for the Latino community” and a “bold step toward having a Senate that looks like the communities it serves.” She added, “His appointment will not only increase Latino representation in the Senate, but it will also open the door for future generations of Latino leaders.”

Leading California Republicans were less impressed. “One of the worst election officials in the nation will go to DC, unelected!!!” tweeted Harmeet Dhillon, a conservative civil rights lawyer and member of the Republican National Committee.

California’s senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, had endorsed Padilla, who had worked in her field office early in his career and on Tuesday she called the appointment “an excellent choice.” In the run-up to his appointment, some interest groups had called for Feinstein herself to step down, so that the governor could pick two senators — a call that gained traction after a New Yorker article this month suggested that Feinstein, 87, was experiencing cognitive decline.

The elevation of Padilla leaves Newsom with a vacancy in the secretary of state’s office, which was viewed throughout the deliberation as a potential consolation prize for at least one disappointed contender.

On Tuesday afternoon, a person close to the governor’s office said he planned to appoint Shirley Weber, a veteran California assemblywoman and chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus. The daughter of Arkansas sharecroppers, Weber presided last week as the state’s 55 electors sealed the presidency for Biden and had pushed hard for a Black woman to be named as Harris’ replacement.

Newsom will also have to appoint a new attorney general if the Senate confirms Xavier Becerra’s nomination as Biden’s secretary of health and human services.

That state post has in recent years served as a springboard for higher office; besides Becerra, recent attorneys general include Harris and California’s previous governor, Jerry Brown.

Alex Vassar, a legislative historian at the California State Library, said the last California governor to fill three statewide offices was Earl Warren, who in December 1952 and January 1953 appointed a new senator, a state controller and a member of the state Board of Equalization. Pat Brown also made three appointments in 1964 and 1965, Vassar said, but one was simply to speed up an incoming senator’s arrival.

In sending Padilla to the Senate, Newsom chose a Democrat from his own generation who stood by the governor and shored up his Latino support in several critical races. He also chose an experienced candidate who has twice been elected statewide and whose work since 2014 has considerably expanded the ease of voting in California and the size of the electorate.

The middle child of a short-order cook from Jalisco, Mexico, and a housekeeper from Chihuahua, Padilla was raised in Los Angeles and graduated in 1994 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working his way through school with janitorial jobs and work-study programs. Though his degree was in mechanical engineering, his plan to become an aerospace engineer was derailed by the anti-immigrant politics gripping his home state during the 1990s.

Inspired by a summer job helping Latino high school students prepare for college and galvanized by Proposition 187, a 1994 ballot initiative that would have barred immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally from public services including schools and nonemergency health care, Padilla applied for a fellowship with the leadership development program for Coro, a nonprofit organization.

Before that, “I wouldn’t say I had ever dreamed of running for office, but I knew I’d have to do my part, or our community would continue to be scapegoated,” he said in an interview last month.

Padilla worked as a community organizer for Art Torres, who would later lead the state Democratic Party (and who also mentored Becerra). He went on to run legislative campaigns for two Latino politicians in Los Angeles and work in Feinstein’s field office before winning his seat on the Los Angeles City Council, with support from the city’s Latino-dominated labor unions. By 2001, he was the council’s youngest president.

In 2003, when Newsom was running for mayor of San Francisco, Padilla introduced him to Los Angeles contacts and helped buttress his position against a Latino opponent. A few years later, as a member of the state Senate, Padilla ran Newsom’s 2009 bid for governor before Jerry Brown got into the race and Newsom dropped out, running instead for lieutenant governor.

In 2018, he stood by Newsom yet again, endorsing him early in a crowded primary that included former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles.

As secretary of state, Padilla promised to register a million new California voters; the state has added more than 4 million as a result of legislation he backed that registers Californians to vote when they get their driver’s licenses.

As a state legislator, Padilla also supported universal health care, reproductive choice, expanding green manufacturing and solar power, and laws that tracked stolen guns and prevented felons from possessing body armor.

His first order of business in the Senate, he said, would be “COVID, COVID, COVID.” “There are of course big issues at hand, but we can’t fully address them until we get control of this pandemic,” he said.

A father of three, Padilla and his wife, Angela, live in the San Fernando Valley. His mother died three years ago, he said, but he, his father and his siblings live within five miles of one another. His sister works for the Los Angeles public school system, and his younger brother is chief of staff to the president of the Los Angeles City Council.

“We’re all in public service, and to me that’s not a coincidence,” Padilla said. He cited the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on communities of color, inequities in digital literacy and “the long-standing need for comprehensive immigration reform” as issues that he was “eager to play a role in.”

“I love public service and I’ve been doing it for more than 20 years, and I’d like to continue as long as I’m effective and they’ll continue to have me,” he said.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Alex Padilla, California’s secretary of state, has been appointed to fill the Senate seat held by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday, capping months of intense political jockeying among Democratic factions in the state.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Alex Padilla, California’s secretary of state, has been appointed to fill the Senate seat held by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday, capping months of intense political jockeying among Democratic factions in the state. The son of Mexican-born immigrants who settled in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, Padilla, 47, will be the first Latino senator from California, where Latinos are about 40% of the population. “I am honored and humbled by the trust placed in me by Governor Newsom, and I intend to work each and every day to honor that trust and deliver for all Californians,” Padilla said in a statement. In an interview, Padilla said he was overwhelmed with emotion Monday evening when the governor offered him the position on a Zoom call. “There is a lot of work to get to, of course, but I couldn’t help but think of my parents, who came here from Mexico in pursuit of the American dream,” he said. “All I ever heard as a child was work hard, study hard, and all I ever wanted to do was honor their sacrifices.” Padilla, an ally of the governor throughout his political career, has held public office since 1999, when he was elected at 26 to the Los Angeles City Council; he went on to serve two terms in the state Senate and then two terms as secretary of state, heading the office that runs California’s elections. “Through his tenacity, integrity, smarts and grit, California is gaining a tested fighter in their corner who will be a fierce ally in D.C., lifting up our state’s values and making sure we secure the critical resources to emerge stronger from this pandemic,” Newsom said. “He will be a senator for all Californians.” The decision followed months of deliberation by Newsom and lobbying by California’s myriad political factions for a position whose occupant will need not only the experience to work effectively in Washington but also the money and political base to hold the seat in 2022, when Harris’ term ends. California progressives had pushed Newsom to appoint Rep. Barbara Lee or another like-minded Democrat. Newsom was also under pressure to appoint a Black woman to take the place of Harris, the only Black woman in the Senate. Rep. Karen Bass and Lee were at the top of that list. As weeks passed after the presidential election, the back-channel advocacy that had gone on since Harris was chosen as the running mate of President-elect Joe Biden broke into the open with public endorsements, full-page newspaper ads and open letters. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus strongly backed Padilla. The LGBTQ community and Equality California lobbied for Robert Garcia, the mayor of Long Beach. Black Women United, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter and a range of Black elected officials pushed for Bass or Lee. On Twitter, Lee congratulated Padilla as “a skilled legislator and a steadfast advocate for justice,” Bass cheered “another historic barrier shattered“ and Garcia promised his “100 percent support in his 2022 reelection.” Nathalie Rayes, president and chief executive of the Latino Victory Fund, which had campaigned for Padilla, called the appointment “a long-overdue milestone for the Latino community” and a “bold step toward having a Senate that looks like the communities it serves.” She added, “His appointment will not only increase Latino representation in the Senate, but it will also open the door for future generations of Latino leaders.” Leading California Republicans were less impressed. “One of the worst election officials in the nation will go to DC, unelected!!!” tweeted Harmeet Dhillon, a conservative civil rights lawyer and member of the Republican National Committee. California’s senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, had endorsed Padilla, who had worked in her field office early in his career and on Tuesday she called the appointment “an excellent choice.” In the run-up to his appointment, some interest groups had called for Feinstein herself to step down, so that the governor could pick two senators — a call that gained traction after a New Yorker article this month suggested that Feinstein, 87, was experiencing cognitive decline. The elevation of Padilla leaves Newsom with a vacancy in the secretary of state’s office, which was viewed throughout the deliberation as a potential consolation prize for at least one disappointed contender. On Tuesday afternoon, a person close to the governor’s office said he planned to appoint Shirley Weber, a veteran California assemblywoman and chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus. The daughter of Arkansas sharecroppers, Weber presided last week as the state’s 55 electors sealed the presidency for Biden and had pushed hard for a Black woman to be named as Harris’ replacement. Newsom will also have to appoint a new attorney general if the Senate confirms Xavier Becerra’s nomination as Biden’s secretary of health and human services. That state post has in recent years served as a springboard for higher office; besides Becerra, recent attorneys general include Harris and California’s previous governor, Jerry Brown. Alex Vassar, a legislative historian at the California State Library, said the last California governor to fill three statewide offices was Earl Warren, who in December 1952 and January 1953 appointed a new senator, a state controller and a member of the state Board of Equalization. Pat Brown also made three appointments in 1964 and 1965, Vassar said, but one was simply to speed up an incoming senator’s arrival. In sending Padilla to the Senate, Newsom chose a Democrat from his own generation who stood by the governor and shored up his Latino support in several critical races. He also chose an experienced candidate who has twice been elected statewide and whose work since 2014 has considerably expanded the ease of voting in California and the size of the electorate. The middle child of a short-order cook from Jalisco, Mexico, and a housekeeper from Chihuahua, Padilla was raised in Los Angeles and graduated in 1994 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working his way through school with janitorial jobs and work-study programs. Though his degree was in mechanical engineering, his plan to become an aerospace engineer was derailed by the anti-immigrant politics gripping his home state during the 1990s. Inspired by a summer job helping Latino high school students prepare for college and galvanized by Proposition 187, a 1994 ballot initiative that would have barred immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally from public services including schools and nonemergency health care, Padilla applied for a fellowship with the leadership development program for Coro, a nonprofit organization. Before that, “I wouldn’t say I had ever dreamed of running for office, but I knew I’d have to do my part, or our community would continue to be scapegoated,” he said in an interview last month. Padilla worked as a community organizer for Art Torres, who would later lead the state Democratic Party (and who also mentored Becerra). He went on to run legislative campaigns for two Latino politicians in Los Angeles and work in Feinstein’s field office before winning his seat on the Los Angeles City Council, with support from the city’s Latino-dominated labor unions. By 2001, he was the council’s youngest president. In 2003, when Newsom was running for mayor of San Francisco, Padilla introduced him to Los Angeles contacts and helped buttress his position against a Latino opponent. A few years later, as a member of the state Senate, Padilla ran Newsom’s 2009 bid for governor before Jerry Brown got into the race and Newsom dropped out, running instead for lieutenant governor. In 2018, he stood by Newsom yet again, endorsing him early in a crowded primary that included former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles. As secretary of state, Padilla promised to register a million new California voters; the state has added more than 4 million as a result of legislation he backed that registers Californians to vote when they get their driver’s licenses. As a state legislator, Padilla also supported universal health care, reproductive choice, expanding green manufacturing and solar power, and laws that tracked stolen guns and prevented felons from possessing body armor. His first order of business in the Senate, he said, would be “COVID, COVID, COVID.” “There are of course big issues at hand, but we can’t fully address them until we get control of this pandemic,” he said. A father of three, Padilla and his wife, Angela, live in the San Fernando Valley. His mother died three years ago, he said, but he, his father and his siblings live within five miles of one another. His sister works for the Los Angeles public school system, and his younger brother is chief of staff to the president of the Los Angeles City Council. “We’re all in public service, and to me that’s not a coincidence,” Padilla said. He cited the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on communities of color, inequities in digital literacy and “the long-standing need for comprehensive immigration reform” as issues that he was “eager to play a role in.” “I love public service and I’ve been doing it for more than 20 years, and I’d like to continue as long as I’m effective and they’ll continue to have me,” he said.

Alex Padilla will replace Kamala Harris in the US Senate

Donald Trump concludes his terms in White House. He has announced a wave of Pardons. The pardon include former campaign aide of George Papadopoulos who is pleaded guilty in the Russia probe.

Donald Trump grants full pardons to 15 people

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday Moscow was not expecting "anything good" from US President-elect Joe Biden, accusing members of his future administration of "Russophobia". &nbsp;

"We are definitely not expecting anything good. And it would be strange to expect good things from people, many of whom made their careers on Russophobia and throwing mud at my country," Ryabkov said in an interview with news agency Interfax.

The interview was released days after the US accused Russia of a major cyber attack on government agencies.

Biden on Tuesday said the attack cannot go "unanswered", promising to retaliate once he takes office on January 20.&nbsp;

Ryabkov said Moscow should move to a "total containment" approach in relations with the United States, retaining "selective dialogue" on subjects that are of interest to Russia.&nbsp;

The deputy foreign minister said that Russia would not initiate any contacts with Biden's transition staff, and would also not make any "unilateral concessions".&nbsp;

He added that if the US continued approaching Russia as a "strategic rival" then Moscow would "treat them in a similar way".&nbsp;

Referring to fresh US sanctions imposed earlier this week on 45 Russian organisations over their military connections, Ryabkov said the outgoing administration was trying to "loudly slam the door".&nbsp;

"We are going from bad to worse. This was very typical for the past four years and so far there is no feeling that this trend has outlived its usefulness," Ryabkov said.&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday Moscow was not expecting "anything good" from US President-elect Joe Biden, accusing members of his future administration of "Russophobia".

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday Moscow was not expecting "anything good" from US President-elect Joe Biden, accusing members of his future administration of "Russophobia". "We are definitely not expecting anything good. And it would be strange to expect good things from people, many of whom made their careers on Russophobia and throwing mud at my country," Ryabkov said in an interview with news agency Interfax. The interview was released days after the US accused Russia of a major cyber attack on government agencies. Biden on Tuesday said the attack cannot go "unanswered", promising to retaliate once he takes office on January 20. Ryabkov said Moscow should move to a "total containment" approach in relations with the United States, retaining "selective dialogue" on subjects that are of interest to Russia. The deputy foreign minister said that Russia would not initiate any contacts with Biden's transition staff, and would also not make any "unilateral concessions". He added that if the US continued approaching Russia as a "strategic rival" then Moscow would "treat them in a similar way". Referring to fresh US sanctions imposed earlier this week on 45 Russian organisations over their military connections, Ryabkov said the outgoing administration was trying to "loudly slam the door". "We are going from bad to worse. This was very typical for the past four years and so far there is no feeling that this trend has outlived its usefulness," Ryabkov said.

Russia says not expecting 'anything good' from Biden administration

Lawmakers spent months in a stalemate over pandemic relief funds, even as COVID-19 cases soared across the country.

Donald Trump threatens to not sign COVID-19 bill, demands large stimulus checks

Few days before Donald Trump leaves office, the United States is considering granting Saudi Crown Prince and Donald Trump long time ally Mohammed bin Salman legal immunity.

WION Dispatch: Reports claim, 'U.S. mulls legal immunity for Saudi Arabia's prince Mohammed bin Salman'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was awarded the ‘Legion of Merit’ by U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday for his role in advancing the India-U.S. relationship

Indian PM Narendra Modi awarded ‘Legion of Merit’ by Donald Trump

US&nbsp;Attorney General William&nbsp;Barr&nbsp;on Monday&nbsp;rejected several of President Donald Trump's inflammatory and unfounded statements regarding the presidential election, saying&nbsp;he has no plans&nbsp;to name special counsels to investigate Hunter Biden or election fraud.

Hunter Biden disclosed earlier this month the US&nbsp;Attorney’s Office in Delaware is investigating his tax affairs.

Barr said Monday that a probe into the younger Biden, believed to be linked to tax-related issues over his business dealings in China, is being handled “responsibly” by Justice Department prosecutors. In what may be his final public briefing before stepping down on Wednesday, Barr said he has no plans to appoint a special counsel.

“To this point, I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave,” Barr told reporters at what may have been his final public appearance before stepping down.

Barr also said he sees no reason to appoint a special counsel to look into election fraud, standing by his previous statement that there’s been no evidence of widespread fraud that would overturn Joe Biden’s November&nbsp;3 election win. Trump continues to claim without evidence that the vote was “rigged.”

“If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was appropriate, I would name one, but I haven’t and I’m not going to,” Barr said. The attorney general said he also sees “no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government,” something Trump has&nbsp;reportedly&nbsp;inquired about.

Barr, who is set to leave office Wednesday, also broke with Trump by publicly blaming Russia for a massive cyberattack that has affected more than a half-dozen government agencies and an untold number of private companies, even as the president pointed the finger at China over the weekend and sought to downplay the breach.

"From the information I have, I agree with Secretary Pompeo’s assessment," Barr said, referring to State Department chief Mike Pompeo.&nbsp;"It certainly appears to be the Russians, but I’m not going to discuss it beyond that."

Trump has accused the media of inflating the seriousness of the cyberattacks and deflected blame from Russia, undermining his own administration’s warning last week that the cyberattacks believed to be tied to Russia continue to pose a “grave risk” to government networks and the private sector.

Biden’s transition team announced on December&nbsp;9 that Hunter Biden was under a federal criminal tax investigation. The Bidens have repeatedly insisted no wrongdoing was committed.

Hunter Biden has been the target of more than one federal criminal investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter.

According to a US Senate Committee report,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-elections-2020-trump-applauds-selfs-approach-towards-covid-calls-bidens-approach-anti-science-329852">Joe Biden's</a>&nbsp;son Hunter was paid $50,000 a month to serve as the board of Burisma which is a Ukrainian natural gas company with a corrupt owner while his father was the US vice president&nbsp;during the Obama administration.

The report said the Treasury records accessed by Chairman Grassley and Chairman Johnson showed Hunter<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/us-election-2020-facebook-removes-fake-pages-created-in-china-targeting-trump-biden-329641">&nbsp;Biden&nbsp;</a>and his family including his associates were involved in "potential criminal activity relating to transactions with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals."

The Senate Committee report claimed that that Hunter Biden and his family were involved in a "vast financial network that connected them to foreign nationals and foreign governments across the globe", while adding that Hunter and Archer formed "significant and consistent financial relationships with the corrupt oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky during their time working for Burisma and their firms made millions of dollars from that association while Joe Biden was the vice president."&nbsp;

"Rosemont Seneca Thornton, an investment firm co-founded by Hunter Biden received $3.5 million in wire transfer from Elena Baturina who allegedly received illegal construction contracts from her husband, the former mayor of Moscow," it said.

"In particular these documents show that Hunter Biden received millions of dollars from foreign sources as a result of business relationships that he built during the period when his father was the vice-president of the US," the report claimed.

The report said Biden and Archer found "willing partners in Chinese nationals connected to the Communist regime", adding that "their work began in China in 2009 with the creation of Rosemont Seneca Partners with Heinz, the stepson of the then secretary of state John Kerry.

"Hunter Biden's connections and financial associations appear to have accelerated significantly after he associated himself with Ye Jianming who had deep connections with the Communist regime and PLA," it said.

Last week,&nbsp;Barr's successor, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen,&nbsp;in a interview declined to say if he would appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden or election issues.

US Attorney General William Barr on Monday rejected several of President Donald Trump's inflammatory and unfounded statements regarding the presidential election, saying he has no plans to name special counsels to investigate Hunter Biden or election fraud.

US Attorney General William Barr on Monday rejected several of President Donald Trump's inflammatory and unfounded statements regarding the presidential election, saying he has no plans to name special counsels to investigate Hunter Biden or election fraud. Hunter Biden disclosed earlier this month the US Attorney’s Office in Delaware is investigating his tax affairs. Barr said Monday that a probe into the younger Biden, believed to be linked to tax-related issues over his business dealings in China, is being handled “responsibly” by Justice Department prosecutors. In what may be his final public briefing before stepping down on Wednesday, Barr said he has no plans to appoint a special counsel. “To this point, I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave,” Barr told reporters at what may have been his final public appearance before stepping down. Barr also said he sees no reason to appoint a special counsel to look into election fraud, standing by his previous statement that there’s been no evidence of widespread fraud that would overturn Joe Biden’s November 3 election win. Trump continues to claim without evidence that the vote was “rigged.” “If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was appropriate, I would name one, but I haven’t and I’m not going to,” Barr said. The attorney general said he also sees “no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government,” something Trump has reportedly inquired about. Barr, who is set to leave office Wednesday, also broke with Trump by publicly blaming Russia for a massive cyberattack that has affected more than a half-dozen government agencies and an untold number of private companies, even as the president pointed the finger at China over the weekend and sought to downplay the breach. "From the information I have, I agree with Secretary Pompeo’s assessment," Barr said, referring to State Department chief Mike Pompeo. "It certainly appears to be the Russians, but I’m not going to discuss it beyond that." Trump has accused the media of inflating the seriousness of the cyberattacks and deflected blame from Russia, undermining his own administration’s warning last week that the cyberattacks believed to be tied to Russia continue to pose a “grave risk” to government networks and the private sector. Biden’s transition team announced on December 9 that Hunter Biden was under a federal criminal tax investigation. The Bidens have repeatedly insisted no wrongdoing was committed. Hunter Biden has been the target of more than one federal criminal investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter. According to a US Senate Committee report, Joe Biden's son Hunter was paid $50,000 a month to serve as the board of Burisma which is a Ukrainian natural gas company with a corrupt owner while his father was the US vice president during the Obama administration. The report said the Treasury records accessed by Chairman Grassley and Chairman Johnson showed Hunter Biden and his family including his associates were involved in "potential criminal activity relating to transactions with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals." The Senate Committee report claimed that that Hunter Biden and his family were involved in a "vast financial network that connected them to foreign nationals and foreign governments across the globe", while adding that Hunter and Archer formed "significant and consistent financial relationships with the corrupt oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky during their time working for Burisma and their firms made millions of dollars from that association while Joe Biden was the vice president." "Rosemont Seneca Thornton, an investment firm co-founded by Hunter Biden received $3.5 million in wire transfer from Elena Baturina who allegedly received illegal construction contracts from her husband, the former mayor of Moscow," it said. "In particular these documents show that Hunter Biden received millions of dollars from foreign sources as a result of business relationships that he built during the period when his father was the vice-president of the US," the report claimed. The report said Biden and Archer found "willing partners in Chinese nationals connected to the Communist regime", adding that "their work began in China in 2009 with the creation of Rosemont Seneca Partners with Heinz, the stepson of the then secretary of state John Kerry. "Hunter Biden's connections and financial associations appear to have accelerated significantly after he associated himself with Ye Jianming who had deep connections with the Communist regime and PLA," it said. Last week, Barr's successor, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, in a interview declined to say if he would appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden or election issues.

Hunter Biden probe: Attorney General Barr finds no reason to name special counsel for investigation

WASHINGTON — For Sudan, agreeing to normalize relations with Israel was the price of removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

A similar diplomatic deal with Israel sealed Morocco’s demand for the United States to recognize its sovereignty over the Western Sahara region.

Watch |&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-trumps-parting-gifts-to-israel-349171/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

United Arab Emirates officials who wanted to buy stealthy F-35 fighter jets from the United States first had to sign on to the Abraham Accords, the product of President Donald Trump’s campaign to foster stability between Israel and estranged or even hostile Muslim states.

In each case, the incentives that the Trump administration dangled in exchange for the détente could fall through — either rejected by Congress or reversed by the administration of President-elect Joe Biden.

That puts at risk not only the series of regional agreements for rapprochement but also exacerbates a worldview that the United States cannot be depended upon to hold up its end of diplomatic deals.

The Abraham Accords, Trump’s signature foreign policy achievement, have either newly brokered or restarted economic and political ties for Israel with Bahrain, the UAE, Sudan and Morocco. Officials familiar with the administration’s efforts said Oman and Tunisia might be the next states to join, and the warming could be expanded to nations in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa even after Trump leaves office in January.

Formally easing tensions between Israel and its regional neighbors is a success, to be sure, that past Republican and Democratic presidents alike have long sought to foment.

“All diplomacy is transactional, but these transactions are mixing things that ought not to have been mixed,” said Robert Malley, president and chief executive of the International Crisis Group, who is close to Antony Blinken, Biden’s pick for secretary of state.

Malley predicted that the incoming Biden administration would try to walk back or dilute parts of the normalization deals that defy international norms, as in the case of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, or otherwise challenge long-standing U.S. policy, like the F-35 sales to the UAE.

Congress has also shown alarm at the deal-making.

The Senate last week narrowly accepted the UAE’s purchase of the stealth jets, drones and other precision weapons, signaling concern over expanded arms deals to the Persian Gulf. That could be reversed if Democrats take control of the chamber after runoff elections in Georgia next month; regardless, the move will be reviewed by the Biden administration to ensure that the $23 billion sale to the UAE does not dull Israel’s military edge in the region.

A day after the Senate vote, the Republican chair of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, said it was “shocking and disappointing” that the Trump administration had decided to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara and predicted that it would be reversed. The United Nations, the European Union and the African Union all view the Western Sahara as disputed territory.

“I am saddened that the rights of the Western Saharan people have been traded away,” Inhofe said in a statement. “The president has been poorly advised by his team; he could have made this deal without trading the rights of a voiceless people.”

Saad Eddine el-Othmani, Morocco’s prime minister, said Tuesday that his government “didn’t want it to be an exchange.”

“We don’t bargain with the Sahara,” Othmani said in an interview with Al-Jazeera. “But the victory in this battle required the concomitance.”

Nowhere has the diplomatic deal proven more delicate than for Sudan.

A seemingly unrelated issue — immunity in U.S. courts from terrorism lawsuits — was indirectly tied to a condition of Sudan reluctantly signing on to the peace accords with Israel in October.

The State Department had already decided to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in exchange for the country compensating victims of the 1998 bombings against U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. As part of those negotiations, Sudan’s transitional government had demanded the dismissal of all other terrorism lawsuits that it faced from attacks carried out in the 27 years it was on the list.

The State Department agreed and countered last summer with a condition of its own: that Sudan begin to thaw a half-century of hostilities with Israel.

Only Congress, however, can grant Sudan the legal peace it seeks. Over the past several months, lawmakers have been deadlocked over doing so, given that it would deny families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks their day in court.

“We have always wanted all terrorists to be held accountable for their acts on 9/11,” Kristen Breitweiser, a lawyer whose husband was killed in the attacks on New York, said in a statement issued last week during furious negotiating in Congress.

Sudan insists it is not liable for the 9/11 attacks, given that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden left his sanctuary in the country five years before they were carried out. But the congressional compromise that was hammered out, according to officials and others close to the negotiations, allows the 9/11 lawsuits to continue, potentially making Sudan liable for billions of dollars in victims’ compensation.

Representatives for the Sudanese Embassy in Washington declined to comment but have previously said the country might exit the peace accords with Israel if it is not given immunity from the terrorism lawsuits. As the Trump administration tries to keep the deal from falling apart, an official confirmed a Bloomberg report that the United States had offered Sudan a $1 billion loan to help clear its arrears and obtain as much as $1.5 billion in annual development assistance. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is expected to visit Sudan, Israel and the UAE in a high-level delegation to the region next month.

Bahrain appears to be a lone exception among the countries that were offered incentives as part of normalization agreements with Israel, although this week the State Department designated the Iranian-linked Saraya al-Mukhtar as a terrorist group, in part for its goal to overthrow the tiny Sunni monarchy.

That has also fueled concern among current and former government officials and conflict analysts that the United States will designate Houthi rebels in Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization, in part to convince Saudi Arabia to sign on to the accords with Israel.

Officials close to the decision said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was inclined to issue the designation to cut off Iran’s support of the Houthis, who have seized control of most of Yemen, ousted its government and attacked neighboring Saudi Arabia in their five-year border war. It could also prohibit the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen’s major ports — most of which are controlled by the Houthis — and, in turn, exacerbate a famine in one of the world’s poorest countries.

It is doubtful, however, that the terrorism designation alone would persuade Saudi Arabia — the most powerful monarchy in the Middle East — to normalize relations with Israel. That thaw could take years, if it happens at all, and by then might be driven more by a rising number of young adults in the kingdom who are more concerned with jobs and economic stability at home than a generations-old conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Nikki Haley, who was Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, said a secretive trip that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel made to Saudi Arabia last month to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was a bold signal of the détente.

“These Arab countries want to be friends with Israel,” Haley told the Israeli-based DiploTech Global Summit on Wednesday.

Even if they disapprove of Trump’s transactional diplomacy, Biden and Blinken will also be wary of appearing to back away from Israel, which is the strongest U.S. ally in the Middle East and holds considerable political sway over U.S. evangelical and Jewish voters.

“I think President-elect Biden will try to continue with the momentum because it’s beneficial for the U.S., it’s beneficial for the allies of the U.S., and I think that will be the right thing to do,” said Danny Danon, who retired this year as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.

WASHINGTON — For Sudan, agreeing to normalize relations with Israel was the price of removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. A similar diplomatic deal with Israel sealed Morocco’s demand for the United States to recognize its sovereignty over the Western Sahara region.

WASHINGTON — For Sudan, agreeing to normalize relations with Israel was the price of removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. A similar diplomatic deal with Israel sealed Morocco’s demand for the United States to recognize its sovereignty over the Western Sahara region. Watch | United Arab Emirates officials who wanted to buy stealthy F-35 fighter jets from the United States first had to sign on to the Abraham Accords, the product of President Donald Trump’s campaign to foster stability between Israel and estranged or even hostile Muslim states. In each case, the incentives that the Trump administration dangled in exchange for the détente could fall through — either rejected by Congress or reversed by the administration of President-elect Joe Biden. That puts at risk not only the series of regional agreements for rapprochement but also exacerbates a worldview that the United States cannot be depended upon to hold up its end of diplomatic deals. The Abraham Accords, Trump’s signature foreign policy achievement, have either newly brokered or restarted economic and political ties for Israel with Bahrain, the UAE, Sudan and Morocco. Officials familiar with the administration’s efforts said Oman and Tunisia might be the next states to join, and the warming could be expanded to nations in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa even after Trump leaves office in January. Formally easing tensions between Israel and its regional neighbors is a success, to be sure, that past Republican and Democratic presidents alike have long sought to foment. “All diplomacy is transactional, but these transactions are mixing things that ought not to have been mixed,” said Robert Malley, president and chief executive of the International Crisis Group, who is close to Antony Blinken, Biden’s pick for secretary of state. Malley predicted that the incoming Biden administration would try to walk back or dilute parts of the normalization deals that defy international norms, as in the case of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, or otherwise challenge long-standing U.S. policy, like the F-35 sales to the UAE. Congress has also shown alarm at the deal-making. The Senate last week narrowly accepted the UAE’s purchase of the stealth jets, drones and other precision weapons, signaling concern over expanded arms deals to the Persian Gulf. That could be reversed if Democrats take control of the chamber after runoff elections in Georgia next month; regardless, the move will be reviewed by the Biden administration to ensure that the $23 billion sale to the UAE does not dull Israel’s military edge in the region. A day after the Senate vote, the Republican chair of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, said it was “shocking and disappointing” that the Trump administration had decided to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara and predicted that it would be reversed. The United Nations, the European Union and the African Union all view the Western Sahara as disputed territory. “I am saddened that the rights of the Western Saharan people have been traded away,” Inhofe said in a statement. “The president has been poorly advised by his team; he could have made this deal without trading the rights of a voiceless people.” Saad Eddine el-Othmani, Morocco’s prime minister, said Tuesday that his government “didn’t want it to be an exchange.” “We don’t bargain with the Sahara,” Othmani said in an interview with Al-Jazeera. “But the victory in this battle required the concomitance.” Nowhere has the diplomatic deal proven more delicate than for Sudan. A seemingly unrelated issue — immunity in U.S. courts from terrorism lawsuits — was indirectly tied to a condition of Sudan reluctantly signing on to the peace accords with Israel in October. The State Department had already decided to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism in exchange for the country compensating victims of the 1998 bombings against U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. As part of those negotiations, Sudan’s transitional government had demanded the dismissal of all other terrorism lawsuits that it faced from attacks carried out in the 27 years it was on the list. The State Department agreed and countered last summer with a condition of its own: that Sudan begin to thaw a half-century of hostilities with Israel. Only Congress, however, can grant Sudan the legal peace it seeks. Over the past several months, lawmakers have been deadlocked over doing so, given that it would deny families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks their day in court. “We have always wanted all terrorists to be held accountable for their acts on 9/11,” Kristen Breitweiser, a lawyer whose husband was killed in the attacks on New York, said in a statement issued last week during furious negotiating in Congress. Sudan insists it is not liable for the 9/11 attacks, given that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden left his sanctuary in the country five years before they were carried out. But the congressional compromise that was hammered out, according to officials and others close to the negotiations, allows the 9/11 lawsuits to continue, potentially making Sudan liable for billions of dollars in victims’ compensation. Representatives for the Sudanese Embassy in Washington declined to comment but have previously said the country might exit the peace accords with Israel if it is not given immunity from the terrorism lawsuits. As the Trump administration tries to keep the deal from falling apart, an official confirmed a Bloomberg report that the United States had offered Sudan a $1 billion loan to help clear its arrears and obtain as much as $1.5 billion in annual development assistance. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is expected to visit Sudan, Israel and the UAE in a high-level delegation to the region next month. Bahrain appears to be a lone exception among the countries that were offered incentives as part of normalization agreements with Israel, although this week the State Department designated the Iranian-linked Saraya al-Mukhtar as a terrorist group, in part for its goal to overthrow the tiny Sunni monarchy. That has also fueled concern among current and former government officials and conflict analysts that the United States will designate Houthi rebels in Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization, in part to convince Saudi Arabia to sign on to the accords with Israel. Officials close to the decision said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was inclined to issue the designation to cut off Iran’s support of the Houthis, who have seized control of most of Yemen, ousted its government and attacked neighboring Saudi Arabia in their five-year border war. It could also prohibit the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen’s major ports — most of which are controlled by the Houthis — and, in turn, exacerbate a famine in one of the world’s poorest countries. It is doubtful, however, that the terrorism designation alone would persuade Saudi Arabia — the most powerful monarchy in the Middle East — to normalize relations with Israel. That thaw could take years, if it happens at all, and by then might be driven more by a rising number of young adults in the kingdom who are more concerned with jobs and economic stability at home than a generations-old conflict between Israel and Palestine. Nikki Haley, who was Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, said a secretive trip that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel made to Saudi Arabia last month to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was a bold signal of the détente. “These Arab countries want to be friends with Israel,” Haley told the Israeli-based DiploTech Global Summit on Wednesday. Even if they disapprove of Trump’s transactional diplomacy, Biden and Blinken will also be wary of appearing to back away from Israel, which is the strongest U.S. ally in the Middle East and holds considerable political sway over U.S. evangelical and Jewish voters. “I think President-elect Biden will try to continue with the momentum because it’s beneficial for the U.S., it’s beneficial for the allies of the U.S., and I think that will be the right thing to do,” said Danny Danon, who retired this year as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump incentives for signing peace accords with Israel could be at risk

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is rushing to approve a final wave of large-scale mining and energy projects on federal lands, encouraged by investors who want to try to ensure the projects move ahead even after President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

In Arizona, the Forest Service is preparing to sign off on the transfer of federal forest land — considered sacred by a neighboring Native American tribe — to allow construction of one of the nation’s largest copper mines.

In Utah, the Interior Department may grant final approval as soon as next week to a team of energy speculators targeting a remote spot inside an iconic national wilderness area — where new energy leasing is currently banned — so they can start drilling into what they believe is a huge underground supply of helium.

In northern Nevada, the department is close to granting final approval to construct a sprawling open-pit lithium mine on federal land that sits above a prehistoric volcano site.

And in the East, the Forest Service intends to take a key step next month toward allowing a natural gas pipeline to be built through Jefferson National Forest in Virginia and West Virginia, at one point running underneath the Appalachian Trail.

These projects, and others awaiting action in the remaining weeks of the Trump administration, reflect the intense push by the Interior Department, which controls 480 million acres of public lands, and the Forest Service, which manages another 193 million acres, to find ways to increase domestic energy and mining production, even in the face of intense protests by environmentalists and other activists.

When he takes office Jan. 20, Biden, who has chosen a Native American — Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M. — to lead the Interior Department, will still have the ability to reshape, slow or even block certain projects.

Some, like a planned uranium mine in South Dakota, will require further approvals. Others, like the planned helium drilling project in Utah, face lawsuits seeking to stop them. Still others, like the lithium mine in Nevada, will have the final federal permit needed before construction can begin and will be hard for the next administration to stop.

Whether they are the final word or not, the last-minute actions are just the latest evidence of how the far-reaching shift in regulatory policy under President Donald Trump has altered the balance between environmental concerns and business, giving substantial new weight to corporate interests.

Trump chose former industry executives to run major federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, and industry executives and lobbyists who cycled in and out of government positions were granted substantial influence in setting regulations.

For four years, Trump’s team and its allies have raced to roll back federal rules intended to protect federal lands and the nation’s air and water as well as other safety rules in agencies across the government. The changes were often made in direct response to requests from lobbyists and company executives who were major donors to Trump and frequent patrons at his hotels and resorts.

The final push on the mining and energy projects has come in part from senior Trump administration officials, including the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, a steel industry investor before joining Trump’s Cabinet.

Ross’ calendar shows at least three appointments with top executives at Rio Tinto, the Australia-based mining giant backing the Resolution Copper mine planned for construction in Arizona next to the San Carlos Apache reservation. Ross also made a trip to the mine site this year.

“This is a disaster,” said Wendsler Nosie Sr., a former San Carlos Apache tribal leader who in recent weeks has been camping out at the proposed mine site inside Tonto National Forest to protest the pending decision.

Backers of these projects say they are committed to minimizing the effect on public lands, sacred Native American sites and wildlife.

“Our science-based decisions are legally compliant and based on an extensive process involving input from career subject matter experts and the public,” said Richard Packer, an Interior Department spokesperson, adding that the agency “continues to balance safe and responsible natural resource development with conservation of important surface resources.”

The administration has been seeking to promote more mining of key minerals — including uranium, copper and lithium — to allow the United States to be less dependent on imports.

But the environmental consequences of these projects, if they move ahead as planned, will be considerable.

Last month, the EPA gave its final approval for the construction of a new uranium mine called the Dewey-Burdock project, spread over 12,613 acres near the Black Hills region of South Dakota.

The project would inject a chemical called lixiviant into more than 1,461 wells, sending the chemical into an underground water supply. The chemical would cause uranium trapped in sandstone below the surface to leach into the aquifer, contaminating the water but allowing the uranium to be captured, extracted and transformed into so-called yellow cake that can be used to fuel nuclear power plants.

Nationally, just 174,000 pounds of uranium was produced last year in the United States. The South Dakota project alone would have the potential to produce as much as 1 million pounds of uranium a year, although it is unclear whether there will ever be sufficient demand to justify production at that level, given that there is already excess capacity at uranium mines in the country.

The Oglala Lakota Nation, whose 2.8 million-acre reservation is adjacent to the proposed uranium mine, has sued to block the project. The mine would be built on property that the Sioux tribe has long claimed was illegally taken by the United States.

“The voice of Indigenous people needs to be heard — and federal Indian policy has made us invisible and dehumanized us,” said Kyle White, 34, a member of the Lakota tribe and former director of its natural resources regulatory agency.

A small piece of the project is on Interior Department land. The department has not yet approved the mine and will not act until after Trump leaves office, one of several ways that the Biden administration could slow or block the project.

Azarga Uranium, the Canada-based backer of the project, did not respond to a request for comment.

For the proposed Resolution Copper Mine, east of Phoenix in Tonto National Forest, adjacent to Apache tribal land, the Forest Service is expected to issue its long-awaited final environmental assessment by mid-January.

Sixty days after the assessment is released, a 2,422-acre chunk of the Tonto forest, an area called Oak Flat, will automatically be transferred to the mining companies in exchange for land nearby, a deal mandated by Congress in 2014.

The Interior Department’s National Register of Historic Places lists the Oak Flat area as “a holy place and ancestral homeland to the Western Apache Indians” that is also “a venue for ongoing Apache participation in traditional social activities, and is associated with traditions rooted in the history” of the tribe.

Under the current Forest Service plan, much of Oak Flat would eventually be destroyed. Starting about six years after underground blasting and extraction at the mine begins, the mine will gradually start to cave in on itself, forming a crater nearly 2 miles wide and as much as 1,100 feet deep, according to federal estimates.

The project would create 3,700 jobs and supply as much as 1 billion pounds of copper per year, one-quarter of the current annual demand in the United States.

“That was one of the major reasons why President Trump moved so aggressively to reduce the red tape involved in such projects,” Ross said in remarks during his visit to the site in October.

The companies running the project — Rio Tinto and BHP, also based in Australia — have promised to build a campsite outside the mine area to replace one traditionally used by Native Americans in the Oak Flat area. Rio Tinto said it was also working to ensure there was no damage to a nearby area called Apache Leap where, according to tribal legends, Native Americans being chased by U.S. Cavalry troops in the late-1800s jumped to their deaths.

But the ire of some members of the local San Carlos Apache Tribe toward Rio Tinto only intensified after the company admitted using dynamite to destroy a 46,000-year-old sacred Indigenous site in Australia as it expanded an iron ore mine.

A Forest Service employee working on the Arizona project acknowledged to community leaders in a recent conference call that pressure to get the evaluation of the project done quickly was “coming from the highest level,” mentioning the Agriculture Department, which oversees the service.

Federal records show that the environmental study until recently was expected to continue until the middle of 2021. It is now slated to be finished by mid-January. An agency spokesperson did not respond when asked to comment on claims that the process was being rushed. But Andrew Lye, project manager for Resolution Copper, said the review had actually taken longer than expected and been very thorough.

“It is not being fast-tracked, and Resolution Copper has not sought to apply for programs that are available to expedite projects,” Lye said.

Another mining project expecting imminent action by the Trump administration is in rural Nevada, where Canada-based Lithium Americas intends to build one of the world’s largest lithium mines on 5,500 acres of federal land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.

Lithium is a vital ingredient in myriad batteries, including for cellphones and electric cars, but almost none of it is produced in the United States.

The project was listed in July by the Interior Department as one that it intended to “fast-track,” and it planned to take the final step in early January, meaning construction of the mine could begin soon.

But the Bureau of Land Management’s own environmental assessment acknowledges that the project will cause harm, including to the habitat of a threatened bird species known as sage grouse. Local ranchers and other families have expressed concern in comments to the agency that the project could cut the available local water supply and create other environmental problems.

The push to approve some of the projects has involved sustained lobbying and legal efforts by hired consultants with close ties to the Trump administration.

Those include Rebecca Watson, who served as the top Interior Department official in charge of oil and gas leasing during the Bush administration, working at the time alongside David Bernhardt, who is now the interior secretary.

Watson worked with other industry players over several years to urge lawmakers and senior officials at the Interior Department to change rules to allow her clients, now including Colorado-based Twin Bridges, to extract helium for more than a decade from federal lands, including land Twin Bridges has leased in Utah.

Watson said in an interview that increasing the supply of helium was critical to the nation. “Helium has a lot of strange little uses that people are not even familiar with, but they’re really important,” she said.

With time running out on the Trump administration, senior Interior Department officials were so determined to see the permit approved that they took control of the project from the local Utah office. Final action is now expected as soon this coming week, two agency officials said, even though the agency itself again acknowledged that the project will harm the area. Environmentalists filed a lawsuit Dec. 14 to try to block it.

David Wallace, an executive at Twin Bridges, said the project could ultimately generate hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of royalty and tax payments to federal, state and local governments.

“We also love these lands and are committed to our project enhancing, and not detracting from, them,” he said in a statement.

Opponents of the projects are keeping up pressure to try to stop them. That includes Nosie, who is camping out most nights on the sacred Oak Flat that could soon be transferred to Rio Tinto.

“As far as I am concerned, this is an invasion by a foreign power,” Nosie said. “We cannot afford to lose our identity and our history. Imagine if the biblical Mount Sinai became a location for mining, and it caved in and disappeared. You would not stand by and watch.”

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is rushing to approve a final wave of large-scale mining and energy projects on federal lands, encouraged by investors who want to try to ensure the projects move ahead even after President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is rushing to approve a final wave of large-scale mining and energy projects on federal lands, encouraged by investors who want to try to ensure the projects move ahead even after President-elect Joe Biden takes office. In Arizona, the Forest Service is preparing to sign off on the transfer of federal forest land — considered sacred by a neighboring Native American tribe — to allow construction of one of the nation’s largest copper mines. In Utah, the Interior Department may grant final approval as soon as next week to a team of energy speculators targeting a remote spot inside an iconic national wilderness area — where new energy leasing is currently banned — so they can start drilling into what they believe is a huge underground supply of helium. In northern Nevada, the department is close to granting final approval to construct a sprawling open-pit lithium mine on federal land that sits above a prehistoric volcano site. And in the East, the Forest Service intends to take a key step next month toward allowing a natural gas pipeline to be built through Jefferson National Forest in Virginia and West Virginia, at one point running underneath the Appalachian Trail. These projects, and others awaiting action in the remaining weeks of the Trump administration, reflect the intense push by the Interior Department, which controls 480 million acres of public lands, and the Forest Service, which manages another 193 million acres, to find ways to increase domestic energy and mining production, even in the face of intense protests by environmentalists and other activists. When he takes office Jan. 20, Biden, who has chosen a Native American — Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M. — to lead the Interior Department, will still have the ability to reshape, slow or even block certain projects. Some, like a planned uranium mine in South Dakota, will require further approvals. Others, like the planned helium drilling project in Utah, face lawsuits seeking to stop them. Still others, like the lithium mine in Nevada, will have the final federal permit needed before construction can begin and will be hard for the next administration to stop. Whether they are the final word or not, the last-minute actions are just the latest evidence of how the far-reaching shift in regulatory policy under President Donald Trump has altered the balance between environmental concerns and business, giving substantial new weight to corporate interests. Trump chose former industry executives to run major federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, and industry executives and lobbyists who cycled in and out of government positions were granted substantial influence in setting regulations. For four years, Trump’s team and its allies have raced to roll back federal rules intended to protect federal lands and the nation’s air and water as well as other safety rules in agencies across the government. The changes were often made in direct response to requests from lobbyists and company executives who were major donors to Trump and frequent patrons at his hotels and resorts. The final push on the mining and energy projects has come in part from senior Trump administration officials, including the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, a steel industry investor before joining Trump’s Cabinet. Ross’ calendar shows at least three appointments with top executives at Rio Tinto, the Australia-based mining giant backing the Resolution Copper mine planned for construction in Arizona next to the San Carlos Apache reservation. Ross also made a trip to the mine site this year. “This is a disaster,” said Wendsler Nosie Sr., a former San Carlos Apache tribal leader who in recent weeks has been camping out at the proposed mine site inside Tonto National Forest to protest the pending decision. Backers of these projects say they are committed to minimizing the effect on public lands, sacred Native American sites and wildlife. “Our science-based decisions are legally compliant and based on an extensive process involving input from career subject matter experts and the public,” said Richard Packer, an Interior Department spokesperson, adding that the agency “continues to balance safe and responsible natural resource development with conservation of important surface resources.” The administration has been seeking to promote more mining of key minerals — including uranium, copper and lithium — to allow the United States to be less dependent on imports. But the environmental consequences of these projects, if they move ahead as planned, will be considerable. Last month, the EPA gave its final approval for the construction of a new uranium mine called the Dewey-Burdock project, spread over 12,613 acres near the Black Hills region of South Dakota. The project would inject a chemical called lixiviant into more than 1,461 wells, sending the chemical into an underground water supply. The chemical would cause uranium trapped in sandstone below the surface to leach into the aquifer, contaminating the water but allowing the uranium to be captured, extracted and transformed into so-called yellow cake that can be used to fuel nuclear power plants. Nationally, just 174,000 pounds of uranium was produced last year in the United States. The South Dakota project alone would have the potential to produce as much as 1 million pounds of uranium a year, although it is unclear whether there will ever be sufficient demand to justify production at that level, given that there is already excess capacity at uranium mines in the country. The Oglala Lakota Nation, whose 2.8 million-acre reservation is adjacent to the proposed uranium mine, has sued to block the project. The mine would be built on property that the Sioux tribe has long claimed was illegally taken by the United States. “The voice of Indigenous people needs to be heard — and federal Indian policy has made us invisible and dehumanized us,” said Kyle White, 34, a member of the Lakota tribe and former director of its natural resources regulatory agency. A small piece of the project is on Interior Department land. The department has not yet approved the mine and will not act until after Trump leaves office, one of several ways that the Biden administration could slow or block the project. Azarga Uranium, the Canada-based backer of the project, did not respond to a request for comment. For the proposed Resolution Copper Mine, east of Phoenix in Tonto National Forest, adjacent to Apache tribal land, the Forest Service is expected to issue its long-awaited final environmental assessment by mid-January. Sixty days after the assessment is released, a 2,422-acre chunk of the Tonto forest, an area called Oak Flat, will automatically be transferred to the mining companies in exchange for land nearby, a deal mandated by Congress in 2014. The Interior Department’s National Register of Historic Places lists the Oak Flat area as “a holy place and ancestral homeland to the Western Apache Indians” that is also “a venue for ongoing Apache participation in traditional social activities, and is associated with traditions rooted in the history” of the tribe. Under the current Forest Service plan, much of Oak Flat would eventually be destroyed. Starting about six years after underground blasting and extraction at the mine begins, the mine will gradually start to cave in on itself, forming a crater nearly 2 miles wide and as much as 1,100 feet deep, according to federal estimates. The project would create 3,700 jobs and supply as much as 1 billion pounds of copper per year, one-quarter of the current annual demand in the United States. “That was one of the major reasons why President Trump moved so aggressively to reduce the red tape involved in such projects,” Ross said in remarks during his visit to the site in October. The companies running the project — Rio Tinto and BHP, also based in Australia — have promised to build a campsite outside the mine area to replace one traditionally used by Native Americans in the Oak Flat area. Rio Tinto said it was also working to ensure there was no damage to a nearby area called Apache Leap where, according to tribal legends, Native Americans being chased by U.S. Cavalry troops in the late-1800s jumped to their deaths. But the ire of some members of the local San Carlos Apache Tribe toward Rio Tinto only intensified after the company admitted using dynamite to destroy a 46,000-year-old sacred Indigenous site in Australia as it expanded an iron ore mine. A Forest Service employee working on the Arizona project acknowledged to community leaders in a recent conference call that pressure to get the evaluation of the project done quickly was “coming from the highest level,” mentioning the Agriculture Department, which oversees the service. Federal records show that the environmental study until recently was expected to continue until the middle of 2021. It is now slated to be finished by mid-January. An agency spokesperson did not respond when asked to comment on claims that the process was being rushed. But Andrew Lye, project manager for Resolution Copper, said the review had actually taken longer than expected and been very thorough. “It is not being fast-tracked, and Resolution Copper has not sought to apply for programs that are available to expedite projects,” Lye said. Another mining project expecting imminent action by the Trump administration is in rural Nevada, where Canada-based Lithium Americas intends to build one of the world’s largest lithium mines on 5,500 acres of federal land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management. Lithium is a vital ingredient in myriad batteries, including for cellphones and electric cars, but almost none of it is produced in the United States. The project was listed in July by the Interior Department as one that it intended to “fast-track,” and it planned to take the final step in early January, meaning construction of the mine could begin soon. But the Bureau of Land Management’s own environmental assessment acknowledges that the project will cause harm, including to the habitat of a threatened bird species known as sage grouse. Local ranchers and other families have expressed concern in comments to the agency that the project could cut the available local water supply and create other environmental problems. The push to approve some of the projects has involved sustained lobbying and legal efforts by hired consultants with close ties to the Trump administration. Those include Rebecca Watson, who served as the top Interior Department official in charge of oil and gas leasing during the Bush administration, working at the time alongside David Bernhardt, who is now the interior secretary. Watson worked with other industry players over several years to urge lawmakers and senior officials at the Interior Department to change rules to allow her clients, now including Colorado-based Twin Bridges, to extract helium for more than a decade from federal lands, including land Twin Bridges has leased in Utah. Watson said in an interview that increasing the supply of helium was critical to the nation. “Helium has a lot of strange little uses that people are not even familiar with, but they’re really important,” she said. With time running out on the Trump administration, senior Interior Department officials were so determined to see the permit approved that they took control of the project from the local Utah office. Final action is now expected as soon this coming week, two agency officials said, even though the agency itself again acknowledged that the project will harm the area. Environmentalists filed a lawsuit Dec. 14 to try to block it. David Wallace, an executive at Twin Bridges, said the project could ultimately generate hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of royalty and tax payments to federal, state and local governments. “We also love these lands and are committed to our project enhancing, and not detracting from, them,” he said in a statement. Opponents of the projects are keeping up pressure to try to stop them. That includes Nosie, who is camping out most nights on the sacred Oak Flat that could soon be transferred to Rio Tinto. “As far as I am concerned, this is an invasion by a foreign power,” Nosie said. “We cannot afford to lose our identity and our history. Imagine if the biblical Mount Sinai became a location for mining, and it caved in and disappeared. You would not stand by and watch.”

In last rush, Trump grants mining and energy firms access to public lands

In yet another attack from US President Donald Trump's own party members, Republican Party Senator Mitt Romney said that Trump had a "blind spot" when it came to Russia. Romney also said that the recent cyber attack against the US Government was "extraordinarily damaging"

"We've come to recognize that the president has a blind spot when it comes to Russia," Romney said on NBC's "Meet the Press," one of a series of Sunday morning TV interviews.

US officials and researchers say they believe at least half-a-dozen U.S. government agencies have been infiltrated and thousands of companies infected with malware in what appears to be one of the biggest such hacks ever uncovered.

Trump acknowledged the hack on Saturday that is, almost a week after its report in Reuters. Trump downplayed the gravity of the attack and questioned whether Russians were to blame.

US Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on ABC that the cyberattack could be ongoing and that officials had not yet determined its full scope.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/twitter-is-now-declaring-biden-as-election-winner-on-trumps-own-tweets-about-fraud-351068">Twitter is now declaring Biden as election winner - on Trump's own tweets about fraud</a>

Both Warner and Romney said the United States must respond to the incident.

The team of President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, will consider several options to punish Russia over its suspected role once he takes office, from financial sanctions to cyberattacks on Russian infrastructure, people familiar with the matter say.

(With Reuters&nbsp;inputs)

In yet another attack from US President Donald Trump's own party members, Republican Party Senator Mitt Romney said that Trump had a "blind spot" when it came to Russia.

In yet another attack from US President Donald Trump's own party members, Republican Party Senator Mitt Romney said that Trump had a "blind spot" when it came to Russia. Romney also said that the recent cyber attack against the US Government was "extraordinarily damaging" "We've come to recognize that the president has a blind spot when it comes to Russia," Romney said on NBC's "Meet the Press," one of a series of Sunday morning TV interviews. US officials and researchers say they believe at least half-a-dozen U.S. government agencies have been infiltrated and thousands of companies infected with malware in what appears to be one of the biggest such hacks ever uncovered. Trump acknowledged the hack on Saturday that is, almost a week after its report in Reuters. Trump downplayed the gravity of the attack and questioned whether Russians were to blame. US Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on ABC that the cyberattack could be ongoing and that officials had not yet determined its full scope. Also Read | Twitter is now declaring Biden as election winner - on Trump's own tweets about fraud Both Warner and Romney said the United States must respond to the incident. The team of President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, will consider several options to punish Russia over its suspected role once he takes office, from financial sanctions to cyberattacks on Russian infrastructure, people familiar with the matter say. (With Reuters inputs)

Trump has a 'blind spot' when it comes to Russia: Mitt Romney

President Donald Trump has floated naming lawyer Sidney Powell as a special counsel investigating allegations of voter fraud. She notably was booted from his campaign's legal team after pushing unfounded conspiracy theories.

Notably (again), there is no evidence of the kind of mass voter fraud Trump has been alleging since he lost the November 3 election to Democrat Joe Biden.

According to the Associated Press, Trump on Friday went as far as discussing getting Powell security clearance.

Trump and Powell met in the Oval Office Friday night, ABC News has confirmed, and were joined by Trump's former national security advisor, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. The meeting was first reported by The New York Times.

"[Trump] could take military capabilities and he could place them in those states and basically rerun an election in each of those states," Flynn&nbsp;said earlier this week&nbsp;on the conservative news outlet Newsmax.

Under federal law, the US attorney general, not the president, is responsible for appointing special counsels.

Trump has increasingly entertained conspiracy theories regarding the November 3 vote -- and is duly egged on by allies like&nbsp;Flynn and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney.

Flynn, who Trump recently pardoned for lying to the FBI, has even discussed the idea of imposing martial law and using the military to re-run the election.

(with inputs)

President Donald Trump has floated naming lawyer Sidney Powell as a special counsel investigating allegations of voter fraud. She notably was booted from his campaign's legal team after pushing unfounded conspiracy theories.

President Donald Trump has floated naming lawyer Sidney Powell as a special counsel investigating allegations of voter fraud. She notably was booted from his campaign's legal team after pushing unfounded conspiracy theories. Notably (again), there is no evidence of the kind of mass voter fraud Trump has been alleging since he lost the November 3 election to Democrat Joe Biden. According to the Associated Press, Trump on Friday went as far as discussing getting Powell security clearance. Trump and Powell met in the Oval Office Friday night, ABC News has confirmed, and were joined by Trump's former national security advisor, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. The meeting was first reported by The New York Times. "[Trump] could take military capabilities and he could place them in those states and basically rerun an election in each of those states," Flynn said earlier this week on the conservative news outlet Newsmax. Under federal law, the US attorney general, not the president, is responsible for appointing special counsels. Trump has increasingly entertained conspiracy theories regarding the November 3 vote -- and is duly egged on by allies like Flynn and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney. Flynn, who Trump recently pardoned for lying to the FBI, has even discussed the idea of imposing martial law and using the military to re-run the election. (with inputs)

Trump floated fired attorney Sidney Powell as special counsel, reports say

Social media giants like Twitter and Facebook have been put under immense pressure to weed out fake news and misinformation, especially to set the stage for a peaceful transition of power from incumbent US President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/nationwide-march-in-support-of-donald-trumps-poll-claims-349459/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Trump has never been shy to show his disdain - on Twitter on in the real world. He has referred to the election results as rigged, without offering any evidence of the same.

Earlier, Twitter had begun labelling Trump’s tweets that contained “manipulated media” or carried unverified claims. Since then, Twitter has doubled down on its crackdown on fake news, especially coming from big leaders.

Now, the company fact-checked Trump once again. But this time, it went a step further.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/cyber-hack-under-control-says-trump-plays-down-russias-reported-role-351058" hreflang="en">Cyber hack 'under control', says Trump; plays down Russia's reported role</a>

In a tweet, Trump made more claims about election fraud. However, this time it came with a new label - “Election officials have certified Joe Biden as the winner of the U.S. Presidential election.”&nbsp;

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
....discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!). There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big, making it an even more corrupted embarrassment for the USA. <a href="https://twitter.com/DNI_Ratcliffe?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DNI_Ratcliffe</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SecPompeo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecPompeo</a>
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1340333619299147781?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

According to Twitter, this is a minute addition to its earlier labels, with the goal to provide latest information.&nbsp;

The previous label claimed the following - “Multiple sources called this election differently”.

But things are different now - The electoral college has voted and Biden is looking at the next four years in the White House, making all Trump’s claims misleading.

Facebook too, is doing the same, by labelling posts with a disclaimer.

As US officials investigate the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/explained-what-is-massive-cyberattack-in-us-all-about-350566">hacking</a>&nbsp;of various government departments, President Donald&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russia-link-as-trump-remains-mum-on-cyber-attack-us-authorities-scamper-to-investigate-350996">Trump</a>&nbsp;said: "everything is well under control".

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/russia-link-as-trump-remains-mum-on-cyber-attack-us-authorities-scamper-to-investigate-350996" hreflang="en">Russia link? As Trump remains mum on cyber attack, US authorities scamper to investigate</a>

The cyber hack is far greater in the fake news media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed," the US President asserted.

"Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be&nbsp;China&nbsp;(it may!)," he said.

Social media giants like Twitter and Facebook have been put under immense pressure to weed out fake news and misinformation, especially to set the stage for a peaceful transition of power from incumbent US President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden.

Social media giants like Twitter and Facebook have been put under immense pressure to weed out fake news and misinformation, especially to set the stage for a peaceful transition of power from incumbent US President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden. Trump has never been shy to show his disdain - on Twitter on in the real world. He has referred to the election results as rigged, without offering any evidence of the same. Earlier, Twitter had begun labelling Trump’s tweets that contained “manipulated media” or carried unverified claims. Since then, Twitter has doubled down on its crackdown on fake news, especially coming from big leaders. Now, the company fact-checked Trump once again. But this time, it went a step further. Also read: Cyber hack 'under control', says Trump; plays down Russia's reported role In a tweet, Trump made more claims about election fraud. However, this time it came with a new label - “Election officials have certified Joe Biden as the winner of the U.S. Presidential election.” ....discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!). There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big, making it an even more corrupted embarrassment for the USA. @DNI_Ratcliffe @SecPompeo — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2020 × According to Twitter, this is a minute addition to its earlier labels, with the goal to provide latest information. The previous label claimed the following - “Multiple sources called this election differently”. But things are different now - The electoral college has voted and Biden is looking at the next four years in the White House, making all Trump’s claims misleading. Facebook too, is doing the same, by labelling posts with a disclaimer. As US officials investigate the hacking of various government departments, President Donald Trump said: "everything is well under control". Also read: Russia link? As Trump remains mum on cyber attack, US authorities scamper to investigate The cyber hack is far greater in the fake news media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed," the US President asserted. "Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!)," he said.

Twitter is now declaring Biden as election winner - on Trump's own tweets about fraud

US President-elect Joe Biden has introduced key members of his environmental team -- tasked with fighting against global warming in what can be called a pillar of his drive to rebuild the pandemic-hit US economy.

Biden, a Democrat who will be inaugurated on January 20, has vowed to make tackling climate change a top priority. But with a slim majority in the House of Representatives and control of the Senate still undecided, his agenda may see little success in Congress and instead rely on rules from his regulatory agencies to enact sweeping change.

The nominees introduced Saturday include Representative Deb Haaland of New Mexico to&nbsp;be Interior Secretary -- the first Native American to hold a Cabinet position.

Biden said these nominees would lead his administration's ambitious plan&nbsp;to address an existential threat of our time -- climate change.

"Folks, we're in a crisis," Biden said at the event in Wilmington, Delaware. "Just like we need to be a unified nation to respond to Covid-19, we need a unified national response to climate change."

Biden said his administration would work to modernise water, transportation and energy infrastructure to make it better equipped to resist extreme weather conditions -- and create many jobs along the way.

Biden also said he wanted to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations and 1.5 million energy-efficient homes and public housing units.

The president-elect repeated he would rejoin the Paris climate accord, which outgoing president Donald Trump abandoned, and restore a slew of Obama-era environmental regulations.

Biden's team includes Gina McCarthy, Obama's Environmental Protection Agency administrator, to lead a new White House Office of Climate Policy.

He has also tapped Michael Regan, North Carolina's top environmental regulator, to run the Environmental Protection Agency and&nbsp;Brenda Mallory, an environmental attorney, to direct the Council on Environmental Quality.&nbsp;

Biden's Cabinet will feature six African Americans.

Michael Regan would become the first Black man to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) if confirmed by the Senate. Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm will be Biden's energy secretary if confirmed.

"Today's nominees are ready on day one, which is essential because we literally have no time to waste," Biden said.

Biden wants the United States to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which would require the world's second-largest emitter to transform its economy including transportation, power generation and farming.

US President-elect Joe Biden has introduced key members of his environmental team -- tasked with fighting against global warming in what can be called a pillar of his drive to rebuild the pandemic-hit US economy.

US President-elect Joe Biden has introduced key members of his environmental team -- tasked with fighting against global warming in what can be called a pillar of his drive to rebuild the pandemic-hit US economy. Biden, a Democrat who will be inaugurated on January 20, has vowed to make tackling climate change a top priority. But with a slim majority in the House of Representatives and control of the Senate still undecided, his agenda may see little success in Congress and instead rely on rules from his regulatory agencies to enact sweeping change. The nominees introduced Saturday include Representative Deb Haaland of New Mexico to be Interior Secretary -- the first Native American to hold a Cabinet position. Biden said these nominees would lead his administration's ambitious plan to address an existential threat of our time -- climate change. "Folks, we're in a crisis," Biden said at the event in Wilmington, Delaware. "Just like we need to be a unified nation to respond to Covid-19, we need a unified national response to climate change." Biden said his administration would work to modernise water, transportation and energy infrastructure to make it better equipped to resist extreme weather conditions -- and create many jobs along the way. Biden also said he wanted to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations and 1.5 million energy-efficient homes and public housing units. The president-elect repeated he would rejoin the Paris climate accord, which outgoing president Donald Trump abandoned, and restore a slew of Obama-era environmental regulations. Biden's team includes Gina McCarthy, Obama's Environmental Protection Agency administrator, to lead a new White House Office of Climate Policy. He has also tapped Michael Regan, North Carolina's top environmental regulator, to run the Environmental Protection Agency and Brenda Mallory, an environmental attorney, to direct the Council on Environmental Quality. Biden's Cabinet will feature six African Americans. Michael Regan would become the first Black man to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) if confirmed by the Senate. Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm will be Biden's energy secretary if confirmed. "Today's nominees are ready on day one, which is essential because we literally have no time to waste," Biden said. Biden wants the United States to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which would require the world's second-largest emitter to transform its economy including transportation, power generation and farming.

Biden unveils environment team tasked with tackling 'existential threat'

President-elect <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a> has not yet sworn in, but it seems that his job by no means will be easy.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic that has continued to rise at an alarming pace in the United States, the cyberattack has struck the nation.

Watch |&nbsp;

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And now satellite images show that Iran has begun building an underground nuclear facility.&nbsp;

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-begins-construction-at-underground-nuclear-facility-amid-us-tensions-350678">Iran begins construction at underground nuclear facility amid US tensions</a>

Images hovering over Fordo, the highly sensitive nuclear site in Iran, have picked up some clues.

They suggest that from August to November, there has been activity at the site.&nbsp;

In September, Iran started to increase Uranium enrichment at Fordo in a response to US President Donald Trump's decision to walk out of the nuclear deal.&nbsp;

An image from December 11 shows that the Iranian government has dug a foundation for a building with dozens of pillars.&nbsp;

<h2>Why is Iran constructing the facility now?</h2>

Iran knows its move will make its neighbours nervous.&nbsp;

It also wants to send a message that the Islamic Republic has the money, resources and talent to keep the nuclear program running.&nbsp;

It is also posturing to resume talks with the US once Biden takes charge and is telling the world that the killing of its top scientist has not hurt its program.&nbsp;

The assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was seen as a body blow to Iran's nuclear ambitions, but the country has ensured that its Uranium stockpile continues to grow in the wake of his death.&nbsp;

Tehran has also raised the budget of its nuclear research group by 256 per cent.&nbsp;

The satellite images come just before a foreign ministers' meet on Monday where plans for a joint US-Iran recommitment to the nuclear deal are up for discussion.&nbsp;

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says Tehran is ready to return to its commitments.&nbsp;

Biden has expressed his intent to re-enter the nuclear deal with Iran, but with some demands.&nbsp;

He reportedly wants to extend the duration of certain restrictions on materials used to make a nuclear bomb.&nbsp;

Tehran can also be asked to curb the activities of its proxies in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.&nbsp;

The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has endorsed the idea of a new deal.&nbsp;

The development suggests that the days of Trump's maximum pressure policy on Iran and over and the upcoming Biden administration seems keen to talk.

However, Tehran is hedging its bets and with the construction of his underground facility wants to gain some negotiating power before starting a dialogue.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

President-elect Joe Biden has not yet sworn in, but it seems that his job by no means will be easy. Amid the coronavirus pandemic that has continued to rise at an alarming pace in the United States, the cyberattack has struck the nation.

President-elect Joe Biden has not yet sworn in, but it seems that his job by no means will be easy. Amid the coronavirus pandemic that has continued to rise at an alarming pace in the United States, the cyberattack has struck the nation. Watch | And now satellite images show that Iran has begun building an underground nuclear facility. Also read | Iran begins construction at underground nuclear facility amid US tensions Images hovering over Fordo, the highly sensitive nuclear site in Iran, have picked up some clues. They suggest that from August to November, there has been activity at the site. In September, Iran started to increase Uranium enrichment at Fordo in a response to US President Donald Trump's decision to walk out of the nuclear deal. An image from December 11 shows that the Iranian government has dug a foundation for a building with dozens of pillars. Why is Iran constructing the facility now? Iran knows its move will make its neighbours nervous. It also wants to send a message that the Islamic Republic has the money, resources and talent to keep the nuclear program running. It is also posturing to resume talks with the US once Biden takes charge and is telling the world that the killing of its top scientist has not hurt its program. The assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was seen as a body blow to Iran's nuclear ambitions, but the country has ensured that its Uranium stockpile continues to grow in the wake of his death. Tehran has also raised the budget of its nuclear research group by 256 per cent. The satellite images come just before a foreign ministers' meet on Monday where plans for a joint US-Iran recommitment to the nuclear deal are up for discussion. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says Tehran is ready to return to its commitments. Biden has expressed his intent to re-enter the nuclear deal with Iran, but with some demands. He reportedly wants to extend the duration of certain restrictions on materials used to make a nuclear bomb. Tehran can also be asked to curb the activities of its proxies in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has endorsed the idea of a new deal. The development suggests that the days of Trump's maximum pressure policy on Iran and over and the upcoming Biden administration seems keen to talk. However, Tehran is hedging its bets and with the construction of his underground facility wants to gain some negotiating power before starting a dialogue.

What does underground construction of nuclear plant in Iran suggest?

President Donald Trump on Friday signed legislation that would kick Chinese companies off U.S. stock exchanges unless they adhere to American auditing standards, the White House said, giving the Republican one more tool to threaten Beijing with before leaving office next month.

"The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act" bars securities of foreign companies from being listed on any U.S. exchange if they have failed to comply with the U.S. Public Accounting Oversight Board`s audits for three years in a row.

While it applies to companies from any country, the legislation`s sponsors intended it to target Chinese companies listed in the United States, such as Alibaba&nbsp;, tech firm Pinduoduo Inc and oil giant PetroChina Co Ltd.

The legislation, like many others taking a harder line on Chinese businesses, had passed Congress by large margins earlier this year. Lawmakers - both Democrats and Trump`s fellow Republicans - echo the president`s hard line against Beijing, which became fiercer this year as Trump blamed China for the coronavirus ravaging the United States.

The act would also require public companies to disclose whether they are owned or controlled by a foreign government. 
Chinese officials have dismissed the measure as a discriminatory policy that politically oppresses Chinese firms.

Chinese authorities have long been reluctant to let overseas regulators inspect local accounting firms, citing national security concerns.

President Donald Trump on Friday signed legislation that would kick Chinese companies off U.S. stock exchanges unless they adhere to American auditing standards, the White House said, giving the Republican one more tool to threaten Beijing with before leaving office next month.

President Donald Trump on Friday signed legislation that would kick Chinese companies off U.S. stock exchanges unless they adhere to American auditing standards, the White House said, giving the Republican one more tool to threaten Beijing with before leaving office next month. "The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act" bars securities of foreign companies from being listed on any U.S. exchange if they have failed to comply with the U.S. Public Accounting Oversight Board`s audits for three years in a row. While it applies to companies from any country, the legislation`s sponsors intended it to target Chinese companies listed in the United States, such as Alibaba , tech firm Pinduoduo Inc and oil giant PetroChina Co Ltd. The legislation, like many others taking a harder line on Chinese businesses, had passed Congress by large margins earlier this year. Lawmakers - both Democrats and Trump`s fellow Republicans - echo the president`s hard line against Beijing, which became fiercer this year as Trump blamed China for the coronavirus ravaging the United States. The act would also require public companies to disclose whether they are owned or controlled by a foreign government. Chinese officials have dismissed the measure as a discriminatory policy that politically oppresses Chinese firms. Chinese authorities have long been reluctant to let overseas regulators inspect local accounting firms, citing national security concerns.

Trump signs bill that could kick Chinese firms off US stock exchanges

WASHINGTON — Elizabeth Graves, an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, is not opposed to vaccines. She said she had taken flu shots and pneumonia shots and, having just turned 50, was interested in being vaccinated against shingles.

But Graves, a legal transcriptionist in Starkville, Mississippi, said she would not be taking a coronavirus vaccine — and the sight of Vice President Mike Pence rolling up his sleeve to get vaccinated on live television Friday, she added, would not change her mind.

Lawrence Palmer, 51, a field service engineer in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, and Brandon Lofgren, 25, who works in his family’s trucking and construction business in rural Wisconsin, said they felt the same way. Both are fans of Trump, and they echoed Graves, who said that she was “suspicious” of government and that Pence’s vaccination “doesn’t mean a thing to me.”

It is a paradox of the pandemic: Helping speed the development of a coronavirus vaccine may be one of Trump’s proudest accomplishments, but at least in the early stages of the vaccine rollout, there is evidence that a substantial number of his supporters say they do not want to get it.

Until the past week, their objections were largely hypothetical. But with a second vaccine about to become available in the United States — the Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized emergency use of the vaccine developed by Moderna, a week after the version developed by Pfizer and BioNTech won the same approval — more people will confront the choice of getting inoculated or not. The authorization will clear the way for the shipment of 5.9 million doses over the weekend and tens of millions more in coming months, greatly expanding the reach of the vaccination campaign as the nation grapples with the uncontrolled spread of the disease.

For the most part, public opinion has been swinging in favor of vaccination. Seventy-one percent of Americans are willing to be vaccinated, up from 63 % in September, according to a survey released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Still, the survey found that Republicans were the most likely to be hesitant, with 42% saying they would probably not or definitely not be vaccinated, compared with 12% of Democrats.

Experts say that vaccine hesitancy may diminish over time if people see friends and relatives getting vaccinated without incident. Sheri Simms, 62, a retired businessperson in Northeast Texas who describes herself as a “moderate conservative” supporter of the president, said that while she did not intend to get vaccinated now, that could change.

“As more information comes out, and things appear to work better, then I will weigh the risks of the vaccine against the risk of the coronavirus and make a judgment,” she said.

The “anti-vaxxer movement” is not new, and it typically cuts across political parties. But the coronavirus vaccine, developed against the backdrop of a bitterly fought presidential election and championed by an especially polarizing figure in Trump, has become especially associated with partisanship.

During the campaign, while Trump was promising a vaccine by Election Day, some Democrats expressed concern about whether safety would be sacrificed in the rush to deliver a vaccine in time to help the president at the polls.

Political leaders in both parties worked on Friday to dispel concerns about the vaccine.

Pence, who took the Pfizer vaccine on Friday in a ceremony at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, was not the only prominent public official to get vaccinated. On Capitol Hill, congressional leaders including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, and Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, were also inoculated against COVID-19. President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, are to be vaccinated Monday.

In any other era, Pence’s vaccination, administered by a technician from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, in images beamed across the country, would have been a moment to bring the nation together. He took the shot in front of a giant blue poster declaring in white block letters: “SAFE and EFFECTIVE.”

His wife, Karen Pence, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams were also vaccinated.

“I didn’t feel a thing — well done,” the vice president said afterward, adding that he wanted to “assure the American people that while we cut red tape, we cut no corners.”

But Trump was notably absent. One reason for the partisan divide over vaccination, experts said, is the president himself. His repeated denigration of scientists and insistence that the pandemic is not a threat, they said, have contributed to a sense among his followers that the vaccine is either not safe or not worth taking.

(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.)

“I just don’t feel there’s been enough research on it. I think it was sped up too fast,” said Mark Davis, 42, a disabled worker in Michigan. “You don’t even really know the side effects, what’s in it.”

Lofgren agreed. “The jury’s out on whether it’s going to work,” he said, despite studies showing that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were more than 94% effective.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM.)

Experts say that “herd immunity” — the point at which so many people are immune that the spread of a virus is diminished — can be achieved when roughly 75% of the population is vaccinated. While the Trump administration is rolling out a public relations campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated, the reluctance among even a minority of Republicans is deeply troubling to public health experts.

Trump has been quick to claim credit for the manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine. “Distribution to start immediately,” he said Friday on Twitter, a day after an FDA expert advisory panel recommended approval of Moderna’s vaccine.

Although the president has recovered from COVID-19, he remains vulnerable to reinfection. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease scientist, has recommended that Trump be vaccinated. But he has given no indication that he will actually do so, and he has said little, if anything, to encourage Americans to get vaccinated.

“We need him taking a proactive role,” said Matthew Motta, a political scientist at Oklahoma State University who studies politics and vaccine views, adding, “The single best person to convince you to change your mind about something is somebody who agrees with you, somebody who you trust on other issues.”

(STORY CAN END HERE. OPTIONAL MATERIAL FOLLOWS.)

Trump’s flirtations with vaccine skepticism are well known. He repeated the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism as far back as 2007, when he said he had slowed his son Barron’s vaccination schedule, and as recently as 2015 while first running for president.

“Trump helped reenergize the anti-vaccine movement,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, an expert on vaccines, “and now he wants to pivot and make this his greatest accomplishment.”

Some conservative news media outlets are reinforcing the skepticism, tapping into suspicion of government by raising questions about whether officials are leveling with the public about the risks of the vaccines.

Tucker Carlson, a Fox News commentator, railed Thursday against the “corporate image campaign” promoting vaccination, suggesting incorrectly that isolated instances of allergic reactions to the vaccine were being censored.

In interviews, Trump supporters said they felt the pandemic had been blown out of proportion. Lofgren said several of his co-workers had recovered from COVID-19, “with really no more than just cold symptoms.” Palmer said that if he “had an issue with breathing or a heart issue or a lung issue,” he might consider it, but does not want to take a chance.

Conspiracy theories — including the notion that the virus was created by the Chinese and Democrats to hurt Trump politically, or the vaccine contains a microchip allowing the government to track people — cropped up in several conversations. Graves, who has diabetes, a risk factor for COVID-19, and has a master’s degree in library science, said such thoughts were creating doubts in the back of her mind.

“There’s no, quote, evidence that there’s a microchip or that there’s something nefarious about the whole thing,” she said. “But I have a gut check about all of it, and the government pushing it, and they’re finding all these popular people to take the vaccine. And it’s weird, like why are we pushing it so hard?”

WASHINGTON — Elizabeth Graves, an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, is not opposed to vaccines. She said she had taken flu shots and pneumonia shots and, having just turned 50, was interested in being vaccinated against shingles.

WASHINGTON — Elizabeth Graves, an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, is not opposed to vaccines. She said she had taken flu shots and pneumonia shots and, having just turned 50, was interested in being vaccinated against shingles. But Graves, a legal transcriptionist in Starkville, Mississippi, said she would not be taking a coronavirus vaccine — and the sight of Vice President Mike Pence rolling up his sleeve to get vaccinated on live television Friday, she added, would not change her mind. Lawrence Palmer, 51, a field service engineer in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, and Brandon Lofgren, 25, who works in his family’s trucking and construction business in rural Wisconsin, said they felt the same way. Both are fans of Trump, and they echoed Graves, who said that she was “suspicious” of government and that Pence’s vaccination “doesn’t mean a thing to me.” It is a paradox of the pandemic: Helping speed the development of a coronavirus vaccine may be one of Trump’s proudest accomplishments, but at least in the early stages of the vaccine rollout, there is evidence that a substantial number of his supporters say they do not want to get it. Until the past week, their objections were largely hypothetical. But with a second vaccine about to become available in the United States — the Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized emergency use of the vaccine developed by Moderna, a week after the version developed by Pfizer and BioNTech won the same approval — more people will confront the choice of getting inoculated or not. The authorization will clear the way for the shipment of 5.9 million doses over the weekend and tens of millions more in coming months, greatly expanding the reach of the vaccination campaign as the nation grapples with the uncontrolled spread of the disease. For the most part, public opinion has been swinging in favor of vaccination. Seventy-one percent of Americans are willing to be vaccinated, up from 63 % in September, according to a survey released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Still, the survey found that Republicans were the most likely to be hesitant, with 42% saying they would probably not or definitely not be vaccinated, compared with 12% of Democrats. Experts say that vaccine hesitancy may diminish over time if people see friends and relatives getting vaccinated without incident. Sheri Simms, 62, a retired businessperson in Northeast Texas who describes herself as a “moderate conservative” supporter of the president, said that while she did not intend to get vaccinated now, that could change. “As more information comes out, and things appear to work better, then I will weigh the risks of the vaccine against the risk of the coronavirus and make a judgment,” she said. The “anti-vaxxer movement” is not new, and it typically cuts across political parties. But the coronavirus vaccine, developed against the backdrop of a bitterly fought presidential election and championed by an especially polarizing figure in Trump, has become especially associated with partisanship. During the campaign, while Trump was promising a vaccine by Election Day, some Democrats expressed concern about whether safety would be sacrificed in the rush to deliver a vaccine in time to help the president at the polls. Political leaders in both parties worked on Friday to dispel concerns about the vaccine. Pence, who took the Pfizer vaccine on Friday in a ceremony at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, was not the only prominent public official to get vaccinated. On Capitol Hill, congressional leaders including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, and Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, were also inoculated against COVID-19. President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, are to be vaccinated Monday. In any other era, Pence’s vaccination, administered by a technician from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, in images beamed across the country, would have been a moment to bring the nation together. He took the shot in front of a giant blue poster declaring in white block letters: “SAFE and EFFECTIVE.” His wife, Karen Pence, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams were also vaccinated. “I didn’t feel a thing — well done,” the vice president said afterward, adding that he wanted to “assure the American people that while we cut red tape, we cut no corners.” But Trump was notably absent. One reason for the partisan divide over vaccination, experts said, is the president himself. His repeated denigration of scientists and insistence that the pandemic is not a threat, they said, have contributed to a sense among his followers that the vaccine is either not safe or not worth taking. (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.) “I just don’t feel there’s been enough research on it. I think it was sped up too fast,” said Mark Davis, 42, a disabled worker in Michigan. “You don’t even really know the side effects, what’s in it.” Lofgren agreed. “The jury’s out on whether it’s going to work,” he said, despite studies showing that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were more than 94% effective. (END OPTIONAL TRIM.) Experts say that “herd immunity” — the point at which so many people are immune that the spread of a virus is diminished — can be achieved when roughly 75% of the population is vaccinated. While the Trump administration is rolling out a public relations campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated, the reluctance among even a minority of Republicans is deeply troubling to public health experts. Trump has been quick to claim credit for the manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine. “Distribution to start immediately,” he said Friday on Twitter, a day after an FDA expert advisory panel recommended approval of Moderna’s vaccine. Although the president has recovered from COVID-19, he remains vulnerable to reinfection. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease scientist, has recommended that Trump be vaccinated. But he has given no indication that he will actually do so, and he has said little, if anything, to encourage Americans to get vaccinated. “We need him taking a proactive role,” said Matthew Motta, a political scientist at Oklahoma State University who studies politics and vaccine views, adding, “The single best person to convince you to change your mind about something is somebody who agrees with you, somebody who you trust on other issues.” (STORY CAN END HERE. OPTIONAL MATERIAL FOLLOWS.) Trump’s flirtations with vaccine skepticism are well known. He repeated the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism as far back as 2007, when he said he had slowed his son Barron’s vaccination schedule, and as recently as 2015 while first running for president. “Trump helped reenergize the anti-vaccine movement,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, an expert on vaccines, “and now he wants to pivot and make this his greatest accomplishment.” Some conservative news media outlets are reinforcing the skepticism, tapping into suspicion of government by raising questions about whether officials are leveling with the public about the risks of the vaccines. Tucker Carlson, a Fox News commentator, railed Thursday against the “corporate image campaign” promoting vaccination, suggesting incorrectly that isolated instances of allergic reactions to the vaccine were being censored. In interviews, Trump supporters said they felt the pandemic had been blown out of proportion. Lofgren said several of his co-workers had recovered from COVID-19, “with really no more than just cold symptoms.” Palmer said that if he “had an issue with breathing or a heart issue or a lung issue,” he might consider it, but does not want to take a chance. Conspiracy theories — including the notion that the virus was created by the Chinese and Democrats to hurt Trump politically, or the vaccine contains a microchip allowing the government to track people — cropped up in several conversations. Graves, who has diabetes, a risk factor for COVID-19, and has a master’s degree in library science, said such thoughts were creating doubts in the back of her mind. “There’s no, quote, evidence that there’s a microchip or that there’s something nefarious about the whole thing,” she said. “But I have a gut check about all of it, and the government pushing it, and they’re finding all these popular people to take the vaccine. And it’s weird, like why are we pushing it so hard?”

Trump claims credit for vaccines. Some of his backers don’t want to take them

US President-elect Joe Biden has expressed full confidence in his son Hunter after it was revealed last week that he was under a federal tax investigation.

"We have great confidence in our son," Biden said, sitting next to his wife Jill, in an interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," which aired Thursday on CBS.

"I am not concerned about any accusations that have been made against him. It used to get to me. I think it's kind of foul play but... as long as he's good, we're good," he said in his first full remarks on the issue since the tax probe became public.&nbsp;

During his unsuccessful re-election campaign, the outgoing president Donald Trump launched repeated attacks at Hunter and said the Bidens were a "corrupt" family and a "criminal enterprise."

Trump's allies have also regularly assailed Hunter for his business dealings in Ukraine and China.

From 2014 to 2019, while his father was vice president, Hunter, a lawyer and lobbyist, served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company.

Trump has also accused Biden of seeking the removal of Ukraine's top prosecutor to protect Burisma -- and his son -- from a corruption investigation.

Hunter, 50, now an artist based in Los Angeles, has admitted to displaying "poor judgment" in some of his business dealings, but denied any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, Biden had a sincere response when he was asked about Trump.

Colbert asked Biden if there was anything he could "sincerely" thank Trump for accomplishing during his time in the White House.

After a short pause, Biden responded: "There are some things... Getting the vaccine moving has been positive, but by and large, he has been a president who's decided that the way he succeeds is by dividing us."

Biden also said he believes by next Christmas, life in the US will be "awfully close" to normal, "if not there."

US President-elect Joe Biden has expressed full confidence in his son Hunter after it was revealed last week that he was under a federal tax investigation. "We have great confidence in our son," Biden said, sitting next to his wife Jill, in an interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," which aired Thursday on CBS.

US President-elect Joe Biden has expressed full confidence in his son Hunter after it was revealed last week that he was under a federal tax investigation. "We have great confidence in our son," Biden said, sitting next to his wife Jill, in an interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," which aired Thursday on CBS. "I am not concerned about any accusations that have been made against him. It used to get to me. I think it's kind of foul play but... as long as he's good, we're good," he said in his first full remarks on the issue since the tax probe became public. During his unsuccessful re-election campaign, the outgoing president Donald Trump launched repeated attacks at Hunter and said the Bidens were a "corrupt" family and a "criminal enterprise." Trump's allies have also regularly assailed Hunter for his business dealings in Ukraine and China. From 2014 to 2019, while his father was vice president, Hunter, a lawyer and lobbyist, served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company. Trump has also accused Biden of seeking the removal of Ukraine's top prosecutor to protect Burisma -- and his son -- from a corruption investigation. Hunter, 50, now an artist based in Los Angeles, has admitted to displaying "poor judgment" in some of his business dealings, but denied any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Biden had a sincere response when he was asked about Trump. Colbert asked Biden if there was anything he could "sincerely" thank Trump for accomplishing during his time in the White House. After a short pause, Biden responded: "There are some things... Getting the vaccine moving has been positive, but by and large, he has been a president who's decided that the way he succeeds is by dividing us." Biden also said he believes by next Christmas, life in the US will be "awfully close" to normal, "if not there."

Joe Biden backs son Hunter after US tax probe revealed

Hunkered down in what one former White House official called the "presidential man cave" of the Oval Office, President Donald Trump does not want to talk about what lies ahead once he leaves office next month.

Several people familiar with the situation say he knows his time is up even as he presses the fight against the election outcome, despite having failed in a series of court challenges to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election that made Democrat Joe Biden president-elect.

With Monday`s Electoral College vote certifying Biden`s win, White House staff members are looking for jobs and planning their post-administration futures. First lady Melania Trump has looked for a school in Florida, where the couple is expected to reside, for their son Barron, People magazine reported.

A source close to Trump says he does not want to talk about the future beyond his remaining days in office. Any suggestion that he begin laying the groundwork for another run for president in 2024 is shunted aside, at least for now.

"He wants no conversation about what he`s going to do when he leaves the building," the source said, asking for anonymity to speak candidly. "He`s convinced he`s leaving, but he compartmentalizes things. As long as he`s the president, he wants to be the president."

Although an extrovert through his four years in office, Trump has largely closed himself off from the public in recent weeks, communicating mostly through tweets. He has done little to show he is focused on governing other than speaking at an event to highlight the speed of coronavirus vaccine development.

He has not played a significant role in responding to the computer hack that targeted the U.S. government, one administration official said. "This is not his wheelhouse, and it also involves the Russians, which complicates things."

Trump confers with a coterie of advisers including Vice President Mike Pence and chief of staff Mark Meadows, who update him on vaccine distribution and stimulus talks under way in Congress.

NO CONCESSION

The president has brought in members of his campaign team for updates and to urge them to keep fighting. 
His refusal to concede the election is egged on by endless phone conversations with his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and what the former White House official called&nbsp;"a rag-tag collection of lawyers that has kept the torch lit."

Trump has declined to concede the election. He spends long days in and out of the Oval Office, sometimes not retiring to the residence until after 8 p.m., calling allies and aides to discuss strategy. He has spent weekends at his nearby golf property and done one trip to Georgia to campaign for Republican U.S. Senate candidates.

He frequently emphasizes to advisers that he got 74 million votes, 9 million more than Democrat Barack Obama did in his successful re-election bid in 2012. Biden`s 80 million, he tells them, points to fraud.

Trump is irked at his fellow Republican, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, for announcing on the U.S. Senate floor this week that he considered Biden the president-elect, two of the sources said.

The sources said Trump has been brushing off aides urging him not to carry out a threat to veto a massive defense bill, because he does not feel like he should reward McConnell for what he regards as bad behavior.

Trump opposes the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act because it does not repeal a law that gives big tech companies liability from lawsuits. Another source said Trump had been advised his veto would be overridden, though some in his circle still advised him to go through with it.

The White House declined to comment.

PARDON RUSH

Trump and his legal team have been preparing a number of potential pardons for him to carry out before leaving office, including for some close allies who may face legal jeopardy, one of the sources said.

Along Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, a cacophony of noise erupts daily from the construction of platforms for Biden`s Inauguration Day events on Jan. 20.

One source said it was hard to imagine Trump showing up for the inaugural ceremonies and sitting behind Biden, having derided his Democratic rival on the campaign trail as incompetent. Trump has declined to say whether he would take part in the long-standing custom of showing the world a peaceful transfer of power.

What comes next for Trump is a matter of speculation.

A source close to Trump said he has in the past toyed with the idea of announcing a 2024 run on Inauguration Day to divert attention from Biden. That person and another source said Trump is being advised to put off an announcement about running again, and instead simply tease the possibility, because being an official candidate would invite a level of scrutiny he might not want.

The former White House official noted that Trump`s musings about running again would only give Democrats fodder to investigate him in years to come.

Trump faces a range of civil and criminal legal actions related to his family’s businesses and his activities before he took office, which could accelerate once he loses the legal protections granted the occupant of the Oval Office.

“If you want to lessen the chances of there being congressional investigations into 2021 and 2022, the best thing he can do for himself would be to stop these trial balloons," the former official said.

Hunkered down in what one former White House official called the "presidential man cave" of the Oval Office, President Donald Trump does not want to talk about what lies ahead once he leaves office next month.

Hunkered down in what one former White House official called the "presidential man cave" of the Oval Office, President Donald Trump does not want to talk about what lies ahead once he leaves office next month. Several people familiar with the situation say he knows his time is up even as he presses the fight against the election outcome, despite having failed in a series of court challenges to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election that made Democrat Joe Biden president-elect. With Monday`s Electoral College vote certifying Biden`s win, White House staff members are looking for jobs and planning their post-administration futures. First lady Melania Trump has looked for a school in Florida, where the couple is expected to reside, for their son Barron, People magazine reported. A source close to Trump says he does not want to talk about the future beyond his remaining days in office. Any suggestion that he begin laying the groundwork for another run for president in 2024 is shunted aside, at least for now. "He wants no conversation about what he`s going to do when he leaves the building," the source said, asking for anonymity to speak candidly. "He`s convinced he`s leaving, but he compartmentalizes things. As long as he`s the president, he wants to be the president." Although an extrovert through his four years in office, Trump has largely closed himself off from the public in recent weeks, communicating mostly through tweets. He has done little to show he is focused on governing other than speaking at an event to highlight the speed of coronavirus vaccine development. He has not played a significant role in responding to the computer hack that targeted the U.S. government, one administration official said. "This is not his wheelhouse, and it also involves the Russians, which complicates things." Trump confers with a coterie of advisers including Vice President Mike Pence and chief of staff Mark Meadows, who update him on vaccine distribution and stimulus talks under way in Congress. NO CONCESSION The president has brought in members of his campaign team for updates and to urge them to keep fighting. His refusal to concede the election is egged on by endless phone conversations with his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and what the former White House official called "a rag-tag collection of lawyers that has kept the torch lit." Trump has declined to concede the election. He spends long days in and out of the Oval Office, sometimes not retiring to the residence until after 8 p.m., calling allies and aides to discuss strategy. He has spent weekends at his nearby golf property and done one trip to Georgia to campaign for Republican U.S. Senate candidates. He frequently emphasizes to advisers that he got 74 million votes, 9 million more than Democrat Barack Obama did in his successful re-election bid in 2012. Biden`s 80 million, he tells them, points to fraud. Trump is irked at his fellow Republican, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, for announcing on the U.S. Senate floor this week that he considered Biden the president-elect, two of the sources said. The sources said Trump has been brushing off aides urging him not to carry out a threat to veto a massive defense bill, because he does not feel like he should reward McConnell for what he regards as bad behavior. Trump opposes the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act because it does not repeal a law that gives big tech companies liability from lawsuits. Another source said Trump had been advised his veto would be overridden, though some in his circle still advised him to go through with it. The White House declined to comment. PARDON RUSH Trump and his legal team have been preparing a number of potential pardons for him to carry out before leaving office, including for some close allies who may face legal jeopardy, one of the sources said. Along Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, a cacophony of noise erupts daily from the construction of platforms for Biden`s Inauguration Day events on Jan. 20. One source said it was hard to imagine Trump showing up for the inaugural ceremonies and sitting behind Biden, having derided his Democratic rival on the campaign trail as incompetent. Trump has declined to say whether he would take part in the long-standing custom of showing the world a peaceful transfer of power. What comes next for Trump is a matter of speculation. A source close to Trump said he has in the past toyed with the idea of announcing a 2024 run on Inauguration Day to divert attention from Biden. That person and another source said Trump is being advised to put off an announcement about running again, and instead simply tease the possibility, because being an official candidate would invite a level of scrutiny he might not want. The former White House official noted that Trump`s musings about running again would only give Democrats fodder to investigate him in years to come. Trump faces a range of civil and criminal legal actions related to his family’s businesses and his activities before he took office, which could accelerate once he loses the legal protections granted the occupant of the Oval Office. “If you want to lessen the chances of there being congressional investigations into 2021 and 2022, the best thing he can do for himself would be to stop these trial balloons," the former official said.

Irritated by loss, Trump hunkers down at the White House and avoids talk of future

Today in History: Slavery abolished in US, Indian action to liberate Goa, and more

The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company's cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region.

Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along with French-headquartered Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland's Nokia, and Japan's NEC, for the $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources with direct knowledge of the project details said.

The project is designed to improve communications to the island nations of Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Kiribati.

Submarine Cables in the Pacific

Washington sent a diplomatic note to FSM in July expressing strategic concerns about the project as Huawei Marine and other Chinese firms are required to co-operate with Beijing's intelligence and security services, the sources said.

That note followed an earlier warning to Micronesia and development agencies from the Nauru government, a Pacific ally to Taiwan, which is viewed by China as a renegade province, about Huawei Marine's participation in the project, the sources said.

<img alt="F" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a9d60cbc-380b-4514-bcdd-2b3284174327" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/SUBMARINE-CABLES_0.jpg" />

The FSM government told Reuters in a statement it is talking to bilateral partners in the project, "some of whom have addressed a need to ensure that the cable does not compromise regional security by opening, or failing to close, cyber-security related gaps."

Under the Compact of Free Association, a decades-old agreement between the United States and its former Pacific trust territories, Washington is responsible for FSM's defence.

A spokeswoman for the Nauru government said bids were being examined and that stakeholders were addressing "technical and administrative&nbsp;issues" to ensure the project progresses, without elaborating.

The US&nbsp;State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs did not respond to requests for comment.

Following Reuters' report on the warnings about Huawei Marine on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the United States was smearing Chinese companies.

The third island nation involved in the project, Kiribati, views Huawei Marine's bid most favourably after last year severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favour of China, the sources said.

The Kiribati government did not respond to questions.

A World Bank spokesman said the tender was continuing and could not "provide specific comments on the process at this time." The ADB referred questions to the World Bank.

Undersea cables, which have far greater data capacity than satellites, have emerged as a sensitive area of diplomacy in the Pacific, given their central role in international communications.

While the project, called the East Micronesia Cable project, could be split up, Huawei Marine's bids in the procurement process are more than 20 per cent below rivals, according to the two sources.

This has created an impasse, the sources said, given on a pure cost basis Huawei Marine is in a strong position to win the bid due to the terms overseen by the development agencies.

Typically, the countries involved in the project establish the bid assessment committees. The development agencies review the committee's recommendations to ensure the selected bidder complies with the agencies' policies and procedures.

The project is further complicated by its planned connection to the HANTRU-1 undersea cable, which is primarily used by the US&nbsp;government and lands at Guam, a US&nbsp;territory with substantial military assets.

Security concerns

Although Huawei Marine is now majority owned by Shanghai-listed Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd, part of Hengtong Group, Washington continues to warn Pacific nations against using it to provide critical infrastructure.

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, a global telecom equipment maker, has been subjected to repeated rounds of US&nbsp;sanctions and allegations that its products could be used by Beijing for spying, a charge consistently denied by the Chinese company.

Huawei Marine and Hengtong did not respond to Reuters' questions. A representative for Huawei Tech's Pacific Island business said the cable project was not part of the business.

The U.S. Commerce Department publicly lists Huawei Marine on its so-called "Entity List" - known as a blacklist - which restricts the sale of U.S. goods and technology to the company. The Department did not immediately clarify whether the change in Huawei Marine's ownership would mitigate this status.

Huawei Tech. Investment Co retains a small stake in Huawei Marine, company filings show.

In 2018, Australia largely paid for an undersea internet cable system for its Pacific neighbours, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, shutting out rival plans from Huawei Marine, then majority-owned by Huawei Technologies.

Australia raised concerns at the time that the cable, with a landing point in Sydney, could pose a future security risk if it tapped into Australia's communications network.

The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company's cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region.

The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company's cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region. Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along with French-headquartered Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland's Nokia, and Japan's NEC, for the $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources with direct knowledge of the project details said. The project is designed to improve communications to the island nations of Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Kiribati. Submarine Cables in the Pacific Washington sent a diplomatic note to FSM in July expressing strategic concerns about the project as Huawei Marine and other Chinese firms are required to co-operate with Beijing's intelligence and security services, the sources said. That note followed an earlier warning to Micronesia and development agencies from the Nauru government, a Pacific ally to Taiwan, which is viewed by China as a renegade province, about Huawei Marine's participation in the project, the sources said. The FSM government told Reuters in a statement it is talking to bilateral partners in the project, "some of whom have addressed a need to ensure that the cable does not compromise regional security by opening, or failing to close, cyber-security related gaps." Under the Compact of Free Association, a decades-old agreement between the United States and its former Pacific trust territories, Washington is responsible for FSM's defence. A spokeswoman for the Nauru government said bids were being examined and that stakeholders were addressing "technical and administrative issues" to ensure the project progresses, without elaborating. The US State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs did not respond to requests for comment. Following Reuters' report on the warnings about Huawei Marine on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the United States was smearing Chinese companies. The third island nation involved in the project, Kiribati, views Huawei Marine's bid most favourably after last year severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favour of China, the sources said. The Kiribati government did not respond to questions. A World Bank spokesman said the tender was continuing and could not "provide specific comments on the process at this time." The ADB referred questions to the World Bank. Undersea cables, which have far greater data capacity than satellites, have emerged as a sensitive area of diplomacy in the Pacific, given their central role in international communications. While the project, called the East Micronesia Cable project, could be split up, Huawei Marine's bids in the procurement process are more than 20 per cent below rivals, according to the two sources. This has created an impasse, the sources said, given on a pure cost basis Huawei Marine is in a strong position to win the bid due to the terms overseen by the development agencies. Typically, the countries involved in the project establish the bid assessment committees. The development agencies review the committee's recommendations to ensure the selected bidder complies with the agencies' policies and procedures. The project is further complicated by its planned connection to the HANTRU-1 undersea cable, which is primarily used by the US government and lands at Guam, a US territory with substantial military assets. Security concerns Although Huawei Marine is now majority owned by Shanghai-listed Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd, part of Hengtong Group, Washington continues to warn Pacific nations against using it to provide critical infrastructure. Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, a global telecom equipment maker, has been subjected to repeated rounds of US sanctions and allegations that its products could be used by Beijing for spying, a charge consistently denied by the Chinese company. Huawei Marine and Hengtong did not respond to Reuters' questions. A representative for Huawei Tech's Pacific Island business said the cable project was not part of the business. The U.S. Commerce Department publicly lists Huawei Marine on its so-called "Entity List" - known as a blacklist - which restricts the sale of U.S. goods and technology to the company. The Department did not immediately clarify whether the change in Huawei Marine's ownership would mitigate this status. Huawei Tech. Investment Co retains a small stake in Huawei Marine, company filings show. In 2018, Australia largely paid for an undersea internet cable system for its Pacific neighbours, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, shutting out rival plans from Huawei Marine, then majority-owned by Huawei Technologies. Australia raised concerns at the time that the cable, with a landing point in Sydney, could pose a future security risk if it tapped into Australia's communications network.

US warns Pacific islands about Chinese bid for undersea cable project: Sources

The outgoing US President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> might not be allowed to shift back to his beloved&nbsp;Mar-a-Lago golf club in Palm Beach, Florida after he shifts out from the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/the-white-house">White House</a> in January.

His neighbours have reminded the Trump family they will not be able to shft back to the golf club according to an agreement signed between him and the town in&nbsp;1993.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/irritated-by-loss-trump-hunkers-down-at-the-white-house-and-avoids-talk-of-future-350655">Irritated by loss, Trump hunkers down at the White House and avoids talk of future</a>

As per the agreement, Mar-a-Lago cannot be taken over for personal use of a family as it&nbsp;"is a social club, and no one may reside on the property," the lawyer representing the family said in a letter sent to&nbsp;the town of Palm Beach and the US Secret Service .

"To avoid an embarrassing situation for everyone and to give the president time to make other living arrangements in the area, we trust you will work with his team to remind them of the use agreement parameters," wrote Reginald Stambaugh, the lawyer.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-faces-challenge-as-us-congress-drops-state-aid-to-secure-stimulus-350713" hreflang="en">Biden faces challenge as US Congress drops state aid to secure stimulus</a>

As per several local reports, it has been rumoured that Donald Trump is getting the&nbsp;Sunshine e club ready for his family to move-in. It has also been reported that the former First Lady Melania Trump has started looking schools in Florida best suited for her 14-year-old son Barron Trump.

The club was earlier a private residential estate of an American socialte&nbsp;Marjorie Merriweather Post. Trump bought the land in 1985 and decided to sign an agreement with the town in 1993, setting limitations on the days he can stay at the property in a year — which is&nbsp;three nonconsecutive weeks annually —&nbsp;and other regulations put forth to protect the property from being exploited for personal use.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/joe-biden-backs-son-hunter-after-us-tax-probe-revealed-350659" hreflang="en">Joe Biden backs son Hunter after US tax probe revealed</a>

Palm Beach lawyer has also offered Trump other estates available in the area. "Palm Beach has many lovely estates for sale," his&nbsp;letter read. "Surely he can find one which meets his needs."

The outgoing US President Donald Trump might not be allowed to shift back to his beloved Mar-a-Lago golf club in Palm Beach, Florida after he shifts out from the White House in January.

The outgoing US President Donald Trump might not be allowed to shift back to his beloved Mar-a-Lago golf club in Palm Beach, Florida after he shifts out from the White House in January. His neighbours have reminded the Trump family they will not be able to shft back to the golf club according to an agreement signed between him and the town in 1993. Also read| Irritated by loss, Trump hunkers down at the White House and avoids talk of future As per the agreement, Mar-a-Lago cannot be taken over for personal use of a family as it "is a social club, and no one may reside on the property," the lawyer representing the family said in a letter sent to the town of Palm Beach and the US Secret Service . "To avoid an embarrassing situation for everyone and to give the president time to make other living arrangements in the area, we trust you will work with his team to remind them of the use agreement parameters," wrote Reginald Stambaugh, the lawyer. Also read| Biden faces challenge as US Congress drops state aid to secure stimulus As per several local reports, it has been rumoured that Donald Trump is getting the Sunshine e club ready for his family to move-in. It has also been reported that the former First Lady Melania Trump has started looking schools in Florida best suited for her 14-year-old son Barron Trump. The club was earlier a private residential estate of an American socialte Marjorie Merriweather Post. Trump bought the land in 1985 and decided to sign an agreement with the town in 1993, setting limitations on the days he can stay at the property in a year — which is three nonconsecutive weeks annually — and other regulations put forth to protect the property from being exploited for personal use. Also read| Joe Biden backs son Hunter after US tax probe revealed Palm Beach lawyer has also offered Trump other estates available in the area. "Palm Beach has many lovely estates for sale," his letter read. "Surely he can find one which meets his needs."

Find another house: Mar-a-Lago neighbours warn Donald Trump

Members of Congress on Thursday hurled withering comments and furious questions at two members of the billionaire Sackler family that owns Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, seeking to use a rare public appearance to extract admissions of personal responsibility for the deadly opioid epidemic as well as details about $10 billion that records show the family withdrew from the company.

The hearing, before the House Oversight Committee, offered a highly unusual opportunity for the public to hear directly from some members of the family, whose company is a defendant in thousands of federal and state lawsuits for misleading marketing of OxyContin, the painkiller seen as initiating a wave of opioid addiction that has led to the deaths of more than 450,000 Americans. Eight members of the family have been individually named in many state cases.

The singularity of the Sacklers’ appearance on Thursday was underscored by the likelihood that they may never testify in open court, because the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings and nationwide litigation may resolve in settlements rather than trials. Despite millions of dollars in legal expenses racked up by plaintiffs and Purdue alike — and the company’s subsequent filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2019 — one obstacle to resolution persists: the refusal of the Sacklers to be held personally or criminally responsible and to turn over substantial portions of their fortune.

During the tense, nearly four-hour hearing, David Sackler, 40, and his cousin, Kathe Sackler, 72, who both served on the company’s board for years, testified remotely and largely sidestepped would-be booby traps and deflected blame to “management” and independent, nonfamily board members.

Or, as David Sackler said, “That’s a question for the lawyers.”

Repeatedly, the committee members pitted hard statistics about the destruction from the epidemic against images of the family’s concurrent gains, including a $22.5 million mansion in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, paid for in cash in 2018 — which David Sackler characterized as a trust investment in which he had not spent a single night.

Throughout the session, both Sacklers voiced regret for the role of OxyContin in the epidemic, but not for their own actions during the years that the company, with the board’s oversight and encouragement, aggressively promoted the painkiller.

Indeed Kathe Sackler cast herself as scrupulously concerned about the well-being of patients. “I thought Purdue was acting responsibly to reduce the incidence of abuse and overdose while still serving those in need of pain relief,” she said.

“I have tried to figure out, was there anything that I could have done differently? Knowing what I knew then — not what I know now?” said Kathe Sackler, who served on the board from 1990 to 2018. “There’s nothing that I can find that I would have done differently based on what I believed and understood then.”

She said that what she subsequently learned from management and reports to the board was “extremely distressing.”

David Sackler, who served on the board from 2012 to 2018, echoed a similar sensibility: “I believe I conducted myself legally and ethically and I believe the full record will demonstrate that I still feel absolutely terrible that a product created to help so many people” is associated with death and addiction, he said.

Deeply skeptical committee members asked the Sacklers whether, in fact, they subscribed to newspapers or had access to cable television.

Addressing the Sacklers, Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., said: “Watching you testify makes my blood boil. I’m not aware of any family in America that is more evil than yours.”

Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.V., asked David Sackler whether he had ever visited Appalachia to see the impact of the crisis firsthand.

“Yes,” he replied, though not with the express purpose of fact-finding.

“I visited with my wife for a vacation,” he said.

In the absence of direct admissions of responsibility by the Sacklers — or by Craig Landau, Purdue’s CEO since 2017, who also testified — committee members used their questions to highlight the most egregious actions over the years by the company and by David Sackler’s father, Richard Sackler, a hands-on executive during the cresting period of the epidemic.

In particular, they explored the actions that followed a 2007 federal fine of nearly $635 million that the company and three executives paid after pleading guilty to federal criminal charges of “misbranding.” The settlement included no admission of liability by any of the Sacklers.

The committee chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., asked David Sackler whether in 2008, after the company’s federal settlement, the family was concerned about state investigations. David Sackler denied knowing that investigations had been mounting.

But then Maloney read from an email exchange between David Sackler and other relatives in 2007, just a week after that settlement. Referring to courtroom activity, he wrote: “We’re rich? For how long? Until which suits get through to the family?”

She then asked David Sackler: “Were you trying to cash out profit so that opioid victims couldn’t claim them in future losses?”

He replied, “No, I don’t believe that’s what I meant then.”

The committee was able to elicit a commitment from the Sacklers to turn over a list of what Maloney characterized as “offshore shell companies.” According to court documents, between 2008 through 2017, the family withdrew approximately $10 billion from Purdue Pharma.

David Sackler said Thursday that the family had paid about half that amount in taxes.

Landau said that under his tenure, the company has halted its promotion of opioids and has turned its focus toward developing drugs that reverse overdoses.

Three generations of family members have overseen Purdue since the 1950s, when three brothers — including Raymond (David’s grandfather) and Mortimer (Kathe’s father) — founded it. (A third brother, Arthur Sackler, sold his shares long before OxyContin was introduced.) During the opioid epidemic, family members served as Purdue board members, and often took a vigorous hands-on approach in urging the sales department to swarm high-prescribing doctors and downplay the addictive properties of the medication, according to extensive court documents.

Last month, Purdue pleaded guilty to three felonies involving kickbacks and fraud related to promotion of its opioid and failure to report aberrant sales. The Justice Department settled with the company for $8.3 billion in criminal and civil penalties, and family members for $225 million in civil penalties. The Sacklers did not admit any wrongdoing. The amount they paid represents about 2% of the family’s net worth.

Maura Healey, attorney general for Massachusetts, the first state to name individual Sacklers in litigation, said that the Sacklers want “special treatment.” In a letter to the House committee, she wrote, “If we let powerful people cover up the facts, avoid accountability, or create a government-sponsored OxyContin business — that’s not justice. This time, we have to get it right.”

In 2019, congressman Elijah E. Cummings, the now-deceased committee chairman, initiated an investigation into the company and the family to examine whether their actions should lead to potential policy or legislative changes. In October, the committee released a trove of documents, underscoring how individual Sacklers urged the company to rev up sales. The committee sought to bring in numerous Sacklers to testify, which, through their lawyers, they refused to do, saying that the appearances would impede ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.

Committee lawyers threatened to issue subpoenas. After considerable wrangling, the Sacklers agreed to present two of the four family members originally requested.

Members of Congress on Thursday hurled withering comments and furious questions at two members of the billionaire Sackler family that owns Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, seeking to use a rare public appearance to extract admissions of personal responsibility for the deadly opioid epidemic as well as details about $10 billion that records show the family withdrew from the company.

Members of Congress on Thursday hurled withering comments and furious questions at two members of the billionaire Sackler family that owns Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, seeking to use a rare public appearance to extract admissions of personal responsibility for the deadly opioid epidemic as well as details about $10 billion that records show the family withdrew from the company. The hearing, before the House Oversight Committee, offered a highly unusual opportunity for the public to hear directly from some members of the family, whose company is a defendant in thousands of federal and state lawsuits for misleading marketing of OxyContin, the painkiller seen as initiating a wave of opioid addiction that has led to the deaths of more than 450,000 Americans. Eight members of the family have been individually named in many state cases. The singularity of the Sacklers’ appearance on Thursday was underscored by the likelihood that they may never testify in open court, because the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings and nationwide litigation may resolve in settlements rather than trials. Despite millions of dollars in legal expenses racked up by plaintiffs and Purdue alike — and the company’s subsequent filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2019 — one obstacle to resolution persists: the refusal of the Sacklers to be held personally or criminally responsible and to turn over substantial portions of their fortune. During the tense, nearly four-hour hearing, David Sackler, 40, and his cousin, Kathe Sackler, 72, who both served on the company’s board for years, testified remotely and largely sidestepped would-be booby traps and deflected blame to “management” and independent, nonfamily board members. Or, as David Sackler said, “That’s a question for the lawyers.” Repeatedly, the committee members pitted hard statistics about the destruction from the epidemic against images of the family’s concurrent gains, including a $22.5 million mansion in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, paid for in cash in 2018 — which David Sackler characterized as a trust investment in which he had not spent a single night. Throughout the session, both Sacklers voiced regret for the role of OxyContin in the epidemic, but not for their own actions during the years that the company, with the board’s oversight and encouragement, aggressively promoted the painkiller. Indeed Kathe Sackler cast herself as scrupulously concerned about the well-being of patients. “I thought Purdue was acting responsibly to reduce the incidence of abuse and overdose while still serving those in need of pain relief,” she said. “I have tried to figure out, was there anything that I could have done differently? Knowing what I knew then — not what I know now?” said Kathe Sackler, who served on the board from 1990 to 2018. “There’s nothing that I can find that I would have done differently based on what I believed and understood then.” She said that what she subsequently learned from management and reports to the board was “extremely distressing.” David Sackler, who served on the board from 2012 to 2018, echoed a similar sensibility: “I believe I conducted myself legally and ethically and I believe the full record will demonstrate that I still feel absolutely terrible that a product created to help so many people” is associated with death and addiction, he said. Deeply skeptical committee members asked the Sacklers whether, in fact, they subscribed to newspapers or had access to cable television. Addressing the Sacklers, Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., said: “Watching you testify makes my blood boil. I’m not aware of any family in America that is more evil than yours.” Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.V., asked David Sackler whether he had ever visited Appalachia to see the impact of the crisis firsthand. “Yes,” he replied, though not with the express purpose of fact-finding. “I visited with my wife for a vacation,” he said. In the absence of direct admissions of responsibility by the Sacklers — or by Craig Landau, Purdue’s CEO since 2017, who also testified — committee members used their questions to highlight the most egregious actions over the years by the company and by David Sackler’s father, Richard Sackler, a hands-on executive during the cresting period of the epidemic. In particular, they explored the actions that followed a 2007 federal fine of nearly $635 million that the company and three executives paid after pleading guilty to federal criminal charges of “misbranding.” The settlement included no admission of liability by any of the Sacklers. The committee chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., asked David Sackler whether in 2008, after the company’s federal settlement, the family was concerned about state investigations. David Sackler denied knowing that investigations had been mounting. But then Maloney read from an email exchange between David Sackler and other relatives in 2007, just a week after that settlement. Referring to courtroom activity, he wrote: “We’re rich? For how long? Until which suits get through to the family?” She then asked David Sackler: “Were you trying to cash out profit so that opioid victims couldn’t claim them in future losses?” He replied, “No, I don’t believe that’s what I meant then.” The committee was able to elicit a commitment from the Sacklers to turn over a list of what Maloney characterized as “offshore shell companies.” According to court documents, between 2008 through 2017, the family withdrew approximately $10 billion from Purdue Pharma. David Sackler said Thursday that the family had paid about half that amount in taxes. Landau said that under his tenure, the company has halted its promotion of opioids and has turned its focus toward developing drugs that reverse overdoses. Three generations of family members have overseen Purdue since the 1950s, when three brothers — including Raymond (David’s grandfather) and Mortimer (Kathe’s father) — founded it. (A third brother, Arthur Sackler, sold his shares long before OxyContin was introduced.) During the opioid epidemic, family members served as Purdue board members, and often took a vigorous hands-on approach in urging the sales department to swarm high-prescribing doctors and downplay the addictive properties of the medication, according to extensive court documents. Last month, Purdue pleaded guilty to three felonies involving kickbacks and fraud related to promotion of its opioid and failure to report aberrant sales. The Justice Department settled with the company for $8.3 billion in criminal and civil penalties, and family members for $225 million in civil penalties. The Sacklers did not admit any wrongdoing. The amount they paid represents about 2% of the family’s net worth. Maura Healey, attorney general for Massachusetts, the first state to name individual Sacklers in litigation, said that the Sacklers want “special treatment.” In a letter to the House committee, she wrote, “If we let powerful people cover up the facts, avoid accountability, or create a government-sponsored OxyContin business — that’s not justice. This time, we have to get it right.” In 2019, congressman Elijah E. Cummings, the now-deceased committee chairman, initiated an investigation into the company and the family to examine whether their actions should lead to potential policy or legislative changes. In October, the committee released a trove of documents, underscoring how individual Sacklers urged the company to rev up sales. The committee sought to bring in numerous Sacklers to testify, which, through their lawyers, they refused to do, saying that the appearances would impede ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Committee lawyers threatened to issue subpoenas. After considerable wrangling, the Sacklers agreed to present two of the four family members originally requested.

Sacklers deny personal responsibility for opioid epidemic in House hearing

Iran has begun construction at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the US over its atomic programme.

According to The Associated Press, Iran has so far not publically acknowledged any new construction at Fordo, whose discovery by the West in 2009 came in an earlier round of brinkmanship before world powers struck the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

Construction on the Fordo site began in late September. Satellite images obtained from Maxar Technologies by the AP show the construction taking place at a northwest corner of the site, near the holy Shiite city of Qom some 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Tehran.

The construction site sits northwest of Fordo's underground facility, built deep inside a mountain to protect it from potential airstrikes. The site is near other support and research-and-development buildings at Fordo.

Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran's nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Trump cited Iran's ballistic missile programme, its regional policies and other issues in withdrawing from the accord, though the deal focused entirely on Tehran's atomic ambitions.

When the US ramped up sanctions, Iran gradually and publically abandoned the deal's limits as a series of escalating incidents pushed the two countries to the brink of war at the beginning of the year.&nbsp;

Since the deal's collapse, Iran has resumed enrichment at Fordo.

Tensions still remain high.

The facility is shielded by the mountains, and is ringed by anti-aircraft guns and other fortifications.

Iran is already building at its Natanz nuclear facility after a mysterious explosion in July there that Tehran described as a sabotage attack. The purpose of the building at Fordo, however, remains unclear.

Iran has begun construction at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the US over its atomic programme. According to The Associated Press, Iran has so far not publically acknowledged any new construction at Fordo, whose discovery by the West in 2009 came in an earlier round of brinkmanship before world powers struck the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

Iran has begun construction at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the US over its atomic programme. According to The Associated Press, Iran has so far not publically acknowledged any new construction at Fordo, whose discovery by the West in 2009 came in an earlier round of brinkmanship before world powers struck the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. Construction on the Fordo site began in late September. Satellite images obtained from Maxar Technologies by the AP show the construction taking place at a northwest corner of the site, near the holy Shiite city of Qom some 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Tehran. The construction site sits northwest of Fordo's underground facility, built deep inside a mountain to protect it from potential airstrikes. The site is near other support and research-and-development buildings at Fordo. Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran's nuclear deal, in which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump cited Iran's ballistic missile programme, its regional policies and other issues in withdrawing from the accord, though the deal focused entirely on Tehran's atomic ambitions. When the US ramped up sanctions, Iran gradually and publically abandoned the deal's limits as a series of escalating incidents pushed the two countries to the brink of war at the beginning of the year. Since the deal's collapse, Iran has resumed enrichment at Fordo. Tensions still remain high. The facility is shielded by the mountains, and is ringed by anti-aircraft guns and other fortifications. Iran is already building at its Natanz nuclear facility after a mysterious explosion in July there that Tehran described as a sabotage attack. The purpose of the building at Fordo, however, remains unclear.

Iran begins construction at underground nuclear facility amid US tensions

Twitter Inc has reversed changes made to its retweet function intended to curb the spread of misinformation during the US presidential election.

It said it will no longer prompt quote tweets from the retweet icon. "Retweet functionality will be returning to the way it was before," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The microblogging site had in October made it difficult for users to retweet a tweet with misinformation and promoted the use of quote tweets, which included commentary from the user.

It had also imposed curbs including labelling and removal of tweets calling for people to interfere with the election process or implementation of results.

Quote tweets instead of retweets was intended to encourage thoughtful amplification, but that has not happened in practice, the company said.

"The use of Quote Tweets increased, but 45% of them included single-word affirmations and 70% had less than 25 characters," it said.

"The increase in Quote Tweets was also offset by an overall 20% decrease in sharing through both Retweets and Quote Tweets."

Facebook has also, in the past few days, rolled back their algorithm that lifted news from authoritative outlets over hyperpartisan sources after November's election, according to a report in the New York Times.

Twitter Inc has reversed changes made to its retweet function intended to curb the spread of misinformation during the US presidential election. It said it will no longer prompt quote tweets from the retweet icon.

Twitter Inc has reversed changes made to its retweet function intended to curb the spread of misinformation during the US presidential election. It said it will no longer prompt quote tweets from the retweet icon. "Retweet functionality will be returning to the way it was before," the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The microblogging site had in October made it difficult for users to retweet a tweet with misinformation and promoted the use of quote tweets, which included commentary from the user. It had also imposed curbs including labelling and removal of tweets calling for people to interfere with the election process or implementation of results. Quote tweets instead of retweets was intended to encourage thoughtful amplification, but that has not happened in practice, the company said. "The use of Quote Tweets increased, but 45% of them included single-word affirmations and 70% had less than 25 characters," it said. "The increase in Quote Tweets was also offset by an overall 20% decrease in sharing through both Retweets and Quote Tweets." Facebook has also, in the past few days, rolled back their algorithm that lifted news from authoritative outlets over hyperpartisan sources after November's election, according to a report in the New York Times.

Twitter switches back to old retweet function after US election

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had "NOTHING to do" with any potential prosecution of President-Elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I have NOTHING to do with the potential prosecution of Hunter Biden, or the Biden family. It is just more Fake News. Actually, I find it very sad to watch!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1339585047481917441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

Trump's tweet came just one day after Jeffrey Rosen, the incoming Acting Attorney General, declined to say in an interview with Reuters whether or not he would appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and his foreign business dealings.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-hunter-bidens-business-links-with-china-330056/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Trump, who leaves office on Jan. 20, has privately been mulling whether to pressure the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel for Hunter Biden, according to a person familiar with the matter.

According to a US Senate Committee report,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-elections-2020-trump-applauds-selfs-approach-towards-covid-calls-bidens-approach-anti-science-329852">Joe Biden's</a>&nbsp;son Hunter was paid $50,000 a month to serve as the board of Burisma which is a Ukrainian natural gas company with a corrupt owner while his father was the US vice president&nbsp;to Democratic President Barack Obama.

The report said the Treasury records accessed by Chairman Grassley and Chairman Johnson showed Hunter<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/us-election-2020-facebook-removes-fake-pages-created-in-china-targeting-trump-biden-329641">&nbsp;Biden&nbsp;</a>and his family including his associates were involved in "potential criminal activity relating to transactions with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals."

On December 9, Hunter Biden disclosed his tax affairs were under investigation by the US&nbsp;Attorney for the District of Delaware.

However,&nbsp;Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied Trump's allegations saying&nbsp;that Joe Biden's son, Hunter did ''made very good money in Ukraine'' but Moscow is not aware of anything criminal about his&nbsp;past business.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had "NOTHING to do" with any potential prosecution of President-Elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter. I have NOTHING to do with the potential prosecution of Hunter Biden, or the Biden family.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had "NOTHING to do" with any potential prosecution of President-Elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter. I have NOTHING to do with the potential prosecution of Hunter Biden, or the Biden family. It is just more Fake News. Actually, I find it very sad to watch! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 17, 2020 × Trump's tweet came just one day after Jeffrey Rosen, the incoming Acting Attorney General, declined to say in an interview with Reuters whether or not he would appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and his foreign business dealings. Trump, who leaves office on Jan. 20, has privately been mulling whether to pressure the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel for Hunter Biden, according to a person familiar with the matter. According to a US Senate Committee report, Joe Biden's son Hunter was paid $50,000 a month to serve as the board of Burisma which is a Ukrainian natural gas company with a corrupt owner while his father was the US vice president to Democratic President Barack Obama. The report said the Treasury records accessed by Chairman Grassley and Chairman Johnson showed Hunter Biden and his family including his associates were involved in "potential criminal activity relating to transactions with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals." On December 9, Hunter Biden disclosed his tax affairs were under investigation by the US Attorney for the District of Delaware. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied Trump's allegations saying that Joe Biden's son, Hunter did ''made very good money in Ukraine'' but Moscow is not aware of anything criminal about his past business.

Have nothing to do with potential prosecution of Hunter Biden: Donald Trump

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