When the top lawmakers who oversee the Defense Department met privately this week to discuss a year-end effort to pass the annual military policy bill, a Republican senator, James Inhofe, issued an ultimatum: If they wanted the measure to pass this year, they would need to kill its requirement to strip the names of Confederate leaders from military bases.

The provision had broad support from members of both parties and top military officials when it passed the House and the Senate this year, amid a national outcry for racial justice, including removing historical symbols of oppression. But it infuriated President Donald Trump, who threatened to veto it, and Inhofe, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, privately promised the president that he would scrap it before that became necessary.

Inhofe’s comments Monday night, which were described by two people familiar with the private discussion, previewed a looming fight over the issue that could snarl the entire defense bill in the waning days of the Trump administration. Lawmakers began formal negotiations on Wednesday to reconcile the two chambers’ versions of the legislation.

In the months preceding the election, Inhofe had publicly warned that the bill could not become law if it included the provision, given Trump’s opposition. His comments this week reflected how, even as his presidency winds down, Trump has continued to cast a cloud over the fate of critical legislation that authorizes pay raises for American troops — all because of an issue on which he has found himself almost entirely alone.

They also raised the prospect of a messy legislative showdown over whether to defend Confederate symbols. The defense bill passed both chambers with veto-proof majorities, but Congress has never been able to muster the votes to override any of Trump’s eight vetoes during his term.

Still, many Democrats are spoiling for a fight to keep the provision, and a number of Republicans have made it clear they want to preserve it as well.

“I don’t think we should back away from our values and what we stand for,” said Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md. and an Army veteran who wrote the House measure. “I don’t think we should turn a blind eye to what would be viewed by many as a perpetuation of a racist symbol in a name, simply because he threatens to veto the Defense Authorization Act.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California on Wednesday evening said retaining the provision in the final bill was vital.

“It is imperative that the conference report include provisions that secure this essential priority,” Pelosi said in a statement. “Our bases should reflect our highest ideals as Americans.”

The two top Democrats on the armed services panels, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the chairman on the House side, and Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking member in the Senate, are both institutionalists who have prided themselves on passing a bipartisan defense bill every year, even if it meant making compromises that disappointed their party’s base.

But Reed said in a brief interview that he believed Congress must pass the legislation with the removal of Confederate base names included — and force Trump to make a decision on a veto.

It is highly unusual for a provision that has been passed by both the House and the Senate to be jettisoned in final negotiations over the bill, and Reed said he did not think anyone, including Inhofe, would be able to “strip things out unilaterally.”

“I think we should pass the bill,” Reed said Tuesday. “Hopefully, the president will reconsider. It was a bipartisan effort. The committee passed it by a voice vote with very few objections. Then on the floor, the bill was passed with more than 80 votes and the House bill essentially has the equivalent language. It was a bipartisan effort in both houses, and has to be recognized and supported.”

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said the language reflected the clear will of the majority in Congress.

“If it passed both houses, leave it in,” Capito said. “I would say most Americans would agree with that.”

A congressional aide tracking the negotiations said there were a number of issues that lawmakers still needed to iron out. But the clash over the military bases looms largest, raising the prospect that the defense bill could be delayed for the first time in 60 years.

Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, fretted aloud about the possibility on Tuesday before a speech at the Heritage Foundation.

“It would be a shame for any of us to have a role in blowing it for No. 60,” Thornberry told reporters. “The question is, will the politics above us allow us to?”

The base-renaming language was crafted this summer amid nationwide protests against racism in policing, which fed calls across the country to tear down historical representations of racism. As part of their annual defense policy bills, the House and the Senate each adopted measures mandating that the Pentagon remove Confederate names from military assets.

Both versions received widespread bipartisan support. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, told The Wall Street Journal in July that he would not block the effort to rename the bases, and in an interview with a Louisville radio station, he said he did not “have any problem” with renaming the bases for “people who didn’t rebel against the country.” Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Trump’s senior military adviser, told lawmakers the same month that he supported taking “a hard look” at renaming efforts.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who wrote the House measure with Brown, said in a statement that “changing the names of these bases is right.”

“While I do not want this issue to imperil this must-pass legislation, my strong desire is that Congress and the White House show leadership on this issue,” Bacon said. “I’m not dogmatic on the process or the exact timing, but we need to fix this and stand on the right side of history.”

Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, who is a member of McConnell’s leadership team, said it was imperative that Congress enact the military policy measure.

“My preference is to move forward with a bipartisan compromise,” Young said. “We can’t not authorize our national defense programs.”

But Inhofe has always opposed the provision, arguing that the decision of whether to rename bases should be left up to local communities and states, rather than mandated by Congress. In July, Inhofe was overheard on speakerphone at a Washington restaurant assuring Trump that the provision would not make it into the final defense bill.

“We’re going to keep the name of Robert E. Lee?” Trump asked Inhofe.

Inhofe replied: “Just trust me. I’ll make it happen.”

Asked for details of the negotiations on Tuesday, Inhofe declined to discuss private conversations. A spokesman for Smith also declined to comment, citing an informal policy of keeping details of their negotiations private.

Several House Democrats, including those with military experience, have privately signaled that they would be willing to oppose the entire bill if it is removed.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. and his party’s former nominee for vice president, said there is “absolutely no way we’re backing down.”

“My belief is if we put this bill on the president’s desk, he’s not going to veto it,” Kaine said. “It’s a big bluff. We’re not backing down.”

When the top lawmakers who oversee the Defense Department met privately this week to discuss a year-end effort to pass the annual military policy bill, a Republican senator, James Inhofe, issued an ultimatum: If they wanted the measure to pass this year, they would need to kill its requirement to strip the names of Confederate leaders from military bases.

When the top lawmakers who oversee the Defense Department met privately this week to discuss a year-end effort to pass the annual military policy bill, a Republican senator, James Inhofe, issued an ultimatum: If they wanted the measure to pass this year, they would need to kill its requirement to strip the names of Confederate leaders from military bases. The provision had broad support from members of both parties and top military officials when it passed the House and the Senate this year, amid a national outcry for racial justice, including removing historical symbols of oppression. But it infuriated President Donald Trump, who threatened to veto it, and Inhofe, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, privately promised the president that he would scrap it before that became necessary. Inhofe’s comments Monday night, which were described by two people familiar with the private discussion, previewed a looming fight over the issue that could snarl the entire defense bill in the waning days of the Trump administration. Lawmakers began formal negotiations on Wednesday to reconcile the two chambers’ versions of the legislation. In the months preceding the election, Inhofe had publicly warned that the bill could not become law if it included the provision, given Trump’s opposition. His comments this week reflected how, even as his presidency winds down, Trump has continued to cast a cloud over the fate of critical legislation that authorizes pay raises for American troops — all because of an issue on which he has found himself almost entirely alone. They also raised the prospect of a messy legislative showdown over whether to defend Confederate symbols. The defense bill passed both chambers with veto-proof majorities, but Congress has never been able to muster the votes to override any of Trump’s eight vetoes during his term. Still, many Democrats are spoiling for a fight to keep the provision, and a number of Republicans have made it clear they want to preserve it as well. “I don’t think we should back away from our values and what we stand for,” said Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md. and an Army veteran who wrote the House measure. “I don’t think we should turn a blind eye to what would be viewed by many as a perpetuation of a racist symbol in a name, simply because he threatens to veto the Defense Authorization Act.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California on Wednesday evening said retaining the provision in the final bill was vital. “It is imperative that the conference report include provisions that secure this essential priority,” Pelosi said in a statement. “Our bases should reflect our highest ideals as Americans.” The two top Democrats on the armed services panels, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the chairman on the House side, and Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking member in the Senate, are both institutionalists who have prided themselves on passing a bipartisan defense bill every year, even if it meant making compromises that disappointed their party’s base. But Reed said in a brief interview that he believed Congress must pass the legislation with the removal of Confederate base names included — and force Trump to make a decision on a veto. It is highly unusual for a provision that has been passed by both the House and the Senate to be jettisoned in final negotiations over the bill, and Reed said he did not think anyone, including Inhofe, would be able to “strip things out unilaterally.” “I think we should pass the bill,” Reed said Tuesday. “Hopefully, the president will reconsider. It was a bipartisan effort. The committee passed it by a voice vote with very few objections. Then on the floor, the bill was passed with more than 80 votes and the House bill essentially has the equivalent language. It was a bipartisan effort in both houses, and has to be recognized and supported.” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said the language reflected the clear will of the majority in Congress. “If it passed both houses, leave it in,” Capito said. “I would say most Americans would agree with that.” A congressional aide tracking the negotiations said there were a number of issues that lawmakers still needed to iron out. But the clash over the military bases looms largest, raising the prospect that the defense bill could be delayed for the first time in 60 years. Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, fretted aloud about the possibility on Tuesday before a speech at the Heritage Foundation. “It would be a shame for any of us to have a role in blowing it for No. 60,” Thornberry told reporters. “The question is, will the politics above us allow us to?” The base-renaming language was crafted this summer amid nationwide protests against racism in policing, which fed calls across the country to tear down historical representations of racism. As part of their annual defense policy bills, the House and the Senate each adopted measures mandating that the Pentagon remove Confederate names from military assets. Both versions received widespread bipartisan support. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, told The Wall Street Journal in July that he would not block the effort to rename the bases, and in an interview with a Louisville radio station, he said he did not “have any problem” with renaming the bases for “people who didn’t rebel against the country.” Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Trump’s senior military adviser, told lawmakers the same month that he supported taking “a hard look” at renaming efforts. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who wrote the House measure with Brown, said in a statement that “changing the names of these bases is right.” “While I do not want this issue to imperil this must-pass legislation, my strong desire is that Congress and the White House show leadership on this issue,” Bacon said. “I’m not dogmatic on the process or the exact timing, but we need to fix this and stand on the right side of history.” Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, who is a member of McConnell’s leadership team, said it was imperative that Congress enact the military policy measure. “My preference is to move forward with a bipartisan compromise,” Young said. “We can’t not authorize our national defense programs.” But Inhofe has always opposed the provision, arguing that the decision of whether to rename bases should be left up to local communities and states, rather than mandated by Congress. In July, Inhofe was overheard on speakerphone at a Washington restaurant assuring Trump that the provision would not make it into the final defense bill. “We’re going to keep the name of Robert E. Lee?” Trump asked Inhofe. Inhofe replied: “Just trust me. I’ll make it happen.” Asked for details of the negotiations on Tuesday, Inhofe declined to discuss private conversations. A spokesman for Smith also declined to comment, citing an informal policy of keeping details of their negotiations private. Several House Democrats, including those with military experience, have privately signaled that they would be willing to oppose the entire bill if it is removed. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. and his party’s former nominee for vice president, said there is “absolutely no way we’re backing down.” “My belief is if we put this bill on the president’s desk, he’s not going to veto it,” Kaine said. “It’s a big bluff. We’re not backing down.”

Trump’s Confederate base veto threat imperils defense bill

The counties won by President-elect Joe Biden experienced worse job losses, on average, during the initial wave of pandemic layoffs than the counties where President Donald Trump was strongest in his bid for reelection.

After the worst of the downturn in April, many of the most affected red counties recovered far more swiftly than blue counties did. By September, as unemployment fell nearly everywhere, blue counties were more likely to have higher unemployment rates.

The economy is usually a big issue in election battles, and this election season saw both historically low levels of unemployment before the pandemic and later the worst rates of job loss since the Great Depression.

Trump’s supporters said consistently as the election approached that the health of the economy was important to them. In exit polls conducted by Edison Research, among those who said the economy mattered the most across a range of issues, 83% voted for Trump, compared with only 17% who supported Biden.

This gap in unemployment between Trump and Biden counties plays out on a state level as well and has persisted even after many people returned to work.

Research has shown that Democratic areas, which tend to be more urban and have higher concentrations of service jobs, were particularly devastated by the economic fallout early in the pandemic. Many of these blue-leaning areas, including Clark County, Nevada, home to Las Vegas, rely on tourism. Miami-Dade County, Florida, is another blue county where the disappearance of tourists damaged the economy.

In states such as Alabama and Mississippi, blue-leaning counties also have higher concentrations of Black residents — a group that has been disproportionately vulnerable to job loss and has lagged behind white workers during the economic crisis.

This pattern, however, does not hold true in every part of the country. The state with the highest county unemployment rates in April was Michigan, with 1 out of every 3 residents in some counties out of work. Several of the worst-hit counties in Michigan went on to vote for Trump.

The unemployment gap in Michigan was short-lived: By September, the average unemployment rate for blue counties was similar to the average for red ones.

According to Steven R. Miller, an economist at Michigan State University, unemployment levels in the state can be at least partly explained by underlying seasonal trends. Rural Cheboygan and Mackinac counties, which had the two highest unemployment rates in the country in April, rely heavily on outdoor recreation and tourism. Both had high unemployment rates before the virus outbreak during the offseason months of January and February, but as people spent time outdoors for pandemic-safe recreation over the summer they bounced back. “Over the summer what was surprising is that tourism and outdoor activities actually picked up,” Miller said. “These northern counties had somewhat of a positive economic offset.”

Both Cheboygan and Mackinac counties went to Trump by more than 20 percentage points.

Those summertime economic boosts, however, will not sustain many rural counties through the fall and winter. While the economy has been slowly adding back jobs since April, the current surge of cases spreading through the middle of the country could squeeze the economy, including in places that have so far escaped the worst job losses.

The counties won by President-elect Joe Biden experienced worse job losses, on average, during the initial wave of pandemic layoffs than the counties where President Donald Trump was strongest in his bid for reelection.

The counties won by President-elect Joe Biden experienced worse job losses, on average, during the initial wave of pandemic layoffs than the counties where President Donald Trump was strongest in his bid for reelection. After the worst of the downturn in April, many of the most affected red counties recovered far more swiftly than blue counties did. By September, as unemployment fell nearly everywhere, blue counties were more likely to have higher unemployment rates. The economy is usually a big issue in election battles, and this election season saw both historically low levels of unemployment before the pandemic and later the worst rates of job loss since the Great Depression. Trump’s supporters said consistently as the election approached that the health of the economy was important to them. In exit polls conducted by Edison Research, among those who said the economy mattered the most across a range of issues, 83% voted for Trump, compared with only 17% who supported Biden. This gap in unemployment between Trump and Biden counties plays out on a state level as well and has persisted even after many people returned to work. Research has shown that Democratic areas, which tend to be more urban and have higher concentrations of service jobs, were particularly devastated by the economic fallout early in the pandemic. Many of these blue-leaning areas, including Clark County, Nevada, home to Las Vegas, rely on tourism. Miami-Dade County, Florida, is another blue county where the disappearance of tourists damaged the economy. In states such as Alabama and Mississippi, blue-leaning counties also have higher concentrations of Black residents — a group that has been disproportionately vulnerable to job loss and has lagged behind white workers during the economic crisis. This pattern, however, does not hold true in every part of the country. The state with the highest county unemployment rates in April was Michigan, with 1 out of every 3 residents in some counties out of work. Several of the worst-hit counties in Michigan went on to vote for Trump. The unemployment gap in Michigan was short-lived: By September, the average unemployment rate for blue counties was similar to the average for red ones. According to Steven R. Miller, an economist at Michigan State University, unemployment levels in the state can be at least partly explained by underlying seasonal trends. Rural Cheboygan and Mackinac counties, which had the two highest unemployment rates in the country in April, rely heavily on outdoor recreation and tourism. Both had high unemployment rates before the virus outbreak during the offseason months of January and February, but as people spent time outdoors for pandemic-safe recreation over the summer they bounced back. “Over the summer what was surprising is that tourism and outdoor activities actually picked up,” Miller said. “These northern counties had somewhat of a positive economic offset.” Both Cheboygan and Mackinac counties went to Trump by more than 20 percentage points. Those summertime economic boosts, however, will not sustain many rural counties through the fall and winter. While the economy has been slowly adding back jobs since April, the current surge of cases spreading through the middle of the country could squeeze the economy, including in places that have so far escaped the worst job losses.

Counties that suffered higher unemployment voted for Biden

Hate crimes in the United States rose to their highest level in more than a decade last year, while more murders motivated by hate were recorded than ever before, the FBI said Monday.

The sharp rise in homicides driven by hatred — there were 51 last year, according to the FBI — was attributed in large part to the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, in August 2019. In that shooting, the authorities say a 21-year old gunman motivated by hatred toward Latinos stormed a Walmart and killed 23 people and injured many more.

The death toll in the El Paso attack more than doubled that of 2018’s deadliest hate-motivated crime, the mass shooting targeting Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Overall, the FBI collected data on 7,314 criminal incidents motivated by bias toward race or ethnicity or gender identity in 2019. It was the third straight year the metric surpassed 7,100 incidents, and it was the highest number since the FBI reported 7,783 incidents in 2008.

Experts say the FBI data likely undercounts the number of hate crimes in the U.S., both because many victims fail to report incidents and local agencies are not required to report hate crime data to the FBI.

For example, last year only 2,172 agencies reported hate crime data to the FBI, out of a total of more than 15,000 law enforcement agencies around the country, according to the FBI’s report. (Notable omissions from the data in recent years have included the death of a protester in 2017 during a rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.)

“It’s important to note that, because of the nature of hate crime reporting, the FBI’s annual report vastly understates the real level of hate crimes in the country,” the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, said Monday.

The SPLC noted that the rise in hate crimes in recent years has come as the number of white supremacy groups has surged. According to data collected by the center, the number of white nationalist groups grew 55% between 2017 and 2019.

The upswing in hate crimes last year underscored the upward trend in bias-motivated crimes during the Trump era, and the harsh rhetoric against Latino immigrants was seen as motivating the gunman in the El Paso shooting.

“Politics plays a role,” said Brian Levin, a professor at California State University, San Bernardino and the director of the university’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.

“The president’s rhetoric has been identified in a series of actual attacks,” Levin added, “but moreover the day-by-day ticks of FBI hate crimes shows there are increases after sustained and fervent remarks by the president that enter into an online feedback loop that also ends up in other discourses, both at the water cooler and on television.”

The overall increase was fueled by a rise in attacks, in particular, against Hispanics and Jews. The FBI reported 953 anti-Semitic hate crimes last year, a 14% increase from the previous year and the most since 2008, according to a report by CSUSB that analyzed the latest FBI report and was published Monday.

Hate crimes directed at Latinos rose almost 9%, to 527 incidents last year from 485 incidents in 2018. At the same time, hate crimes against Black people fell to the lowest portion of all hate crimes since such data started to be collected by the FBI, although Black people were still far overrepresented in the statistics, according to Levin’s report. Last year, hate crimes targeting Black people fell slightly, by less than 1%.

“Blacks are still the No. 1 target, at twice the level they represent in the American population,” the report said.

In examining preliminary data from 2020, Levin found overall declines in hate crimes, which he explained as a result of social distancing measures and business closures from the coronavirus pandemic, except in three cities: Los Angeles, Houston and San Antonio. And he has also found increases in bias crimes this year against two groups in particular, transgender people and Asian Americans; the latter, he said, was most likely affected by anti-Asian animus provoked by false claims about the pandemic.

Hate crimes in the United States rose to their highest level in more than a decade last year, while more murders motivated by hate were recorded than ever before, the FBI said Monday.

Hate crimes in the United States rose to their highest level in more than a decade last year, while more murders motivated by hate were recorded than ever before, the FBI said Monday. The sharp rise in homicides driven by hatred — there were 51 last year, according to the FBI — was attributed in large part to the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, in August 2019. In that shooting, the authorities say a 21-year old gunman motivated by hatred toward Latinos stormed a Walmart and killed 23 people and injured many more. The death toll in the El Paso attack more than doubled that of 2018’s deadliest hate-motivated crime, the mass shooting targeting Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Overall, the FBI collected data on 7,314 criminal incidents motivated by bias toward race or ethnicity or gender identity in 2019. It was the third straight year the metric surpassed 7,100 incidents, and it was the highest number since the FBI reported 7,783 incidents in 2008. Experts say the FBI data likely undercounts the number of hate crimes in the U.S., both because many victims fail to report incidents and local agencies are not required to report hate crime data to the FBI. For example, last year only 2,172 agencies reported hate crime data to the FBI, out of a total of more than 15,000 law enforcement agencies around the country, according to the FBI’s report. (Notable omissions from the data in recent years have included the death of a protester in 2017 during a rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.) “It’s important to note that, because of the nature of hate crime reporting, the FBI’s annual report vastly understates the real level of hate crimes in the country,” the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, said Monday. The SPLC noted that the rise in hate crimes in recent years has come as the number of white supremacy groups has surged. According to data collected by the center, the number of white nationalist groups grew 55% between 2017 and 2019. The upswing in hate crimes last year underscored the upward trend in bias-motivated crimes during the Trump era, and the harsh rhetoric against Latino immigrants was seen as motivating the gunman in the El Paso shooting. “Politics plays a role,” said Brian Levin, a professor at California State University, San Bernardino and the director of the university’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. “The president’s rhetoric has been identified in a series of actual attacks,” Levin added, “but moreover the day-by-day ticks of FBI hate crimes shows there are increases after sustained and fervent remarks by the president that enter into an online feedback loop that also ends up in other discourses, both at the water cooler and on television.” The overall increase was fueled by a rise in attacks, in particular, against Hispanics and Jews. The FBI reported 953 anti-Semitic hate crimes last year, a 14% increase from the previous year and the most since 2008, according to a report by CSUSB that analyzed the latest FBI report and was published Monday. Hate crimes directed at Latinos rose almost 9%, to 527 incidents last year from 485 incidents in 2018. At the same time, hate crimes against Black people fell to the lowest portion of all hate crimes since such data started to be collected by the FBI, although Black people were still far overrepresented in the statistics, according to Levin’s report. Last year, hate crimes targeting Black people fell slightly, by less than 1%. “Blacks are still the No. 1 target, at twice the level they represent in the American population,” the report said. In examining preliminary data from 2020, Levin found overall declines in hate crimes, which he explained as a result of social distancing measures and business closures from the coronavirus pandemic, except in three cities: Los Angeles, Houston and San Antonio. And he has also found increases in bias crimes this year against two groups in particular, transgender people and Asian Americans; the latter, he said, was most likely affected by anti-Asian animus provoked by false claims about the pandemic.

Hate crimes in US rose to highest level in more than a decade in 2019

President-elect Joe Biden will focus on shaping his core White House team on Tuesday while outgoing President Donald Trump presses on with his increasingly tenuous legal fight to reverse his loss in the US&nbsp;election. 
 
Biden`s senior campaign staff have been discussing their roles in the transition and the new administration that takes over Jan. 20. Several roles could be announced as soon as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. 
 
U.S. Representative Cedric Richmond, who was a national co-chair of Biden`s campaign and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, is expected to join the administration in a senior capacity, as is Steve Ricchetti, who has long been a close adviser to Biden, the person said. Richmond`s move would leave his Louisiana congressional seat open. 
 
Jen O`Malley Dillon, who was brought in early this year as Biden`s campaign manager and is the first woman to lead a winning Democratic presidential bid, is expected to be named a deputy chief of staff. 
 
Other roles could also be disclosed this week though Biden could still be weeks away from finalizing his slate of cabinet appointees. 
 
None of the potential appointees could be reached for comment. A spokesman for Biden`s transition team declined to comment. 
 
Biden, a Democrat, is also set to receive a briefing on national security threats from his own advisers. Trump, a Republican who has not conceded the Nov. 3 election, has blocked him from receiving classified intelligence briefings usually provided to the successor in a transition. 
 
General Services Administrator Emily Murphy has not recognized Biden as the "apparent winner." A spokeswoman for Murphy said the administrator was following precedent and would "make an ascertainment when the winner is clear." Critics say Murphy is holding off under pressure from the White House, a claim rejected by administration officials. 
 
The Republican Trump has remained angry and defiant on social media even as some prominent Republicans have asserted that Biden should be considered the president-elect. 
 
Trump`s national security adviser, Robert O`Brien, said on Monday he would ensure a professional transition in the likely event that Biden is deemed the winner. 
 
"If the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner, and obviously things look like that now, we`ll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council," O`Brien told the Global Security Forum. 
 
At a news conference on Monday, Biden again called upon Trump to cooperate with the transfer of power, saying that the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic meant lives were in the balance. 
 
"More people may die if we don`t coordinate," he said. 
 
CLEAR BIDEN VICTORY 
 
Though a definitive winner from the election did not emerge until four days later, Biden`s victory has become clearer as more votes have been counted. 
 
Biden won the legally meaningless but symbolically important national popular vote by at least 5.6 million votes, or 3.6 percentage points, with some ballots still being counted. 
 
In the all-important state-by-state Electoral College, Biden surpassed the 270 votes needed to win with 306 to Trump`s 232. 
 
As states work to certify those results before a Dec. 8 deadline, Trump and his supporters have claimed he was cheated by fraud, but so far those baseless allegations have failed to gain traction in court. 
 
One of Trump`s legal challenges will get a hearing on Tuesday in a Pennsylvania federal court, where another legal setback would likely doom his already long-shot prospects. 
 
U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann will hear arguments in a Trump campaign lawsuit that seeks to halt the state`s top election official from certifying Biden as the winner. 
 
In order to remain in office, Trump would need to overturn results in at least three of the closely contested states in unprecedented fashion, and has no apparent legal means to do so. 
 
Trump supporters are also clinging to hope that recounts could reverse state results, even though experts have said Biden`s margins appear insurmountable. 
 
Georgia is undertaking a manual recount on its own, but in Wisconsin the Trump campaign would have to pay for a recount in advance. The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Monday estimated such a recount would cost $7.9 million. 
 
Georgia`s top elections official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, told the Washington Post he has come under pressure from fellow Republicans who have launched false fraud allegations or questioned the legality of valid votes. 
 
He also said he and his wife have received death threats. 
 
"Other than getting you angry, it`s also very disillusioning, particularly when it comes from people on my side of the aisle," Raffensperger told the Post. "Everyone that is working on this needs to elevate their speech. We need to be thoughtful and careful about what we say."

President-elect Joe Biden will focus on shaping his core White House team on Tuesday while outgoing President Donald Trump presses on with his increasingly tenuous legal fight to reverse his loss in the US election.

President-elect Joe Biden will focus on shaping his core White House team on Tuesday while outgoing President Donald Trump presses on with his increasingly tenuous legal fight to reverse his loss in the US election. Biden`s senior campaign staff have been discussing their roles in the transition and the new administration that takes over Jan. 20. Several roles could be announced as soon as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. U.S. Representative Cedric Richmond, who was a national co-chair of Biden`s campaign and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, is expected to join the administration in a senior capacity, as is Steve Ricchetti, who has long been a close adviser to Biden, the person said. Richmond`s move would leave his Louisiana congressional seat open. Jen O`Malley Dillon, who was brought in early this year as Biden`s campaign manager and is the first woman to lead a winning Democratic presidential bid, is expected to be named a deputy chief of staff. Other roles could also be disclosed this week though Biden could still be weeks away from finalizing his slate of cabinet appointees. None of the potential appointees could be reached for comment. A spokesman for Biden`s transition team declined to comment. Biden, a Democrat, is also set to receive a briefing on national security threats from his own advisers. Trump, a Republican who has not conceded the Nov. 3 election, has blocked him from receiving classified intelligence briefings usually provided to the successor in a transition. General Services Administrator Emily Murphy has not recognized Biden as the "apparent winner." A spokeswoman for Murphy said the administrator was following precedent and would "make an ascertainment when the winner is clear." Critics say Murphy is holding off under pressure from the White House, a claim rejected by administration officials. The Republican Trump has remained angry and defiant on social media even as some prominent Republicans have asserted that Biden should be considered the president-elect. Trump`s national security adviser, Robert O`Brien, said on Monday he would ensure a professional transition in the likely event that Biden is deemed the winner. "If the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner, and obviously things look like that now, we`ll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council," O`Brien told the Global Security Forum. At a news conference on Monday, Biden again called upon Trump to cooperate with the transfer of power, saying that the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic meant lives were in the balance. "More people may die if we don`t coordinate," he said. CLEAR BIDEN VICTORY Though a definitive winner from the election did not emerge until four days later, Biden`s victory has become clearer as more votes have been counted. Biden won the legally meaningless but symbolically important national popular vote by at least 5.6 million votes, or 3.6 percentage points, with some ballots still being counted. In the all-important state-by-state Electoral College, Biden surpassed the 270 votes needed to win with 306 to Trump`s 232. As states work to certify those results before a Dec. 8 deadline, Trump and his supporters have claimed he was cheated by fraud, but so far those baseless allegations have failed to gain traction in court. One of Trump`s legal challenges will get a hearing on Tuesday in a Pennsylvania federal court, where another legal setback would likely doom his already long-shot prospects. U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann will hear arguments in a Trump campaign lawsuit that seeks to halt the state`s top election official from certifying Biden as the winner. In order to remain in office, Trump would need to overturn results in at least three of the closely contested states in unprecedented fashion, and has no apparent legal means to do so. Trump supporters are also clinging to hope that recounts could reverse state results, even though experts have said Biden`s margins appear insurmountable. Georgia is undertaking a manual recount on its own, but in Wisconsin the Trump campaign would have to pay for a recount in advance. The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Monday estimated such a recount would cost $7.9 million. Georgia`s top elections official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, told the Washington Post he has come under pressure from fellow Republicans who have launched false fraud allegations or questioned the legality of valid votes. He also said he and his wife have received death threats. "Other than getting you angry, it`s also very disillusioning, particularly when it comes from people on my side of the aisle," Raffensperger told the Post. "Everyone that is working on this needs to elevate their speech. We need to be thoughtful and careful about what we say."

Biden could name top staff as Trump tries to block transition

In the academic year of 2019-2020, Indian students contributed $7.6 billion to the United States economy. Even though the year witnessed a 4.4 per cent drop in the number of Indian students in the US, their contribution remained large.

India remains the second-largest source of international students in the US, after China.

For the same academic year, China continued its streak of the most international students in the country for the 16th year in a row!

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/technology/apple-puts-taiwanese-supplier-pegatron-on-probation-for-exploitation-of-students-342003" hreflang="en">Apple puts Taiwanese supplier Pegatron on probation for exploitation of students</a>

According to a report titled “Opens Doors 2020”, over 372,000 Chinese students were in the US in the academic year of 2019-2020.

The number of Indian students in the country during the academic year were 193,124, despite a drop of 4.4 per cent.

The report was released by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education.

For the fifth year in a row, the US hosted more than 1 million international students - 1,075,496 to be exact.

A slight decline of 1.8 per cent was witnessed in the number of students coming in.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/south-asia/beacon-of-hope-bangladesh-opens-first-school-for-transgender-students-341155" hreflang="en">'Beacon of hope': Bangladesh opens first school for transgender students</a>

Based on data from the US Department of Commerce, international students contributed $44 billion to the economy in 2019, including $7.69 billion from Indian students.

Many countries have seen an increase in their students travelling to the US for higher education. Bangladesh saw an increase of 7 per cent, Brazil of 4 per cent, and Nigeria of 3 per cent.

In the academic year of 2019-2020, Indian students contributed $7.6 billion to the United States economy. Even though the year witnessed a 4.4 per cent drop in the number of Indian students in the US, their contribution remained large.

In the academic year of 2019-2020, Indian students contributed $7.6 billion to the United States economy. Even though the year witnessed a 4.4 per cent drop in the number of Indian students in the US, their contribution remained large. India remains the second-largest source of international students in the US, after China. For the same academic year, China continued its streak of the most international students in the country for the 16th year in a row! Also read: Apple puts Taiwanese supplier Pegatron on probation for exploitation of students According to a report titled “Opens Doors 2020”, over 372,000 Chinese students were in the US in the academic year of 2019-2020. The number of Indian students in the country during the academic year were 193,124, despite a drop of 4.4 per cent. The report was released by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education. For the fifth year in a row, the US hosted more than 1 million international students - 1,075,496 to be exact. A slight decline of 1.8 per cent was witnessed in the number of students coming in. Also read: 'Beacon of hope': Bangladesh opens first school for transgender students Based on data from the US Department of Commerce, international students contributed $44 billion to the economy in 2019, including $7.69 billion from Indian students. Many countries have seen an increase in their students travelling to the US for higher education. Bangladesh saw an increase of 7 per cent, Brazil of 4 per cent, and Nigeria of 3 per cent.

Indian students contributed over $7 billion to US economy in 2019-20

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will face almost 100,000 claims of sexual abuse as former scouts submit filings against the bankruptcy-bound organisation.

Monday evening was the deadline to receive compensation from the organization, a lawyer for the victims told AFP. &nbsp;

Attorney Michael Pfau said that there had been "88,000 claims filed to date. It will probably be 100,000 by day's end."

The figure is in total contrast with the rough 11,000 -- complaints that were earlier believed to have been filed against the Catholic Church.

"We are devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in scouting and moved by the bravery of those who have come forward," the scouting organisation said in a statement.&nbsp;

"We intentionally developed an open, accessible process to reach survivors and help them take an essential step toward receiving compensation. The response we have seen from survivors has been gut wrenching. We are deeply sorry," the BSA added.

The group, founded in 1910, has 2.2 million members between the ages of five and 21.&nbsp;

Revelations of misconduct in US scouting circles came to widespread attention in 2012 when the Los Angeles Times published internal documents spelling out details of decades of sexual abuse.&nbsp;&nbsp;Some 5,000 "perversion files" were uncovered, identifying about as many alleged culprits among scout leadership, including scout masters and troop leaders.&nbsp;

Most incidents were never reported to authorities, and the BSA took it upon themselves to remove the accused offenders.

The BSA filed for bankruptcy in February in an effort to block settlement claims from hitting the organisation directly and instead funneled them to a compensation fund.&nbsp;The group, which is valued at more than $1 billion, has not said how much they intend to spend via this fund.

Negotiations will now begin between victims, the BSA and their insurers to determine the amounts to be paid.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will face almost 100,000 claims of sexual abuse as former scouts submit filings against the bankruptcy-bound organisation. Monday evening was the deadline to receive compensation from the organization, a lawyer for the victims told AFP.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will face almost 100,000 claims of sexual abuse as former scouts submit filings against the bankruptcy-bound organisation. Monday evening was the deadline to receive compensation from the organization, a lawyer for the victims told AFP. Attorney Michael Pfau said that there had been "88,000 claims filed to date. It will probably be 100,000 by day's end." The figure is in total contrast with the rough 11,000 -- complaints that were earlier believed to have been filed against the Catholic Church. "We are devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in scouting and moved by the bravery of those who have come forward," the scouting organisation said in a statement. "We intentionally developed an open, accessible process to reach survivors and help them take an essential step toward receiving compensation. The response we have seen from survivors has been gut wrenching. We are deeply sorry," the BSA added. The group, founded in 1910, has 2.2 million members between the ages of five and 21. Revelations of misconduct in US scouting circles came to widespread attention in 2012 when the Los Angeles Times published internal documents spelling out details of decades of sexual abuse. Some 5,000 "perversion files" were uncovered, identifying about as many alleged culprits among scout leadership, including scout masters and troop leaders. Most incidents were never reported to authorities, and the BSA took it upon themselves to remove the accused offenders. The BSA filed for bankruptcy in February in an effort to block settlement claims from hitting the organisation directly and instead funneled them to a compensation fund. The group, which is valued at more than $1 billion, has not said how much they intend to spend via this fund. Negotiations will now begin between victims, the BSA and their insurers to determine the amounts to be paid.

Almost 90,000 sex abuse claims filed against US Boy Scouts, legal team says

Like most federal agencies, the Education Department followed President Donald Trump’s lead in seeking to undo the legacy of his predecessor, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos diligently tore into President Barack Obama’s policies.

President-elect Joe Biden’s administration is planning to return the favor.

The contrasts in Trump-era education policy and the incoming Biden administration’s agenda are stark. DeVos, a lifelong booster of private schools and longtime opponent of teachers’ unions, set out to reduce the Education Department’s footprint by proposing cuts to public school funding and narrowing the department’s enforcement role of federal education laws and civil rights.

The incoming first lady, Jill Biden, is a community college professor and member of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union. The Biden administration has promised to drastically increase resources for public schools, expand its civil rights advocacy for marginalized students and reassert the department’s leadership in policymaking.

And on the most pressing issue facing education, reopening schools during the pandemic, the Biden administration has signaled a dramatically different approach.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/us-presidential-elections-reflections-of-an-outside-observer-342640">US Presidential Elections: Reflections of an outside observer</a> 
 
The Trump administration has demanded that schools reopen, despite severe budget constraints and confusing public health guidelines, while the Education Department has all but absolved itself of tracking the virus’s impact and offering solutions. The Biden campaign has promised deep federal involvement to help schools secure more relief funding and navigate the effects of the pandemic, which has devastated the academic trajectory of the most vulnerable students.

But the president-elect’s closeness with the powerful teachers’ unions has raised concerns. Unions have come under fire from parents and school leaders who say their opposition to in-person instruction conflicts with science and students’ well-being. DeVos has seized on the tension, posting a series of articles on Twitter that have questioned the unions’ roles.

“When unions win, kids lose,” she said this week.

With a likely Republican Senate and a narrow Democratic majority in the House, Biden will struggle to muster the support he needs in Congress to accomplish some of his loftiest policy goals. He has promised to bolster funding for special education, institute universal prekindergarten and triple funding for a federal program that helps schools serving high concentrations of students from low-income families, devoting some of that funding to increasing teacher salaries. In higher education, he has promised free public college, expanding the amount of federal financial aid grants for low-income students and canceling some student debt.

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Stef Feldman, the Biden campaign’s policy director, told reporters last month that the administration was “confident” Biden would “be able to get some big, bold education legislation passed and certainly immediate relief for our schools and our educators, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not also going to take executive action within existing authority.”

Those actions could come quickly.

Biden has promised to appoint a secretary with teaching experience and a deep knowledge of the challenges schools face and the students they serve.

In his victory speech Nov. 7, the president-elect referred to Jill Biden as he declared: “For America’s educators, this is a great day. You’re going to have one of your own in the White House.”

The Biden administration plans to restore Obama-era civil rights guidance — rescinded by DeVos — that offered transgender students the right to choose school bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, that addressed the disproportionate disciplining of Black students and that pressed for diversity in colleges and K-12 classrooms. The restoration of those guidance documents can be done immediately because they were not put through the regulatory process or enacted into law.

Undoing what is arguably DeVos’ most formidable accomplishment — how federally funded schools should investigate cases of sexual assault — could be tougher. The incoming administration has vowed to dismantle those rules. As vice president, Biden had personally helped introduce the Obama-era guidelines on campus sexual misconduct that DeVos reversed through a formal and protracted rule-making.

But unlike guidance documents, which do not carry the force of law, and other DeVos regulatory measures that have been overturned by courts, the sexual misconduct rules have already held up against legal challenges. The rules would have to be overturned through legislation or rewritten through the regulatory system, a process that could take years.

Biden’s team is also eyeing DeVos’ formal rules that significantly tightened Obama-era rules on loan forgiveness for students defrauded by their colleges and that eased oversight of for-profit colleges. Those rules could also require regulatory action if they survive continuing court challenges.

The administration is likely to prioritize the immense backlog of loan forgiveness claims that the Trump administration allowed to pile up, and the mass denials of assistance that the department has issued to students who claim they were cheated by their colleges, according to officials familiar with the plans. Among the thousands of students awaiting relief are those who attended Corinthian Colleges, a now defunct for-profit college chain that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris sued when she was the attorney general of California.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, but it will be nice to know there’s an education secretary who’s thinking about how to protect students from predatory schools instead of the other way around,” said Aaron Ament, president of the National Student Legal Defense Network, which has sued the department for its efforts to roll back Obama-era rules on loan forgiveness and consumer protection.

The team Biden has named to help the Education Department through the transition signaled the direction he intends to take.

Leading the team is Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the Palo Alto, California-based Learning Policy Institute, who also oversaw the education transition for Obama in 2008. Darling-Hammond, a veteran education researcher and policymaker in arenas like desegregation, school finance and teacher preparation, was considered a contender for Biden’s secretary of education, but took herself out of the running, saying she was committed to her work in California.

The transition team’s strong representation from former Obama-era officials and teachers unions has been met with mixed reactions.

In announcing the team, a transition official said its members had “deep backgrounds in key policy areas” with “a diversity of perspectives critical to addressing America’s most urgent and complex challenges.”

Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, which represents low-income parents and parents of color, said the composition of the team made her worried that the Biden administration might stack the government with people who are “interested in fortifying the status quo that has been failing so many of our kids.”

“This is the biggest table right now,” she said of the transition team, “and I don’t see parent groups, family groups, community groups present.” She added, “It seems we’re back to the same old, ‘We’re going to do things to you, not with you.’”

Unions were not seen as key players in Obama administration’s coalition — the National Education Association called for the resignation of Obama’s first education secretary, Arne Duncan — and have been at odds with centrist Democrats on some policy issues, such as charter schools, which are supported by many Black and Latino families. Biden this summer reshaped the Democratic platform to embrace a ban on federal funding for for-profit charters, and to call for cutting funding to underperforming charters run by nonprofit organizations.

“He’s coming in saying he wants to unify people, and it’ll be interesting to see whether that holds for education policy,” said Charles Barone, director of policy at Democrats for Education Reform. “If you really respect the role of people who got you elected, are you going to come in and attack the choices they make for their children?”

Teachers’ unions have curried favor by fighting DeVos at every turn, but Biden’s alliance with them has raised concerns.

“If it looks like the teachers unions are now calling the shots, and not the people schools are supposed to be serving, the pendulum will swing the other way,” said Neal McCluskey, director of the libertarian Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom.

Biden has echoed union concerns that the country needs to get the coronavirus under control to safely reopen schools, and that it will take a large infusion of cash to meet safety guidelines and the needs of students who have suffered academic and social setbacks.

“Schools, they need a lot of money to open,” Biden said during the last presidential debate, citing the need for better ventilation systems, smaller class sizes and more teachers.

While Trump has emphasized low infection rates among children, Biden has also stressed concerns for educators. During one of the debates, after Trump accused him of wanting to keep the country locked down, Biden mocked the president: “All you teachers out there, not that many of you are going to die, so don’t worry about it.”

Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said Biden’s approach to the reopening debate illustrated his understanding that “no school system budget has a line item that says, ‘coronavirus.’”

Pringle noted that Biden had always been a strong supporter of the labor movement and said she was proud that he had also “leaned in” to the association’s playbook. She said the president-elect was particularly excited by the union’s vision to “reclaim public education as a common good and transform it into something that it’s never been — which is a system that is racially and socially just and equitable.”

“He’ll take the slings and arrows for being ‘too close’ to us, and he’ll be able to say, ‘not only did they help me get elected, they help me lead in a bold way,’” she said.

Union leaders top speculative shortlists of contenders to be the next education secretary and will undoubtedly influence Biden’s choice. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lily Eskelsen García, a past president of the National Education Association, are among the names mentioned.

Other names include superintendents of districts like Baltimore and Seattle, and Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., a former National Teacher of the Year.

Weingarten said that she was honored by the mention, but that she would be “really happy to work with the Biden administration as the president of the AFT.”

“The Biden-Harris administration has the potential to enable a renaissance in public education,” she said.

Like most federal agencies, the Education Department followed President Donald Trump’s lead in seeking to undo the legacy of his predecessor, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos diligently tore into President Barack Obama’s policies.

Like most federal agencies, the Education Department followed President Donald Trump’s lead in seeking to undo the legacy of his predecessor, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos diligently tore into President Barack Obama’s policies. President-elect Joe Biden’s administration is planning to return the favor. The contrasts in Trump-era education policy and the incoming Biden administration’s agenda are stark. DeVos, a lifelong booster of private schools and longtime opponent of teachers’ unions, set out to reduce the Education Department’s footprint by proposing cuts to public school funding and narrowing the department’s enforcement role of federal education laws and civil rights. The incoming first lady, Jill Biden, is a community college professor and member of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union. The Biden administration has promised to drastically increase resources for public schools, expand its civil rights advocacy for marginalized students and reassert the department’s leadership in policymaking. And on the most pressing issue facing education, reopening schools during the pandemic, the Biden administration has signaled a dramatically different approach. Also Read | US Presidential Elections: Reflections of an outside observer The Trump administration has demanded that schools reopen, despite severe budget constraints and confusing public health guidelines, while the Education Department has all but absolved itself of tracking the virus’s impact and offering solutions. The Biden campaign has promised deep federal involvement to help schools secure more relief funding and navigate the effects of the pandemic, which has devastated the academic trajectory of the most vulnerable students. But the president-elect’s closeness with the powerful teachers’ unions has raised concerns. Unions have come under fire from parents and school leaders who say their opposition to in-person instruction conflicts with science and students’ well-being. DeVos has seized on the tension, posting a series of articles on Twitter that have questioned the unions’ roles. “When unions win, kids lose,” she said this week. With a likely Republican Senate and a narrow Democratic majority in the House, Biden will struggle to muster the support he needs in Congress to accomplish some of his loftiest policy goals. He has promised to bolster funding for special education, institute universal prekindergarten and triple funding for a federal program that helps schools serving high concentrations of students from low-income families, devoting some of that funding to increasing teacher salaries. In higher education, he has promised free public college, expanding the amount of federal financial aid grants for low-income students and canceling some student debt. × Stef Feldman, the Biden campaign’s policy director, told reporters last month that the administration was “confident” Biden would “be able to get some big, bold education legislation passed and certainly immediate relief for our schools and our educators, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not also going to take executive action within existing authority.” Those actions could come quickly. Biden has promised to appoint a secretary with teaching experience and a deep knowledge of the challenges schools face and the students they serve. In his victory speech Nov. 7, the president-elect referred to Jill Biden as he declared: “For America’s educators, this is a great day. You’re going to have one of your own in the White House.” The Biden administration plans to restore Obama-era civil rights guidance — rescinded by DeVos — that offered transgender students the right to choose school bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, that addressed the disproportionate disciplining of Black students and that pressed for diversity in colleges and K-12 classrooms. The restoration of those guidance documents can be done immediately because they were not put through the regulatory process or enacted into law. Undoing what is arguably DeVos’ most formidable accomplishment — how federally funded schools should investigate cases of sexual assault — could be tougher. The incoming administration has vowed to dismantle those rules. As vice president, Biden had personally helped introduce the Obama-era guidelines on campus sexual misconduct that DeVos reversed through a formal and protracted rule-making. But unlike guidance documents, which do not carry the force of law, and other DeVos regulatory measures that have been overturned by courts, the sexual misconduct rules have already held up against legal challenges. The rules would have to be overturned through legislation or rewritten through the regulatory system, a process that could take years. Biden’s team is also eyeing DeVos’ formal rules that significantly tightened Obama-era rules on loan forgiveness for students defrauded by their colleges and that eased oversight of for-profit colleges. Those rules could also require regulatory action if they survive continuing court challenges. The administration is likely to prioritize the immense backlog of loan forgiveness claims that the Trump administration allowed to pile up, and the mass denials of assistance that the department has issued to students who claim they were cheated by their colleges, according to officials familiar with the plans. Among the thousands of students awaiting relief are those who attended Corinthian Colleges, a now defunct for-profit college chain that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris sued when she was the attorney general of California. “There’s a lot of work to be done, but it will be nice to know there’s an education secretary who’s thinking about how to protect students from predatory schools instead of the other way around,” said Aaron Ament, president of the National Student Legal Defense Network, which has sued the department for its efforts to roll back Obama-era rules on loan forgiveness and consumer protection. The team Biden has named to help the Education Department through the transition signaled the direction he intends to take. Leading the team is Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the Palo Alto, California-based Learning Policy Institute, who also oversaw the education transition for Obama in 2008. Darling-Hammond, a veteran education researcher and policymaker in arenas like desegregation, school finance and teacher preparation, was considered a contender for Biden’s secretary of education, but took herself out of the running, saying she was committed to her work in California. The transition team’s strong representation from former Obama-era officials and teachers unions has been met with mixed reactions. In announcing the team, a transition official said its members had “deep backgrounds in key policy areas” with “a diversity of perspectives critical to addressing America’s most urgent and complex challenges.” Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, which represents low-income parents and parents of color, said the composition of the team made her worried that the Biden administration might stack the government with people who are “interested in fortifying the status quo that has been failing so many of our kids.” “This is the biggest table right now,” she said of the transition team, “and I don’t see parent groups, family groups, community groups present.” She added, “It seems we’re back to the same old, ‘We’re going to do things to you, not with you.’” Unions were not seen as key players in Obama administration’s coalition — the National Education Association called for the resignation of Obama’s first education secretary, Arne Duncan — and have been at odds with centrist Democrats on some policy issues, such as charter schools, which are supported by many Black and Latino families. Biden this summer reshaped the Democratic platform to embrace a ban on federal funding for for-profit charters, and to call for cutting funding to underperforming charters run by nonprofit organizations. “He’s coming in saying he wants to unify people, and it’ll be interesting to see whether that holds for education policy,” said Charles Barone, director of policy at Democrats for Education Reform. “If you really respect the role of people who got you elected, are you going to come in and attack the choices they make for their children?” Teachers’ unions have curried favor by fighting DeVos at every turn, but Biden’s alliance with them has raised concerns. “If it looks like the teachers unions are now calling the shots, and not the people schools are supposed to be serving, the pendulum will swing the other way,” said Neal McCluskey, director of the libertarian Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom. Biden has echoed union concerns that the country needs to get the coronavirus under control to safely reopen schools, and that it will take a large infusion of cash to meet safety guidelines and the needs of students who have suffered academic and social setbacks. “Schools, they need a lot of money to open,” Biden said during the last presidential debate, citing the need for better ventilation systems, smaller class sizes and more teachers. While Trump has emphasized low infection rates among children, Biden has also stressed concerns for educators. During one of the debates, after Trump accused him of wanting to keep the country locked down, Biden mocked the president: “All you teachers out there, not that many of you are going to die, so don’t worry about it.” Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said Biden’s approach to the reopening debate illustrated his understanding that “no school system budget has a line item that says, ‘coronavirus.’” Pringle noted that Biden had always been a strong supporter of the labor movement and said she was proud that he had also “leaned in” to the association’s playbook. She said the president-elect was particularly excited by the union’s vision to “reclaim public education as a common good and transform it into something that it’s never been — which is a system that is racially and socially just and equitable.” “He’ll take the slings and arrows for being ‘too close’ to us, and he’ll be able to say, ‘not only did they help me get elected, they help me lead in a bold way,’” she said. Union leaders top speculative shortlists of contenders to be the next education secretary and will undoubtedly influence Biden’s choice. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lily Eskelsen García, a past president of the National Education Association, are among the names mentioned. Other names include superintendents of districts like Baltimore and Seattle, and Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., a former National Teacher of the Year. Weingarten said that she was honored by the mention, but that she would be “really happy to work with the Biden administration as the president of the AFT.” “The Biden-Harris administration has the potential to enable a renaissance in public education,” she said.

Biden’s education department will move fast to reverse DeVos’ policies

On Diwali, the festival of lights, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson wished British Indians. In US, Biden solidified his lead on Donald Trump as he pocketed more electoral votes in US Election 2020. Russian peacekeepers have entered Nagorno-Karabkah while Armenian villagers are burning their houses as Azerbaijan takover looms. Catch this and more in top 10 world news below.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/in-april-vaccine-will-be-available-to-entire-population-except-new-york-says-trump-while-hitting-out-at-governor-cuomo-343180">Trump set to deny vaccine to New York over tiff with Governor Cuomo</a>

<img alt="Trump" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="38e2b9a4-c395-4ff0-8801-de4f5054bafd" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/trump_4.JPG" />

Governor Cuomo hit back saying it was "personal" with the president.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/in-diwali-message-uk-pm-boris-johnson-expresses-gratitude-for-british-indians-343174">In Diwali message, UK PM Boris Johnson expresses gratitude for British Indians</a>

<img alt="Diwali" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ba496fe6-38f7-41f1-9172-4959db000da3" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Boris%20Johnson.JPG" />

Johnson said that just as the festival symbolised victory of light over darkness, it will also serve as beacon that will light the path of mankind's victory over coronavirus pandemic

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-solidifies-us-victory-over-trump-306-232-electoral-votes-343094">Biden solidifies US victory over Trump, 306-232 electoral votes</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-solidifies-us-victory-over-trump-306-232-electoral-votes-343094"><img alt="Biden" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0f43f6ed-430b-4ea7-81bd-c2323433b212" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Biden_2.JPG" /></a> 
 
Edison Research, which made the call, also projected that North Carolina, the only other battleground state with an outstanding vote count, would go to Trump, finalizing the electoral vote tally at 306 for Biden to 232 for Trump.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russian-peacekeepers-enter-nagorno-karabakh-as-kremlin-seeks-un-presence-343168">Russian peacekeepers enter Nagorno-Karabakh as Kremlin seeks UN presence</a>

<img alt="Russia" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="8aacaae9-37fa-48cd-abf8-5c2da8e0547c" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Russia.JPG" />

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said his country would involve the United Nations for humanitarian purposes.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/armenian-villagers-burn-their-houses-just-ahead-of-azerbaijan-takeover-343178">Armenian villagers burn their houses just ahead of Azerbaijan takeover</a>

<img alt="Armenia" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3b731456-ef2d-4f81-a2d3-63f2fefac671" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/armenia_0.JPG" /> 
The territory will be handed over to Azerbaijan as part of the peace deal

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/tigrayan-rocket-attack-damaged-airport-areas-in-neighbouring-region-says-ethiopia-343166">Tigrayan rocket attack damaged 'airport areas' in neighbouring region, says Ethiopia</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/tigrayan-rocket-attack-damaged-airport-areas-in-neighbouring-region-says-ethiopia-343166"><img alt="Tigray" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="848ac9fc-ba5a-4896-9ff4-7fa0e767dd76" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/tigray.JPG" /></a> 
 
The conflict between Ethiopian federal forces and Tigray region has already spiralled into a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of civilians are fleeing to neighbouring Sudan which does not have adequate resources to take care of this population

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/report-says-al-qaedas-no-2-leader-was-killed-in-august-iran-refutes-claim-343091">Report says al Qaeda’s No 2 leader was killed in August; Iran refutes claim</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/report-says-al-qaedas-no-2-leader-was-killed-in-august-iran-refutes-claim-343091"><img alt="Qaeda" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6c080cb4-8b97-4d28-a240-67c856c022f0" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Al%20Qaeda.JPG" /></a> 
 
Abdullash was accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa.

 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-top-diplomat-mike-pompeo-lands-in-france-on-seven-nation-tour-343161">US top diplomat Mike Pompeo lands in France on seven-nation tour</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-top-diplomat-mike-pompeo-lands-in-france-on-seven-nation-tour-343161"><img alt="Pompeo" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="70d70a22-bb93-4527-b38c-8dc33be6c6db" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Pompeo.JPG" /></a> 
 
Notably, all nations on his schedule have congratulated Joe Biden for his victory in the recently-conducted US presidential race.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/scottish-govt-calls-for-probe-into-trumps-golf-investments-343107">Scottish govt calls for probe into Trump’s golf investments</a>

<img alt="Golf" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="75a5d813-5117-457d-9ee8-f6593c417b16" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/golf.JPG" />

The incumbent US president owns Trump International Golf Links Scotland in Aberdeenshire, northeast Scotland, and Turnberry, in southwest Ayrshire.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amid-surge-in-covid-19-cases-iran-to-tighten-restrictions-from-next-saturday-343176">Amid surge in COVID-19 cases, Iran to tighten restrictions from next Saturday</a>

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amid-surge-in-covid-19-cases-iran-to-tighten-restrictions-from-next-saturday-343176"><img alt="Iran" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="8d025010-3436-4a5e-b82b-1018f8fbfa5f" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Iran_0.JPG" /></a> 
 
President Hassan Rouhani had insisted that the country could not afford a shut down due to the US sanctions which has hit the country economically 
&nbsp;

On Diwali, the festival of lights, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson wished British Indians. In US, Biden solidified his lead on Donald Trump as he pocketed more electoral votes in US Election 2020.

On Diwali, the festival of lights, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson wished British Indians. In US, Biden solidified his lead on Donald Trump as he pocketed more electoral votes in US Election 2020. Russian peacekeepers have entered Nagorno-Karabkah while Armenian villagers are burning their houses as Azerbaijan takover looms. Catch this and more in top 10 world news below. Trump set to deny vaccine to New York over tiff with Governor Cuomo Governor Cuomo hit back saying it was "personal" with the president. In Diwali message, UK PM Boris Johnson expresses gratitude for British Indians Johnson said that just as the festival symbolised victory of light over darkness, it will also serve as beacon that will light the path of mankind's victory over coronavirus pandemic Biden solidifies US victory over Trump, 306-232 electoral votes Edison Research, which made the call, also projected that North Carolina, the only other battleground state with an outstanding vote count, would go to Trump, finalizing the electoral vote tally at 306 for Biden to 232 for Trump. Russian peacekeepers enter Nagorno-Karabakh as Kremlin seeks UN presence Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said his country would involve the United Nations for humanitarian purposes. Armenian villagers burn their houses just ahead of Azerbaijan takeover The territory will be handed over to Azerbaijan as part of the peace deal Tigrayan rocket attack damaged 'airport areas' in neighbouring region, says Ethiopia The conflict between Ethiopian federal forces and Tigray region has already spiralled into a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of civilians are fleeing to neighbouring Sudan which does not have adequate resources to take care of this population Report says al Qaeda’s No 2 leader was killed in August; Iran refutes claim Abdullash was accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa. US top diplomat Mike Pompeo lands in France on seven-nation tour Notably, all nations on his schedule have congratulated Joe Biden for his victory in the recently-conducted US presidential race. Scottish govt calls for probe into Trump’s golf investments The incumbent US president owns Trump International Golf Links Scotland in Aberdeenshire, northeast Scotland, and Turnberry, in southwest Ayrshire. Amid surge in COVID-19 cases, Iran to tighten restrictions from next Saturday President Hassan Rouhani had insisted that the country could not afford a shut down due to the US sanctions which has hit the country economically

Top 10 world news: UK PM says 'Happy Diwali', Trump denies vaccine to NY, more

United States "strongly urged" de-escalation of violence and end to the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region. The reaction came after reports of mass killing in a town. The mass killings were reported by Amnesty International. Tibor Nagy, the top US diplomat for Africa tweeted and made the appeal for calm.

"We condemn the massacre of civilians in Mai-Kadra and strongly urge immediate steps to de-escalate and end conflict throughout the Tigray region. It is essential that peace be restored and civilians be protected," he tweeted.

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We condemn the massacre of civilians in Mai-Kadra and strongly urge immediate steps to de-escalate and end conflict throughout the Tigray region. It is essential that peace be restored and civilians be protected.
— Tibor Nagy (@AsstSecStateAF) <a href="https://twitter.com/AsstSecStateAF/status/1327278066666770435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The conflict in Tigray has given rise to fears of a civil war in Ethiopia where federal forces are engaged in fighting with Tigray region of the country. The conflict has already become a humanitarian crisis as casualties are mounting and more than 14,000 people in Ethiopia have been displaced due to hostilities.&nbsp;

These people are fleeing to neighbouring Sudan where the government is not well equipped to take care of sudden influx of so many people. The conflict of Ethiopia with its own region is threatening to become a regional issue.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize, ordered military operations in Tigray last week, shocking the international community which fears the start of a long and bloody civil war.

Also Read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/ethiopia-casualties-mount-as-tigray-conflict-turns-into-humanitarian-crisis-343025">Ethiopia: Casualties mount as Tigray conflict turns into a humanitarian crisis</a>

On Friday (November 13, 2020) United Nations warned of possible war crimes in Tigray region.

UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet called for a full investigation into the report of mass killings in the town of Mai-Kadra, where Amnesty said it had "digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers".

"If confirmed as having been deliberately carried out by a party to the current fighting, these killings of civilians would of course amount to war crimes," she said in a statement.

Amnesty said it had not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings, however witnesses blamed forces backing the region's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

(With AFP inputs)

United States "strongly urged" de-escalation of violence and end to the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region. The reaction came after reports of mass killing in a town.

United States "strongly urged" de-escalation of violence and end to the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region. The reaction came after reports of mass killing in a town. The mass killings were reported by Amnesty International. Tibor Nagy, the top US diplomat for Africa tweeted and made the appeal for calm. "We condemn the massacre of civilians in Mai-Kadra and strongly urge immediate steps to de-escalate and end conflict throughout the Tigray region. It is essential that peace be restored and civilians be protected," he tweeted. We condemn the massacre of civilians in Mai-Kadra and strongly urge immediate steps to de-escalate and end conflict throughout the Tigray region. It is essential that peace be restored and civilians be protected. — Tibor Nagy (@AsstSecStateAF) November 13, 2020 × The conflict in Tigray has given rise to fears of a civil war in Ethiopia where federal forces are engaged in fighting with Tigray region of the country. The conflict has already become a humanitarian crisis as casualties are mounting and more than 14,000 people in Ethiopia have been displaced due to hostilities. These people are fleeing to neighbouring Sudan where the government is not well equipped to take care of sudden influx of so many people. The conflict of Ethiopia with its own region is threatening to become a regional issue. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize, ordered military operations in Tigray last week, shocking the international community which fears the start of a long and bloody civil war. Also Read | Ethiopia: Casualties mount as Tigray conflict turns into a humanitarian crisis On Friday (November 13, 2020) United Nations warned of possible war crimes in Tigray region. UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet called for a full investigation into the report of mass killings in the town of Mai-Kadra, where Amnesty said it had "digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers". "If confirmed as having been deliberately carried out by a party to the current fighting, these killings of civilians would of course amount to war crimes," she said in a statement. Amnesty said it had not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings, however witnesses blamed forces backing the region's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). (With AFP inputs)

Ethiopia: US urges immediate de-escalation of Tigray conflict

President-elect Joe Biden named Ron Klain, a veteran Democratic operative and a decadeslong confidant, to be his White House chief of staff Wednesday evening, the first step toward putting in place his administration’s senior leadership.

Klain, a lawyer with deep experience on Capitol Hill, advising President Barack Obama and in corporate board rooms, served as Biden’s chief of staff when he was vice president and has been seen for months as the likeliest choice to manage his team in the White House. Known for steady nerves, he also has a fierce wit, which he has frequently unleashed on President Donald Trump on Twitter.

He was particularly critical of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, having served as the “Ebola czar” under Obama during an outbreak of the deadly disease in his second term. A video of Klain lecturing Trump about the pandemic was widely seen during the campaign.

In a statement, Biden called Klain an “invaluable” adviser, noting in particular the work they did together during the economic crisis in 2009 and the Ebola outbreak in 2014.

“His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again,” Biden said.

The choice of Klain, 59, who first went to work for Biden in the late 1980s when Biden was a senator from Delaware and Klain was a recent graduate of Harvard Law School, signals that Biden intends to rely on a tight circle of Washington insiders who have been by his side for years.

Advisers have said that the president-elect will announce other top White House staff in the coming days, even as Trump refuses to accept the results of the election, tweeting “WE WILL WIN!” on Wednesday evening.

Biden is not likely to reveal his Cabinet picks until around Thanksgiving, several people close to the transition said.

As a political tactician, Klain is well versed in the levers of power in both the executive and legislative branches of government. But he will quickly come under pressure to assemble a White House staff that extends beyond the moderate members of the Democratic establishment with whom Biden has surrounded himself over four decades in politics.

Even before Biden’s announcement, liberals in the party had already begun demanding that progressives be given a significant voice in the West Wing. And the president-elect will also be pressed to fulfill his campaign pledge to make his administration “look like the country” by tapping people of color, LGBTQ Americans and other minorities to be part of the White House staff.

In a statement, Klain said he looked forward to assembling “a talented and diverse team to work in the White House as we tackle their ambitious agenda for change and seek to heal the divides in our country.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, one of Biden’s liberal rivals for the presidential nomination, praised Klain on Twitter, calling him “a superb choice” and saying that he “understands the magnitude of the health and economic crisis and he has the experience to lead this next administration through it.”

Biden made his choice of Klain even as Trump remained defiant in the face of political reality, refusing to concede defeat and insisting that the presidential election was stolen from him four days after news organizations projected that Biden had secured the electoral votes necessary to win.

Trump and his allies — including most Republicans on Capitol Hill — have falsely claimed that the election was tainted by fraudulently cast ballots and a conspiracy by Democrats, poll workers and the news media. The president’s lawyers have filed lawsuits in several states and his operatives are scouring for examples of fraud even as Democratic and Republican election officials in nearly all 50 states say the election was fair.

In the meantime, Biden is moving quickly to demonstrate that the president’s unprecedented behavior will not interfere with the transfer of power that will take place on Jan. 20.

Klain clerked for Justice Byron White at the Supreme Court in the late 1980s and has been a fixture by Biden’s side for much of the past 30 years, serving at one point as the chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Biden led.

Klain was Biden’s top legal adviser on the committee during the racially charged and sexually explicit collision with the Bush administration over the confirmation of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. Many of Biden’s allies saw his handling of the confirmation — managed in large part by Klain and his team of committee lawyers — as one of the stains on his record in the Senate.

Klain took a detour to serve as Al Gore’s chief of staff while he was vice president and later oversaw Gore’s unsuccessful recount effort in Florida (for which he was portrayed by Kevin Spacey in the HBO film “Recount”).

But Klain has always remained close to Biden. In 2009, he became the vice president’s chief of staff, reprising the role he had played a decade earlier for Gore.

Klain’s experience confronting the Ebola outbreak during the Obama administration was newly relevant this year as the coronavirus pandemic upended American life and became Biden’s central message during the presidential race.

The Biden campaign leaned on Klain’s expertise as it drew a contrast between the way Biden would approach the pandemic and the way Trump did. In March, the campaign released a video of Klain speaking in front of a white board comparing the two approaches that has been viewed more than 4 million times on Twitter. A sequel, again featuring Klain in front of a white board, was posted in July.

In the last few weeks of the campaign, Trump sought to use Klain’s own words against him with a video in which Klain appears to admit that the Obama administration “did every possible thing wrong” during an outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu virus. Fact checkers concluded that Klain was speaking only about the reliance on a single vaccine, and was taken out of context.

Klain has gone in and out of government over the past several decades, at times practicing as a lawyer and later working with Steve Case, the founder of AOL, in a venture capital investment firm called Revolution. His initial agreement with Case in 2005 included the right to take unpaid leave in September and October every four years to participate in presidential politics.

“He can process a lot of information, focus on the things that matter and balance a lot of balls,” Case said of Klain, calling him “unflappable” and pragmatic when it comes to confronting a challenge: “‘Here’s the problem or the opportunity. Let’s narrow in on what matters and get the right team in place.’”

Case dismissed concerns from some people that Klain was too much of a Washington insider for this moment in history, noting that as an Indiana native, Klain often goes home for the Indianapolis 500.

“He’s been in Washington a long time,” Case said. But he added, “He’s an Indiana guy.”

Over his years mingling among the nation’s top Democratic politicians, Klain has become a specialist in helping presidents win confirmation battles in the Senate. During Obama’s first term, he played a central role in helping win confirmation of Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.

He also developed a reputation as the Democratic Party’s expert on debate preparation, coaching virtually all of the party’s presidential and vice-presidential nominees during the past two decades. He made little secret of his frustration with sitting presidents — including Obama — complaining that they too often refused to prepare.

A memo for his clients that Klain prepared years ago has become memorialized as the party’s best advice for its candidates. Among the 21 rules that he outlined: No. 10, “Punches are good, counterpunches are better”; No. 13, which says that a candidate can lose a debate at any time but that “you can only win it in the first 30 minutes”; and No. 20, which warns not to say something that does not feel right.

“At that moment remember the advice that some elementary schoolteacher once gave you: ‘If in doubt, don’t,’ ” Klain wrote.

Throughout the 2020 campaign, Klain was a top adviser to Biden and was deeply trusted by a candidate known for maintaining a tight-knit inner circle. He was not especially involved in logistical, day-to-day decisions, but along with Anita Dunn, a senior Biden adviser, he played a central role in guiding Biden’s debate preparations and message.

A number of Biden allies have noted Klain’s experience dealing with economic and health crises during the Obama administration, when the country was reeling from the Great Recession. In the 2016 campaign, Klain helped Hillary Clinton prepare for debates, a task he began working on before Biden announced he would not mount his own presidential bid.

“It’s been a little hard for me to play such a role in the Biden demise — and I am definitely dead to them — but I’m glad to be on Team HRC,” Klain wrote to John D. Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, in an October 2015 email that was later disclosed by WikiLeaks. A week after Klain sent the email, Biden announced he would not run for president in 2016.

Klain was also the inaugural guest on a short-lived podcast that Biden hosted this year, speaking about the pandemic. “I’m going to call on you a lot more,” Biden told him at the end of the episode. “You know, I call on you almost every day for non-pod advice.”

At a Biden virtual fundraiser in June for Indiana donors, former Sen. Joe Donnelly made note of Klain’s work on the Ebola outbreak for the Obama White House.

At the virtual event, Klain, it turned out, was not far out of mind for the former vice president. “As a matter of fact, coincidentally, literally five minutes before I walked into this makeshift studio, I was on the phone with Ron Klain,” Biden said.

President-elect Joe Biden named Ron Klain, a veteran Democratic operative and a decadeslong confidant, to be his White House chief of staff Wednesday evening, the first step toward putting in place his administration’s senior leadership.

President-elect Joe Biden named Ron Klain, a veteran Democratic operative and a decadeslong confidant, to be his White House chief of staff Wednesday evening, the first step toward putting in place his administration’s senior leadership. Klain, a lawyer with deep experience on Capitol Hill, advising President Barack Obama and in corporate board rooms, served as Biden’s chief of staff when he was vice president and has been seen for months as the likeliest choice to manage his team in the White House. Known for steady nerves, he also has a fierce wit, which he has frequently unleashed on President Donald Trump on Twitter. He was particularly critical of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, having served as the “Ebola czar” under Obama during an outbreak of the deadly disease in his second term. A video of Klain lecturing Trump about the pandemic was widely seen during the campaign. In a statement, Biden called Klain an “invaluable” adviser, noting in particular the work they did together during the economic crisis in 2009 and the Ebola outbreak in 2014. “His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again,” Biden said. The choice of Klain, 59, who first went to work for Biden in the late 1980s when Biden was a senator from Delaware and Klain was a recent graduate of Harvard Law School, signals that Biden intends to rely on a tight circle of Washington insiders who have been by his side for years. Advisers have said that the president-elect will announce other top White House staff in the coming days, even as Trump refuses to accept the results of the election, tweeting “WE WILL WIN!” on Wednesday evening. Biden is not likely to reveal his Cabinet picks until around Thanksgiving, several people close to the transition said. As a political tactician, Klain is well versed in the levers of power in both the executive and legislative branches of government. But he will quickly come under pressure to assemble a White House staff that extends beyond the moderate members of the Democratic establishment with whom Biden has surrounded himself over four decades in politics. Even before Biden’s announcement, liberals in the party had already begun demanding that progressives be given a significant voice in the West Wing. And the president-elect will also be pressed to fulfill his campaign pledge to make his administration “look like the country” by tapping people of color, LGBTQ Americans and other minorities to be part of the White House staff. In a statement, Klain said he looked forward to assembling “a talented and diverse team to work in the White House as we tackle their ambitious agenda for change and seek to heal the divides in our country.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, one of Biden’s liberal rivals for the presidential nomination, praised Klain on Twitter, calling him “a superb choice” and saying that he “understands the magnitude of the health and economic crisis and he has the experience to lead this next administration through it.” Biden made his choice of Klain even as Trump remained defiant in the face of political reality, refusing to concede defeat and insisting that the presidential election was stolen from him four days after news organizations projected that Biden had secured the electoral votes necessary to win. Trump and his allies — including most Republicans on Capitol Hill — have falsely claimed that the election was tainted by fraudulently cast ballots and a conspiracy by Democrats, poll workers and the news media. The president’s lawyers have filed lawsuits in several states and his operatives are scouring for examples of fraud even as Democratic and Republican election officials in nearly all 50 states say the election was fair. In the meantime, Biden is moving quickly to demonstrate that the president’s unprecedented behavior will not interfere with the transfer of power that will take place on Jan. 20. Klain clerked for Justice Byron White at the Supreme Court in the late 1980s and has been a fixture by Biden’s side for much of the past 30 years, serving at one point as the chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Biden led. Klain was Biden’s top legal adviser on the committee during the racially charged and sexually explicit collision with the Bush administration over the confirmation of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. Many of Biden’s allies saw his handling of the confirmation — managed in large part by Klain and his team of committee lawyers — as one of the stains on his record in the Senate. Klain took a detour to serve as Al Gore’s chief of staff while he was vice president and later oversaw Gore’s unsuccessful recount effort in Florida (for which he was portrayed by Kevin Spacey in the HBO film “Recount”). But Klain has always remained close to Biden. In 2009, he became the vice president’s chief of staff, reprising the role he had played a decade earlier for Gore. Klain’s experience confronting the Ebola outbreak during the Obama administration was newly relevant this year as the coronavirus pandemic upended American life and became Biden’s central message during the presidential race. The Biden campaign leaned on Klain’s expertise as it drew a contrast between the way Biden would approach the pandemic and the way Trump did. In March, the campaign released a video of Klain speaking in front of a white board comparing the two approaches that has been viewed more than 4 million times on Twitter. A sequel, again featuring Klain in front of a white board, was posted in July. In the last few weeks of the campaign, Trump sought to use Klain’s own words against him with a video in which Klain appears to admit that the Obama administration “did every possible thing wrong” during an outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu virus. Fact checkers concluded that Klain was speaking only about the reliance on a single vaccine, and was taken out of context. Klain has gone in and out of government over the past several decades, at times practicing as a lawyer and later working with Steve Case, the founder of AOL, in a venture capital investment firm called Revolution. His initial agreement with Case in 2005 included the right to take unpaid leave in September and October every four years to participate in presidential politics. “He can process a lot of information, focus on the things that matter and balance a lot of balls,” Case said of Klain, calling him “unflappable” and pragmatic when it comes to confronting a challenge: “‘Here’s the problem or the opportunity. Let’s narrow in on what matters and get the right team in place.’” Case dismissed concerns from some people that Klain was too much of a Washington insider for this moment in history, noting that as an Indiana native, Klain often goes home for the Indianapolis 500. “He’s been in Washington a long time,” Case said. But he added, “He’s an Indiana guy.” Over his years mingling among the nation’s top Democratic politicians, Klain has become a specialist in helping presidents win confirmation battles in the Senate. During Obama’s first term, he played a central role in helping win confirmation of Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. He also developed a reputation as the Democratic Party’s expert on debate preparation, coaching virtually all of the party’s presidential and vice-presidential nominees during the past two decades. He made little secret of his frustration with sitting presidents — including Obama — complaining that they too often refused to prepare. A memo for his clients that Klain prepared years ago has become memorialized as the party’s best advice for its candidates. Among the 21 rules that he outlined: No. 10, “Punches are good, counterpunches are better”; No. 13, which says that a candidate can lose a debate at any time but that “you can only win it in the first 30 minutes”; and No. 20, which warns not to say something that does not feel right. “At that moment remember the advice that some elementary schoolteacher once gave you: ‘If in doubt, don’t,’ ” Klain wrote. Throughout the 2020 campaign, Klain was a top adviser to Biden and was deeply trusted by a candidate known for maintaining a tight-knit inner circle. He was not especially involved in logistical, day-to-day decisions, but along with Anita Dunn, a senior Biden adviser, he played a central role in guiding Biden’s debate preparations and message. A number of Biden allies have noted Klain’s experience dealing with economic and health crises during the Obama administration, when the country was reeling from the Great Recession. In the 2016 campaign, Klain helped Hillary Clinton prepare for debates, a task he began working on before Biden announced he would not mount his own presidential bid. “It’s been a little hard for me to play such a role in the Biden demise — and I am definitely dead to them — but I’m glad to be on Team HRC,” Klain wrote to John D. Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, in an October 2015 email that was later disclosed by WikiLeaks. A week after Klain sent the email, Biden announced he would not run for president in 2016. Klain was also the inaugural guest on a short-lived podcast that Biden hosted this year, speaking about the pandemic. “I’m going to call on you a lot more,” Biden told him at the end of the episode. “You know, I call on you almost every day for non-pod advice.” At a Biden virtual fundraiser in June for Indiana donors, former Sen. Joe Donnelly made note of Klain’s work on the Ebola outbreak for the Obama White House. At the virtual event, Klain, it turned out, was not far out of mind for the former vice president. “As a matter of fact, coincidentally, literally five minutes before I walked into this makeshift studio, I was on the phone with Ron Klain,” Biden said.

Biden Names Ron Klain as White House Chief of Staff

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Two critical unemployment programs are set to expire at the end of the year, potentially leaving millions of Americans vulnerable to eviction and hunger and threatening to short-circuit an economic recovery that has already lost momentum.

As many as 13 million people are receiving payments under the programs, which Congress created last spring to expand and extend the regular unemployment system during the coronavirus pandemic. Leaders of both major parties have expressed support for renewing the programs in some form, but Congress has been unable to reach a deal to do so. It remains unclear how the results of last week’s election will affect prospects for an agreement.

That means that for now, at least, people like Randy Williams must prepare for the possibility that they are weeks away from losing their only income.

Williams, 56, lost his job as a manager at a Memphis, Tennessee-area Cracker Barrel in the first weeks of the pandemic. His state jobless benefits ran out last month, leaving him to rely on a 13-week extension under the federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which ends in late December.

Already, Williams is struggling to get by on his $275 weekly benefit check, the maximum allowed in Tennessee. He has fallen behind on rent, racked up thousands of dollars in credit card debt and turned to a food pantry run by a church.

Even with the benefits, “I may have got behind on this or that, robbing Peter to pay Paul this month,” he said. “But without it, I’m dead in the water.”

The expanded unemployment programs are some of the last vestiges of the trillions of dollars in aid that Congress provided through a series of emergency measures in the spring. That spending — which included direct checks to most U.S. households, $600 a week in supplemental unemployment benefits and hundreds of billions of dollars in support for small businesses — offset the pandemic’s financial toll for many families and helped fuel an economic recovery that was initially stronger than many forecasters expected.

Much of that assistance expired over the summer, however. Economic gains have slowed significantly since then, and studies have found that millions of Americans fell into poverty as aid dried up. Employment data released Friday showed that the number of people out of work for more than six months, the standard threshold for long-term unemployment, rose 1.2 million in October, to 3.6 million.

The year-end benefits cliff could be even more damaging. Many families have depleted any savings they built when the $600 supplement was available. A partial federal eviction moratorium is scheduled to expire at the end of the year, although it could be extended. And benefits checks won’t just shrink, as they did over the summer; they will disappear.

“The safety net still has kind of held up until now, and I think we have been maybe lulled into a sense of complacency,” said Andrew Stettner, an expert on unemployment benefits at the Century Foundation, a progressive policy research group. “We’re just putting people in this really precarious financial position where the damage of unemployment can just hit really hard.”

Nearly 4 million Americans are receiving benefits under the pandemic compensation program. That number has doubled in the past month and is expected to keep rising as more people reach the end of their state benefits, which last 26 weeks in most of the country.

If the program ends at the end of the year, some workers will be able to continue to receive benefits under a federal program not tied to the pandemic. But those benefits aren’t available in some states, including Tennessee, and don’t cover some types of workers, like freelancers.

Congress last spring created a separate emergency program, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, to cover people left out of the normal unemployment system, such as freelancers and self-employed workers as well as those unable to work because of pandemic-related child care issues and similar obstacles. There were 9.3 million people in that program in mid-October, according to federal data, although some experts on the unemployment system believe that figure overstates the total.

By any measure, millions are in danger of losing their benefits. Many economists warn that the harm would extend not just to individual workers but also to the broader economy.

“Those households then have to dramatically cut back on their spending, they then fall further behind on their rent, and that means that their landlords suffer and the businesses that they would have been buying from will suffer,” said Jesse Rothstein, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

Conservative economists have long argued that unemployment benefits can be counterproductive because they discourage recipients from seeking or accepting jobs. That argument has been persuasive with many Republican lawmakers, who fought to end extended benefits during the last recession a decade ago and who have been skeptical of offering more generous benefits during the current crisis.

Progressives, including Rothstein, have countered that the disincentive effects of benefits are small, especially when jobs are scarce, and that giving workers a lifeline lets them seek out better jobs. In recent years, researchers have also used new data sources to study what happens when benefits run out and have found clearer evidence that losing benefits creates significant hardship for families.

Bruce Meyer, a University of Chicago economist and longtime critic of unemployment benefits, said he remained unconvinced by many of the traditional progressive arguments for unemployment insurance. But he said he found the new data compelling.

“Unemployment insurance does not help you get a better job; it keeps you out of work and lets your skills deteriorate,” he said. “But it keeps you from starving.”

The threat of losing benefits is amplified during a pandemic. Matt Weis, chief program officer at the National Able Network, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization, said he had long counseled job seekers to look for a “survival job” — one that will pay the bills while they look for more permanent work. But that is a harder argument to make when many sources of stopgap work, like seasonal retail and fast food, could carry health risks.

“It’s just putting people in a really, really tricky situation,” Weis said. “Do I preserve my health and the health of my family by staying home and not working? OK, fine, how do I do that? I’ve got bills to pay.”

Two critical unemployment programs are set to expire at the end of the year, potentially leaving millions of Americans vulnerable to eviction and hunger and threatening to short-circuit an economic recovery that has already lost momentum.

Two critical unemployment programs are set to expire at the end of the year, potentially leaving millions of Americans vulnerable to eviction and hunger and threatening to short-circuit an economic recovery that has already lost momentum. As many as 13 million people are receiving payments under the programs, which Congress created last spring to expand and extend the regular unemployment system during the coronavirus pandemic. Leaders of both major parties have expressed support for renewing the programs in some form, but Congress has been unable to reach a deal to do so. It remains unclear how the results of last week’s election will affect prospects for an agreement. That means that for now, at least, people like Randy Williams must prepare for the possibility that they are weeks away from losing their only income. Williams, 56, lost his job as a manager at a Memphis, Tennessee-area Cracker Barrel in the first weeks of the pandemic. His state jobless benefits ran out last month, leaving him to rely on a 13-week extension under the federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which ends in late December. Already, Williams is struggling to get by on his $275 weekly benefit check, the maximum allowed in Tennessee. He has fallen behind on rent, racked up thousands of dollars in credit card debt and turned to a food pantry run by a church. Even with the benefits, “I may have got behind on this or that, robbing Peter to pay Paul this month,” he said. “But without it, I’m dead in the water.” The expanded unemployment programs are some of the last vestiges of the trillions of dollars in aid that Congress provided through a series of emergency measures in the spring. That spending — which included direct checks to most U.S. households, $600 a week in supplemental unemployment benefits and hundreds of billions of dollars in support for small businesses — offset the pandemic’s financial toll for many families and helped fuel an economic recovery that was initially stronger than many forecasters expected. Much of that assistance expired over the summer, however. Economic gains have slowed significantly since then, and studies have found that millions of Americans fell into poverty as aid dried up. Employment data released Friday showed that the number of people out of work for more than six months, the standard threshold for long-term unemployment, rose 1.2 million in October, to 3.6 million. The year-end benefits cliff could be even more damaging. Many families have depleted any savings they built when the $600 supplement was available. A partial federal eviction moratorium is scheduled to expire at the end of the year, although it could be extended. And benefits checks won’t just shrink, as they did over the summer; they will disappear. “The safety net still has kind of held up until now, and I think we have been maybe lulled into a sense of complacency,” said Andrew Stettner, an expert on unemployment benefits at the Century Foundation, a progressive policy research group. “We’re just putting people in this really precarious financial position where the damage of unemployment can just hit really hard.” Nearly 4 million Americans are receiving benefits under the pandemic compensation program. That number has doubled in the past month and is expected to keep rising as more people reach the end of their state benefits, which last 26 weeks in most of the country. If the program ends at the end of the year, some workers will be able to continue to receive benefits under a federal program not tied to the pandemic. But those benefits aren’t available in some states, including Tennessee, and don’t cover some types of workers, like freelancers. Congress last spring created a separate emergency program, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, to cover people left out of the normal unemployment system, such as freelancers and self-employed workers as well as those unable to work because of pandemic-related child care issues and similar obstacles. There were 9.3 million people in that program in mid-October, according to federal data, although some experts on the unemployment system believe that figure overstates the total. By any measure, millions are in danger of losing their benefits. Many economists warn that the harm would extend not just to individual workers but also to the broader economy. “Those households then have to dramatically cut back on their spending, they then fall further behind on their rent, and that means that their landlords suffer and the businesses that they would have been buying from will suffer,” said Jesse Rothstein, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley. Conservative economists have long argued that unemployment benefits can be counterproductive because they discourage recipients from seeking or accepting jobs. That argument has been persuasive with many Republican lawmakers, who fought to end extended benefits during the last recession a decade ago and who have been skeptical of offering more generous benefits during the current crisis. Progressives, including Rothstein, have countered that the disincentive effects of benefits are small, especially when jobs are scarce, and that giving workers a lifeline lets them seek out better jobs. In recent years, researchers have also used new data sources to study what happens when benefits run out and have found clearer evidence that losing benefits creates significant hardship for families. Bruce Meyer, a University of Chicago economist and longtime critic of unemployment benefits, said he remained unconvinced by many of the traditional progressive arguments for unemployment insurance. But he said he found the new data compelling. “Unemployment insurance does not help you get a better job; it keeps you out of work and lets your skills deteriorate,” he said. “But it keeps you from starving.” The threat of losing benefits is amplified during a pandemic. Matt Weis, chief program officer at the National Able Network, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization, said he had long counseled job seekers to look for a “survival job” — one that will pay the bills while they look for more permanent work. But that is a harder argument to make when many sources of stopgap work, like seasonal retail and fast food, could carry health risks. “It’s just putting people in a really, really tricky situation,” Weis said. “Do I preserve my health and the health of my family by staying home and not working? OK, fine, how do I do that? I’ve got bills to pay.”

Millions face loss of jobless aid: ‘Without it, I’m dead in the water’

Turkey asked USA to look at human rights violations within its own borders and tackle Islamophobia, racism and hate crimes. The timing of the statement has assumed importance since it has come less than a week before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to visit Istanbul. The statement is being perceived as being emblematic of Turkey's current mood towards the US.

Pompeo will be in Istanbul next Monday. What's interesting is Pompeo will not visit any of Turkey's top officials but will meet Bartholomew I of Constantinople -- the spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox world.

The State Department said Pompeo wanted to "discuss religious issues in Turkey and the region and to promote our strong stance on religious freedom around the world".

The meeting with the patriarch will come four months after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan converted Istanbul's emblematic Hagia Sophia monument into a mosque.

Pompeo publically criticised the conversion in July.

The Turkish foreign ministry called Pompeo's chosen subject matter for the visit "extremely inappropriate".

"It would be better if the United States looked in the mirror and showed the necessary sensitivity to human rights violations such as racism, Islamophobia and hate crimes in its own country," it said in a statement. 
Relations between Washington and its strategic NATO ally have run hot and cold during Donald Trump's presidency.

Erdogan has cultivated close personal relations with Trump and been able to call him up directly to try and influence specific policy decisions.

But Ankara and Washington have also sparred over US support for a Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkey views as a grave security threat.

Erdogan congratulated Joe Biden with his election victory on Tuesday -- three full days after it was called by US media.

He followed that up by sending a separate message to Trump a few hours later expressing thanks for his "warm friendship" and saying he stood by his side "no matter how the official election result is certified".

Turkey asked USA to look at human rights violations within its own borders and tackle Islamophobia, racism and hate crimes. The timing of the statement has assumed importance since it has come less than a week before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to visit Istanbul.

Turkey asked USA to look at human rights violations within its own borders and tackle Islamophobia, racism and hate crimes. The timing of the statement has assumed importance since it has come less than a week before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to visit Istanbul. The statement is being perceived as being emblematic of Turkey's current mood towards the US. Pompeo will be in Istanbul next Monday. What's interesting is Pompeo will not visit any of Turkey's top officials but will meet Bartholomew I of Constantinople -- the spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox world. The State Department said Pompeo wanted to "discuss religious issues in Turkey and the region and to promote our strong stance on religious freedom around the world". The meeting with the patriarch will come four months after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan converted Istanbul's emblematic Hagia Sophia monument into a mosque. Pompeo publically criticised the conversion in July. The Turkish foreign ministry called Pompeo's chosen subject matter for the visit "extremely inappropriate". "It would be better if the United States looked in the mirror and showed the necessary sensitivity to human rights violations such as racism, Islamophobia and hate crimes in its own country," it said in a statement. Relations between Washington and its strategic NATO ally have run hot and cold during Donald Trump's presidency. Erdogan has cultivated close personal relations with Trump and been able to call him up directly to try and influence specific policy decisions. But Ankara and Washington have also sparred over US support for a Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkey views as a grave security threat. Erdogan congratulated Joe Biden with his election victory on Tuesday -- three full days after it was called by US media. He followed that up by sending a separate message to Trump a few hours later expressing thanks for his "warm friendship" and saying he stood by his side "no matter how the official election result is certified".

Turkey slams US less than a week before Mike Pompeo's visit

Georgia's top election official on Wednesday said the state will conduct a recount of all paper ballots cast in the Nov. 3 presidential election.

"Mathematically, you actually have to do a full hand-by-hand recount of all because the margin is so close," Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said at a news conference. "We want to start this before the week is up."

(more details awaited)

Georgia's top election official on Wednesday said the state will conduct a recount of all paper ballots cast in the Nov. 3 presidential election. "Mathematically, you actually have to do a full hand-by-hand recount of all because the margin is so close," Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said at a news conference.

Georgia's top election official on Wednesday said the state will conduct a recount of all paper ballots cast in the Nov. 3 presidential election. "Mathematically, you actually have to do a full hand-by-hand recount of all because the margin is so close," Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said at a news conference. "We want to start this before the week is up." (more details awaited)

US election 2020: Georgia to conduct a full recount of election ballots

The US election 2020 has divided the country: With Trump supporters calling for a recount and alleging election fraud, and Biden camp preparing to take over the presidential duties.

While team Trump has put forward the idea of “stolen” elections, they have offered no evidence so far to back their claims. Additionally, it is common for counting in US elections to take days after election night.

In the middle of this all, a group positing voter fraud and attempts by Democrats to “steal” the election on Facebook garnered over 325,000 members in just a day on Thursday. However, a couple of days later, it was taken down.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/technology/us-election-2020-how-facebook-twitter-differ-on-labelling-trumps-election-posts-340642" hreflang="en">US election 2020: How Facebook, Twitter differ on labelling Trump's election posts</a>

Called “Stop the Steal”, it claimed to have been started by the conservative non-profit Women for America First, asked “boots on the ground to protect the integrity of the vote.”

On Wednesday, about 200 supporters of President Trump were seen in Phoenix, Arizona with guns, rifles, and handguns.

A similar event happened in Detroit, after which election officials had to block 30 people, most of whom were Republicans, who attempted to enter a vote-counting facility. They showed up after claims of votes not being counted gained steam of social media. But none of these claims came with any proof.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/facebook-suspends-groups-spreading-misinformation-on-us-election-results-day-as-stopthesteal-trends-340444" hreflang="en">Facebook suspends groups spreading misinformation on US Election results day as #StopTheSteal trends</a>

According to election experts, election fraud is very are in the United States, and it is common for states to take time with counting votes. #StopTheSteal had gained traction on social media, with Republicans mobilising to end election fraud.

The Stop the Steal group’s description said the following: “Democrats are scheming to disenfranchise and nullify Republican votes. It’s up to us, the American People, to fight and to put a stop to it.”

The US election 2020 has divided the country: With Trump supporters calling for a recount and alleging election fraud, and Biden camp preparing to take over the presidential duties.

The US election 2020 has divided the country: With Trump supporters calling for a recount and alleging election fraud, and Biden camp preparing to take over the presidential duties. While team Trump has put forward the idea of “stolen” elections, they have offered no evidence so far to back their claims. Additionally, it is common for counting in US elections to take days after election night. In the middle of this all, a group positing voter fraud and attempts by Democrats to “steal” the election on Facebook garnered over 325,000 members in just a day on Thursday. However, a couple of days later, it was taken down. Also read: US election 2020: How Facebook, Twitter differ on labelling Trump's election posts Called “Stop the Steal”, it claimed to have been started by the conservative non-profit Women for America First, asked “boots on the ground to protect the integrity of the vote.” On Wednesday, about 200 supporters of President Trump were seen in Phoenix, Arizona with guns, rifles, and handguns. A similar event happened in Detroit, after which election officials had to block 30 people, most of whom were Republicans, who attempted to enter a vote-counting facility. They showed up after claims of votes not being counted gained steam of social media. But none of these claims came with any proof. Also read: Facebook suspends groups spreading misinformation on US Election results day as #StopTheSteal trends According to election experts, election fraud is very are in the United States, and it is common for states to take time with counting votes. #StopTheSteal had gained traction on social media, with Republicans mobilising to end election fraud. The Stop the Steal group’s description said the following: “Democrats are scheming to disenfranchise and nullify Republican votes. It’s up to us, the American People, to fight and to put a stop to it.”

Facebook takes down group 'Stop The Steal' alleging voter fraud by Democrats

The United States has a long history of peaceful transfers of power that is likely to continue despite President Donald Trump's attacks on the legitimacy of the election result, national security experts said.

Here is what to expect in the weeks and months to come.

DOES TRUMP FACE A DEADLINE TO LEAVE OFFICE?

Yes. The US&nbsp;presidential election is not formally over. Electors - party loyalists who typically pledge to support the candidate who gets the most votes in their state - will convene on Dec. 14 to formally cast their votes. The newly seated Congress accepts the results from the Electoral College on Jan. 6. If Biden wins the Electoral College vote, as expected, he will be sworn in at noon on Jan. 20 — a date set in the Constitution.

CAN BIDEN TRANSITION INTO POWER OVER TRUMP'S OBJECTIONS?

Yes. Trump has only so much power to slow Biden's transition.

A law called the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 makes career civil servants vital to the transfer of power. They face deadlines for providing data and access to incoming officials.

Under the law, the transition process will shift into high gear once a federal agency called the US&nbsp;General Services Administration (GSA), which manages federal buildings, names an apparent winner of the election. At that point, the incoming president's team can obtain briefing books, tap into funds, and send representatives to visit government agencies.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russian-president-putin-is-waiting-for-official-results-before-congratulating-joe-biden-341889" hreflang="en">Russian President Putin is waiting for official results before congratulating Joe Biden</a>

On Sunday, experts in transitions sent a letter to the GSA's administrator, Emily Murphy, urging her to recognize Biden as the winner.

"While there will be legal disputes requiring adjudication, the outcome is sufficiently clear that the transition process must now begin," the letter from the Center for Presidential Transition said.

The GSA said in a statement on Saturday it "ascertains the apparent successful candidate once a winner is clear based on the process laid out in the Constitution."

Political scientists told Reuters they are optimistic about the resilience of this legal framework.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/as-us-president-elect-joe-biden-set-to-convene-covid-19-task-force-341911" hreflang="en">As US President-elect, Joe Biden set to convene COVID-19 task force</a>

Despite the animosity between Trump and Biden on the campaign trail, the Trump administration earlier this year complied with statutory requirements for providing federal office space and government resources to the Biden campaign.

Government officials take an oath to uphold the US&nbsp;Constitution. This oath would require recognizing Biden as the incoming president if he wins the Electoral College, regardless of what Trump says, said Robert Chesney, a professor of national security law at the University of Texas.

"I find it very hard to believe the military, the Secret Service, the FBI, or any other relevant part of the bureaucracy would go along with Trump if the Electoral College or a court says otherwise," said Chesney.

WOULD THE MILITARY KICK TRUMP OUT IF HE REFUSES TO LEAVE?

Two US&nbsp;army veterans raised the possibility of the military forcefully removing Trump in an "open letter" to the top US&nbsp;general, Mark Milley, in August.

"If Donald Trump refuses to leave office at the expiration of his constitutional term, the United States military must remove him by force, and you must give that order," stated the letter, published in Defense One and written by John Nagl, a retired Army officer, and Paul Yingling, a retired US&nbsp;Army lieutenant colonel.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/kansas-democrat-who-admitted-to-revenge-porn-wins-state-house-seat-341910" hreflang="en">Kansas Democrat who admitted to revenge porn wins state house seat</a>

But others have said such a move would be better left to the US&nbsp;Secret Service, citing a bedrock US&nbsp;legal principle that military personnel should stay out of domestic law enforcement matters.

"We have constitutional processes for dealing with this, and the military is nowhere in that equation," said Kori Schake, a director of foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute.

If Trump truly refused to leave the White House, on Jan. 20 he would become a "trespasser," Chesney said.

"The Secret Service would come and escort him out," he said.

The United States has a long history of peaceful transfers of power that is likely to continue despite President Donald Trump's attacks on the legitimacy of the election result, national security experts said.

The United States has a long history of peaceful transfers of power that is likely to continue despite President Donald Trump's attacks on the legitimacy of the election result, national security experts said. Here is what to expect in the weeks and months to come. DOES TRUMP FACE A DEADLINE TO LEAVE OFFICE? Yes. The US presidential election is not formally over. Electors - party loyalists who typically pledge to support the candidate who gets the most votes in their state - will convene on Dec. 14 to formally cast their votes. The newly seated Congress accepts the results from the Electoral College on Jan. 6. If Biden wins the Electoral College vote, as expected, he will be sworn in at noon on Jan. 20 — a date set in the Constitution. CAN BIDEN TRANSITION INTO POWER OVER TRUMP'S OBJECTIONS? Yes. Trump has only so much power to slow Biden's transition. A law called the Presidential Transition Act of 1963 makes career civil servants vital to the transfer of power. They face deadlines for providing data and access to incoming officials. Under the law, the transition process will shift into high gear once a federal agency called the US General Services Administration (GSA), which manages federal buildings, names an apparent winner of the election. At that point, the incoming president's team can obtain briefing books, tap into funds, and send representatives to visit government agencies. Also read: Russian President Putin is waiting for official results before congratulating Joe Biden On Sunday, experts in transitions sent a letter to the GSA's administrator, Emily Murphy, urging her to recognize Biden as the winner. "While there will be legal disputes requiring adjudication, the outcome is sufficiently clear that the transition process must now begin," the letter from the Center for Presidential Transition said. The GSA said in a statement on Saturday it "ascertains the apparent successful candidate once a winner is clear based on the process laid out in the Constitution." Political scientists told Reuters they are optimistic about the resilience of this legal framework. Also read: As US President-elect, Joe Biden set to convene COVID-19 task force Despite the animosity between Trump and Biden on the campaign trail, the Trump administration earlier this year complied with statutory requirements for providing federal office space and government resources to the Biden campaign. Government officials take an oath to uphold the US Constitution. This oath would require recognizing Biden as the incoming president if he wins the Electoral College, regardless of what Trump says, said Robert Chesney, a professor of national security law at the University of Texas. "I find it very hard to believe the military, the Secret Service, the FBI, or any other relevant part of the bureaucracy would go along with Trump if the Electoral College or a court says otherwise," said Chesney. WOULD THE MILITARY KICK TRUMP OUT IF HE REFUSES TO LEAVE? Two US army veterans raised the possibility of the military forcefully removing Trump in an "open letter" to the top US general, Mark Milley, in August. "If Donald Trump refuses to leave office at the expiration of his constitutional term, the United States military must remove him by force, and you must give that order," stated the letter, published in Defense One and written by John Nagl, a retired Army officer, and Paul Yingling, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel. Also read: Kansas Democrat who admitted to revenge porn wins state house seat But others have said such a move would be better left to the US Secret Service, citing a bedrock US legal principle that military personnel should stay out of domestic law enforcement matters. "We have constitutional processes for dealing with this, and the military is nowhere in that equation," said Kori Schake, a director of foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute. If Trump truly refused to leave the White House, on Jan. 20 he would become a "trespasser," Chesney said. "The Secret Service would come and escort him out," he said.

US election 2020: How and when will incumbent President Donald Trump leave office?

Joe Biden was announced as the upcoming President of the United States two days ago, as projections from all major American networks announced him as the winner in US election 2020, defeating Donald Trump

Even as wishes poured in from across the globe - ranging from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to French President Macron, many leaders are playing it safe.

According to Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia on Monday claimed that he was waiting for the official results, to be released in January, before moving forward with congratulating either sides.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/after-jared-melania-advises-donald-trump-to-accept-us-election-2020-results-341813" hreflang="en">After Jared, Melania advises Donald Trump to accept US election 2020 results</a>

A Kremlin spokesperson added that Putin respects “the choice of the American people”.

"We consider it correct to wait for the official results to be finalised. I want to remind you that President Putin repeatedly said he will respect the choice of the American people," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Joe Biden, the US President-elect took a lead over Donald Trump in the vote count, prompting leaders across the world to congratulate him as his Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/donald-trump-continues-to-say-that-us-election-2020-was-stolen-341737" hreflang="en">Donald Trump continues to say that US Election 2020 was 'stolen'</a>

In 2016, after Trump’s victory, Putin has congratulated him within the hour of confirmation.

According to Peskov, the 2020 election is peculiar owing to the legal options Donald Trump is planning to take against the projected results. He has also refused to concede.&nbsp;

"The difference is quite obvious... then there were no announcements of legal challenges," Peskov added.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/us-election-2020-wishes-pour-in-as-joe-biden-wins-presidency-341486" hreflang="en">US election 2020: Wishes pour in as Joe Biden wins presidency</a>

"We hope that with the next president of the United States it will be possible to re-establish a dialogue and together agree on ways to normalise our bilateral relations," he said.

During the 2016 elections, Russia was accused of interfering in order to elect Donald Trump.

Joe Biden was announced as the upcoming President of the United States two days ago, as projections from all major American networks announced him as the winner in US election 2020, defeating Donald Trump Even as wishes poured in from across the globe - ranging from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to French President Macron, many leaders are playing it safe.

Joe Biden was announced as the upcoming President of the United States two days ago, as projections from all major American networks announced him as the winner in US election 2020, defeating Donald Trump Even as wishes poured in from across the globe - ranging from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to French President Macron, many leaders are playing it safe. According to Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia on Monday claimed that he was waiting for the official results, to be released in January, before moving forward with congratulating either sides. Also read: After Jared, Melania advises Donald Trump to accept US election 2020 results A Kremlin spokesperson added that Putin respects “the choice of the American people”. "We consider it correct to wait for the official results to be finalised. I want to remind you that President Putin repeatedly said he will respect the choice of the American people," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Joe Biden, the US President-elect took a lead over Donald Trump in the vote count, prompting leaders across the world to congratulate him as his Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Also read: Donald Trump continues to say that US Election 2020 was 'stolen' In 2016, after Trump’s victory, Putin has congratulated him within the hour of confirmation. According to Peskov, the 2020 election is peculiar owing to the legal options Donald Trump is planning to take against the projected results. He has also refused to concede. "The difference is quite obvious... then there were no announcements of legal challenges," Peskov added. Also read: US election 2020: Wishes pour in as Joe Biden wins presidency "We hope that with the next president of the United States it will be possible to re-establish a dialogue and together agree on ways to normalise our bilateral relations," he said. During the 2016 elections, Russia was accused of interfering in order to elect Donald Trump.

Russian President Putin is waiting for official results before congratulating Joe Biden

As the First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS), Professor Jill Biden plans to continue working full-time as a teacher. Will the 69-year-old transform the role of the First Lady? Who have been the most influential leading ladies of the White House? We look at how the role of the U.S President's spouse has changed and evolved on 'The First Ladies Club', a Wion Wideangle special.

WION Wideangle: Jill Biden joins the first ladies club

Several hundred protesters gathered in Baghdad on Saturday and demanded ouster of US troops from Iraq. Iraqi Parliament had voted to this effect earlier this year.

"We will choose resistance if parliament's vote is not ratified!" read one of the banners at the demonstration, which took place near an entrance to the high-security Green Zone, where the US embassy and other foreign missions are located.&nbsp;

Some of the protesters carried sign having logo of Hashed-al-Shaabi. It is a state-sponsored network of armed groups including many supported by Iran.

In January, after US airstrike killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and the Hashed's deputy head, outraged Iraqi parliamentarians had voted to oust all foreign forces deployed in the country.

The US has sent thousands of troops to Iraq since 2014 to lead an international coalition helping Baghdad fight the Islamic State jihadist group.

Washington has drawn down those forces in recent months to around 3,000, and other coalition countries have also shrunk their footprint.

Starting in October 2019, rockets regularly targeted those troops as well as diplomats at the US embassy. 
Over the summer, there was a marked increase in attacks against coalition logistics convoys using roadside bombs.

Enraged by the ongoing attacks, the US in late September threatened to close its Baghdad embassy and carry out bombing raids against hard-line elements of the Hashed.

Pro-Iran factions announced a temporary truce in October that put an end to the attacks, with no rockets targeting the embassy or foreign troops since.

Iraq has long been caught in the struggle for influence between its two main allies, the US and Iran, with the tug-of-war intensifying under US President Donald Trump.

Baghdad has been closely monitoring the results of the US presidential elections, seeing a change in the White House as a sign that tensions between Washington and Tehran could decrease.&nbsp;

(With inputs from AFP)

Several hundred protesters gathered in Baghdad on Saturday and demanded ouster of US troops from Iraq. Iraqi Parliament had voted to this effect earlier this year.

Several hundred protesters gathered in Baghdad on Saturday and demanded ouster of US troops from Iraq. Iraqi Parliament had voted to this effect earlier this year. "We will choose resistance if parliament's vote is not ratified!" read one of the banners at the demonstration, which took place near an entrance to the high-security Green Zone, where the US embassy and other foreign missions are located. Some of the protesters carried sign having logo of Hashed-al-Shaabi. It is a state-sponsored network of armed groups including many supported by Iran. In January, after US airstrike killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and the Hashed's deputy head, outraged Iraqi parliamentarians had voted to oust all foreign forces deployed in the country. The US has sent thousands of troops to Iraq since 2014 to lead an international coalition helping Baghdad fight the Islamic State jihadist group. Washington has drawn down those forces in recent months to around 3,000, and other coalition countries have also shrunk their footprint. Starting in October 2019, rockets regularly targeted those troops as well as diplomats at the US embassy. Over the summer, there was a marked increase in attacks against coalition logistics convoys using roadside bombs. Enraged by the ongoing attacks, the US in late September threatened to close its Baghdad embassy and carry out bombing raids against hard-line elements of the Hashed. Pro-Iran factions announced a temporary truce in October that put an end to the attacks, with no rockets targeting the embassy or foreign troops since. Iraq has long been caught in the struggle for influence between its two main allies, the US and Iran, with the tug-of-war intensifying under US President Donald Trump. Baghdad has been closely monitoring the results of the US presidential elections, seeing a change in the White House as a sign that tensions between Washington and Tehran could decrease. (With inputs from AFP)

Hundreds demand US ouster from Iraq in Baghdad

A governing panel at the United Nations' aviation agency urged Iran on Friday to accelerate an investigation into the downing of a Ukrainian airliner in January.&nbsp;

An Iranian official said a final report on the crash would be circulated soon.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation said members of its 36-nation council issued the call, nearly 10 months after a Ukraine International Airlines flight was shot down by an Iranian ground-to-air missile, killing 176 people.

Iran's representative to ICAO, however, said he had made a full report to the council on the progress of the investigation.

A draft of the final report has been completed and is being translated, Farhad Parvaresh told Reuters.

It will be sent to participating nations in "a couple of weeks," he said, adding that Iran was adhering to international rules on air investigations known as Annex 13.

Those rules include a recommendation that the final report appears within 12 months, which in this case runs until early January, though many high-profile probes take longer.

Although the deadline has not yet been reached, some states including Canada are concerned about what they view as a lack of transparency, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has said it accidentally shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 on January 8, mistaking it for a missile at a time when tensions were high between Iran and the United States.

Canada and families of the victims are pressing Iran for additional answers following an initial report on the contents of black boxes, which were sent to France for analysis in July. 
Many of the 176 victims killed in the crash were Canadian citizens or permanent residents. 
Ukraine, where the Boeing 737 was operated, and the United States, where it was designed and built, are automatically part of any formal accident investigation under ICAO rules. 
The rules say any participating nations should be given 60 days to make comments before the final report can be published.

A governing panel at the United Nations' aviation agency urged Iran on Friday to accelerate an investigation into the downing of a Ukrainian airliner in January.

A governing panel at the United Nations' aviation agency urged Iran on Friday to accelerate an investigation into the downing of a Ukrainian airliner in January. An Iranian official said a final report on the crash would be circulated soon. The International Civil Aviation Organisation said members of its 36-nation council issued the call, nearly 10 months after a Ukraine International Airlines flight was shot down by an Iranian ground-to-air missile, killing 176 people. Iran's representative to ICAO, however, said he had made a full report to the council on the progress of the investigation. A draft of the final report has been completed and is being translated, Farhad Parvaresh told Reuters. It will be sent to participating nations in "a couple of weeks," he said, adding that Iran was adhering to international rules on air investigations known as Annex 13. Those rules include a recommendation that the final report appears within 12 months, which in this case runs until early January, though many high-profile probes take longer. Although the deadline has not yet been reached, some states including Canada are concerned about what they view as a lack of transparency, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has said it accidentally shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 on January 8, mistaking it for a missile at a time when tensions were high between Iran and the United States. Canada and families of the victims are pressing Iran for additional answers following an initial report on the contents of black boxes, which were sent to France for analysis in July. Many of the 176 victims killed in the crash were Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Ukraine, where the Boeing 737 was operated, and the United States, where it was designed and built, are automatically part of any formal accident investigation under ICAO rules. The rules say any participating nations should be given 60 days to make comments before the final report can be published.

UN aviation agency asks Iran to expedite investigation of downed jet

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he hoped that three-year experience was a 'lesson' for the next US government. His apparent reference was Donald Trump's policy of applying 'maximum pressure on the Iranian regime just a year after it had entered into a nuclear deal with the US and other world powers. Donald Trump has withdrawn US from the nuclear deal.

"We hope the three-year experience will be a lesson for America's next administration to abide by laws and regulations and return to its commitments," Rouhani said in a televised speech.

"Our people have faced economic terrorism for the past three years and shown unparalleled resistance and patience."

Rouhani said Iran would "continue its resistance and patience until the other side bows before laws and regulations".

The Islamic republic hoped that "those imposing sanctions realise their path was wrong and that they will not achieve their goals in any way".

The nuclear deal with Iran had been struck by former US President Barack Obama after spending much of his political capital in the year 2015. The huge effort had resulted in Iran agreeing to limit its nuclear program under a deal with P5+1 (USA, Russia, UK, France, China and Germany).

Trump had unilaterally withdrawn USA from the deal and took steps to reimpose stringent sanctions on Iran.

Donald Trump is increasingly appearing to lose the White House to Joe Biden, the former Vice-president of the USA.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-addresses-us-vows-action-against-coronavirus-341333">Biden addresses US, vows action against coronavirus</a>

Biden has said he plans to embark on a "credible path to return to diplomacy" with Iran if he wins the presidency and raised the possibility of returning to the 2015 nuclear deal

Iranian officials have said they will focus on the policies of the next US administration rather than who becomes president.

Tehran has also stressed that a possible US return to the nuclear agreement would have to be accompanied by compensation for damages caused by the withdrawal and a "guarantee" it will not be repeated.

(With Reuters inputs)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he hoped that three-year experience was a 'lesson' for the next US government. His apparent reference was Donald Trump's policy of applying 'maximum pressure on the Iranian regime just a year after it had entered into a nuclear deal with the US and other world powers.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he hoped that three-year experience was a 'lesson' for the next US government. His apparent reference was Donald Trump's policy of applying 'maximum pressure on the Iranian regime just a year after it had entered into a nuclear deal with the US and other world powers. Donald Trump has withdrawn US from the nuclear deal. "We hope the three-year experience will be a lesson for America's next administration to abide by laws and regulations and return to its commitments," Rouhani said in a televised speech. "Our people have faced economic terrorism for the past three years and shown unparalleled resistance and patience." Rouhani said Iran would "continue its resistance and patience until the other side bows before laws and regulations". The Islamic republic hoped that "those imposing sanctions realise their path was wrong and that they will not achieve their goals in any way". The nuclear deal with Iran had been struck by former US President Barack Obama after spending much of his political capital in the year 2015. The huge effort had resulted in Iran agreeing to limit its nuclear program under a deal with P5+1 (USA, Russia, UK, France, China and Germany). Trump had unilaterally withdrawn USA from the deal and took steps to reimpose stringent sanctions on Iran. Donald Trump is increasingly appearing to lose the White House to Joe Biden, the former Vice-president of the USA. Also Read | Biden addresses US, vows action against coronavirus Biden has said he plans to embark on a "credible path to return to diplomacy" with Iran if he wins the presidency and raised the possibility of returning to the 2015 nuclear deal Iranian officials have said they will focus on the policies of the next US administration rather than who becomes president. Tehran has also stressed that a possible US return to the nuclear agreement would have to be accompanied by compensation for damages caused by the withdrawal and a "guarantee" it will not be repeated. (With Reuters inputs)

We hope 'lesson' has been learnt, says Iran on nuclear deal with USA      

The United States is planning to sanction prominent Lebanese Christian politician Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, which was founded by the president and is allied with Hezbollah, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump`s administration is expected on Friday to impose the sanctions on Bassil for assisting the Lebanese Shi`ite group Hezbollah, the newspaper reported, citing sources.

The U.S. Department of Treasury did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular working hours.

Bassil and his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The United States deems Iranian-backed Hezbollah to be a terrorist group. It has sanctioned several Hezbollah members.

Bassil, the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun and head of FPM, Lebanon`s largest Christian political bloc, is also a former foreign minister.

In September, the United States blacklisted two former Lebanese government ministers it accused of enabling Hezbollah.

It accused a former transport minister, Yusuf Finyanus, and a former finance minister, Ali Hassan Khalil, of engaging in corruption and leveraging their political power for financial gain.

Well-armed Hezbollah has risen to become the overarching power in Lebanon, which is now grappling with a financial meltdown.

The United States is planning to sanction prominent Lebanese Christian politician Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, which was founded by the president and is allied with Hezbollah, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Thursday.

The United States is planning to sanction prominent Lebanese Christian politician Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, which was founded by the president and is allied with Hezbollah, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Thursday. U.S. President Donald Trump`s administration is expected on Friday to impose the sanctions on Bassil for assisting the Lebanese Shi`ite group Hezbollah, the newspaper reported, citing sources. The U.S. Department of Treasury did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular working hours. Bassil and his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The United States deems Iranian-backed Hezbollah to be a terrorist group. It has sanctioned several Hezbollah members. Bassil, the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun and head of FPM, Lebanon`s largest Christian political bloc, is also a former foreign minister. In September, the United States blacklisted two former Lebanese government ministers it accused of enabling Hezbollah. It accused a former transport minister, Yusuf Finyanus, and a former finance minister, Ali Hassan Khalil, of engaging in corruption and leveraging their political power for financial gain. Well-armed Hezbollah has risen to become the overarching power in Lebanon, which is now grappling with a financial meltdown.

US to sanction leader of Lebanon's Free Patriotic Movement

Hollywood stars who pledged to leave the country if Trump wins again

Former first lady Michelle Obama has urged to US voter to show up and vote in the ongoing US presidential election as Americans are heading to the polls on Election Day to determine the balance of power in Washington and statehouses around the country.

Taking to Twitter, Michelle Obama said "TODAY is Election Day. There are no do-overs. Show up, have your voice heard, and vote."

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TODAY is Election Day. There are no do overs. Show up, have your voice heard, and vote. <a href="https://t.co/9gwUiQQ22l">https://t.co/9gwUiQQ22l</a>
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) <a href="https://twitter.com/MichelleObama/status/1323696842132082688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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During the election campaign, she had called US president a "racist" president whose strategy of fearmongering, division and promoting ugly conspiracy theories could "destroy" America if he is re-elected.

Trump is "morally wrong" for taking actions that intimidate voters and for "lying" about how minorities will ruin US suburbs, she had said.

(With inputs from agencies)

Former first lady Michelle Obama has urged to US voter to show up and vote in the ongoing US presidential election as Americans are heading to the polls on Election Day to determine the balance of power in Washington and statehouses around the country.

Former first lady Michelle Obama has urged to US voter to show up and vote in the ongoing US presidential election as Americans are heading to the polls on Election Day to determine the balance of power in Washington and statehouses around the country. Taking to Twitter, Michelle Obama said "TODAY is Election Day. There are no do-overs. Show up, have your voice heard, and vote." TODAY is Election Day. There are no do overs. Show up, have your voice heard, and vote. https://t.co/9gwUiQQ22l — Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) November 3, 2020 × During the election campaign, she had called US president a "racist" president whose strategy of fearmongering, division and promoting ugly conspiracy theories could "destroy" America if he is re-elected. Trump is "morally wrong" for taking actions that intimidate voters and for "lying" about how minorities will ruin US suburbs, she had said. (With inputs from agencies)

US election 2020: Michelle Obama urges voters to 'show up, have your voice heard, and vote'

Every US&nbsp;presidential election has its own lingo, like the "hanging chads" on voting cards in Florida that led to a landmark court battle in 2000. Below is some of the jargon used in the days leading up to the November&nbsp;3 election pitting President Donald Trump against his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

NAKED BALLOTS

Sixteen states, including Pennsylvania, require voters to return mail ballots in a special "secrecy" envelope. Ballots that don't arrive in the envelope will be considered "naked" and might be disqualified. Celebrities including Naomi Campbell, Chris Rock and Sarah Silverman disrobed in a video to promote proper voting procedures, "the least sexy thing a completely naked person can say," according to actor Josh Gad, who also stripped for the video by activist group Represent.Us. The group, which has promoted anti-corruption resolutions in US&nbsp;cities, says it does not endorse either candidate.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-to-close-his-bid-for-reelection-trump-warns-of-potential-violence-in-pennsylvania-a-key-state-340223" hreflang="en">US election 2020: To close his bid for reelection, Trump warns of potential violence in Pennsylvania - a key state</a>

RED MIRAGE/BLUE SHIFT

Fearing crowded polling places amid the coronavirus pandemic, a record number of Americans, particularly Democrats, cast mail-in ballots this year, and counting them could take days. As a result, initial results on Election Day may show Republicans, indicated by red on election maps, holding large leads in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, which counts mail-in ballots received three days after Nov. 3. As ballots are tallied in the ensuing days, that "red mirage" could fade, giving way to a "blue shift." Experts see a possible "blue mirage" and "red shift" in Florida and North Carolina, which process mailed-in ballots before Election Day.

SPOILED BALLOTS

Ballots that are improperly marked can be rejected as spoiled. Trump said in an Oct. 27 Twitter post that the phrase "can I change my vote" was trending on Google and urged Americans to submit a new ballot for him. Some states allow voters to request a new absentee ballot but first they have to request their original ballot be marked as spoiled. Following Trump's tweet, Google data showed a spike in searches for "spoiled ballots."

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-why-indian-americans-are-important-for-both-parties-340221" hreflang="en">US Election 2020: Why Indian Americans are important for both parties</a>

DUELING ELECTORS

A candidate becomes president by securing the most "electoral" votes rather than a majority of the national popular vote. The Electoral College system allots electors to the 50 states largely based on their population, and the candidate who wins the popular vote in a state generally gets its electors. But legal experts say Trump could try to convince Republican lawmakers in closely contested states to approve the Republican slate of electors based on early vote tallies. As more ballots are counted, Biden might eventually be certified as the winner of the same state. The result: Dueling electors and an outcome that could be determined by Congress.

COURT PACKING

Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as a Supreme Court justice on Oct. 26 to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a hero to many for her advocacy for women's issues. Democrats had argued Ginsburg's seat should be filled after the election and in response to Barrett's confirmation some have suggested that a Biden Administration could expand the court beyond its traditional nine justices. The idea surfaced briefly in the late 1930s and was criticized as "court packing." Biden has said he will establish a bipartisan commission to consider changes to the court system, which he said is "getting out of whack."

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/US-Election-2020-result-timeline-ist-indian-standard-time-biden-trump-340183" hreflang="en">US Election 2020: A timeline of what's next according to Indian Standard Time</a>

POLL WATCHERS

The Republican National Committee is mobilizing thousands of supporters to monitor early voting sites and ballot drop boxes, looking for irregularities such as people dropping off multiple ballots in states where that generally is not allowed. This marks the first presidential election in nearly four decades in which the Republicans can engage in "ballot security" activities without prior review and approval from the Department of Justice. Some voting rights advocates worry that gun-toting groups might show up outside polling places and intimidate voters.

For more stories on the US election, click&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/us-election">here</a>

For live updates, click&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/live-us-election-2020-donald-trump-joe-biden-more-than-98-million-voted-to-elect-the-next-president-340039">here</a>

Every US presidential election has its own lingo, like the "hanging chads" on voting cards in Florida that led to a landmark court battle in 2000. Below is some of the jargon used in the days leading up to the November 3 election pitting President Donald Trump against his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Every US presidential election has its own lingo, like the "hanging chads" on voting cards in Florida that led to a landmark court battle in 2000. Below is some of the jargon used in the days leading up to the November 3 election pitting President Donald Trump against his Democratic challenger Joe Biden. NAKED BALLOTS Sixteen states, including Pennsylvania, require voters to return mail ballots in a special "secrecy" envelope. Ballots that don't arrive in the envelope will be considered "naked" and might be disqualified. Celebrities including Naomi Campbell, Chris Rock and Sarah Silverman disrobed in a video to promote proper voting procedures, "the least sexy thing a completely naked person can say," according to actor Josh Gad, who also stripped for the video by activist group Represent.Us. The group, which has promoted anti-corruption resolutions in US cities, says it does not endorse either candidate. Also read: US election 2020: To close his bid for reelection, Trump warns of potential violence in Pennsylvania - a key state RED MIRAGE/BLUE SHIFT Fearing crowded polling places amid the coronavirus pandemic, a record number of Americans, particularly Democrats, cast mail-in ballots this year, and counting them could take days. As a result, initial results on Election Day may show Republicans, indicated by red on election maps, holding large leads in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, which counts mail-in ballots received three days after Nov. 3. As ballots are tallied in the ensuing days, that "red mirage" could fade, giving way to a "blue shift." Experts see a possible "blue mirage" and "red shift" in Florida and North Carolina, which process mailed-in ballots before Election Day. SPOILED BALLOTS Ballots that are improperly marked can be rejected as spoiled. Trump said in an Oct. 27 Twitter post that the phrase "can I change my vote" was trending on Google and urged Americans to submit a new ballot for him. Some states allow voters to request a new absentee ballot but first they have to request their original ballot be marked as spoiled. Following Trump's tweet, Google data showed a spike in searches for "spoiled ballots." Also read: US Election 2020: Why Indian Americans are important for both parties DUELING ELECTORS A candidate becomes president by securing the most "electoral" votes rather than a majority of the national popular vote. The Electoral College system allots electors to the 50 states largely based on their population, and the candidate who wins the popular vote in a state generally gets its electors. But legal experts say Trump could try to convince Republican lawmakers in closely contested states to approve the Republican slate of electors based on early vote tallies. As more ballots are counted, Biden might eventually be certified as the winner of the same state. The result: Dueling electors and an outcome that could be determined by Congress. COURT PACKING Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as a Supreme Court justice on Oct. 26 to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a hero to many for her advocacy for women's issues. Democrats had argued Ginsburg's seat should be filled after the election and in response to Barrett's confirmation some have suggested that a Biden Administration could expand the court beyond its traditional nine justices. The idea surfaced briefly in the late 1930s and was criticized as "court packing." Biden has said he will establish a bipartisan commission to consider changes to the court system, which he said is "getting out of whack." Also read: US Election 2020: A timeline of what's next according to Indian Standard Time POLL WATCHERS The Republican National Committee is mobilizing thousands of supporters to monitor early voting sites and ballot drop boxes, looking for irregularities such as people dropping off multiple ballots in states where that generally is not allowed. This marks the first presidential election in nearly four decades in which the Republicans can engage in "ballot security" activities without prior review and approval from the Department of Justice. Some voting rights advocates worry that gun-toting groups might show up outside polling places and intimidate voters. For more stories on the US election, click here For live updates, click here

What are 'naked ballots' and a 'red mirage'? Your guide to US election lingo

America's allies and rivals are closely watching the result of US election 2020. A tight election is always exciting to watch. Even more so when the prize is the White House. The world is watching America closely. Its choice will shape the world for the next four years.

For American allies, its a situation they face every four years. Partners like the UK aren't too worried about the results. The fundamentals of their relationship remain strong.&nbsp;

"The UK-US relationship is in great shape and we're confident that it will go from strength to strength, whichever candidate wins the election," said Dominic Raab, UK Foreign Secretary

But if it is a toss-up between Trump and Biden, Europe will be backing the Democrat. Trans-Atlantic ties have deteriorated under Trump. A Biden victory would reset the relationship.

Some officials are not hiding their preference. Chairman of Germany's Foreign Affairs Committee tweeted on election night saying that Germany was not prepared to work with Trump anymore.&nbsp;

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&nbsp;

One ally that would be rooting for Trump is Israel. Trump's efforts to normalise ties with the Arab world have not been forgotten.

"If the policy of the next U.S president will be a continuation of the current policy, it will be able to lead to more peace agreements, a concessionary policy will get the peace deals stuck," said Eli Cohen, Israeli Intelligence Ministry

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/us-election-2020-historical-firsts-in-the-presidential-election-340498#four-consecutive-two-term-presidencies-340478">US election 2020: Historical firsts in the presidential election</a> 
 
So the allies are divided. What about America's rivals?

For the likes of China and Iran, the election is make-or-break.

China's state newspaper Global Times is openly mocking the elections and comparing it to disputed polls in developing nations. Beijing has realised that there is bipartisan support for a tougher stance on China.

Officially, it says that it has no position on the issue.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-donald-trump-criticises-surprise-ballot-dumps-for-lagging-behind-joe-biden-340569">US election 2020: Donald Trump criticises 'surprise ballot dumps' for lagging behind Joe Biden</a>

"The U.S. election is its internal affairs. China doesn't take a position on this issue," said Wang Wenbin, Spokesperson of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On Iran, the two candidates differ substantially. Trump is likely to continue his maximum pressure campaign. But Biden might consider restarting talks. A Biden victory bodes well for Iran.

But much like China, It is not making its preference known.

"The outcome of the U.S. presidential election will not have an impact on our policy (towards the United States). Our policy is clear and does not change. It does not matter to us who comes and goes," said Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamanei.

This is the defining moment for the entire world. The 2020 elections have not just divided Americans, it has created failures in the western bloc. The world is watching with bated breath as the American election goes down the wire.

America's allies and rivals are closely watching the result of US election 2020. A tight election is always exciting to watch. Even more so when the prize is the White House.

America's allies and rivals are closely watching the result of US election 2020. A tight election is always exciting to watch. Even more so when the prize is the White House. The world is watching America closely. Its choice will shape the world for the next four years. For American allies, its a situation they face every four years. Partners like the UK aren't too worried about the results. The fundamentals of their relationship remain strong. "The UK-US relationship is in great shape and we're confident that it will go from strength to strength, whichever candidate wins the election," said Dominic Raab, UK Foreign Secretary But if it is a toss-up between Trump and Biden, Europe will be backing the Democrat. Trans-Atlantic ties have deteriorated under Trump. A Biden victory would reset the relationship. Some officials are not hiding their preference. Chairman of Germany's Foreign Affairs Committee tweeted on election night saying that Germany was not prepared to work with Trump anymore. × One ally that would be rooting for Trump is Israel. Trump's efforts to normalise ties with the Arab world have not been forgotten. "If the policy of the next U.S president will be a continuation of the current policy, it will be able to lead to more peace agreements, a concessionary policy will get the peace deals stuck," said Eli Cohen, Israeli Intelligence Ministry Also Read | US election 2020: Historical firsts in the presidential election So the allies are divided. What about America's rivals? For the likes of China and Iran, the election is make-or-break. China's state newspaper Global Times is openly mocking the elections and comparing it to disputed polls in developing nations. Beijing has realised that there is bipartisan support for a tougher stance on China. Officially, it says that it has no position on the issue. Also Read | US election 2020: Donald Trump criticises 'surprise ballot dumps' for lagging behind Joe Biden "The U.S. election is its internal affairs. China doesn't take a position on this issue," said Wang Wenbin, Spokesperson of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On Iran, the two candidates differ substantially. Trump is likely to continue his maximum pressure campaign. But Biden might consider restarting talks. A Biden victory bodes well for Iran. But much like China, It is not making its preference known. "The outcome of the U.S. presidential election will not have an impact on our policy (towards the United States). Our policy is clear and does not change. It does not matter to us who comes and goes," said Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamanei. This is the defining moment for the entire world. The 2020 elections have not just divided Americans, it has created failures in the western bloc. The world is watching with bated breath as the American election goes down the wire.

America's allies and rivals watch US election results closely

Two candidates, one declaring victory. The second, just short of it. Voting officials scrambled to count votes. News channels had all hands on deck. Analysts converted their years of experience into predictions. And protesters rallied on the streets.

This presidential election is going down the history of American as the most chaotic. And its counting night is perhaps the most dramatic. It was dictated by uncertainty, highs and lows.

Trends started trickling in around 7 pm Eastern Time. Kentucky was called for President Donald Trump while Joe Biden bagged Vermont. Half an hour later, Trump bagged West Virginia. Biden won Virginia.

8 pm was Trump's golden hour. He secured 42 electoral college seats. South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Tenessee, Oklahoma turned Red. But the happiness was shortlived.

Soon, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island turned blue.

Then the tide turned, Donald Trump won Arkansas. Indiana followed next. North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Louisiana, Nebraska turned red.

Biden picked New York and New Mexico.

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-donald-trump-criticises-surprise-ballot-dumps-for-lagging-behind-joe-biden-340569">US election 2020: Donald Trump criticises 'surprise ballot dumps' for lagging behind Joe Biden</a> 
 
15 past midnight, Biden made history. He won the first swing state, Minnesota. 5 minutes later Trump secured second swing state of Ohio.

The tally at 12:20 am ET was Biden 233 and Trump 145. At 12:47 am, Joe Biden spoke to his supporters from Delaware.

"Good evening, your patience is commendable. We knew this was gonna go long. But who knew it was going to go into maybe tomorrow morning? maybe even longer? But, look, we feel good about where we are, we really do.. I'm here to tell you tonight we believe we're on track to win this election," he said.

Two minutes into Biden's speech, Trump claimed that Democrats were trying to steal the election. Twitter flagged the tweet.

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We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!
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&nbsp;

He amplified the charge of theft 2 hours later at White House East Room.

"And we were getting ready for a big celebration. We were winning everything, and all of a sudden it was just called off (...) Millions and millions of people voted for us today. And. A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people, and we won't stand for," he said.

By then, there was already a buzz that Trump was furious. His favourite news channel, Fox News had called Arizona in favour of Biden. But that did not keep the president from declaring victory.

"And I mean, this is a very sad moment and we will win this. And as far as I'm concerned, we already have won it. So, I just want to thank you, thank all of our support, I want to thank all of the people that worked with us," said Trump.

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&nbsp;

He also sounded bugle for the legal battle. There had been a fraud he said.

"...So we'll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop." he said.

Biden's campaign manager shot back. Calling Trump's statement "Outrageous, Unprecedented and Incorrect"

As of 7:30 am Eastern Time, the electoral college tally looked something like this

Biden: 238 
Trump: 213

And as the counting night ended, America looked divided.

Two candidates, one declaring victory. The second, just short of it. Voting officials scrambled to count votes. News channels had all hands on deck. Analysts converted their years of experience into predictions.

Two candidates, one declaring victory. The second, just short of it. Voting officials scrambled to count votes. News channels had all hands on deck. Analysts converted their years of experience into predictions. And protesters rallied on the streets. This presidential election is going down the history of American as the most chaotic. And its counting night is perhaps the most dramatic. It was dictated by uncertainty, highs and lows. Trends started trickling in around 7 pm Eastern Time. Kentucky was called for President Donald Trump while Joe Biden bagged Vermont. Half an hour later, Trump bagged West Virginia. Biden won Virginia. 8 pm was Trump's golden hour. He secured 42 electoral college seats. South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Tenessee, Oklahoma turned Red. But the happiness was shortlived. Soon, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island turned blue. Then the tide turned, Donald Trump won Arkansas. Indiana followed next. North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Louisiana, Nebraska turned red. Biden picked New York and New Mexico. Also Read | US election 2020: Donald Trump criticises 'surprise ballot dumps' for lagging behind Joe Biden 15 past midnight, Biden made history. He won the first swing state, Minnesota. 5 minutes later Trump secured second swing state of Ohio. The tally at 12:20 am ET was Biden 233 and Trump 145. At 12:47 am, Joe Biden spoke to his supporters from Delaware. "Good evening, your patience is commendable. We knew this was gonna go long. But who knew it was going to go into maybe tomorrow morning? maybe even longer? But, look, we feel good about where we are, we really do.. I'm here to tell you tonight we believe we're on track to win this election," he said. Two minutes into Biden's speech, Trump claimed that Democrats were trying to steal the election. Twitter flagged the tweet. We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020 × He amplified the charge of theft 2 hours later at White House East Room. "And we were getting ready for a big celebration. We were winning everything, and all of a sudden it was just called off (...) Millions and millions of people voted for us today. And. A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people, and we won't stand for," he said. By then, there was already a buzz that Trump was furious. His favourite news channel, Fox News had called Arizona in favour of Biden. But that did not keep the president from declaring victory. "And I mean, this is a very sad moment and we will win this. And as far as I'm concerned, we already have won it. So, I just want to thank you, thank all of our support, I want to thank all of the people that worked with us," said Trump. × He also sounded bugle for the legal battle. There had been a fraud he said. "...So we'll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop." he said. Biden's campaign manager shot back. Calling Trump's statement "Outrageous, Unprecedented and Incorrect" As of 7:30 am Eastern Time, the electoral college tally looked something like this Biden: 238 Trump: 213 And as the counting night ended, America looked divided.

On counting night, America looks divided

Democrats were on track early Wednesday to maintain a firm grip on the House, but their path to seizing the Senate majority from Republicans was rapidly narrowing as the two parties continued to fight for control of the levers of power in Congress with the fate of the presidency still uncertain.

Partial results suggested that House Democrats were running strong in many of the competitive districts they swept up in 2018, but they were struggling to make further inroads into the Republican-leaning suburbs, where they had expected a surge powered by discontent with President Donald Trump.

Instead, as votes continued to be counted, Republicans were newly optimistic they could claw back seats, particularly in rural areas and traditionally conservative strongholds in places like Oklahoma City and Staten Island.

The Senate outcome rested on a handful of states where Democrats still hoped to topple incumbent Republicans, but their pickup opportunities were dwindling fast on an unusually large battleground that stretched from Maine to Alaska and could tilt with the presidential results.

At stake was the ability of the next president to fill his Cabinet, appoint judges and pursue his agenda, and the two parties had waged a pitched battle to the end, pummeling voters with advertising backed by record sums of money, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

Republicans scored crucial wins in Iowa, Alabama and Montana, and were running stronger than expected in North Carolina and Maine, where the results were still too close to call early Wednesday.

Democrats needed a net gain of three or four seats to take Senate control — depending on whether former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, won the presidency, which would allow his vice president, Kamala Harris, to cast tiebreaking votes.

They flipped seats in Colorado, where John Hickenlooper, the former Democratic governor, easily defeated Sen. Cory Gardner, and in Arizona, where Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, beat Sen. Martha McSally.

But Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn football coach, easily won back deep-red Alabama from Sen. Doug Jones. In Iowa, the victory by Sen. Joni Ernst over Theresa Greenfield, a Democrat with roots in the state’s farming community, scuttled Democrats’ hopes for a key pickup. And in Montana, Sen. Steve Daines beat back a challenge from the state’s popular Democratic governor, Steve Bullock.

That left both sides closely watching Maine, North Carolina and Georgia, where partial returns showed exceedingly tight races between Republican incumbents and their Democratic challengers.

Earlier, Republicans had breathed a sigh of relief when Sen. John Cornyn was declared the winner in Texas, despite a record turnout, and again when Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump’s, won reelection in South Carolina after a tougher-than-expected race.

In Kentucky, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the top Republican, secured a seventh term, although it was unclear whether he would remain majority leader.

“Tonight, Kentuckians said, ‘We’re not finished yet,’” McConnell told supporters in Louisville. “Kentucky wants more of the policies that built the best economy in our nation’s modern history — not socialism.”

At least one Senate race taking place in Georgia, an unexpectedly competitive battleground this year, was headed for a winner-takes-all January runoff that could decide the balance of the Senate only weeks before Inauguration Day if Tuesday’s contests did not. The state’s other race could also end up in a runoff, but it was too early to be certain.

In the fight for the House, Democrats began the night more clearly on the offensive, bolstered by a stunning fundraising advantage, Republican recruitment failures and Trump’s eroding support in America’s cities and suburbs.

Two years after gaining 41 seats to reclaim the majority, Democrats were trying to push into suburban districts that Republicans had not lost in decades around St. Louis, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Phoenix, Omaha and even once ruby-red parts of Texas.

But while strategists in both parties had said a second blue wave could wash out 10 to 20 Republicans, by Wednesday morning, returns indicated that no such sweep had materialized. A handful of Republican incumbents in newly competitive suburban districts held onto their seats, and some Democrats who had been confident of victories were vanquished, including first-term Rep. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, who was defeated by Nancy Mace, the first woman to graduate from the Citadel, in his Charleston-based district.

At the same time, Democrats fell short of snatching victories in solidly red districts that the party had hoped to make competitive, and lost more ground in the increasingly conservative rural Midwest, with the defeat of Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, chairman of the Agriculture Committee, who served three decades in Congress.

“We have held the House and now, when — after all the votes are counted, we’ll see how much better we will do than that,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday night. But she also tried to play down Democrats’ lackluster performance.

“It’s not just about the quantity,” she added. “It’s about the quality of leadership that they provide for our country.”

Republicans began the cycle hoping to grab onto Trump’s coattails and a booming economy to wrest back the 30 or so districts he won in 2016 that Democrats claimed two years later. But those hopes were dashed by the pandemic, which has left the economy in tatters and the nation counting more than 230,000 deaths to date.

Still, they found some unexpected bright spots Tuesday night. With Trump making significant inroads among Cuban Americans in Miami, Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a first-term Democrat, was edged out by Carlos Gimenez, the Miami mayor, and Rep. Donna Shalala lost to Maria Elvira Salazar, a former television anchor.

Republican veterans Ann Wagner of Missouri, Steve Chabot of Ohio and Rodney Davis of Illinois also held off stiff challenges, and Republicans were on track for better-than-expected result in a handful of Texas House races where Democrats had sought pickup opportunities.

The battle for the Senate was being waged on even friendlier turf for Republicans. Although they were defending 23 states, compared with just 12 for Democrats, almost all of them were places that Trump carried in 2016 — creating a real possibility that voters could render a split decision Tuesday, dividing power between the White House and Senate.

For the second election season in a row, Democrats ran with an almost singular focus on health care, blistering Republicans for their campaign to overturn the Affordable Care Act. The law, and its protections of preexisting conditions, took on further resonance in the face of a public health crisis unlike any the nation has seen in generations and the confirmation just a week before Election Day of a Supreme Court justice, Amy Coney Barrett, who Democrats argued would strike down the law.

In race after race, Republicans’ chances appeared to hinge on the unexpected strength of Trump, a polarizing leader who has enraptured their core supporters even as his inflammatory style and unorthodox policy positions have frustrated them and alienated crucial voting blocs. A few Republicans, like Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who was battling for political survival in the race of her career, were willing to wag their fingers at the president, but most knew they could not risk his ire, or the support of his loyal base, if they were to have any shot at reelection.

Worried about Trump’s chances, though, many Republicans closed their campaigns with warnings to voters of the risks posed by putting the White House and Congress under full Democratic control.

In North Carolina, Cal Cunningham, a telegenic Iraq War veteran who led for much of the year, was at grave risk of falling short in his effort to oust Republican Sen. Thom Tillis. Tillis had a lead of nearly 100,000 votes early Wednesday, but North Carolina accepts postmarked mail-in ballots until Nov. 12, making a final call premature.

The race in Maine has been just as steady, with the Democrat, Sara Gideon, the speaker of the state Legislature, threatening to unseat Collins, a four-term Republican and one of the last centrists left in her party. After easily winning reelection in 2014, Collins struggled to stay afloat as her race became a national referendum on the Republican Party, and she was battling to win a majority to avoid activating the state’s newly enacted ranked-choice voting system, which could badly hurt her chances.

“We’ve never given up because that is what we Mainers do — we work hard, we show up for work every day and we get the job done,” Collins told her supporters, addressing them in a snowy parking lot in Bangor. “I wish that I could thank each of you by name, that would take all night — on the other hand, we may be here all night.”

Democrats remained hopeful about two races in Georgia, where Jon Ossoff, a 33-year-old documentary filmmaker, had mounted a strong challenge to Sen. David Perdue, and the Rev. Raphael Warnock was challenging Sen. Kelly Loeffler in a special election to replace the retired Republican senator Johnny Isakson. With multiple Democratic and Republican candidates splitting the vote, Loeffler was headed to a runoff with Warnock, after Republican Rep. Doug Collins conceded. Ossoff and Perdue could end up in a runoff, too, but were both still jockeying to clear the 50% required under Georgia law to win outright.

McConnell, 78, handily beat back a challenge from Amy McGrath, a former fighter pilot. Democrats poured $100 million into the contest, but McGrath never commanded the kind of support in the solidly Republican state to make the incumbent nervous.

Both parties had other targets, but they were considered stretches. For Republicans, the best option was Michigan, where John James, a Black Iraq War veteran who ran for the Senate unsuccessfully in 2018, was trying to unseat Sen. Gary Peters. Democrats believed they had an outside shot of defeating Dan Sullivan in Alaska.

The outcome of the Senate contest promised to heavily shape the next two years in Washington. If Democrats were able to grab control of the House, Senate and White House at once for the first time since 2010, they could abolish the legislative filibuster — the last major vestige of minority rights in the Senate — and push through an ambitious slate of bills on voting rights, gun safety, policing and prescription drug prices. They would most likely reserve much of their political capital for expanding the Affordable Care Act and raising taxes on the wealthy to offset that and other new programs.

Nodding to the possibility of all-Democratic control, McConnell warned during his victory speech: “This is no time to declare war on our institutions because one side is angry that the framers made it hard to achieve radical change.”

But Democrats feared that even if Biden were to win, they could fall short in the Senate, saddling the incoming president with a Republican majority ready to oppose him on nearly every front, dashing liberal hopes and swiping his agenda off the table. Facing a Senate led by McConnell, Biden could even have an uphill battle winning its approval to fill his Cabinet, and he would certainly face opposition to liberal nominees to the federal courts.

Similarly, if Trump were reelected and Democrats controlled both the House and Senate, his second term could be a frustrating exercise in stalemate.

Democrats were on track early Wednesday to maintain a firm grip on the House, but their path to seizing the Senate majority from Republicans was rapidly narrowing as the two parties continued to fight for control of the levers of power in Congress with the fate of the presidency still uncertain.

Democrats were on track early Wednesday to maintain a firm grip on the House, but their path to seizing the Senate majority from Republicans was rapidly narrowing as the two parties continued to fight for control of the levers of power in Congress with the fate of the presidency still uncertain. Partial results suggested that House Democrats were running strong in many of the competitive districts they swept up in 2018, but they were struggling to make further inroads into the Republican-leaning suburbs, where they had expected a surge powered by discontent with President Donald Trump. Instead, as votes continued to be counted, Republicans were newly optimistic they could claw back seats, particularly in rural areas and traditionally conservative strongholds in places like Oklahoma City and Staten Island. The Senate outcome rested on a handful of states where Democrats still hoped to topple incumbent Republicans, but their pickup opportunities were dwindling fast on an unusually large battleground that stretched from Maine to Alaska and could tilt with the presidential results. At stake was the ability of the next president to fill his Cabinet, appoint judges and pursue his agenda, and the two parties had waged a pitched battle to the end, pummeling voters with advertising backed by record sums of money, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Republicans scored crucial wins in Iowa, Alabama and Montana, and were running stronger than expected in North Carolina and Maine, where the results were still too close to call early Wednesday. Democrats needed a net gain of three or four seats to take Senate control — depending on whether former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, won the presidency, which would allow his vice president, Kamala Harris, to cast tiebreaking votes. They flipped seats in Colorado, where John Hickenlooper, the former Democratic governor, easily defeated Sen. Cory Gardner, and in Arizona, where Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, beat Sen. Martha McSally. But Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn football coach, easily won back deep-red Alabama from Sen. Doug Jones. In Iowa, the victory by Sen. Joni Ernst over Theresa Greenfield, a Democrat with roots in the state’s farming community, scuttled Democrats’ hopes for a key pickup. And in Montana, Sen. Steve Daines beat back a challenge from the state’s popular Democratic governor, Steve Bullock. That left both sides closely watching Maine, North Carolina and Georgia, where partial returns showed exceedingly tight races between Republican incumbents and their Democratic challengers. Earlier, Republicans had breathed a sigh of relief when Sen. John Cornyn was declared the winner in Texas, despite a record turnout, and again when Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump’s, won reelection in South Carolina after a tougher-than-expected race. In Kentucky, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the top Republican, secured a seventh term, although it was unclear whether he would remain majority leader. “Tonight, Kentuckians said, ‘We’re not finished yet,’” McConnell told supporters in Louisville. “Kentucky wants more of the policies that built the best economy in our nation’s modern history — not socialism.” At least one Senate race taking place in Georgia, an unexpectedly competitive battleground this year, was headed for a winner-takes-all January runoff that could decide the balance of the Senate only weeks before Inauguration Day if Tuesday’s contests did not. The state’s other race could also end up in a runoff, but it was too early to be certain. In the fight for the House, Democrats began the night more clearly on the offensive, bolstered by a stunning fundraising advantage, Republican recruitment failures and Trump’s eroding support in America’s cities and suburbs. Two years after gaining 41 seats to reclaim the majority, Democrats were trying to push into suburban districts that Republicans had not lost in decades around St. Louis, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Phoenix, Omaha and even once ruby-red parts of Texas. But while strategists in both parties had said a second blue wave could wash out 10 to 20 Republicans, by Wednesday morning, returns indicated that no such sweep had materialized. A handful of Republican incumbents in newly competitive suburban districts held onto their seats, and some Democrats who had been confident of victories were vanquished, including first-term Rep. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, who was defeated by Nancy Mace, the first woman to graduate from the Citadel, in his Charleston-based district. At the same time, Democrats fell short of snatching victories in solidly red districts that the party had hoped to make competitive, and lost more ground in the increasingly conservative rural Midwest, with the defeat of Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, chairman of the Agriculture Committee, who served three decades in Congress. “We have held the House and now, when — after all the votes are counted, we’ll see how much better we will do than that,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday night. But she also tried to play down Democrats’ lackluster performance. “It’s not just about the quantity,” she added. “It’s about the quality of leadership that they provide for our country.” Republicans began the cycle hoping to grab onto Trump’s coattails and a booming economy to wrest back the 30 or so districts he won in 2016 that Democrats claimed two years later. But those hopes were dashed by the pandemic, which has left the economy in tatters and the nation counting more than 230,000 deaths to date. Still, they found some unexpected bright spots Tuesday night. With Trump making significant inroads among Cuban Americans in Miami, Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a first-term Democrat, was edged out by Carlos Gimenez, the Miami mayor, and Rep. Donna Shalala lost to Maria Elvira Salazar, a former television anchor. Republican veterans Ann Wagner of Missouri, Steve Chabot of Ohio and Rodney Davis of Illinois also held off stiff challenges, and Republicans were on track for better-than-expected result in a handful of Texas House races where Democrats had sought pickup opportunities. The battle for the Senate was being waged on even friendlier turf for Republicans. Although they were defending 23 states, compared with just 12 for Democrats, almost all of them were places that Trump carried in 2016 — creating a real possibility that voters could render a split decision Tuesday, dividing power between the White House and Senate. For the second election season in a row, Democrats ran with an almost singular focus on health care, blistering Republicans for their campaign to overturn the Affordable Care Act. The law, and its protections of preexisting conditions, took on further resonance in the face of a public health crisis unlike any the nation has seen in generations and the confirmation just a week before Election Day of a Supreme Court justice, Amy Coney Barrett, who Democrats argued would strike down the law. In race after race, Republicans’ chances appeared to hinge on the unexpected strength of Trump, a polarizing leader who has enraptured their core supporters even as his inflammatory style and unorthodox policy positions have frustrated them and alienated crucial voting blocs. A few Republicans, like Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who was battling for political survival in the race of her career, were willing to wag their fingers at the president, but most knew they could not risk his ire, or the support of his loyal base, if they were to have any shot at reelection. Worried about Trump’s chances, though, many Republicans closed their campaigns with warnings to voters of the risks posed by putting the White House and Congress under full Democratic control. In North Carolina, Cal Cunningham, a telegenic Iraq War veteran who led for much of the year, was at grave risk of falling short in his effort to oust Republican Sen. Thom Tillis. Tillis had a lead of nearly 100,000 votes early Wednesday, but North Carolina accepts postmarked mail-in ballots until Nov. 12, making a final call premature. The race in Maine has been just as steady, with the Democrat, Sara Gideon, the speaker of the state Legislature, threatening to unseat Collins, a four-term Republican and one of the last centrists left in her party. After easily winning reelection in 2014, Collins struggled to stay afloat as her race became a national referendum on the Republican Party, and she was battling to win a majority to avoid activating the state’s newly enacted ranked-choice voting system, which could badly hurt her chances. “We’ve never given up because that is what we Mainers do — we work hard, we show up for work every day and we get the job done,” Collins told her supporters, addressing them in a snowy parking lot in Bangor. “I wish that I could thank each of you by name, that would take all night — on the other hand, we may be here all night.” Democrats remained hopeful about two races in Georgia, where Jon Ossoff, a 33-year-old documentary filmmaker, had mounted a strong challenge to Sen. David Perdue, and the Rev. Raphael Warnock was challenging Sen. Kelly Loeffler in a special election to replace the retired Republican senator Johnny Isakson. With multiple Democratic and Republican candidates splitting the vote, Loeffler was headed to a runoff with Warnock, after Republican Rep. Doug Collins conceded. Ossoff and Perdue could end up in a runoff, too, but were both still jockeying to clear the 50% required under Georgia law to win outright. McConnell, 78, handily beat back a challenge from Amy McGrath, a former fighter pilot. Democrats poured $100 million into the contest, but McGrath never commanded the kind of support in the solidly Republican state to make the incumbent nervous. Both parties had other targets, but they were considered stretches. For Republicans, the best option was Michigan, where John James, a Black Iraq War veteran who ran for the Senate unsuccessfully in 2018, was trying to unseat Sen. Gary Peters. Democrats believed they had an outside shot of defeating Dan Sullivan in Alaska. The outcome of the Senate contest promised to heavily shape the next two years in Washington. If Democrats were able to grab control of the House, Senate and White House at once for the first time since 2010, they could abolish the legislative filibuster — the last major vestige of minority rights in the Senate — and push through an ambitious slate of bills on voting rights, gun safety, policing and prescription drug prices. They would most likely reserve much of their political capital for expanding the Affordable Care Act and raising taxes on the wealthy to offset that and other new programs. Nodding to the possibility of all-Democratic control, McConnell warned during his victory speech: “This is no time to declare war on our institutions because one side is angry that the framers made it hard to achieve radical change.” But Democrats feared that even if Biden were to win, they could fall short in the Senate, saddling the incoming president with a Republican majority ready to oppose him on nearly every front, dashing liberal hopes and swiping his agenda off the table. Facing a Senate led by McConnell, Biden could even have an uphill battle winning its approval to fill his Cabinet, and he would certainly face opposition to liberal nominees to the federal courts. Similarly, if Trump were reelected and Democrats controlled both the House and Senate, his second term could be a frustrating exercise in stalemate.

Democrats battle for Senate control as they maintain grip on House majority

The Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee began meeting Wednesday, a spokesperson said, hours after polls closed in the US presidential election which remains undecided.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is not expected to address the election in its two-day regularly scheduled meeting, nor is it predicted to change interest rates that were slashed to near-zero earlier this year as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the US economy.

However analysts will be watching the committee's statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference on Thursday to see if central bank leaders again make their case that the world's largest economy needs more stimulus to aid its recovery after Congress failed to pass a spending bill before the election.

"We expect the FOMC will maintain its extremely accommodative monetary policy stance at its policy meeting... holding off any new initiatives," Oxford Economics said in a research note.&nbsp;

"The overlap between the meeting and the US election and the deteriorating health situation will favor a wait-and-see approach given the uncertain fiscal policy outlook."

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/us-stocks-open-higher-as-markets-eye-tight-presidential-vote-340558">US stocks open higher as markets eye tight presidential vote</a>

Voters on Tuesday went to polls to decided whether to give President Donald Trump a second term in office or replace him with his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Results thus far show Biden ahead in electoral votes even as Trump prematurely declared victory and sought Supreme Court intervention to stop vote-counting.

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Also on the ballot were Senate races in several states, which could reconfigure the Republican-controlled body and perhaps break the months-long deadlock with Democrats over the stimulus bill.

However Democratic candidates were behind in several races, narrowing their chances of gaining control of the chamber and pushing through a stimulus package when the new Congress is inaugurated in January

The Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee began meeting Wednesday, a spokesperson said, hours after polls closed in the US presidential election which remains undecided.

The Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee began meeting Wednesday, a spokesperson said, hours after polls closed in the US presidential election which remains undecided. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is not expected to address the election in its two-day regularly scheduled meeting, nor is it predicted to change interest rates that were slashed to near-zero earlier this year as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the US economy. However analysts will be watching the committee's statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference on Thursday to see if central bank leaders again make their case that the world's largest economy needs more stimulus to aid its recovery after Congress failed to pass a spending bill before the election. "We expect the FOMC will maintain its extremely accommodative monetary policy stance at its policy meeting... holding off any new initiatives," Oxford Economics said in a research note. "The overlap between the meeting and the US election and the deteriorating health situation will favor a wait-and-see approach given the uncertain fiscal policy outlook." Also Read | US stocks open higher as markets eye tight presidential vote Voters on Tuesday went to polls to decided whether to give President Donald Trump a second term in office or replace him with his Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Results thus far show Biden ahead in electoral votes even as Trump prematurely declared victory and sought Supreme Court intervention to stop vote-counting. × Also on the ballot were Senate races in several states, which could reconfigure the Republican-controlled body and perhaps break the months-long deadlock with Democrats over the stimulus bill. However Democratic candidates were behind in several races, narrowing their chances of gaining control of the chamber and pushing through a stimulus package when the new Congress is inaugurated in January

Federal Reserve begins meeting as US vote yet to be decided

President Donald Trump appears to have lost some support among white men and older people in Georgia and Virginia, key parts of his voter base, according to Edison Research polls on Tuesday.

While Trump is still winning the majority of those voters, some of them switched to supporting his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, the exit polls showed.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-result-joe-biden-wins-delaware-district-of-columbia-maryland-massachusetts-reports-afp-340312" hreflang="en">US election 2020: Joe Biden wins Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, reports AFP</a>

Edison’s polls showed Trump winning seven in 10 white men in Georgia, which is down from an eight in 10 advantage over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016. And while Trump is winning six in 10 voters who are at least 65 years old in Georgia, that is down from a seven in 10 four years ago.

Final election results from both states have yet to be tallied, but Biden has been projected to win Virginia. Clinton also won the state in 2016.

In Virginia, Trump was winning six in 10 whites without college degrees, down from seven in 10 in 2016. Trump was also winning six in 10 white men in Virginia, down from seven in 10 in 2016.

In more encouraging news for the president, Trump was winning six in 10 voters in Virginia who have an income of $100,000 or more.

The poll is based on in-person interviews with voters on Tuesday, in-person interviews at early voting centers before Election Day and telephone interviews with people who voted by mail.

COVID CONCERNS

The national Edison Research poll results revealed deep concern about the coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 9.4 million people in the United States this year and killed more than 230,000.

While only two of 10 voters nationally said COVID-19 was the issue that mattered most in their choice for president, half of U.S. voters believe it is more important to contain the coronavirus even if it hurts the economy.

Trump has made the full opening of the U.S. economy a centerpiece of his re-election campaign, even as infections continue to rise. Biden has claimed Trump is undeserving of a second term because of his handling of the pandemic.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-election-2020-result-half-of-voters-confident-their-ballots-will-be-counted-accurately-cnn-exit-poll-shows-340305" hreflang="en">Half of voters confident their ballots will be counted accurately, CNN exit poll shows</a>

In the national exit poll, four out of 10 voters said they think the effort to contain the virus is going "very badly." In the battleground states of Florida and North Carolina, five of 10 voters said the national response to the pandemic is going "somewhat or very badly."

Six of 10 said the pandemic had created at least a moderate financial hardship. And seven in 10 said wearing a face mask in public is a "public health responsibility" versus three in 10 who see it as a personal choice.

The poll found that nine out of 10 voters had already decided whom to vote for before October, and nine out of 10 voters said they were confident that their state would accurately count votes.

One of 10 voters said they were voting for the first time, which was similar to the 2016 election survey.

Other issues that were top of mind for voters included the economy, racial inequality, crime and safety and healthcare policy.

Edison compiles exit polls and live election results for the National Election Pool media consortium.

President Donald Trump appears to have lost some support among white men and older people in Georgia and Virginia, key parts of his voter base, according to Edison Research polls on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump appears to have lost some support among white men and older people in Georgia and Virginia, key parts of his voter base, according to Edison Research polls on Tuesday. While Trump is still winning the majority of those voters, some of them switched to supporting his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, the exit polls showed. Also read: US election 2020: Joe Biden wins Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, reports AFP Edison’s polls showed Trump winning seven in 10 white men in Georgia, which is down from an eight in 10 advantage over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016. And while Trump is winning six in 10 voters who are at least 65 years old in Georgia, that is down from a seven in 10 four years ago. Final election results from both states have yet to be tallied, but Biden has been projected to win Virginia. Clinton also won the state in 2016. In Virginia, Trump was winning six in 10 whites without college degrees, down from seven in 10 in 2016. Trump was also winning six in 10 white men in Virginia, down from seven in 10 in 2016. In more encouraging news for the president, Trump was winning six in 10 voters in Virginia who have an income of $100,000 or more. The poll is based on in-person interviews with voters on Tuesday, in-person interviews at early voting centers before Election Day and telephone interviews with people who voted by mail. COVID CONCERNS The national Edison Research poll results revealed deep concern about the coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 9.4 million people in the United States this year and killed more than 230,000. While only two of 10 voters nationally said COVID-19 was the issue that mattered most in their choice for president, half of U.S. voters believe it is more important to contain the coronavirus even if it hurts the economy. Trump has made the full opening of the U.S. economy a centerpiece of his re-election campaign, even as infections continue to rise. Biden has claimed Trump is undeserving of a second term because of his handling of the pandemic. Also read: Half of voters confident their ballots will be counted accurately, CNN exit poll shows In the national exit poll, four out of 10 voters said they think the effort to contain the virus is going "very badly." In the battleground states of Florida and North Carolina, five of 10 voters said the national response to the pandemic is going "somewhat or very badly." Six of 10 said the pandemic had created at least a moderate financial hardship. And seven in 10 said wearing a face mask in public is a "public health responsibility" versus three in 10 who see it as a personal choice. The poll found that nine out of 10 voters had already decided whom to vote for before October, and nine out of 10 voters said they were confident that their state would accurately count votes. One of 10 voters said they were voting for the first time, which was similar to the 2016 election survey. Other issues that were top of mind for voters included the economy, racial inequality, crime and safety and healthcare policy. Edison compiles exit polls and live election results for the National Election Pool media consortium.

US election 2020: Trump support eroding among older voters and white men, exit polls suggest

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