The announcement came after Biden on Monday unveiled key members of his economic team, including nominating former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen as the next treasury secretary…reports Asian Lite News
US President-elect Joe Biden announced that he has selected Brian Deese, a former Obama administration official and currently head of sustainable investing at BlackRock, to serve as the next director of the National Economic Council.
“Brian is among the most tested and accomplished public servants in the country — a trusted voice I can count on to help us end the ongoing economic crisis, build a better economy that deals everybody in, and take on the existential threat of climate change in a way that creates good-paying American jobs,” Biden said in a statement on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.
In a video released by the Biden transition team Thursday, Deese said in his new role, he will focus every day on the bold new actions needed to combat the climate crisis, make communities more resilient, address racial inequalities, and help accelerate the economic recovery.
The climate crisis, racial inequity, and our economic recovery are inextricably linked. Our government must reflect that reality—and that is the perspective I will bring to the National Economic Council. https://t.co/inOUt91lov
Deese previously served as a deputy director of the National Economic Council, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, and senior advisor to President Barack Obama. He played a leading role both in rescuing the US auto industry and in negotiating the landmark Paris Agreement on climate during the Obama administration, according to the Biden transition team.
The announcement came after Biden on Monday unveiled key members of his economic team, including nominating former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen as the next treasury secretary. Also read:Biden warns against holiday travel
Actor Rajinikanth said that time has come to change the fate of Tamil Nadu, while political and government change in the state is important and compulsion of time…reports India Daily Newsdesk
Actor Rajinikanth on Thursday said he would float his political party in January and an announcement in that regard will be made on December 31, 2020.
With this Rajinikanth puts an end to various speculations about his plunge into Tamil Nadu politics.
Announcing this in a tweet he added: “In the upcoming assembly polls, with people’s massive support, in Tamil Nadu, an honest, transparent corruption less, secular and spiritual politics is sure to happen.”
“Miracle, Wonder will happen,” he added.
Time has come to change the fate of Tamil Nadu, while political and government change in the state is important and compulsion of time, the actor said.
The actor sounded his poll bugle against the ruling AIADMK government as well as against the major opposition party DMK.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai, Rajinikanth said: “The time has come to change the fate of Tamil Nadu. Political and government change in the state is important. It will surely change. The political change is important and is compulsion of time. If not now, it is not possible ever. Everything has to be changed. We will change everything.”
“I am just a small instrument in the change. If I win then it is people’s victory,” he added.
On November 30 Rajinikanth told the District Secretaries of Rajini Makkal Mandram that he would announce his political plunge decision.
Speaking to reporters here, couple of District Secretaries said the actor had told them that he would decide on floating a political party and plunge into politics.
Rajinikanth would announce his decision on jumping into active Tamil Nadu politics soon, said two District Secretaries.
According to the Mandram officials, they also expressed concern at Rajinikanth’s health condition and contesting the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly polls will be the ideal time.
The meeting lasted for about two hours.
After the meeting he waved at the crowd assembled outside his Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam sans mask and also mingled with the others without any hesitation.
It is also said Rajinikanth had told the District Secretaries that it is not possible for anyone to make money in politics with him.
Last month Rajinikanth tweeted that he would consult with the officials of Rajini Makkal Mandram his health condition and announce his political stance to the people.
At that time, denying a statement purported to be issued by him announcing his decision to quit politics Rajinikanth said some of the contents in that statement relating to his health and the medical advice given by the doctors were true.
“After discussing the matter with the officials of Rajini Makkal Mandram at an appropriate time will announce my political stance to the people,” Rajinikanth had said.
As per the alleged statement, Rajinikanth’s doctors had voiced out their reservations on his political entry since he had undergone a kidney transplant sometime back. Further there is no vaccine for Covid-19.
Further even if there is a vaccine, whether it would be effective at his age of 70.
The election for Tamil Nadu Assembly is slated in 2021.
As per the purported statement, if Rajinikanth had to start a political party then the plans would have to be finalised by December and announcement to be made in January 15th next year.
The condition of his health getting bad was also mentioned as he had to address rallies and meet people once he plunges into active politics during the Covid-19 period.
Asserting that he was not getting into politics for the sake of power, actor turned politician Rajinikanth in March this year ruled himself out of the race for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s post and said there was an urgent need for a change in the system.
He said that his political party and the government, in case it came to power, would have different leaders.
He said that 60-65 per cent of his party’s candidate for the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls will be in the age group of 45-50. The remaining seats will go to “good people” in other parties, professionals, judges, and former IAS officers.
Recalling his speech on December 31, 2017, Rajini said that he was not into politics for power. At the age of 45 (in 1996) he was not interested in political power, and now at the age of 68 (in 2017) one cannot say he is power crazy, he recalled saying two years ago.
On December 31, 2017, Rajinikanth had announced his decision to float a political party to practice ‘spiritual politics’ and contest all 234 Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu in 2021.
The actor said at that time that his entry into politics was a “compulsion of time” since the country’s politics had gone wrong.
Rajinikanth had remarked that while earlier kings would invade other countries and loot them, nowadays political parties were looting their own people under the guise of democracy. The system needs a change, he added.
After 2017, Rajinikanth has voiced his views on some issues. In the wake of anti-Sterlite Copper smelter plant protest in Tuticorin and killing of 13 persons in police firing, he said that Tamil Nadu would turn into a graveyard if protests were held for everything.
Later, he said that he was not a mouthpiece of the BJP and attempts were being made to paint him in saffron.
Senior Democrats, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have signaled willingness to embrace a trimmed-down Covid-19 relief bill, urging Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to join negotiations.
“In the spirit of compromise we believe the bipartisan framework introduced by Senators yesterday should be used as the basis for immediate bipartisan, bicameral negotiations,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement on Wednesday, referring to a $908 billion bipartisan bill.
“Of course, we and others will offer improvements, but the need to act is immediate and we believe that with good-faith negotiations we could come to an agreement,” the statement added.
The Democrats-controlled House of Representatives passed a $2.2 trillion bill in October, but Senate Republicans have recently been pushing for a $500 billion package, reports Xinhua news agency.
On Tuesday, McConnell had rejected the $908 billion bipartisan plan after its release and signaled that he wanted to tie coronavirus aid to a government funding bill that needs to be approved by December 11.
“Families all across the country are experiencing the unthinkable, unbearable losses of their loved ones and many are falling into financial ruin because of the economic fallout of the pandemic,” Pelosi and Schumer further said in the joint statement.
“Economists are warning the US economy will fall into double-dip recession without additional federal relief from Congress,.
“It’s time for Leader McConnell to sit down with Democrats to finally begin a true, bipartisan effort to meet the needs of the country,” they added.
Later in the day, McConnell in a tweet argued that Republicans have spent months proposing more Covid-19 relief.
US President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris.
“I hope Democrats will finally let us get a bipartisan outcome soon,” said the Senate Republican leader.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, among others, has repeatedly called for more fiscal stimulus to boost the virus-ravaged economy over the next few months.
“The risk of overdoing it is less than the risk of under doing it,” Powell said at a hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
Negotiations must continue and there can always be alternatives, Lebanese President Michel Aoun noted…reports Asian Lite News
Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Wednesday said that Lebanon and Israel can overcome the difficulties that emerged in their latest negotiations on maritime border demarcation, according to a statement by Lebanon’s presidency.
“The difficulties … can be overcome through in-depth discussions based on international rights and articles of the law of the sea,” Aoun said during his meeting with John Desrocher, head of the US delegation mediating in the indirect border talks between Lebanon and Israel.
Negotiations must continue and there can always be alternatives, Aoun noted.
Lebanese officials said on Monday that the next round of negotiations with Israel over the maritime border demarcation was postponed, Xinhua reported.
The Lebanese delegation has pushed for an additional 1,430 square km to be included in Lebanese territory besides the already disputed 860-square-km area.
The inauguration of Biden as President and Harris as Vice President is slated take place on January 20, 2021, as mandated by the constitution when they will formally take over the offices…reports Arul Louis
US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have appointed Indian-American Maju Varghese, who steered their campaign, to be the executive director of their inauguration – the swearing-in ceremony and the festivities around it.
The announcement on Monday makes Varghese the fifth Indian-American to be appointed to an important position by Biden and Harris.
Earlier on Monday, Biden had formally announced the appointment of Neera Tanden as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Varghese played an important part in the successful Biden-Harris campaign as its chief operating officer and as a senior adviser to the former Vice President.
He ran the logistics for the nationwide, multi-million-dollar effort to elect Biden, mobilising tens of thousands of staff and volunteers.
He had worked for former President Barack Obama as his special assistant and deputy director of advance, a position in which he worked on organising his travel in the US and abroad.
One of those assignments was organising Obama’s 2015 historic trip to India for the Republic Day celebrations.
Varghese later became assistant to the President for administration and management and oversaw the White House complex.
His parents immigrated from Thiruvalla, Kerala, to the US, where he was born, and is a lawyer by training.
The inauguration of Biden as President and Harris as Vice President is slated take place on January 20, 2021, as mandated by the constitution when they will formally take over the offices.
This will be the 59th inauguration and it will take place under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic and the festivities would have to balance the exuberant outpouring of joy by Biden supporters with the need to prevent the spread of the disease.
US President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris.
Tony Allen, who was named the CEO of the inauguration committee, said: “This year’s inauguration will look different amid the pandemic, but we will honour the American inaugural traditions and engage Americans across the country while keeping everybody healthy and safe.”
He is the president of Delaware State University in Biden’s home state and had been his speech-writer when he was a Senator.
More than a million have come to some previous inaugurations.
The social highlight of inaugurations has been the inaugural ball, a formal dance by the President and the Vice President and their spouses, and the invitees, with the women dressed glamorously in designer outfits that get widely discussed.
Several entertainments are also organised for the rest of the crowds attending the inaugurations.
Congress is officially in charge of the formal swearing-in portion of the inauguration and has the bi-partisan Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies to hold the ceremony at the Capitol, the Congress complex.
The current committee is headed by Republican Senator Roy Blunt and includes Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But the winning presidential candidates set up their own committees to work with it and to organise other celebrations and raise funds for the events.
The other Indian-Americans named to important positions by Biden include former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who was appointed co-chair of his Covid-19 task force last month in one of his first acts after the media proclaimed him the winner of the presidential election.
Two Indian-Americans were named to head the committees in charge of transition to the new administration –- Arun Majumdar for the Department of Energy and Kiran Ahuja for the Office of Personnel Management.
In addition, 19 Indian-Americans were appointed to the various transition teams and two others, Atul Gawande and Celine Gounder, to the Covid-19 task force.
She is currently the president of the Centre for American Progress think-tank…reports Asian Lite News
Joe Biden, who is to become US President in January, has picked Indian-American Neera Tanden, a controversial close confidante of the Clintons, to head the powerful White House Office of Management and Budget, according to several media reports.
But opposition to Tanden was welling up Sunday night soon after the news of her selection leaked because she is an outspoken critic of Republicans and is considered a partisan within her Democratic Party.
The Indian-American veteran of Democratic election campaigns, if confirmed, will oversee the budget process for the entire government on behalf of the President and have a wide range of responsibilities for management of various federal agencies and personnel and for legislative coordination.
She is currently the president of the Centre for American Progress think-tank.
Because of her controversial background, there are signs that she may have difficulty getting Senate confirmation.
“Neera Tanden, who has (made) an endless stream of disparaging comments about the Republican Senators’ whose votes she’ll need, stands zero chance of being confirmed,” tweeted a spokesperson for Republican Senator John Cornyn.
Another person close to Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and was his chief of staff, Josh Holmes, indicated that Biden may be putting her up so the Republicans can get the satisfaction of knocking down one of his nominees and let others pass.
He tweeted: “And there’s the sacrifice to the confirmation gods.”
Even if Democrats gain control of the Senate, she may have trouble finding unanimous support of non-Republican senators because of her work for Hillary Clinton’s campaigns when she vigorously opposed Senator Bernie Sanders, the socialist contender for the party’s presidential nomination.
And if Tanden gets the job, she will have to work with Congress to get the budget through.
She was one of the vehement critics of Trump and has said his “actions and words are tearing the country apart, and it falls upon every government official of both parties and every citizen to reject his call”.
A Yale law graduate, Tanden had earlier worked for former President Bill Clinton’s campaign and went on to work at the White House as an associate director for domestic policy and as an adviser to Hillary Clinton.
US President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris.
When Hillary Clinton ran successfully for senator, Tanden was her deputy campaign manager and became her legislative director after her election.
She advised Clinton’s presidential campaign and was tipped for a senior White House job were she to win.
Tanden worked as a senior adviser to the Health and Human Services Department in former President Barack Obama’s administration, helping craft his affordable healthcare law and programme.
Some of her personal emails that a hacker got from breaking into the emails of John Podesta, a former counsellor to Obama, caused embarrassment for her as they revealed her blunt views about some politicians, sometimes with four-letter obscenities.
Tanden has faced criticism for her handling of a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint at the CAP when she revealed the identity of the victim.
The development comes after Trump said on Thursday that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for the President-elect…reports Asian Lite News
US President Donald Trump lashed out at a reporter and called him “lightweight” after the latter questioned the President over the November 3 election outcome which has projected Democrat Joe Biden as the winner.
At a briefing, Jeff Mason, the Reuters White House correspondent, asked the President if he would concede if the Electoral College voted for President-elect Joe Biden in December, The Hill news website reported on Friday.
Trump responded by saying: “Don’t talk to me that way.”
US President Donald Trump formallt accepts Republican nomination.
As the reporter was trying to apologise, the President interrupted him and added: “I’m the President of the United States. Don’t ever talk to the President that way.”
The development comes after Trump said on Thursday that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for the President-elect.
So far, Biden has won 80,218,808 popular votes to date, compared to Trump’s 73,947,962, according to The Cook Political Report, an influential analytical site focused on US presidential, congressional and gubernatorial elections.
US media have projected that Biden has won 306 electoral votes, surpassing the 270-vote threshold for clinching the presidency.
US President Donald Trump
Biden has declared victory and announced the first tranche of his Cabinet nominees, including national security and foreign policy officials.
The General Services Administration has initiated Biden’s formal transition into the White House, but Trump, despite having directed his administration to facilitate the process, has vowed to continue the legal fight to challenge the election results.
Thousands of voters in Jammu and Kashmir vote for the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls, and the Panchayat by-elections.
According to officials, 296 candidates are contesting the first phase of the DDC polls— 172 from Kashmir and 124 from Jammu. A total of 1475 candidates are in the fray for the first phase that includes seats for Panchs and Sarpanchs also.
The DDC elections and panchayat By-Polls 2020 are being held in 8 phases commencing from 28th November to 19th December. The counting of votes shall be conducted on 22nd of December.
In all, 280 DDC members will be elected in the eight-phase elections which will end on December 19. The counting will be held on December 22. This is the first major electoral exercise after the central government scrapped the special status of the erstwhile state of J&K and bifurcated it into two union territories— J&K and Ladakh.
In the first phase of the DDC polls, officials said that 43 constituencies will go to polls — 25 in Kashmir and 18 in Jammu. In all, 2644 polling stations have been set up for 7,03,620 electors in this phase.
Officials said the voting for this phase will be from 7 am to 2 pm.
“On Friday, the polling stations in J&K were sanitized in view of COVID19,” they said, adding that the availability of all protective and sanitisation equipment like sanitizers, non-contact thermometers, facemasks , face-shields and PPE kits have been provided at the polling stations for the staff and the voters.
They said fool-proof mechanism has been devised for the postal ballots from absentee voters, especially the COVID19 patients in homes and institutional quarantine and isolation.
The DDC polls are being held on party basis and 280 elected members will elect the chairman for district developmental boards.
Among the 280 DDC seats in the union territory – 140 are each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions i.e. 14 constituencies have been earmarked in each of the 20 districts of the union territory.
For the by-elections to Panchayats, 899 candidates are in the fray for the Panch seats and 280 for the Sarpanch seats.
The campaigning for the first phase came to an end on Thursday. Officials said elaborate arrangements have been put in place for the smooth conduct of the polls and special measures taken in view of the COVID19 pandemic.
The eight-phase elections are seen as a triangular contest among the Peoples’ Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), the BJP and the Apni Party. The PAGD is seeking the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
Officials said the State Election Commissioner has directed for setting up of special polling stations for Kashmiri migrants at Jammu and Udhampur so that they can effectively exercise their right of franchise.
State Election Commissioner, J&K, KK Sharma today said that 36 Sarpanchs and 768 Panchs have been elected unopposed, mostly in Kashmir Valley.
He said: “368 Panch constituencies will go for by-elections tomorrow in J&K in which a total of 852 candidates are in fray including 635 males and 217 females.”
None of the candidates in DDC has won unopposed, he said, when asked during a press conference here in Jammu.
Regarding Sarpanch by-polls being held in the first phase (November 28), he said: “279 candidates are contesting for 94 Sarpanch constituencies. Out of 279, there are 203 male and female 76.” He said that 57 lakh voters will participate in Panchayat elections in eight phases whereas 7 lakh voters will participate in the first phase of elections and around 2001 polling stations have been established.
“We have made all arrangements even in remote areas of Doda, Kishtwar of Jammu region and Kupwara and Bandipora of Kashmir valley where we had a challenge to shift the election material, security, and polling staff to the polling stations,” he said.
Sharma said: “We sent polling staff in advance to the remote areas where we had apprehensions about such areas may get disconnected due to snowfall. Hence, we arranged a helicopter and took help of air force in areas like Doda, Kishtwar, Bandipora and Kupwara districts.”
He said: “We have no shortage of police, though we have some problems in Kishtwar and Gurez (Bandipora). However, with the improvement in weather, the required number of police force has been sent to the respective polling stations and all arrangements have been put in place for fair elections. Polling officers and presiding officers have also reached their polling stations.”
Regarding the SOPs related to COVID 19 pandemic, the SEC urged the people to follow the guideline issued by the Election Commission besides putting on their facemasks and maintaining the social distance during polling.
He also said that sanitizers, thermal scanners and facemasks shall also be provided to the voters, in case they forget to carry their own facemasks/ sanitizers.
In the wake of an ongoing second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan has reiterated that his government will not permit the PDM opposition alliance to hold anymore public rallies.
“The coronavirus is spreading dangerously, therefore the opposition should postpone PDM public meetings,” Dawn news quoted Khan as saying while addressing his spokespersons at the Prime Minister’s House on Friday.
Quoting the premier, a participant of the meeting said: “The government will strictly enforce standard operating procedures (SOP) and not allow the opposition to hold rallies as the health guidelines did not permit large gatherings.”
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance comprising 11 of the country’s opposition parties, has so far held four anti-government power shows in Gujranwala (October 16), Karachi (October 19), Quetta (October 25) and Peshawar (November 22), while two are scheduled for November 30 and December 13 in Multan and Lahore, respectively.
Pakistan Democratic Party (PDM) rally
Meanwhile in an attempt to stop the PDM’s fifth public rally, the police and district administration of Multan have 30 containers around the venue area and more are being brought in to block roads leading to the city.
According to police sources, more than 200 workers of PDM constituent parties have been arrested and raids are being conducted to nab others, reports Dawn news.
Fascist regime continues to arrest Democratic activists in Multan. These puppets are scared of jiyalas. Try as they might they cannot stop PPP from marking our foundation day along with PDM leaders on 30th November,” Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari tweeted on Friday.
Also, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Punjab President Rana Sanaullah declared that the Multan rally will be held at all costs.
A federal appeals court in the US state of Pennsylvania upheld a previous ruling by a lower court against the re-election campaign of President Donald Trump, dealing another blow to his effort to overturn the results of the November 3 election.
On Friday, the three-judge panel of the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia determined that the Trump campaign’s claims of widespread voter fraud in the state “have no merit”, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, wrote in the 21-page opinion.
“Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here,” he added.
The three Republican-appointed judges determined that US District Judge Matthew Brann’s ruling last week to reject the campaign’s lawsuit seeking to prevent the Pennsylvania’s certification of its election results for Democratic President-elect Joe Biden was justified.
The campaign’s lawsuit alleged that some counties in the ‘Keystone State’ allowed mail-in voters to fix problems by casting provisional ballots.
Brann said in a scathing opinion that the lawsuit provided “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence”.
The judge appointed by former President Barack Obama said he could not find any case in which a plaintiff “has sought such a drastic remedy in the contest of an election”.
In reaction to Friday’s development, Trump said on Twitter that the ruling was “all a continuation of the never ending Witch Hunt”, adding that Brann “would not even allow us to present our case or evidence” .
Brann didn’t allow the campaign to file an amended complaint, which led to the campaign’s appeal.
“The Campaign never alleges that any ballot was fraudulent or cast by an illegal voter,” wrote Bibas, the Third Circuit’s judge.
“It never alleges that any defendant treated the Trump campaign or its votes worse than it treated the Biden campaign or its votes. Calling something discrimination does not make it so.
“The Second Amended Complaint still suffers from these core defects, so granting leave to amend would have been futile,” he added.
The Trump campaign is reportedly going to appeal the case to the US Supreme Court.
Pennsylvania certified its election results on Tuesday for Biden, formally awarding its 20 electoral votes to the former Vice President.
US President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris.
So far, Biden has won 80,218,808 popular votes to date, compared to Trump’s 73,947,962, according to The Cook Political Report, an influential analytical site focused on US presidential, congressional and gubernatorial elections.
US media have projected that Biden has won 306 electoral votes, surpassing the 270-vote threshold for clinching the presidency.
Biden has declared victory and announced the first tranche of his Cabinet nominees, including national security and foreign policy officials.
The General Services Administration has initiated Biden’s formal transition into the White House, but Trump, despite having directed his administration to facilitate the process, has vowed to continue the legal fight to challenge the election results.
