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Biden undoes Trump migration orders, pushes for major reform
New York (AFP) - Within hours of taking office, President Joe Biden undid some of Donald Trump's most controversial immigration policies and sparked cautious hope that millions living in the shadows could one day get legal status in the US. Scribbled signatures from his pen on Wednesday lifted an entry ban for people from many majority Muslim nations and halted construction of Trump's border wall with Mexico, heartening immigration defenders left reeling by four years of "America First" nationalism. Yet advocates see new battles ahead, including whether lawmakers can finally overhaul the natio...
AFP
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Woolly mittens, a big skirt and hugs: eye-catching inauguration moments
Washington (AFP) - Security was intense and the atmosphere muted without a large crowd, but Joe Biden's inauguration still threw up some lighter moments. Bernie's mittensVeteran left-winger Bernie Sanders, 79, was one of the scattering of guests, and the senator from Vermont made an instant impact on social media. Huddled up on a folding chair, with arms crossed, wearing huge knitted mittens and a green coat to ward off the wintery conditions, Sanders watched his former rival become president. Sanders, who arrived carrying a large brown envelope, was compared to a grandfather stopping in at th...
AFP
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'They forget that 75 million voted for him:' Trump supporters reject Biden
New York (AFP) - They were among the almost 75 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump and refuse to recognize Joe Biden's presidential victory as legitimate. AFP spoke to some Trump supporters about what they think Trump will do next and what they believe life will be like under the new Democratic administration. 'I believe they cheated'"When Trump was inaugurated, I was so happy," said Gia Maxson, a yoga teacher and devout Catholic from Hickory, North Carolina. "I went to two Trump rallies. They were wonderful, uplifting, positive experiences," she added. Maxson refuses to believe that ...
AFP
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Incoming US defense chief promises to fight extremists in the ranks
Washington (AFP) - President-elect Joe Biden's nominee to be the next defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, pledged Tuesday to tackle extremists in the military's own ranks, after some members of the military dressed in civilian clothing took part in the attack on the US Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. "The activity that we've seen recently in terms of potential racists or extremist behavior within our ranks is in my view absolutely unacceptable," said Austin, a former general who is set to become the first African American to head the Pentagon. In a hearing of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, Aus...
AFP
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US carries out last federal execution of Trump era: reports
Washington (AFP) - US authorities carried out the 13th and final federal execution of Donald Trump's presidency Saturday, media reports said, less than a week before the White House is taken over by Democrat Joe Biden, who opposes the death penalty. Dustin Higgs, a 48-year-old Black man, was executed by lethal injection at the federal penitentiary in Terre-Haute in Indiana hours after the US Supreme Court rejected a stay of execution, the New York Times reported. Higgs was pronounced dead at 1:23 am local time, the Times said, citing a statement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In January 1...
AFP
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US National Rifle Association files for bankruptcy
Washington (AFP) - The National Rifle Association announced Friday it was filing for bankruptcy protection from creditors and moving to Texas, in an apparent bid to dodge a corruption probe in New York. The powerful gun lobby group and one of its subsidiaries filed petitions for so-called Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Dallas court. The NRA said its decision to reincorporate its non-profit status in Texas will ensure that in the future it is "free from the toxic political environment in New York." The NRA was set up in New York in 1871. The state of New York announced in August of last ...
AFP
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US executes drug trafficker in Trump's final days in office
Washington (AFP) - US federal authorities executed a former drug trafficker who had contracted Covid-19 late Thursday, and a final execution of Donald Trump's administration was scheduled for Friday with just five days left of his presidency. Corey Johnson was part of a gang implicated in 10 murders in 1992 in the US state of Virginia. He was convicted in federal court for his involvement in seven of them. The 52-year-old African American received a lethal injection at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, and was pronounced dead at 11:34 pm (0434 GMT Friday). He addressed the fam...
AFP
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Solemnity, tension at gaveling of Trump's second impeachment
Washington (AFP) - There was deep silence on the House floor as the gavel struck Wednesday heralding the second impeachment of US President Donald Trump. With hands clasped atop a lectern on which rested the results of the chamber's historic vote, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the charges, making Trump the only president in US history to be impeached twice, this time for "incitement of insurrection" against the Capitol. During the document's subsequent sober signing, the mood was a far cry from Trump's first impeachment, when Pelosi signed the document with multiple pens, distributing them to...
AFP
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Pelosi's stolen lectern back at the Capitol
Washington (AFP) - US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's lectern was back in its rightful spot at the Capitol Wednesday, a week after it was stolen during the violent incursion of the building by a mob of Trump supporters. The photo of a man -- smiling, waving and wearing a Trump hat -- carrying the piece of furniture under his arm as he wandered the halls of Congress has become one of the most emblematic images of the day. The man was quickly identified as Florida resident Adam Johnson and has been charged with unlawful trespassing, violent conduct and theft -- despite the fact that the le...
AFP
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First US federal execution of woman in decades
Washington (AFP) - An American woman was put to death by lethal injection Wednesday, becoming the first female to be executed by US federal authorities in nearly seven decades. Lisa Montgomery’s execution came in the final days of the government of US President Donald Trump, which pushed forward with her execution despite a legal battle that the Supreme Court ended with a ruling in the early hours of Wednesday. Montgomery, 52, murdered an expectant mother to steal her baby, though she had sought a stay of execution on the grounds she was mentally ill. She was the 11th person to be put to death...
AFP
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