Georgia Hand Tally of Presidential Vote Gets Underway

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Election officials in Georgia’s 159 counties started counting ballots Friday morning for a hand tally of the presidential race that stems from an audit required by state law.   The law requires that one race be audited by hand to check that the machines counted the ballots accurately, not because of any suspected problems with the results.   Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger chose to audit the presidential race and said the tight margin — Democrat Joe Biden leads Republican President Donald Trump by 14,000 votes — meant a full hand count was necessary.   In Cobb County, in suburbanmore

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Ivy League Cancels Winter Sports Because of COVID-19

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The Ivy League became the first Division I conference this year to cancel all winter sports, including men’s and women’s basketball.   The decision Thursday came 13 days before the scheduled start of the college basketball season. The league had decided this past summer, when it canceled fall sports, not to allow any of its sports to start play before early December.   “Regrettably, the current trends regarding transmission of the COVID-19 virus and subsequent protocols that must be put in place are impeding our strong desire to return to intercollegiate athletics competition in a safe manner,” the Ivy Leaguemore

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Biden Wins Arizona, Widening Electoral College Lead

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is the winner in the southwestern state of Arizona, according to major U.S. news outlets, adding to his electoral victory even as President Donald Trump refuses to acknowledge defeat.   With more than 99 percent of the votes counted in the state, Biden leads President Donald Trump by about 11,000 votes. The New York Times, CNN, NBC News and The Washington Post were among the news organizations Thursday that projected Biden the winner in Arizona, historically a Republican stronghold. Fox News and Associated Press called Arizona for Biden last week.   Edison Research also has projectedmore

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Parler: A New Social Media Hangout for Conservatives to Vent, Plan

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When Twitter started blocking President Donald Trump’s postings claiming widespread voter fraud, some cheered. Others started looking for the social media exits.   They found a new option at Parler.   Fed up with what they see as an anti-conservative bias by managers of the major social media platforms, Trump supporters are telling their followers on Twitter and Facebook to “Follow me on Parler.”   From the French word “to speak” or “to talk” but pronounced “PAR-lor,” the social media app is a lot like Twitter, with users posting messages and following topics searchable as hashtags.   Launched in 2018more

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Biden Presidency Could Be Watershed Moment in US-Turkey Relations, Analysts Say

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Turkish analysts say Joe Biden’s projected presidential election victory could prove to be a pivotal moment in Turkey’s relations with the United States — one that could see Ankara pivoting back to its traditional Western allies or further deepening ties with Russia and China. While many European leaders were quick to offer congratulations to Biden, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan belatedly issued a statement Wednesday acknowledging Biden’s victory. In it, Erdogan stressed the “strategic” nature of bilateral ties and said they should be further strengthened based on common interests. The Turkish leader also sent a message to President Donald Trump, thanking him. Under Trump, critics say, Erdogan paid little price for confronting fellow NATO members and cozying up to Moscow, with the U.S. president opposing calls in the U.S. Congress for sanctions against Turkey.A Bidenmore

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China Congratulates Biden on Election Victory

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China on Friday extended its congratulations to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin made a statement at a regular daily briefing.“We extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris,” Wenbin said. “We have been following the reaction to the U.S. presidential election of both the United States and the international community,” he said without elaborating on his country’s delay.“We respect the choice of the American people. Meanwhile we understand the results of the U.S. election will be determined according to U.S. laws and procedures,” Wenbin said.Biden is projected to become U.S. presidentmore

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What Is the Fate of Trump’s Border Wall?

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Joe Biden, projected to become America’s 46th president in January, has vowed to stop constructing a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border — a centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s presidency. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports. Camera:  Spike Johnson and Christian von Preysing     Producer: Elizabeth Lee …

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Biden Agenda Depends on Battle for Senate

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The balance of power in the U.S. Congress will come down to just two Senate races in one Southern state – Georgia — where the presidential contest remains too close to call. As VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, those two Senate seats will determine if there is a divided government during President-elect Joe Biden’s first two years. Camera:  Adam Greenbaum           Producer: Katherine Gypson …

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No Voting System Deleted or Lost Votes in US Election, Security Groups Say

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Election security officials have no evidence that ballots were deleted or lost by voting systems in this month’s U.S. election, two security groups said in a statement released Thursday by the lead U.S. cybersecurity agency. “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” the groups said about the November 3 election won by Joe Biden, a Democrat. Republican President Donald Trump has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud and has yet to concede. The groups, the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council Executive Committee (GCC) and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinatingmore

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Harvard Cleared of Racial Bias in Admissions

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Harvard does not discriminate against Asian American applicants, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday in a decision that offers relief to other colleges that consider race in admissions but also sets the stage for a potential review by an increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court.The decision came from two judges on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston who rejected claims from an anti-affirmative action group that accused the Ivy League university of imposing a “racial penalty” on Asian Americans. The judges upheld a previous ruling clearing Harvard of discrimination when choosing students.It delivers a blow to the suit’smore

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Student Visa Changes Indicated Under Biden

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Immigration rules for international students at U.S. colleges and universities have undergone multiple changes during the Trump administration. In his transition plan, President-elect Joe Biden proposes changing some of them to loosen visa restrictions.Biden, projected as winner of the November 3 presidential election, does not specifically refer to undergraduate foreign students in his “Plan for Securing Our Values as a Nation of Immigrants,” at JoeBiden.com. But he says he will increase the number of visas for “permanent, employment-based immigration — and promote mechanisms to temporarily reduce the number of visas during times of high U.S. unemployment.”Foreign students identify barriers to permanentmore

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Asian Student Athletes in US Call for Greater Diversity

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Traditional thinking about college sports does not usually conjure images of Asian athletes, which Asian students say is hindering diversity on the playing field.   “I know when I was younger, looking at some of the really successful Ivy League runners, none of them were Asian American,” said Kieran Tuntivate, a Thai American runner and recent graduate of Harvard University. “So, there wasn’t really a person I could see myself becoming or model myself after.”  Tuntivate, 23, said he believes a lack of role models for young Asian American athletes leads to a loss of diversity.  “I think whatever barriers theremore

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Biden Names Chief of Staff as Trump Seeks to Overturn Election Results

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has announced his choice of longtime adviser Ron Klain to be his White House chief of staff.Klain previously served as Biden’s vice-presidential chief of staff during the administration of President Barack Obama, and was the official Obama put in charge of the U.S. response to 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 in a statement Wednesday.Klain called the new appointmentmore

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Grief, Anger, Disbelief: Trump Voters Face Biden’s Victory

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When Joan Martin heard that Joe Biden had been declared the winner of the presidential election, the retired nurse and avowed supporter of President Donald Trump was deeply unsettled. To steel herself, she thought about how her household weathered Hurricane Katrina when it battered her hometown of Picayune, Mississippi, in 2005. As the storm blew toward the town, Martin rushed out into her yard to carry her 85 show chickens to safety. Outside, howling winds lashed her family’s barn, lifting the edges of the roof off its moorings. “The next day they (the chickens) were very concerned about the changesmore

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US President-Elect Joe Biden Talks with More World Leaders

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has held additional congratulatory telephone calls with world leaders as he moves forward with preparations ahead of his inauguration January 20. The calls come as President Donald Trump refuses to concede following the November 3 election and challenges the results.The Biden-Harris transition team says Biden spoke with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and South Korean President Moon Jae-in during separate calls Wednesday, thanking them for their congratulations. The statement said the conversations covered climate change, COVID-19 and strengthening democracy.Biden spoke earlier in the week with leaders from Britain, Canada France, Germanymore

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Phone Calls Play Key Role in Transatlantic Relations

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The anxieties of Britain’s ruling Conservatives about how Anglo-American relations may unfold under a Biden administration were partly calmed midweek when President-elect Joe Biden chose to phone Prime Minister Boris Johnson ahead of conversations with France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Angela Merkel.“Special relationship maintained as Johnson is first on Joe Biden’s call list,” the Times of London proclaimed on its front page Wednesday. The two men spoke for around 25 minutes. Britain’s newspapers — and Downing Street officials privately — appeared gleeful, too, that Biden phoned Johnson ahead of talking with Ireland’s Micheal Martin.“The prime minister warmly congratulated Joe Bidenmore

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Biden Names Klain Chief of Staff

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has announced his choice of longtime adviser Ron Klain to be his White House chief of staff.Klain previously served as Biden’s vice-presidential chief of staff during the administration of President Barack Obama, and was the official Obama put in charge of the U.S. response to 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 in a statement Wednesday.Klain called the new appointmentmore

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Republicans Gain Half of Total US Senate Seats

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U.S. Republican Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska won reelection Wednesday, assuring Republicans of at least 50 seats in the 100-member Senate for the next two years, while leaving control of the chamber uncertain until two runoff elections are held in Georgia in early January.After slow vote-counting in the northwestern-most state of the U.S. after the November 3 election, news media concluded that Sullivan had an insurmountable lead over Al Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who ran as an independent candidate with Democratic support. The contest was called with Sullivan, a conservative, ahead by 20 percentage points.FILE – Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska,more

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Facebook Extends Ban on US Political Ads for Another Month

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As election misinformation raged online, Facebook Inc. said on Wednesday its post-election ban on political ads would likely last another month, raising concerns from campaigns and groups eager to reach voters for key Georgia Senate races in January.   The ban, one of Facebook’s measures to combat misinformation and other abuses on its site, was supposed to last about a week but could be extended. Alphabet Inc.’s Google also appeared to be sticking with its post-election political ad ban.   “While multiple sources have projected a presidential winner, we still believe it’s important to help prevent confusion or abuse onmore

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US Immigration Policy Changes Expected Under Biden

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The incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden could swiftly reverse an array of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, many of which remain among the most contentious initiatives of his administration.Biden could overturn many guidelines using the same mechanism Trump employed to implement them: executive orders. Others, however, will require more than a policy declaration, experts say.In the last four years, Trump authored more than 400 regulatory actions through his executive power.    Michele Waslin, program coordinator at the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University in Virginia, told VOA the list includes sweeping travel restrictions, changed immigration enforcement priorities,more

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US State of Georgia Orders Trump-Biden Vote Recount

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The top elections official in the southern U.S. state of Georgia on Wednesday ordered a hand audit of the close vote there between President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden. With almost all the votes counted in Georgia, Trump’s Democratic challenger for a four-year term in the White House is leading by 14,112 votes out of the nearly 5 million votes cast in the state. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, has said he wanted Trump to win the election, but pushed back against Republican claims that the Georgia vote count was plagued by irregularities. Georgia has not voted formore

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