Birthday Time: Biden Turns 78, Will Be Oldest US President

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President-elect Joe Biden turned 78 on Friday. In two months, he’ll take the reins of a politically fractured nation facing the worst public health crisis in a century, high unemployment and a reckoning on racial injustice.     As he wrestles with those issues, Biden will be attempting to accomplish another feat: demonstrate to Americans that age is but a number and he’s up to the job. Biden will be sworn in as the oldest president in the nation’s history, displacing Ronald Reagan, who left the White House in 1989 when he was 77 years and 349 days old.  more

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Biden Adds Obama Administration Veterans to Top Staff

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President-elect Joe Biden is adding four Obama-Biden administration veterans to his top ranks as he continues to build out his White House team.Cathy Russell, who was Jill Biden’s chief of staff during the Obama administration, will serve as director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, evaluating applicants for administration roles. Louisa Terrell, who served as a legislative adviser to the president in the Obama administration and worked as deputy chief of staff for Biden in the Senate, will be director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. Terrell has already been engaged in Capitol Hill outreach asmore

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Mnuchin Denies Trying to Hinder Incoming Administration

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin denied Friday that by ending several emergency loan programs being run by the Federal Reserve, he was trying to limit the choices President-elect Joe Biden will have to promote an economic recovery.Mnuchin said his decision was based on the fact the programs were not being heavily utilized. He said Congress could make better use of the money by reallocating it to support grants to small businesses and extended unemployment assistance.”We’re not trying to hinder anything,” Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview. “We don’t need this money to buy corporate bonds. We need this money to gomore

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Trump, Allies Take Frantic Steps to Overturn Biden’s Victory

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President Donald Trump and his allies are taking increasingly frantic steps to subvert the results of the 2020 election, including summoning state legislators to the White House as part of a longshot bid to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.   Among other last-ditch tactics: personally calling local election officials who are trying to rescind their certification votes in Michigan, suggesting in a legal challenge that Pennsylvania set aside the popular vote there and pressuring county officials in Arizona to delay certifying vote tallies.     Election law experts see it as the last, dying gasps of the Trump campaign and saymore

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Venezuelan President Blames Rival for Trump’s Apparent Election Defeat

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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is blaming his rival, opposition leader Juan Guaido, for U.S. President Donald Trump’s apparent reelection defeat.Maduro said Thursday, he received a message from someone in the United States he refused to identify, that if Trump had trusted Maduro instead of Guaido, the election result would have been different.Maduro seemed to mock Trump for recognizing Guaido as Venezuela’s self-proclaimed interim president saying, “You preferred to bet on an imbecile and that imbecile led you to defeat.”Maduro’s comments might also be a public rebuke of Trump and his administration, which has long favored Guaido, who was also backedmore

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Joe Biden Wins Georgia, Flipping State for Democrats

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Joe Biden has won Georgia, scoring a rare win in a Southern state that hadn’t backed a Democrat for president in nearly 30 years.The Associated Press declared Joe Biden the winner of Georgia and its 16 Electoral College votes Thursday, after state election officials there said a hand tally of ballots cast in the presidential race confirmed the former vice president led President Donald Trump by roughly 12,000 votes out of nearly 5 million counted.The AP declared Biden president-elect after he clinched the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Georgia raised the Democrat’s electoral vote total to 306.The AP didmore

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Biden Conducts Virtual Meeting with State Governors

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden continues his transition to power, meeting virtually on Thursday with leading state governors even as President Donald Trump continues his long-shot legal efforts to overturn the election results and retain the presidency.Biden, two months ahead of his inauguration on January 20, is meeting with Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and other state leaders from his home city of Wilmington, Delaware.Their discussions are likely to center on Biden’s plans when he takes office to control the surging number of coronavirus infections in the U.S. and what can be done before hemore

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Biden Expected to Reverse Many of Trump’s Immigration Policies

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President-elect Joe Biden is expected to reverse many of President Donald Trump’s landmark immigration policies after he takes office next year. Though untangling some immigration guidelines most likely will take time, Biden has vowed to reverse limits on temporary workers, loosen visa restrictions on international students, halt border wall construction and end private immigration detention centers.As VOA recently reported, Biden is expected to prioritize restoring DACA — an Obama-era program that protects undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation — rescind travel restrictions on 13 countries and put in place a 100-day freeze on deportationsmore

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Millennial Life: Eat, Sleep, Work, Screens

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Would you give up nearly a decade of your life looking at your cellphone?Calculated by today’s usage, the average person spends a little over 76,500 hours – or 8.74 years – on a smartphone over a lifetime, according to a FILE – Marilu Rodriguez checks a news website on her smartphone before boarding a train home at the end of her workweek in Chicago, March 13, 2015.This widespread usage of smartphones has sparked worries among teens themselves, with 54% of U.S. teens saying they spend too much time on their phones. And 52% have also reported trying to take stepsmore

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3 US Senators Seek to Stop Trump’s $23B in Arms Sales to UAE 

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Three U.S. senators said Wednesday that they would introduce legislation seeking to stop the Trump administration’s effort to sell more than $23 billion of drones and other weapons systems to the United Arab Emirates, setting up a showdown with the president just weeks before he is due to leave office.Democratic Senators Bob Menendez and Chris Murphy and Republican Senator Rand Paul will introduce four separate resolutions of disapproval of President Donald Trump’s plan to sell more than $23 billion worth of Reaper drones, F-35 fighter aircraft and air-to-air missiles, and other munitions to the UAE.The huge sale could alter themore

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Biden Says Battle Against Coronavirus Needs Commander in Chief

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday declared that the battle against COVID-19 “is like going to war. You need a commander in chief.”Biden is to be sworn in as the 46th president, succeeding Donald Trump, on January 20.During a virtual roundtable discussion with front-line health care workers, whom he hailed as heroes fighting the coronavirus, Biden predicted: “I’ll make mistakes. But I promise you I’ll acknowledge them when I make them, as well as I’ll take responsibility.”Biden said when he gets into office, he will urge state governors to order mandatory masking, testing, tracing and social distancing.“I will be usingmore

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House Democrats Nominate Pelosi as Speaker to Lead Into Biden era

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House Democrats nominated Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday as the speaker to lead them into Joe Biden’s presidency, but she’d be guiding a smaller and ideologically divided majority as she tries shepherding his agenda toward enactment.Democrats used a voice vote to make Pelosi, D-Calif., their choice to serve two more years in her post. Scattered around the country, it was the party’s first virtual leadership election, a response to the coronavirus pandemic.House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and No. 3 party leader Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., Congress’ highest ranking Black member, were reelected to their positions, like Pelosi without opposition. Clyburn revivedmore

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Deadline Near for Hand Tally of Presidential Race in Georgia

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Election officials across Georgia are staring down a Wednesday deadline to complete a hand tally of the presidential race in the state.The hand recount of nearly 5 million votes stems from an audit required by a new state law and wasn’t in response to any suspected problems with the state’s results or an official recount request. The law requires the audit to be done before the counties’ certified results can be certified by the state.The deadline for the counties to complete the audit is 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, ahead of the Friday deadline for state certification.Georgia Hand Tally of Presidential Votemore

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Detroit-Area County Certifies Vote After First Blocking It

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Michigan’s largest county reversed course and unanimously certified its presidential election results Tuesday night after Republicans first blocked the move in a party-line vote that threatened to temporarily stall official approval of Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the state.The Wayne County Board of Canvassers acted after the 2-2 tie was condemned by Democrats and election experts as a dangerous attempt to overthrow the will of voters.The board met after days of unsuccessful litigation filed by Republican poll challengers and President Donald Trump’s allies. They claimed fraud during absentee ballot counting at a Detroit convention center, but two judges found nomore

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Michigan County Fails to Certify Vote, Stalling Outcome

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Republicans in Michigan’s largest county blocked the certification of local election results in a 2-2 vote along party lines that could temporarily stall official approval of Joe Biden’s win in the state. The practical effect of the move may be a delay in ultimately blessing Biden’s victory, with unofficial returns showing he defeated President Donald Trump in Michigan by 146,000 votes. Still, the failure to certify by the Wayne County Board of Canvassers is a boost for Trump. It could also embolden Republicans in key states to take similar measures on the way to the Electoral College’s final vote on the presidentialmore

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Trump Fires Cybersecurity Official

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President Donald Trump announced Tuesday on Twitter that he had fired Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, for a recent statement Krebs made regarding election security. Krebs has consistently debunked allegations of voter fraud over the past week, tweeting, “On allegations that election systems were manipulated, 59 election security experts all agree, ‘in every case of which we are aware, these claims either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.’ ” On Tuesday, Trump tweeted that Krebs’s statements were “highly inaccurate,” alleging “massive improprieties and fraud.” Trump’s tweet was labeled as “disputed” by Twitter. “Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebsmore

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Controversial Fed Nominee Shelton Stalls in Senate Test Vote

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The nomination of Judy Shelton, President Donald Trump’s controversial pick for the Federal Reserve, is stalled in the Senate after Vice President-elect Kamala Harris returned to the chamber to cast a key vote in a tally Tuesday.  Two key Republicans were absent because of COVID-related concerns. The 47-50 vote came as the Republican-controlled Senate continues to focus its energies in the post-election lame-duck session on confirming Trump’s appointees. Shelton is an unusually caustic critic of the Fed and was opposed by two GOP senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah, in Tuesday’s vote. Harris has been focused onmore

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Wealthy California Couple Receive Prison Terms in College Admissions Scandal

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A wealthy California couple was sentenced to prison time on Tuesday after admitting they paid $250,000 to fraudulently help their daughter gain admission to the University of Southern California as a volleyball recruit.Diane Blake, the co-founder of a retail merchandising company, and Todd Blake, an entrepreneur and investor, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston to six weeks and to four months in prison, respectively.They are among 57 people charged in relation to a vast scheme in which wealthy parents conspired with California college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer to fraudulently secure spots for their children atmore

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More Universities to Close After Thanksgiving 

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As COVID-19 cases surge around the U.S., more universities and colleges plan to move all classes online after Thanksgiving break in late November, while others say they will allow students to return to campus. FILE – Students wait in line at a testing site for the COVID-19 set up for returning students, faculty and staff on the main campus of New York University (NYU) in Manhattan in New York City, Aug. 18, 2020.”By requiring all students to test negative before leaving, we are implementing a smart, sensible policy that protects students’ families and hometown communities and drastically reduces the chances ofmore

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Biden Warns of Lethal Consequences if Trump Won’t Coordinate on Coronavirus Response

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President-elect Joe Biden warned that outgoing President Donald Trump’s refusal to recognize the transition prior to the January 20 inauguration could have dire consequences amid the coronavirus pandemic.  “More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden said in response to a reporter’s question Monday in Wilmington, Delaware.Biden, again warning of a “very dark winter” ahead, called for immediate congressional passage of the HEROES Act — a proposed $3 trillion stimulus package in response to the economic devastation wrought by COVID-19.  “The idea the president is still playing golf and not doing anything about it is beyond my comprehension,” Bidenmore

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Former Harvard Coach, Dad Charged in Latest Admission Scheme

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A former Harvard University fencing coach and a Maryland businessman have been arrested and charged with conspiring to circumvent the school’s admissions process, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston.Peter Brand, 67, a former Harvard fencing coach who was fired in 2019, is alleged to have taken more than $1.5 million in bribes to get the sons of Maryland businessman Jie “Jack” Zhao, 61, into Harvard by recruiting them to the school’s fencing team.In 2013, Zhao, who runs a telecommunications company, allegedly donated more than $1 million to a fencing charity run by Brand. That same year, one ofmore

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New International Student Enrollment Falls 43% in the US

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COVID-19 has drastically cut international student participation in U.S. colleges and universities, punctuating three years of declining enrollment tied to costs, immigration barriers and perceived chaos in American society.Fewer Foreign Students Enrolling in US College and UniversitiesAnnual Open Doors report of international students in US shows increase in total international enrollment from previous year, but a decrease in new international student enrollmentIn the school year that began three months ago, new enrollment of international students dropped 43% because of COVID-19. Nearly 40,000 students — mostly incoming freshmen — have deferred enrollment at 90% of U.S. institutions to a future term. The data were compiled and reported bymore

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