Category: WORLD NEWS

Donald Trump will stand trial for impeachment after the Senate rejected arguments from the former president’s lawyers on Tuesday that the chamber cannot move forward because he is no longer in office. Several Republicans joined Democrats in voting 56-44 to proceed. Democrats said if Trump is not held accountable for inciting the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol last month, the impeachment process would be rendered meaningless in effect signaling to all future presidents that they could abuse their power near the end of their term without consequence. “It’s…

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Demonstrators against Myanmar’s military takeover took to the streets again on Tuesday in defiance of new rules that make their protests illegal. Police were arresting protesters and using water cannons to try to disperse the crowd in Mandalay, and a crowd also gathered in Yangon despite a heightened security presence. The decrees issued Monday night for some areas of the two cities banned rallies and gatherings of more than five people, along with motorized processions, while also imposing a 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew. Yangon is Myanmar’s biggest city…

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the country was still in a deep hole with millions of lost jobs but that President Joe Biden’s USD 1.9 trillion relief plan could generate enough growth to restore full employment by next year. Republican senators argued that Biden’s proposal was too expensive and they cited criticism from Larry Summers, a treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, that passage of the measure could run the risk of triggering runaway inflation. Summers also contended that Biden’s plan would make less money available for other initiatives…

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 A powerful India Caucus in the US Congress has urged the Indian government to ensure that the norms of democracy are maintained and protesters allowed to demonstrate peacefully and have access to the Internet as it held a meeting with New Delhi’s envoy here. India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who regularly interacts with India Caucus members on a number of issues, had a virtual meeting with the top leadership of the Congressional India Caucus last week. The members included congressmen Brad Sherman and Steve Chabot who are…

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Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledged Friday that the United Nations will do everything it can to unite the international community and create conditions for the military coup in Myanmar to be reversed. The UN chief told a news conference it is absolutely essential to carry out the Security Council’s calls for a return to democracy, respect for the results of the November parliamentary elections, and release of all people detained by the military, which means the reversal of the coup that took place. It is absolutely essential that that moves forward,…

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The Biden administration has announced that it is delaying the H-1B policy of the previous Trump administration on allocation of the popular foreign work visas by continuing with the lottery system until December 31, 2021, to give the immigration agency more time to develop, test and implement the modifications to the registration system. On January 7, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced to do away with the traditional lottery system in deciding the successful applicants for the H-1B visas. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows…

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Australian Open chief Craig Tiley said the tournament would start as scheduled on Monday, and that there were no plans to cancel. Australian Open chief Craig Tiley said he was “absolutely confident” the tournament will start next week despite a fresh coronavirus case that halted warm-up tournaments and forced hundreds of players and officials into isolation on Thursday. The case, a worker at one of the Melbourne tournament’s designated quarantine hotels, has caused yet more chaos before the year’s first tennis Grand Slam, which has already been delayed three weeks over…

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Slain US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick lay in honour in the building he died defending, allowing colleagues and the lawmakers he protected to pay their respects and to remember the violent attack on Congress that took his life. Sicknick died after defending the Capitol on Jan. 6 against the mob that stormed the building and interrupted the electoral count after then-President Donald Trump urged supporters on the National Mall to fight like hell to overturn his defeat. The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement that Sicknick, who died…

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President Joe Biden met late Monday with a group of Republican senators who have proposed a slimmed down USD 618 billion coronavirus aid package — a fraction of the USD 1.9 trillion he is seeking — as congressional Democrats vowed to push ahead with or without GOP support. Biden greeted the lawmakers in the Oval Office, joking that he felt like he was “back in the Senate” as they started the private session. He and Vice President Kamala Harris were hearing the Republicans’ pitch for a smaller, more targeted COVID…

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Chanting slogans against President Vladimir Putin, tens of thousands took to the streets Sunday across Russia to demand the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, keeping up nationwide protests that have rattled the Kremlin. More than 5,000 people were detained by police, according to a monitoring group, and some were beaten. The massive protests came despite efforts by Russian authorities to stem the tide of demonstrations after tens of thousands rallied across the country last weekend in the largest, most widespread show of discontent that Russia had seen in…

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