BBC ALL 50 US states and the District of Columbia (DC) are on alert for possible violent protests this weekend, ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday. National Guard troops from across the country are being sent to Washington DC, to discourage any repeat of the deadly riot that unfolded on 6 January. The
BBC MARK Rutte’s government has stepped down after thousands of families were wrongly accused of child welfare fraud and told to pay money back. Families suffered an “unparalleled wrong”, Dutch MPs decided, with tax officials, politicians, judges and civil servants leaving them powerless. Many of those affected were from an immigrant background and hundreds were
AP Rescuers are searching for 26 people still missing after two landslides hit a village in Indonesia’s West Java province over the weekend, officials said Tuesday. At least 13 people were killed and 29 others injured in the landslides that were triggered by heavy rain on Sunday in Cihanjuang, a village in West Java’s Sumedang
BBC The FBI is warning of the possibility of armed protests being held across the US in the days before Joe Biden is sworn in as president. There are reports of armed groups planning to gather at all 50 state capitols and in Washington DC in the run-up to his 20 January inauguration. The fears
BBC US President Donald Trump has been permanently suspended from Twitter “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”, the company says. Twitter said the decision was made “after close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account”. It comes amid a Big Tech purge of the online platforms used by Trump and his
BBC A NEW era has begun for the United Kingdom after it completed its formal separation from the European Union. The UK stopped following EU rules at 23:00 GMT, as replacement arrangements for travel, trade, immigration and security co-operation came into force. Boris Johnson said the UK had “freedom in our hands” and the ability
Mailonline Boris Johnson today declared that a Brexit deal has been done after four years of desperate wrangling – with a furious propaganda war already underway. The PM has made history by sealing future trade terms to avert a chaotic split when the transition period ends on January 1, after Lord Frost and Michel Barnier
AP South Korea has added another new 1,092 infections of the coronavirus in a resurgence that is erasing hard-won epidemiological gains and eroding public confidence in the government’s ability to handle the outbreak. The figures released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Wednesday brought the national caseload to 52,550, with more than
BBC Israel is to hold its fourth elections in two years after the two main parties in its unity government failed to meet a deadline in a row over state budgets. Voters will return to the polls in March, just 12 months after the last round. Two previous elections were inconclusive, resulting in a rare
BBC US President Trump has urged Congress to amend a $900bn (£670bn) coronavirus relief bill to more than triple its stimulus payments to Americans. In a video message posted on Twitter, he said the package “really is a disgrace”, full of “wasteful” items. “It’s called the Covid relief bill, but it has almost nothing to
BBC After months of wrangling, US lawmakers have agreed to a roughly $900bn package of pandemic aid, including money for businesses and unemployment programmes. The money is set to accompany a bigger $1.4tn spending bill to fund government operations over the next nine months. It comes as many Covid-19 economic relief programmes were set to
BBC A growing list of European Union nations and Canada barred travel from the U.K. on Sunday and others were considering similar action, in a bid to block a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England from spreading to the continent. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Bulgaria all announced restrictions
BBC RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has become one of the last world leaders to congratulate US President-elect Joe Biden on his victory. The Kremlin had said it would wait for official results from November’s vote before recognising the victory. Biden was confirmed as the winner on Monday by the electoral college. Most world leaders congratulated
AP With Americans, Britons and Canadians rolling up their sleeves to receive coronavirus vaccines, the route out of the pandemic now seems clear to many in the West, even if the rollout will take many months. But for poorer countries, the road will be far longer and rougher. The ambitious initiative known as COVAX created
BBC Joe Biden has said it is “time to turn the page” after his presidential election victory was confirmed by the US electoral college. In a speech after the announcement, he said US democracy had been “pushed, tested and threatened” and “proved to be resilient, true and strong”. He condemned President Trump’s attempts to overturn
BBC US President-elect Joe Biden has set a goal of 100 million Covid vaccinations in his first 100 days in office. He said his first months in office would not end the outbreak and gave few details on rollout strategy but he said he would change the course of Covid-19. Introducing his health team for
BBC US President-elect Joe Biden has said he will ask Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days in office to curtail the spread of coronavirus. He told CNN he believed there would be a “significant reduction” in Covid-19 cases if every American wore a face covering. Mr Biden also said he would order
BBC Forest officials have built a unique bridge for reptiles and other small animals to cross a busy highway in India’s mountainous Uttarakhand state. The 90-foot (27-metre) “Eco Bridge”, made from bamboo, jute and grass, is the first of its kind, local media say. Many animals have been run over by speeding cars on this
BBC The Indonesian army has deployed a special force to hunt for suspected Islamic State-linked militants behind a deadly attack on Christians. Four Salvation Army members were killed – one of them beheaded – in an ambush on Sulawesi island on Friday. Intolerance against Indonesia’s Christian minority has been rising as the Muslim-majority country battles
BBC Donald Trump has said he will leave the White House if Joe Biden is formally confirmed as the next US president. Answering reporters’ questions for the first time since losing the 3 November vote, Trump insisted, however, that “this race is far from over”. He has refused to concede, citing unsubstantiated claims of voter
