US election: a roller-coaster count for both the Trump and Biden camps

Trump’s campaign has already unleashed a flurry of litigation: as soon as Michigan was called for Biden, they filed a lawsuit in an attempt to halt the count in the state until access was granted to Republican poll monitors. (AP)
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Updated 06 November 2020
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US election: a roller-coaster count for both the Trump and Biden camps

  • Democrats say robust legal team is ready to fight ‘nuisance’ lawsuits from Republicans

NEW YORK: The 2020 presidential election has been a roller-coaster ride for American voters, whichever side they are on.

The magic number of 270 Electoral College votes a candidate needs to win does not change, yet it has still seemed like a moving target as counts of the popular vote continue in key battleground states — two days after the polls closed.

The share of votes in the latest returns are so exceedingly close that, as of Thursday afternoon, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia remained uncalled — and the result of the election will be decided by some combination of them.

For those who are perplexed by the mathematical gymnastics involved in US elections, this nail-biter of a week should have made clear the reasoning behind the complex system: it was designed to ensure that voters in remote, rural counties, largely ignored or forgotten by politicians, have as much of a say in choosing their leader as those in huge, heavily populated states such as New York or California.

More than 140 million votes have been tallied and now the outcome will be determined by about 1 million votes that remain to be counted in Pennsylvania, 400,000 in Georgia, where the margin between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is razor-thin, and 400,000 in Arizona.

The eyes of Americans, and the entire world, are now on counties the names of which will fade back into oblivion for most people after the election is over: Maricopa country in Arizona, for example, or Fulton county in Georgia.

In those counties, the last word could go to minorities. Latinos originally from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, for example, who were unhappy about how Trump treated their homelands during Hurricane Maria and have come out in droves to vote against him. Or Cuban Americans who have rallied behind the president for his stance against the perceived threat of socialism, a specter that evokes a painful history for a community that reeled under a socialist regime for decades.

Meanwhile African Americans in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, chose Biden in preference to an incumbent president who, they believe, did not stand with them in their fight against racial injustice. On the other hand, Black males in Miami-Dade County in Florida voted for Trump in larger numbers than expected; the perception that Biden had taken their vote for granted did not resonate well with this young community.

Late on Thursday afternoon the White House called the “the lid,” the term used to announce there will be no more announcements that day. Trump shunned the cameras and remained huddled with advisers, gearing up for a possible legal battle to challenge the result should he lose the election. This is a candidate who suggested the only way he could lose was if the election was rigged.

Trump’s campaign has already unleashed a flurry of litigation: as soon as Michigan was called for Biden, they filed a lawsuit in an attempt to halt the count in the state until access was granted to Republican poll monitors. They filed a similar lawsuit in Pennsylvania, and threatened to take their battle all the way to the Supreme Court.

Trump is also seeking a recount in Wisconsin, where he lost by only half a percentage point. He is also challenging the handling of ballots in Georgia, where his campaign is suing election officials in Chatham county amid allegations that ballots that arrived after the voting deadline were being improperly counted.

This aggressive posture has been backed with appearances by and comments from a number of administration officials, during which they have attempted to discredit the election and call into question its integrity.

The president’s son Eric, for example, posted a message on Twitter on Wednesday declaring victory for his father in Pennsylvania, where more than a million votes remained to be counted. Twitter was quick to add a disclaimer to the tweet that read: “Official sources may not have called the race (in Pennsylvania) as this was tweeted.” As of Thursday evening, the result in the state remains too close to call.

Trump ally Rudy Giuliani bizarrely alleged, in front of television cameras, that mail-in ballots could be coming from Mars or that Joe Biden “could have voted 5,000 times for all I know.”

In stark contrast to Trump, Joe Biden has picked his words carefully as the count continues. Even as the election seemed to shift in his favor, he resisted the temptation to declare victory and instead expressed his trust in the electoral system.

While both candidates have the right to challenge very close results and call for recounts, the Biden camp views Trump’s lawsuits alleging electoral impropriety as a nuisance tactic more than anything else, as there appears to be little evidence to support the claims. They believe allegations of a lack of transparency in the counting process, for example, do not hold water when all tabulation centers are equipped with security cameras and the whole operation is being streamed live for the world to watch.

But while they hope any legal challenges will be dismissed long before they reach the Supreme Court, the Democrats have made it clear that they also have a robust legal team on hand. Fueled by fears about how the unpredictable Trump might react to defeat, they have created the largest election-protection program any campaign has ever developed — and made it clear they are prepared to use it.

“We’re winning the election, we’ve won the election, we’re going to defend that election,” said Bob Bauer, a leading attorney for the Biden campaign.

While many people are frustrated that the remaining vote counts are taking so long, Tom Wolf, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, made no apology for his state taking its time.

“This is a hiring process,” he said. “We need to make sure the voters are choosing the leaders and not the other way around.”

He described the Trump campaign’s lawsuits filed against the state as “(disgraceful) attempts to subvert the democratic process,” and vowed “to fight like hell (and) do everything in my power to make sure every vote is counted.”

In response to Trump’s attempt to halt the state’s count, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar was even more blunt: “We get to decide when the last vote is counted.”

She also evoked the long fight by American women to gain voting rights, which culminated 100 years ago in the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, and the Voting Act of 1965, which prohibited racial discrimination in elections.

“I take that every day with me as we fight for every vote in Pennsylvania,” she said.

Pollsters and pundits got many things wrong in so many ways about this election, but they are right about one thing: the story of this election is still far from over.
 

Al-Andalus revisited
Eight centuries of Muslim rule in Spain, during which Arab culture and science flourished, are echoed not only in the magnificent art and buildings of Al-Andalus, but also in the souls and the DNA of its descendants

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All of BTS has returned as Suga is discharged from an alternative form of military service

Updated 5 sec ago
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All of BTS has returned as Suga is discharged from an alternative form of military service

  • The label has confirmed that Suga completed his alternative service duties on Wednesday after using up his remaining leave
  • The seven singers of the popular K-pop band plan to reunite as a group sometime in 2025 now that they’ve finished their service
SEOUL: Suga, a rapper and songwriter in the global K-pop sensation BTS, has been discharged from South Korea’s mandatory military service, marking the official return of all seven members from their enlistment duties.
The label confirmed that Suga completed his alternative service duties on Wednesday after using up his remaining leave. His official discharge date is Saturday.
BTS’ management agency, Big Hit Entertainment, had said earlier that no events were planned for Suga’s release out of concern for overcrowding.
It is a momentous occasion for fans of the K-pop group BTS. The seven singers of the popular K-pop band plan to reunite as a group sometime in 2025 now that they’ve finished their service.
Last week, BTS superstars RM and V were discharged from South Korea’s military after fulfilling their mandatory service. Jimin and Jung Kook were discharged a day later. All four were enlisted in December 2023.
Six of the group’s seven members served in the army, while Suga fulfilled his duty as a social service agent, an alternative form of military service.
Jin, the oldest BTS member, was discharged in June 2024. J-Hope was discharged in October.
In South Korea, all able-bodied men aged 18 to 28 are required by law to perform 18-21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from rival North Korea.
The law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have obtained top prizes in certain competitions and are assessed to have enhanced national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren’t subject to such privileges.
However, in 2020, BTS postponed their service until age 30 after South Korea’s National Assembly revised its Military Service Act, allowing K-pop stars to delay their enlistment until age 30.
There was heated public debate in 2022 over whether to offer special exemptions of mandatory military service for BTS members, until the group’s management agency announced in October 2022 that all seven members would fulfill their duties.

Ukraine harvests first 34,800 tons of new grain crop, ministry says

Updated 22 min 33 sec ago
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Ukraine harvests first 34,800 tons of new grain crop, ministry says

KYIV: Ukraine’s farmers have started the 2025 grain harvest, threshing the first 34,800 metric tons of early grains as of June 19, the farm ministry said on Friday.
Ukraine traditionally starts the harvest in the second part of June with barley and peas.
Farmers had harvested 33,900 tons of barley with the average yield of 2.49 metric tons per hectare, the ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian agriculture minister Vitaliy Koval said on Thursday three southern regions, Odesa, Kherson and Mykolaiv, had started the grain harvest.
Koval told Reuters this month that poor weather can cut Ukrainian grain harvest by 10 percent this year to around 51 million tons.


Two dead in Mexico as Hurricane Erick moves on from Mexican coast

Updated 39 min 32 sec ago
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Two dead in Mexico as Hurricane Erick moves on from Mexican coast

  • Hurricane Erick killed at least two people as it swept through southern Mexico causing significant damage to coastal communities before weakening to a low-pressure system Thursday night

PUERTO ESCONDIDO: Hurricane Erick killed at least two people as it swept through southern Mexico causing significant damage to coastal communities before weakening to a low-pressure system Thursday night, authorities said.
A man was electrocuted while helping with debris removal in the southern Oaxaca state, where Erick made landfall, after handling high-voltage cables near a stream, the state government said.
A child died in neighboring Guerrero state after being swept away by a swollen stream as his mother tried to carry him across in the town of San Marcos, civil protection authorities reported.
The US National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory at 0300 GMT said Erick had weakened overnight to a tropical storm located 95 miles (155 kilometers) from Acapulco port, with sustained winds of 30 mph (50 kmh) as it moved across southern Mexico on Thursday.
Coastal communities in Oaxaca including Lagunas de Chacahua, home to around 2,800 people, were directly hit by the storm, which destroyed thatched roofs and flooded streets.
“It was very strong, very ugly... the entire town is homeless, without clothes, we have no help,” Francisca Avila, a 45-year-old housewife, told AFP, as she surveyed the loss of most of her belongings.
In the tourist town of Puerto Escondido, residents and emergency personnel worked to drain flooded streets and clear debris left behind as the storm knocked over trees and street signs and buried boats under sand on the beach.
Much of the town of about 30,000 people was left without electricity or cellphone coverage.
The water “had never hit with this magnitude” in Puerto Escondido, 44-year-old merchant Luis Alberto Gil, whose shop was among those flooded, told AFP.
President Claudia Sheinbaum announced during her morning briefing that heavy rains are still expected in the southern states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Chiapas, as well as Veracruz and Puebla.
She thanked the population for following the authorities’ recommendations “very responsibly,” in a message shared on her social media. The president reported 15 road sections closed in the state of Oaxaca, as well as more than 123,000 users affected by power outages.
Mexico sees major storms every year, usually between May and November, on both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts.
In October 2023, Acapulco, a major port and beach resort in Guerrero, was pummeled by Hurricane Otis, a powerful Category 5 storm that killed dozens of people.
Hurricane John, another Category 3 storm that hit in September last year, caused about 15 deaths.
Sheinbaum had urged people to avoid going out and advised those living in low-lying areas or near rivers to move to shelters — some 2,000 of which had been set up in Chiapas, Guerrero and Oaxaca in anticipation.
“Since (Erick) just made landfall, we are in contact with the Defense (department) and the Navy, who are in the area, and we will be able to inform in a few hours what the effects are on these populations,” she said at her daily press conference Thursday morning.
Restaurants remained shuttered in Puerto Escondido even though some tourists insisted on staying and riding out the storm.
Around 250 miles (400 kilometers) north along the Pacific coast, Acapulco — a major port and resort city famous for its nightlife — was largely deserted Thursday as residents heeded calls to hunker down, with shops boarded up and tourist boats grounded.
Many had stocked up the day before on food, water and gasoline.


Chad hopes ‘green charcoal’ can save vanishing forests

Updated 20 June 2025
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Chad hopes ‘green charcoal’ can save vanishing forests

  • Chad has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking

N’DJAMENA: As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot.
But the charcoal they were making is known as “green,” and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation.
Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert.
It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say.
“Green charcoal” aims to protect what forest is left.
Made from discarded plant waste such as millet and sesame stalks or palm fronds, it is meant to save trees from being chopped down for cooking.
The product “releases less emissions than traditional charcoal, it doesn’t blacken your pots, it has high energy content and lasts up to three times longer than ordinary charcoal,” said Ousmane Alhadj Oumarou, technical director of the Raikina Association for Socioeconomic Development (Adser).
“Using one kilogramme of green charcoal saves six kilogrammes of wood.”
The group has installed a production facility in Pont Belile, just north of the capital, N’Djamena.
There, workers grind up burnt plant waste, then mix it with gum arabic, which helps it ignite, and clay, which makes it burn more slowly.
The resulting black nuggets look like ordinary charcoal.
Like the traditional kind, it emits CO2 when it burns — but less, said Souleymane Adam Adey, an ecologist at the University of N’Djamena.
And “it contributes to fighting deforestation, by ensuring the trees that aren’t cut down continue to capture and store carbon,” he said.


The conflict in neighboring Sudan, which is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, is adding to pressure on Chad, which has become home to more than 800,000 Sudanese refugees since 2023 — double the 400,000 it already hosted.
“Desertification has progressed in the regions that have been hosting Sudanese refugees for the past two years,” said Adser’s director, 45-year-old businessman Ismael Hamid.
Adser invested 200 million CFA francs (about $350,000) to launch the project, then won backing from the World Bank, which buys the charcoal for 750 CFA francs per kilogramme.
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, distributes the charcoal in refugee camps in eastern Chad.
But Hamid said he hoped to expand production and slash prices to 350 to 500 CFA francs per kilo to make “green charcoal” available and affordable nationwide.
The plant currently produces seven to nine tons per day.
“If we want to meet the country’s needs, we have to increase our output by at least a factor of 10,” said Hamid, calling for subsidies to support the budding sector.
Environment Minister Hassan Bakhit Djamous told AFP the government was working on a policy to promote such projects.
“We need to bet on green charcoal as an energy source for the future of our country,” he said.
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Philippine Navy seizes $175 million meth haul at sea

Updated 20 June 2025
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Philippine Navy seizes $175 million meth haul at sea

  • A pair of naval gunboats intercepted a fishing vessel carrying 1.5 tonnes of methamphetamine hydrochloride off the coast of main island Luzon just before dawn

MANILA: The Philippine Navy seized an illegal drug shipment worth $175 million (10 billion pesos) on Friday in one of the country’s biggest narcotics hauls on record, officials said.

A pair of naval gunboats intercepted a fishing vessel carrying 1.5 tonnes of methamphetamine hydrochloride off the coast of main island Luzon just before dawn, Commodore Edward de Sagon told a press conference.

Four people, including one foreigner, were arrested in the joint operation with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, according to de Sagon.

“We still don’t have the details of where (the drugs originated),” he said, saying they believed the haul had been transferred from a larger vessel to the fishing ship.

“That was when it was intercepted. There was information and (maneuvers) that made us suspicious,” de Sagon said.

Meth, known locally as shabu, is the most prevalent illegal drug in the Philippines.

“This is one of the largest illegal drug apprehensions in the history of the Philippine Navy,” navy spokesman John Percie Alcos said in a statement.

Earlier this month, a large volume of drugs was found adrift just north of the area where Wednesday’s arrests were made.

The Philippines’ biggest-ever drug seizure came in April last year when more than two tonnes of meth was seized at a police checkpoint on a road in Batangas province south of the capital, according to the presidential palace.