Kamala Harris concedes election to Trump but vows to fight on

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Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff waves delivering remarks conceding the 2024 US presidential election to president-elect Donald Trump at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on Nov.6, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, flanked by his wife (left) and second gentleman Doug Emhoff (right) react after Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala Harris conceded the election in a speech at Howard University on Nov. 6, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)
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Supporters react as Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris concedes the 2024 US Presidential Election to president-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 6, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 07 November 2024
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Kamala Harris concedes election to Trump but vows to fight on

  • “A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results," she said, adding: "anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it"
  • She encouraged her supporters not to give up even in their disappointment and said: “Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win.”

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to keep fighting for the ideals that powered her presidential campaign on Wednesday in a concession speech that acknowledged President-elect Donald Trump’s win while warning of potential dark times to come.
“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” she told supporters, many of them in tears, at her alma mater Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington.
Harris, her voice at times wavering, pledged to continue fighting for women’s rights and against gun violence and to “fight for the dignity that all people deserve.”
She said she had called Trump, congratulated him on his triumph in Tuesday’s presidential election and promised to engage in a peaceful transfer of power.
“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for, but hear me when I say — hear me when I say: The light of America’s promise will always burn bright,” she said.
The somber mood was in striking contrast to the homecoming celebration a few weeks ago on the Howard campus when thousands of students and alumni gathered ahead of what they hoped would be the election of the country’s first graduate of historically Black Colleges and Universities as president.

Harris addressed a crowd on Wednesday that included former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, aides in President Joe Biden’s White House and thousands of fans. Harris’ campaign anthem, Beyonce’s “Freedom,” played as she entered the stage.
Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, joined the crowd.
“A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results. That principle, as much as any other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny, and anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it,” Harris said, in a nod at Trump’s efforts, before he won, to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the election.
Trump claims falsely that he won the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden.
Harris encouraged her supporters, especially young people, not to give up even in their disappointment and said: “Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn’t mean we won’t win.”
Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket in July after Biden stepped aside. She brought new-found enthusiasm and cash to the effort, but she struggled to overcome voters’ concerns about the economy and immigration.
“I know many people feel like we are entering a dark time, but for the benefit of us all, I hope that is not the case. But here’s the thing: America, if it is, let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion of stars ... the light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service,” she said.

Thousands had gathered at the school on Tuesday night for what they hoped would be a historic victory for the first woman to become president. They came back on Wednesday to show their support and rue her loss.
Jamela Joseph, 31, a doctoral student at Howard, said: “America had its opportunity to move forward in a progressive and intentional manner, and as a nation it has, you know, shown that it’s going to repeat itself and its history and its legacy of upholding white supremacy racism, in terms of treating women as second class citizens.”
Donna Bruce, 72, said she had come to show love and respect for what Harris had done. She noted she had just seen a little girl with a T-shirt that said: “A Black girl will save the world.”
“I still believe that,” Bruce said. “It may not be this Black girl, but I believe a Black girl will.”


Pakistan locks down capital ahead of a planned rally by Imran Khan supporters

Updated 3 sec ago
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Pakistan locks down capital ahead of a planned rally by Imran Khan supporters

  • Interior Ministry is considering a suspension of mobile phone services in parts of Pakistan in the coming days
  • Pakistan has banned gatherings of five or more people in Islamabad for two months to deter Khan’s supporters
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is sealing off its capital, Islamabad, ahead of a planned rally by supporters of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan.
It’s the second time in as many months that authorities have imposed such measures to thwart tens of thousands of people from gathering in the city to demand Khan’s release.
The latest lockdown coincides with the visit of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who arrives in Islamabad on Monday.
Local media reported that the Interior Ministry is considering a suspension of mobile phone services in parts of Pakistan in the coming days. On Friday, the National Highways and Motorway Police announced that key routes would close for maintenance.
It advised people to avoid unnecessary travel and said the decision was taken following intelligence reports that “angry protesters” are planning to create a law and order situation and damage public and private property on Sunday, the day of the planned rally.
“There are reports that protesters are coming with sticks and slingshots,” the statement added.
Multicolored shipping containers, a familiar sight to people living and working in Islamabad, reappeared on key roads Saturday to throttle traffic.
Pakistan has already banned gatherings of five or more people in Islamabad for two months to deter Khan’s supporters and activists from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI.
Khan has been in prison for more than a year in connection and has over 150 criminal cases against him. But he remains popular and the PTI says the cases are politically motivated.
A three-day shutdown was imposed in Islamabad for a security summit last month.

Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

Updated 30 min 29 sec ago
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Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

  • Doctors sent Rohitash Kumar, 25, to mortuary instead of conducting postmortem after he fell ill
  • Kumar was rushed to hospital on Friday for treatment but was confirmed dead later

JAIPUR: An Indian man awoke on a funeral pyre moments before it was to be set on fire after a doctor skipped a postmortem, medical officials said Saturday.
Rohitash Kumar, 25, who had speaking and hearing difficulties, had fallen sick and was taken to a hospital in Jhunjhunu in the western state of Rajasthan on Thursday.
Indian media reported he had had an epileptic seizure, and a doctor declared him dead on arrival at the hospital.
But instead of the required postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, doctors sent him to the mortuary, and then to be burned according to Hindu rites.
D. Singh, chief medical officer of the hospital, told AFP that a doctor had “prepared the postmortem report without actually doing the postmortem, and the body was then sent for cremation.”
Singh said that “shortly before the pyre was to be lit, Rohitash’s body started movements,” adding that “he was alive and was breathing.”
Kumar was rushed to hospital for a second time, but was confirmed dead on Friday during treatment.
Authorities have suspended the services of three doctors and the police have launched an investigation.


NATO chief discusses ‘global security’ with Trump

Updated 39 min 8 sec ago
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NATO chief discusses ‘global security’ with Trump

  • NATO allies say keeping Kyiv in the fight against Moscow is key to both European and American security

Brussels: NATO chief Mark Rutte held talks with US President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on the “global security issues facing the alliance,” a spokeswoman said Saturday.
The meeting took place on Friday in Palm Beach, NATO’s Farah Dakhlallah said in a statement.
In his first term Trump aggressively pushed Europe to step up defense spending and questioned the fairness of the NATO transatlantic alliance.
The former Dutch prime minister had said he wanted to meet Trump two days after Trump was elected on November 5, and discuss the threat of increasingly warming ties between North Korea and Russia.
Trump’s thumping victory to return to the US presidency has set nerves jangling in Europe that he could pull the plug on vital Washington military aid for Ukraine.
NATO allies say keeping Kyiv in the fight against Moscow is key to both European and American security.
“What we see more and more is that North Korea, Iran, China and of course Russia are working together, working together against Ukraine,” Rutte said recently at a European leaders’ meeting in Budapest.
“At the same time, Russia has to pay for this, and one of the things they are doing is delivering technology to North Korea,” which he warned was threatening to the “mainland of the US (and) continental Europe.”
“I look forward to sitting down with Donald Trump to discuss how we can face these threats collectively,” Rutte said.


Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

Updated 51 min 14 sec ago
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Indian man awakes on funeral pyre

JAIPUR, India: An Indian man awoke on a funeral pyre moments before it was to be set on fire after a doctor skipped a postmortem, medical officials said Saturday.
Rohitash Kumar, 25, who had speaking and hearing difficulties, had fallen sick and was taken to a hospital in Jhunjhunu in the western state of Rajasthan on Thursday.
Indian media reported he had had an epileptic seizure, and a doctor declared him dead on arrival at the hospital.
But instead of the required postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, doctors sent him to the mortuary, and then to be burned according to Hindu rites.
D. Singh, chief medical officer of the hospital, told AFP that a doctor had “prepared the postmortem report without actually doing the postmortem, and the body was then sent for cremation.”
Singh said that “shortly before the pyre was to be lit, Rohitash’s body started movements,” adding that “he was alive and was breathing.”
Kumar was rushed to hospital for a second time, but was confirmed dead on Friday during treatment.
Authorities have suspended the services of three doctors and the police have launched an investigation.


Fighting between armed sectarian groups in restive northwestern Pakistan kills at least 33 people

Updated 23 November 2024
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Fighting between armed sectarian groups in restive northwestern Pakistan kills at least 33 people

  • Senior police officer said Saturday armed men torched shops, houses and government property overnight
  • Although the two groups generally live together peacefully, tensions remain, especially in Kurram

PESHAWAR: Fighting between armed Sunni and Shiite groups in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 33 people and injured 25 others, a senior police officer from the region said Saturday.
The overnight violence was the latest to rock Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and comes days after a deadly gun ambush killed 42 people.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the 240 million people in Sunni-majority Pakistan, which has a history of sectarian animosity between the communities.
Although the two groups generally live together peacefully, tensions remain, especially in Kurram.
The senior police officer said armed men in Bagan and Bacha Kot torched shops, houses and government property.
Intense gunfire was ongoing between the Alizai and Bagan tribes in the Lower Kurram area.
“Educational institutions in Kurram are closed due to the severe tension. Both sides are targeting each other with heavy and automatic weapons,” said the officer, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Videos shared with The Associated Press showed a market engulfed by fire and orange flames piercing the night sky. Gunfire can also be heard.
The location of Thursday’s attack was also targeted by armed men, who marched on the area.
Survivors of the gun ambush said assailants emerged from a vehicle and sprayed buses and cars with bullets. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack and police have not identified a motive.
Dozens of people from the district’s Sunni and Shiite communities have been killed since July, when a land dispute erupted in Kurram that later turned into general sectarian violence.