16-02-2021

TueSDAY, FebRuARY 16, 2021
7
President Donald Trump arrives a section of the border wall near the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge in
Alamo,Texas on Tuesday, Jan.12, 2021.
Photo:AP
Trump looks to reassert himself
after impeachment acquittal
WASHINGTON : Donald Trump took in
the win at Mar-a-Lago, surrounded by
friends and family. His lawyers celebrated
with hugs and smiles. One joked, "We're
going to Disney World!"
Now acquitted in his second Senate
impeachment trial, Trump is preparing for
the next phase of his post-presidency life.
Feeling emboldened by the trial's outcome,
he is expected to reemerge from a
self-imposed hibernation at his club in
Palm Beach, Florida, and is eyeing ways to
reassert his power, reports UNB.
But after being barred from Twitter, the
former president lacks the social media
bullhorn that fueled his political rise. And
he's confronting a Republican Party
deeply divided over the legacy of his jarring
final days in office, culminating in the Jan.
6 storming of the Capitol. Searing video
images of the day played on loop during
his impeachment trial, which ended
Saturday.
Trump remains popular among the
GOP base, but many Republicans in
Washington have cooled to him. Never
before have so many members of a president's
party - seven GOP senators, in his
case - voted for his removal in a Senate
trial.
Some may work to counter efforts by
Trump to support extreme candidates in
next year's congressional primaries.
Undeterred, friends and allies expect
Trump to resume friendly media interviews
after weeks of silence. He has met
with political aides to discuss efforts to help
Republicans try to take control of the
Australia preparing
for arrival of first
COVID-19 vaccines
CANBERRA : Australia's first
shipment of COVID-19 vaccines
is set to arrive in the
country within days, reports
UNB.
Minister for Health Greg
Hunt said about 80,000 doses
of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine
would arrive in Australia
"before the end of the week, if
not earlier."
"Because this is the most
precious of cargoes, we are
being cautious with our details
in a highly competitive global
world," he told reporters in
Canberra on Sunday afternoon.
Australia has acquired 20
million doses of the Pfizer vaccine,
which remains the only
vaccine to be approved by the
Therapeutic Goods
Administration (TGA).
Hunt said the TGA would
conduct safety checks on the
vaccines upon arrival and that
Australia remained on track to
begin administering vaccines
to priority groups at the end of
February.
"The TGA will ensure that the
numbers are correct, that they,
in particular, haven't had any
inflight actions that damage
quality such as a loss of temperature,"
he said.
Under the planned rollout the
government aims to have every
Australian who wants a vaccine
inoculated against COVID-19 by
October. However, Deputy
Prime Minister Michael
McCormack conceded that the
rollout would not "go flawlessly"
while recently touring a vaccine
storage facility, according to The
Australian
Corporation.
Broadcasting
House and Senate in the 2022 midterms
elections. He remains fixated on exacting
revenge on Republicans who supported
his impeachment or resisted his efforts to
overturn the results of the November election
won by Democrat Joe Biden.
"I imagine you'll probably be hearing a
lot more from him in the coming days,"
senior adviser Jason Miller said.
In a statement after the vote, Trump
offered few clues, but was defiant as he told
supporters their movement "has only just
begun."
"In the months ahead I have much to
share with you, and I look forward to continuing
our incredible journey together to
achieve American greatness for all of our
people," he said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, who spoke with
Trump on Saturday night, acknowledged
that Trump is "mad at some folks," but
also "ready to move on and rebuild the
Republican Party" and "excited about
2022."
In their conversations, Graham has
stressed to Trump, who has threatened to
start his own party to punish disloyal
Republicans, that the GOP needs him to
win.
"I said, 'Mr. President, this MAGA
movement needs to continue. We need
to unite the party. Trump-plus is the
way back in 2022,'" Graham, R-S.C.,
told "Fox News Sunday."
"My goal is to win in 2022 to stop the
most radical agenda I've seen coming
out of the Democratic presidency of
Joe Biden. We can't do that without
A landslide caused by a strong earthquake covers a circuit course in
Nihonmatsu city, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan, Sunday,
Feb. 14, 2021 .
Photo: AP
Duchess of Sussex expecting
2nd child, a sibling for Archie
LOS ANGELES : The Duke and Duchess of
Sussex are expecting their second child, their
office confirmed Sunday, reports UNB.
A spokesperson for Prince Harry, 36, and
Meghan, 39, said in a statement: "We can
confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are
overjoyed to be expecting their second
child."
In a black-and-white photo of themselves,
the couple sat near a tree with Harry's hand
placed under Meghan's head as she lies on
his lap with her hand resting on her bump.
The baby will be eighth in line to the British
throne.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said:
"Her Majesty, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of
Wales and the entire family are delighted
and wish them well."
The duke told chimpanzee expert Jane
Goodall in 2019 that he would only have two
Donald Trump, so he's ready to hit the
trail and I'm ready to work with him,"
Graham said.
Graham said Senate Republican
leader Mitch McConnell, who vote to
acquit but then delivered a scalding
denunciation of Trump, "got a load off
a chest, obviously." Graham said later
in the interview: "If you want to get
something off your chest, fine, but I'm
into winning."
At his Palm Beach club on Saturday
night, Trump was in a joyous mood as
he enjoyed dinner on a patio packed
with people. After a mellow last several
weeks, one member described a
party atmosphere not felt since before
the election.
Still, Trump isn't in the clear yet. No
longer protected by a Justice
Department opinion against the prosecution
of sitting presidents, he now
faces multiple, ongoing criminal investigations.
In Georgia, the Fulton County district
attorney has opened a criminal
investigation into "attempts to influence"
the election, including Trump's
call to Secretary of State Brad
Raffensperger demanding that the
official find enough votes to overturn
Biden's victory.
In New York, Attorney General Letitia
James is investigating whether Trump
and his company improperly inflated the
value of his assets on annual financial
statements in order to secure loans and
obtain tax benefits.
children for the sake of the planet.
Goodall said: "Not too many," and Harry
replied: "Two, maximum."
Harry and American actor Meghan Markle
married at Windsor Castle in May 2018.
Their son Archie was born a year later.
In early 2020, Meghan and Harry
announced they were quitting royal duties
and moving to North America, citing what
they said were the unbearable intrusions and
racist attitudes of the British media. They
recently bought a house in Santa Barbara,
California.
In November, Meghan revealed that she
had a miscarriage in July 2020, giving a personal
account of the traumatic experience in
hope of helping others.
A few days ago, the duchess won a privacy
claim against a newspaper over the publication
of a personal letter to her estranged
father.
India's COVID-19
tally reaches
10,916,589 as
active cases rise
NEW DELHI : India's
COVID-19 tally rose to
10,916,589 on Monday as
11,649 new cases were registered
during the past 24
hours, said the latest data
from the health ministry,
reports UNB.
The death toll mounted to
155,732 as 90 COVID-19
patients died since Sunday
morning.
There are still 139,637
active cases in the country,
while 10,621,220 people
have been discharged from
hospitals after medical treatment.
The number of active
cases has been on the rise for
the past three consecutive
days.
India kicked off a nationwide
vaccination drive
against COVID-19 on Jan.
16. So far nearly 8.3 million
people, mainly health workers,
have been vaccinated
across the country.
Meanwhile, 206,716,634
tests have been conducted
till Sunday, out of which
486,122 tests were conducted
on Sunday alone, said the
latest data issued by the
Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR) on
Monday.
The national capital Delhi,
one of the most COVID-19
affected places in the country,
has been witnessing a
comparatively lower number
of cases over past several
months. As many as 150 new
cases and two new deaths
were registered in the city
through Sunday.
So far 10,891 people have
died in the national capital
due to COVID-19, confirmed
the Delhi's health department.
Two types of vaccines are
being administered to the
people in India, namely the
Covishield vaccine made by
the Serum Institute of India
(SII), and the Covaxin vaccine
made by the Bharat
Biotech International
Limited.
Rain sets off Indonesia
landslide; 2 dead, 16
missing
NGANJUK: Torrential rains
triggered a landslide on
Indonesia's main island of
Java, killing at least two people,
as emergency personnel
digging with their bare hands
and farm tools desperately
sought to unearth more victims
on Monday, officials said,
reports UNB.
Hundreds of rescuers,
including soldiers, police and
volunteers, took part in the
search for the missing in the
village of Selopuro in East
Java's Nganjuk district to
search for possible victims,
said National Disaster
Mitigation Agency spokesperson
Raditya Jati.
The mud that rolled from
the surrounding hills late
Sunday struck at least eight
houses, leaving 21 people
buried under tons of mud.
Fourteen other people were
injured.
Jati said rescuers retrieved
two bodies and pulled three
injured people from the mud
and rushed them to a hospital.
Rescue personnel were searching
for 16 villagers still missing.
Jati said a lack of heavy
equipment that was unable to
reach the village and bad
weather were hampering the
search efforts.
Overnight rains also caused
more rivers to burst their
banks in other districts of the
province on Monday, sending
nearly 1 meter (about 3 feet) of
muddy waters into more residential
areas, forcing hundreds
of people to flee from their submerged
homes, Jati said.
Severe flooding was also
reported in many other
provinces in the vast archipelago
nation over the past few
days.
Seasonal downpours cause
frequent landslides and floods
each year in Indonesia, a chain
of 17,000 islands where millions
of people live in mountainous
areas or near fertile
flood plains.
Powerful Japan quake sets
off landslide, minor injuries
TOKYO : Residents in northeastern Japan
on Sunday cleaned up clutter and debris in
stores and homes after a strong earthquake
set off a landslide on a highway, damaged
buildings and parts of bullet train lines and
caused power blackouts for thousands of
people, reports UNB.
The 7.3 magnitude temblor late Saturday
shook the quake-prone areas of Fukushima
and Miyagi prefectures that 10 years ago had
been hit by a powerful earthquake that triggered
a tsunami and a meltdown at a nuclear
power plant.
More than 140 people suffered mostly
minor injures, many of them by falling
objects and cuts while stepping on broken
glass. Three people were confirmed with
serious injures but there were no reports of
deaths, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu
Kato said.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that
runs the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power
plant that was hit by the March 2011 disaster,
said the water used to cool spent fuel rods
near the reactors had spilled because of the
shaking. But there were no radiation leaks or
other irregularities, TEPCO said.
The quake did not cause a tsunami because
the epicenter was deep at 55 kilometers (34
miles) beneath the ocean.
Noriko Kamaya, a Japan Meteorological
Agency spokesperson, said in a news conference
that the quake is considered to be an
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aftershock of the 9.1 magnitude quake in
2011.
Power had been restored by early Sunday,
although some bullet train services were still
halted. East Japan Railway Co. said the bullet
train on the northern coast will be suspended
through Monday due to damage to
its facility.
TV footage and video shared on social
media showed boxes, books and other items
scattered on floors. In the northern
Fukushima city of Soma, a roof at a Buddhist
temple collapsed.
Workers were clearing up a major coastal
highway connecting Tokyo and northern
cities where a major landslide occurred.
Several other roads were also blocked by
rocks.
Saturday's powerful rattling less than a
month before the 10th anniversary of the
2011 triple disaster was a frightening
reminder of the earlier tragedy for the residents
in the region.
"It started with minor shaking, then suddenly
became violent," said Yuki Watanabe,
a convenience store employee in the
Fukushima town of Minamisoma, told the
Asahi newspaper. "I was so frightened," she
said, adding it reminder her of the 2011
quake.
As she ran outside, she heard banging noise
coming from behind the store as glass bottles
from the shelves smashed against the floor.
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