United News of Bangladesh

Just days before Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Kamala Harris' staff gathered in her ceremonial office to witness her sign the desk, a tradition upheld by her predecessors for decades. Standing behind her with a camera was her husband, Doug Emhoff, as she used her Sharpie marker, reports AP. "It is not my nature to go quietly into the night," Harris remarked on Thursday. “So don't worry about that.” But what comes next for her? “I'll keep you posted,” she said. As of Monday, Harris has no plans other than to return home to California. For the first time since 2004, when she became San Francisco’s district attorney, she will not hold elected office. Joe Biden gets blamed by Harris allies for the vice president's resounding loss There is speculation she might write a book, run for governor, or perhaps pursue the presidency again. At 60, Harris remains relatively young in a political arena where the last two presidents have set records as the oldest elected. Donna Brazile, a veteran Democratic Party leader, recalled encouraging Harris to take a break and “learn what it's like to oversleep” for a while. Laughing, Brazile added, "Yeah, you’ll never go back to being ordinary.” Brazile, who managed Al Gore’s campaign when he transitioned from vice president to presidential candidate, noted, “I’ve had more people call me about what’s next for Kamala Harris than ever called me about what’s next for Al Gore.” Harris’ tenure was both groundbreaking and conventional. Like her predecessors, she addressed a portfolio of issues — including migration, abortion rights, and maternal health — and represented the U.S. abroad. Yet, as is common for vice presidents, she struggled to stand out due to the office’s limited constitutional role. However, Harris made history as the first woman, Black person, and person of South Asian descent to hold the vice presidency. Last year, she faced an unprecedented scenario when President Joe Biden chose not to seek reelection and endorsed her as his successor. With just 107 days left before the election, Harris launched an intense campaign against Trump, who is nearly two decades her senior. Despite her efforts, she was unable to defeat him. Harris voters motivated by democracy, Trump supporters by inflation and immigration Many Democrats criticised Biden for running again initially, arguing he placed Harris in an untenable position. Others scrutinised Harris’ campaign approach, suggesting she should have leaned into a populist message rather than focusing on Trump’s anti-democratic rhetoric alongside figures like Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman. Harris was also faulted for not sufficiently distinguishing herself from Biden, who remains unpopular among voters. Minyon Moore, who chaired last year’s Democratic National Convention, dismissed the criticisms, saying, “Ifa, woulda, coulda, shoulda.” Given the unique circumstances of Harris’ campaign, Moore added, “there was no road map for what she should have done.” Harris has yet to address questions about her loss or provide her perspective on the election. Her public comments have primarily aimed to motivate students and others disappointed by Trump’s victory, particularly after Democrats framed him as an existential threat. “No one can walk away,” Harris declared in a speech. “We must stay in the fight. Every one of us.” Initially planning to end her term with an international trip to Singapore, Bahrain, and Germany to highlight her foreign policy work, Harris ultimately stayed in Washington as wildfires threatened Los Angeles. Her Brentwood home was in an evacuation zone. Harris avoided visiting the fire-affected area, concerned her presence might divert local resources, an anonymous official from her office explained. Despite cancelling her overseas trip, Harris indicated her desire to remain active on the global stage. She spent her final week in office making calls to foreign leaders, including Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo. On Wednesday, Harris attended President Biden’s farewell address in the Oval Office, where he described her as “a great partner.” The two embraced after his speech. Biden had selected Harris as his running mate after her initial presidential campaign faltered four years ago. Once in office, her activities were limited by the pandemic and her role in the evenly divided U.S. Senate, where she frequently cast tiebreaking votes. She set a record for the number of such votes while advancing judicial nominees and key legislation. “She had to find her role,” said Joel Goldstein, a historian of the vice presidency. “It took some time to figure it out.” Moore recalled an Oval Office meeting with Harris during Biden’s deliberations over a U.S. Supreme Court nominee. Harris focused on finding a candidate who could effectively articulate dissenting opinions, recognising the challenges a liberal justice would face on a conservative-dominated court. Trump and Harris await results with battleground polls closing Harris championed Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination, helping fulfil Biden’s pledge to appoint a Black woman to the court. Jackson’s sharp dissenting opinions have since garnered significant attention. Addressing migration from Central America, one of Harris’ earliest assignments, became politically fraught. While Republicans labelled her the “border czar” and blamed her for illegal crossings, fewer migrants arrived from the countries where she focused her efforts. Harris also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Munich just before Russia’s invasion three years ago and spent a week in Africa laying the groundwork for renewed U.S. engagement. She visited Southeast Asia three times, reflecting her belief in the need to prioritise the region amidst China’s growing influence. “She believed we could emphasise this occasionally overlooked part of the world even more,” said Phil Gordon, her national security adviser. Abortion rights emerged as a defining issue for Harris after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. While Biden was more cautious on the topic, Harris became the face of the administration’s response. Lorraine Voles, Harris’ chief of staff, described the court decision as “a turning point” for the vice president. “That opened up a lane for her in a way that maybe wasn’t there previously,” Voles said. “People hadn’t been as focused on maternal health and reproductive health until those rights were threatened.” Nadia Brown, a Georgetown University professor specialising in Black women and politics, said Harris will “certainly go down in the history books” for breaking racial and gender barriers. Harris’ vice presidency, Brown added, helped broaden perceptions of what leadership can look like, challenging stereotypes among "everyday Americans.” What Harris will do next remains uncertain. “It’s not over,” Brown concluded. “But I’m not sure what that next chapter is.”

Staggered after one of the most destructive natural disasters in Southern California history, thousands of heartbroken families, burned-out business owners and beleaguered leaders across Los Angeles County are beginning to ponder another monumental task: rebuilding what was lost and charting a path forward. Alex Rosewood and nearly her entire family in Altadena, northeast of Los Angeles, lost their homes — her father, whom she and her husband were living with, and her aunt, uncle and cousin next door. Lost were the keepsakes of a lifetime of family relationships: Rosewood's grandmother’s playing cards and unfinished quilt. Her wedding photos. Heirlooms from her grandfather, who served in the Navy. All things she wished she could have saved in their frantic flight as smoke turned the sky gray and her cousin’s house began to catch fire. But Altadena remains home. “We all plan to rebuild, for sure,” she said. The traumatized region made it through Wednesday without another major fire breaking out, after forecasters had warned of another round of particularly dangerous winds. Firefighters continue battling LA wildfires amid dangerous weather warning Yet even with flames still leaping in two of the largest fires, which have killed 25 and destroyed more than 12,000 structures, government officials talked Wednesday of the epic job that will unspool over years: clearing Altadena, Pacific Palisades and other ravaged communities of toxic ash and debris, then rebuilding homes, restaurants, schools, boutiques, banks and houses of worship — all while finding financing for it all. Because of the ongoing firefighting battle and the likelihood of dangerous refuse in burned areas, many anxious residents have yet to return to see what, if anything, is left of their homes. The losses range from multimillion-dollar ocean-view mansions to modest homes that once welcomed returning World War II GIs. While talking of rebuilding can be a comfort for those eager for a return to normalcy, much remains unknown. What will the new neighborhoods look like? Will fire-resistant materials and designs be used? Are more and wider roads needed to allow swifter evacuations and easier access for fire engines during future infernos? In the coveted seaside hills, there always is the impulse to rebuild after fires — it’s happened many times. But there are inevitable questions about whether it’s sensible to keep rebuilding in known high-risk areas, especially in an age of climate change. Californians race to save pets as LA wildfires advance “It’s going to be a while before we can get in there and build anything,” said Michael Hricak, an adjunct professor of architecture at the University of Southern California., referring to the dangerous chemicals and rubble left behind. As for new construction, “it’s not being tougher than Mother Nature. It's being somewhat respectful of Mother Nature and knowing what the challenges are.” “Are we just inviting another problem down the road?” Hricak said. The fires struck at a challenging time, with the city in the midst of a post-pandemic transition that has reordered work life and left many downtown buildings with high vacancy rates. Meanwhile, planning is underway to host the 2028 Olympics and the region contends with perhaps the nation’s worst homeless crisis — the latter had been Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ priority before the fires broke out last week. The government has not yet released damage estimates, but private firms have expect they will climb into the tens of billions and it could become the costliest fire disaster in U.S. history. The Northern California community of Paradise, where the state's deadliest wildfire killed 85 people in 2018, offers a glimpse into how painstaking and difficult recovery and rebuilding can be. That fire destroyed about 11,000 homes — some 90% of the community's structures. Four years later, as of last November, just about 3,000 homes and apartments have been rebuilt. The town, which previously a population of 26,000, has struggled under high construction costs, expensive insurance premiums and the uncertainty over funds to be paid to people who lost homes by Pacific Gas & Electric, which was found liable for sparking the devastating blaze. In Los Angeles — a city notorious for dense layers of bureaucracy and government red tape — Bass issued an executive order this week intended to clear the way for residents to rebuild quickly. “As we prepare to make it through the rest of this emergency, we also have to start putting in place what we need to do to rebuild,” the mayor said Wednesday. The federal government already has approved spending $100 million to remove paints, cleaners, asbestos, batteries and other household waste from the rubble before crews can begin clearing debris. Robert Fenton Jr., a regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, called the plan a first step to getting people back in homes. New LA-area fire prompts more evacuations as over 10,000 structures burned Elsewhere, the agency is handing out assistance to help people with short-term lodging. Peter Dolan, who lived in Santa Monica, said he and his best friend both lost their apartments on the same day. They visited the disaster recovery center together to figure out their next steps. “This is what I got,” the 55-year-old said, pointing to his outfit: a leather jacket, shorts and sneakers, the clothes he had on the day the flames hit. Dolan didn’t have renter’s insurance, but he was able to apply for FEMA assistance and thinks he’ll get $750 and possibly his stay at a hotel covered for a few months. Michele Baron and her daughter were among those who came to a recovery center in West Los Angeles to figure out how to get new birth certificates and social security cards. Baron lost nearly everything when her Pacific Palisades apartment of 21 years burned to the ground. Her daughter made her way back to the property and salvaged a ring and pottery she made as a child. Despite the trauma, the plan is to stay put. “Now that I can go anywhere, I kind of don’t want to,” Baron said.

Firefighters continued to work overnight to contain wildfires in greater Los Angeles, with "particularly dangerous" winds warning in effect through Wednesday. Critical to extremely critical fire weather conditions will continue for coastal Southern California including the areas of the wildfires in Los Angeles County, said the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) on Tuesday. The "particularly dangerous" situation warning went into effect Tuesday and will last through noon Wednesday for swaths of Los Angeles and Ventura counties due to moderate to locally strong Santa Ana winds, according to NWS. "Considering the extremely dry state of the fuels, recent fire behavior, and the strength of the winds, this is a particularly dangerous situation. There is a high risk for large fires, rapid fire spread, and long range spotting," said NWS. Read more: Small airborne embers play a big role in the spread of wildfires Fierce wildfires across the Los Angeles area have killed at least 25 people, destroyed more than 12,300 structures and scorched more than 40,600 acres. The two largest fires -- the Palisades and Eaton wildfires -- were 17 percent and 34 percent contained respectively as of Tuesday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Officials are concerned the strong winds paired with dry fuel and low humidity could result in new fire starts in Southern California or the expansion of the existing blazes. About 88,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders Tuesday morning. Curfews are in effect for the Palisades and Eaton wildfire zones from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Tuesday that she had signed an executive order a day earlier, which is intended to help expedite the rebuilding process after the wildfires. The order will streamline debris removal and permitting processes as well as make 1,400 units of housing immediately available for displaced residents, according to the mayor's office. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Tuesday that plans to help displaced students and schools that have been affected by the wildfires as quickly as possible. Over 8.4 million U.S. dollars of disaster assistance funds has been approved to individuals and households in California, said the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Californians rushed to evacuate their animals, including dogs, cats, horses, and even pigs, as wildfires in Los Angeles advanced rapidly, reports AP. Arianna Buturovic, who runs a dog rescue shelter near LA, watched anxiously as smoke approached. Within hours, fires engulfed the nearby mountains, forcing her to act quickly. “I crammed 15 dogs and two cats into a black Prius,” she said. With nine more dogs and a pig left behind, she flagged down a group of teenagers with a truck to transport them to safety. Unable to take her two ponies, she left their corral open to allow them to flee. “That’s how we managed to evacuate almost 30 animals. It was chaos,” she added. Animal owners throughout Los Angeles scrambled to save their pets as the wildfires claimed 11 lives and destroyed over 12,000 homes and structures this week. Overwhelmed animal shelters pleaded with people to find friends or family to temporarily house their pets. Wendy Winter and her husband bought cat carriers Tuesday evening to prepare for evacuation with their cats, Purry Mason and Jerry. Just two hours later, they had to flee their Altadena home. By the next morning, their house and the entire street were gone. “There’s fear, loss, and shock,” Winter said. The couple is now looking for friends to foster their cats while they figure out their next steps. Some pet owners, unable to evacuate with their animals, turned to shelters for help. The Pasadena Humane Society received 250 pets on the first day of the fires, while Los Angeles County Animal Care reported housing 97 animals, including cats, dogs, pigs, a turtle, a bird, and a snake. Disney pledges $15M to aid Los Angeles wildfire victims Veterinarian Dr. Annie Harvilicz transformed her former Animal Wellness Centers office in Marina del Rey into a temporary shelter, inspired by her brother’s need for pet care. She quickly accommodated 41 pets and found foster homes for most of them within days. Despite expecting more animals, she was instead overwhelmed by offers to volunteer. “I’m proud of the people of Los Angeles for stepping up to help one another,” she said. Larger animals faced greater challenges. Julia Bagan, a member of the Southern California Equine Emergency Evacuation group, found five horses trapped in their stalls in Altadena after the fire. Firefighters freed the horses, but one, a 3-year-old black mare named Flicka, suffered severe burns. Despite the dire odds, a veterinarian is treating the horse at an emergency equine hospital. “Leaving them locked up with no escape is tragic,” Bagan said. Meanwhile, some horse owners acted quickly. Meredith McKenzie evacuated her horse ahead of the fire, prioritising her sister’s care. “Horse owners know not to wait when there’s a fire risk,” she said, noting that panicked horses are harder to control once smoke appears. Though her barn at the historic Bob Williams Ranch burned, fellow equestrians have offered to help replace lost equipment. Suzanne Cassel evacuated from Topanga with her two horses, a donkey named Oscar Nelson, four dogs, and two cats, securing a spot at Pierce College’s animal shelter. While her horses settled together, her donkey felt isolated. “He’s lonely, so I sat with him in his stall for half an hour. Herd animals don’t like being alone,” she said. 12,000 structures destroyed, 11 dead, thousands displaced in devastating blaze Back at her rescue shelter, Buturovic relocated her animals to friends and Harvilicz’s temporary facility. When she returned to the ranch, she found it destroyed. Her ponies and two semi-feral dogs were gone. She is now raising funds for Philozoia, her non-profit dedicated to saving animals from high-kill shelters. “I don’t know how we’ll move forward,” she said.

The administrator of the Panama Canal said Friday that the vital waterway will remain in Panamanian hands and open to commerce from all countries, rejecting claims by President-elect Donald Trump that the United States should take it over. In an interview with The Associated Press, Ricaurte Vásquez denied Trump’s claims that China was controlling the canal’s operations, and said making exceptions to current rules concerning its operation would lead to “chaos.” He said Chinese companies operating in the ports on either end of the canal were part of a Hong Kong consortium that won a bidding process in 1997. He added that US and Taiwanese companies are operating other ports along the canal as well. Trump has gone so far as to suggest the US should take back control of the canal and he would not rule out using military might to do so. “It might be that you’ll have to do something,” Trump said Tuesday. “The Panama Canal is vital to our country.” Trump has characterized the fees for transiting the canal that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as “ridiculous.” Panama prepares to evacuate first island in face of rising sea levels Panama President José Raúl Mulino has said unequivocally that the canal will remain in Panamanian hands. Responding to the suggestion that the US could try to retake control of the canal, Vásquez said there was “no foundation for that sort of hope. That is the only thing I can say.” Vásquez stressed that the Panama Canal was open to the commerce of all countries. The canal can’t give special treatment to US-flagged ships because of a neutrality treaty, Vásquez added. “The most sensible and efficient way to do this is to maintain the established rules.” Requests for exceptions are routinely rejected, because the process is clear and there mustn’t be arbitrary variations, he said. The only exception in the neutrality treaty is for American warships, which receive expedited passage. Some 70% of the sea traffic that crosses the Panama Canal leaves or goes to US ports. The United States built the canal in the early 1900s as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter. Last month, Trump told supporters “We’re being ripped off at the Panama Canal.” He claimed that the US “foolishly gave it away.” Regarding the fees for using the canal, Vasquez said a planned series of increases had concluded with one this month. Any additional increases would be considered in the first half of the year to give clients certainty in their planning and would go through a public comment process, he said. Panama inaugurates third bridge over Panama Canal “There’s no discrimination in the fees,” he said. “The price rules are uniform for absolutely all those who transit the canal and clearly defined.” The canal depends on reservoirs to operate its locks and was heavily affected by drought during the past two years that forced it to substantially reduce the number of daily slots for crossing ships. With fewer ships using the canal each day, administrators increased the fees that are charged all shippers for reserving a slot. The canal bisects Panama, running 51 miles end to end. It allows ships to avoid the longer and costlier trip around Cape Horn at the tip of South America. “It is an enormous responsibility,” Vásquez said of Panama’s control of the canal. “Take the case of COVID, when it arrived, the canal took the necessary measures to protect the labor force, but while keeping the canal open, because the international commitment is to keep it open.”

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his hush money case, but the judge declined to impose any punishment, an outcome that cements his conviction while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine. The punishment-free judgement marks a quiet end to an extraordinary case that for the first time put a former president and major presidential candidate in a courtroom as a criminal defendant. The case was the only one of four criminal indictments that has gone to trial and possibly the only one that ever will. Manhattan Judge Juan M Merchan could have sentenced the 78-year-old Republican to up to four years in prison. Instead, he chose a sentence that sidestepped thorny constitutional issues by effectively ending the case but assured that Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency. Unlike his trial last year, when Trump brought allies to the courthouse and addressed waiting reporters outside the courthouse, the former president did not appear in person Friday, instead making a brief virtual appearance from his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump, wearing a dark suit and seated next to one of his lawyers with an American flag in the background, appeared on a video screen as he again insisted he did not commit a crime. “It’s been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and obviously, that didn’t work,” Trump said. Trump called the case “a weaponization of government” and “an embarrassment to New York.” Trump’s sentence of an unconditional discharge caps a norm-smashing case that saw the former and future president charged with 34 felonies, put on trial for almost two months and convicted by a jury on every count. Yet, the legal detour — and sordid details aired in court of a plot to bury affair allegations — didn’t hurt him with voters, who elected him to a second term. Merchan said that like when facing any other defendant, he must consider any aggravating factors before imposing a sentence, but the legal protection that Trump will have as president “is a factor that overrides all others.” US SC rejects Trump’s bid to delay sentencing in his hush money case “Despite the extraordinary breadth of those legal protections, one power they do not provide is that they do not erase a jury verdict," Merchan said. Trump, briefly addressing the court by video, said his criminal trial and conviction have “been a very terrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime. Before Friday's hearing, Merchan had indicated he planned the no-penalty sentence, called an unconditional discharge, which meant no jail time, no probation and no fines would be imposed. Prosecutors said Friday that they supported a no-penalty sentence, but they chided Trump's attacks on the legal system throughout and after the case. “The once and future President of the United States has engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said. Rather than show remorse, Trump has “bred disdain” for the jury verdict and the criminal justice system, Steinglass said, and his calls for retaliation against those involved in the case, including calling for the judge to be disbarred, "has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has put officers of the court in harm’s way.” As he appeared from his Mar-a-Lago home, the former president was seated with his lawyer Todd Blanche, whom he’s tapped to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official in his incoming administration. Trump's electric vehicle policies create uncertainty for automakers “The American voters got a chance to see and decide for themselves whether this was the kind of case that should’ve been brought. And they decided," Blanche said. “And that’s why in 10 days President Trump is going to assume the office of the president of the United States.” Before the hearing, a handful of Trump supporters and critics gathered outside. One group held a banner that read, “Trump is guilty.” The other held one that said, “Stop partisan conspiracy” and “Stop political witch hunt.” The hush money case accused Trump of fudging his business' records to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She was paid, late in Trump’s 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter she maintains the two had a decade earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them, and he contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him. “I never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge,” the Republican president-elect wrote on his Truth Social platform last week. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the charges, is a Democrat. Bragg's office said in a court filing Monday that Trump committed “serious offenses that caused extensive harm to the sanctity of the electoral process and to the integrity of New York’s financial marketplace.” While the specific charges were about checks and ledgers, the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump’s political rise. Prosecutors said Daniels was paid off — through Trump's personal attorney at the time, Michael Cohen — as part of a wider effort to keep voters from hearing about Trump's alleged extramarital escapades. Trump tries again to get Friday's hush money sentencing called off Trump denies the alleged encounters occurred. His lawyers said he wanted to squelch the stories to protect his family, not his campaign. And while prosecutors said Cohen's reimbursements for paying Daniels were deceptively logged as legal expenses, Trump says that's simply what they were. “There was nothing else it could have been called,” he wrote on Truth Social last week, adding, “I was hiding nothing.” Trump's lawyers tried unsuccessfully to forestall a trial. Since his May conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, they have pulled virtually every legal lever within reach to try to get the conviction overturned, the case dismissed or at least the sentencing postponed. The Trump attorneys have leaned heavily into assertions of presidential immunity from prosecution, and they got a boost in July from a Supreme Court decision that affords former commanders-in-chief considerable immunity. Trump was a private citizen and presidential candidate when Daniels was paid in 2016. He was president when the reimbursements to Cohen were made and recorded the following year. Merchan, a Democrat, repeatedly postponed the sentencing, initially set for July. But last week, he set Friday's date, citing a need for “finality.” He wrote that he strove to balance Trump's need to govern, the Supreme Court's immunity ruling, the respect due a jury verdict and the public’s expectation that "no one is above the law.” Trump's inaugural committee raised a record $170m in donations Trump's lawyers then launched a flurry of last-minute efforts to block the sentencing. Their last hope vanished Thursday night with a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that declined to delay the sentencing. Meanwhile, the other criminal cases that once loomed over Trump have ended or stalled ahead of trial. After Trump's election, special counsel Jack Smith closed out the federal prosecutions over Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. A state-level Georgia election interference case is locked in uncertainty after prosecutorFaniWillis was removed from it.

A powerful winter storm that dumped heavy snow and glazed roads with ice across much of Texas and Oklahoma lumbered eastward into southern U.S. states Friday, prompting governors to declare states of emergency and shuttering schools across the region. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders mobilized the National Guard to help stranded motorists. School was canceled for millions of children across a wide tract of southern states from Texas to Georgia and as far east as South Carolina. Some of the heaviest snowfall was expected Friday across the northern half of Arkansas and much of Tennessee, with totals in some parts of those states ranging from 6 to 9 inches (about 15 to 22 centimeters), according to the National Weather Service. Farther south and east into Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, a wintry mix of sleet and freezing rain made travel treacherous. 2 dead, 20 injured in snow and ice storm in northern France The storm dumped as much as 7 inches (about 18 centimeters) in some spots in central Oklahoma and northern Texas before pushing into Arkansas. Snow that began falling in metro Atlanta before dawn led to hundreds of flights being cancelled and hundreds more delayed at Atlanta’s airport, according to flight tracking software FlightAware. With radar showing much of the heaviest precipitation in Georgia concentrated in a band near Atlanta’s airport, controllers declared a ground stop before 8 a.m., meaning no planes could land or take off. Atlanta, a major hub for Delta Air Lines, is the world’s busiest airport. Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for Georgia. Other airports with significant delays and cancellations included those in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dallas-Fort Worth and Nashville. The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes ventures south into the U.S., Europe and Asia. Some experts say such events are happening more frequently, paradoxically, because of a warming world. The cold snap coincided with rare January wildfires tearing through the Los Angeles area. Snow, sleet hammers Texas, Oklahoma Paul Kirkwood, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said the storm that swept through the Dallas area will create a “swath of snow” impacting parts of Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina. Wildfire Evacuation: Expert tips for staying safe and prepared Texas Gov. Greg Abbott urged residents to avoid driving if possible. Roads could be dangerous as 75,000 fans were expected Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington for the college football championship semifinal between Texas and Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Southern discomfort As much as 8 inches (about 20 centimeters) of snow could fall in parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia through Saturday, the weather service said. Snow and ice were likely to accumulate across metro Atlanta on Friday, making roadways treacherous and possibly causing power outages. Public school systems across metro Atlanta and north Georgia called off in-person classes for Friday, with more than 1 million students getting a snow day or being told to stay at home to learn online. After a disastrous snowstorm in 2014 that left thousands of Atlanta-area workers and schoolchildren stranded overnight away from home, officials in Georgia were quick to cancel in-person classes and close offices Friday. More than 1 million public school students across northern Georgia were told to stay home. Many schools canceled classes Friday in Alabama's northern half, where state roads were largely covered in snow or ice and some were already impassible, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said Friday morning. Tennessee also faced a state of emergency. Heavy, wet snow has been steadily falling since late Thursday in Memphis, where the state's largest school district, Memphis-Shelby County Schools with more than 100,000 students, closed all schools Friday. Tours at Graceland, Elvis Presley’s former home-turned-museum, were canceled Friday, a spokeswoman said. 12 workers trapped after coal mine collapses in Pakistan With up to 8 inches (20.3 centimeters) of snow forecast in Memphis, officials opened two 24-hour warming centers to shelter people from the cold. The Carolinas prepare Parts of South Carolina prepared for the first wintry weather in three years. The state Department of Transportation dusted off its brine and salt supply and began treating interstates and other major highways from Columbia north on Thursday. School systems in those areas either will close early or all day Friday or hold online learning days. Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency for North Carolina. The approaching storm prompted the cancellation of a public outdoor inauguration ceremony for Stein and other statewide elected officials in Raleigh on Saturday. A boil-water order for Virginia's capital Richmond, Virginia, was under a boil-water advisory as officials worked to restore the water reservoir system, which was shut down Monday after a storm caused a power outage, Mayor Danny Avula said. The city of more than 200,000 was distributing bottled water at 11 sites and delivering it to older residents and others unable to get to those locations, officials said.

President Joe Biden plans to deliver a capstone address Monday on his foreign policy legacy, according to the White House. The outgoing president is expected to use his address at the State Department to highlight his administration's efforts to expand NATO, rally dozens of allies to provide Ukraine with a steady stream of military aid to fight Russia, forge a historic agreement between Japan and South Korea to expand security and economic cooperation and more, according to a senior administration official who requested anonymity to preview plans for the address. US SC rejects Trump’s bid to delay sentencing in his hush money case Biden also picked the State Department for his first major foreign policy speech at the start of his presidency nearly four years ago. During that February 2021 address, Biden sought to send an unambiguous signal to the world that the United States was ready to resume its role as a global leader after four years in which President Donald Trump pressed an “America First” agenda. But the one-term Democrat will bid farewell to U.S diplomats and make the case for his worldview as Trump prepares to return the White House with plans to drastically overhaul American foreign policy. The president-elect has decried the cost of US support for Ukraine's war effort, called for NATO members to dramatically increase defense spending and said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, as he insists US control of both is vital to American national security.

A sharply divided Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s final bid to put his New York hush-money case on hold, clearing the way for him to be sentenced for felony crimes days before he returns to the presidency. The court’s 5-4 order allows Judge Juan M. Merchan to impose a sentence Friday on Trump, who was convicted in what prosecutors called an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. Trump has denied any liaison with Daniels or any wrongdoing. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with the court’s three liberals in rejecting his emergency motion. The majority found his sentencing wouldn't be an insurmountable burden during the presidential transition since Merchan has indicated he won't give Trump jail time, fines or probation. Trump's attorneys had asked the sentencing be delayed as he appeals the verdict, but the majority of justices found his arguments can be handled as part of the regular appeals process. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would have delayed the sentencing, the order states. Trump said he respects the high court's order, and will pursue an appeal that could end up before the high court again. “I respect the court’s opinion — I think it was actually a very good opinion for us because you saw what they said, but they invited the appeal and the appeal is on the bigger issue. So, we’ll see how it works out,” he said at a dinner with Republican governors at his private club in Florida. The defeat comes after the conservative-majority court has handed Trump major victories over the past year, ensuring that states could not kick him off the ballot because of the 2021 attack on the Capitol and giving him immunity from prosecution over some acts he took as president in a ruling that delayed an election-interference case against him. The justices could also be faced with weighing other parts of the sweeping conservative changes he's promised after he takes office. In the push to delay the New York sentencing, Trump’s attorneys argued he is immune from criminal proceedings as president-elect and said some evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated last summer’s immunity decision. Read: Judge schedules Trump's sentencing in hush money case for January 10, indicating no jail time At the least, they have said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals play out to avoid distracting Trump during the White House transition. Prosecutors pushed back, saying there’s no reason for the court to take the “extraordinary step” of intervening in a state case now. Trump’s attorneys didn't show that an hourlong virtual hearing would be a serious disruption, and a pause would likely mean pushing the case past the Jan. 20 inauguration, creating a delay that could last at least through his presidency. “We brought a case. A jury of ordinary New Yorkers returned 34 guilty verdicts,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at an unrelated news conference Thursday afternoon. “Our function right now primarily is to continue to give voice to that verdict and respect, as a principle -- bedrock principle of the administration of justice -- that the jury’s voice must not be rubbed out.” Trump’s attorneys went to the justices after New York courts refused to postpone sentencing, including the state’s highest court on Thursday. Judges in New York have found that the convictions on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to personal matters rather than Trump’s official acts as president. Daniels says she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. He denies it. Trump’s attorneys called the case politically motivated, and they said sentencing him now would be a “grave injustice” that threatens to disrupt the presidential transition as the Republican prepares to return to the White House. Read more: Appeals court upholds Donald Trump's gag order as he again presses judge to exit hush money case Trump is represented by D. John Sauer, his pick to be the solicitor general, who represents the government before the high court. Sauer also argued for Trump in the separate criminal case charging him with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which resulted in the Supreme Court’s immunity opinion. Defense attorneys cited that opinion in arguing some of the evidence used against him in the hush money trial should have been shielded by presidential immunity. That includes testimony from some White House aides and social media posts made while he was in office. The decision comes a day after Justice Alito confirmed that he took a phone call from Trump the day before the president-elect’s lawyers filed their emergency motion before the high court. The justice said the call was about a clerk, not any upcoming or current cases, but the unusual communication prompted calls for Alito to recuse himself, including from the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Justices make their own decisions about whether to recuse and Alito still weighed in on the case.

As they filed into the front pews at Washington National Cathedral, wearing dark suits and mostly solemn faces, five current and former presidents came together for Jimmy Carter's funeral. During a service that stretched more than an hour, the feuding, grievances and enmity that had marked their rival campaigns and divergent politics gave way to a reverential moment for one of their own. Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the first two of the group to take their seats Thursday, shook hands and chatted at length. Trump, the former president who will retake the Oval Office in 11 days, leaned in and listened intently to his predecessor, notwithstanding the political chasm between them. At times, the two flashed smiles. Trump later returned to his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida Thursday night to meet with Republican governors and refused to say what he and Obama discussed, but joked, “It did look very friendly, I must say.” “I didn’t realize how friendly it looked. I said, 'Boy they look like two people who like each other and we probably do," he said. "We have little different philosophies, right, but we probably do." The president-elect added, “I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody.” Obama, who attended Carter's funeral without his wife, Michelle, shared a second-row pew with former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, along with their spouses. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived last and sat in the pew just in front of them. Members of the exclusive presidents' club were on their best behavior. Bonded by the presidency, they rarely criticize one another or the White House’s current occupant — though Trump has flouted those rules frequently. He has both praised and criticized Carter in recent days, and he complained that flags will still be at half-staff to honor the deceased president during his inauguration. In one seemingly chilly moment, Trump looked up when Vice President Kamala Harris — whom he defeated in November's hard-fought election — entered the cathedral, but he didn't move to greet her as she and husband Doug Emhoff took seats directly in front of him and Melania Trump. Nor did Harris acknowledge him. After the service, Emhoff made a point to turn around and shake hands with Trump. Obama, with Trump on his left, also turned to his right to chat with Bush. Clinton, with wife Hillary, was the last of the ex-presidents to take a seat and got in some chatter with Bush as well. The White House said the former presidents also met privately before taking their seats. There was no word on what was said then, though Trump said later of its participants, "We all got along very well.” Funerals are among the few events that bring members of the presidents' club together. In a way, former President Gerald Ford was there, too: Ford's son Steven read a eulogy for Carter that Ford had written before he died in 2006. Read: Jimmy Carter made eradicating Guinea worm disease a top mission Busy with personal pursuits, charitable endeavors and sometimes lucrative speaking gigs, the former leaders don’t mingle often. They all know the protocol of state funerals well — each has been involved in planning his own. During the 2018 funeral for George H.W. Bush, then-President Trump sat with his predecessors and their spouses, including the Carters, and the interactions were stiff and sometimes awkward. This time, Trump also didn't appear to interact with Hillary Clinton, whom he defeated in the 2016 election. Trump was seated in the pew in front of his former vice president, Mike Pence — one of the few times they have coincided at events since Pence refused to overturn the results of the 2020 election after Trump lost to Biden. The two shook hands but didn't speak much beyond that. Pence's wife, Karen, appeared to avoid engaging with the president-elect. Trump, who largely avoided contact with the former presidents during his first term — and pointedly did not seek their advice — has been critical of Republican former presidents, particularly the Bush family, which made him an uneasy member of the former presidents' club. Carter himself didn't particularly relish being a member of the club, at times criticizing its staid traditions. Many past presidents have built relationships with their predecessors, including Bill Clinton, who reached out to Richard Nixon for advice on Russian policy, and Harry S. Truman, who sought counsel from Herbert Hoover. One of the first calls Obama made after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 was to George W. Bush to spread the word that the mission had been accomplished, said Kate Andersen Brower, author of “Team of Five: The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump.” “It's the loneliest job in the world, so usually they reach out and rely on each other," said Andersen Brower. "But Trump didn't have that the first term, so this will just be another four years where he doesn't depend on anyone who came before him." She noted that Carter spent years as a proud Washington outsider and skipped the unveiling of his own portrait to avoid being in the same room with the man who beat him in 1980, President Ronald Reagan. Read more: Jimmy Carter was a true friend of Bangladesh: Dr Yunus “Carter and Trump, even though they have the least in common about everything else, are similar," Andersen Brower said, "in just how they approach telling what they actually think.”