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Minggu, 17 Januari 2021

US state capitals brace for violent protests as crowds remain thin - CNA

HARRISBURG: Pennsylvania: Law enforcement officers were out in force at state capitol grounds across the United States on Sunday (Jan 17) in preparation for protests that so far have drawn only a small number of Trump supporters who believe the president's false claim that the 2020 election was rigged.

More than a dozen states have activated National Guard troops to help secure their capitol buildings following an FBI warning of armed demonstrations, with right-wing extremists emboldened by the deadly attack on the US Capitol in Washington on Jan 6.

Security officials had eyed Sunday as the first major flashpoint, as that is when the anti-government "boogaloo" movement made plans weeks ago to hold rallies in all 50 states.

Capitals in battleground states, where Trump has directed his accusations of voter fraud, were on especially high alert.

But by midday, only handfuls of demonstrators had taken to the streets alongside much larger crowds of law enforcement officers and media personnel.

READ: US state capitals, Washington on alert for possible pro-Trump armed protests

A few Trump supporters were at Pennsylvania's statehouse in Harrisburg, including Alex, a 34-year-old drywall finisher from Hershey, Pennsylvania who said he had been at the Jan 6 siege of the US Capitol but did not storm the building. He declined to give his last name.

Wearing a hoodie emblazoned with "Fraud 2020", he said he believed November's presidential election was stolen and wanted to show his support for Trump. He noted the lack of protesters at the Pennsylvania capitol on Sunday.

"There's nothing going on," he said.

Capitol Breach Pennsylvania — Local political activist Gene Stilp, right, pulls down a cut-out of President Donald Trump while staging an anti-Trump demonstration in front of the Pennsylvania State Capitol, Sunday Jan 17, 2021 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Photo: AP/Jacqueline Larma)

READ: Humbled Trump seeks warmer welcome in Florida

READ: Will Trump's mishandling of records leave a hole in history?

A similarly small group of about a dozen protesters, a few armed with rifles, stood outside Michigan's capitol in Lansing. One wore fatigue pants, a tactical vest and blue Hawaiian shirt, a trademark of the anti-government boogaloo movement. Another wore a Trump T-shirt and waved a "Don't tread on me" flag.

Nearby, crews had blocked off streets and office buildings had boarded up windows in fear of violence.

In Atlanta, several hundred law enforcement officers and National Guard troops milled around Georgia's state house. Chain-link fences and cement barriers protected the Capitol grounds and multiple armored vehicles were stationed nearby.

In addition to increasing police presence, some states, including Pennsylvania, Texas and Kentucky, took the further step of closing their capitol grounds to the public.

Capitol Breach Demonstrations Michigan — Men with rifles stand outside the State Capitol, Sunday, Jan 17, 2021, in Lansing, Michigan. (Photo: AP/Carlos Osorio)

READ: Biden outlines 'Day One' agenda of executive actions to undo some Trump decisions

READ: Commentary: Can America reclaim global leadership?

PREPARING FOR VIOLENCE

The nationwide security scramble followed the attack on the US Capitol in Washington by a mix of extremists and Trump supporters, some of whom called for the death of Vice President Mike Pence as he presided over the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's election victory.

The FBI and other federal agencies have warned of the potential for future violence leading up to Biden's inauguration on Wednesday, as white supremacists and other extremists seek to exploit frustration among Trump supporters who have bought into his falsehoods about electoral fraud.

Tens of thousands of security personnel from the National Guard and law enforcement agencies have descended upon Washington, DC, to bolster security ahead of Wednesday's ceremony.

Downtown Washington was largely a ghost town on Sunday. Gun-toting National Guard soldiers in camouflage manned checkpoints across the city center, which was closed off to traffic with large military vehicles deployed to block streets.

READ: Facebook to ban ads promoting weapon accessories, protective gear in US

READ: Trump plans to depart Washington the morning of Inauguration Day: Official

It was not clear whether the FBI warning and ramped up security presence around the country might lead some protesters to cancel plans to go to their state capitols.

Following the Jan 6 violence in Washington, some militia members said they would not attend a long-planned pro-gun demonstration in Virginia on Monday, where authorities were worried about the risk of violence as multiple groups converged on the state capital, Richmond.

Some militias and extremist groups have told followers to stay home this weekend, citing the increased security or the risk that the planned events were law enforcement traps.

Bob Gardner, leader of the Pennsylvania Lightfoot Militia, said his group had no plans to be in Harrisburg this weekend, where the Capitol has been fortified with barricades and will be protected by hundreds of members of its National Guard.

"We've got our own communities to worry about," Gardner said earlier this week. "We don’t get involved in politics."

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2021-01-17 19:48:46Z
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Johor police seize drugs worth nearly US$50 million, biggest haul in Malaysian history - CNA

JOHOR BAHRU: Johor police this week seized drugs worth RM201 million (US$49.8 million), making it the biggest haul in the history of Malaysia's anti-narcotics department, said the authorities on Sunday (Jan 17).

Officers conducted three raids on Thursday and Friday following investigations into 14 suspects of a drug smuggling and distribution syndicate who were caught in Johor Bahru on Tuesday, said Johor police chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay.

In the initial operation on Tuesday, the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) uncovered two drug processing laboratories and two stores containing drugs worth RM125.8 million, said Ayob Khan.

"Interrogation of the suspects led police to raid the three other locations which were used to store drugs namely a factory in Taman Mount Austin and two rented houses in Taman Setia Indah," he added.

READ: Malaysia seizes record haul of crystal meth worth US$26.2 million

In these raids, police found 3.2 tonnes of Ecstasy powder, 26.1kg of liquid Ecstasy and 117kg of Erimin-5 powder.

Police estimated that these "could have been used by 11 million drug addicts", said Ayob Khan.

Also confiscated from the suspects were four luxury vehicles, RM5 million in cash, foreign currency worth RM231,961, 30 types of jewellery valued at RM124,435, three Rolex watches worth RM250,000 and 62 bank accounts with money totalling RM1.23 million in the raids.

Drug bust Johor (1) — Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim inspects items confiscated from a drug syndicate. (Photo: Facebook/HRH Crown Prince of Johor)

Two local men aged 34 and 38 were also arrested on Thursday in Taman Mount Austin and on Saturday in Taman Gaya, Ulu Tiram on suspicion of being involved with the syndicate. One of the suspects was a mechanic who was responsible for modifying vehicle compartments to hide drugs.

"This syndicate has been in operation since 2018, and rents factory premises and houses to store and process drugs.

"The two suspects are on remand for seven days from the date of their arrests and are being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952," said the police chief.

Overall, the total drug seizure by Johor police since Tuesday amounted to RM341.79 million, said Ayob Khan, adding that police would be pursuing the rest of the syndicate.

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2021-01-17 12:24:20Z
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China reports 109 new COVID-19 cases to keep concerns simmering before Chinese New Year - CNA

BEIJING: Worries simmered in mainland China about a potential fresh wave of coronavirus cases ahead of Chinese New Year next month as authorities on Sunday (Jan 17) reported 109 new COVID-19 cases, most of them in Hebei province surrounding Beijing.

Though the Jan 16 tally of new cases was less than the previous day's 130, China has in the past week seen the number of daily cases jump to an over 10-month high.

The unsettling trend has emerged while a World Health Organization-led (WHO) team of investigators remained in quarantine in the city of Wuhan, where the disease was first detected in late 2019. The team aims to investigate the origins of the pandemic that has now killed more than two million people worldwide.

Giving details of the latest daily caseload, the National Health Commission (NHC) said 96 were local infections, 72 of them in Hebei, 12 in northeastern Heilongjiang province, 10 in northeastern Jilin province and two in Beijing.

The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, rose to 119 on Saturday from 79 on Friday.

The numbers remain well below levels seen at the height of the outbreak in China in early 2020, but authorities remain on guard, and as a result of the outbreak in recent weeks a handful of cities have been put under lockdown.

READ: China says latest COVID-19 outbreak caused by imported cases

READ: China's Tianjin reports coronavirus found on ice cream

NHC Minister Ma Xiaowei said on Saturday that outbreaks in the northeast have come from travellers entering the country or contaminated frozen food imports. China is the only country to claim COVID-19 can be transmitted via cold chain imports, even though the WHO has downplayed the risks.

Beijing city will begin requiring travellers from abroad to undergo health monitoring for seven additional days following 21 days of medical observation, state-run news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.

Shijiazhuang, Hebei's capital and the hardest-hit spot in the latest surge of infections, reported 65 new locally transmitted confirmed cases on Jan 16, the provincial health commission said.

Zhang Yan, a provincial health official in Jilin, told a news conference that the outbreak there had been caused by infected people arriving in the province from Heilongjiang. Zhang said 102 recent infections were linked to one person who had travelled between the two provinces multiple times for marketing activities targeting old people.

The total of confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China stands at 88,227, while the death toll remains unchanged at 4,635.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

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2021-01-17 09:50:53Z
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Will Trump's mishandling of records leave a hole in history? - CNA

WASHINGTON: The public will not see President Donald Trump’s White House records for years, but there’s growing concern that the collection won’t be complete, leaving a hole in the history of one of America’s most tumultuous presidencies.

Trump has been cavalier about the law requiring records be preserved. He has a habit of ripping up documents before tossing them out, forcing White House staffers to spend hours taping them back together.

“They told him to stop doing it. He didn’t want to stop,” said Solomon Lartey, a former White House records analyst who spent hours taping documents back together well into 2018.

The president also confiscated an interpreter’s notes after Trump had a chat with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Trump scolded his White House counsel for taking notes at a meeting. Top executive branch officials had to be reminded more than once not to conduct official business on private email or encrypted text messaging systems and to preserve it if they did.

Trump’s baseless claim of widespread voter fraud, which postponed for weeks an acknowledgement of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, is delaying the transfer of documents to the National Archives and Records Administration, further heightening concern about the integrity of the records.

“Historians are likely to suffer from far more holes than has been the norm,” said Richard Immerman at the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. In the Trump White House, “not only has record keeping not been a priority, but we have multiple examples of it seeking to conceal or destroy that record”.

READ: Trump brand tarnished after bruising presidency and Capitol attack

But even with requests by lawmakers and lawsuits by government transparency groups, there is an acknowledgment that noncompliance with the Presidential Records Act carries little consequence for Trump.

The Presidential Records Act states that a president cannot destroy records until he seeks the advice of the national archivist and notifies Congress. But the law doesn’t require him to heed the archivist’s advice.

Most presidential records today are electronic, and records experts estimate that automatic backup computer systems capture a vast majority of them, but cannot capture records that a White House chooses not to create or log into those systems.

THE MOVE

Moving a president’s trail of paper and electronic records is a labourious task. President Barack Obama left about 30 million pages of paper documents and some 250 terabytes of electronic records, including the equivalent of about 1.5 billion pages of emails.

When Trump lost the November election, records staffers were in position to transfer electronic records, pack up the paper ones and move them to the National Archives by Jan 20 as required by law. But Trump’s reluctance to concede has meant they will miss the deadline.

“Necessary funding from the (White House) Office of Management and Budget was delayed for many weeks after the election, which has caused delays in arranging for the transfer of the Trump presidential records into the National Archives’ custody,” the National Archives said in a statement to The Associated Press. “Even though the transfer of these records will not be completed until after Jan 20, the National Archives will assume legal custody of them on Jan 20 in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.”

READ: Humbled Trump seeks warmer welcome in Florida

White House spokesman Judd Deere said on Saturday that contesting the election did not cause the delay in getting the president’s records transferred to the archives and that guidance was available to staffers on how to pack up their materials.

One person familiar with the transition said guidance typically emailed to executive branch employees, explaining how to turn in equipment and pack up their offices, was sent out in December, but quickly rescinded because Trump insisted on contesting the election.

With little guidance, some staffers in the White House started quietly calling records workers to find out what to do.

Departing employees are instructed to create a list of folders in each box and make a spreadsheet to give the National Archives a way to track and retrieve the information for the incoming Biden team.

The public must wait five years before submitting Freedom of Information Act requests to see the Trump material. Even then, Trump - like other presidents before him - is invoking six specific restrictions to public access of his records for up to 12 years.

RECORD-KEEPING PRACTICES

On impeachment and other sensitive issues, some normal workflow practices were bypassed, a second person familiar with the process said. Higher-ups and White House lawyers became more involved in deciding which materials were catalogued and scanned into White House computer networks where they are automatically saved, the person said.

The individuals, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss the inner workings of the White House, said that if uncatalogued materials ended up in an office safe, for instance, they would at least be temporarily preserved. But if they were never catalogued in the first place, staffers would not know they existed, making them untraceable.

READ: US state capitals, Washington on alert for possible pro-Trump armed protests

Trump’s staff also engaged in questionable practices by using private emails and messaging apps. Former White House counsel Don McGahn in February 2017 sent a memo that instructed employees not to use nonofficial text messaging apps or private email accounts. If they did, he said, they had to take screenshots of the material and copy it into official email accounts, which are preserved. He sent the memo back out in September 2017.

Government transparency groups say the screenshots are not adequate because they do not capture attachments or information such as who contacted whom, phone identifiers and other online information.

“It’s an open question to me about how serious or conscientious any of those people have been about moving them over,” said Tom Blanton, who directs the National Security Archive at George Washington University, which was founded in 1985 to combat government secrecy.

Trump was criticised for confiscating the notes of an interpreter who was with him in 2017 when Trump talked with Putin in Hamburg, Germany. Lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to obtain the notes of another interpreter who was with Trump in 2018 when he met with Putin in Helsinki, Finland.

Several weeks ago, the National Security Archive, two historical associations and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued to prevent the Trump White House from destroying any electronic communications or records sent or received on nonofficial accounts, such as personal email or WhatsApp.

The court refused to issue a temporary restraining order after government lawyers told the judge that they had instructed the White House to notify all employees to preserve all electronic communications in their original format until the lawsuit was settled.

Anne Weismann, one of the lawyers representing the groups in their lawsuit, suspects “serious noncompliance” of the Presidential Records Act.

“I believe we will find that there’s going to be a huge hole in the historical record of this president," Weismann said.

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2021-01-17 08:32:51Z
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Humbled Trump seeks warmer welcome in Florida - CNA

MIAMI: President Donald Trump will leave Washington in disgrace next week, destined for a warmer welcome in Florida, where some supporters are so gung-ho they recently wrote his name on the back of a fat, lumbering manatee.

Days after suffering the ignominy of a second impeachment, Trump will skip his successor Joe Biden's inauguration and depart early Wednesday (Jan 20) for his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Apparently, he plans to live there.

There are also signs his adult children will decamp south to be near their father, who was cut off from Twitter and other social networks that were his megaphone after being widely accused of instigating the Jan 6 assault by his supporters on the US Capitol.

Locals can already be heard whispering, angrily: "There goes the neighborhood." They are not happy with the prospect of Trump settling among them.

Donald Trump will leave Washington before his successor Joe Biden's inauguration and head to Florida, where his motorcade is seen in December 2020 at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach AFP/SAUL LOEB

Last month people in Palm Beach sent the city council a letter recalling that under a 1993 agreement, Mar-a-Lago was not zoned as a full-time residence.

That letter, published by The Washington Post, states that use of the living quarters at the golf resort "shall be limited to a maximum of three (3) non-consecutive seven (7) day periods by any one member during the year".

The resort denies that the 1993 accord contains this restriction.

The Post noted that the president already spends large amounts of time at the resort in violation of this rule, and he is expected to put up a fight against those who do not want him around.

READ: Trump brand tarnished after bruising presidency and Capitol attack

But that's only the beginning of Trump's Mar-a-Lago woes.

This week Palm Beach County officials issued the resort a warning over a New Year's Eve party at which guests did not wear masks or observe social distancing rules.

Palm Beach residents have sent the city council a letter stating that US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, pictured in March 2019, is not zoned for full-time residency AFP/Saul MARTINEZ

Trump's son Don Jr had posted a video of the festivities showing people dancing to 1989 hit "Ice Ice Baby" by the rapper Vanilla Ice, who performed live.

The county warned that any future violation of pandemic restrictions would mean a fine of US$15,000.

SOLID BASE

"The Trumps may be surprised to learn that the voter rolls in the three main South Florida counties - Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade - are dominated by Democrats," said Craig Pittman, a Florida native and the author of five books on the state.

"In fact, the congressional representative for the district that covers Mar-A-Lago, Lois Frankel, has voted not once but twice to impeach her most famous constituent," Pittman said.

Still, over the past four years Trump has built up a solid base of support in Florida, mainly among non-urban white people and conservative Latinos.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive for a New Year's celebration at Mar-a-Lago in December 2019 AFP/JIM WATSON

One of his most loyal followers is Miami Cuban-American Enrique Tarrio, a leader of the right-wing Proud Boys group.

Trump's support is so strong in Florida that last Sunday a live manatee was found with "Trump" etched onto its back.

But after the assault on Congress, Trump is on thin ice.

READ: US state capitals, Washington on alert for possible pro-Trump armed protests

Al Cardenas, former chairman of the Republican Party in Florida, told the Tampa Bay Times that Republicans in the state are terrified of losing the support of people who back Trump.

Dozens of Trump supporters rallied outside the Miami home of Republican Senator Marco Rubio, calling him a traitor for his support in Congress to certify Biden's win and reject Trump's baseless allegations that the election was rigged.

REALITY AT MAR-A-LAGO

With the Trump family's arrival, the US gossip press will be busy.

Chatter for now is centering on Tiffany Trump, the president's 27-year-old daughter, who according to the tabloid Page Six is shopping for a house while she lives in South Beach.

The same news outlet reported last month that Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, an adviser to the president, have bought a US$30 million lot in Indian Creek Village, an island north of Miami Beach known to be one of the most expensive places in the country.

Donald Trump Jr and his partner Kimberly Guilfoyle are said to be looking for digs in Jupiter, north of Palm Beach.

READ: Will Trump's mishandling of records leave a hole in history?

All this begs the question: What will the Trumps do once installed in Florida?

"Perhaps once they find a suitable place to settle down here, the Trumps will find a fresh outlet for their energies, as the post-presidential Jimmy Carter did with Habitat for Humanity," said Pittman.

"There are plenty of poor folks in Florida who could use their help," he said.

But, referencing one of the president's more infamous moments, in which he visited Puerto Rico hurricane victims in 2017, Pittman added: "It would need to be something more substantial than just tossing them rolls of paper towels."

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2021-01-17 07:31:47Z
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In Tokyo's lockdown, some drink on even after authorities call time - CNA

TOKYO: For Yuuki Hamazono, it was a relief to find bars and restaurants in Tokyo flouting the Japanese government's request to close by 8pm.

The 30-year-old financial trader was one of many people out in the Shimbashi nightlife district during the first weekend of an expanded state of emergency, with the government pleading for residents to stay home to contain the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and surrounding prefectures this month. He expanded it to 11 prefectures accounting for 55 per cent of the population on Wednesday. Unlike in many other countries with mandatory lockdowns, Japanese authorities legally can only urge people to stay at home and businesses to close.

READ: Japan widens COVID-19 emergency for 7 more areas as cases surge

While compliance has been high - most of Shimbashi's karaoke bars and izakaya taverns were closed on Friday night - more people appear to be ignoring the state of emergency this time than one last year.

"There are people who can't have dinner until after 8pm, including me," Hamazono said, citing his working hours. He and a friend were looking for a place to duck into among a jumble of izakayas on Shimbashi's narrow streets.

Nearby, touts called out on the street, advertising places that were still open.

Authorities have worried about the potential spread of infection at bars and restaurants. In Shimbashi, many drinking spots are cramped and with poor ventilation.

Restaurants found flouting Japan's COVID-19 emergency decree in Tokyo — A man walks past restaurants which closed after 8pm, the time the government asks them to close by, amid the coronavirus emergency decree in Tokyo, Japan, January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

The government has offered subsidies to establishments that close on time, but some say it's not enough, and worry about losing customers.

"Though there are subsidies, for restaurants and bars the relations of trust are important," said Yuji Tobe, a 34-year-old barman in a standing-only drinking spot, where wooden tabletops rest on stacks of plastic crates.

"We have a bond with our customers."

Tobe's bar was nominally closed, although two regulars were still being served.

READ: Caught off-guard by scant testing, Japan battered by COVID-19 winter

Some criticise what they call a half-hearted government response. Suga has been accused of being slow to act out of fear of damaging the economy. His support has plunged.

"It's unclear whether getting the economy going or stopping corona comes first," said a man who gave his name only as Kazumasa. He was queuing for one the restaurants under the train tracks serving yakitori, skewers of grilled chicken.

The government is considering an amendment to give authorities more power to enforce a lockdown, the minister in charge of administrative and regulatory reform, Taro Kono, told Reuters on Thursday.

Until then, it seems likely that many will keep drinking.

"There are many times we need to talk business over drinks. That kind of communication is necessary to do business," said 48-year-old Motoki Mori, the owner of an event production company who was headed to a bar with his business partner.

"I don't think you can put a cut-off time on that."

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2021-01-17 06:57:10Z
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Biden eyes ex-Obama staff to tackle Big Tech and other antitrust issues - CNA

WASHINGTON: Two former Obama administration officials have emerged as front-runners for the top antitrust job at the US Department of Justice under the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

One of the picks is Renata Hesse, who has had several stints at the Justice Department since 2002 and most recently served as the Acting Assistant Attorney General from mid-2016 to January 2017. She also has held private sector roles and advised on matters involving companies such as Amazon.com and Alphabet's Google.

More notably, Hesse advised Amazon on its more than US$13 billion acquisition of grocery chain Whole Foods, according to her bio on the website of New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, where she is currently a partner.

Her role could pose conflict of interest issues as the Justice Department pursues its widely-followed case against Google, the sources said. The Justice Department sued Google on Oct 20, accusing the US$1 trillion company of dominating search and advertising.

The other front-runner is Juan Arteaga, who has also worked for the Justice Department under President Barack Obama between 2013 to 2017 and served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Enforcement, according to the sources, who did not wish to be named.

Arteaga also has held private sector roles and advised companies such as JP Morgan Chase & Co and AT&T.

Other contenders under consideration include Jonathan Kanter, who co-chaired the antitrust department at the law firm Paul Weiss and now runs his own firm, the sources said. He is a prominent Big Tech and Google critic. Many progressive groups favor Kanter's appointment as they push for more aggressive antitrust enforcement.

To be sure, the names reflect the thinking of the Biden transition so far and could change as the vetting process moves forward, the sources said.

The Biden transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Antitrust enforcement has emerged as an issue the Biden transition team has been paying attention to. For example, a third source said the transition is prioritising getting a landing team in to start working on issues and that Arteaga could be a good fit.

Also, on Nov 18, the Biden transition's agency review team for the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice held a meeting with outside progressive and moderate groups to discuss antitrust policy priorities, according to three separate sources.

Some of the broad priorities discussed on the call included having more "aggressive" antitrust enforcers.

"Bring cases even if you're going to lose," said one source, describing the way this point was made in the meeting.

Other topics discussed during the session included reversing merger guidelines, retrospective scrutiny of mergers, revamping antiquated competition laws and offering more funds for federal enforcement agencies such as the FTC, the sources said.

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2021-01-17 04:57:14Z
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