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This is VOA news. Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd.
President Donald Trump on Saturday urged the Republican-run Senate to consider "without delay" his upcoming nomination to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just six weeks before the election. Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday, President Trump said that he expects to have a choice very soon and will send that choice to the U.S. Senate. "I'll be making my choice soon, and when the choice is made, I'll be sending it over to Mitch and the Senate, and they will do what they have to do. I think we'll have a very popular choice, whoever it may be, but we'll be sending it over to the Senate." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky vowed on Friday night just hours after Ginsburg's death to call a vote for Trump's upcoming nominee. Democrats say it is hypocrisy after McConnell refused to consider then President Barack Obama's nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, 11 months before the 2016 election. In the hours since Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death was announced, Democrats have raised tens of millions of dollars in political campaign contributions. We get more from AP's Ben Thomas. Democrats have raised more than $50 million in the hours since news broke of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death. That total was as of 4 p.m. Saturday, according to a donation ticker on the website of ActBlue, the party's online fundraising platform. The 2020 campaign had already delivered record-shattering fundraising totals for the Democrats, a sign of the motivation within the party to rebuke President Trump on Election Day. But Ginsburg's death has brought new impetus to the campaign, particularly after Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell both pledged to move forward with nominating a new justice. Ben Thomas, Washington. This is VOA news. President Donald Trump on Saturday touted what he called a "fantastic" deal that could see Oracle and Walmart become U.S. tech partners for TikTok, which the president is seeking to ban over security concerns. He told reporters at the White House, he was giving the deal with Oracle "my blessing" and that it had addressed U.S. national security concerns. "All of the control is Walmart and Oracle, two great American companies. And you have the combination of the Walmart, that's obvious, and the high tech of Oracle, and the genius of the two leaders of those companies." About 100 million Americans use TikTok and U.S. officials have expressed concern about user data and the potential for China to access that information. Trump critics have said that while TikTok's security risks are unclear, the sweeping ban he had proposed raised concerns about the government's ability to regulate free expression. Police in the capital of Belarus cracked down sharply on Saturday against a women's protest march demanding the authoritarian president's resignation, arresting more than 200 people including an elderly woman who has become a symbol of the six-week protests that have roiled the country. Among those detained during Saturday's demonstration was prominent 74-year-old protester Nina Bahinskaya. Local media reported that she was released from custody upon arriving at a police station. It was also reported that at least one member of the media was detained during the weekend protest. Police officers blocked demonstrators in several locations. The demonstrations first began after the country's presidential election last month that officials say handed Lukashenko a sixth term in office with an overwhelming 80 percent support. Opponents of the longtime leader have claimed the election was rigged. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says he is recovering his verbal and physical abilities at the German hospital where he is being treated for suspected nerve agent poisoning. AP's Zaria Shaklee reports. Navalny, the most visible opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, fell ill on a domestic flight to Moscow on the 20th of August and was transferred to Germany for treatment two days later. A German military lab later determined that the Russian politician was poisoned with Novichok, the same class of Soviet-era agent that Britain said was used on a former Russian spy and his daughter in England in 2018. Navalny was kept in an induced coma for more than a week while being treated with an antidote. I'm Zaria Shaklee. Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd. |