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I'm VOA's Joe Ramsey with your world wide news update.
Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States. He's the first person convicted of a felony to win the White House and the first former president to regain power since 1892. The victory marks an extraordinary comeback. Trump refused to accept defeat four years ago, sparking a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He also survived two assassination attempts. Trump's vice president, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, is 40. He'll become the highest-ranking member of the millennial generation in government. Kamala Harris is urging her supporters to accept the election's results and also keep up the fight for their beliefs. AP correspondent Sagar Meghani reports. "The outcome of this election is not what we wanted." Harris says while she's conceding the race to Donald Trump, "I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign." In a speech at Haward University, her alma mater, which was to be the site of her victory speech, Harris says the fight must go on "in the voting booth, in the courts, and in the public square." Harris says she called Trump to congratulate him. The White House says President Biden did the same, inviting his predecessor-turned successor to meet with him soon. The president will address the election results Thursday. Sagar Meghani, Washington. Foreign leaders called Trump, too, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump outperformed his 2020 election results while Harris failed to do as well as Biden did in winning the presidency four years ago. Trump will take office in January and work with the U.S. Senate that will now be in Republican hands while control of the House hasn't been determined. This is VOA News. African leaders are congratulating former President and now President-elect Donald Trump on winning the U.S. election on Wednesday. Kate Bartlett reports from Johannesburg. Donald Trump's victory dominated the news cycle across Africa on Wednesday. African governments are hoping the U.S. will next year renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA. The preferential trade policy gives some countries duty-free access to the U.S. market. However, the president of the Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan, had other concerns about what a second Trump presidency could mean for his Indian Ocean island nation. "We are going through a climate crisis. So will the U.S. once again pull out of the Paris agreement? What is the future? What will be the pronouncement of President Trump?" Ramkalawan, speaking at a press event in Johannesburg, was referring to the fact that in his first term, Trump withdrew the U.S. from a major international agreement to limit global warming. The U.S. rejoined the pact under President Biden. Kate Bartlett, VOA News, Johannesburg. The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is urging the world to save it from an Israeli ban that would have, quote unquote, "disastrous consequences" for millions of people caught up in the war in Gaza. "Millions of Palestinian refugees fear that the public services on which their live(s) depend will soon disappear. They fear that their children will be deprived of education, that illnesses will go untreated, and that social support will stop." UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday that its 193 member nations must take action to prevent Israel from implementing legislation that prohibits the agency's operations in the Palestinian territories. Israel's U.N. ambassador repeated accusations that the agency has staffers with militant ties. A British doctor who was disgruntled about his inheritance and injected his mother's boyfriend with a poison presented as a COVID-19 vaccine has been sentenced to 31 years in prison. AP correspondent Charles De Ledesma reports. Thomas Kwan disguised himself as a nurse making home visits to inject Patrick O'Hara with a flesh-eating poison because he believed the older man stood in the way of him inheriting his mother's home one day. O'Hara only survived after being in intensive care for several weeks and having part of his arm cut away to prevent the deadly illness from spreading. O'Hara has said the ordeal left him a shell of a man. I'm Charles De Ledesma. That wraps up this update, but the world and news never stop. For additional updates, visit our website. I'm Joe Ramsey, VOA News. |