Gail Halvorsen, the U.S. pilot who was known and loved by German children in the late 1940s as the Candy Bomber, has mostly recovered from the coronavirus, his daughter said.

Halvorsen, who lives in the western state of Utah and turned 100 years old earlier this year, has a cough but is otherwise doing “very well,” Denise Williams said on Thursday.

“He seems almost back to his normal 100-year-old self,” she said, adding that he was grateful for all the get-well messages, including many from Germany.

He caught the virus in December.

Halvorsen became famous a few years after the end of World War II, when Soviet troops cut off ground access to West Berlin and its two million residents.

From June 1948 to May 1949, U.S, British and Allied pilots made nearly 280,000 deliveries of groceries and supplies by air.

That included candy.

It was Halvorsen’s idea to drop sweets for the children during the Soviet blockade, and he soon became the face of the Berlin Airlift.

The idea came to him after encountering a group of children gathered behind a barbed-wire fence at the city’s Tempelhof Airport.

He gave them chewing gum and, seeing them share it, promised to drop enough for all of them.

He tied together chocolate bars and chewing gum in small bundles attached to handkerchiefs that fell like parachutes.

Planes were landing every two minutes, but as a sign, he wiggled the wings of his aircraft.

Word of the drops spread quickly through bombed-out Berlin, earning him the nickname Uncle Wiggly Wings, or the Candy Bomber.

Halvorsen’s sweet gesture was the best advertisement for the Berlin Airlift and helped promote German-U.S. friendship.

He and his comrades dropped more than 23 tons of chocolate and candy over several months. (dpa/NAN)

Impeachment
U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin have discussed invoking the 25th Amendment of the U.S. constitution to impeach outgoing President Donald Trump, CNBC reported, citing sources.

On Thursday, U.S House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for Trump’s removal from the office by invoking the 25th Amendment for inciting violence at protests on Capitol Hill the day before.

This procedure requires the involvement of the vice president and most cabinet members.

According to CNBC, citing three sources, Pompeo and Mnuchin have discussed the matter with their respective agencies and came to the conclusion that the process would take longer than Trump is supposed to remain in the office before Joe Biden is sworn in, so no immediate effect should be expected.

“The general plan now is to let the clock run out,” the broadcaster quoted a former senior administration official aware of the discussions as saying.

“There will be a reckoning for this president, but it doesn’t need to happen in the next 13 days.”

Additionally, it is not clear whether the secretaries in an acting capacity would be let cast a vote in the process, it was reportedly pointed out at the exploratory talks.

According to the report, Pompeo and Mnuchin also had concerns that forcing Trump from office now could make him a hero of the far-right, doing more long-term harm than short-term good.

The 25th Amendment allows for a temporary or permanent transfer of power from the U.S. president to vice president if the majority of cabinet members certify to the congress that the president is unable to perform his duties. (Sputnik/NAN)

The U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) has confirmed the death of the officer who was injured during a violent riot in support of President Donald Trump at the Capitol building on Wednesday.

CNN previously reported, citing sources, that an officer involved in dispersing the pro-Trump riot had died, however USCP initially refuted this information.

“At approximately 9:30 p.m. [02:30 GMT on Friday] this evening (January 7, 2021), U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty.

“Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots on Wednesday, Jan. 6, at the U.S. Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters,” the statement said.

This is the fifth victim related to the protests in Washington.

Earlier, it became known that U.S. Air Force veteran Ashley Babbitt, a strong supporter of Trump, had been fatally shot by police during the raid on the Capitol.

Trump’s supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in a bid to prevent Congress from certifying the election results.

The protesters attacked police with metal pipes and chemical irritants, damaged property, seized the inauguration stage and occupied the rotunda inside the Capitol building.

The attack came after Trump urged his supporters to keep fighting to overturn the election results.

On Thursday, Trump said that he was “outraged” by the violent riot at the Capitol and confirmed that he was working to ensure a smooth transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden and his administration. (Sputnik/NAN)

Outgoing U.S President Donald Trump said he was “outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem” after a group of his supporters stormed the Capitol and forced a halt to a Congressional joint sitting.

Trump said demonstrators “defiled the seat of democracy” and added “to those who broke the law, you will pay,” in a video posted on Twitter.

Trump did not acknowledge his role in riling up his supporters with with baseless allegations of election fraud and encouraging them to march to the Capitol.

He promised a smooth transition to president-elect Joe Biden, who defeated him in November’s presidential election.

“Now Congress has certified the results, a new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.

“My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power,” he said.

However, in a message to his “wonderful supporters,” Trump added “I know you are disappointed but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning.”

The Democratic leaders in Congress, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, demanded that Vice President Mike Pence remove Trump under the Constitution’s 25th Amendment.

The calls were echoed by a Republican governor, a Republican lawmaker and numerous House Democrats.

“If the vice president and Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment,” Pelosi told a press conference.

Trump was impeached in 2019, but the Senate cleared him of charges last year.

U.S Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao became the first Cabinet official to announce their resignation following the attack on the U.S Capitol.

Chao, who is the wife of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, said the “traumatic and entirely avoidable event” had “deeply troubled” her.

Deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger quit following the resignations of multiple administration officials.

Late on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany condemned the violence that took place on behalf of President Donald Trump and the entire White House.

Trump had earlier issued a statement via his social media director saying there would be an orderly transition, the first time he made such comments since the election.

Social media giant Facebook banned Trump from his accounts indefinitely, citing his intent to “undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power.”

Twitter had locked Trump’s account on Wednesday, though he was able to post from it nearly 24 hours later.

U.S. lawmakers finally certified Biden’s election win in the early hours of Thursday.

The joint session of Congress had been abruptly halted hours earlier after rioters breached both chambers of the Capitol building, forcing lawmakers to flee and hunker down until the siege ended.

One woman was shot and killed by Capitol police during the assault, the force said in a statement.

Authorities said three others died in separate medical emergencies.

Police say they arrested 68 people.

U.S. Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said some participants in the violence at the U.S. Capitol would charged on Thursday and authorities would make more arrests in the coming days.

The Justice Department would ensure that “those responsible for this attack on our government and the rule of law face the full consequences of their actions under the law,” he added.

The U.S. Attorney’s office, in conjunction with the Justice Department’s counter-terrorism division, had so far charged 40 cases, officials said.

The majority of those deal with unlawful entry on the Capitol grounds, while a small handful are assault cases. Eight of the cases were also firearm cases.

Fifteen federal cases will also be filed later in the day.

One man was arrested by federal agents with a military semi-automatic rifle and 11 Molotov cocktails, according to officials at the Department of Justice.

A 2-metre-tall fence was being erected around the U.S. Capitol as of Thursday and will stay in place for the next 30 days, including for Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

More National Guard troops from other states were being deployed to Washington.

The FBI was seeking tips on identifying rioters.

Amid criticism about how security failures allowed the mob to swarm the building, House Speaker Pelosi said she was seeking the resignation of Capitol police chief Steven Sund.

Sund defended his force, which is dedicated to protecting the Capitol grounds, saying officers’ response was “heroic” in the face of “criminal riotous behaviour.”

They were attacked by the rioters with metal pipes and chemical irritants, he said.

After the House and Senate reconvened, McConnell condemned the ransacking of the Capitol as a “failed insurrection.”

Although several Republican senators who had planned to raise objections to the counting of votes in states won by Biden changed course after the attack, two challenges were still put forward.

The moves caused lengthy delays to the certification process, but both challenges were ultimately rejected.

Longtime Trump loyalists including McConnell and Pence rebuffed the president’s demands to block the certification of the election.

The violence around Congress was criticized by leaders around the world. (dpa/NAN)

The United States (U.S.) reported more than 4,000 Coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths in one day for the first time on Thursday, as health systems struggle to cope with the number of sick and dying patients.

A total of 4,033 people died in connection with the disease within 24 hours, according to the COVID-19 Tracking Project.

The country has seen a total of 365,000 deaths linked to the coronavirus so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins university, out of a population of 330 million people.

On Thursday more than 266,000 new cases were reported, bringing the total tally to not less than 21.6 million cases.

Case numbers are particularly high in the state of California and in Los Angeles County, where more than 1 in 5 test results are coming back positive.

No other country comes close to as many confirmed coronavirus cases in terms of absolute numbers.

In India, there are 10.3 million confirmed cases, while in Brazil, 7.9 million have been counted.

Experts also assume there are a high number of unreported coronavirus cases in most countries. (dpa/NAN)

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has formally announced judge Merrick Garland as his nominee for attorney-general, a role that amounts to being the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

Garland, a Justice Department veteran, currently serves on the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

He came to prominence in 2016 as former president Barack Obama’s choice to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon.

But the Republican-controlled Senate at the time blocked the appointment of Garland, who is considered a political moderate, and he never had his nomination considered.

Republicans wanted to prevent Obama, a Democrat in the final months of his eight years in office, from filling the lifetime post.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had declared any appointment by Obama as invalid because it came in an election year, and used his influence to block a vote on Garland, infuriating Democrats.

Attorney-generals wield broad power in the U.S., where they are traditionally seen as non-political actors in highly polarised Washington.

Over the course of his four years in office president, Donald Trump has come under fire for seeming to expect his attorney- generals to do his personal bidding.

In a statement on Thursday, Biden said Garland would help “restore the independence of the [Justice] Department so it serves the interests of the people, not a presidency.

“And also to rebuild public trust in the rule of law, and work tirelessly to ensure a more fair and equitable justice system.” (dpa/NAN)

Soldiers entered Ghana’s parliament to break up a scuffle between rival lawmakers at odds over last month’s elections, hours before President Nana Akufo-Addo was due to be sworn in on Thursday.

The clash underscored the deep tensions following the Dec. 7 election that has led to rare unrest in Ghana, a major cocoa and gold producer seen as a bastion of democracy in West Africa.

It started when one member of the parliament from the president’s NPP party snatched some paper ballots during an overnight vote to determine the house speaker, according to a source who was present.

It was not immediately clear why the lawmaker was angry.

Last month’s elections left a hung parliament, without a dominant party to push through the appointment of the speaker and other key posts.

Footage on local television showed politicians, many of them unmasked, pushing and shoving before about 20 soldiers entered the chamber.

Ranks of MPs then faced each other and chanted over a dividing line of masked soldiers and police.

Eventually, Alban Bagbin, the candidate from Ghana’s other main party, the NDC, was voted in as speaker.

“The attempt to snatch ballot papers … and the invasion of the Chamber by armed military personnel are images one had never expected to see in our 4th Republican Parliament,’’ said losing presidential candidate, John Mahama, in a Facebook post congratulating Bagbin.

The incident occurred as preparations were underway for the swearing-in of Akufo-Addo for his second term at a ceremony on the parliament grounds.

Dignitaries from across Africa are expected to attend.

Akufo-Addo was declared the winner of last month’s election with 51.59 per cent, ahead of former President Mahama, who got 47.37 per cent.

Mahama’s party has said it will contest the results in court, alleging fraud though it has not published evidence. (Reuters/NAN)

An Iraqi court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant against U.S. President Donald Trump in connection with the murder of a top Iranian general and the leader of an Iraqi Shiite militia, Qassem Soleimani, a year ago.

A judge at an investigative court in Baghdad issued the warrant under Iraq’s penal code, the Supreme Judiciary Council, Iraq’s highest judicial authority, said in a statement.

“Investigation procedures will continue to identify other accomplices in this crime whether they are Iraqis or foreigners,” the statement said.

A U.S. rocket attack near Baghdad airport on Jan. 3, 2020, killed Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, the deputy head of Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi militia.

The twin assassinations had stoked fears of a new war in the Middle East between the U.S. and Iran.

Soleimani was considered one of Iran’s most influential military leaders, wielding influence in Iraq, Syria, and other parts of the Middle East where Iran has a foothold.

In the wake of his assassination, the Iraqi parliament voted to end the presence of foreign troops linked to the U.S.-led alliance fighting Islamic State militants.

In recent months, the heavily-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, home to the U.S. embassy and American troops in Iraq have been the target of several attacks blamed on pro-Iranian groups.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have escalated since Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and reinstated U.S. sanctions.

The Iraqi move comes two days after Iran applied to Interpol for an international arrest warrant for Trump in connection with Soleimani’s death. (dpa/NAN)