USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Joe Biden takes the oath of office Wednesday outside a wounded U.S. Capitol, he will begin reshaping the office of the presidency itself as he sets out to lead a bitterly divided nation struggling with a devastating pandemic and an insurrection meant to stop his ascension to power.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are worried that a corporate backlash stirred by the deadly Capitol insurrection could crimp a vital stream of campaign cash, complicating the party’s prospects of retaking the Senate in the next election.

The GOP already faces a difficult Senate map in 2022, when 14 Democratic-held seats and 20 Republican ones will be on the ballot. That includes at least two open seats that Republicans will be defending because of the retirements of GOP Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Richard Burr of North Carolina.

WASHINGTON (AP) — By the busload and planeload, National Guard troops were pouring into the nation’s capital on Saturday, as governors answered the urgent pleas of U.S. defense officials for more troops to help safeguard Washington even as they keep anxious eyes on possible violent protests in their own states.

Military leaders spent chunks of Thursday evening and Friday calling states in an unprecedented appeal for more National Guard troops to help lock down much of the city in the days before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden’s decision to immediately ask Congress to offer legal status to an estimated 11 million people in the country has surprised advocates given how the issue has long divided Democrats and Republicans, even within their own parties.

Biden will announce legislation his first day in office to provide a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the United States illegally, according to four people briefed on his plans.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In his first hours as president, Joe Biden plans to take executive action to roll back some of the most controversial decisions of his predecessor and to address the raging coronavirus pandemic, his incoming chief of staff said Saturday.

The opening salvo would herald a 10-day blitz of executive actions as Biden seeks to act swiftly to redirect the country in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency without waiting for Congress.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — War-like imagery has begun spreading in Republican circles after the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters, with some elected officials and party leaders rejecting pleas to tone down rhetoric calling for a second civil war.

WASHINGTON, January 16. /TASS/: The Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller has professional respect for Russia's actions in the military sector, he told reporters en route to Washington, according to a transcript released by press service of the US Department of Defense on Friday.

"Russian? I have professional respect for how they do things," he said. "I think they’ve played a really bad hand of card very, very well," the Pentagon chief added speaking about the economic situation in Russia.

TASS, January 16: Management of social networks Facebook and Instagram unblocked personal accounts of the incumbent President of the United States Republican Donald Trump on Saturday after they were frozen amid protests in Washington.

Facebook, which owns both services, did not release a corresponding statement, but the accounts of the head of state became available again. The last entries on both pages were from January 6. It is not yet known if Trump can publish new posts.

16 Jan 2021; MEMO: The United Nations Security Council approved on Friday the appointment of veteran diplomat Jan Kubis as the UN Libya envoy, diplomats said, nearly a year after the last mediator stepped down.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on companies in Iran, China and the United Arab Emirates for doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and on three Iranian entities over conventional arms proliferation.

They are the latest in a series of measures aimed at stepping up pressure on Tehran in the waning days of President Donald Trump’s administration, which ends on Wednesday.