USA

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Wednesday night extended the public emergency to 15 days, until the day after President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.

The mayor's latest order followed a citywide curfew from Wednesday night to Thursday morning in response to Capitol chaos earlier in the day.

On Wednesday afternoon, supporters of outgoing Republican President Donald Trump pushed through barriers at the Capitol building, interrupting the certification of the 2020 electoral votes, and forcing a Capitol lockdown.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Joe Biden condemned what he called "insurrection" at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, after some supporters of the Republican incumbent, Donald Trump, broke into the building, forcing electoral vote counting to halt.

"This is not protest, it's insurrection," Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware. "This is not dissent. It's disorder. It's chaos. It borders on sedition."

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi is updating its laws to include a new state flag with a magnolia and the phrase “In God We Trust,” six months after legislators ditched the last state flag in the U.S. that had the Confederate battle emblem.

Voters approved the magnolia flag in November after a commission recommended the design.

Legislators must put a description of the new flag into law. Senators on Wednesday voted 38-7 to pass such a bill, a day after the House voted 119-1.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A sober, shaken Senate returned to its hallowed chamber Wednesday night to slap away a frivolous election challenge, but its secondary purpose seemed to be to rise from the wreckage of a shocking day in which they were forced to flee the Capitol by a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump.

The riot in the Capitol prompted more than half of those who had signed on to the protest to instead vote “no.” Catering to Trump’s supporters seemed less important than defending democracy.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Two more officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor have been fired — a detective believed to have fired the fatal shot and another who sought the search warrant that led to the deadly raid, authorities announced Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Infuriating President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence acknowledged Wednesday he does not have the power to throw out the electoral votes that will make Democrat Joe Biden the next president, dashing Trump’s baseless hopes that Pence somehow could find a way to keep them in office.

Pence, under intense pressure from Trump and his allies to overturn the election results, issued a lengthy statement laying out his conclusion that a vice president cannot claim “unilateral authority” to reject states’ electoral votes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has selected Merrick Garland, a federal appeals court judge who in 2016 was snubbed by Republicans for a seat on the Supreme Court, as his attorney general, two people familiar with the selection process said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are vowing an investigation into how law enforcement handled Wednesday’s violent breach at the Capitol, questioning whether a lack of preparedness allowed a mob to occupy and vandalize the building.

U.S. Capitol Police, who are charged with protecting Congress, turned to other law enforcement for help with the mob that overwhelmed the complex and sent lawmakers into hiding. Both law enforcement and Trump supporters deployed chemical irritants during the hourslong occupation of the complex before it was cleared Wednesday evening.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden called Wednesday for the restoration of “simple decency” as a mob incited by his predecessor stormed the U.S. Capitol and delayed Congress from certifying the results of November’s election.

WASHINGTON (AP) — “Where are they?” a Trump supporter demanded in a crowd of dozens roaming the halls of the Capitol, bearing Trump flags and pounding on doors.

They — lawmakers, staff members and more — were hiding under tables, hunkered in lockdowns, saying prayers and seeing the fruits of the country’s divisions up close and violent.

Guns were drawn. A woman was shot and killed by police, and three others died in apparent medical emergencies. A Trump flag hung on the Capitol. The graceful Rotunda reeked of tear gas. Glass shattered.