Here’s how to vote in Texas’ March 5 primary elections
The deadline to register to vote is Feb. 5. The last day to apply to vote by mail is Feb. 23. Early voting runs from Feb. 20 to March 1.
Delhi: Schools to reopen on January 16, timings modified due to fog; details here
Delhi schools will reopen for regular classes today, however timing will be from 9am from 16 Jan 2024 onwards, till further notice.
Biden campaign reports $97M in Q4 of 2023, touts ‘historic’ $117M cash-on-hand on day of Iowa Caucuses
The Biden campaign raised more than $97 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, and has $117 million cash-on-hand— the “highest total of any Democratic candidate in history” at this point in a presidential election cycle. The campaign announced Monday that President Biden’s re-election campaign is entering the 2024 presidential election year with “historic resources,” and touted the campaign’s grassroots efforts. BIDEN MARKS THREE YEARS SINCE JAN. 6 BLASTING TRUMP, SAYING HE IS ‘TRYING TO STEAL HISTORY’ “This historic haul—proudly powered by strong and growing grassroots enthusiasm—sends a clear message: the Team Biden-Harris coalition knows the stakes of this election and is ready to win this November,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said. “Across our coalition, we are seeing early, sustained support that is helping us scale our growing operation across the country and take our message to the communities that will determine this election.” She added: “Our democracy and hard-fought basic rights and freedoms are on the line in 2024, and these numbers prove that the American people know the stakes and are taking action early to help defeat the extreme MAGA Republican agenda again.” The campaign out-raised its Q3 numbers. In October, the campaign announced it raised approximately $71 million in the third quarter of 2023. The campaign said it has successfully grown its cash on hand for the last three quarters – starting at $77 million in Q2, to $91 million in Q3, and now $117 million at the end of Q4. “While most of the Republicans have not yet announced their fundraising numbers, we fully expect to lap them…Several times.” Biden Senior Advisor for Communications TJ Ducklo said. The Biden campaign, in December, had its strongest grassroots fundraising month, breaking its previous record from November. The campaign said nearly 1 million supporters have made more than 2.3 million contributions. The campaign reported that 97% of its donations in Q4 were under $200, with the campaign seeing an average grassroots contribution of $41.88. BIDEN EXPECTED TO RAISE MORE THAN $15 MILLION IN STAR-STUDDED FUNDRAISING BLITZ: SOURCES Reflecting on its fundraising history, the campaign said its “Cup of Joe” contest to meet with Biden and Vice President Harris was the campaign’s “most successful contest to date, raising over $3 million.” The campaign has also held 110 fundraisers since President Biden announced his re-election campaign—including 39 in the last quarter of 2023. In December, Biden raised more than $15 million during a fundraising blitz. First, the president attended a fundraising event in Boston, Mass., which featured a concert by singer-songwriter James Taylor. Front-row tickets sold for $7,500 per seat. Then, he traveled to Los Angeles for a Hollywood fundraiser hosted by Steven Spielberg, Shona Rhimes, CEO of Paramount Pictures Jim Gianopulos, actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner, and others. Top tickets for that event were said to be $930,000 each. But the campaign said the numbers tell a story—and reflect efforts across not just the Biden re-election campaign, but the Democratic National Committee and its joint-fundraising committees. The campaign said one-third of its donors are new donors since the 2020 campaign. “As Republicans burn through millions of dollars in their race to out-MAGA each other, grassroots supporters across the country are pitching in to reelect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and stop MAGA extremism in its tracks,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said. “This historic haul—powered by grassroots donors—makes it clear that voters understand the stakes of this election and they’re ready to stand up and fight for our democracy and freedoms.” Harrison said the Biden campaign and the DNC are working “as one team with a single mission.” That mission is “to build a winning campaign that has the resources to send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris back to the White House, and elect Democrats up and down the ballot.” The campaign announced the numbers on the day of the Iowa Caucuses—the first-in-the-nation presidential primary contests. With Joe Biden running unopposed in the Democratic primary, all eyes are on Republicans. Voters, for the first time, will choose between former President Trump, who is leading the GOP field by a massive margin; former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
‘A new spring’: Guatemala’s Arevalo becomes president after Congress delays
Guatemala City, Guatemala – Growing up, Joaquina Perez says her mother always told her that Juan Jose Arevalo was the country’s best president, as he ushered in progressive reforms into the Central American country between 1945 and 1950. Decades later, the 63-year-old was filled with excitement as she travelled 193km (120 miles) from her home in the city of Retalhuleu in the country’s southwest with others from the local pro-democracy movement to see the former president’s son, Bernardo Arevalo, take office as Guatemala’s new president. “We are happy because we have high hopes with [Bernardo] Arevalo,” Perez told Al Jazeera in Guatemala City’s Central Plaza. “We saw an opportunity for [change] with the Seed Movement and with Arevalo,” she said, referring to the president-elect’s popular anticorruption platform that has drawn wide support from across the impoverished Central American nation. “That is why we are here.” On Sunday, close to midnight, Arevalo was finally sworn in as Guatemala’s president after months of efforts by the country’s long-ruling elite and a conservative-leaning Congress to derail his rise to power, despite his landslide win in an August run-off against businesswoman and former first lady Sandra Torres. But the inauguration followed hours of delay as Congress negotiated the formation of a new Directive Council, the body that guides the legislature’s sessions and helps shape its agenda. An atmosphere of joy and celebration on the streets of Guatemala City briefly gave way to anger. Earlier in the day, live music played across Guatemala City’s historic centre, as thousands of people like Perez travelled from across the country, with some sleeping in the plaza the night before, to witness the swearing-in. As the hours ticked by, they gathered outside the congressional building to protest against delays after breaking down police barriers around Congress. The United States, the European Union and the Organization of American States, among others, issued messages reaffirming their belief in Arevalo’s election, and calling for him to be sworn in. “We need this to happen right now,” Ingrid Arana, a 53-year-old resident of Guatemala City, told Al Jazeera on the peripheries of the protests. “Time has passed and the decision has not been made. Those in Congress have not finished the session.” “Arevalo represents a new spring for the country,” she said. “A great opportunity for Guatemala, that will improve the conditions that have occurred [we live in] due to so much corruption.” By late evening, Congress agreed to recognise the Seed Movement party days after temporarily suspending it and insisting that its lawmakers join the legislature as independent members. Arevalo’s party also won the presidency of the Congress, giving it influence in shaping the body’s agenda. Yet, the last-minute hurdles to his inauguration only underscored the challenges he faces as he tries to reform a political system where many who wield power feel threatened by Arevalo. Guatemala’s Indigenous communities have been at the forefront of support for Arevalo [Jeff Abbott/ Al Jazeera] Outsider candidate The 65-year-old career academic and diplomat-turned-politician has long spoken out against corruption in the Central American country and campaigned on the promise of reviving trust in state institutions that have abandoned communities for decades. “Regaining confidence in the institutions of the state is the fundamental contribution to have a stable future in our country,” Arevalo told Al Jazeera in a July 2023 interview during a campaign stop. Arevalo was an outsider progressive candidate ahead of the June 25 general elections, polling in eighth place with less than 3 percent of the vote. But he came a surprise second, before winning the run-off against Torres. His Seed Movement party was born out of the massive protests in 2015 against the corruption in the administration of then-President Otto Perez Molina. “It is an immense joy,” Lenina Garcia, a former student leader and now learning director at the 25A Institute non-profit who was involved in the 2015 protests, told Al Jazeera, speaking of his win and ascendancy to the presidency on Sunday. “Since 2015 up until today, we can see how citizens have categorically rejected impunity and corruption,” she said. Arevalo supporters march in Guatemala City on January 14, 2024 [Jeff Abbott/Al Jazeera] Prolonged political crisis The attacks against Arevalo and his platform began shortly after his surprise success in the general elections and increased following his run-off win. In July 2023, prosecutors led by Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras and Rafael Curruchiche, head of the Public Ministry’s Office of the Special Prosecutor against Impunity, sought to suspend the legal status of Arevalo’s party over allegations of irregularities in the collection of signatures by Seed Movement to register itself as a political party. Following the run-off victory, prosecutors raided the Seed Movement offices and the facilities of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, confiscating sensitive documents, including the official ballots, sparking concerns of election interference. Prosecutors filed requests in the Supreme Court to strip the immunity of Arevalo, his Vice President-elect Karin Herrera, and other members of the party over their alleged participation in stoking protests at the country’s only national public university, the University of San Carlos in 2022. The Supreme Court has yet to recognise the requests, but prosecutors have sought to move ahead with the case nevertheless. Porras and prosecutors have denied that they are not attempting to interfere in elections, but on December 8, Curruchiche requested in a news conference that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal annul the election results. The head of Guatemala’s electoral body responded to the request declaring the results were “official and unalterable”. Police and Arevalo supporters face off in Guatemala City, as the country’s Congress delayed new president’s swearing in on January 14, 2024 [Jeff Abbott/Al Jazeera] People protest Nearly every attempt to attack the democratic process was quickly responded to with protests, but beginning on October 2, Indigenous leaders started massive nationwide mobilisations led by Indigenous leaders to defend democracy. Protesters have gathered for more than 100 days outside the attorney general’s office, demanding her resignation and that she respect the results. “Our goal
Geopolitics, AI to slow global economy, grow inequality: Davos survey
Economists predict weakened global economic conditions while technology will help promote differences across regions. Geopolitical strife and tight financing conditions will slow global economic growth, while artificial intelligence (AI) will increase inequality, according to leading economists. The survey, released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Monday before its annual meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos, weighed the analysis of 60-plus chief economists from both the private and public sectors. More than half of the economists surveyed (56 percent) predict weakened global economic conditions but with differences across regions. The majority foresee moderate or stronger growth in China and the United States, weak or very weak growth in Europe, and at least moderate growth in South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific. “While technological advances may give new impetus to global productivity, policies that enhance good-quality growth are needed to revive global momentum and balance the impact across the income groups,” the survey stated. Additionally, 70 percent of those surveyed expect financial conditions to loosen as inflation ebbs and the current tightness in labour markets eases, despite the world’s top central banks saying that interest rates have peaked. AI is predicted to affect the world economy unequally. Overall, 94 percent of economists surveyed expect AI to radically boost productivity in high-income economies over the next five years, but just 53 percent predict a similar effect for low-income economies. Alongside geopolitical developments, the effect of AI is expected to stoke volatility in the global economy, 87 percent of economists predict. Six out of 10 (57 percent) also expect these conditions to increase inequality and widen the North-South divide in the next three years. Separately, the WEF released a study on the “quality” of economic growth across 107 economies, coming to the conclusion that most countries are growing in ways that are neither environmentally sustainable nor socially inclusive. “Reigniting global growth will be essential to addressing key challenges, yet growth alone is not enough,” said Saadia Zahidi, managing director of WEF. Technology will take up a large part of the agenda at Davos this year, with the theme of AI “as a driving force for the economy and society” to have about 30 separate sessions. (Al Jazeera) Adblock test (Why?)
US presidential race begins with the Iowa caucuses
NewsFeed The US presidential race for 2024 officially kicks off with the Iowa caucuses on Monday. Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett takes a look at what’s in store for the candidates in the months ahead. Published On 15 Jan 202415 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
School holidays: Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, UP extend winter vacation amid cold wave conditions, state-wise list here
With the ongoing cold wave and dense fog in the northern regions, Punjab, Haryana, and several districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have extended holidays for school students. The Delhi government has also changed school timings due to the adverse weather conditions.
GRAP Stage-III imposed in Delhi-NCR amid ‘severe’ AQI, know what’s allowed and what’s not
Amidst deteriorating air quality in the area, the central government issued immediately implement GRAP Stage-III curbs
‘This is not about…’: Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalanand clarifies decision to skip Ram Mandir inauguration
“Are we expected to merely sit outside and applaud when the Prime Minister installs the idol of Ram Lalla? The presence of a ‘secular’ government does not imply the obliteration of tradition,” he remarked.
Abbott says claims Texas allowed migrants to drown in Rio Grande are false: ‘They forgot to get the facts’
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said Sunday Democrats’ accusations that Texas allowed migrants attempting to cross the southern border into the U.S. to drown in the Rio Grande by preventing Border Patrol from accessing the river are inaccurate. Federal officials and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, claimed the state was responsible for the deaths of three migrants – a woman and two children – on Friday after purporting that the Texas Military Department had denied Border Patrol access to the area to help six migrants in distress. “This is a tragedy, and the State bears responsibility,” Cuellar said in a statement. An investigation by the Texas Military Department determined the accusations were “wholly inaccurate,” explaining the drownings had already happened by the time Border Patrol requested access. DHS CLAIMS BORDER PATROL BLOCKED BY TEXAS FROM ENTERING AREA TO RESCUE MIGRANTS WHO LATER DROWNED “At the time that Border Patrol requested access, the drownings had occurred, Mexican Authorities were recovering the bodies, and Border Patrol expressed these facts to the TMD personnel on site,” the TMD said in a news release. Abbott said in response to the investigation’s findings that Cuellar and others who blamed Texas for the drownings left out key facts. “Turns out @RepCuellar (& some media) were so eager to point finger(sic) at Texas for drowning of migrants they forgot to get the facts,” Abbott wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “When BP requested access to river the drownings had already occurred & found in MX. The fact is the deaths are b/c of Biden’s Open Border magnet.” The TMD said its soldiers were in direct communication with Border Patrol on Friday when it requested access to Shelby Park upon learning of distressed migrants. Soldiers said they told Border Patrol when it requested access that Mexican authorities had already recovered the bodies of two drowned migrants. Border Patrol specifically requested access to the park to secure two additional migrants who were presumed to have traveled with the ones who had died, but had crossed to the boat ramp, the release said. Two migrants were apprehended by TMD, with one turned over to the Department of Public Safety and the other transferred to EMS for initial hypothermic conditions. WHITE HOUSE ACCUSES ABBOTT OF TRYING TO ‘POLITICIZE THE BORDER’ AFTER TEXAS SEIZES PARK ALONG RIO GRANDE The soldiers continued to use lights, night vision goggles and thermals to ensure no more migrants were in the river or in distress, according to the release. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In response to the allegations against the TMD, the Department of Homeland Security sent a cease-and-desist letter to Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Sunday ordering the state to stop denying Border Patrol agents access to Shelby Park.