US confirms hosting 2026 G20 Summit, Cites Delhi Summit’s efforts in addressing urgent issues

On Saturday, the White House emphasized that the G-20 summit in Delhi marks a significant stride in offering solutions to the most urgent global challenges.

Updated On – 06:09 PM, Sun – 10 September 23


US confirms hosting 2026 G20 Summit, Cites Delhi Summit’s efforts in addressing urgent issues



Washington: The US has reaffirmed that it will host the 2026 G20 Summit here as it sees itself as a dominant partner to balance the equations for the developing world in a strife-torn geo-political world leading to a global economic crisis.

The G-20 summit in Delhi is a major step forward in providing solutions to the most pressing issues, the White House said on Saturday.

A White House statement, coming immediately after the Delhi declaration, said: “At a moment when the global economy is suffering from the overlapping shocks of the climate crisis, fragility, and conflict — including the immense suffering unleashed by Russia’s war in Ukraine — this year’s New Delhi Summit proved that the G20 can still drive solutions to our most pressing issues.”

At the G20 Summit in Delhi, President Biden has continued to deliver on the commitments he undertook while assuming office to restore the US’ leadership role in the world, “rebuild our relationships abroad, and champion an economic agenda at home and abroad to deliver sustainable and inclusive growth for American families — and families everywhere”, the statement said.

The US said it is committed to the G20 and to building on the progress made in India’s G20 Presidency, starting with Brazil’s Presidency in 2024 and South Africa’s Presidency in 2025.

The US “will host the G20 in 2026 to show its steadfast commitment to the G20 initiatives for a global geopolitical and economic order based on equity and justice”.

The US is also “pleased to have supported and now welcome the African Union as a permanent member of the G20, a reflection of both the G20’s vitality and the important role of Africa in the global economy”.

In Delhi, Biden and other G20 leaders committed to implementing the G20 2023 Action Plan to Accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At the G20, he rallied G20 partners to agree to collectively mobilize more headroom and concessional finance to boost the World Bank’s capacity to support low- and middle-income countries. This initiative will make the Bank a better and bigger institution able to provide resources at the scale and speed needed to tackle global challenges and address the urgent needs of the poorest countries, the White House statement said.

G20 leaders committed to redouble efforts to resolve ongoing debt distress cases — like Ghana and Sri Lanka. Biden made it clear that the US “expects meaningful progress” by the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in October.

Make financing more sustainable:

Biden urged leaders to think out of the box to come up with new solutions to enable converting unsustainable debt into transformative investments. He also pressed all creditors — including the private sector and multilateral development banks — to offer climate-resilient debt clauses in their lending.

The US Export-Import Bank is preparing to do so in select bilateral lending, in line with its governance framework. At an event co-hosted by President Biden and Prime Minister Modi, Biden and partners announced a landmark India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor that will usher in a new era of connectivity from Europe to Asia, facilitating global trade, as well as cooperation on energy and digital connectivity.

Biden also announced a new partnership with the European Union to expand investments in the Lobito Corridor. The President called on partners to deploy public capital to strategically leverage the expertise and financing of the private sector to help secure and diversify 21st-century energy supply chains, expand digital connectivity, increase electricity access, bolster food security, and strengthen health systems.

Delivering on Food Security:

At the G20, Biden championed an agenda focused on mitigating the acute food crises the world is facing today, as well as working together with G20 countries to mitigate against future shocks.

Delivering on Global Health Challenges:

The United States is the world’s largest bilateral donor for global health and is committed to working alongside the G20 to build a safer, more equitable future, the White House said.

Tackling the overdose crisis:

G20 leaders came together for the first time to elevate counternarcotics challenges, and synthetic drugs in particular, as a G20 priority. Leaders recognised the public health threats posed by synthetic drugs and committed to enhanced information sharing and capacity building to address these challenges, advancing the critical actions the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to address the overdose crisis at home.

Tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030:

In Delhi, Biden and G20 leaders committed to pursue efforts to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, encouraging more countries to follow the IRA playbook of investing in clean energy manufacturing and deployment, creating jobs, and fighting climate change.

“This year’s Summit proved that G20 can still drive solutions”: US President Biden

Joe Biden said that this year’s G20 summit has proved that the group can still drive solutions to the most pressing issues of the climate crisis, fragility, and conflict

Published Date – 11:00 AM, Sun – 10 September 23


“This year’s Summit proved that G20 can still drive solutions”: US President Biden



New Delhi: US President Joe Biden on Saturday said that this year’s G20 summit has proved that the group can still drive solutions to the most pressing issues of the climate crisis, fragility, and conflict.

Taking to X, US President said, “At a moment when the global economy is suffering from the overlapping shocks of the climate crisis, fragility, and conflict, this year’s Summit proved that the G20 can still drive solutions to our most pressing issues.” India is hosting the G20 Summit this year in New Delhi on September 9-10. On September 9, the Delhi Declaration was adopted. It called on nations to uphold international law, including territorial integrity, international humanitarian law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability.

The declaration envisages a green development pact for a sustainable future, it endorses high level principles on lifestyle for sustainable development, voluntary principles of hydrogen, the Chennai principles for a sustainable resilient blue economy and the Deccan principles on food security and nutrition among others The biggest takeaway of the declaration was that all 83 paras of the declaration were passed unanimously with a 100 per cent consensus along with China and Russia in agreement. For the first time, the declaration contained no footnote or Chair’s Summary.

The G20 meeting on Saturday also saw the African Union being inducted as the new permanent member of G20 thereby offering developing nations a greater say in global decision-making PM Narendra Modi on Saturday also launched the Global Biofuels Alliance in the presence of US President Joe Biden, President of Brazil Luiz Inacio, President of Argentina, Alberto Fern¡ndez and Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni.

The Global Biofuel Alliance is one of the priorities under India’s G20 Presidency..

Brazil, India, and the United States, as leading biofuel producers and consumers, will work together during the next few months towards the development of a Global Biofuels Alliance along with other interested countries.

Another major takeaway from Day 1 of the summit, was the announcement launch of a mega India-Middle East-Europe shipping and railway connectivity corridor by India, the US, Saudi Arabia and the European Union.

IRGC intelligence forces dismantle sabotage team in northern Iran


Members of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps are seen during a parade in the city of Yazd, central Iran. (Photo by IRIB news agency)

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) intelligence forces have disbanded a team planning to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorist operations in the northern Iranian province of Gilan.

The public relations office of the Quds Force of Gilan said in a statement on Thursday the 25 members of the band have been arrested.

The statement added that the sabotage design had in the cross hairs sensitive and strategic installations.

Enemies failed to implement anti-Iran terrorist plots: Intelligence Minister

Meanwhile, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib said enemies have failed to implement their terrorist plots against the Islamic Republic.

Commenting on the 2022 student poisonings in some schools, Khatib told IRIB TV3 television channel in an exclusive interview that stink bombs, different types of pepper and tear gas sprays as well as insecticides were employed during the incidents.

“Last year’s developments show that enemies make use of various networks, especially in cyberspace and through media outlets, to incite riots. Therefore, [Iranian] journalists and authorities must focus their efforts on clarification of unrest and satisfaction of the public opinion,” Khatib said.

The Iranian intelligence minister went on to say that enemies have come to the conclusion that they cannot reap any results out of social disturbances and street riots in Iran, and would only succeed in advancing their agendas by means of destabilizing the Iranian society and conducting terrorist operations across the country.

“The high number of bombs defused in Iran attests that terrorists survive on financial aids coming from Europe.

“Once Westerners had invested in training operatives for acts of terror, and working on encrypted online communication as well as citizen journalism. This year, enemies had devoted their efforts since the beginning of this year’s [lunar calendar month of] Muharram to foment unrest in different parts of the country in mid-October,” Khatib said.

The Iranian intelligence minister highlighted that the glut of a considerable amount of firearms into Iran shows enemies have been trying to communicate with rioters on ethnic and separatist pretexts.

Russia expels 2 US diplomats, accusing them of ‘illegal activity’

Russia’s Foreign Ministry declared two US diplomats “persona non grata” and ordered them to leave the country within seven days as they were allegedly involved in “illegal activity.

Published Date – 11:05 PM, Thu – 14 September 23


Russia expels 2 US diplomats, accusing them of ‘illegal activity’

FILE – The U.S. Embassy, centre, is seen in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023 declared two U.S. diplomats “persona non grata” and ordered them to leave the country within seven days as they were allegedly involved in “illegal activity.” (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Moscow: Russia‘s Foreign Ministry on Thursday declared two US diplomats “persona non grata” and ordered them to leave the country within seven days as they were allegedly involved in “illegal activity.”

The ministry charged in a statement that the first secretary at the US Embassy in Russia, Jeffrey Sillin, and the second secretary, David Bernstein, “kept in touch” with a former employee of the US Consulate in Vladivostok who was arrested earlier this year.

The ex-employee was accused of collecting information for US diplomats about Russia’s military action in Ukraine and related issues.
According to the statement, US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy was summoned to the ministry on Thursday and informed that Sillin and Berstein were being expelled.

“It was also emphasised that illegal activities of the US diplomatic mission, including interference in the internal affairs of the host country, are unacceptable and will be resolutely suppressed. The Russian side expects Washington to draw the right conclusions and refrain from confrontational steps,” the statement said.

There was no immediate comment from the embassy or the US State Department.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, the main domestic security agency, reported the arrest of Robert Shonov, a former employee of the US Consulate in Vladivostok, last month. Shonov was accused of “gathering information about the special military operation, mobilisation processes in Russian regions, problems and the assessment of their influence on protest activities of the population in the runup to the 2024 presidential election.” The “special military operation” is Moscow’s preferred term to describe the fighting in Ukraine.

The FSB, the successor to the KGB, also said it served summonses to question two US diplomats who allegedly instructed Shonov to collect the information. Russia’s state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta cited the FSB spokespeople as saying that those diplomats were Sillin and Bernstein.

Shonov’s arrest was first reported in May, but Russian authorities provided no details at the time. The US State Department condemned his arrest, saying the allegations against Shonov were “wholly without merit.”

Shonov was charged under a new article of Russian law that criminalizes “cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state, international or foreign organization to assist their activities clearly aimed against Russia’s security.” Kremlin critics have said the formulation is so broad it can be used to punish any Russian who had foreign connections. It carries a prison sentence of up to eight years.

In its latest statement, the State Department said the use of the “confidential cooperation” law against Shonov “highlights the increasingly repressive actions the Russian government is taking against its own citizens.”

The State Department has said Shonov worked at the US consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years. The consulate closed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened.

Cyprus holds military drill with France, Italy and Greece to bolster security in east Mediterranean

President Nikos Christodoulides said the drill with France, Italy and Greece is of “particular geostrategic significance” for the 27-member bloc and others, including the United States

Published Date – 11:08 PM, Thu – 14 September 23


Cyprus holds military drill with France, Italy and Greece to bolster security in east Mediterranean

President Nikos Christodoulides said the drill with France, Italy and Greece is of “particular geostrategic significance” for the 27-member bloc and others, including the United States

Nicosia: The Cypriot president said Thursday that joint military maneuvers with three other European Union member states underway in the Eastern Mediterranean underscore the bloc’s readiness to ensure security and stability in the region.

President Nikos Christodoulides said the drill with France, Italy and Greece is of “particular geostrategic significance” for the 27-member bloc and others, including the United States.

Christodoulides said his government is putting a “special emphasis” on upgrading the island’s military installations in order to take full advantage of its geographical location at the southeasternmost corner of Europe and close to the Middle East and Africa.

He spoke ahead of a visit to the French frigate Chevalier Paul, which is taking part in the drill, and stressed that the show of strength is not turned against any other country — a veiled allusion to Turkiye, with which Cyprus shares a violent past, including a 1974 Turkish invasion brought on by a coup aimed at forming a union with Greece.

Since then, the island has been divided along ethnic lines, with the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north separated from the Greek Cypriot south where the internationally recognized government is seated.

NATO-member Turkey does not recognise Cyprus as a state, and claims much of the island’s offshore exclusive economic zone where several significant natural gas deposits have been discovered.

The five-day drill, which kicked off on Monday and is code-named EUNOMIA 4-2023, involves naval and air forces, including French Rafale jet fighters and Airbus A400M Atlas transport aircraft, according to a Cyprus Defence Ministry statement.

The exercise also includes for the first time this year civilian evacuation drills in the event of a regional emergency.

Britain used Cyprus as a waypoint to evacuate hundreds of its citizens from Sudan when fighting erupted there between Sudanese military and a rival, paramilitary force in mid-April. As chaos and violence engulfed the African country, many foreign countries rushed to evacuate their citizens from Sudan through complex airlifts and land convoys.

Taiwan detects 68 Chinese warplanes, 10 Navy vessels near island

According to Al Jazeera, Taiwan’s defence ministry added that some were detected entering the unspecified area of the western Pacific to conduct joint sea and air training with the Shandong aircraft carrier

Published Date – 11:24 PM, Thu – 14 September 23


Taiwan detects 68 Chinese warplanes, 10 Navy vessels near island

According to Al Jazeera, Taiwan’s defence ministry added that some were detected entering the unspecified area of the western Pacific to conduct joint sea and air training with the Shandong aircraft carrier

Taipei: China once again accelerated its military exercises and drills around Taiwan, scrambling 68 military aircraft and sending 10 navy vessels into areas around Taiwan’s territory, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.

Sixty-eight PLA aircraft and 10 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by about 6 am on Thursday (22:00 GMT on Wednesday), Taiwan‘s Defence Ministry said in a statement, referring to China’s army and navy.

The number was a dramatic jump from the previous day when Taipei said it had detected 35 warplanes.

According to Al Jazeera, Taiwan’s defence ministry added that some were detected entering the unspecified area of the western Pacific to conduct joint sea and air training with the Shandong aircraft carrier.

It said the vessel, one of two operational aircraft carriers in the Chinese fleet, was about 60 nautical miles (equivalent to about 111km) southeast of the island’s southernmost point and heading into the Western Pacific.

Beijing, which views Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its goal, has stepped up military and political pressure on the democratic island in an attempt to reinforce its claim of sovereignty, reported Al Jazeera.

Moreover, Japan also noted the presence of Chinese vessels heading towards the area through the Miyako Strait. China has been increasing its military operations around Taiwan, condemning what it calls collusion between alleged Taiwan independence forces and the US.

Earlier last month, Taiwan scrambled its aircraft, naval ships, and land-based missiles after spotting 11 Chinese military aircraft that breached the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait, reported Taiwan News.

Eleven Chinese military aircraft and 10 naval ships were tracked by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) between 6 a.m. on Monday (Aug. 28) and 6 a.m. on Tuesday (Aug. 29), reported Taiwan News.

One Harbin BZK-005 drone out of the 11 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft breached the Taiwan Strait median line in Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ)’s northeastern sector.

According to Taiwan News, it then circled the country and crossed the median line again in the southwest corner of the ADIZ as it flew back toward China, according to the MND.

US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter indicted on federal firearms charges, weeks after plea deal failed

Biden is accused of lying about his drug use when he bought a firearm in October 2018, a period when he has acknowledged struggling with addiction to crack cocaine

Updated On – 11:29 PM, Thu – 14 September 23


US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter indicted on federal firearms charges, weeks after plea deal failed

Hunter Biden has been charged with felony gun possession. A federal indictment filed in Delaware says Biden lied about his drug use when he bought a firearm in 2018 while struggling with addiction to crack cocaine. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

Washington: Hunter Biden was indicted on Thursday on federal firearms charges, the latest and weightiest step yet in a long-running investigation into the president’s son.

Biden is accused of lying about his drug use when he bought a firearm in October 2018, a period when he has acknowledged struggling with addiction to crack cocaine, according to the indictment filed in federal court in Delaware.

President Joe Biden‘s son has also been under investigation for his business dealings.

The special counsel overseeing the case has indicated that charges of failure to pay taxes on time could be filed in Washington or in California, where he lives.

The indictment comes as congressional Republicans pursue an impeachment inquiry into the Democratic president, in large part over Hunter Biden’s business dealings.

Republicans have obtained testimony about how Hunter used the “Biden brand” to drum up work overseas, but have not produced hard evidence of wrongdoing by the president.

A gun possession charge against Hunter Biden, 53, had previously been part of a plea deal that also included guilty pleas to misdemeanor tax charges, but the agreement imploded during a court hearing in July when a judge raised questions about its unusual provisions.

Defense attorneys have argued that a part of the deal sparing Hunter Biden prosecution on the gun count if he stays out of trouble remains in place.

It includes immunity provisions against other potential charges. Attorneys indicated they would fight additional charges filed against him.

Prosecutors, though, maintain the agreement never took effect and is now invalid.

The gun charge filed against Hunter Biden on Thursday is rarely used alone, and the law could be on shakier legal ground after a recent appeals court ruling that found it doesn’t stand up under new Supreme Court standards for gun laws.

Republicans had denounced the plea agreement as a “sweetheart deal.” It would have allowed Hunter Biden to serve probation rather than jail time after pleading guilty to failing to pay taxes in both 2017 and 2018.

His personal income during those two years totalled roughly USD 4 million, including business and consulting fees from a company he formed with the CEO of a Chinese business conglomerate and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, prosecutors have said.

Congressional Republicans have continued their own investigations into the Justice Department’s handling of the case as well as nearly every aspect of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, seeking to connect his financial affairs directly to his father.

They have failed to produce evidence that the president directly participated in his son’s work, though he sometimes had dinner with his son’s clients or said hello to them on calls.

Pakistan has 170 nuclear warheads, may increase it to 200 by 2025: Nuclear Notebook

Given the absence of reliable data originating from within Pakistan, the Nuclear Notebook used a combination of open-source materials to arrive at their estimates and carry out the analysis

Published Date – 11:15 PM, Thu – 14 September 23


Pakistan has 170 nuclear warheads, may increase it to 200 by 2025: Nuclear Notebook



Islamabad/Washington: Pakistan has a stockpile of approximately 170 nuclear warheads which could realistically grow to around 200 by 2025 at the current growth rate, according to top American atomic scientists.

“We estimate that Pakistan now has a nuclear weapons stockpile of approximately 170 warheads. The US Defense Intelligence Agency projected in 1999 that Pakistan would have 60 to 80 warheads by 2020, but several new weapon systems have been fielded and developed since then, which leads us to a higher estimate,” the Nuclear Notebook column published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on September 11 said.

The Nuclear Notebook is researched and written by the staff of the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information’s Project Director Hans M Kristensen, senior research fellow Matt Korda, and research associate Eliana Johns. The Nuclear Notebook column has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1987.

“Our estimate comes with considerable uncertainty because neither Pakistan nor other countries publish much information about the Pakistani nuclear arsenal,” the scientists said.

Given the absence of reliable data originating from within Pakistan, the Nuclear Notebook used a combination of open-source materials to arrive at their estimates and carry out the analysis. Their sources included state-originating data (e.g. government statements, declassified documents, budgetary information, military parades, and treaty disclosure data) and non-state-originating data (e.g. media reports, think tank analysis, and industry publications). Interestingly, they also extensively used commercial satellite imagery.

“Each one of these sources provides different and limited information that is subject to varying degrees of uncertainty. We cross-checked each data point by using multiple sources and supplementing them with private conversations with officials whenever possible,” the trio said.

With several new delivery systems in development, four plutonium production reactors, and an expanding uranium enrichment infrastructure, Pakistan’s stockpile has the potential to increase further over the next several years, the Nuclear Notebook said.

“The size of this projected increase will depend on several factors, including how many nuclear-capable launchers Pakistan plans to deploy, how its nuclear strategy evolves, and how much the Indian nuclear arsenal grows. We estimate that the country’s stockpile could potentially grow to around 200 warheads by the late 2020s, at the current growth rate,” the scientists said.

“But unless India significantly expands its arsenal or further builds up its conventional forces, it seems reasonable to expect that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal will not continue to grow indefinitely but might begin to level off as its current weapons programmes are completed,” they added.

Even when the document listed fissile materials production and inventory from available sources in the public domain, the scientists put out a disclaimer: “Calculating stockpile size based solely on fissile material inventory is an incomplete methodology that tends to overestimate the likely number of nuclear warheads.” “We estimate that Pakistan currently is producing sufficient fissile material to build 14 to 27 new warheads per year, although we estimate that the actual warhead increase in the stockpile probably averages around 5 to 10 warheads per year,” they further said.

Dwelling in detail on the subject of nuclear-capable aircraft and air-delivered weapons, the Nuclear Notebook listed 36 Mirage III/IV and JF17s.

Similarly, it also mentioned details about six currently operational nuclear-capable, solid-fuel, road-mobile ballistic missile systems under the land-based ballistic missiles category – the short-range Abdali (Hatf-2), Ghaznavi (Hatf-3), Shaheen-I/A (Hatf-4), and Nasr (Hatf-9), and the medium-range Ghauri (Hatf-5) and Shaheen-II (Hatf-6).

Commenting on the 2017’s medium-range ballistic missile called Ababeel that Pakistan said is “capable of carrying multiple warheads, using multiple independent reentry vehicle (MIRV) technology,” the Nuclear Notebook observed, “Development of multiple-warhead capability appears to be intended as a countermeasure against India’s planned ballistic missile defense system. Its status remains unclear as of July 2023.”

Pointing out that the total number and location of Pakistan’s nuclear-capable missile bases and facilities remains unknown, the document said, “Analysis of commercial satellite imagery suggests that Pakistan maintains at least five missile bases that could serve a role in Pakistan’s nuclear forces.” It then went on to list the bases with its coordinates and other details, including satellite images: Akro Garrison, Gujranwala Garrison, Khuzdar Garrison, Pano Aqil Garrison and Sargodha Garrison.

Stating how Pakistan’s family of ground- and sea-launched cruise missiles is “undergoing significant development with work on several types and modifications,” the Nuclear Notebook listed details of Babur (Hatf-7) with Babur 1 and Babur 1A, Babur 2 or Babur 1B GLCM, Babur 3 and an under-development variant known as the Harbah.

Admitting that little is publicly known about warhead production, the scientists said: “But experts have suspected for many years that the Pakistan Ordnance Factories near Wah, northwest of Islamabad, serve a role. One of the Wah factories is located near a unique facility with six earth-covered bunkers (igloos) inside a multi-layered safety perimeter with armed guards.”

Trump won’t be tried with Powell and Chesebro next month in Georgia election case, a judge rules

Trump and other defendants had asked to be tried separately from Powell and Chesebro, with some saying they could not be ready by the late October trial date

Published Date – 10:48 PM, Thu – 14 September 23


Trump won’t be tried with Powell and Chesebro next month in Georgia election case, a judge rules

File Photo

Atlanta: A Georgia judge ruled on Thursday that former President Donald Trump and 16 others will be tried separately from two defendants who are set to go to trial next month in the case accusing them of participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro had filed demands for a speedy trial, and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set their trial to begin October 23.

Trump and other defendants had asked to be tried separately from Powell and Chesebro, with some saying they could not be ready by the late October trial date.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last month obtained an indictment against Trump and the 18 others, charging them under the state’s anti-racketeering law in their efforts to deny Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over the Republican incumbent.

Willis had been pushing to try all 19 defendants together, arguing that it would be more efficient and more fair. McAfee cited the tight timetable, among other issues, as a factor in his decision to separate Trump and 16 others from Powell and Chesebro.

“The precarious ability of the Court to safeguard each defendant’s due process rights and ensure adequate pretrial preparation on the current accelerated track weighs heavily, if not decisively, in favour of severance,” McAfee wrote. He added that it may be necessary to further divide them into smaller groups for trial.

The development is likely to be welcome news to other defendants looking to avoid being tied by prosecutors to Powell, who perhaps more than anyone else in the Trump camp was vocal about publicly pushing baseless conspiracy theories linking foreign governments to election interferences.

Another defendant in the Atlanta case, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has sought to distance himself from Powell and spoke at length about her in an interview with special counsel Jack Smith’s team in Washington, according to a person familiar with his account who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Also, Trump-aligned lawyer Eric Herschmann, who in 2020 tried to push back against efforts to undo the election, told the congressional committee investigating the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, that he regarded Powell’s ideas as “nuts.” Chesebro and Powell had sought to be tried separately from each other, but the judge also denied request.

Chesebro is accused of working on the coordination and execution of a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate declaring falsely that Trump won and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. Powell is accused of participating in a breach of election equipment in rural Coffee County.

The nearly 100-page indictment details dozens of alleged acts by Trump or his allies to undo his 2020 loss in Georgia, including suggesting the secretary of state, a Republican, could help find enough votes for Trump to win the battleground state; harassing an election worker who faced false claims of fraud; and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of electoral college electors favourable to Trump.

Further explaining his decision to separate the others from Powell and Chesebro, McAfee said he was skeptical of prosecutors’ argument that trying all 19 defendants together would be more efficient.

He noted that the Fulton County courthouse does not have a courtroom big enough to hold 19 defendants, their lawyers and others who would need to be present, and relocating to a bigger venue could raise security concerns.

Prosecutors also had argued that because each defendant is charged under the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act, or RICO Act, the state plans to call the same witnesses and present the same evidence for any trial in the case.

They told the judge last week that they expect any trial would take four months, not including jury selection.

But McAfee pointed out that each additional defendant increases the time needed for opening statements and closing arguments, cross examination and evidentiary objections. “Thus, even if the State’s case remains identical in length, and the aggregate time invested by the Court is increased, the burden on the jurors for each individual trial is lessened through shorter separate trials,” he wrote.

The judge also noted that to satisfy the demands by Powell and Chesebro for a speedy trial, he will try to have a jury seated by November 3.

“With each additional defendant involved in the voir dire process, an already Herculean task becomes more unlikely,” he wrote.

McAfee also pointed to the fact that five defendants are currently seeking to move their cases to federal court and litigation on that issue is ongoing. If they were to succeed midway through a trial in the state court, it’s not clear what the impact would be, McAfee wrote.

US District Judge Steve Jones last week rejected a bid by Mark Meadows, Trump’s last White House chief of staff, to move his case to federal court; Meadows is appealing that ruling.

The other four have hearings before Jones scheduled next week.

Meadows and three of the others had asked McAfee to halt state court proceedings while their efforts to move to federal court are pending. The judge denied that request, saying he does not intend to stay pretrial litigation in the meantime.

US President Biden leaves for Vietnam after concluding India visit

US President Joe Biden left for Vietnam after he and several other G20 leaders paid homage at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial Rajghat here on Sunday morning

Published Date – 11:10 AM, Sun – 10 September 23


US President Biden leaves for Vietnam after concluding India visit

AP Photo

New Delhi: US President Joe Biden left for Vietnam after he and several other G20 leaders paid homage at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial Rajghat here on Sunday morning.

On his first visit to India as the US President, Biden arrived in the national capital on Friday to attend the two-day G20 summit and held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the same day.

In their over 50-minute talks, Modi and Biden vowed to “deepen and diversify” the bilateral major defence partnership while welcoming forward movement in India’s procurement of 31 drones and joint development of jet engines.

Biden also participated in key sessions of the G20 Summit on Saturday.