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The top two Democrats in Congress on Thursday called for President Donald Trump to be removed from office, one day after his supporters stormed and vandalized the U.S. Capitol in a harrowing assault on American democracy.

With 13 days left in Trump’s term, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer both said Vice President Mike Pence should invoke the U.S. Constitution to remove him from office before then.

Continue reading “After Capitol violence, Trump faces calls for removal and staff exodus”

– Some participants in the violent breach of the U.S. Capitol will face charges on Thursday, and federal authorities will continue to assess evidence and make arrests as they investigate, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said.

Prosecutors have been working through the night since Wednesday’s invasion of the Capitol with various law enforcement authorities to gather evidence, identify perpetrators and charge people with federal crimes, according to a statement from Rosen.

“The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that those responsible for this attack on our Government and the rule of law face the full consequences of their actions under the law,” Rosen said. “Some participants in yesterday’s violence will be charged today.”

Thursday was another record-breaking day in reported Covid-19 cases in the United States, the latest milestone in a month that has seen cases and deaths climb to unprecedented levels.

There were 243,645 Covid-19 cases reported across the nation on Thursday, according to NBC News’ count of reports, and 3,288 deaths. On Wednesday, the U.S. broke daily records for both cases and deaths reported. Before that, the highest numbers for both reported in a day was on Dec. 10. Thursday’s numbers eclipsed daily cases but not deaths.

Meanwhile, Congressional leaders and the White House were nearing agreement on a roughly $900 billion coronavirus relief deal that will likely include a new round of direct payments.

Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared reluctant to block a vaguely defined plan by President Donald Trump’s administration to exclude immigrants living in the United States illegally from the population totals used to allocate congressional districts to states.

The court’s conservatives, who hold a 6-3 majority, signaled such a ruling might be premature based on the administration’s admission that it does not yet know how or if it will be able to implement the proposal, a facet of Trump’s hardline policies on immigration being pursued in his final weeks in office.

Challengers led by New York state and the American Civil Liberties Union have argued that Trump’s proposal would dilute the political clout of states with larger numbers of such immigrants, including heavily Democratic California, by undercounting state populations and depriving them of House seats to the benefit of his fellow Republicans.

Continue reading “Conservative justices wary of blocking Trump immigrant census plan”

Diamond mining giant De Beers on Monday outlined plans to ethically source its diamonds and be carbon neutral by 2030 due to growing investor pressure on companies to be environmentally and socially responsible.

The initiative is the latest example of a miner setting sustainability goals in an industry blamed for depletion of natural resources, smuggling and child labor in supply lines.

De Beers, a unit of Anglo American, said it would provide the origin and impact of every diamond it discovers and sells, while also extending a set of ethical, social and environmental standards beyond its value chain and across diamond mining as well as other sectors.

Continue reading “De Beers plans to clean up diamond supply chain, be carbon neutral by 2030”