Biden said that he hoped the US Supreme Court rejects a plan by President Donald Trump’s administration to exclude from the census the immigrants living illegally in the country.

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday said the Census Bureau must ensure that every American is counted accurately in the ongoing nationwide population counts.

Biden said that he hoped the US Supreme Court rejects a plan by President Donald Trump’s administration to exclude from the census the immigrants living illegally in the country.

The apex court heard a case on Tuesday regarding the plan of the Trump administration to exclude illegal immigrants from once-in-a-decade census.

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States heard a case about whether everyone in America will be counted in the census for the purpose of apportionment of Congressional seats, as the Constitution plainly and clearly requires, Biden said.

“Or whether the partisan politics of intimidation and xenophobia will intentionally exclude specific groups of people from being counted.

It’s a case about whether we deny our ability to govern responsibly and undermine our fidelity to our laws and values as a government of, by, and for all people,” he said in a statement.

“In America, we make ourselves heard when we fill out the Census to be counted. It’s a critical way the power of the nation resides in the people. That’s America. We can’t keep rewriting history, scrambling norms, and ignoring the Constitution and the precedents we abide by,” Biden said.

“It is my hope the Supreme Court does the right thing. And, Congress must give the experts at the Census the time to make sure everyone gets counted accurately.

Let everyone be counted and let us begin the work to heal and unite our nation,” Biden said.

Noting that the census will determine the future of the country for the next decade, Biden said it helps decide where and how to invest in the health and safety of the nation — everything from whether children can attend a good school and eat a warm lunch, families can drink clean water and breath clean air, and people have access to basic health care and good jobs.

Washington: US President Donald Trump has fired a top Homeland Security official who last week said that the November 3 presidential election was the most secure one in America’s history.

Trump, who has launched a slew of lawsuits in key states, but has not provided any evidence to back his claims of fraud, announced on Twitter on Tuesday that he has fired Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security.

The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud – including dead people voting, poll watchers not allowed into polling locations, glitches in the voting machines which changed votes from Trump to (President-elect Joe) Biden, late voting and many more, Trump said in a tweet, repeating unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.

Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, he said.

Trump said that the only thing secure about the election was that it was virtually impenetrable by foreign powers.

On that, the Trump administration takes great credit. Unfortunately, the Radical Left Democrats, Dominion, and others were perhaps more successful! he said.

The mainstream media has declared Biden as the winner of the presidential election after the 77-year-old former vice president crossed the mandatory 270 electoral votes out of the 538-member Electoral College.

Trump, however, has refused to concede the election, asserting that he has won.

Trump, who has 232 electoral college votes, has challenged the election results in various states including Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona. He had demanded a recount in Wisconsin.

In his capacity as president-elect, Biden has been receiving congratulatory calls from the world leaders.

Media and state officials have said that they have not found any evidence of voter fraud as alleged by Trump.

In a statement issued on November 12, members of the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) including Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that the November 3 election was the most secure in American history.

Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double-checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result, it said.

When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised, the statement said.

Senator Mark Warner, the co-chair of the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, condemned the firing of Krebs.

Chris Krebs is an extraordinary public servant and exactly the person Americans want protecting the security of our elections. It speaks volumes that the president chose to fire him simply for telling the truth, he said.

Congressman Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said that throughout this election, Krebs worked diligently to safeguard the elections, provide vital support to state and local election officials, and inform the American people about what was true and what was not.

In the best tradition of government service, they spoke truth to power and helped keep Americans and our institutions safe. Instead of rewarding this great service, President Trump is retaliating against Director Krebs and other officials who did their duty. It’s pathetic but sadly predictable that upholding and protecting our democratic processes would be cause for firing, he said.

In a joint statement, Congressman Bennie Thompson, Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, and Lauren Underwood, Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation, said that in firing Krebs for refusing to lend credibility to his baseless claims and conspiracy theories about voter fraud, Trump is telling officials throughout the administration to put his political interests ahead of their responsibilities to the American people.

That is not only disturbing, but it is also anti-democratic, the two lawmakers said.

The President’s unsubstantiated tweets this evening do nothing to defend our state and local governments and critical infrastructure against malicious cyber campaigns from Russia, China, and Iran. And they do nothing to improve the security of our elections, they said.

Our country finds itself without a smart and capable cyber chief in one of the most vulnerable times our nation has ever seen during a worsening pandemic and in the middle of a presidential transition. Once again, President Trump puts himself before our country. He does not care about the safety and wellbeing of the American people and that is why he lost this election,” said Congressman C A Dutch Ruppersberger.

Congressman Jim Langevin, a senior member of House Committee on Homeland Security, member of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus decried the removal of Krebs.

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Joe Biden has said that he looks forward to working closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on shared global challenges, including containing COVID-19, launching the global economic recovery and maintaining a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, according to his transition.

This was the first interaction between the two leaders after Democrat Biden defeated incumbent Republican president Donald Trump in the November 3 US presidential election.

According to the Biden-Harris Transition, ‘the president-elect noted that he looks forward to working closely with the prime minister on shared global challenges, including containing COVID-19 and defending against future health crises, tackling the threat of climate change, launching the global economic recovery, strengthening democracy at home and abroad, and maintaining a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region’.

Biden thanked Modi for his congratulations and “expressed his desire to strengthen and expand the US-India strategic partnership alongside the first vice president of South Asian descent,” said a readout of the call.

Earlier on Tuesday, Modi said in a tweet that he “spoke to US President-elect Joe Biden on phone to congratulate him. We reiterated our firm commitment to the Indo-US strategic partnership and discussed our shared priorities and concerns — COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Region”.

The prime minister also conveyed his congratulations to US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

“Her success is a matter of great pride and inspiration for members of the vibrant Indian-American community, who are a tremendous source of strength for Indo-US relations,” Modi said.

Harris, the daughter of an Indian immigrant from Chennai, has created history by becoming the first Black American woman to be elected as the country’s Vice President.

While Indian-origin politicians have been elected as heads of the state in various parts of the world in the last several decades, from Mauritius to Fiji, Harris, 56, as the vice president of the United States would be the most powerful politician ever.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), in a statement on Tuesday, said that Modi congratulated Biden on his election, describing it as a testament to the strength and resilience of democratic traditions in the United States.

The prime minister warmly recalled his earlier interactions with Biden, including during his official visits to the US in 2014 and 2016, it said.

Biden is known to be a strong proponent of closer India-US ties since his days as a senator in the 1970s and played a key role in getting the approval of the Senate for the bilateral civil nuclear deal in 2008.

In the midst of hectic negotiations between the two countries to conclude the civil nuclear deal, Biden was a critical ally of India in the Senate.

The deal had laid a strong foundation for the deepening of ties between the two leading democracies of the world.

The strategic and defence ties between India and the US witnessed major expansion during Barack Obama’s presidency and Biden, as the vice president, had played a key role in it.

In his campaign documents, Biden spoke about his vision for the US-India partnership as well as on standing with India in facing threats in the region.

Biden also had separate congratulatory calls with leaders in Chile, Israel and South Africa.

This is for the first time Modi and Xi are expected to come face-to-face, albeit virtually, since the border standoff between India and China began in eastern Ladakh in early May.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top leaders of the SCO member-states are set to deliberate on a plethora of pressing issues, including ways to deal with adverse economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and rising threat of terrorism, at a virtual summit of the bloc on Tuesday.

This is for the first time Modi and Xi are expected to come face-to-face, albeit virtually, since the border standoff between India and China began in eastern Ladakh in early May.

Government sources said, the summit is expected to focus on countering the spread of terrorism including use of the internet for spreading radicalisation, as also issues relating to trade and economic activities.

Beijing-headquartered Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), seen as a counterweight to NATO, is an eight-member economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.

India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

The annual summit of SCO council of heads of state deals with all the key areas of the activities of the powerful bloc including political, security, trade, economic and cultural.

Prime Minister Modi has led the Indian delegation at the annual SCO summit since India became a full member in 2017.

However, India’s association with the organisation dates back to 2005 when it became an Observer State of the grouping.

Since then, India has played a positive and constructive role in all areas of SCO activities with a special emphasis on cooperation in trade and economy, officials said.

Russia is the current chair of the SCO and President Vladimir Putin will be chairing the summit meeting which is being held for the first time in virtual format due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The summit will culminate with the release of a Moscow declaration which will reflect the broad agenda of the bloc for the next one year, sources said.

Apart from the Moscow declaration, the summit may issue separate documents on digital economy, COVID-19, countering the spread of terrorism, according to officials.

“There will also be other decisions relating to major projects and initiatives in trade and economic sphere of activities,” said a source.

Apart from India, China and Russia, the summit is scheduled to be attended by heads all other member states, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The heads of four Observer States of SCO, Iran, Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia will also participate.

In the summit held in Bishkek last year, Prime Minister Modi had given his vision for the SCO with the acronym HEALTH with H for health care cooperation, E for economic cooperation, A for alternative energy, L for literature and culture, T for terrorism free society and H for humanitarian cooperation.

India also participated in two in-person meetings of the SCO defence ministers and council of foreign ministers in Moscow in September.