New York: Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden has won New Jersey and New York in a tight race to the White House with President Donald Trump also registering early wins in key states.

Biden got 2.2 million votes in New York while Trump got 1.2 million.

The former vice president won in Democratic-leaning states of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Vermont, and Virginia, while President Trump was posting expected victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming, Indiana, and South Carolina, The New York Times said.

People across America were closely watching the 2020 presidential election, which saw a record number of over 100 million early voting due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The usually bustling and crowded Times Square wore an almost deserted look on the election night, as the coronavirus pandemic forced many to stay indoors.

A far cry from the election night of 2016, when supporters of the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as media from around the world, had converged in Times Square, the popular New York City destination was uncrowded and several stores were boarded up and shut.

A small group of people, wearing masks, were seen standing near billboards that displayed the election results. However, the energy and atmosphere seemed subdued. Only a handful of stores in and around Times Square were open and a majority of them were closed and boarded up as businesses took precautionary measures amid fears of possible unrest and violence on the election night.

The NYT also reported that among the biggest states too early to call was Texas, with 38 electoral college votes up for grab.

The most intense attention was on the swing state of Florida and its 29 electoral college votes, the report said, adding that Trump was overperforming his 2016 vote totals in the populous Miami-Dade county, with 526,000-plus votes so far counted in 2020 compared with about 334,000 total four years ago — an enormous improvement.

US President Donald Trump, seeking re-election, and Democratic candidate Joe Biden have made early wins in several states as polls close across the United States. All eyes are now on the key battleground states, including Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Arizona, results of which are crucial for both contenders.

So far, Trump has won Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah. Biden, meanwhile, has taken Democratic-leaning states like Colorado, Columbia, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.

The US is heading for a historic election with the voter turnout indicating the largest participation in a century. According to the United States Election Project, in at least six states — Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Washington State — the turnout has been more than what we saw in the 2016 polls.

London: A UK judge presiding over the extradition proceedings of Nirav Modi on Tuesday ruled that the evidence submitted by the Indian authorities to establish a prima facie case of fraud and money laundering against the fugitive diamantaire is broadly admissible.

District Judge Samuel Goozee heard the arguments for and against the admissibility of certain witness statements provided by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) at Westminster Magistrates’ Court here and concluded that he considered himself “bound” by the previous UK court rulings in the extradition case of former Kingfisher Airlines chief Vijay Mallya.

He then adjourned the case for a two-day hearing on January 7 and 8 next year, when he will hear the final submissions in the case before he hands down his judgment a few weeks later.

“I consider myself bound by that decision (Mallya). There is no reason why points made by witnesses cannot be used as informed commentary,” said Judge Goozee.

Modi is wanted in India to face trial in the estimated USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case.

The 49-year-old diamond merchant followed the proceedings via videolink from Wandsworth Prison in south-west London, dressed in a prison-issue grey tracksuit and sporting a thick beard.

He will next appear from prison, by video link, for a regular brief 28-day remand call-over hearing on December 1.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), arguing on behalf of the Indian authorities, stressed that the evidence, including witness statements under Section 161 of the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), meets the required threshold for the UK court to determine whether Modi has a case to answer before the Indian judicial system.

“The argument that this is a very specific case, distinguishable from Mallya is frankly nonsense,” said CPS barrister Helen Malcolm.

That Mallya has a case to answer in India in his fraud and money laundering case has cleared various levels of the UK judicial system and is currently undergoing a “confidential” legal issue before UK Home Secretary Priti Patel can consider signing off on his extradition.

Modi’s barrister, Clare Montgomery, who was also the defence counsel in Mallya’s case, however, disputed that the Section 161 witness statements qualify as similar.

“The government of India case is not as strong as it was in Mallya,” said Montgomery, as she raised a specific issue over a witness who was said to speak no English in his testimony for the CBI but signed a statement in English for the ED.

After Tuesday’s ruling, the judge will decide how much weight he places on these documents amid the “37 bundles of evidence” to be considered for his ruling in the case expected early next year.

Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the CBI case relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of “Letters of Understanding” (LOUs or loan agreements), and the ED case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.

He also faces two additional charges of “causing the disappearance of evidence” and intimidating witnesses or criminal intimidation to cause death added to the CBI case.

The jeweller has been in prison since he was arrested on March 19, 2019, on an extradition warrant executed by Scotland Yard and his attempts at seeking bail have been repeatedly turned down. The charges against him centre around his firms Diamonds R Us, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds making fraudulent use of a credit facility offered by PNB or LoUs.

The CPS, on behalf of India, has told the court during the course of two separate sets of hearings in May and September that a number of PNB staff conspired with Modi to ensure the LoUs were issued to his companies without ensuring they were subject to the required credit check, without recording the issuance of the LoUs and without charging the required commission upon the transactions.

Modi’s defence team has sought to counter allegations of fraud by deposing witnesses to establish the volatility of the gems and jewellery trade and that the LoUs were standard practice. His severe depression has also been raised as part of the arguments against extradition.

AUTHORITIES CONFIRM HE WAS NOT SHOUTING ‘ALLAHU AKBAR’

Paris: A man shot and killed by police in the French city of Avignon claimed allegiance to an anti-immigrant group and had assaulted a merchant of North African descent, authorities have said.

The incident in Avignon on Thursday followed a gruesome knife attack by a man in the southern city of Nice. At least three people died in the stabbings, which took place at church, prompting fears of copycat attacks.

The man in Avignon had a firearm and was shot and killed by police after he refused to drop his weapon and a warning shot failed to stop him, according to a national police official. French media was quick to report that he has been shouting “Allahu Akbar” or God is great but officials later clarified he was not affiliated with Islam but a far-right group instead. 

One official said the man claimed to belong to the extreme-right group Generation Identity and had assaulted a local merchant.

Avignon Prosecutor Philippe Guemas told broadcaster France Bleu that the assailant was a 33-year-old born in France “who had nothing to do with the Muslim religion” and appeared to be “psychologically unstable”.

Istanbul: A strong earthquake struck Friday between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Samos, collapsing several buildings in Turkey’s western Izmir province and leaving at least four people dead.

Dozens more were injured, while some damage to buildings and the road network, and four light injuries were also reported on Samos.

Turkey’s Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that four people were killed in Izmir and 120 were injured. He said 38 ambulances, two ambulance helicopters, and 35 medical rescue teams were working in Izmir.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 with an epicenter 13 kilometers (8 miles) north northeast of the Greek island of Samos. The United States Geological Survey put the magnitude at 7.0. It is common for preliminary magnitudes to differ in the early hours and days after a quake. Multiple aftershocks struck the region.

A strong earthquake struck Friday between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Samos, collapsing several buildings in Turkey’s western Izmir province and causing some damage in Samos. There were reports of people trapped beneath rubble in Izmir.

Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency said three injured people were pulled from the wreckage of a building in Izmir. Some damage was also reported on the Greek island of Samos, to buildings and the road network. The director of the hospital in Samos said four people were treated there for light injuries.

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said the earthquake was centered in the Aegean at a depth of 16,5 kilometers (10.3 miles) and registered at a 6.6 magnitude. The emergency authority said it sent search and rescue teams to Izmir.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.9, with an epicenter 13 kilometers (8 miles) north northeast of the Greek island of Samos. The United States Geological Survey put the magnitude at 7.0. It is common for preliminary magnitudes to differ in the early hours and days after a quake. Multiple aftershocks struck the region.

Izmir mayor Tunc Soyer Said that about 20 buildings collapsed. The city is the third biggest in Turkey with about 4,5 million residents. Turkey’s interior minister tweeted six buildings in Izmir were destroyed. He said there were small cracks in some buildings in six other provinces.

The environment and urban planning minister, Murat Kurum, said people were trapped under the wreckage, and rescue efforts were underway.

Videos posted on Twitter showed flooding in the immediate aftermath of the quake in Izmir’s Seferhisar district. Turkish officials and broadcasters called on people to stay off the streets after reports of traffic congestion.

Turkish media showed wreckage of a multiple-story building in central Izmir, with people climbing it to start rescue efforts. Turkish media showed at least one woman being helped from the rubble of a collapsed building. Smoke was filmed in several spots in central Izmir.

Turkish media said the earthquake was felt across the regions of Aegean and Marmara, including Istanbul. Istanbul’s governor said there were no reports of damage in the city, Turkey’s largest. 

For over nearly a month, the Pakistan government has made several attempts to get Sharif’s arrest warrant signed

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that he is even ready to initiate talks with his British counterpart Boris Johnson to get Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif deported from London.

Prime Minister Khan as saying that since getting Nawaz extradited from Britain would be a “long process”, his government was pushing for him to be deported “which can happen immediately”.

“We are in regular contact with their officials. We are making full efforts to get him deported,” the Pakistani Prime Minister said.

“If I have to, I will go and talk to Boris Johnson,” he added.This comes weeks after the British government had informed the Pakistani officials that they will not get involved in “its internal politics”.

For over nearly a month, the Pakistan government has made several attempts to get Sharif’s arrest warrant signed.

The News International reported that the country’s diplomats stationed in London also asked the British government to help execute the arrest warrants of Nawaz, however, the government bluntly refused.

Last month, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) came down heavily on the Imran Khan-led government for allowing Sharif to go abroad without informing the court and it was up to the dispensation to take steps for ensuring the latter’s return to the country.