WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden delivered remarks to the nation midday Thursday in his first appearance on camera in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s decisive victory over Kamala Harris.
Control over the US House of Representatives hangs in the balance, teetering between a Republican or Democratic majority with dozens of races left to be called.
The Republicans won control of the US Senate early Wednesday.
The State Department says it has begun to take steps to ease the transition from the Biden administration to Trump’s incoming administration.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has directed all department employees to work with incoming staffers to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition that protects US national security.
Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that retired senior diplomat Stephen Mull, a former ambassador who is currently a vice provost at the University of Virginia, has been tasked with leading the effort to work with Trump’s team.
Miller said though that the department has not yet been contacted by the Trump team, which is being led by Brian Hook, a former special representative for Iran during the Trump administration, and Joel Rayburn, a former special envoy for Syria.
Miller said the department will put together information on policy and procedures and be ready to answer any questions.
Biden guarantees a ‘peaceful transfer of power,’ House control hangs in the balance
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Biden guarantees a ‘peaceful transfer of power,’ House control hangs in the balance
- Biden was replaced as the Democrats’ candidate by Kamala Harris due to concerns about his mental acuity
- Former President Trump’s victory underscored how disenchanted Americans had become with the economy
Bangladesh begins exhuming mass grave from 2024 uprising
- The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power — deaths that formed part of her conviction last month for crimes against humanity
DHAKA: Bangladeshi police began exhuming on Sunday a mass grave believed to contain around 114 unidentified victims of a mass uprising that toppled autocratic former prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year.
The UN-supported effort is being advised by Argentine forensic anthropologist Luis Fondebrider, who has led recovery and identification missions at mass graves worldwide for decades.
The bodies were buried at the Rayerbazar Graveyard in Dhaka by the volunteer group Anjuman Mufidul Islam, which said it handled 80 unclaimed bodies in July and another 34 in August 2024 — all people reported to have been killed during weeks of deadly protests.
The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power — deaths that formed part of her conviction last month for crimes against humanity.
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Md Sibgat Ullah said investigators believed the mass grave held roughly 114 bodies, but the exact number would only be known once exhumations were complete.
“We can only confirm once we dig the graves and exhume the bodies,” Ullah told reporters.
- ‘Searched for him’ -
Among those hoping for answers is Mohammed Nabil, who is searching for the remains of his brother Sohel Rana, 28, who vanished in July 2024.
“We searched for him everywhere,” Nabil told AFP.
He said his family first suspected Rana’s death after seeing a Facebook video, then recognized his clothing — a blue T-shirt and black trousers — in a photograph taken by burial volunteers.
Exhumed bodies will be given post-mortem examinations and DNA testing. The process is expected to take several weeks to complete.
“It’s been more than a year, so it won’t be possible to extract DNA from the soft tissues,” senior police officer Abu Taleb told AFP. “Working with bones would be more time-consuming.”
Forensic experts from four Dhaka medical colleges are part of the team, with Fondebrider brought in to offer support as part of an agreement with the UN rights body the OHCHR.
“The process is complex and unique,” Fondebrider told reporters. “We will guarantee that international standards will be followed.”
Fondebrider previously headed the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, founded in 1984 to investigate the tens of thousands who disappeared during Argentina’s former military dictatorship.
Authorities say the exhumed bodies will be reburied in accordance with religious rites and their families’ wishes.
Hasina, convicted in absentia last month and sentenced to death, remains in self-imposed exile in India.
