It will be the longest tour of Asia by a US president in 25 years.

The trip comes at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea over its nuclear programme and missile tests.

Mr Trump is expected to show a united front with South Korea and Japan while pressing China to take a stronger line with Pyongyang.

President Trump flew first to the US state of Hawaii where he visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor – the scene of the 1941 Japanese attack that drew the US into World War Two.

He also took part in a briefing at the US Pacific Command.

From Hawaii, he and First Lady Melania Trump will head to Japan and then on to South Korea.

Mr Trump has previously exchanged some fiery rhetoric with North Korea over its ballistic missile tests but aides said earlier this week that he would not go to the heavily fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ) on the border between the South and North.

He is, however, to visit Camp Humphreys, a US military complex south of the capital, Seoul.

In Vietnam, Mr Trump will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Danang and make a state visit to Hanoi.

His final engagement will be a summit of South-East Asian nations in the Philippine capital, Manila.

The last time a US president made such a marathon trip to Asia was when George HW Bush visited the region in late 1991 and early 1992.

While in Japan on that trip, Mr Bush fainted and vomited during a banquet.

President Trump’s itinerary

• Sunday, 5 November: Arrives in Japan. Golf with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and professional player Hideki Matsuyama at Kasumigaseki Country Club. Bilateral meetings with Mr Abe
• Tuesday, 7 November: In South Korea for talks with President Moon Jae-in. Mr Trump will also address the National Assembly
• Wednesday, 8 November: Arrives in China for a series of events including meetings with President Xi Jinping
• Friday, 10 November: Travels to Danang, Vietnam, and will participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit
• Saturday, 11 November: Travels to Hanoi, Vietnam, for talks with President Tran Dai Quang and other Vietnamese leaders
• Sunday, 12 November: Arrives in Manila, Philippines, to take part in a gala dinner for the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)
• Monday, 13 November: Will attend the Asean summit in Manila and hold talks with President Rodrigo Duterte

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Source: BBC

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The three firms faced hard questions at a Senate panel on crime and terrorism about why they missed political ads bought with Russian money.

Lawmakers are eyeing new regulations for social media firms in the wake of Russia’s alleged meddling in 2016.

The firms said they would tighten advertising policies and guidelines.

Senator Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota, asked Facebook – which absorbed much of the heat from lawmakers – why payment in Russian rubles did not tip off the firm to suspicious activity.

“In hindsight, we should have had a broader lens,” said Colin Stretch, general counsel for Facebook. “There are signals we missed.”

A day earlier Facebook said as many as 126m US users may have seen Russia-backed content over the last two years.

Lawyers for the three firms are facing two days of congressional hearings as lawmakers consider legislation that would extend regulations for television, radio and satellite to also cover social media platforms.

The firms said they are increasing efforts to identify bots and spam, as well as make political advertising more transparent.

Facebook, for example, said it expects to have 20,000 people working on “safety and security” by the end of 2018 – double the current number.

“I do appreciate these efforts, but I don’t think it’s enough,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota.

Ms Klobuchar has proposed legislation that she says would make social media firms subject to the same disclosure rules for political and issue pages as print, radio and television companies.

The companies said they would work with her on the bill, but did not say they would support it.

Senators questioned whether the firms are up to the task of weighing free speech and privacy rights against concerns over terrorism and state-sponsored propaganda.

“I think you do enormous good, but your power sometimes scares me,” said Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana.

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Source: BBC

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Democratic Senator Al Franken told Yahoo News: “I think she has a right to analyse what happened, but we do have to move on.”

Mrs Clinton this week faulted Democratic National Committee (DNC) voter data as “mediocre to poor”.

She has also blamed the FBI, Russia and media.

Minnesota Senator Franken said on Thursday: “We have to move on by proving we are the party that cares about a lot of the people who voted for Donald Trump.”

Mrs Clinton, speaking at a conference in California on Wednesday, said: “I take responsibility for every decision I make – but that’s not why I lost.”

She said the Democratic party did not help her once she was anointed their White House candidate.

“I get the nomination, so I’m now the nominee of the Democratic Party,” she said.

“I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party. I mean, it was bankrupt.

“It was on the verge of insolvency. Its data was mediocre to poor, non-existent, wrong.

“I had to inject money into it.”

She added: “I also think I was the victim of the very broad assumption that I was going to win.”

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Source: BBC

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A formal request for the recount was filed by the Green Party’s Jill Stein.

Dr Stein, the Green Party’s candidate, has also pledged to file for recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Lawyers for Hillary Clinton’s campaign say they will participate in the Wisconsin recount, though it is thought highly unlikely the result will change.

The result would need to be overturned in all three states to change the outcome of the election.

The Clinton campaign’s general counsel, Marc Elias, said there was no evidence to conclude the election was sabotaged, but “we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported”.

Dr Stein reportedly wants to make sure computer hackers did not skew the poll in favour of Mr Trump.

US election results

$7m fundraising target

In statement, the Wisconsin Elections Commission said it had received two recount petitions from the Jill Stein campaign and from Rocky Roque De La Fuente, a businessman who ran unsuccessfully to be the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

“The Commission is preparing to move forward with a statewide recount of votes for President of the United States, as requested by these candidates,” said Wisconsin election commission administrator Michael Haas.

He said the recount would begin in the week after Dr Stein’s campaign has paid the fee, which the commission was still calculating.

Dr Stein’s campaign needs to raise millions of dollars to cover the fees for the vote recount in all three states.

Dr Stein’s website says nearly $5.3m (£4.2m) has already been raised toward a $7m target. It says this is enough to fund the recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Concerns over possible Russian interference had been expressed in the run-up to the vote.

Voting rights lawyers who urged candidates to request recounts, John Bonifaz and J Alex Halderman, have said the results need to be closely analysed.

However, the fact that the results in the three states were different from what polls predicted was “probably not” down to hacking, Mr Halderman said.

“The only way to know whether a cyber-attack changed the result is to closely examine the available physical evidence ,” he wrote.

The deadline for the petition for the recount in Wisconsin was Friday, while Pennsylvania’s deadline is Monday, and Michigan’s is Wednesday.

Wisconsin provides only 10 votes in the crucial electoral college that gave Mr Trump victory in the 8 November election.

Wins there for Mrs Clinton, as well as in Michigan (16 electoral votes) and Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes), would have clinched the presidency for the Democrat.

US officials have said there was no evidence of election tampering in the three states where Republican candidate Donald Trump had razor-thin victories over his Democratic rival.

Mr Trump’s camp has made no public comments on the recounts issue.

Mr Trump won 290 electoral votes in the November election, while Mrs Clinton had 232 votes.

Michigan is yet to declare final results.

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Source: BBC

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He said the West faced its greatest security challenge in a generation.

During his election campaign, Mr Trump described Western military alliance Nato as obsolete.

He suggested that the US would think twice about coming to the aid of any Nato ally under attack if it had not paid its dues.

Writing in Britain’s Observer newspaper, Mr Stoltenberg conceded that Mr Trump had a point about the need for some members to make a bigger financial contribution, as the US currently accounted for almost 70% of Nato spending.

But he added that American leaders had always recognised that they had a profound strategic interest in a stable and secure Europe.

“It is all too easy to take the freedoms, security and prosperity we enjoy for granted. In these uncertain times we need strong American leadership, and we need Europeans to shoulder their fair share of the burden,” the former Norwegian prime minister wrote.

“Going it alone is not an option, either for Europe or for the United States. We face the greatest challenges to our security in a generation. This is no time to question the value of the partnership between Europe and the United States.”

The 9/11 attack on the US, Mr Stoltenberg pointed out, was the only time that Nato had invoked its self-defence clause, which requires all members to come to the aid of one that is attacked.

“This was more than just a symbol. Nato went on to take charge of the operation in Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of European soldiers have served in Afghanistan since.

“And more than 1,000 have paid the ultimate price in an operation that is a direct response to an attack against the United States.”

The BBC’s Paul Adams in Washington says that what some at the time saw as the musings of a candidate not expected to win are now been seen as posing an almost existential threat to the alliance.

He adds that Mr Trump’s apparent admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin sharpens that concern.

On Friday a spokesman for President Putin said that Mr Trump could help build confidence with Russia by persuading Nato to withdraw its forces from Russia’s borders.

Anti-Trump protests

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has blamed her defeat in the US presidential election on interventions by the FBI director.

James Comey’s announcement of a new inquiry into her use of email while secretary of state shortly before election day had stopped her campaign’s momentum, Mrs Clinton said.

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Source: BBC

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Donald Trump had assured Americans of building infrastructure including roads, schools, hospitals, airports, highways, bridges, and creating jobs to make America great again.

[contextly_sidebar id=”JtTRunLDsQkpqdBxo59XJ3HIhgzJAHjp”]But in a congratulatory message to Donald Trump via her Facebook page on Wednesday, Lordina Mahama said the President is “already delivering what he [Donald Trump] is promising .”

“It seems he [Donald Trump] has been listening to, or watching His Excellency John Mahama of Ghana,” she added.

The American businessman, Donald Trump of the Republican Party beat his closest contender, Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, in what many described as a tough election with an unexpected result.

 ‘I am doing what Hillary Clinton is promising Americans’

Meanwhile, President John Mahama at a rally in Asamankese in the Eastern Region earlier this month said his government has already invested heavily in socioeconomic infrastructure , a promise he claimed the Democratic presidential candidate in the US, Hillary Clinton had made.

According to the President, the magnitude of infrastructure development Ghana has witnessed under his reign puts the country on a firm foundation for livelihood empowerment in his second term.

“If you look at Hilary Clinton’s economic plan, she’s promising to invest 250 billion dollars in economic and social infrastructure. She is now coming to invest this amount when elected. Ghana has already started investing in socioeconomic infrastructure already. This is because socioeconomic infrastructure is the foundation of every development.”

‘Mahama congratulates Donald Trump’

President Mahama earlier this morning [Wednesday, November 9] congratulated the president-elect Donald Trump in a tweet, hours after his victory was announced.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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It will be the first time that the former presidential candidate will publicly address her staff and supporters following her unexpected defeat to Donald Trump.

Clinton had been expected to give the speech at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City during the night, when her loss became clear. Instead, John Podesta, her campaign manager, said there would be no announcement until the morning.

“Well folks, I know we’ve been here a long time and I know it’s been a long night and I know it’s been a long campaign. But I know we can wait a little longer,” he told the crowd assembled at around 2am. “We will have more to say tomorrow.”

Within the hour, Clinton called Trump to concede her defeat.

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Source: Time.com

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Nana Akufo-Addo also said Trump’s competitor in the elections, Secretary Hillary Clinton, was to be applauded for graciously conceding defeat.

The NPP Flagbearer in a statement said the result of the election has strengthened even further the status of the United States of America as “a bastion of democracy in the modern world.”

He also commended the Republican Party, a sister party of the New Patriotic Party and a fellow member of the International Democrat Union (IDU), for maintaining control of the Senate adn affording Trump, minimum of two years of a unified government.

“It is my sincere hope that President-Elect Trump’s tenure of office will be marked by the economic empowerment of the American people, as well as the delivery of unity, security, progress and prosperity to all Americans. It is also my overriding hope that Ghanaian-American relations will grow from strength to strength under his Presidency.”

Find below the full statement

AKUFO-ADDO CONGRATULATES PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP

I join many across the world in extending my warmest congratulations to the President-Elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump, on his victory in the November 8 election. His competitor, Secretary Hillary Clinton, is also to be applauded for graciously conceding defeat.

The result of the election, which has resulted in a change in government after 8-years of the Obama-led Democratic government, has strengthened even further the status of the United States of America as a bastion of democracy in the modern world.

I commend the Republican Party, the sister party of the New Patriotic Party and a fellow member of the International Democrat Union (IDU), for maintaining control of the Senate, thereby presenting the President-Elect a minimum of two years of a “unified” government.

It is my sincere hope that President-Elect Trump’s tenure of office will be marked by the economic empowerment of the American people, as well as the delivery of unity, security, progress and prosperity to all Americans. It is also my overriding hope that Ghanaian-American relations will grow from strength to strength under his Presidency, which have, over the years, been based on a shared agenda of freedom, development, progress and prosperity.

Warm congratulations once again to President-Elect Donald Trump and the people of the United States of America. God bless him and the American people, and best wishes for his and the country’s continued success.

……signed……

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

2016 NPP Presidential Candidate, Ghana.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement that the president called both Trump and Hillary Clinton following the results of the election early Wednesday.

In his call with Clinton, Obama “expressed admiration for the strong campaign she waged throughout the country,” Earnest said.

Obama will deliver a statement on the election at the White House later today, where he’s expected to address “what steps we can take as a country to come together after this hard-fought election season.”

As recently as Monday, Obama slammed Trump as “temperamentally unfit” to serve as commander-in-chief and raised concerns over the potential of him handling the nation’s nuclear codes.

The trip would be Trump’s first inside the White House, and his first face-to-face meeting with Obama. According to the White House, their meeting will be centered around ensuring a peaceful transition of power.

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Source: ABC News

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The Republican nominee’s projected victory came down to a handful of key swing states, despite months of polling that favoured Mrs Clinton.

The battlegrounds of Florida, Ohio and North Carolina cleared the way for his Brexit-style upset.

The CNN reported that Hillary Clinton has called Donald Trump to concede the presidency. The US president-elect took to the stage later at his victory rally in New York confirming this: “I just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us on our victory.”

Trump’s projected victory in Wisconsin put him over the 270 out of 538 electoral college votes needed to win the White House.

The real estate tycoon, former reality TV star and political newcomer, who was universally ridiculed when he declared his candidacy in June last year, said his victory had been “tough”.

Democrats were also unable to wrest control of the Senate from Republicans, who retained their majority in both chambers of Congress.

Hours after polling stations closed, Mrs Clinton also suffered major blows in Democratic-dependent states like Pennsylvania and Iowa, where a Republican has not won since 2004.

The Republican party running mate, Mike Pence at the Donald Trump victory party in New York this also said, “the American people have spoken, and the American people have elected their new champion. America has elected a new president, and it’s almost hard for me to express the honor that I and my family feel that we will have the privilege to serve as your vice president of the United States of America.”

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana with files from AP, CNN, BBC

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