Author: aejay_wp

The results of last week’s presidential vote in the Democratic Republic of Congo will not be published on Sunday, officials say, despite growing calls for the outcome to be announced.

The head of the electoral commission said this was because less than half the ballots had arrived.

His spokesman told the BBC a meeting would be held on Sunday over the delay.

Read: International pressure mounts on DR Congo as election deadline looms

The Catholic Church, which fielded thousands of observers, said on Thursday there was a clear winner.

It called for the result to be made public to avoid political unrest.

This drew an angry response from the coalition in power which said the church was “doing something illegal” and accused it of “preparing the population for insurrection”.

The Church had been vocal in its opposition to the extension of President Joseph Kabila’s rule.

He is stepping down after 17 years in office and has promised DR Congo’s first orderly transfer of power since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.

The official result was due to be announced on Sunday, although the electoral commission had warned a few days ago this could be delayed.

Read: Respect results of DR Congo vote – African Union

The head of the commission, Corneille Nangaa, said on Saturday that less than half of all the votes had been counted.

“It is not possible to publish the results on Sunday. We are making progress, but we do not have everything yet.” No date for the announcement was given.

On Thursday, the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (Cenco) – which deployed some 40,000 election observers on voting day – said there was a clear winner based on its tally of the votes.

They did not name anyone but urged election officials “to publish the election results in keeping with truth and justice”.

The ruling FCC (Common Front for the Congo) told the BBC only the electoral commission is officially allowed to announce results.

Who’s running for president?

There are 21 candidates, but three frontrunners:

1. Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, a former interior minister and Kabila loyalist, who was hit by European Union sanctions for his role in the violent suppression of opposition protests in 2017

Read: Six dead in DR Congo election plane crash

2. Martin Fayulu, a former oil executive who has promised “a dignified and prosperous Congo”, but who poor Congolese feel may not advance their cause

3. Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the son of a late veteran opposition leader who has promised to make the fight against poverty his priority

 Opposition candidates Martin Fayulu (L) and Felix Tshisekedi (R) face Emmanuel Shadary (C), the former interior minister

What’s the background?

Mr Kabila took over from his assassinated father Laurent in 2001. He was elected in 2006, and secured another term in controversial elections in 2011.

He was barred from running for another term under the constitution, and was supposed to step down two years ago, but the election was postponed after the electoral commission said it needed more time to register voters.

The decision triggered violent clashes, as the opposition accused Mr Kabila of trying to cling on to power.

The run-up to this poll was also hit by controversy over the exclusion of some 1.26 million voters, out of an electorate of nearly 40 million.

The electoral commission said voting could not take place in the eastern cities of Beni and Butembo because of a deadly Ebola outbreak in the region. Voting was also called off in the western city of Yumbi because of insecurity there.

Source: bbc.com

Dozens of wildfires tore through central Chile destroying scores of homes.

It is the start of the fire season and the blazes on Thursday and Friday point towards a difficult time ahead for the South American country.

Local media reported there were 44 wildfires active on Thursday with at least eight more still burning in the Valparaiso region alone. Valparaiso is a coastal area about 100km northwest of Chile’s capital, Santiago.

Read: California wildfires: ‘More than 1,000 missing’ in Camp Fire

Perhaps the hardest hit municipality was Limache where the mayor said some 60 homes were destroyed.

The O’Higgins region south of Valparaiso was also hard hit. In total, local media reported more than 2,600 hectares have burned.

Read: More victims found in California wildfires

Most of the blazes have been contained or put out, but firefighters were still working to contain at least 10 fires as of Friday afternoon.

Source: aljazeera.com

Europe and Africa heaped pressure on DR Congo on Friday, urging it to respect voters’ wishes in key presidential elections as a deadline for unveiling the outcome loomed.

Expectations are mounting that electoral overseers will delay publication of provisional results due by Sunday — a move likely to add to tensions in the notoriously unstable country.

Read: Respect results of DR Congo vote – African Union

“The Democratic Republic of Congo is at a historic moment toward a democratic transition,” the European Union said.

It called on the authorities “to ensure the upcoming results conform with the Congolese people’s vote”.

A similar appeal was made by the African Union after it was briefed by the head of an 80-member AU election monitoring team.

Read: Six dead in DR Congo election plane crash

“Respect of the election results is crucial,” AU Commission chief Faki Mahamat tweeted.

On Thursday, the United States called on the DRC to release “accurate” results and warned of sanctions against election violators.

“Those who undermine the democratic process, threaten the peace, security or stability of the DRC, or benefit from corruption may find themselves not welcome in the United States and cut off from the US financial system,” the State Department said.

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors to discuss the election, but after two hours of meeting had failed to agree on a press statement. Several countries including African nations said such a move was premature, diplomats said.

Vote fears

The elections last Sunday, which had been delayed three times, were called to choose a successor to President Joseph Kabila, at the helm of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest country for nearly 18 years.

Read: DR Congo election: ‘Two killed’ at Martin Fayulu rally

Polling day went ahead relatively peacefully by the DRC’s turbulent standards.

But in a country that has not had a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960, memories of electoral fraud and bogus claims of victory run deep.

Opposition campaigners fear the result may be rigged to favour Kabila’s preferred successor, hardline former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.

He is facing two strong opposition contenders — Martin Fayulu, a former oil executive who entered politics, and Emmanuel Tshisekedi, head of the UDPS, the country’s oldest and largest opposition party

In the run-up to the election, Western powers repeatedly urged the count to be conducted accurately, transparently and expediently.

But on Thursday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) said it had collected only about a fifth of the results.

CENI blamed massive logistical problems in a country the size of continental Western Europe but with poor infrastructure.

It indicated that it may have to postpone publication of provisional results — due to be published by Sunday, followed by the definitive results on January 15 and the presidential inauguration three days later.

Within hours the DRC’s powerful Roman Catholic Church, which had deployed thousands of election observers, declared that it knew who had won from its own monitoring of the tally.

It called on the election panel “to publish the election results in keeping with truth and justice”.

A coalition of pro-Kabila parties on Friday angrily rebuffed the comments, which were made by the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO).

CENCO had an “anarchic, irresponsible and biased attitude,” the Joint Front for Congo (FCC) said.

It accused CENCO’s spokesman, Father Donatien Nshole, of “seriously breaching” the constitution and electoral law by “illegally declaring voting trends” in favour of a given candidate.

Transparency

International concern has also been triggered after the authorities’ decision to cut internet access, block French public-service broadcaster Radio France Internationale and force its correspondent out of the country.

“These efforts to silence dissent could backfire considerably when the results are announced,” the United Nations Human Rights office warned.

The DRC saw two wars between 1996 and 2003 that claimed millions of lives through bloodshed, fighting, starvation and disease.

Bloody clashes also marred elections in 2006 and 2011.

The election was delayed several times as Kabila held on to power rather than stepping down at the end of 2016.

Authorities crushed protests and voting was further postponed in areas hit by violence.

Source: France24

US President Donald Trump has said he could declare a national emergency to build a US-Mexico border wall without the approval of Congress.

It came after he met senior Democrats, who refused his requests for funding.

The stand-off has seen Mr Trump withhold support for a bill to fully fund the government until he gets money for the border wall.

He said he was prepared for the partial government shutdown – now in its third week – to last years.

Around 800,000 federal workers have been without pay since 22 December.

Trump aides and lawmakers will meet later on Saturday in a fresh bid to resolve the impasse.

Read: US shutdown: Trump digs in as he meets congressional leaders

What happened in Friday’s meeting with Democrats?

The Republican president initially gave a positive account of the 90-minute meeting at the White House, describing it as “very productive”.

But when asked whether he had considered using emergency presidential powers to bypass congressional approval of funding, Mr Trump said he had.

“I may do it. We can call a national emergency and build it very quickly. That’s another way of doing it.

“I’m very proud of doing what I’m doing,” the president added. “I don’t call it a shutdown, I call it doing what you have to do for the benefit and safety of our country.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday’s meeting had been “contentious”, while Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said: “We told the president we needed the government open. He resisted.”

Can Trump declare a national emergency?

Donald Trump says he can declare a “national emergency” and build his promised wall along the border without congressional approval. If that’s the case, the question becomes why he doesn’t go ahead and do that. Why put federal workers through the pain of forgoing pay and hamstring key government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, if he could bypass Democratic objections with the snap of his presidential fingers?

The answer is because the solution isn’t that simple. There are provisions of US law that allow the president to direct military construction projects during war or national emergency, but that money would have to come from Defence Department funds allocated by Congress for other purposes. Such a move may prompt Congress, including Republicans, to push back.

Then there’s the inevitable legal challenge from Democrats to such an exercise of presidential authority. Any presidential order to build a wall would be met by an equally imposing wall of court filings blocking its construction.

Read: Trump ‘prepared’ to force US government shutdown for over a year

The president’s latest suggestions are best viewed as simply another attempt to gain the upper hand in negotiations with Democrats.

This may not be a threat, more a bluff.

What’s the background?

Democrats, who now hold the majority in the House, passed spending bills on Thursday to reopen the government, including $1.3bn (£1bn) of border security funds until 8 February.

But the legislation cannot take effect unless it passes the Republican-controlled Senate, where leader Mitch McConnell said his party would not back any measure without the president’s support.

The Kentucky senator called the Democratic budget “a time-wasting act of political posturing”.

In Friday’s news conference, Mr Trump also told reporters he might consider asking his cabinet to decline a $10,000 raise that is due to take effect because a pay freeze has expired as an inadvertent result of the shutdown.

The fiscal fiasco began when Congress and Mr Trump failed to reach an agreement over a budget bill in December.

The Republicans had passed an initial funding bill including $5bn (£4bn) for the wall, when they still had a majority in the House, but they could not get the necessary 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate.

Two vulnerable Republican senators up for re-election in 2020 – Cory Gardner of Colorado and Susan Collins of Maine – have broken ranks to back approving the budget and ending the shutdown.

The White House is again floating the idea of a deal for “Dreamers” – immigrants who illegally entered the US as children.

Democrats want to ensure that these individuals are shielded from deportation, but have insisted that they will not support a deal over wall funding.

Vice-President Mike Pence told Fox News the deal was being “talked about”, but that Mr Trump said no deal was possible “without a wall”.

What does the partial shutdown mean?

About 25% of the US federal government has no funding

Nine departments have been affected, including Homeland Security, Justice, Housing, Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, and the Treasury

Native American tribes who receive substantial federal funding are struggling

National Parks have become hazardous without staff.

Source: BBC

The White House says the president “isn’t going to back off” as he meets congressional leaders for talks on the partial government shutdown.

President Donald Trump is refusing to sign any budget without funding for a US-Mexico border wall, which Democrats are adamantly against.

The House of Representatives passed a bill to reopen the government, but the Senate has rejected it.

Read: Trump ‘prepared’ to force US government shutdown for over a year

Around 800,000 federal workers have been without pay since 22 December.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle are negotiating with Mr Trump on Friday morning.

The White House and top Democrats have shown little sign of backing down since holding their first meeting earlier this week over the partial government shutdown.

Democrats, who now hold the majority in the House, passed spending bills on Thursday to reopen the government, including $1.3bn (£1bn) of border security funds until 8 February.

Read: US House passes plan to end shutdown, faces challenge in the Senate

But the legislation cannot take effect unless it passes the Republican-controlled Senate, where leader Mitch McConnell said his party would not back any measures without the president’s support.

The Kentucky senator called the Democratic budget “a time-wasting act of political posturing”.

The partial US government shutdown began when Congress and Mr Trump failed to reach an agreement over a budget bill in December.

The Republicans had passed an initial funding bill including $5bn (£4bn) for the wall, when they still had a majority in the House, but they could not get the necessary 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate.

Which side will blink first?
Some vulnerable Republican senators up for re-election in 2020 have spoken out in favour of approving the budget bills to end the government shutdown.

Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado was the first to do so, saying on Thursday that Congress should reopen the government and let wall negotiations continue afterwards.

Maine Senator Susan Collins echoed this view, suggesting the president should sign the agreed upon spending bills first so federal employees could get back to work.

The White House is again floating the idea of a deal for ‘Dreamers’ – immigrants who illegally entered the US as children.

Democrats want to ensure that these individuals are shielded from deportation, but have insisted that they will not support a deal over wall funding.

Vice-President Mike Pence told Fox News the deal was being “talked about”, but that Mr Trump said no deal was possible “without a wall”.

does the partial shutdown mean?

About 25% of the US federal government has no funding

Nine departments have been affected, including Homeland Security, Justice, Housing, Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, and the Treasury.

Around 800,000 federal workers are now furloughed – that is, temporarily laid off due to a lack of funding – or working without pay.

Native American tribes who receive substantial federal funding are struggling
National Parks have become hazardous without staff.

Source: bbc.com

Mexico’s austerity-crusader President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday his official declaration contained virtually no assets, showing his nearly empty wallet to reporters as evidence.

Lopez Obrador, an anti-establishment leftist who took office last month, has delighted supporters — but also fueled criticism — with his aggressive austerity measures.

They include slashing his own salary, disbanding the presidential security detail and flying commercial airlines for official trips.

Read: Trump threatens to shut Mexican border in demand for wall funding

“Money has never interested me. I fight for ideals, for principles. Although I would also clarify, to avoid offending anyone, that not all rich people are evil,” he said at his daily press conference.

Lopez Obrador, 65, said his asset declaration included two bank accounts with about $23,000 in them, no credit card, no checking account and no vehicles.

He said his only real estate was his modest ranch in southern Mexico, which is not even his, since he has signed the deed over to his sons.

His wife, journalist and writer Beatriz Gutierrez, meanwhile declared three bank accounts with a total of around $72,000, three vehicles, an apartment, a house and two tracts of land, he said.

Read: Mexican police department gets armed with slingshots instead of firearms

To prove his point, he showed the press his wallet, which contained just 200 pesos (about $10) and a two-dollar bill he said was given to him as a good-luck charm by a Mexican living in the United States.

However, the president — widely known by his initials, AMLO — has already landed in hot water with some aspects of his austerity push.

His decision to cancel a new $13-billion airport for Mexico City that was one-third built caused investor jitters and a stock-market rout.

And when he moved to cut the pay of any public employee earning more than his own newly reduced salary of about $5,500 a month, it triggered a flood of lawsuits, most recently from the central bank, which questioned whether the measure was constitutional.

Source: France24

Three former Credit Suisse bankers have been arrested over their alleged role in a $2bn (£1.5bn) fraud scheme connected to firms in Mozambique, according to US authorities.

The men have been released on bail in London while the US seeks their extradition.

The scheme allegedly involved loans to state-owned companies in Mozambique.

Two others, including the country’s former finance minister, have also been arrested.

The men – Andrew Pearse, Surjan Singh, and Detelina Subeva – were charged in an indictment issued by a US District Court in New York.

The indictment says that through a series of financial transactions between approximately 2013 and 2016, more than $2bn was borrowed through loans guaranteed by the Mozambican government.

It said over the course of the transactions, the co-conspirators acted to defraud investors.

They created maritime projects as fronts to raise money to enrich themselves, and “intentionally diverted portions of the loan proceeds to pay at least $200m in bribes and kickbacks to themselves, Mozambican government officials and others,” the indictment read.

In a statement, Credit Suisse said the three former employees had been accused by US authorities of “circumventing our internal controls” in a fraud connected to the Mozambican government.

“No action has been taken against Credit Suisse. The indictment alleges that the former employees worked to defeat the bank’s internal controls, acted out of a motive of personal profit, and sought to hide these activities from the bank,” it said.

Hundreds of German politicians including Chancellor Angela Merkel have had personal details hacked and published online, reports say.

Contacts, private chats and credit card details were put out on Twitter which belong to figures from every political party except the far-right AfD.

Data from celebrities and journalists also appear to have been leaked.

Read: Obama, Clinton among targets of suspected bombs ahead of U.S. election

It is unclear who was behind the hack, which emerged on Twitter last month in the style of an advent calendar.

How extensive was the attack? The true extent of damage caused by the leak is not yet known although Justice Minister Katarina Barley said it was a “serious attack”.

“The people behind this want to damage confidence in our democracy and institutions,” she said.

Read: Germany adopts third gender identity for intersex people

Germany’s federal office for information security (BSI) said it was investigating the hack and said government networks were not affected, as far as it was aware.

Although no politically sensitive documents appear to have been published, the sheer extent of personal data leaked suggests the consequences could be considerable, says RBB reporter Michael Götschenberg, who researched the hack.

The Twitter account, followed by 17,000 people, appeared to be linked to an internet platform based in Hamburg, he said. Although documents had been posted on the account last month, it was not until Thursday evening that officials became aware of the hack.

Who was targeted?

National and local political figures have had their details hacked.

Even Chancellor Angela Merkel was caught up in the attack, reports say. Her email address and several letters to and from the chancellor appear to have been published.

The main parliamentary groups and their MPs were all affected, including the ruling centre-right and centre-left parties, as well as the Greens, left-wing Die Linke and FDP. Only the AfD appears to have escaped the hack.

Journalists from public broadcasters ARD and ZDF were targeted as well as TV satirist Jan Böhmermann, rapper Marteria and rap group K.I.Z, reports say.

German politicians have been targeted before.

Russia was accused of a series of cyber attacks that stole data from computers in the German parliament, the Bundestag, in 2015.

Last year the German government’s IT network came under a fresh attack amid reports that Russian hackers were also to blame.

Source: bbc.com

On their first day in the majority, House Democrats on Thursday night passed a plan to re-open the government without funding President Donald Trump’s promised border wall.

The largely party-line votes came after Trump made a surprise appearance at the White House briefing room pledging to keep up the fight for his signature campaign promise.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump and Senate Republicans should “take yes for an answer” and approve the border bill, which was virtually identical to a plan the Senate adopted on a voice vote last month.

Read: Saudi Arabia condemns US Senate ‘interference’

“We’re not doing a wall. Does anyone have any doubt that we’re not doing a wall?” Pelosi told reporters at a news conference Thursday night.

Pelosi, who was elected speaker earlier Thursday, also took a shot a Trump, calling his proposal “a wall between reality and his constituents.”

Trump strode into the White House briefing room Thursday the 13th day of the partial government shutdown and declared that “without a wall you cannot have border security.” He then left without taking questions from reporters.

The appearance came hours after the new Congress convened, with Democrats taking majority control of the House and returning Pelosi to the speakership after eight years of GOP control. The Democratic legislation to re-open the government without funding the wall is going nowhere in the Senate, where Republicans want Trump’s endorsement before voting on a funding package.

Read: Democrat Kyrsten Sinema wins Arizona US Senate seat

Trump is demanding billions of dollars to build his wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, which the Democrats have refused.

Asked if she would give Trump $1 for a wall to reopen the government, Pelosi said: “One dollar? Yeah, one dollar. The fact is a wall is an immorality. It’s not who we are as a nation.”

Congressional leaders from both parties met with Trump at the White House Wednesday, but failed to make progress during their first sit-down in weeks. The White House has invited the leaders back Friday for another round of talks that officials have suggested might be more successful now that Pelosi has been sworn in.

‘A very opportune time’

Reporters were told Thursday that White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders would be holding a hastily called late afternoon briefing. Instead, out walked Trump, flanked by members of the unions that represent border patrol and immigration enforcement agents. It was his first time delivering remarks at the briefing room podium.

Read: Florida Republican Scott asks that ballots be guarded in Senate race recount

“You can call it a barrier, you can call it whatever you want,” Trump said. “But essentially we need protection in our country. We’re going to make it good. The people of our country want it.”

Trump said his meeting with the union officials had long been planned and just happened to come at “a very opportune time.” He also claimed his refusal to budge was winning praise, telling reporters, “I have never had so much support as I have in the last week over my stance for border security.”

Polls show a majority of Americans oppose the border wall, although Republicans strongly support it.

White House and Department of Homeland Security officials have spent recent days trying to make a public and private case that the situation at the border has reached a “crisis” situation that demands more money than Democrats have offered.

Trump tweeted an ominous video Thursday with images of what appeared to be migrants trying to rush the border and clashing with law enforcement, beneath the words “crisis at the border,” ”drugs” and “crime.” The video concludes with footage of Trump at the border along with audio from one of his rallies in which he vows to build his promised border wall and the crowd chants “Build the wall!”

The Democratic package to end the shutdown includes a bill to temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels with $1.3 billion for border security, far less than Trump has said he wants through Feb. 8 as bipartisan talks would continue. It was approved, 239-192.

Democrats also approved a separate measure to fund the departments of Agriculture, Interior, Housing and Urban Development and others closed by the partial shutdown, at levels Senate Republicans had largely agreed to last year. The bill, which would provide money through the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30, was approved, 241-190, with several House Republicans joining Democrats.

The White House has rejected the Democratic package.

“Why not fully fund the Department of Homeland Security? Why doesn’t the Pelosi bill do that?” said White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.

‘Nonstarter’

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer urged Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to put the House Democratic package on the Senate floor and send it to the president, saying it would show Trump “the sweet light of reason.”

McConnell has dismissed the idea as a “total nonstarter” and a waste of time.

But some Republican senators appeared open to at least part of the Democrats’ proposal.

“I’m not saying their whole plan is a valid plan, but I see no reason why the bills that are ready to go and on which we’ve achieved an agreement should be held hostage to this debate over border security,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

“Congress needs to take further action on border security, but that work should be done when the government is fully open,” added Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.

Vice President Mike Pence, who was on the Hill Thursday to swear in new senators, took a hard line, telling Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson, “Bottom line, if there’s no wall, there’s no deal.”

Trump has said the partial shutdown, which began Dec. 22, will last “as long as it takes” to get the funding he wants.

The White House said Trump made calls Thursday to the family of Cpl. Ronil Singh, the Newman, California, police officer shot to death during a Dec. 26 traffic stop. The suspected shooter is a Mexican man accused of living in the U.S. illegally. Republicans have seized on the case to call for tougher border security.

Source: France24

The wife of one of France’s most notorious jihadists, Peter Cherif, was charged and provisionally detained on Thursday, the Paris prosecutor said, days after her husband was returned to prison after seven years on the run. “Soulef A”, who was was arrested alongside Cherif and their two children in Djibouti in mid-December, has been charged with “criminal association with terrorists” and “financing a terrorist enterprise”, and held pending a hearing on January 7.

Cherif, 36, who was returned to France in late December and detained, is considered a potential source of valuable information by Western intelligence agencies.

Read: 30 Nigerian soldiers killed in combat with Boko Haram jihadists

French authorities have been seeking him since he disappeared in 2011 on the final day of his trial in Paris for fighting in Iraq alongside Al-Qaeda in 2004.

He appeared before a French judge on December 27 and was given a new “terrorist conspiracy” charge before returning to prison to serve the five-year sentence from his original trial.

He was close to the brothers who massacred staff members of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015.

Read: Burkina Faso grapples with spreading jihadist peril

Cherif, also known as Abou Hamza, was placed on the US blacklist of foreign terrorists in 2015.

Investigators opened a new probe in 2017 into his activities in Yemen, where he joined the senior ranks of the local branch of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The United States considers AQAP to be the jihadist group’s most dangerous branch, with US drone strikes on the outfit increasing since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.

Soulef A was taken into custody on Sunday upon her arrival in France.

Source: France24

California Democrat Nancy Pelosi has again been elected as speaker – the third most powerful role in Washington – in the US House of Representatives.

She reclaimed the gavel after the most diverse class of lawmakers were sworn in and as Democrats took control of the House after mid-term elections gains.

Her victory came as the US government remained partly shut down in a row over funds for the president’s border wall.

Ms Pelosi has said she wants to end the shutdown but will not support the wall.

Read: Democrats to end shutdown without Trump wall money

“I’m particularly proud to be a woman speaker of the house of this Congress, which marks the 100th year of women having the right to vote,” she said.

“And, that we all have the ability and the privilege to serve with over 100 women members of Congress – the largest number in history. “

Ms Pelosi, 78, seized the gavel as the House welcomed more women than ever before in the 116th Congress.

A historically diverse Congress

As of Thursday, 102 women serve in the House, an all-time high, including 36 newly elected members and a record 43 women of colour.

While Republican women marked some firsts this past election season – like Marsha Blackburn becoming the first female Tennessee senator – the vast majority of these new lawmakers are Democrats.

Among them are the first Muslim congresswomen – Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar – and the first Native American women to serve – New Mexico’s Debra Haaland and Kansas’ Sharice Davids.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York also became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

While celebrating the Democratic diversity during the swearing-in ceremonies, some on social media highlighted the contrast to the Republican members, who are mostly white men.

Carol Miller of West Virginia is the only new female Republican representative, bringing the total number of conservative women in the House to 13 – a decrease from 23 before the mid-term elections.

Read: Kim calls for corresponding US measures, ready to meet Trump

The first day of a new Congress is usually like the first day of school. New arrivals wander the halls in a daze. It’s all handshakes and smiles; ceremony and sunshine.

There was a big cloud over the proceedings at the Capitol this day, however. For the first time in US history, a government shutdown – the fourth-longest on record already – has stretched from one Congress into the next.

There were still receptions and flowery speeches to supporters who travelled to Washington for the occasion. But the champagne toasts will be abbreviated, as the real work in Congress begins almost immediately. The House Democrats scheduled votes for their legislation to reopen the government just hours after the swearing-in ceremonies wrapped up.

This is the opening move, however. Republicans in the Senate have pledged to only vote on measures that have Donald Trump’s support – and the president continues to demand his border wall funding.

As Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, told me earlier today, there’s “no end in sight” for the shutdown.

“I’m realistic, not optimistic,” he added.

It may be a new day and a new Congress, but hope is already a scarce commodity.

Why did the government shut down?

The partial US government shutdown began when Congress and Mr Trump failed to reach an agreement over a budget bill in December.

Ms Pelosi and her fellow House Democrats have vowed to pass spending bills to end the shutdown, but have insisted the bills will not include any funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico.

In her remarks on Thursday, Ms Pelosi promised to re-open the government “to meet the needs of the American people”.

“I pledge that this Congress will be transparent, bipartisan and unified,” she added. “Let us respect each other and respect the truth.”

However, Senate Republicans, who must also agree on the legislation, have said they will not pass any bills without the president’s approval, which means the gridlock will probably continue.

Mr Trump’s Republicans had passed an initial funding bill including $5bn (£4bn) for the wall, when they still had a majority in the House, but they could not get the necessary 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate.

Democrats won the majority of the House in the November mid-term elections.

Speaking from the White House briefing room for his first time ever on Thursday, Mr Trump congratulated Ms Pelosi, saying: “It’s a very, very great achievement and hopefully we’re going to work together.”

What are the Democrats planning? Nancy Pelosi said the Democrats would quickly pass budget legislation providing sufficient funds to end the shutdown, but has not offered specifics.

Speaking on the Today show on Thursday, she reiterated: “Nothing for the wall.”

“There is no amount of persuasion he can do to say to us, ‘We want you to do something that is not effective, that costs billions of dollars,’” she said.

“That sends the wrong message about who we are as a country.”

Ms Pelosi also said she believed a sitting president could be indicted – although Justice Department guidelines disagree.

The Democrats will also try to pass the blame for the shutdown on to the president, pointing out that the bills they will pass would be similar to legislation that had won bipartisan support in the Senate in December before Mr Trump signalled he would not back it.

“We’re asking the president to open up government,” Ms Pelosi said. “We have given the Republicans a chance to take yes for an answer.”

One Democrat bill would temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security until 8 February, while another measure would fund other departments closed by the partial shutdown until 30 September.

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has said Republicans there will not back measures that Mr Trump does not support.

He called the Democrats’ move a “total nonstarter” and a “political sideshow”.

The president is due to resume budget talks with top Democrats and Republicans on Friday.

Source: BBC