“I pledge to fight hard to rid our ranks of racists and extremists,” Gen. Austin pronounced during his confirmation hearings. He also pledged to overturn several discriminatory bans on military service put in place by the previous administration. The confirmation vote cleared by a 93-2 margin – Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) were the lone no-votes.
President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense, according to four people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon.
The United States and Iran said Tuesday they were not seeking war with each other as tensions simmered between the two in the Persian Gulf and President Donald Trump vowed the U.S. would respond to any attack.
As the clock ticks down to Sunday’s presidential elections in Cameroon, President Paul Biya remains tightlipped about a grisly video gone viral of two mothers and their infant children executed in cold blood by government soldiers.
Evidence of the execution was gathered by Amnesty International in an investigation. Analysis of the weapons, dialogue and uniforms, paired with digital verification techniques and testimonies taken from the ground, all strongly suggest that the perpetrators are Cameroonian soldiers, they said.