Donald Trump on Saturday won Arizona, completing the Republican’s sweep of all seven swing states in the November 5 US presidential elections. He retained the state and its 11 electoral votes to the Republican column after Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

Trump’s win over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris also marks the 78-year-old’s second victory in Arizona since 2016.

According to the latest figures, Trump has so far got 312 electoral votes, well past the 270 needed to win the race to the White House. During his successful presidential campaign in 2016, he received 304 electoral votes.

US media have declared Trump the winner in more than half of the 50 states, including swing states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, all of which voted Democratic in the last election. He also won the battleground states of North Carolina and Nevada.

He won wider margins than before, despite a criminal conviction and two impeachments while in office.

On the other hand, Harris, who replaced 81-year-old Biden as the Democrat nominee in July, stands at 226.

With Donald Trump’s defeat of Kamala Harris, Republican and Democratic presidents will alternate control of the White House for the fourth straight term, a level of volatility between the parties not seen in the United States since the late 19th century.

Biden, who dropped out of the race over age concerns, will meet Trump at the Oval Office on Wednesday.

Trump 2.0

Ahead of his inauguration on January 20, Donald Trump has started to assemble his second administration and named campaign manager Susie Wiles to serve as his White House chief of staff.

Wiles, 67, is the first woman to be named to the high-profile role.

Other candidates who could find a place in Trump 2.0 are Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who could get a job auditing government waste, former ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell, who is seen as a frontrunner for the secretary of state position and Robert F Kennedy Jr, whom Trump has pledged a “big role” in health care.

Meat and alcohol were allegedly served at the Diwali party hosted by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10, Downing Street, offending some British Hindus. The celebration at the PM’s official residence, attended by community leaders and top politicians, included lighting diyas, a Kuchipudi dance performance, and a speech by Starmer.

Some British Hindus, however, expressed shock when they found out the dinner menu included liquor and non-vegetarian dishes. Lamb kebabs, beer, and wine were served to the guests, reports suggest.

Meat and liquor were not on the menu when Rishi Sunak hosted the Diwali celebration last year.

Satish K Sharma, a prominent British Hindu pandit, accused the Prime Minister’s office of a “complete lack of sensitivity and simple consultation”.

“For the last 14 years or so, the Diwali celebration at 10, Downing Street has been without meat and alcohol. I am disappointed and quite shocked that this year’s celebration seemed to be an inebriated meat-induced stupor-dominated event. It’s a tragedy that the prime minister’s advisers would have been so careless and negligent,” he said in a video statement posted on X.

If it was accidental, it was still disappointing, and if deliberate, the Prime Minister has sent a message to the British Hindu community, read Mr Sharma’s post as he called on Starmer to issue a statement.

Insight UK, a social movement of British Hindus and Indians, said the “sacred celebration was marred by meat and alcohol” and has offered to advise 10, Downing Street officials on religious sentiments.

The choice of menu displayed an appalling lack of understanding or respect for the religious traditions associated with Diwali, it said in an online post, urging greater consideration for future events.

10, Downing Street is yet to respond.

Putin’s troops suffered on average about 1,500 dead or injured a day in October, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin claims. 

​Putin’s troops suffered on average about 1,500 dead or injured a day in October, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin claims.