PoliticsReutersFactbox: Trump suffers major defeat in legal battle to overturn the election, but presses on
On Saturday, a federal judge in Pennsylvania said Trump's challenge to mail-in ballots in the state had been "haphazardly stitched together" like "Frankenstein's monster." Several Trump campaign lawsuits have been dismissed, and legal experts said the remaining cases do not give Trump, a Republican, a viable path to overturning the election results. The Trump campaign sued on Nov. 9 to prevent Biden, a Democrat, from being certified by election officials as the winner in Pennsylvania.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderRepublican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a candidate in the Georgia runoff, tested positive for COVID-19 and is quarantining
Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday and is quarantining, her campaign announced in a statement on Saturday. The statement said Loeffler took a test on Saturday that came back inconclusive and is waiting on more test results. The campaign said she has no symptoms and notified close contacts.
WorldAssociated PressConfrontation at German coronavirus protest goes viral
A video went viral Sunday in Germany of a confrontation at a coronavirus protest, where a young woman compared herself to a famous Nazi resistance fighter and then was accused by a security guard of “trivializing” the Holocaust. Several people protesting coronavirus restrictions in Germany that seek to tamp down new infections have tried to depict themselves as victims of government persecution. The woman spoke on stage Saturday evening in the northern city of Hannover, telling fellow protesters “I feel like Sophie Scholl, since I've been active in the resistance, giving speeches, going to protests, distributing flyers.”
WorldBBCArnab Goswami: India's most loved and loathed TV anchor
But for nearly a week, the Republic network ran programmes claiming the victims' Hindu identity was a motive for the crime, echoing an unfounded theory floated by some members of India's governing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). This, critics say, is the real danger of Mr Goswami's brash, cacophonic and often partisan coverage. They believe viewers of his network are being drip-fed false information, divisive and inflammatory views, and propaganda for the Hindu nationalist BJP - its six years in power have been linked to the increased marginalisation of India's 200 million Muslims.
PoliticsAssociated PressTrump campaign legal team distances itself from Powell
Perhaps Sidney Powell has gone too far for even Rudy Giuliani this time. The Trump campaign's legal team moved to distance itself Sunday from the firebrand conservative attorney after a tumultuous several days in which Powell made multiple incorrect statements about the voting process, unspooled unsupported and complex conspiracy theories and vowed to “blow up” Georgia with a “biblical” court filing. Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own.
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IS teenager is a security risk, UK top court hears
A British-born woman who joined Islamic State as a teenager should not be allowed to return to Britain because she poses a security risk, the UK's top court heard on Monday (November 23). Shamima Begum was born to Bangladeshi parents and left London in 2015 when she was 15 years old. She went to Syria via Turkey with two school friends.
WorldThe Daily BeastJFK Conspiracy Theory Is Debunked in Mexico
Most conspiracy theories surrounding President John F. Kennedy's assassination have been disproven. Kennedy was not killed by a gas-powered device triggered by aliens or by actor Woody Harrelson's dad. Several JFK assassination experts, like the former New York Times investigative reporter Phillip Shenon, see Mexico as the best place to find answers regarding a possible conspiracy and who was behind it.
PoliticsThe WeekReporter Carl Bernstein names 21 GOP senators who 'repeatedly expressed extreme contempt for Trump'
Political reporters in Washington, D.C., have been saying a lot of Republicans in Congress privately despise President Trump, but few have publicly criticized him — and likewise, few have publicly acknowledged his defeat to President-elect Joe Biden. Carl Bernstein, one half of the journalistic duo that uncovered President Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal, named 21 names on Sunday night, saying that in private conversations, these Republicans senators "have repeatedly expressed extreme contempt for Trump" and his fitness to be president. The 21 senators he named include names you would expect, but also some surprises, like Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.
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German warship searches Libya-bound Turkish freighter
Turkey and Germany were at loggerheads on Monday after a German frigate enforcing an arms embargo against Libya intercepted a Turkish freighter in the Mediterranean sea and carried out what a senior Turkish official dismissed as an “illegal" search. Turkey said personnel from the German frigate Hamburg were flown by helicopter aboard the freighter Rosaline-A on Sunday as its sailed off the Libyan coast to carry out an hours-long search. Germany's Defense Ministry said Turkey ordered a halt to the search, forcing the German personnel to depart before completing their work.
WorldReutersU.S. Navy admiral makes unannounced visit to Taiwan, sources say
A two-star Navy admiral overseeing U.S. military intelligence in the Asia-Pacific region has made an unannounced visit to Taiwan, two sources told Reuters on Sunday, in a high-level trip that could vex China. The sources, who include a Taiwanese official familiar with the situation, said the official was Rear Admiral Michael Studeman. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.
WorldBBCCovid: Australia state reopens border after Covid cases plummet
The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has reopened its border with neighbouring Victoria for the first time since July after coronavirus cases there fell to zero. Victoria, which imposed a tough lockdown after a surge in cases, has reported no new infections since the beginning of November. Australia has recorded about 900 deaths and 28,000 infections in total.
WorldAssociated PressUS provides missiles, renews pledge to defend Philippines
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration provided precision-guided missiles and other weapons to help the Philippines battle Islamic State group-aligned militants and renewed a pledge to defend its treaty ally if it comes under attack in the disputed South China Sea. National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien represented Trump in Monday's ceremony at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, where he announced the delivery of the missiles and bombs to the Philippine military. Trump pledged to provide the $18 million worth of missiles in a phone conversation with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in April, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said.
PoliticsThe Independent‘Abandoning our people’: AOC attacks Mitch McConnell for granting Senate recess without passing coronavirus relief bill
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has criticised Mitch McConnell for granting a Senate recess without reaching an agreement on the coronavirus relief bill. Democratic Representative Ocasio-Cortez said on Friday during a House hearing that Mr McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, was “abandoning our people”. "Just a day or two ago, the Senate majority leader, Senator McConnell, decided to break the Senate," Ms Ocasio-Cortez said.
WorldReutersIndia says local COVID-19 vaccine final trials could end within two months
India's health minister said on Sunday a locally-developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate could complete its final trials in a month or two, raising hopes for a rapid roll-out in a country with the world's second highest number of infections. The state-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and privately-held Bharat Biotech this month started third-stage trials of COVAXIN, in a process that would involve 26,000 volunteers. It is the most advanced Indian experimental vaccine.
WorldAssociated PressThousands march in Taiwan against US pork imports
Thousands of people marched in Taipei's streets on Sunday demanding the reversal of a decision to allow U.S. pork imports into Taiwan, alleging food safety issues. President Tsai Ing-wen's administration lifted a long-standing ban on U.S. pork and beef imports in August, in a move seen as one of the first steps toward possibly negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with the U.S. The ban is due to be lifted in January. The new policy allows imports of pork with acceptable residues of ractopamine, a drug added into animal feed that promotes the growth of lean meat that some farmers use in pigs.
WorldThe Daily BeastMigrants Flee Climate Change Ravaged Central America as Record-Breaking Hurricanes Hit
The destruction left in the wake of the hurricanes highlight the impacts of human caused climate change, factors which are driving hundreds of thousands from Central America to seek to reach the United States. Northern and Eastern Guatemala saw intense heavy rains from the storms causing widespread flooding and catastrophic landslides. In one disaster following Eta, a landslide in province of Alta Verapaz buried the Indigenous Maya Poqomchi' village of Quejá, leaving over 100 under mud and debris.
PoliticsThe IndependentRudy Giuliani says election case losses help Trump campaign’s strategy to get ‘expeditiously’ to Supreme Court
Rudy Giuliani has said he is “thankful” to the judge who dismissed the Trump campaign's post-election lawsuit in Pennsylvania, as it helps them to get “expeditiously” to the Supreme Court. On Saturday, a federal judge in Pennsylvania dismissed a lawsuit by the Trump campaign that attempted to block the certification of votes in the state. “This Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpaid in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence,” judge Matthew Brann wrote in his dismissal on Saturday.
WorldAssociated PressChina tests millions after coronavirus flare-ups in 3 cities
Chinese authorities are testing millions of people, imposing lockdowns and shutting down schools after multiple locally transmitted coronavirus cases were discovered in three cities across the country last week. As temperatures drop, large-scale measures are being enacted in the cities of Tianjin, Shanghai and Manzhouli, despite the low number of new cases compared to the United States and other countries that are seeing new waves of infections. Many experts and government officials have warned that the chance of the virus spreading will be greater during the cold weather.
HealthBBCCovid: 'Entire families in hospital after coronavirus surge'
On 14 October, Farah Husain, a critical care specialist in Delhi's largest Covid-19 hospital, heaved a sigh of relief. Doctors fear that Delhi may well become the epicentre of India's first wave of winter infections. Delhi is now recording more cases a day than any state.
PoliticsReutersTrump campaign parts ways with Powell after vote-switching claim
President Donald Trump's election campaign distanced itself on Sunday from Sidney Powell, a lawyer who claimed without evidence at a news conference last week that electronic voting systems had switched millions of ballots to President-elect Joe Biden. "Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own," Trump campaign lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis said in a statement. "She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team."
HealthBusiness InsiderAmericans will hopefully begin receiving the COVID-19 vaccine as early as December 11, 'Warp Speed' advisor says
Some Americans could "hopefully" receive the vaccine for COVID-19 as soon as December 11 or 12, Moncef Slaoui, the chief science advisor of the White House's vaccine effort, "Operation Warp Speed," said Sunday. Slaoui, who was tapped to head the White House effort to develop a vaccine earlier this year, told CNN's Jake Tapper during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" that he and his colleagues hoped to ship the vaccine to immunization sites within 24 hours of receiving approval to do so by the Food and Drug Administration. A panel of outside experts that advises the FDA is expected to meet on December 10 to discuss Pfizer's application for an emergency use authorization.
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Pakistan says soldier, 4 militants killed in border shootout
Pakistan's military said a soldier and four militants were killed Sunday in a shootout during a raid near the border with Afghanistan. The military said two soldiers were also injured during the raid in the Spinwam area of North Waziristan, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. North Waziristan served as a headquarters for local and foreign militants until 2017, when the army said it had cleared the mountainous region of insurgents following several operations.
WorldLA TimesMexico's military gains power as president turns from critic to partner
As a candidate for president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador slammed Mexico's armed forces and the "mafia of power" that he said controlled them. He accused soldiers of human rights abuses in the country's bloody drug war and publicly clashed with Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, then secretary of defense. But after taking office, López Obrador changed his tune, embracing the same military leaders he had once bashed.
PoliticsThe IndependentRepublican senator urges Trump to accept defeat and condemns ‘unprecedented’ attempt to overturn election result
A Republican senator has urged Donald Trump accept defeat in the US presidential election and begin the transition process, condemning his campaign's “unprecedented” attempt to overturn Joe Biden's victory. Alaska's Lisa Murkowski took to Twitter to say Joe Biden had beaten Mr Trump fairly and told the president it was time to give up his legal team's efforts to stay in power. Senator Murkowski is among just a handful of Republican politicians to recognise Mr Biden's win.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderFox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera suggests naming COVID-19 vaccine 'The Trump' to soften his election blow
Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera has suggested naming the COVID-19 vaccine 'The Trump' to soften his election blow. He said: With the world so divided and everybody telling him he's got to give up and it's time to leave and time to transition and all the rest of it, why not name the vaccine 'The Trump? The comments came after the president falsely took credit for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, which was found to be 95% effective.
“Donald Trump defeated Donald Trump.”
“The victory was a vindication of a style of American politics that many feared was gone forever.”
“Mr. Biden’s victory — and Mr. Trump’s defeat — is a testament to the resilience of American democracy.”
“Trump’s 2020 reelection bid was doomed by his boorish behavior. Time and again, he refused to act like a president.”
“Biden took the opportunity to unite the Democratic Party.”