PoliticsYahoo NewsTrump retweets call to jail Georgia governor and secretary of state
In the middle of a barrage of tweets amplifying his message that the election was stolen from him, President Trump on Tuesday retweeted Georgia attorney Lin Wood's suggestion that the president will soon prosecute Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — both Republicans — for refusing to overturn the results in their state. “President Trump @realDonaldTrump is a genuinely good man,” Wood wrote. The tweet included photos of Kemp and Raffensperger doctored to show them wearing face masks emblazoned with China's flag.
HealthYahoo NewsWhen a 2nd COVID-19 vaccine arrives, will it matter which one you get?
In its review, the FDA also confirmed Moderna's previously stated vaccine efficacy rate of 94.1 percent after two doses, which is about the same efficacy level as the Pfizer vaccine. Yahoo News Medical Contributor Dr. Kavita Patel said, “Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines demonstrate some immunity starting after the first shot, but both shots are required to achieve the high rates of efficacy. Both vaccines also exhibit similar side effects, mostly localized soreness, but no serious adverse events were noted.
PoliticsNational ReviewBiden White House Official Labels Republicans ‘F***ers’ before Calling for Unity
The incoming White House deputy chief of staff, Jen O'Malley Dillon, called for unity and compromise in politics while labeling Republicans “a bunch of f***ers” in a Wednesday interview with Glamour magazine. O'Malley Dillon was campaign manager for Texas progressive Beto O'Rourke in the Democratic primaries, before joining the Biden team as campaign manager in March. In the Glamour interview, O'Malley Dillon said Biden was “able to connect” with voters over a “sense of unity.
WorldReutersCanadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard indicted in U.S. on sex trafficking charges
The Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard was charged on Tuesday with sex trafficking, racketeering and other crimes targeting dozens of women and underage girls over a quarter century in three countries, U.S. authorities said. Canadian police arrested Nygard in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Monday at the U.S. government's request under the countries' extradition treaty. Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss in Manhattan said Nygard, 79, had since 1995 used his influence and businesses to "recruit and maintain" victims in the United States, Canada and the Bahamas to sexually gratify himself and his associates.
PoliticsAssociated PressSenate hearing elevates baseless claims of election fraud
Republican senators on Wednesday further perpetuated President Donald Trump's baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, two days after Democrat Joe Biden's victory was sealed by the Electoral College. Lawmakers bickered heatedly at times during a committee hearing as Democrats pushed back against the unfounded allegations and a former federal cybersecurity official who oversaw election security said continued attempts to undermine confidence in the process were corrosive to democracy. The session, held by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee over Democratic protests, elevated the groundless claims of fraud to the highest levels of government and provided two of Trump's lawyers with one more public opportunity to make the false assertions after repeatedly losing in court.
- WorldChristian Science Monitor
Chinese students have cooled on US. Could Biden change that?
In September, the U.S. State Department announced that in recent months it had revoked the student visas of more than 1,000 Chinese nationals on the grounds that they were “high-risk graduate students and research scholars. The Trump administration has previously raised concerns that some Chinese citizens granted U.S. student visas pose security risks through involvement in nontraditional espionage. The administration's China strategy, released in May, emphasized support for Chinese students and researchers while saying U.S. officials would “screen out the small minority of Chinese applicants who attempt to enter the United States under false pretenses or with malign intent.
WorldReutersCanada PM hopes for good news soon about fate of two detainees in China
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday he hoped for good news soon about two citizens who have been held in China for the last two years in what Ottawa has described as a case of hostage diplomacy. China arrested businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig in December 2018, shortly after Canadian police picked up Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant. Asked by Global News whether he thought there would be good news for the men's families before the New Year, Trudeau replied: "I certainly hope so."
ScienceBusiness InsiderJupiter and Saturn are about to appear closer in the sky than they have for 800 years, aligning as a 'double planet.' Here's how to see it.
Jupiter and Saturn will align in the night sky on Monday. The last time Saturn and Jupiter were both this close and visible was in 1226. Here are the best ways to see, photograph, or watch a live stream of the conjunction.
PoliticsYahoo NewsQAnon believers spread false claims about COVID-19 vaccine touted by Trump
Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, promoters of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory have helped fuel a variety of falsehoods about the coronavirus and the efforts to contain it. The fact that President Trump, QAnon's hero, claims credit for developing the vaccines hasn't impeded the spread of rumors that they are unnecessary at best, and dangerous at worst. The latest round of conspiracy theories are especially pernicious, experts say, because they come from sources who purport to be — or in some cases actually are — physicians or researchers, albeit with views far outside the mainstream.
PoliticsThe WeekGeorgia secretary of state slams Perdue and Loeffler for demanding voter data they already have
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger would like Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler to re-evaluate their priorities. On Monday, the two senators facing re-election runoffs in January tried once again to discourage confidence in the upcoming election, demanding an updated list of registered voters before early voting began.
WorldThe TelegraphRussian opposition leader Navalny says he is returning to Russia as Kremlin stays silent
An in-depth investigation claiming to have identified and linked an elite Russian intelligence unit to the nearly fatal poisoning of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, was met with deafening silence by top Russian officials more than 24 hours after the publication. Monday's investigation by Bellingcat and several media outlets revealed that FSB agents trailed opposition leader Mr Navalny for days before he was poisoned with a deadly nerve agent in Siberia in August, which left him in a coma for several weeks. Several European laboratories independently confirmed that Mr Navalny's blood had traces of the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, which was also used in the 2018 Salisbury poisoning of former Soviet spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
WorldReutersAfter 60 years, East Jerusalem Palestinians face eviction under Israeli settler rulings
For Nabil al-Kurd, being forced out of the East Jerusalem home he has lived in since the 1950s would be a fate worse than death. But the 76-year-old and his wife and children are among dozens of Palestinians under threat of eviction from two districts of the disputed city, after an Israeli court ruled their properties are built on land belonging to Jewish settlers. The ownership claims against him and others in Sheikh Jarrah and a second neighbourhood, Batan al-Hawa, are a focal point of settler development plans in East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in a war in 1967.
WorldBBCEthiopia's Tigray crisis: About 2.3 million children cut off from aid, UN says
About 2.3 million children in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region are cut off from humanitarian assistance as violence continues, the UN has warned. "Protecting these children, many of whom are refugees and internally displaced... must be a priority," said the UN's children's agency Unicef. Despite deals with the Ethiopian government, humanitarian agencies say they are being denied access to Tigray.
U.S.The WeekTrump's Mar-a-Lago neighbors don't want him to move there. They may be able to stop him, too.
President Trump may be refusing to concede that he's leaving the White House in January, but first lady Melania Trump and the Secret Service are reportedly busy preparing for his post-presidency life at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump's Mar-a-Lago neighbors sent a letter to the town of Palm Beach and the Secret Service on Tuesday demanding that the town notify Trump he can't reside at Mar-a-Lago because he signed away that right in 1993, the Post reports.
- PoliticsFOX News Videos
Efforts to recall Calif. Gov. Newsom strengthen
Organizers in California say they're more than halfway through getting the petition signatures needed to put Newsom on recall ballot; senior adviser for the Recall Campaign Randy Economy with reaction.
PoliticsAssociated PressBiden taps Buttigieg for transportation, Granholm for energy
President-elect Joe Biden nominated his former rival Pete Buttigieg as secretary of transportation on Tuesday and intends to choose former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm as his energy secretary. Biden also plans to tap Gina McCarthy, a former Environmental Protection Agency chief, for the powerful new position of domestic climate chief to run his ambitious climate plans across the federal government. All three will be central to Biden's plan to remake the country's automobiles and transportation systems to quickly cut climate-damaging petroleum emissions.
WorldReutersTurkey's Erdogan, EU's Michel discussed EU summit in call
President Tayyip Erdogan told European Council President Charles Michel in a call that Turkey wants to build its future with the EU, calling for Ankara and the bloc to move on from a "vicious cycle" in ties, the Turkish presidency said late on Tuesday. At a summit on Friday, EU leaders agreed to prepare limited sanctions on Turkish individuals over a row with members Greece and Cyprus over hydrocarbon exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, but postponed discussions on any harsher steps until March. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after the summit that EU leaders planned to discuss weapons exports to Turkey with NATO allies following a Greek push for an arms embargo on Ankara.
WorldBBCCovid: What do we know about China's coronavirus vaccines?
As the global race to produce a Covid-19 vaccine continues, China appears to have made huge strides, with vaccines from two front-runners - Sinovac and Sinopharm - already making their way abroad. But they haven't yet completed late-stage trials, which begs the question: what do we know about China's vaccines and how do they compare to those being developed elsewhere? How does the Sinovac vaccine work?
PoliticsThe IndependentVeteran Republican strategist joins Democrats as Trump’s false election claims threaten to tear GOP apart
A veteran Republican political strategist has announced he is joining the Democrats as president Donald Trump's continuing false election claims threaten to tear the GOP apart. Steve Schmidt, who spent 29 years in the GOP before identifying as an independent in 2018, said he is moving to the Democrats' because they stand "for the ideas and ideals of American liberty". His comments came as a small but determined group of Trump loyalists in Congress vowed to challenge Monday night's electoral college vote, despite impassioned pleas from colleagues that their behaviour is damaging the party, the country and its position in the world.
- PoliticsReuters Videos
Israel claims successful test on new missile system
With U.S. backing, Israel has over the last decade developed a multi-layer air shield made up of the Arrow ballistic missile interceptor, the mid-altitude David's Sling interceptor and Iron Dome, which shoots down short-range rockets and mortar shells. A video distributed by the Defence Ministry showed interceptor missiles being fired at targets simulating cruise and ballistic missiles. In a related briefing a senior Israeli official also said that Israel could be open to future cooperation on missile defence with Gulf Arab states that share its concerns over Iran.
WorldAssociated PressTaliban team in Pakistan as calls grow for Afghan cease-fire
A Taliban team, led by the co-founder of the insurgent movement, arrived Wednesday in Islamabad for talks with Pakistani government leaders amid growing calls for a reduction in violence in neighboring Afghanistan. The visit came as the Taliban unleashed a wave of attacks in Afghanistan, striking in northern Baghlan and southern Uruzgan province late on Tuesday and early Wednesday. At least 19 members of the Afghan security forces and 11 Taliban fighters were killed in fierce battles, officials said.
WorldReutersGermany to roll out BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 27
Germany will roll out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 on Dec. 27, with priority given to the elderly in care homes, Berlin city government said on Wednesday. The announcement came as Germany registered its highest daily death toll from COVID-19 and as it entered a strict lockdown in an attempt to bring down soaring infections. As a member of the European Union Germany must wait for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to approve the vaccine.
ScienceBBCHayabusa-2: Pieces of an asteroid found inside space capsule
Scientists have been greeted by the sight of jet black chunks of rock and soil from an asteroid after opening a capsule that returned from deep space a week ago. It's the first significant sample of material to be delivered to Earth from a space rock and was grabbed last year by Japan's Hayabusa-2 spacecraft. Researchers began opening the capsule on Monday (GMT) in Sagamihara, Japan.
PoliticsThe WeekJoe Biden still doesn't get it
In the same week a majority of Republican members of Congress joined President Trump's efforts to overturn the presidential election, the incoming Biden administration announced a plan to create a position to find common ground with conservatives. Louisiana Congressman Cedric Richmond, who has been named a senior adviser and director of the Office of Public Engagement for the president-elect, shared the unbelievable news last week during the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council as reported by Bloomberg. "Right now I'm trying to set up the office and I'm actually looking at establishing a position that reaches out to conservatives — because it's about moving forward," Richmond said.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Senate confirms Barrett replacement on federal appeals court
The Senate has confirmed an Indiana prosecutor to replace Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on a federal appeals court based in Chicago. Thomas Kirsch, who currently serves as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana, will replace Barrett as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Kirsch was confirmed Tuesday on a 51-44 vote.
“The prospect of a 2024 run is politically significant. It’s also a complete fiction.”
“His flirtation with a 2024 bid ensures he’ll remain the dominant force in the Republican Party.”
“He shouldn’t run for president again. There’s a better job and life for him on the horizon.”
“Trump is in for years of scandals and humiliations…He’ll have to devote much of his energy to trying to stay out of prison.”
“If Trump himself passes on the opportunity, his two very political children could also potentially pick up the mantle.”