PoliticsYahoo NewsGiuliani tells Pennsylvania legislators they can override popular vote to appoint pro-Trump electors
Speaking to an occasionally raucous but mostly disgruntled panel of Pennsylvania Republicans, President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his campaign counsel Jenna Ellis on Wednesday floated the idea that the state Legislature could decide on its own to give Pennsylvania's 20 Electoral College votes to Trump, despite the state's certifying that Joe Biden won the Nov. 3 election in the state. It's the state Legislature that controls this process,” Giuliani told a panel of Republican legislators. It's your power.
PoliticsYahoo News Photo StaffPHOTOS: Presidential turkey pardons — a look back
The presidential pardon of the Thanksgiving turkey has become an annual event, but the peace pact between the fowl and the White House is a relatively new thing. And in fact, a few presidents actually ate their guests! The first president to unofficially pardon a turkey was Abraham Lincoln, who instructed the White House to save a bird given to the president.
PoliticsYahoo NewsDemocratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock bet big on 'record-shattering turnout' in Georgia
But Democrats say they've figured out how to win in Georgia, a state that had voted Republican in six straight presidential elections between 1996 and 2016 and hasn't sent a Democrat to the Senate in 20 years. And Republicans have won all but one of the statewide general election runoffs in Georgia since 1988. What we are focusing on when we go and talk to voters in these communities, something that we learned from Stacey Abrams, is we go and ask them what they need, and when they answer … we let them know Rev.
WorldBBCWhy Bhutan's Sakteng wildlife sanctuary is disputed by China
Sandwiched between China and India, the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan is feeling the squeeze as its giant neighbours square up for supremacy. A close ally of India, Bhutan got a shock when China made sudden new claims in the summer - over a wildlife sanctuary in the east of the country, on land that had not been considered disputed. Most Bhutanese commentators don't want to discuss this in detail, but many believe Beijing is trying to drag the Buddhist majority nation - population 750,000 - into the territorial stand-off with India.
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Tigrayan forces 'destroy' Ethiopian army division
Forces in Tigray claim to have "completely destroyed" an Ethiopian army division, while the government says many Tigrayan soldiers are surrendering. It's a conflict where claims are difficult to verify, but what can be said is that tens of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee and global powers are increasingly expressing alarm. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's troops have made advances since the violence began three weeks ago but the local TPLF says they're keeping federal forces at bay.
WorldAssociated PressAustralian leader thrilled at Iran's release of academic
Australia's prime minister said he's “thrilled and relieved” after Iran released in a prisoner swap a 33-year-old academic who was imprisoned for more than two years on spying charges, but added it would take time for Kylie Moore-Gilbert to process her “horrible” ordeal. Iran first announced on state television that it had freed the British-Australian scholar in exchange for three Iranians held abroad. The report was scant on detail, saying only that the Iranians had been imprisoned for trying to bypass sanctions on Iran.
PoliticsYahoo NewsJournalist who criticized FBI for handling of Russia probe says Trump's refusal to concede is 'dangerous BS'
A common defense of President Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 election is that he's simply taking revenge on his liberal opponents, in particular those who doubted the legitimacy of the 2016 election because of Russian interference. The media gave Russia Collusion 3.5 years. We can give Team Trump three and a half weeks,” tweeted Jenna Ellis, a member of the Trump campaign's legal team that has failed to provide any evidence in court of cheating in the 2020 election.
U.S.USA TODAYComputer repairman who claimed he gave Hunter Biden data to Giuliani closes shop as laptop saga gets stranger
Weeks before the Nov. 3 presidential election, the world's political intrigue turned to a Wilmington computer repair shop after the New York Post revealed that its owner gave a copy of a laptop hard drive he believed belonged to Hunter Biden to a lawyer representing Rudy Giuliani. A slew of new information has surfaced in the weeks since, including details about the laptop's journey from the repair shop to Giuliani's office. The story claimed that President-elect Joe Biden, while vice president in 2015, held a meeting with an executive from Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company that employed his son, Hunter Biden.
WorldAssociated PressJapan, China agree on economic ties, split over islands
China's top diplomat told Japan's leader on Wednesday that Beijing wants the two Asian powers to have good relations and cooperate in fighting the coronavirus and reviving their pandemic-hit economies, but the two sides remained at odds over an island dispute. Foreign Minister Wang Yi delivered a message from Chinese President Xi Jinping expressing his hope of developing positive relations with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and "strengthen cooperation with Japan in pandemic measures and for the economic recovery," Wang told reporters after meeting with Suga. Wang told Suga that ties between the two countries have improved through high-level dialogue and mutual efforts and that China wants to cooperate further in a range of areas.
TechnologyArchitectural DigestThe Top 6 Black Friday Deals for Vacuums
We have you covered with all the best vacuum deals that you need to know about Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldAssociated PressTrudeau: Canadians won't be among the first to get vaccine
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday Canada will have to wait for a vaccine because the very first ones that roll off assembly lines are likely to be given to citizens of the country they are made in. Trudeau noted Canada does not have vaccine-production facilities. Trudeau said it is understandable that an American pharmaceutical company will distribute first in the U.S. before they distribute internationally.
PoliticsYahoo NewsTrump campaign sued for attempting to disenfranchise Black voters
The Trump campaign has repeatedly attempted to use the judicial system to overturn the president's defeat to President-elect Joe Biden, filing more than two dozen unsuccessful lawsuits since Election Day. “It's not even about the success of President Trump and the Trump campaign's attempts to overturn the election,” Monique Lin-Luse, assistant counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, which filed the lawsuit, told Yahoo News. “The very attempt ... to overturn it by disenfranchising and de-legitimizing Black voters is what we believe is unlawful, and it's also dangerous and corrosive to our democracy.”
PoliticsThe IndependentAOC and Ilhan Omar sign petition calling on Biden not to give Bruce Reed administration role
Progressive lawmakers Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar have signed a petition calling on president-elect Joe Biden not to appoint Bruce Reed to his administration. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and Rep. Omar, of Minnesota, are supporting efforts to have Mr Reed, Mr Biden's former chief of staff, frozen out of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Reports emerged earlier this week suggesting that Mr Reed, who also served in the Obama administration, was top of the president-elect's list to head up the OMB.
WorldAssociated PressIndian state outlaws religious conversion by marriage
India's ruling Hindu nationalist party has approved legislation in the country's most populous state that lays out a prison term of up to 10 years for anyone found guilty of using marriage to force someone to change religion. The decree for the state of Uttar Pradesh was passed Tuesday and follows a campaign by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party against interfaith marriages. The party describes such marriages as “love jihad,” an unproven conspiracy theory used by its leaders and Hindu hard-line groups to accuse Muslim men of converting Hindu women by marriage.
PoliticsYahoo NewsTrump loyalist pushed out of White House now leading a shake-up at the Pentagon
A retired Special Forces colonel, Miller had worked to revamp civilian oversight over special operations forces in a previous Pentagon job. A driving force behind the current initiative is Ezra Cohen, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer who has held several national security positions during the Trump administration and is now the acting assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, or SO/LIC. The appointment of Cohen as the acting assistant secretary was a major factor behind the decision to implement the congressional legislation.
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Syrian army says Israel hits southern Damascus in second strike in week
The Syrian army said early Wednesday that Israel launched air strikes on an area in the southern outskirts of Damascus, where military defectors believe has a strong Iranian military presence in the second such attack within a week. The Israeli aerial strike on a strategic area that Israel had hit in the past came from the occupied Golan Heights and caused only material damages, the army statement said. Military defectors said the strike targeted an military base in Jabal Mane Heights near the town of Kiswa, where Iranian Revolutionary Guards have long been entrenched in a rugged area almost 15 km (9.3 miles) south of the center of Damascus.
WorldBBCCovid: How do you vaccinate a billion people?
India plans to receive and utilise some 500 million doses of vaccines against the disease and immunise up to 250 million people by July next year. This confidence is bolstered by its track record of immunising large numbers of people every year. India's 42-year-old immunisation programme, one of the world's largest health programmes, targets 55 million people - mainly newborns and pregnant women who receive some 390 million free doses of vaccines against a dozen diseases every year.
PoliticsAssociated PressPresidential race official recount gets underway in Georgia
County election workers across Georgia on Tuesday began a machine recount of the roughly 5 million votes cast in the presidential race in the state, just days after completing a hand tally that confirmed President-elect Joe Biden's lead. The recount was requested by President Donald Trump after certified results showed him losing the state to Democrat Joe Biden by 12,670 votes, or 0.25%. Under state law, the losing candidate can request a recount when the margin is less than 0.5%.
U.S.USA TODAYCOVID-19 infections are soaring. Lockdowns could be coming. A list of restrictions in your state.
As COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise nationwide, some states are halting phased reopening plans or imposing new coronavirus-related restrictions. Several are putting limits on social gatherings, adding states to travel quarantine lists, mandating face masks and encouraging residents to stay home, as many did in the spring. At least 17 states implemented new statewide measures in the past week, including: California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wyoming.
PoliticsReutersExplainer: Can Trump's lawyers be disciplined for making false claims?
Representative Bill Pascrell, a Democrat, on Friday called for Giuliani and other members of the legal team to be stripped of their law licenses for bringing "frivolous" lawsuits and allegedly attempting to help Republican Trump steal the Nov. 3 vote from President-elect Joe Biden. Here's why Trump's lawyers are very unlikely to face disbarment, suspension, or even lighter sanctions such as a fine.
EntertainmentArchitectural DigestMore Inside Photographer Jason Schmidt's New Quarantine Project: His Own Home
Amid the pandemic, photographer Jason Schmidt finds a new muse: his unique Brooklyn house—and its inhabitants. Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
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UK wants fines for telcos using firms like Huawei
British telecoms companies could soon face big fines if they deal with tech firms like China's Huawei. A new law put forward Tuesday (November 24) aims to fine British telcos 10% of turnover - or around $133,000 a day - if they break a ban on using equipment made by Huawei. The UK government said the new bill would raise security standards of the country's telco firms, and remove the threat of high-risk suppliers.
PoliticsAssociated PressAfter senate run, Harrison launching PAC to boost Democrats
On the heels of his record-breaking but unsuccessful bid to oust U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina's Jaime Harrison on Tuesday launched a political action committee, utilizing his newly minted status as a fundraising powerhouse to try to provide a sustained boost to other Democrats that he hopes can help flip more areas from red to blue. Dirt Road PAC will focus on long term investments in state-level Democratic candidates and parties like intensive voter registration efforts in areas that have been seen by Democrats as harder to win, Harrison told The Associated Press ahead of the official launch. “The days of just swooping in every few years and putting up a candidate, having no grassroots infrastructure and thinking that we're going to win - that's just not working,” Harrison told the AP on Monday.
WorldBusiness InsiderChina's Xi Jinping finally congratulates Biden on his 2020 election win, with only a few world leaders still holding out
Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his 2020 victory, weeks after other world leaders. "Promoting the healthy and stable development of China-US relations is not only in the fundamental interests of both peoples, but also meets the common expectation of the international community," Xi said in a message on Wednesday, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. A handful of world leaders — from Russia, Brazil, and Mexico — have still not congratulated Biden.
PoliticsReutersLame-duck president pardons turkey; Trump breaks post-election isolation for tradition
President Donald Trump emerged from self-imposed isolation on Tuesday to show that at least one thing in Washington would run according to tradition: the pardoning of a Thanksgiving turkey. In the Rose Garden, Trump stuck to the script in pardoning a 42-pound turkey named Corn as part of an annual presidential ritual, the sparing of a turkey from American dinner tables on the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. "Corn, I hereby grant you a full pardon,” Trump said, raising a hand over the white bird with long wattle.
“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.”