PoliticsBusiness InsiderAlan Dershowitz says Texas lawsuit tossed by Supreme Court should tell Trump's allies they 'can't count on the judiciary' to invalidate the election results
Alan Dershowitz on Sunday said the Supreme Court's decision to toss the Texas election lawsuit signaled to President Donald Trump's camp that they "can't count on the judiciary" to invalidate the election results, according to The Hill. Dershowitz said Trump's campaign would need a "perfect storm" to invalidate the election results, with courts, governors, and state election officials aiding his cause. "I suspect on Monday we will see the electors ... elect Joe Biden," he said.
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Pakistan police arrest 3 militants, foiling possible attack
Pakistan's counter-terrorism police on Monday raided a militant hideout in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, arresting three suspects linked to past bomb attacks. The men had also plotted to target the Islamabad Stock Exchange, police said. According to the police statement, the suspects were involved in four bombings that killed four people and wounded 30 this year.
WorldReutersChina urges EU to stop 'irresponsible remarks' after statement on Bloomberg employee
BEIJING (Reuters) -China said on Monday the European Union should stop making "irresponsible remarks" after it called for the release of all those arrested for reporting in China in a statement on a detained Chinese national working for Bloomberg News. China's foreign ministry said on Friday authorities had detained Haze Fan, who works for the Bloomberg bureau in Beijing, on suspicion of endangering national security. The European Union called for authorities to grant Fan "medical assistance if needed, prompt access to a lawyer of her choice, and contacts with her family."
U.S.INSIDERA man was physically assaulted while supporting Democratic candidates at rally in Georgia, police say
A man was a victim of a physical assault on Saturday while at a rally in support of Georgia runoff Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, Atlanta's WSB-TV reported. "A passerby stopped and confronted a supporter with physical aggression," Henry County Police Captain Randy Lee told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a statement."The supporter suffered wounds to his face and head." A man was physically assaulted while showing support for Georgia Democratic Senate candidates at a rally on Saturday morning.
WorldThe TelegraphIsrael announces full diplomatic relations with Bhutan
Israel announced on Saturday that it is establishing full diplomatic relations with the relatively isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the latest in a string of international deals designed to show Israel's growing acceptance abroad. “The circle of recognition of Israel is widening,” said Israeli foreign minister, Gabi Ashkenazi. “The establishment of relations with the Kingdom of Bhutan will constitute a new stage in the deepening of Israel's relations in Asia.”
WorldThe WeekRussian hackers reportedly breached U.S. government agencies
Hackers working on behalf of the Russian government have gained access to at least two U.S. government networks, spending months monitoring staff emails at the Treasury Department and the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Intelligence agencies are worried that the hackers have also broken into other government agencies, the sources said, and are trying to determine what information was stolen and how it could be used. "This is a much bigger story than one single agency," a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
WorldAssociated Press'External source' causes oil tanker blast off Saudi Arabia
An oil tanker off Saudi Arabia's port city of Jiddah suffered an explosion early Monday after being hit by “an external source,” a shipping company said, suggesting another vessel has come under attack off the kingdom amid its yearslong war in Yemen. The attack on the Singapore-flagged BW Rhine, which had been contracted by the trading arm of the kingdom's massive Saudi Arabian Oil Co., marks the fourth assault targeting Saudi energy infrastructure in a month. It also apparently shut down Jiddah port, the most important shipping point for the kingdom, which later said a bomb-laden boat like the remote-controlled ones used by Yemen's Houthi rebels caused the explosion.
PoliticsReutersAcross U.S., Electoral College to confirm Biden's presidential win
(Reuters) -Electors will gather in state capitols across the country on Monday to formally vote for Joe Biden as the next U.S. president, effectively ending President Donald Trump's frenzied but failing attempt to overturn his loss in the Nov. 3 election. The state-by-state votes, traditionally an afterthought, have taken on outsized significance this year because of Trump's assault on the democratic process. Pushing false claims of widespread fraud, Trump has pressured state officials to throw the election results out and declare him the winner.
WorldAssociated PressGermany's heath minister urges EU to approve vaccine faster
Germany's health minister demanded that the European Union's regulatory agency work faster to approve a coronavirus vaccine and bring an end to the suffering on the continent, but the head of the agency said Monday that his team is already working “around the clock.” Other German officials suggested that residents should forgo Christmas shopping and attend Christmas Mass online as a new lockdown loomed that will close schools and most stores. Chancellor Angela Merkel and the governors of Germany's 16 states agreed Sunday to step up the country's lockdown measures beginning Wednesday and running to Jan. 10 to stop the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases.
WorldThe TelegraphExplosive-laden boat caused tanker blast in ‘terrorist attack’ off Saudi: state media
An “terrorist attack” on an oil tanker off the Saudi port city of Jeddah yesterday was caused by an explosive-laden boat, the kingdom's energy ministry said, after the fourth assault on Saudi energy infrastructure in a month. The Singapore-flagged BW Rhine was hit “by an external source” while discharging refined oil products at Jeddah about 0400 on Monday local time, shipowner Hafnia said in a statement. A Saudi energy ministry spokesman did not identify who was behind the attack but the kingdom has blamed other recent attacks on Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen.
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Hunter Biden requested keys for his father and others, emails show
Former assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Little provides insight into alleged Hunter Biden email scandal.
PoliticsReutersHundreds line up to vote in Georgia elections that will set control of U.S. Senate
Hundreds of people lined up in a cold rain on Monday to cast ballots in a pair of U.S. Senate races in Georgia that will determine control of the chamber and heavily influence Democratic President-elect Joe Biden's ability to enact his agenda. Election experts said turnout on the first day of early voting in a contest that ends on Jan. 5 could offer clues to which side ultimately prevails: Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, or their respective Democratic challengers: Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. "On the first day of early voting during the general election, there were people lined up long before the polls opened.
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Malaysia makes its largest-ever crystal meth seizure
Malaysian authorities have seized more than two tons of crystal methamphetamine worth more than $26 million aboard a small boat off the country's western coast, the largest ever such haul in the country's history. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said over the weekend that it made the seizure on Dec. 9 off the coast of Penang. The agency said in a statement that a maritime patrol found the drugs on a recreational boat that was behaving strangely.
WorldAssociated PressThe Latest: London faces highest-level COVID-19 restrictions
Britain's health secretary says London and surrounding areas will be placed under the highest level of coronavirus restrictions starting Wednesday as infections rise rapidly in the capital. Matt Hancock said Monday that a new variant of the virus may be to blame. “We've currently identified over 1,000 cases with this variant predominantly in the south of England although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas,” he said.
PoliticsReutersU.S. court hears appeal challenging order blocking TikTok app store ban
A U.S. appeals court on Monday questioned a government lawyer over the Trump administration's efforts to ban Americans from downloading Chinese-owned TikTok from U.S. app stores. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington on Sept. 27 blocked the Commerce Department order hours before it was to prohibit new downloads of the short video-sharing app. Appeals Court Judges Judith Rogers, Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins questioned lawyers for TikTok and the government for nearly 90 minutes on Monday morning.
U.S.BBCAlfred Bourgeois: Second death row inmate executed in two days
A man who killed his toddler daughter nearly 20 years ago has become the second US federal inmate to be executed in as many days. Alfred Bourgeois' death by lethal injection on Friday comes after Brandon Bernard was put to death on Thursday. Three more executions are planned before the end of Donald Trump's presidency on 20 January.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderWall Street Journal op-ed telling Jill Biden to drop her 'Dr.' title condemned as 'patronizing drivel.' The paper's higher-education reporter was among the critics.
An op-ed article published by The Wall Street Journal on Friday sparked criticism after it suggested that the incoming first lady, Jill Biden, should drop her "Dr." title because she does not hold a doctorate in medicine. The essayist Joseph Epstein urged Biden to "drop the doc" in her name, saying it "sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic." A representative for Biden called the article a "disgusting and sexist attack," with many public figures, including Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' husband, Douglas Emhoff, tweeting in support.
HealthAssociated PressAfter 110K virus deaths, nursing homes face vaccine fears
After 110,000 deaths ravaged the nation's nursing homes and pushed them to the front of the vaccine line, they now face a vexing problem: Skeptical residents and workers balking at getting the shots. “You go get that first and let me know how you feel,” said Denise Schwartz, whose 84-year-old mother lives at an assisted living facility in East Northport, New York, and plans to decline the vaccine. Everyone from members of the military to former presidents have announced their intentions to get the shots, echoing the refrains of others who say the drugs are the product of rigorous review, firm data and independent experts.
WorldAssociated PressIran president says Israel was behind killing of scientist
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Monday claimed that Israel was behind the killing of a scientist who founded the Islamic Republic's military nuclear program in the 2000s in an effort to start a war in the last days of President Trump's administration. Rouhani's comments in a news conference marked the first time he has directly accused the Jewish state of carrying out the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh late last month. Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists over the last decade, has repeatedly declined to comment on the attack.
U.S.Business InsiderAtlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says she declined a position in Biden's cabinet
The office of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Saturday told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she declined an offer to serve in the cabinet of President-elect Joe Biden. Bottoms, considered a rising star among Democrats, had previously been considered for the role of Biden's vice president before he ultimately selected Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottom has declined an offer to serve in President-elect Joe Biden's cabinet, her office said in a statement Saturday.
PoliticsAssociated PressLoeffler campaign: She had 'no idea' she posed with neo-Nazi
The campaign of Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler is disavowing a photo circulating on social media of her posing with a longtime white supremacist at a recent campaign event, with less than a month to go until the runoff elections that will determine the balance of the U.S. Senate. Loeffler did not know who Chester Doles was when she took a picture with him, her campaign spokesman Stephen Lawson said in a statement to The Associated Press on Sunday. The picture was taken Friday at a campaign event in Dawsonville, Georgia.
PoliticsBBCElectoral College: The people who ultimately pick the US president
State and local elected officials - New York governor Andrew Cuomo was a Democratic elector in 2016 Grassroots activists, lobbyists or other figures from a state - we have two examples below Personal or professional connection to candidate - Donald Trump Jr was an elector for his father last time How are electors chosen? Each political party with a candidate on the presidential ballot nominates or votes on its own slate of electors in the months prior to election day. States have their own rules for choosing electors.
HealthBusiness InsiderOperation Warp Speed's top scientist says Moderna vaccine will 'likely' be approved by end of week
In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Moncef Slaoui, the head of the federal vaccine initiative Operation Warp Speed, said Moderna's vaccine would "likely would be approved by Friday." Slaoui repeated his prediction that he hoped 100 million people would be immunized by the first quarter of next year, and said he expected around 14 million vaccine doses to be distributed before the end of 2020. Slaoui said the US plan for a vaccine works with "a portfolio of products," and there would "most likely" be no reason for concerns for a shortage of supply in the vaccine in the spring.
WorldAssociated PressItaly surpasses UK for worst COVID-19 death toll in Europe
Italy on Sunday eclipsed Britain to become the nation with the worst official coronavirus death toll in Europe. Italy, where the continent's pandemic began, registered 484 COVID-19 deaths in one day, one of its lowest one-day death counts in about a month. Counting criteria differ in the two countries, and many coronavirus deaths, especially early in the pandemic, are believed to have gone undetected, including those of elderly people in nursing homes who were not tested for COVID-19.
PoliticsAssociated PressTrump raises China concerns as reason to veto defense bill
President Donald Trump offered a new rationale Sunday for threatening to veto the annual defense policy bill that covers the military's budget for equipment and pay raises for service members: China. He did not outline his concerns. Republican and Democratic lawmakers say the wide-ranging defense policy bill, which the Senate sent to the president on Friday, would be tough on China and must become law as soon as possible.
“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.”