Donald Trump campaigned for two Republican senators in Georgia on Saturday, at a rally that some in the party feared could end up hurting their chances by focusing on his efforts to reverse his own election defeat. In his first rally appearance since he lost to Joe Biden, Trump repeated baseless claims of widespread fraud in the presidential election. The crucial January runoff will determine which party controls the Senate
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Joe Biden’s staff nominations are early test of relationship with progressives
The Democratic left rallied around the party’s nominee but are now warily surveying his picks for top administration positions
Joe Biden has long had a rollercoaster relationship with progressive organizations and the left wing of the Democratic party and there are signs that the relationship is again starting to fray now that his electoral triumph over Donald Trump is receding into the rear-view mirror.
When Biden entered the Democratic primary field progressive groups were quick to criticize the former vice-president for supporting the Iraq war and previously considering cuts to social security. The organizations cast Biden as an establishment Democrat who would fail to challenge a status quo that had created the conditions for the rise of Trump.
Continue reading...Havana syndrome: ‘directed’ radio frequency likely cause of illness – report
First official explanation of illness that affected US diplomats in Cuba says ‘pulsed’ energy may have led to unexplained symptoms
The mysterious symptoms that have afflicted American diplomats stationed in Cuba, puzzling scientists and intelligence agencies alike, are most likely to have been caused by “directed, pulsed radio frequency energy”, according to a report commissioned by the US government.
Those suffering from Havana syndrome, as the condition has become known, have complained of headaches, nausea, dizziness, blurred vision and other ailments.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Italy’s death toll passes 60,000; UK records another 231 Covid deaths
Italy has sixth highest death toll across the world; Russia reports 29,039 new cases, taking cumulative total to 2,460,770
- California heads for Covid lockdown as US records 200,000 cases a day
- Military planes to fly vaccines in to Britain to avoid ports hit by Brexit
- One in three ‘unlikely to take Covid vaccine’ in UK
- The vaccine miracle: how scientists waged the battle against Covid
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Sick people in northern France occasionally leave garments in healing trees or “arbres à loques” in the hope of a cure, following a tradition that persists since pre-Roman times.
But recently, this tradition has been updated for the coronavirus age.
Donald Trump says his lawyer Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for coronavirus.
.@RudyGiuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus. Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!
Continue reading...Iran nuclear deal: Saudi Arabia says Gulf states must be consulted if US revives accord
Prince Faisal bin Farhan warns kingdom and its regional allies’ involvement is only way to achieve ‘sustainable’ outcome
Saudi Arabia says the Gulf states must be consulted if a US nuclear agreement with Iran is revived, warning it is the only path towards a sustainable agreement.
President-elect Joe Biden has signalled he will return the US to a nuclear accord with Iran and that he still backed the 2015 deal negotiated under Barack Obama, from which Donald Trump withdrew.
Continue reading...Trump rails against election result at rally ahead of crucial Georgia Senate runoff
President falsely claims he was ‘cheated’ and calls for people to vote in coming Senate races that will decide control of chamber
Donald Trump has held his first political rally since losing the presidential election, delivering an incoherent speech laced with baseless conspiracies theories about election fraud and attacks on Republican state officials in Georgia who have refused to help him subvert the results.
In front of a crowd of thousands of mostly maskless, non-socially distanced supporters in south Georgia, Trump repeatedly claimed, falsely, that he had won the presidential election, and called for those in government with “courage and wisdom” to help him reverse the result.
Continue reading...Jeff Bezos: Blue Origin space company will take first woman to the moon
- Amazon owner seeks Nasa lunar lander contract
- Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Dynetics also in competition
Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin will take the first woman to the moon, the billionaire said as Nasa nears a decision over who will supply its first privately built lunar landers, meant to be capable of sending astronauts to the moon by 2024.
Related: Japan’s Hayabusa2 capsule returns to Earth carrying asteroid samples
Continue reading...Huge blaze engulfs New York church housing Liberty Bell – video
Firefighters in New York battled a large blaze in the early hours of Saturday morning that gutted a historic church in lower Manhattan. The Middle Collegiate Church in the East Village caught fire before dawn after a blaze spread from an adjacent five-storey vacant building about 5am. Video posted on Twitter showed flames shooting from the roof and the church’s stately front window glowing from the conflagration inside. The church houses New York’s Liberty Bell and its congregation dates from the earliest days of the city’s settlement.
Continue reading...Just 26 of 249 Republicans in Congress willing to say Trump lost, survey finds
- Two congressmen tell Washington Post Trump beat Biden
- Does Trump really plan to absolve himself and his family?
Only 26 of 249 Republicans in Congress are willing to admit Joe Biden won the presidential election, a survey found on Saturday.
Related: Trump heads for Georgia but claims of fraud may damage Senate Republicans
Continue reading...Trump heads for Georgia but claims of fraud may damage Senate Republicans
- President and first lady set for rally ahead of January runoffs
- Analysts: refusal to accept loss to Biden may depress turnout
- David Litt: Claims of ‘fraud’ have a long history. They are false
Donald Trump will return to the campaign trail on Saturday – not, notionally at least, in his quixotic and doomed attempt to deny defeat by Joe Biden, but in support of two Republicans who face January run-offs which will decide control of the US Senate.
Related: I beg your pardon? Does Trump really plan to absolve himself and his family?
Continue reading...US sees record coronavirus infections as states face deadline for vaccine orders
- More than 14m cases recorded with 2,607 deaths on Friday
- More lockdowns in California as Arizona and Idaho reel
As US states faced a deadline to place orders for a coronavirus vaccine, California went back into lockdown and federal authorities advised the wearing of masks indoors, new infections reached a record 227,885 on Friday.
Related: 'Ridiculous double standard': LA residents condemn maze of Covid restrictions
Continue reading...A Utah monolith enchanted millions and then it was gone, leaving mysteries behind
For many following the story of the monolith, crucial questions remain unanswered: who made it? What was it for?
In a year of uncertainty and peril, one three-sided mystery metal structure provided a glinting moment of distraction, or even hope – and then it was gone.
Before the public had moved on from the monolith, the monolith had moved on from us.
Continue reading...Trump’s latest batch of election lawsuits fizzle as dozens of losses pile up
President no closer to overturning result, with just one small victory in a month’s worth of cases
For a man obsessed with winning, Donald Trump is losing a lot.
In the month since the election, the president and his legal team have come no closer in their frantic efforts to overturn the result, notching up dozens of losses in courts across the country, with more rolling in by the day.
Continue reading...Trump orders US to pull troops from Somalia
Nearly all of 700 troops will leave over next few months follow president’s latest order with short notice
The US will pull out nearly all its estimated 700 troops in Somalia over the next few months, the latest in a series of short-notice withdrawals ordered by Donald Trump in his last few weeks in power.
A Pentagon statement on Friday said that some of the troops would be repositioned in neighbouring countries while others – it did not say how many – would leave the region altogether.
Continue reading...More than 1,200 Google workers condemn firing of AI scientist Timnit Gebru
More than 1,500 researchers also sign letter after Black expert on ethics says Google tried to suppress her research on bias
More than 1,200 Google employees and more than 1,500 academic researchers are speaking out in protest after a prominent Black scientist studying the ethics of artificial intelligence said she was fired by Google after the company attempted to suppress her research and she criticized its diversity efforts.
Timnit Gebru, who was the technical co-lead of Google’s Ethical AI team, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that she had been fired after sending an email to an internal group for women and allies working in the company’s AI unit.
Continue reading...How vaccine approval compares between the UK, Europe and the US
The regulatory fast-tracking of the Covid vaccine in Britain by MHRA has led some to question its methods
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) in the UK has not had a round of applause from anyone other than the UK’s politicians and the vaccine companies. It gave temporary authorisation to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday and within hours, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) put out a stiff statement implying more work was needed than the UK regulator had done. Its own decision could come as late as 29 December. It may well have been needled by the crowing of the health secretary, Matt Hancock, who claimed the fast approval as a Brexit triumph. He had to backtrack. The MHRA’s chief executive, June Raine, pointed out that the agency had simply taken advantage of a provision that any country in Europe could use, to fast-track approval in a pandemic.
Continue reading...Coronavirus crisis in the US: scenes from hospitals across America – in pictures
A look into the battle against Covid-19 in hospitals across the United States
Continue reading...Ocasio-Cortez hits back at critics who pounced on $58 ‘Tax the Rich’ sweatshirt
Congresswoman says price was appropriate because garment was made by unionised workers in America – unlike ‘Trump’s merch’
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had a swift response for conservatives criticizing her for selling a “Tax the Rich” sweatshirt for $58. The price was right, the leftwing New York Democrat said, because the campaign merchandise was made by unionised workers in the US rather than in China, unlike political wear sold by, for example, Donald Trump.
Related: When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez met Greta Thunberg: 'Hope is contagious'
Continue reading...Christian group tears down mysterious monolith on California mountain
A group of young men posted a video of themselves replacing the monolith, which was similar to one discovered in Utah, with a cross
A group of young men claiming to be Christians have posted a video of themselves tearing down a mysterious monolith that had appeared atop a California mountain and replacing it with a cross.
The monolith had been built near the town of Atascadero and sparked huge interest after the appearance of a similar silvery metal-faced monolith that had been discovered in the deserts of Utah.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Biden vows to get vaccinated in public; Cyprus to waive tests for vaccinated visitors
Biden will ask Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days in office; Cyprus announces new measure to ease travel; Iran’s cases top 1m
- US breaks daily case record as Fauci warns of ‘terrible’ January
- Wuhan virologist warns more bat coronaviruses can cross over
- Fauci apologises for implied criticism of speedy UK vaccine approval
- US coronavirus updates - live
- UK coronavirus updates - live
In the UK saliva tests for Covid-19, which are being introduced for NHS workers as part of the government’s mass testing programme, pick up only 13% of people with low levels of the virus and not 91%, as the official assessment has claimed, according to experts.
Two members of the Royal Statistical Society’s working group looking at the accuracy of Covid tests have questioned the results and the way they have been evaluated.
Related: Experts question claimed accuracy of Covid-19 saliva tests
Revelations of distorted corona virus tallies have caused growing controversy in Greece reports our correspondent Helena Smith in Athens.
Figures released by the government nightly have been slammed for not reflecting the truth after reports of mismanagement by the national public health organisation, EODY.
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