Category Archives: US News

Donald Trump refuses to concede defeat as recriminations begin

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  • Biden declared winner but president says: ‘This is far from over’
  • Legal challenges threatened but experts doubt they will succeed
  • Joe Biden wins – live updates

Donald Trump refused to formally concede the US election on Saturday, even as senior Republicans began to distance themselves from him, and as recriminations were reported among aides to a man doomed to go down as an impeached, one-term president.

Before the race was called, Trump continued to tweet his defiance and to attract censure for making baseless claims about voter fraud and his supposed victory. He also went to his course in Virginia to play golf. While he played, a defiant statement was issued in his name.

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‘We did it, Joe!’: Kamala Harris calls president-elect Biden to celebrate election victory – video

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Kamala Harris shared a video of her calling to congratulate Joe Biden after the US presidential election was called for the Democratic candidate. 'We did it Joe,' Harris says, while apparently out on a walk with her husband. 'You're going to be the next president of the United States.'

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The moment Fox News projected Joe Biden will win 2020 presidential election – video

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Fox News announced Joe Biden would surpass the 270 electoral college votes needed to become president after calling the states of Nevada and Pennsylvania for the Democratic candidate. 


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CNN’s Van Jones brought to tears as Joe Biden wins US election – video

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Political commentator Van Jones cried as CNN called the US election for Joe Biden. Jones said: 'It's easier to be a parent this morning ... to tell your kids character matters'.

Joe Biden won the presidency by clinching Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes. With Biden’s victory, Kamala Harris becomes the first woman and the first person of color to become the vice-president

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What will President Biden’s United States look like to the rest of the world? | Timothy Garton Ash

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The future of a diminished superpower now lies in being part of a wider network of democracies

What is the best the world can now hope for from the United States under President Joe Biden, now that the election has been called for him? My answer: that the US will be a leading country in a post-hegemonic network of democracies.

Yes, that’s a, not the leading country. Quite a contrast to the beginning of this century, when the “hyperpower” US seemed to bestride the globe like a colossus. The downsizing has two causes: the US’s decline, and others’ rise. Even if Biden had won a landslide victory and the Democrats controlled the Senate, the United States’ power in the world would be much diminished. President Donald Trump has done untold damage to its international reputation. His disastrous record on handling Covid confirmed a widespread sense of a society with deep structural problems, from healthcare, race and infrastructure to media-fuelled hyper-polarisation and a dysfunctional political system.

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Biden styled himself as the antithesis to bare-knuckled Trumpism – and won

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The veteran Democrat ran a slow and steady campaign in stark contrast to the sitting president

Joe Biden had characterized his campaign for the White House as a “battle for the soul of the nation” against Donald Trump, a president he said threatened the very foundation of American democracy.

Related: Joe Biden beats Donald Trump to win 2020 US election – live updates

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Ever resilient, Joe Biden finally grasps his chance to lead America

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After a career pocked by adversity, the next challenge for the ‘scrappy kid from Scranton’ is to heal a fractured nation

At a moment of extraordinary tumult and pain, America has elected a man haunted by grief, with a seemingly boundless capacity for resilience, to be the country’s next president.

Joe Biden sought the presidency twice before serving as vice-president for eight years in the Obama administration, a role that might have been the capstone of his decades in public life.

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Kamala Harris makes history as first woman of color elected US vice-president

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California senator, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage, will be first elected woman in White House

Kamala Harris has become vice-president-elect of the US, the first time in history that a woman, and a woman of color, has been elected to such a position in the White House.

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Katharine the great white shark resurfaces off US east coast

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Transmitter attached to dorsal fin of shark with Twitter following had not sent a definitive message for a year and a half

Katharine, a 14ft-plus great white shark with a Twitter following, appeared again off the US east coast this week. A transmitter attached to her dorsal fin had not sent out a definitive message for a year and a half.

The transmitter that was attached off Cape Cod in August 2013 is roughly half the size of an iPhone and is meant to ping whenever the shark breaks the ocean surface.

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Biden: ‘We’re going to win this race’ as election count puts him on the cusp of victory – video

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Presidential hopeful Joe Biden has said 'we're going to win this race' as crucial states trend in his favour as vote counting in the US election continues. Biden, who stands on the cusp of victory, said late on Friday he was on track to claim 300 electoral votes. The former vice-president has already urged unity during the count after Donald Trump moved to sow doubt about the election process without presenting any evidence. 'We may be opponents, but we're not enemies,' Biden said. 'We're Americans'

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‘Democracy works’: Biden addresses nation as vote count shows him on brink of victory – live

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A campaign aide has also tested positive, Bloomberg reports. CNN and NBC have also confirmed the Meadows has contracted Covid-19.

Worth noting that Mark Meadows was at the election night party at the White House Tuesday that hundreds of people attended. Officials said everyone would be tested beforehand.

Mark Meadows has tested positive for coronavirus, according to reporters from Bloomberg news.

BREAKING: Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has the coronavirus. Meadows informed a close circle of advisers after the election.

Story by me, @tylerpager and @MarioDParker out soon.

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US removes shadowy group from terror list blamed by China for attacks

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State department says ‘no credible’ evidence the East Turkestan Islamic Movement exists

The United States has removed from its list of terror groups a shadowy faction regularly blamed by China to justify its harsh crackdown in the Muslim-majority Xinjiang region.

In a notice in the Federal Register, which publishes new US laws and rules, the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said on Friday he was revoking the designation of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) as a “terrorist organization.”

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US again breaks daily Covid-19 record with 121,000 cases recorded Thursday

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Country surpassed record set on 30 October and hospitalizations and deaths have also begun to increase

The United States has broken its record for the highest number of new Covid-19 infections in a single day yet again, with more than 121,000 new cases recorded on Thursday.

As the country’s attention has been trained on the presidential election, the US has continued to break daily records for new Covid-19 cases. On Wednesday, the day after the election, the country saw more than 107,000 cases, the first time the US surpassed 100,000 new cases in a single day. Before that, the record was set on 30 October with just over 99,000 new cases.

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Michigan couple with 14 sons finally has a daughter

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Almost three decades after their first son’s birth, Kateri and Jay Schwandt welcome Maggie Jayne

A Michigan couple famous for having 14 sons have welcomed their first daughter, nearly three decades after the birth of their first child.

Kateri Schwandt gave birth on Thursday to Maggie Jayne, who weighed in at 7lb 8oz and entered a world filled with 14 older brothers.

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Philadelphia mayor tells Trump to accept he lost – video

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Jim Kenney tells a press conference that Donald Trump should 'put his big boy pants on', acknowledge his defeat and congratulate Joe Biden as the winner of the US presidential election. It could take several days to complete the count in Philadelphia, but Biden has so far won 81% of the votes. Around 40,000 are still to be counted. Trump has continued to tweet baseless allegations of voter fraud

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US imposes sanctions on Lebanon’s former foreign minister

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Trump administration moves against Gibran Bassil for alleged corruption

The Trump administration has imposed Treasury sanctions on one of Lebanon’s most influential politicians as it intensifies attempts to defang the militia and political powerhouse Hezbollah.

The move against Gibran Bassil for alleged corruption was announced on Friday as Trump’s chances of re-election continued to dip, and marks a sharp escalation of efforts to limit Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanese affairs. Crucially, it is a direct challenge to the country’s president and Bassil’s father in law, Michel Aoun, who Washington has considered an ally.

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US seizes $1bn in bitcoin linked to Silk Road site

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DoJ is suing for formal forfeiture of funds after tracking down the person holding them

The US government has seized more than $1bn worth of bitcoins connected to the shuttered darknet marketplace Silk Road and is suing for formal forfeiture of the funds.

The case is the biggest cryptocurrency seizure in history, and explains why the bitcoins changed hands this week. Analysts had noticed the transfer on the public blockchain and speculated that it was either due to an unknown Silk Road co-conspirator attempting to cash out, or because the funds had been stolen by hackers.

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