Category Archives: US News

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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Johnny Depp says he has been asked to resign from Fantastic Beasts franchise

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Actor has announced he will be exiting the Harry Potter prequel series after losing his libel case over allegations of assault towards ex-wife Amber Heard

Johnny Depp is set to exit the Fantastic Beasts franchise after being asked to resign by Warner Bros.

The actor announced the decision in a statement on Instagram, one that comes just days after he lost his libel case against the Sun over claims he abused his ex-wife Amber Heard.

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US election week 2020: the good, bad and ridiculous moments

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From Lizzo reaching for the stars – and stripes – in a powerful Instagram post to Kayleigh McEnany’s false claim about Pennsylvania, here’s what went down this week

The US election saw more than 150 million Americans cast their ballots, some by mail, some waiting in long lines, and then endure a tense wait. There were bound to be quirky moments, some inspiring, some cringeworthy, some simply absurd. Here we pick the good, the bad and the ridiculous.

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Trump, McCain, Bush and Carter: different reactions to bad election results – video

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Speeches from candidates conceding defeat in past US elections have been resurfacing after Donald Trump’s latest address as the 2020 result looms. Speaking from the White House on Thursday, Trump falsely referred to legally cast mail-in ballots as illegitimate, and made unsubstantiated claims that pollsters got results ‘knowingly wrong’ and that the election was being stolen

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Coronavirus live news: mink-related strains infect 214 people in Denmark; Sweden hits record case high

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One of Danish mink strains prompts country to cull all its mink; Sweden registers 4,697 new infections, highest since pandemic began

The Kremlin has said it is early to judge how effective Russia’s coronavirus restrictions are without lockdowns, as the country reported a record daily number of new Covid-19 infections.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the increase in coronavirus cases to a daily high of 20,582 was alarming and that authorities would take action depending on how the situation developed.

New coronavirus restrictions came into force in Italy on Friday but from pavements dotted with coffee drinkers to lines of striking taxi drivers, the picture on the streets was different from the ghostly scenes of the first lockdown, Reuters reports.

The restrictions, which divide the country into three zones according to the severity of the latest outbreak, are less severe than the blanket measures imposed when the pandemic first took hold in March.

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France reports record 60,486 new cases; Russia saw 9,798 deaths in September – as it happened

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France’s new infections more than 2,000 higher than previous record; Italy registers 37,809 new cases; Russia says Covid was main cause in 5,199 cases. This blog is now closed

NSW has reported one new case of locally transmitted Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.

Four cases were also reported in overseas travellers in hotel quarantine, bringing the total number of cases in NSW to 4,270.

Dr Michael Douglas provides a #COVID19 update for Saturday 7 November 2020. pic.twitter.com/T2q5LFhLy1

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