Networks call Georgia for Biden as security officials say vote was ‘secure’
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Your support makes all the difference.As Donald Trump continues to refuse conceding the 2020 presidential race to Joe Biden, the president-elect was said to have spoken with Senate Republicans who have begun to admit he should at least receive intelligence briefings that have so far been denied.
On Friday afternoon most networks called Georgia for Mr Biden and North Carolina for Mr Trump bringing their respective electoral college vote totals to 306 to 232.
US federal and state cybersecurity officials, meanwhile, have delivered a direct rebuke to Donald Trump, who continues to allege irregularities and widespread fraud without evidence.
Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the 3 November vote was “the most secure in history" in a report published Thursday, and added that Americans should trust the result. His agency had not find any evidence of ballots being lost, deleted or altered, he said.
Biden yet to call Boris Johnson after election win
Joe Biden is yet to hold his first conversation with Boris Johnson after his election win, Downing Street have confirmed.
However, the prime minister is said to be unconcerned about when he will speak with the president-elect.
Joe Biden yet to call Boris Johnson after election win
Boris Johnson is “not concerned” if Joe Biden makes him wait for their first conversation, No 10 is insisting – as it confirmed the pair have yet to speak.
Despite vaccine news health measures will be needed into 2021, Biden says
Joe Biden has greeted the announcement of Pfizer’s experimental coronavirus vaccine as excellent news, but warned widespread vaccination remains months away and said Americans will need to continue wearing masks and maintain social distancing.
"Today’s news is great news, but it doesn't change that fact," the president-elect said in a statement.
"Today's announcement promises the chance to change that next year, but the tasks before us now remain the same."
Trump whistleblower joins Biden’s Covid task force
Among Joe Biden’s coronavirus emergency task force is a former Trump administration official who blew the whistle over untested drugs promoted by the president, Alex Woodward reports.
Trump whistleblower joins Biden’s Covid task force
President-elect Joe Biden’s task force to combat the growing coronavirus emergency will include a former Trump administration official who sounded the alarm over untested drugs promoted by the president as his aides ignored warnings and rewarded cronies while the nation’s case count surged.
There is always a tweet
Donald Trump once derided Democrats for calling recounts in an attempt to “fill up their coffers” - the same thing his campaign has called for in Wisconsin following his election defeat.
“The Green Party scam to fill up their coffers by asking for impossible recounts is now being joined by the badly defeated & demoralised Dems,” the then president-elect wrote on Twitter in 2016.
Gino Spocchia has more details:
Trump in 2016 said ‘badly defeated’ Democrats were demanding recounts to ‘fill up their coffers’
President’s campaign is fundraising for recount effort, despite attacks on rivals in previous election for doing the same
#icymi
I saw Donald Trump’s presidency come crashing down at Four Seasons Total Landscaping
It began, as all good 2020 capers do, with a tweet from the president of the United States. It ended with his personal lawyer in the parking lot of a landscaping company, struggling to be heard over a man in his underpants shouting about George Soros, writes Richard Hall.
They say a star burns brightest just before it dies, and this was the Trump presidency in all its flaming glory.
I saw Trump’s presidency come crashing down at Four Seasons Total Landscaping
The Trump presidency ended in the parking lot of a landscaping company next to an adult bookstore. Richard Hall was there
Japanese mayor ‘Jo Baiden’ perplexed after becoming overnight online sensation
A mayor in Japan won a legion of followers after it was revealed his name could be pronounced as “Jo Baiden”, writes Isobel Frodsham.
Yutaka Umeda, who is the mayor of Yamato, in the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Kumamoto, became a hot topic over the weekend after people realised his name could bear a resemblance to the newly-elected president of the US.
Japanese mayor ‘Jo Baiden’ perplexed after becoming overnight online sensation
Name match follows similar occurrence in 2008 when town named ‘Obama’ set up group supporting two-time US president
Reminder: The election results aren’t all in
Joe Biden may have won enough Electoral College votes to seal the presidency, but three states are still in play.
Alaska, where only half of votes have been counted, is solidly Republican.
But in Georgia and North Carolina, things are too close to call.
While 99 per cent of the estimated ballots have been tallied in Georgia there are still some to be tabulated across the state, including those from counties that Mr Biden carried.
Mr Biden inched past Donald Trump on Friday and by Monday morning was leading by 10,353 votes out of nearly 5 million cast - a lead of about 0.2 percentage points.
Under Georgia state law, a candidate can request a recount if the margin is within 0.5 percentage points.
In North Carolina, a state Mr Trump prematurely claimed to have won last week, his lead is down to 75,371 votes, as of Monday morning, and the race is too early to call with up to tens of thousands of mail ballots and provisional ballots left to count statewide.
We should know the result in NC by 12 November.
Mexico joins China and Russia in holding off congratulating Biden
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico’s president, has reiterated that he will wait until the outstanding legal disputes surrounding the US presidential election are resolved before congratulating the winner.
Vaccine not a quick fix for Covid-19 crisis, Biden warns
The Pfizer vaccine breakthrough is “great news” but will not solve the coronavirus crisis now, Joe Biden has warned.
The president-elect congratulated the scientists who have been developing the experimental jab, which was shown today to be 90-per-cent effective.
But in a statement, Mr Biden’s transition team said Americans should continue to wear masks, wash their hands, practise social distancing and engage with contact-tracing.
“Even if … some Americans are vaccinated later this year, it will be many more months before there is widespread vaccination,” the statement read.
Mr Biden has launched a Covid-19 taskforce that is due to meet today. The pandemic is one of four key topics his transition team is focusing on. (The other three are the economic crisis, racial equality and climate change.)
For more on the task force, read below:
Trump whistleblower joins Biden’s Covid task force
Dr Rick Bright, who testified to Congress that White House ignored warnings about pandemic’s threat, appointed to top team
British peer sparks outrage after calling Kamala Harris ‘the Indian’
A British peer has sparked outrage after referring to US vice president-elect Kamala Harris as “the Indian”, writes Tom Embury-Dennis.
Lord John Kilclooney, a former deputy leader of Northern Ireland’s Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), made the racially-charged comment on Twitter while musing about the US presidency.
British peer sparks outrage after calling Kamala Harris ‘the Indian’
Lord John Kilclooney has a history of insulting people of Indian heritage
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