Refusing to concede, Trump blocks cooperation on transition

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration threw the presidential transition into tumult on Monday, with President Donald Trump blocking government officials from cooperating with President-elect Joe Biden's team and Attorney General William Barr authorizing the Justice Department to probe unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud. Some Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, rallied behind Trump's efforts to fight the election results. Few in the GOP acknowledged Bide

Nov. 10, 2020

Trump election party draws scrutiny as guests test positive

WASHINGTON (AP) -- At least three top Trump administration or campaign officials have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending an election night watch party in the White House East Room. The night -- intended to mark a victory that never came -- has become yet another symbol of the president's cavalier attitude toward a virus that is ripping across the nation and infecting more than 100,000 people a day. Ben Carson, the secretary for housing and urban development, tested pos

Nov. 10, 2020

[Newsmaker] Pfizer: COVID-19 vaccine looking 90% effective

Pfizer Inc. said Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine may be a remarkable 90 percent effective, based on early and incomplete test results that nevertheless brought a big burst of optimism to a world desperate for the means to finally bring the catastrophic outbreak under control. The announcement came less than a week after an election seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump's handling of the scourge, which has killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide, including almost a quarter-m

Nov. 10, 2020

Biden highlights importance of wearing masks in first briefing as president-elect

WASHINGTON -- US President-elect Joe Biden stressed the importance of wearing masks in his first press conference since declaring his victory, insisting the simple act of wearing a mask may save tens of thousands of lives. The call came only hours after an American pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, said an early analysis of data from its coronavirus vaccine trial showed the vaccine to be more than 90 percent effective. "As you work toward a safe and effective vaccine, you know the single mo

Nov. 10, 2020

Trump fires Defense Secretary Esper, names Miller as acting secretary

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump on Monday replaced his defense chief, Mark Esper, with less than three months left in his presidency. "I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate), will be Acting secretary of Defense, effectively immediately," Trump tweeted. "Chris will do a GREAT job! Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his servic

Nov. 10, 2020

EU moves ahead with tariffs on US but hopes for Biden change

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union pressed ahead Monday with plans to impose tariffs and other penalties on up to $4 billion worth of US goods and services over illegal American support for plane maker Boeing, but expressed hope that trade ties would improve once President Donald Trump leaves office. EU trade ministers were discussing the move on a videoconference after international arbitrators last month gave the EU, the world's biggest trade bloc, the green light to do so. A year ago, the

Nov. 9, 2020

Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers threaten mass resignation

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong's legislature will resign "en masse" if Beijing's top law-making committee moves to disqualify four of their colleagues for violating the semi-autonomous city's Basic Law, the convener of the bloc said Monday. The threat came ahead of a meeting of one of China's top law-making bodies, with Hong Kong media reporting that it was considering disqualifying four of the semi-autonomous city's legislators. Hong Kong's democracy camp ha

Nov. 9, 2020

Hungary set for partial lockdown as virus surges

BUDAPEST (AFP) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced Monday a partial lockdown aimed at curbing a surge in coronavirus deaths that has sparked predictions of overwhelmed hospitals. The measures, due to start Wednesday, include an extension of an existing night-time curfew, a ban on gatherings, and closures of bars, restaurants and cultural venues, Orban said in a Facebook video. Sporting events must be played behind closed doors, while secondary schools and universities must move

Nov. 9, 2020

Trump, who never admits defeat, mulls how to keep up fight

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump never admits defeat. But he faces a stark choice now that Democrat Joe Biden has won the White House: Concede graciously for the sake of the nation or don't -- and get evicted anyway. After nearly four tortured days of counting yielded a victory for Biden, Trump was still insisting the race was not over. He threw out baseless allegations that the election wasn't fair and "illegal" votes were counted, promised a flurry of legal action and

Nov. 9, 2020

[Newsmaker] Jill Biden: Chance to transform first lady's role

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Jill Biden is no stranger to the glare of the political spotlight. Her husband has been a Washington insider since they wed in 1977, and she was America's second lady for eight years. But now that Joe Biden has won the White House, his 69-year-old wife will have the opportunity to push the role of first lady into the 21st century -- by keeping her full-time job as a professor. "Most American women have both a work life and a family life, but first ladies have never bee

Nov. 9, 2020

Biden begins transition as Trump rages

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President-elect Joe Biden took the first steps Sunday towards moving into the White House in 73 days, as Donald Trump again refused to admit defeat and tried to sow doubt about the election results. With congratulations pouring in from world leaders and supporters nursing hangovers after a night of celebrations, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris announced they would receive a joint briefing Monday in Wilmington, Delaware from their transition Covid-19 advisory

Nov. 9, 2020

[Contribution] Health communication and COVID-19 pandemic

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has changed all of our lives forever. Just a year ago, none of us would have thought that the world would have to face this unbelievable reality. Nonetheless, here we are, and we will learn to overcome this pandemic and move forward. While there have been concerted efforts to develop effective vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, there are other coordinated efforts required to successfully overcome the pandemic. For instance, we all have heard the term “inf

Nov. 9, 2020

World leaders hope for fresh start after Biden win

World leaders on Sunday cheered Joe Biden's election as US president as a chance to enhance cooperation on climate change, the coronavirus and other problems after four years of President Donald Trump's rejection of international alliances. Trump had yet to concede defeat, but Western and Asian allies expressed hoped for a fresh start following Trump's "American First" trade policies, withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and attacks on NATO and the World Health Organization. I

Nov. 8, 2020

Biden calls for unity in victory speech

WILMINGTON (AFP) -- Democrat Joe Biden urged unity Saturday and promised "a new day for America" in his first national address since he won the tense US election and ended the historically turbulent and divisive era of Donald Trump. After jogging onto the outdoor stage to the sounds of Bruce Springsteen in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, Biden delivered a message of hope and healing to a crowd of cheering supporters and tens of millions more on television. The victory speech fo

Nov. 8, 2020

'This isn't over!': Trump supporters refuse to accept defeat

Chanting "This isn't over!" and "Stop the steal," supporters of President Donald Trump protested at state capitols across the country Saturday, refusing to accept defeat and echoing Trump's unsubstantiated allegations that the Democrats won by fraud. From Atlanta and Tallahassee to Austin, Bismarck, Boise and Phoenix, crowds ranging in size from a few dozen to a few thousand -- some of them openly carrying guns -- decried the news of Joe Biden's victory after more

Nov. 8, 2020

Trump defied gravity; now falls back to earth, future TBD

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump, who defied political gravity with his extraordinary rise from reality star and businessman to the presidency, has fallen back to earth. In the end, his flurry of raucous rallies, an unprecedented turnout operation and sheer force of will could not overcome the reality of his enduring unpopularity and a raging pandemic that has killed more than 236,000 people in the US and thrown millions out of work. Yet Trump's acerbic brand of politics -- his Twitter ta

Nov. 8, 2020

Joe Biden: Stumbles, tragedies and, now, delayed triumph

Days before he left the White House in 2017, President Barack Obama surprised Joe Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, declaring his septuagenarian, white-haired lieutenant "the best vice president America's ever had," a "lion of American history." The tribute marked the presumed end of a long public life that put Biden in the orbit of the Oval Office for 45 years -- yet, through a combination of family and personal tragedy, his own political missteps and sheer

Nov. 8, 2020

Harris becomes first black woman, South Asian elected US VP

Vice president-elect Kamala Harris on Saturday paid tribute to the women, particularly Black women, whose shoulders she stands on as she shatters barriers that have kept mostly white men entrenched at the highest levels of American politics for more than two centuries. "Tonight I reflect on their struggle, their determination and the strength of their vision to see what can be unburdened by what has been," Harris said, wearing a white suit in tribute to women's suffrage. She called it

Nov. 8, 2020

Biden defeats Trump for White House, says 'time to heal'

WASHINGTON (AP)-- Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump to become the 46th president of the United States on Saturday and offered himself to the nation as a leader who "seeks not to divide, but to unify" a country gripped by a historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social turmoil. "I sought this office to restore the soul of America," Biden said in a prime-time victory speech not far from his Delaware home, "and to make America respected around

Nov. 8, 2020

Biden vows action on 'day one' to halt spiraling coronavirus crisis

Joe Biden said Friday as he closed in on winning the US presidency he would he waste no time in addressing the Covid pandemic upon taking office. "I want everyone, everyone to know on day one we're going to put our plan to control this virus into action," Biden said in a late night address from his hometown Wilmington, in Delaware. Biden expressed confidence that he would defeat President Donald Trump as vote counting dragged on from Tuesday's election but stopped short of declarin

Nov. 7, 2020