World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

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World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk


Barr tells prosecutors to investigate 'vote irregularities' despite lack of evidence

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 06:10 PM PST

US attorney general's intervention comes as Donald Trump refuses to concede and promotes unfounded claims of voter fraud

The US attorney general, William Barr, has authorized federal prosecutors to begin investigating "substantial allegations" of voter irregularities across the country in a stark break with longstanding practice and despite a lack of evidence of any major fraud having been committed.

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Trump poised to leave legacy of chaos with last-minute foreign policy moves | Analysis

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 02:00 AM PST

Analysis: With defence secretary's firing and potential new Iran sanctions, Trump raises fears over impact of a vengeful president

The abrupt dismissal of the US defence secretary, Mark Esper, and reported plans for multiple layers of new sanctions on Iran have made clear that Donald Trump's last 10 weeks in office could still prove a very bumpy ride for the rest of the world.

Trump is refusing to concede his loss to Joe Biden and, while he launches a quiver of baseless legal challenges to the results, he is also seeking to demonstrate he is still in charge of foreign and defence policy – fueling fears about the impact a vengeful president might have on the US role on the world stage over the coming 10 weeks of transition.

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The tasks Joe Biden faces: from racial justice to restoring faith in science

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 12:00 AM PST

The new president will be busy – especially as he wrestles with the fallout from the Trump administration

As the coronavirus pandemic tore through the US, Joe Biden's most important promise to the American people was a policy platform taken for granted prior the Trump presidency: believe science.

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Soul of the nation: how Joe Biden's faith will shape his presidency

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 12:00 AM PST

President-elect of the US says his belief in equality is rooted in his 'cultural Catholicism'

He carries a rosary in his pocket, one that belonged to his dead son, Beau. On election day last Tuesday, he went to mass, as he does every Sunday.

In his victory speech on Saturday night, he quoted from Ecclesiastes: "The Bible tells us that to everything there is a season – a time to build, a time to reap, a time to sow. And a time to heal. This is the time to heal in America."

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Nagorno-Karabakh peace deal brokered by Moscow prompts anger in Armenia

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 02:51 AM PST

Crowds claim agreement with Azerbaijan to withdraw is a betrayal after fierce fighting over disputed enclave

Russian peacekeepers have departed for Nagorno-Karabakh after Moscow brokered a peace deal that sparked celebrations in Azerbaijan and protests in Armenia, where demonstrators briefly occupied government buildings.

The truce, announced late on Monday night, calls for the deployment of nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers to the disputed enclave, where Azerbaijan will receive significant territorial concessions from an Armenian-backed local government.

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Renewable energy defies Covid-19 to hit record growth in 2020

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 10:00 PM PST

International Energy Agency expects green electricity to end coal's 50-year reign by 2025

Global renewable electricity installation will hit a record level in 2020, according to the International Energy Agency, in sharp contrast with the declines caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the fossil fuel sectors.

The IEA report published on Tuesday says almost 90% of new electricity generation in 2020 will be renewable, with just 10% powered by gas and coal. The trend puts green electricity on track to become the largest power source in 2025, displacing coal, which has dominated for the past 50 years.

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People plan to drive more post-Covid, climate poll shows

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 10:00 PM PST

Exclusive: Gap between actions and beliefs threatens green recovery from pandemic

People are planning to drive more in future than they did before the coronavirus pandemic, a survey suggests, even though the overwhelming majority accept human responsibility for the climate crisis.

The apparent disconnect between beliefs and actions raises fears that without strong political intervention, these actions could undermine efforts to meet the targets set in the Paris agreement and hopes of a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

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Hopes rise for end of pandemic as Pfizer says vaccine is 90% effective

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 09:40 PM PST

Global stocks surge and experts optimistic as Covid vaccine exceeds expectations

Hopes are soaring that a Covid vaccine is within reach, following news that an interim analysis has shown Pfizer/BioNTech's candidate was 90% effective in protecting people from transmission of the virus in global trials.

The vaccine performed much better than most experts had hoped for, according to the companies' analysis, and brings into view a potential end to a pandemic that has killed more than a million people, battered economies and upended daily life worldwide.

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Saeb Erekat, veteran Palestinian peace negotiator, dies at 65

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 02:54 AM PST

Key PLO figure and advocate for two-state solution had been diagnosed with coronavirus

Saeb Erekat, the veteran Palestinian peace negotiator and one of the most high-profile figures in its leadership since the early 1990s, has died after contracting coronavirus.

Erekat, a lawmaker from Jericho in the occupied West Bank, was a senior adviser to the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and also worked for Abbas's predecessor, Yasser Arafat. He served as the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

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John Boyega worries BLM rally speech in June will harm career

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 04:01 PM PST

Actor reveals concerns and talks about being stopped and searched in new interview

John Boyega has said he is genuinely worried that his impassioned speech at a Black Lives Matter protest in London in June will have damaging consequences for his career.

"Absolutely. I still have those thoughts," he said in an interview, reflecting on the moment when he addressed the rally so memorably and powerfully.

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Saudi Arabia considers clemency for female activists ahead of G20

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 01:57 AM PST

Summit host mulling whether detentions do it more harm than good, UK ambassador says

Saudi Arabia is considering clemency for jailed female activists ahead of its hosting of the G20 summit this month, the Saudi ambassador to the UK has said.

The kingdom has been under growing pressure on its human rights record ahead of the summit, which is to be held virtually on 21 and 22 November. This includes the fate of a group of women who were prominent in the campaign for the right to drive. One of the themes of the G20 is women's empowerment.

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Trial begins of man who admitted killing 10 in Toronto van attack

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 03:00 AM PST

Judge-only trial will focus on mental state of Alek Minassian, 28, and his association with misogynistic 'incel' ideology

The trial of Canadian man who killed 10 people when he drove a van on to a crowded Toronto sidewalk will begin on Tuesday, and is expected to focus on questions of criminal responsibility, misogyny and mental illness.

Alek Minassian, 28, faces 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder over the April 2018 attack, the worst mass murder in the city's history.

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Devastating 2020 Atlantic hurricane season breaks all records

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 01:28 AM PST

Dozens of people have died this year as Theta becomes 29th major storm

The annual record for the number of major storms forming in the Atlantic has been shattered, with Subtropical Storm Theta becoming the 29th named event in a hyperactive hurricane season.

The US National Hurricane Center said the development of Theta, currently churning through the heart of the Atlantic, had broken a record that stood since 2005, when there were 28 named storms.

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Journalist killed in Philippines in second attempt on his life

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 02:53 AM PST

Virgilio Maganes shot outside his home in what NUJP says is 18th such killing under Duterte

A Filipino journalist who survived a previous attempt on his life by pretending to be dead has been killed outside his home, police have said..

Virgilio Maganes, 62, who was a commentator for DWPR radio station in the northern province of Pangasinan, died instantly after he was shot six times by motorcycle-riding gunmen, Major Christian Alucod told AFP.

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New Zealand bird of the year: adult toy store endorses 'polyamorous' hihi

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 07:17 PM PST

Small bird with unusually large genitals receives a boost as competition is also rocked by vote-rigging row

The competition to elect New Zealand's bird of the year has intensified with a vote-rigging scandal and an adult toy store endorsing a small, polyamorous bird with unusually large genitals.

The annual competition, which began 15 years ago to draw attention to native birds, many of which are endangered, has grown into a national obsession. Different types of birds have their own campaign managers and the competition is so fierce that this year has seen record early voting – with 40,000 ballots cast so far and five days still remaining

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Nearly one in five Covid patients later diagnosed with mental illness – study

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 10:00 PM PST

Analysis shows nearly twice as many diagnoses over three months among those testing positive

Nearly one in five people who have had Covid-19 are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder such as anxiety, depression or insomnia within three months of testing positive for the virus, according to a study that suggests action is needed to mitigate the mental health toll of the pandemic.

The analysis – conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford and NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre – also found that people with a pre-existing mental health diagnosis were 65% more likely to be diagnosed with Covid-19 than those without, even accounting for known risk factors such as age, sex, race, and underlying physical conditions.

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Coronavirus live news: WHO warns Covid 'not tired of us' as top UK scientist says vaccine 'feels like watershed moment'

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 03:11 AM PST

US passes 10m cases; Brazil halts trial of Chinese Covid vaccine; 'Lockdown' named word of the year by Collins dictionary

Morning, I will be leading you through global coronavirus updates for the rest of the day. As ever, please do send any tips and stories to nazia.parveen@thegaurdian.com or follow me on Twitter to send me a DM.

Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said all Russian vaccines against Covid-19 were effective, adding that the country would soon register a third shot against the virus, the RIA news agency reported.

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Joe Biden vows to 'spare no effort' in tackling Covid as US sees record cases

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 12:01 PM PST

President-elect warned the US is 'facing a very dark winter' as 200,000 more could die before a vaccine becomes available

Joe Biden vowed on Monday to spare no effort in tackling the coronavirus pandemic as soon as he enters the White House and warned the US is "facing a very dark winter".

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Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine announcement is cause for cautious celebration

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 09:56 AM PST

Interim trial results are encouraging as scientists welcome news

It is not yet the end of the pandemic, but the announcement by Pfizer/BioNTech that their vaccine has been 90% successful in the vital large-scale trials has got even the soberest of scientists excited.

These are interim results and the trial will continue into December to collect more data. The two companies – a tiny German biotech with the big idea and the giant pharma company Pfizer with the means to develop it – have not yet published their detailed data, so it is all on trust. And yet, nobody is suggesting the results have been over-egged. It looks as though the vaccine not only works, but works better than anyone hoped.

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'I just want to see the person I always saw in my head': the story of a face

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 10:00 PM PST

How a trans woman found the surgery that could restore her sense of self

When the children at Sophia Drake's primary school in rural Wales used to talk about what superpower they'd like, she always told them she wanted to be a shapeshifter. "But I didn't want to be an animal. I didn't want to be Spider-Man or Muhammad Ali, I just wanted to change into a woman."

Drake was born biologically male. For as long as she can remember, she felt different and uncomfortable, and experimented with whatever identities and fads she could in an effort to belong. Video games saved her. When she discovered them as a child, she found she could get lost in a world where she could embody any character she liked. "They took me to places where I didn't have all those issues and problems; I wasn't this confused child, I could pick who I wanted to be," she told me.

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The show the military couldn't stop: Luca Guadagnino on We Are Who We Are

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 10:00 PM PST

His new TV series about wild goings-on at an army base near Venice horrified the US Department of Defense. Did it also cost him his relationship? The Call Me By Your Name director reveals all

Lockdown was a nightmare for Luca Guadagnino. His dad died, his partner left and his myriad film projects had to be put in mothballs. As soon as restrictions were lifted, he jumped in his car and drove south from Milan, along empty motorways, right through the May night. He realises now he was in search of home.

Guadagnino, true to form, immortalised the trip on his iPhone and the resulting film is a lovely thing: part travelogue, part elegy, rattling around the director's old village in Sicily. At one point Guadagnino stands outside his former house and inhales the smells from the open window – humidity, old grapes – like Proust with his madeleine. He wonders what kind of world the pandemic has left behind. He asks friends and colleagues for advice and support. "For a forest to stay healthy," one tells him, "it has to periodically burn down."

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Junglepussy: ‘I don’t like the narrative that women have to be superheroes’

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 01:00 AM PST

The New York artist, AKA Shayna McHayle, on her explicit lyrics, skewering toxic masculinity and finding space for introspection

Junglepussy has a picture of the original nasty gal, Betty Davis, on her fridge in her Brooklyn apartment. "A lot of people felt the same way about her that they do about me," the rapper, AKA 28-year-old Shayna McHayle, explains, citing the raw funk pioneer as a major influence on her latest album. Davis's liberated display of black sexuality shocked the United States in the 1970s; when McHayle released her first song as Junglepussy, "random" people at parties would tell her to change her name. Since then, she has rapped about browsing for contraception in the aisles of Trader Joe's and boasted she has been "feelin' the dick all up in my armpit". But female pleasure, she says, is still seen as radical. "I just can't believe that 40 years later, people are still acting like women don't feel this way," she sighs.

Rap has always had its raunchy moments but it does seem that, more recently, unapologetic female pleasure has been having a lyrical awakening – and you only need to look to this summer's sexplicit smash WAP to see the furore it causes. McHayle, however, has been grinding conservative gears since as far back as 2012, long before Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion celebrated the lubricated joy of their lady gardens.

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Let there be light: 10 simple ways to brighten your home – from pale pink walls to changing bulbs

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 03:00 AM PST

We may be confined to home as the days draw in, but here's an expert guide to maximising the winter light inside

Things are looking gloomy – seasonally speaking, if not also metaphorically. It was one thing to be locked down when the days were long and the heatwave heavy, but we're facing a run of dark months, mostly indoors. Here are some expert tips on staying on the bright side, and maximising winter light.

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Assassin's Creed Valhalla review: cloudy with a chance of mead halls

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 02:38 AM PST

PS4 and PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, PC; Ubisoft
The weather's as bad as ever, but this smart, inventive and witty open-world game is a veritable Viking feast of adventure

It's been a wild ride this year, but you can always rely on Assassin's Creed to lighten the mood. Let's see what those zany historians at Ubisoft have cooked up for us in the excitingly named Assassin's Creed Valhalla … Peterborough, is it? Norwich in the dark ages?

I have nothing against our beautiful cathedral cities, rolling plains and park-and-ride services, but after 12 months of Brexit, Covid-19 and forest fires, plus the cancellation of the Eurovision song contest, I was hoping for something a little less Tough Mudder from this giddy, quasi-historical, action-adventure series, which previously had us gallivanting around Atlantis.

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Half-term, hardship and heartbreak: one month in the life of a food-bank manager

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 10:00 PM PST

At the same time the pandemic has brought job losses and spiralling poverty, food banks are finding volunteers and donations in short supply. Ellie Coteau from the Welcome Centre in Huddersfield explains how they are coping

Every morning at the Welcome Centre in Huddersfield goes like this. Ellie Coteau lets herself in at 8.45 and makes her way to the kitchen, for a cup of tea. She chats to her deputy, Mike Bristow, then heads to her desk to turn on her computer and check the referral list for that day.

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The funeral of the Unknown Warrior - archive, November 1920

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 02:50 AM PST

100 years ago the Unknown Warrior was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920. See how the Guardian reported the return of the anonymous soldier's body from France

26 October 1920

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Fears for a million livelihoods in Kenya and Tanzania as Mara River fish die out

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 11:45 PM PST

Water biodiversity is on the brink, with dire consequences for the region known for the zebra and wildebeest migration, says WWF

Fish are being driven to extinction in the Mara River basin, putting the livelihoods of more than a million people in Kenya and Tanzania in jeopardy, according to WWF.

A report by the wildlife NGO details how farming, deforestation, mining, illegal fishing and invasive species could sound a death knell for the transboundary river.

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US election 2020: Biden to speak as Trump and the supreme court threaten Obamacare – live updates

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 03:03 AM PST

Jeff Abbott reports for us from Guatemala City

US authorities have radically accelerated the expulsion of unaccompanied children to Guatemala, but advocates accuse the Trump administration of using the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to rob vulnerable youngsters of asylum protections enshrined in US and international law.

Related: US steps up pace of child deportations to Guatemala citing pandemic emergency

More seriously, Chris Hayes also last night interviewed Jon Ossoff. He's one of the Democrats involved in the Senate run-offs in January which have a chance of flipping control of the Senate to the Democrats.

Yesterday the incumbents in the state, Sen. David Perdue and Sen. Kelly Loeffler, jointly called on their fellow Republican, Gerogia's secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, to resign. They accused him of failing "to deliver honest and transparent elections."

It's bizarre. Total disarray. David Perdue needs to be gearing up for a run-off that he enters badly damaged. He needs to be preparing for upcoming debates that I've challenged him to. And this just demonstrates the total lack of competence, coherence, and momentum among GOP politicians in Georgia right now. They are shell-shocked. They felt entitled to a cakewalk. And instead they're getting the fights of their lives. They're not liking it, and they're taking out their rage on one another.

Instead of working to earn Georgians' votes, Georgia Republicans are on the attack...

against one another. pic.twitter.com/nWfPBoarb6

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US steps up pace of child deportations to Guatemala citing pandemic emergency

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 03:00 AM PST

Advocates say the Trump administration is using coronavirus as a pretext to deny young people their right to claim asylum

US authorities have radically accelerated the expulsion of unaccompanied children to Guatemala, but advocates accuse the Trump administration of using the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to rob vulnerable youngsters of asylum protections enshrined in US and international law.

Since tighter migration controls were announced in March, the US has deported more than 1,400 unaccompanied minors to Guatemala, according to data from the Guatemalan Migration Institute. A total of 407 children were expelled in October alone.

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Anthony Albanese sidesteps questions about a Labor medium-term emissions target

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 02:10 AM PST

The opposition leader's comments follow Joel Fitzgibbon's resignation from the frontbench in a dispute about climate policy

The federal Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, has declined to say whether Labor will articulate a medium-term emissions reduction target before the next federal election.

Albanese's sidestep followed Joel Fitzgibbon's resignation from the Labor frontbench on Tuesday after a lengthy internal dispute about climate policy that culminated in a blow-up at shadow cabinet on Monday night.

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From schoolboy to tea seller: Covid poverty forces India’s children into work

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 10:45 PM PST

The pandemic has pushed millions of urban poor into crisis – and left children struggling to help their families survive

Subhan Shaikh used to start the day with a cup of cinnamon-flavoured tea, brought to him by his mother, Sitara, before he got ready for school. But the lockdown in March brought her salary as a school bus attendant to an end, and providing food – never mind tea – for Subhan, 14, and his two younger sisters, became a challenge.

Today, life for Subhan revolves around tea, which has become a lifeline for his family. After seeing his mother struggle, Subhan decided to do something and became a tea seller on the streets of Mumbai.

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Biden is far from perfect – but we should still take a moment to savour his victory | Suzanne Moore

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 09:02 AM PST

The left is so used to losing that we have become sore winners. While the US has not been fixed overnight, there is reason to feel hope again

There are many things Joe Biden is not. He is not young. He is not an anti-establishment peacenik. He is not unbeholden to huge, anonymous donors. He is not free of accusations of using male privilege to be gropey with women. He is neither a radical, nor exciting. He is not a brilliant orator. He is not Bernie Sanders. And on it goes: the disappointments pile up thick and fast.

But he is not a loser – and he is not Donald Trump. So let us have a moment, however brief, of celebration.

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'Whoa': Fox News cuts off Kayleigh McEnany for 'illegal votes' spiel – video

Posted: 10 Nov 2020 12:58 AM PST

Fox News has cut away from a briefing held by the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, during which she repeated Donald Trump's refusal to accept defeat in the presidential election and doubled down on allegations of voter fraud, for which there is scant if any evidence.

Speaking to media on Monday night in a 'personal capacity' during what she said was a campaign event at the Republican National Committee headquarters, McEnany said Republicans want 'every legal vote to be counted, and every illegal vote to be discarded', prompting the conservative Fox News network to stop broadcasting the briefing.

The Trump campaign and Republicans have brought numerous lawsuits alleging election irregularities. Judges have already tossed out cases in Georgia and Michigan

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'Very early days': Johnson says UK cannot yet rely on Covid vaccine – video

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 11:25 AM PST

Boris Johnson has welcomed the promising news about the BioNTech/Pfizer coronavirus vaccine and said the UK was at 'the front of the pack' if and when it becomes available. At a Downing Street briefing, however, the prime minister also cautioned that it was 'very early days'. He said the vaccine still needed to be peer reviewed and clear any potential safety hurdles. 'We cannot rely on this news as a solution,' he said. 'The biggest mistake we could make now would be to slacken our resolve at a critical moment'

UK rollout of Covid vaccine could start before Christmas

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Joe Biden: US still facing 'very dark winter' despite promising coronavirus vaccine news – video

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 10:02 AM PST

President-elect Joe Biden said the months ahead would still be very difficult for the United States, despite the encouraging news about Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine.

Biden said it would be 'many months' before the vaccine was widely available, warning that another 200,000 Americans could die of coronavirus in the coming months.

Biden also spoke about his coronavirus taskforce and urged Americans to wear face masks to limit the spread of the virus

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How Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the fight for America’s soul – video

Posted: 09 Nov 2020 02:32 AM PST

In the final episode of Anywhere but Washington, Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone return to Florida, the crucial swing state that Donald Trump won last week. His victory there paved the way for his baseless attacks on the election process. From Palm Beach county, home to the president's private club Mar-a-Lago, election night turns into election week, in a story of hope and joy but also division and lies


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