US presidential election
Schumer urges Cabinet to oust Trump
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is calling on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet to remove him from office following Wednesday’s violent assault on the Capitol by the president’s supporters.
Facebook bans Trump through Biden inauguration, maybe longer
After years of treating President Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric with a light touch, Facebook and Instagram are silencing his social media accounts for the rest of his presidency. The move, which many called justified following Wednesday’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, is also a somber reminder of the enormous power that social-media platforms can exercise when they choose.
Major global developments in a year of Covid-19
In a year dominated by Covid-19, many other developments including China’s crackdown on Hong Kong’s democracy, an apocalyptic explosion in Beirut, and a tumultuous US presidential election unfolded.
Why AP called Georgia for Biden
More than two weeks after Election Day, The Associated Press has declared Joe Biden the winner of the presidential contest in Georgia, a longtime Republican state that the Democratic president-elect narrowly won by making major inroads in suburban areas that formerly favored the GOP.
Joe Biden wins Georgia
Joe Biden has won Georgia and its 16 electoral votes, an extraordinary victory for Democrats who pushed to expand their electoral map through the Sun Belt.
After tweeting Biden 'won', Trump insists he is not conceding
Having seemed to finally admit the reality of his loss in the election held on November 3, US President Donald Trump promptly went back on it on Twitter Sunday morning (US time), repeating his claims that the election was rigged against him and doubling down on not conceding.
Nov 3 election most secure in US history: Officials
A coalition of federal and state officials said Thursday that they have no evidence that votes were compromised or altered in last week’s presidential election, rejecting unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud advanced by President Donald Trump and many of his supporters.
What’s ahead for COVID-19 vaccines?
Pfizer’s surprising news that its COVID-19 vaccine might offer more protection than anticipated — an announcement right after a fraught US presidential election campaign — is raising questions about exactly how the different shots will make it to market.
Pfizer Inc and the maker of the other leading US vaccine candidate, Moderna Inc, have been cautioning for weeks that the earliest they could seek regulatory approval for wider use of their shots would be late November. In Britain, AstraZeneca recently said it hoped to prove its own vaccine was effective by year’s end.
Late on Monday in a series of tweets President Donald Trump accused the US Food and Drug Administration and Pfizer of waiting until after the election to announce its positive vaccine news for political reasons. Pfizer did not receive data from independent trial monitors until Sunday, however. The FDA was not involved in Pfizer’s decision to announce its early results and made no announcements of its own.
The hard truth: Science moves at its own pace. While COVID-19 vaccines are being developed at record speeds in hope of ending the pandemic, when they’re ready for prime time depends on a long list of research steps including how many study volunteers wind up getting the coronavirus — something scientists cannot control.
Here’s a look at the process:
How the study works
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have enrolled nearly 44,000 people in final testing of their vaccine. Neither participants, their doctors nor Pfizer know who gets the real vaccine and who gets a dummy shot. They get a second dose about three weeks after the first.
And then another week after the second dose, key tracking begins: Counting anyone who experiences COVID-19 symptoms and tests positive for the virus as participants go about their daily routines, especially in hot spots.
Late-stage testing of other vaccine candidates is similar, varying slightly in the number of volunteers and timing.
How to tell shots work
Every vaccine study is overseen by an independent “data and safety monitoring board,” or DSMB. These boards include scientists and statisticians who have no ties to the vaccine makers.
Before a study is complete, only the DSMB has the power to unlock the code of who got the real vaccine and who got placebo, and to recommend if the shots are working well enough to stop testing early.
Those boards take sneak peeks at pre-determined times agreed to by the manufacturer and the Food and Drug Administration. The first interim analysis for Pfizer came Sunday. The company reported its data monitors had counted 94 infections so far -- and that among those initial cases, the vaccine appeared 90 percent effective.
But the study isn’t stopping: To be sure of protection, it’s set to run until there are 164 infections. The more COVID-19 cases occur in the trial, the better idea scientists will have of just how protective the shots really are.
Virus hospitalizations surge as pandemic shadows US election
Americans went to the polls Tuesday under the shadow of a resurging pandemic, with an alarming increase in cases nationwide and the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 reaching record highs in a growing number of states.
Biden, Trump score wins
Polls closed across the East Coast Tuesday night as President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden concluded an epic campaign marked by rancor and fear that will influence how the nation confronts a surging pandemic and foundational questions of economic fairness and racial justice.