Ahead in Pennsylvania, Biden closes in on White House

Trump’s lead shrinks further in Pennsylvania and Georgia

Democrat Joe Biden is continuing to cut into US President Donald Trump’s lead in the key states of Pennsylvania and Georgia.

In Pennsylvania, which Trump must win to keep his White House hopes alive, his lead is down to some 90,500 votes, with that number shrinking further every time new numbers come in. Some 93% of the state’s votes are in.

In Georgia, Trump’s lead has gone down from about 13,000 to 9,500, with 98% of the ballots tallied.

Georgia Senate race tightens, benefiting Jewish candidate Ossoff

The US Senate race in Georgia is only getting tighter, with Democratic frontrunner David Perdue slipping to 49.9% of the vote to Jon Ossoff’s 47.7%, with 98% of the ballots counted.

That’s significant because the state holds a runoff between the two vote leaders if neither of them garners at least 50% of the ballots.

This means that Ossoff, who is Jewish, now has a better chance of securing a runoff.

Trump campaign asks to join Arizona lawsuit

The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee have asked an Arizona judge to let them join a lawsuit that alleges vote tabulation equipment in metro Phoenix was unable to record a voter’s ballot because she completed it with a county-issued Sharpie pen.

They argue that anecdotal accounts of potential tabulation errors resulting from Sharpies demand further review and that they should be allowed to participate in the lawsuit because it will likely affect their interests in the tabulation of votes.

The lawsuit seeks a court order for all Maricopa County voters whose ballots were rejected as a result of using a Sharpie to be given a chance to fix their ballots. It also asks for such voters to be able to be present while election officials count their ballots.

The Arizona Democratic Party earlier asked to join the lawsuit, arguing that Democratic voters could be disenfranchised if the woman who filed the lawsuit was able to challenge a voter’s intent in making ballot choices without knowing the applicable standards.

A judge is holding a hearing today in Phoenix in the lawsuit by Phoenix-area voter Laurie Aguilera, who also alleged ink from the marker bled through the backside of her ballot and that poll workers refused her request for a new ballot.

— AP

Trump set to make remarks from White House in 30 minutes

US President Donald Trump is set to make his first public appearance since the early morning hours after Election Day.

The White House says Trump will deliver remarks at 6:30 p.m. EST (1:30 a.m. Israel time) from the press briefing room. It is unclear if he will take questions.

Trump last appeared in public early Wednesday, when he falsely declared victory over Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential race. Trump has also publicly called for vote counting to stop by citing baseless allegations of fraud and misconduct.

The presidential race has not yet been called because neither Trump nor Biden has yet collected the requisite 270 Electoral College votes.

Biden’s victories in Michigan and Wisconsin have put him in a commanding position to win the presidency, but Trump has shown no sign of giving up.

— AP

‘Math is not on our side’: Trump adviser quoted saying he needs an ‘act of God’

An unnamed adviser to US President Donald Trump is quoted by CNN as acknowledging that if Democrat Joe Biden overtakes him in Pennsylvania, he will be president.

Biden is currently winning enough of the incoming vote tallies in that state to put him on course for a win that would propel him above the 270 electors necessary to make it to the White House.

“Math is not on our side. We need an act of God to alter the course,” a Trump adviser is quoted as saying.

Trump campaign’s Nevada legal effort is over

A legal effort in Nevada by US President Donald Trump’s campaign and state Republicans to try to stop the count of mail ballots in Las Vegas is over.

A document submitted in an appeal pending before the state Supreme Court says the campaign, state GOP, Democrats and attorneys for the state have reached a settlement requiring Clark County election officials to supply “additional observation access” at a ballot processing facility in Las Vegas.

The state high court declined on Election Day to stop the count based on an appeal of a state judge’s decision not to stop processing mail ballots in Las Vegas and surrounding Clark County — a Democratic stronghold in an otherwise red GOP state.

In an order released Monday, Judge James Wilson Jr. in Carson City said he found neither the state nor Clark County had done anything to give one vote preference over another.

Nevada Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to suppress voting in the state’s most diverse area.

Trump campaign representatives say they intend to file another complaint in US District Court in Las Vegas to try to stop the counting of what state campaign co-chair Adam Laxalt calls “improper votes.” That lawsuit is not immediately filed.

— AP

Trump again falsely claims he won, alleges effort to ‘steal the election from us’

US President Donald Trump insists he is being cheated out of election victory.

“If you count the legal votes, I easily win,” he claims. “If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.”

Speaking from the White House, Trump again falsely claims he has won the race, claiming that mail-in votes “came in late” and baselessly alleging “election interference by big money and big tech.”

He claims that rather than a blue wave, there has been a “red wave.”

US President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on November 5, 2020, falsely alleging that he won the election and it is being stolen from him. (White House screen shot)

The Democrats’ major donors “were Wall Street bankers and special interests,” he says.

Trump is speaking as his rival, Democratic challenger Joe Biden, is closing in on the 27 Electoral College votes he needs to win the presidency.

Contrary to Trump’s allegations, there is no evidence of fraud in the elections.

Trump alleges vote ‘suppression,’ falsely says he won Pennsylvania

US President Donald Trump alleges, without evidence, that polls published before Election Day showing a comfortable win for Joe Biden were aimed at suppressing the vote.

Speaking from the White House, he falsely says all the key states had in fact been won by Republicans, before the count “miraculously” stopped and mail-in votes started coming in, largely favoring Biden.

“They’re finding ballots all of a sudden.”

He claims mail-in votes are “corrupt.”

“I won Pennsylvania by a lot,” he says of the partial count in the state in which his lead is quickly evaporating. “We were up by nearly 700,000 votes,” he says, referring to the election day totals before mail-in votes were counted.

Trump says election officials are part of ‘corrupt Democrat machine’

President Trump asserts that in Wisconsin, Georgia, and elsewhere, he won the states “by a lot,” but that his victory is now being “whittled down.”

“We’ll not allow the corruption to steal the election,” he says. Results are being manufactured.

He repeats his claim that Democrats are “trying to steal an election, they’re trying to rig an election.”

“Democrats never believed they could win the election honestly,” he says, falsely claiming that millions of ballots for Biden have been “sent out.”

He says, without evidence, that election officials are part of a “corrupt Democrat machine” and are accepting votes without requiring “any identification whatsoever.”

He claims election officials in states such as Pennsylvania are “trying obviously to commit fraud” and keeping observers from overseeing the tabulation process.

Trump says people who are being banned from observing the vote count “are very unhappy and become somewhat violent.”

Trump alleges US election is going to be decided by judges

Still providing no evidence for his claims, Trump challenges Joe Biden and Democrats to “say they only want to count legal votes, no mystery votes, that they don’t want any votes cast after election day.”

“We think we will win this election very easily… because we have much proof,” he claims, adding that “there is going to be much litigation” and “judges are going to have to rule” on the election results. “We can’t have an election stolen like this.”

Biden has urged patience as the vote-count proceeds and said that all votes must be counted.

Trump’s lead down to 65,000 votes in Pennsylvania, goes below 3,500 in Georgia

US President Donald Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania has narrowed to fewer than 65,000 votes, as Democrat Joe Biden seems on the course to clinch a victory that will guarantee him the presidency.

Additionally, the gap in Georgia is now a mere 3,500 votes in favor of Trump, with Biden closing in on him in that state as well.

Meanwhile, Biden’s own lead in Arizona is being slowly eroded, and is now down to some 61,000 votes.

Judge nixes Trump bid to stop Philadelphia vote count, urges agreement

A federal judge has denied a bid by US President Donald Trump’s campaign to stop the vote count in Philadelphia over observer access, urging the two sides to instead forge an agreement.

US District Judge Paul S. Diamond suggests each party be allowed 60 observers inside a hall at a downtown convention center where the final ballots are being tallied. As the hearing unfolds, Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are locked in a tight battle for the 20 electoral votes in Pennsylvania.

Diamond, an appointee of former president George W. Bush, chastens the lawyers as both sides bicker about who is following the rules and reminds them they are officers of the court.

“Really, can’t we be responsible adults here and reach an agreement?” the exasperated judge asks. “The whole thing could (soon) be moot.”

Republicans went to court to complain that election officials in the Democratic-led city were ignoring a state court order they’d won earlier in the day to give them a closer view of ballot processing.

— AP

Ex-presidential candidate Santorum: No Republican official can back Trump speech

Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, watching Trump’s speech in the CNN studio, says “No Republican elected official is going to stand behind that statement. None of them will.”

“Much of that statement was incendiary,” says Santorum, “and not something that the president of the United States should say.”

Former GOP candidate Rick Santorum (photo credit: CC-BY-SA Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons)

“The votes in Pennsylvania need to be counted. People voted. You need to count their votes.

“If there are instances where we find some kind of fraud, you investigate them,” he goes on. If the claims are true, “prove it,” Santorum says. “But counting absentee ballots and counting mail-in ballots is not fraud.”

Biden reacts: ‘No one is going to take our democracy away from us’

Responding to President Trump’s incendiary White House speech alleging election fraud and corruption, challenger Biden tweets: ‘No one is going to take our democracy away from us’.

No one is going to take our democracy away from us. Not now, not ever.

America has come too far, fought too many battles, and endured too much to let that happen.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 6, 2020

Trump administration said advancing $2.9 billion drone sale to UAE

The US State Department has given Congress informal notification that it plans to sell 18 sophisticated armed aerial drones to the United Arab Emirates in a deal worth as much as $2.9 billion, Reuters reports.

Last week, the administration told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that it plans to sell as many as 50 Lockheed Martin-made F-35 jets to the UAE, for roughly $10.4 billion. Israel has ordered the same number of F-35s from the US, though not all of them have been transferred yet.

The new sale would mark the first armed drone export since the Trump administration “reinterpreted a Cold War-era arms agreement between 34 nations to allow US defense contractors to sell more drones to allies, Reuters says.

In September, the UAE, Bahrain and Israel signed normalization agreements, brokered by the US, at the White House.

Twitter removes Steve Bannon account over call to behead Fauci

Twitter takes down an account linked to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon after he urges the decapitation of top US medical expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

In a video, Bannon says he will “put the heads on spikes,” NBC news reports.

Twitter says that Bannon’s account, @WarRoomPandemic, is suspended for violating its policy against “the glorification of violence.”

YouTube removes the video and issues Bannon’s account a strike, temporarily barring it from uploads. Two more strikes and the account will be permanently taken down.

Steve Bannon calls for beheading Dr. Fauci and FBI Director Wray: pic.twitter.com/EU1P4X5Z4U @FBI #Bannon

— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) November 5, 2020

Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania falls below 50,000

As results continue to flow in, Trump’s lead over Biden in Pennsylvania is down to 48,854. Some 94% of the vote has now been counted. If Biden wins Pennsylvania, he will be president.

In Georgia, with 99% of the vote now estimated to be in, Trump’s lead has fallen to 2,497.

Biden’s lead is shrinking in Arizona, meanwhile, down to 46,257. Biden is ahead in Nevada by 11,438.

19 former US attorneys blast Trump’s ‘reckless’ election rhetoric

Nineteen former US attorneys blast President Trump for his attacks on the election process, calling the president’s invective “premature, baseless and reckless.”

All of the attorneys who issued the joint statement served under Republican presidents, The New York Times reports.

Trump has falsely claimed victory in the election multiple times, and repeatedly made legal threats and baseless allegations of fraud.

“We hereby call upon the president to patiently and respectfully allow the lawful vote-counting process to continue, in accordance with applicable federal and state laws, and to avoid any further comments or other actions which can serve only to undermine our democracy,” the attorneys say.

US President Donald Trump leaves after speaking at the White House, Nov. 5, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Biden’s lead in Arizona narrows to 46,000 votes

Joe Biden’s lead over President Trump in Arizona shrinks to 46,000 votes.

Biden has 50.1% of the vote while Trump holds 48.5%.

The state is worth 11 electoral votes.

Officials from Maricopa County, the state’s most populous, say the county has some 204,000 early ballots left to be processed, and a small number of other ballots.

The state’s attorney general shoots down rumors that claimed the use of Sharpie markers to mark ballots resulted in election interference.

Trump’s lead in Georgia falls to a mere 1,902 votes

President Trump’s lead in Georgia falls to a razor-thin 1,902 votes.

The two candidates are tied percentage-wise with 49.4% of the vote and 99% of ballots counted.

There are some 15,000 votes remaining to be counted.

The southern state is worth 16 electoral votes. Winning it would put Biden at 269 electoral votes, one short of the presidency.

Trump campaign lawsuits shot down in Michigan and Georgia

President Trump’s team loses court decisions in the battleground states of Georgia and Michigan.

State judges shoot down both lawsuits.

In Michigan, the campaign tried to halt the counting of votes and gain more access to the process. A judge says there is “no basis” to the move.

In Georgia, the campaign claimed 53 ballots that arrived late were incorrectly mixed with other ballots. A judge in the state says there is “no evidence” of invalid votes.

Trump’s campaign says it will file a fresh lawsuit in Nevada over allegations of voting irregularities.

Republican leadership in Congress mum on Trump’s baseless fraud claims

The Republican leadership in Congress refuses to comment on President Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric aimed at undermining the election process.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Whip John Thune, and an array of other GOP leaders in the Senate all decline or do not respond to requests for comment from CNN.

In the House, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and conference chair Liz Cheney also do not respond to requests for comment.

Several Republican lawmakers, including Representative Will Hurd of Texas and Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois come out against Trump’s statements.

Kinzinger tweets, “This is getting insane.”

Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says, “No Republican elected official is going to stand behind that statement. None of them will.”

“Counting every vote is at the heart of democracy,” Senator Mitt Romney of Utah tweets. “Have faith in democracy, in our Constitution, and in the American people.”

Leading Republican senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham both came to Trump’s defense in interviews with Fox News.

In an astonishing, unfounded attack on the US democratic process, Trump said Thursday night that Democrats were “trying to steal the election,” falsely claimed to have won the election and issued legal threats.

Ilhan Omar accuses Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing’ after demolition of Palestinian hamlet

NEW YORK — Congresswoman Ilhan Omar accuses Israel of violating international law and carrying out “ethnic cleansing” in response to the demolition of a wildcat Palestinian village in the West Bank earlier this week.

“This a grave crime—in direct violation of international law. If they used any US equipment it also violates US law,” Omar tweets, pointing out that federal law prevents American-funded military equipment from being used to perpetrate war crimes.

Omar is one of the most vocal Israel critics in Congress and has expressed support for the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement.

She has also called for the US to condition aid to Israel based on the country’s behavior and policies toward the Palestinians.

This a grave crime—in direct violation of international law. If they used any US equipment it also violates US law.

An entire community is now homeless and will likely experience lifelong trauma.

The United States of America should not be bankrolling ethnic cleansing. Anywhere. https://t.co/cdJgqS6Nwe

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 6, 2020

The Israeli government denied Omar — along with the Palestinian-American Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib — entry into the country last year for supporting BDS.

Omar is fresh off a landslide victory in Tuesday’s election that secured her a second term in the House as a Minnesota’s 5th district.

In her Thursday tweet, she says, “An entire community is now homeless and will likely experience lifelong trauma. The United States of America should not be bankrolling ethnic cleansing. Anywhere.”

The Tuesday demolition of Khirbet Husma left around 73 Palestinians, including 41 children, homeless.

Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians said the army destroyed structures erected illegally in a military live-fire zone. Khirbet Husma is one of 38 Bedouin communities on land the Israeli military has designated for training, according to the UN.

Palestinian bedouins stand next to their belongings after Israeli soldiers demolished their tents in an area east of the village of Tubas, in the West Bank, on November 3, 2020. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)

— Jacob Magid

Today’s vote count: Biden gains ground in 3 states, Trump in 1

As midnight nears on the east coast of the US, here is a roundup of the day’s ongoing vote count in the four remaining battleground states.

In Georgia, worth 16 electoral votes, Trump’s lead dwindles from over 18,000 votes to a mere 1,600.

In Nevada, which carries 6 electoral votes, Biden builds on his lead, going from 8,000 more votes than the incumbent to over 11,000.

In Pennsylvania, Trump’s lead shrinks from 160,000 votes to fewer than 37,000. The state is worth a hefty 20 electoral votes, enough to secure the presidency for Biden if he wins it.

In Arizona, Trump gains on Biden, narrowing the challenger’s lead from 69,000 votes to 46,000. The state is worth 11 electoral votes. Some major US news networks called Arizona for Biden, while others have not.

Lehigh County workers count ballots as counting for the general election continues, Nov. 5, 2020, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Mary Trump, president’s niece, says he is ‘flailing,’ attempting a coup

Mary Trump, the president’s niece, says her uncle is cornered and attempting a coup after Donald Trump gave a speech attacking the American democratic process.

“We’re seeing a man who is in a unique position. Donald has never been in this place before, where there’s nobody to bail him out, there’s nobody to buy him out. He’s desperate, he’s flailing and there’s nothing he can do, legitimately, except to watch this play out helplessly,” Mary Trump says in an interview with MSNBC.

She blasts Republican leadership for standing by while the president makes baseless allegations of voter fraud, issues legal threats and falsely claims victory in the national vote.

“This wasn’t just Donald obfuscating or lying, this was Donald talking about an attempted coup, the leader of a country trying desperately to delegitimize an election. It’s obscene and somebody’s got to step in an stop him,” she says.

“This was Donald talking about an attempted coup. The leader of a country trying desperately to delegitimize an election. It’s obscene and somebody’s got to step in and stop him,” Mary Trump says about WH statements today by President Trump. pic.twitter.com/xD4XvCxDhX

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 6, 2020

Mary Trump authored a tell-all biography of her uncle earlier this year, branding him a narcissist and the “world’s most dangerous man.”

US again hits single-day coronavirus record with over 120,000 fresh infections

The US again hits a single-day coronavirus record with over 120,000 new infections.

At least 1,187 Americans die of COVID-19 on Thursday.

It was the second day in a row that over 100,000 people in the US were confirmed infected.

Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wisconsin all set single-day state records for new cases.

Hospitals in several states are struggling to cope with the influx of new patients.

The scourge has infected over 9.6 million Americans and killed nearly 235,000. Both totals are far higher than those in any other country.

Poll watchers emerge as a flashpoint in battle over ballots

Election officials in key battleground states push back on claims by the Trump campaign that Republican poll watchers have been improperly denied access to observe the counting of ballots, saying rules are being followed and they are committed to transparency.

With a few reports of overly aggressive poll watchers, election officials say they are carefully balancing access with the need to minimize disruptions.

“There were certainly a lot of eyes on the process in every absentee counting board all across our state,” says Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat and the state’s top election official. “I’m proud of how transparent and secure our process has been. I know that the truth is on our side here.”

A county election worker scans mail-in ballots at a tabulating area as an observer watches at the Clark County Election Department, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Las Vegas, Nevada (AP Photo/John Locher)

Poll watchers have been a central element of legal battles that have erupted in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada. While counting is largely finished in Michigan, the work continues in Pennsylvania and Nevada where a narrow margin separates President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.

— AP

German police say raiding flats, offices over Vienna attack

German police say they are raiding apartments and offices over possible links to the Austrian Islamic State sympathizer who went on a deadly gun rampage in central Vienna.

The sites in Osnabrueck, Kassel as well as in the Pinneberg area that were searched belong to four people, who “are not believed to be involved in the attack,” says the federal criminal agency (BKA).

“But there may be links to the alleged assassin,” it adds on Twitter.

The searches are being carried out on a request from Austrian authorities, the BKA adds.

The gunman, identified as 20-year-old dual Austrian-Macedonian national Kujtim Fejzulai, was killed by police after going on a shooting spree in Vienna on Monday evening that left four people dead.

Armed policemen stand guard on a shopping street in the center of Vienna on November 2, 2020, following a shooting. (Joe Klamar / AFP)

Austrian police detained 14 people in the wake of the shooting, the first major attack in the country for decades and the first blamed on a jihadist.

— AFP

Two detained outside Pennsylvania vote count center in alleged attack plot

US police have detained two men outside a Philadelphia polling station in Pennsylvania, a battleground state yet to declare a winner in the presidential election, local media reports.

According to the state’s 6ABC Action News the men are suspected of an alleged plot to attack the Pennsylvania Convention Center as votes are counted there.

The Philadephia Inquirer says the two men were detained shortly after 10 p.m. The local newspaper says the men were detained following a tip-off.

No injuries have been reported.

— with AFP

Trump’s lead in Georgia drops to 665; in Pennsylvania it is down to 18,229

Donald Trump’s lead in Georgia has dropped to 665 votes only.

Meanwhile his lead in Pennsylvania is down to 18,229 votes, as Joe Biden remains on the path to overtake the president.

UN chief urges ‘immediate de-escalation’ in Ethiopia, on brink of civil war

With Ethiopia seemingly on the brink of civil war, UN chief Antonio Guterres calls for the immediate de-escalation of tensions in northern Ethiopia, where fighting has erupted between federal forces and troops in the Tigray region.

Long-running tensions erupted into armed conflict this week between Addis Ababa and the Tigray region, whose leaders effectively ruled the country for three decades until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power.

In this file photo taken on August 1, 2019 Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed gives a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office in the capital, Addis Ababa. (MICHAEL TEWELDE / AFP)

“I’m deeply alarmed over the situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The stability of Ethiopia is important for the entire Horn of Africa region,” Guterres writes on Twitter. “I call for an immediate de-escalation of tensions and a peaceful resolution to the dispute.”

Abiy, the winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, announced Wednesday that he had ordered military operations in Tigray in response to an “attack” by the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), on a military camp there.

— with AFP

France mourns loss of another WWII resistance hero

One of three remaining fighters in the French resistance to the Nazi occupation of World War II has died, President Emmanuel Macron’s office says, hailing a “hero” who was just 17 when he joined the fight to free France.

Pierre Simonet, who died yesterday aged 99, was one of just over a thousand resistance fighters decorated by Charles de Gaulle, who rallied the defeated French forces from London after Germany’s 1940 invasion of the country.

His death comes just a few months after that of another wartime hero, Edgard Tupet-Thome, leaving just two men as living links to one of the most wrenching chapters in France’s history.

“The president honors the life of this man driven by the love of liberty who, transcending risks and borders, was always guided by his immense love of France,” the Elysee says in a statement.

— AFP

Joe Biden takes the lead in the state of Georgia

Joe Biden has taken the lead in Georgia after a new batch of votes is counted, and after consistently closing the gap with Trump over the past two days. He now leads by 917 votes.

Biden: 49.39.% (2,449,371 votes)
Trump: 49.37% (2,448,454 votes)

Controversial Israel Prize-winning poet Natan Zach dies aged 89

Israel Prize-winning poet Natan Zach has died at the age of 89.

Zach waas born in Berlin and emigrated to Israel in 1936. He is seen as having a great influence on Hebrew poetry throughout its early decades.

Zach won the Bialik Prize for literature in 1982 and the Israel Prize for Hebrew poetry in 1995.

He has been a divisive figure for years for both his political and racial beliefs.

Natan Zach, undated (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

Zach’s most controversial moment may have been in July 2010, when, in an interview on Army Radio, he made a comparison between European and Middle Eastern Jews, saying: “The one lot comes from the highest culture there is – Western European culture — and the other lot comes from the caves.”

That comment caused hundreds to sign a petition to have his writings removed from the national education curriculum.

Facebook takes down fake Iranian accounts that targeted Israel, pushed anti-Netanyahu content

Facebook says it has taken down numerous accounts operated by a network in Iran for targeting Israel in alleged violation of its policy on foreign interference.

The social media giant says the 12 Facebook accounts, two pages and 307 Instagram accounts also targeted Iraq, but were primarily focused on Israel.

A report by Facebook says the fictitious accounts “posted memes, images and other content in Hebrew and Arabic focusing on news and current events in the countries they targeted, including anti-Prime Minister Netanyahu protests in Israel, criticism of his policies and response to the pandemic.”

Ministers expected to approve 2 local lockdowns in virus-hit northern areas

Israeli ministers are expected to approve two local lockdowns in the north when they convene this afternoon due to high coronavirus infection rates in those areas.

The areas that will be declared “restricted zones” are the Druze town of Buq’ata in the Golan Heights and an ultra-Orthodox part of Hazor Haglilit, Hebrew media reports say.

According to the Health Ministry, the two locales currently have some of the highest case rates per capita in Israel.

US expected to sanction Lebanon’s ex-FM over Hezbollah ties — report

The United States is expected to announce sanctions later today against former Lebanese foreign minister Gebran Bassil over his links to the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Bassil, one of the leading Christian politicians in Lebanon, is the son-in-law of the country’s president Michel Aoun.

Lebanon’s then-foreign minister Gebran Bassil gives a press conference in Paris on November 14, 2017. (AFP Photo/Lionel Bonaventure)

Pro-Orban media in Hungary pushes Trump’s unfounded fraud claims

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungarian pro-government media outlets push unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in the US election, with nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban also appearing to lend credence to the allegations.

“Huge tension in America over the many signs pointing to fraud,” says a headline in the main pro-Orban news portal Origo.hu.

Outlets among the large swathes of Hungary’s public and private media sector that follow a pro-Orban line have pushed a similar angle since yesterday, echoing US President Donald Trump’s uncorroborated claims of fraud as his Democratic opponent Joe Biden closes in on victory.

An interviewer on public radio today asks Orban to comment on claims made by the Trump campaign that some votes had been cast on behalf of dead people.

Orban replies the US can “no longer criticize others after such an election.”

“If it happened in Hungary, what is happening there now, the sky would have fallen down — it’s unthinkable,” he says.

Describing Trump as “Hungary’s friend” he says that Hungary-US bilateral and economic relations have been in the “best shape ever” since Trump came to power.

“I have always stood beside President Trump,” he says.

In 2016, Orban was the first European premier to endorse Trump, and backed him for reelection in September.

When he visited Washington last year Trump praised the Hungarian as a leader “respected all over Europe” whose anti-immigration stance kept his country safe.

In contrast, Biden last month cited Hungary while criticizing Trump’s foreign policy.

— AFP

US President Donald Trump welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to the White House in Washington, Monday, May 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Likud calls Facebook’s removal of Iranian accounts that pushed anti-Netanyahu rallies an ‘earthquake’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party calls Facebook’s removal of fake accounts operated by an Iran-based network for allegedly targeting Israel and promoting mass demonstrations against the premier an “earthquake.”

In a statement shared on Netanyahu’s social media accounts, Likud accuses Iran of working “to fuel” the protest movement against Netanyahu.

“Iran, which is working to destroy Israel in an attempt to acquire nuclear weapons and arm the enemies around us, is investing efforts to topple Prime Minister Netanyahu because it knows Netanyahu has already stood for years as a fortified wall against these attempts,” the party says.

Likud also claims the protests “are supported by one of the darkest regimes in the world” and says the anti-Netanyahu demonstrators and Tehran have a “shared goal.”

There is no evidence that the accounts had any influence on the anti-Netanyahu protests, which have been held since the summer and regularly drawn tens of thousands of people.

Austria to shut ‘radical’ mosques after Vienna shooting attack

VIENNA — The Austrian government is to order the closure of “radical” mosques in the wake of Monday’s deadly jihadist shooting in the capital Vienna, the interior ministry says.

A ministry spokesman says more details will be given at a press conference shortly with Interior Minister Karl Nehammer and Integration Minister Susanne Raab.

— AFP

Tel Aviv mayor said to cancel participation at Rabin memorial because Lapid also a keynote speaker

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai has canceled his participation in tomorrow evening’s memorial event marking 25 years since prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination after learning Opposition Leader Yair Lapid would also be a keynote speaker, the Walla news site reports.

“From the moment it became clear that the character of the event is political, [Huldai] decided to relinquish his right to speak,” sources close to the Tel Aviv mayor are quoted as saying.

According to the report, Huldai told organizers yesterday he was canceling his appearance after learning that he would not be the only keynote speaker, even though it was already announced that both he and Lapid would be keynote speakers and the two met earlier in the week.

Huldai has recently signaled he’ll run for the Knesset if new general elections are called.

Tomorrow evening’s event will be held at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, where Rabin was gunned down in November 1994 by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir after a rally called to highlight opposition to violence and to showcase public support for the premier’s efforts to make peace with the Palestinians.

Trump has no plans to concede — CNN sources

US President Donald Trump has no plans to concede the election as his path to victory continues to narrow, unnamed sources tell CNN.

The network says that there is a conversation among senior White House officials regarding who will be the one to break the news to the president that he has to bow out. They are talking about an “intervention” of sorts,” CNN says.

Some in GOP break with Trump over baseless vote fraud claims

Some Republican lawmakers are criticizing US President Donald Trump’s unsupported claim that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election, saying Trump’s comments undermine the political process and the bedrock notion that all Americans should have their vote counted.

Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, whose state is a key battleground in the presidential election, says he had seen no evidence to support Trump’s claim Thursday evening of fraud in the balloting.

“The president’s speech last night was very disturbing to me because he made very, very serious allegations without any evidence to support it,” Toomey tells “CBS This Morning.”

He adds: “I voted for President Trump. I endorsed President Trump. I want the next president to be the person who legitimately wins the Electoral College and I will accept whoever that is.”

Trump, who has complained for weeks about mail-in ballots, escalated his allegations late Thursday, saying at the White House that the ballot-counting process is unfair and corrupt. Trump did not back up his claims with any details or evidence, and state and federal officials have not reported any instances of widespread voter fraud.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, tweets that the president’s claims of fraud are “getting insane.” If Trump has “legit” concerns about fraud, they need to be based on evidence and taken to court, Kinzinger says, adding, “STOP Spreading debunked misinformation.”

Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, a potential 2024 presidential hopeful who has often criticized Trump, says unequivocally: “There is no defense for the President’s comments tonight undermining our Democratic process. America is counting the votes, and we must respect the results as we always have before.”

“No election or person is more important than our Democracy,” Hogan says on Twitter.

— AP

Biden takes lead in key state of Pennsylvania in what could seal election

Democratic nominee Joe Biden has taken the lead over US President Donald Trump in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

Trump has held a lead of as much as 600,000 votes in the Keystone state, but heavily blue districts, such as Philadelphia where there are massive amounts of mail-in ballots, are being counted last.

Trump cannot win re-election without winning Pennsylvania and Georgia. In both states though, he has fallen behind this morning after leading since election night.

Biden now has 49.4% of the vote in Pennsylvania compared to Trump’s 49.3%.

Neither CNN, nor the Associated Press, is yet calling Pennsylvania for Biden. With 20 Electoral College votes, a win in Pennsylvania would seal the presidency for Biden.

The updated tally is a result of the counting of over 31,000 ballots. Biden won 87% of them and now leads by 5,587 votes.

There remain 130,000 more votes to be counted in the state with thousands of them in the disproportionately Democratic areas.

“We expect this lead to grow,” says  CNN’s John King.

Ministers approve lockdowns for Bedouin village, Haredi neighborhood over virus spike

A subset of ministers tasked with imposing lockdowns on locales hard hit by the coronavirus has issued closures in the Golan Heights Bedouin village of Buqata along with the Kirya HaHaredit ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Hatzor HaGlilit.

The lockdowns will start Sunday and last for at least five days.

Biden on verge to becoming 5th candidate to beat incumbent in US history — CNN

CNN’s Jake Tapper points out that Democratic nominee Joe Biden is on the verge of becoming just the fifth person in US history to defeat an incumbent president seeking re-election.

The comments are made after Biden edged ahead in Pennsylvania.

Secret service increasing presence around Biden home as victory nears

The US Secret Service has increased its protective bubble around Joe Biden as chances increased that he will be the next US president, the Washington Post reports.

The Secret Service sent an extra squad of agents to Biden’s campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware as expectations rose that the Democratic candidate would be able to declare victory over President Donald Trump as early as Friday, the Post reports.

The Secret Service, an agency under the Department of Homeland Security, is in charge or protecting the White House and senior government officials, visiting high officials, and others.

It had already deployed some agents to protect Biden around early July after he triumphed in the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries.

As a former vice president, Biden could have requested Secret Service protection before then, but reportedly did not.

If Biden becomes president-elect, Secret Service protection is expected to ramp up to a higher level.

— AFP

With Biden up in Georgia by just 1,000, recount in state looking increasingly likely

With Joe Biden only up in Georgia by 1,097 votes, a recount there is looking more and more likely as just 2% of the vote is left to be counted.

If the lead remains under .5% a recount is automatically required.

However, the state will not likely tilt the election back in Trump’s favor as he trails in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada.

Vienna anti-terror chief suspended after attack

The head of the agency responsible for anti-terror operations in the Austrian capital Vienna has been suspended pending an investigation into the deadly jihadist attack in the city on Monday, police say.

“The head of the regional Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Anti-Terrorism asked me to suspend his functions because he doesn’t want to stand in the way of an orderly inquiry and explanation” of the events surrounding the attack, Vienna police president Gerhard Puerstl tells a press conference.

— AFP

Trump campaign says ‘election is not over,’ claims ‘irregularities’ in PA vote count

The Trump campaign releases a statement shortly after losing the lead in Pennsylvania, insisting that it still has a shot at winning the election.

“This election is not over,” the campaign says, claiming without evidence “irregularities” in the vote count in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

The campaign claims it’s on the verge of winning in Arizona, despite being down by some 50,000 votes.

Police: Men with guns arrested near vote counting in Philly

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia police say they arrested two men Thursday for not having permits to carry the guns they were armed with near the state convention center, where vote counting is ongoing.

Police say they had received information earlier in the day that individuals armed with firearms were on their way to the convention center in Philadelphia in a Hummer truck. The two men arrested acknowledged that the Hummer spotted by officers near the center was their vehicle police said Friday.

An additional firearm was recovered from inside the vehicle, police say.

Both men will face firearm charges but have not been formally charged yet, police said. Their names had not been released as of this morning.

— AP

Fox news memos show directive to avoid calling Biden ‘president-elect’ if he wins

Internal Fox News memos are directing staff to avoid calling Joe Biden the president-elect if and when he gets the 270 electoral votes needed to win, CNN reports.

The memos argue that Trump’s long-shot legal challenges to vote counts in swing states where he’s losing are enough to prevent Fox News from christening Biden as the official winner of the election.

Biden lead grows slightly in Pennsylvania with vote count update

With tens of thousands of new votes added to the tally in Pennsylvania, Joe Biden has increased his lead slightly further and is now ahead by 6,737 votes.

Of the new votes that have just been counted, 68% of them went to Biden.

Officials say 95% of the votes are now in.

Biden campaign: US gov’t capable of removing trespassers from the White House

Responding to reports that the Trump campaign has no intention to concede the election, the Biden campaign re-issues a statement it gave several months ago, saying “the United States government is perfectly capable of removing trespassers from the White House.”

The campaign also says it trusts the vote count and that only the American people will determine who will be the next president and not either campaign.

Biden readying to address public later today as victory all but certain

Joe Biden’s campaign is preparing for him to address the public either late this afternoon or in the evening as his lead over Donald Trump increases, CNN reports.

GOP senator: No evidence to support Trump vote-fraud claims

A key Republican senator says he saw no evidence to support President Donald Trump’s baseless claim that Democrats are trying to “steal” the election and called the president’s words “very disturbing.”

Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, whose state is a key battleground in the presidential election, says “there’s simply no evidence anyone has shown me of any widespread corruption or fraud” to support Trump’s claim Thursday of fraud in balloting.

“The president’s speech last night was very disturbing to me because he made very, very serious allegations without any evidence to support it,” Toomey tells “CBS This Morning.”

He adds: “I voted for President Trump. I endorsed President Trump. I want the next president to be the person who legitimately wins the Electoral College and I will accept whoever that is.”

Trump, who has complained for weeks about mail-in ballots, escalated his allegations late Thursday, saying at the White House that the ballot-counting process is unfair and corrupt. Trump did not back up his claims with any details or evidence, and state and federal officials have not reported any instances of widespread voter fraud.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell strikes a neutral tone: “Every legal vote should be counted,” he tweeted. “All sides must get to observe the process.”

— AP

Vatican to publish probe into disgraced ex-cardinal McCarrick

A hotly-awaited internal probe into ex-US cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was expelled from the Catholic priesthood last year over sexual abuse, will be published on Tuesday, the Vatican says.

Pope Francis promises a “thorough” investigation in 2018 into who knew what about the allegations of sexual misconduct — later confirmed — that dogged McCarrick down the years, and how he managed to rise to cardinal despite them.

Victim support groups have been calling urgently for the findings into McCarrick to be made public. The Vatican said on Friday they would be released next week after an extensive dig through its archives for all documents related to the 90-year old.

The four US dioceses where he served — New York, Metuchen, Newark and Washington DC — contributed.

Once influential McCarrick, who had played a key role in raising funds for the Holy See from wealthy US donors, was stripped of his cardinal’s title in 2018 and his priest’s status in 2019.

He was found guilty by the Vatican of the sexual abuse of a teenage boy in the 1970s and sexual misconduct with adult male seminarians, becoming the highest-ranking Church figure to be expelled in modern times.

Pope Francis admitted in 2018 that an internal probe could fuel accusations the Catholic Church has covered up pedophilia and protected predators for decades, but vowed to “follow the path of truth, wherever it may lead.”

The investigation followed allegations by the Vatican’s former ambassador to the US, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, that senior Vatican officials had known since 2000 that McCarrick would invite seminarians to his beach house for sex, but he was still promoted to cardinal.

Vigano also claimed that former Pope Benedict XVI imposed sanctions on the cardinal in 2009 or 2010 — but that Francis then lifted them.

The Vatican has refused to respond in detail to the allegations made by Vigano, a leading anti-Francis voice, who said he had warned the Argentine pope about McCarrick shortly after his election in 2013.

The Catholic Church has been rocked by a global pedophilia scandal, with victims coming forward from countries including Australia, Chile and Germany as well as the United States.

Francis has promised a policy of “zero tolerance” even for high-ranking church members, and last year passed a landmark measure to oblige those who know about sex abuse in the Church to report it to their superiors.

— AFP

Explainer: Why the AP hasn’t called Georgia’s close race

A razor-thin margin and ongoing vote count are what’s making the Georgia contest between US President Donald Trump and Joe Biden too early to call.

Votes are still being counted across the state, though many from counties where Biden was in the lead.

Biden inched past the incumbent in the tally early Friday morning, leading by fewer than 1,100 votes of nearly 5 million ballots cast — a lead of about 0.022 percentage points. Under Georgia state law, a candidate can request a recount if the margin is within 0.5 percentage points.

Electoral research conducted by the AP found there have been at least 31 statewide recounts since 2000. Three of those changed the outcome of the election. The initial margins in those races were 137 votes, 215 votes and 261 votes.

Among all 31 recounts, the largest shift in results was 0.1%, in the 2006 race for Vermont’s Auditor of Accounts. This was a low turnout election in which the initial results had one candidate winning by 137 votes. The candidate eventually lost by 102 votes, for a swing of 239 votes.

The average shift in the margin between the top two candidates was 0.019 percentage points.

Trump and Biden were locked in a tight contest Friday to secure the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Georgia is a must-win state for Trump, who has a narrower path to victory than Biden. Trump prematurely declared he was winning it early Wednesday morning.

— AP

Explainer: Why AP hasn’t called Pennsylvania

A close margin and a large number of outstanding votes are what’s making the Pennsylvania contest between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden too early to call.

The Democrat opened a lead of about 6,000 votes Friday morning over Trump, of more than 6.5 million votes cast — a lead of less than 0.1%. State law dictates that a recount must be held if the margin between the two candidates is less than 0.5%. There are tens of thousands of votes left to count.

Pennsylvania is among a handful of battleground states Trump and Biden are narrowly contesting as they seek the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Trump, who held a 675,000-vote lead early Wednesday, prematurely declared victory in the state.

“We’re winning Pennsylvania by a tremendous amount. We’re up 690,000 votes in Pennsylvania. These aren’t even close. It’s not like, ‘Oh, it’s close,’” Trump said during an appearance at the White House.

The late counted ballots were overwhelmingly in Biden’s favor.

One reason the race tightened: Under state law, elections officials are not allowed to process mail-in ballots until Election Day. It’s a form of voting that has skewed heavily in Biden’s favor after Trump spent months claiming — without proof — that voting by mail would lead to widespread voter fraud.

There’s a possibility the race won’t be decided for days. If there is less than a half percentage point difference between Biden and Trump’s vote total, state law dictates that a recount must be held.

— AP

Update on vote count from Phoenix’s Maricopa County expected within minutes

An update on the vote count from Arizona’s Maricopa County, which includes the largely blue city of Phoenix is expected within minutes, CNN reports.

The update will include roughly 60,000 votes.

Biden currently is enjoying a lead in the state, which has already been called in his favor by several major networks.

Biden is ahead 43,799 on Trump in Arizona after update from key county

An update in the vote tally from the key Arizona county of Maricopa gives Joe Biden a 43,799 advantage over Donald Trump.

Trump carried the county, which includes Phoenix, in the 2016 election, but now trails Biden there 47.7% to 50.9%.

The breakdown is similar statewide, although Trump has slightly chipped away at Biden’s lead in Arizona in the past several hours.

Pro-Trump supporters protest outside PA vote count site

Trump supporters are protesting the vote count at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where Philadelphia’s last remaining absentee votes are being counted.

Former ToI correspondent Eric Cortellessa reports that he asked one of the protesters what sort of fraud he thought was occurring. The man responded that he had “seen and heard some things” but was not “authorized to speak about it.”

Trump supporters protesting the vote count at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where Philly’s last remaining absentee votes are being counted. pic.twitter.com/mzIypTfFFT

— Eric Cortellessa (@EricCortellessa) November 6, 2020

House Speaker Pelosi calls Biden ‘president-elect’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, calls Joe Biden the “president-elect” of the United States after he pulled ahead in key election results.

“President-Elect Biden has a strong mandate to lead,” Pelosi tells reporters after Biden overtook President Donald Trump in the potentially decisive state of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania would be enough to put Biden past the magic number of 270 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College, which determines the presidency.

— AFP

Palestinian held by Israel ends hunger strike after over 100 days, family says

A Palestinian held in administrative detention by Israel has ended his hunger strike after over 100 days, his family tells AFP.

Maher al-Akhras was protesting his detention without trial by Israeli authorities, who have accused him of involvement in a terror group.

For over a month, his attorney and human rights organizations involved in his case have been warning that al-Akhras is in serious medical danger should his hunger strike continue.

Eight Syrian ministers added to EU sanctions list

The EU adds eight ministers from the new Syrian government formed in August to its sanctions blacklist for their role in President Bashar al-Assad’s violent repression of civilians.

The decision by the EU’s 27 member countries bans the ministers from traveling to Europe and will see their assets frozen.

The EU’s official journal adds the names of the ministers of oil and mineral resources, industry, health, agriculture and three ministers of state.

The ministers of finance, justice, trade, transport, culture, education and water resources had already been added on October 16.

The new government of Prime Minister Hussein Arnous, who has been on this list since 2014, is the fifth to be formed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict in 2011.

With the additions, the crisis in Syria has put 288 people and 70 entities under EU sanctions.

EU sanctions have been in force against the Assad regime since December 2011 and are subject to annual review.

The Syrian conflict erupted in early 2011 when Assad’s forces staged a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests, sparking violence that has since claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

After nine years of war, Assad controls some 70 percent of Syrian territory.

— AFP

US election officials worried by threats and protesters

Election officials in several closely contested states say they are worried about the safety of their workers amid threats and gatherings of angry protesters outside vote tabulation centers, drawn by President Donald Trump’s baseless claim of widespread fraud in the race for the White House.

“I can tell you that my wife and my mother are very concerned for me,” says Joe Gloria, the registrar in Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas. He said his staff was bolstering security and tracking vehicles coming and going from the election offices.

But he adds that he and others would not be stopped from “doing what our duty is and counting ballots.”

Groups of Trump supporters gathered at vote tabulation sites in Detroit and Philadelphia again Friday, decrying counts that showed Democrat Joe Biden leading in those and other key states.

While the protests have not been violent or very large, local officials were distressed by the gatherings and concerned about the relentless accusations.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel tweets a plea Thursday to “stop making harassing & threatening calls” to her staff.

“Asking them to shove sharpies in uncomfortable places is never appropriate & is a sad commentary on the state of our nation,” writes Nessel, a Democrat, referring to a false conspiracy theory that Trump supporters were told to fill out ballots with Sharpie markers instead of regular pens so that their votes wouldn’t be counted by the machines.

Dozens of Trump supporters rallied outside Detroit’s convention center Friday morning, where election workers have counted ballots.

“Stop the steal,” the protesters chant. Some carried signs that read, “Make Elections Fair Again,” and “We Love Trump.” Police cordon off streets leading to the tabulation center and maintained a close watch on the protest.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, speaking on CNN, said her main concern was staff safety but that sheriff’s deputies were providing protection. She said the protesters were “causing delay and disruption and preventing those employees from doing their job”

— AP

Biden lead in Pennsylvania increases to 9,027; remains below .1% difference

Joe Biden’s lead in Pennsylvania continues to increase by the hour and now has climbed to a 9,027 vote difference.

Biden has 49.4% compared to Trump’s 49.3%.

US sanctions Hezbollah-allied Lebanese Christian leader

The US Treasury has slapped sanctions on Lebanon’s former foreign minister and a leading Christian political ally of the militant Hezbollah group, singling him out for what it said was his role in corruption.

Gebran Bassil, a lawmaker who leads the largest bloc in parliament and a son-in-law of President Michel Aoun, has emerged as a major target of Lebanese protesters who thronged streets in an uprising last year over endemic corruption and state mismanagement.

The Treasury designation did not mention Bassil’s alliance or links to Hezbollah, but the sanctions targeting him appeared to be part of the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran and its allies in the region.

The United States has been sanctioning Hezbollah officials for years, and recently began targeting politicians close to the group. In September, the Treasury imposed sanctions on two former Lebanese Cabinet ministers allied with the militant group in a strong message to Hezbollah and its allies who control majority seats in Parliament.

The announcement is a major expansion of the scope of sanctions targeting Hezbollah’s political partners in Lebanon.

“The systemic corruption in Lebanon’s political system exemplified by Bassil has helped to erode the foundation of an effective government that serves the Lebanese people,” says US Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Immediately after the designation, Bassil tweeted that the sanctions do not frighten him. “I have gotten used to injustice and learned from our history: It is our fate in this Orient to carry our cross every day … in order to survive,” he tweets.

The announcement came as the world anxiously awaited the result of US elections and Donald Trump’s pathway to reelection appeared to shrink.

It also comes as former Prime Minister Saad Hariri is struggling to form a new government in Lebanon, which has been hit by the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.

— AP

Biden lead in Nevada increases to 22,076 differential over Trump

Joe Biden’s lead in Nevada has climbed to 22,076 votes with 91% of the vote counted there.

Biden has 49.8% of the vote compared to Trump’s 48.1%.

CNN, ABC follow other networks, calling Senate race for Arizona Dem. Mark Kelly

CNN and ABC follow The New York Times and other networks in calling the closely contested Senate race in Arizona for Democrat Mark Kelly.

A former astronaut and husband to former Rep. Gabby Giffords, Kelly has defeated Republican incumbent Martha McSally for the late John McCain’s Senate seat.

Kelly has won 51.7% of the vote compared to McSally’s 48.3%.

This leaves Democrats with 48 Senate seats compared to 47 for the Republicans. The former has picked up two seats compared to the latter’s one.

Five seats still remain, including two likely run-offs in Georgia, with Republicans expected to hold onto their slim majority there.

Lindsey Graham calls on Trump campaign to provide evidence of voter fraud, which it has yet to do

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham says on a Zoom call that it is “incumbent on the Trump team to detail specific instances of voter irregularities,” which it has yet to do.

CNN reports that Graham has spoken with the Trump team and was told that the campaign plans to provide such evidence later today.

Republican senator: You can’t stop count in 1 state and have it continue in another

In a message to the Trump campaign, Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri tells CNN, “You can’t stop the count in one state and have it continue in another state. That’s not how it works.”

Georgia secretary of state: With margin this small, recount inevitable

Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger says that with the margin between the candidate’s as small as it currently is, a recount in the state is inevitable.

State law allows either candidate to request a recount if the margin between them is less than .5%.

Both candidates currently have 49.4% of the vote, but Biden leads by less than 2,000.

Trump ally Rush Limbaugh declares Biden election winner

Trump-ally and right-wing shock-jock Rush Limbaugh has declared on his radio show Rush Limbaugh Live that Joe Biden is the winner of the presidential election, Steve Thomma, the head of the White House Correspondents Association reports.

WATCH: As victory nears, protest of Biden supporters in PA turns into dance party

The protest of Biden supporters in Philadelphia who had gathered to object to Trump campaign calls to stop the vote count has turned into a dance party.

steps away from the dance party a band is also playing outside the Philly convention center pic.twitter.com/JLLyvoTjZq

— Amber Jamieson (@ambiej) November 6, 2020

lmao Philly is now dancing to the Trump 2020 campaign theme song YMCA pic.twitter.com/QRSf21eb2c

— Amber Jamieson (@ambiej) November 6, 2020

it is 11:30am and Philly is absolutely vibing pic.twitter.com/OGdLZFZbcg

— Amber Jamieson (@ambiej) November 6, 2020

Romney: Trump wrong to say election rigged, doing so damages democracy

Republican Senator Mitt Romney issues a statement saying Trump has a right to request a recount, but is “wrong to say that the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen — doing so damages the cause of freedom here and around the world, weakens the institutions that lie at the foundation of the Republic, and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions.”

pic.twitter.com/oXLhsGxWma

— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) November 6, 2020

Jewish Democratic group congratulates ‘president-elect’ Biden

As he nears victory over Donald Trump, the Jewish Democratic Council of America issues a statement “congratulat[ing] President-elect Joe Biden.”

“In this historic election, Americans have chosen unity over division, decency over hate, and science over fiction. We’ve chosen to restore the soul of our nation with President-elect Joe Biden, and are incredibly proud that overwhelming support among Jewish Americans ensured his victory in critical swing states. This moment is made all the more poignant as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who has deep ties to the Jewish community, becomes the first woman and woman of color to serve in this role,” JDCA says.

As Biden lead in PA grows, just 40,000 votes remain to be counted in Philly

Philadelphia City Commissioners chair Lisa Deely, who is overseeing the vote count in the heavily blue city says some 40,000 votes remain to be counted.

Later this afternoon, the tally will be updated by some 2,000 to 3,000 votes.

Of the 40,000 votes yet to be counted, 15,000 to 20,000 of them are provisional ballots that need to be verified.

Biden’s lead in the entire state of Pennsylvania grows to 12,390 votes. He has 49.5% of the vote compared to Trump’s 49.3%.

Biden, Harris expected to address nation at 8 p.m.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are expected to address the nation around 8 p.m. EST, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the campaign’s planning.

Harris will speak first and then Biden, according to Bloomberg.

Protester killed in southern Iraq as tensions flare again

Iraqi security forces opened fire during clashes with hundreds of protesters in the southern city of Basra, killing one demonstrator and wounding several others as tensions flared once again, hospital officials say.

The clashes erupted after some of the protesters tried to set up tents in a public square, a week after similar, previously erected protest tents in Basra and Baghdad had been removed.

Dozens of young Iraqis were seen running away in panic after the shots were fired in Basra. The slain protester was identified as Omar al-Thiabi, a 29-year-old unemployed Iraqi.

Last Saturday, Iraqi forces cleared out sit-in tents from Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square that had been the epicenter of anti-government mass protests that erupted last year. They also removed tents in Basra’s Bahriya Square and in other southern cities that have seen major protests throughout the past year.

The removal of the tents has led to tensions and protesters in Basra have been trying to erect them again, holding demonstrations in the city for the past three days. They are also demanding the sacking of the governor and an investigation into previous killings of protesters.

The hospital officials said seven protesters were wounded in Friday’s clashes. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

More than 500 people were killed during the months-long protest movement that began in October 2019 in Baghdad and across the mainly Shiite south, many of them demonstrators shot by Iraqi security forces.

Despite reaching unprecedented numbers in late 2019 and successfully mounting pressure on the country’s elites, the anti-government protests have been largely dormant in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Activists also blamed the drop in numbers on a violent crackdown by Iraqi security forces and militia groups, as well as kidnappings and targeted assassinations.

— AP

Storm Eta leaves 150 dead or missing in Guatemala

About 150 people have either died or remain unaccounted for in Guatemala due to mudslides caused by powerful storm Eta, which buried an entire village, President Alejandro Giammattei says.

Eta has torn through Central America, leaving death and destruction in its wake since it made landfall in Nicaragua on Tuesday as a category 4 hurricane, although it has since been downgraded.

— AFP

Trump: I will never give up fighting for you and our nation

Trump issues the following statement as his chances of winning re-election dwindle: “We believe the American people deserve to have full transparency into all vote counting and election certification, and that this is no longer about any single election.”

“This is about the integrity of our entire election process. From the beginning, we have said that all legal ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots should not be counted, yet we have met resistance to this basic principle by Democrats at every turn.”

“We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government. I will never give up fighting for you and our nation.”

On Thursday at a White House press conference, Trump advanced unsupported accusations of voter fraud to falsely argue that his rival, Joe Biden, was trying to seize power in an extraordinary effort by a sitting American president to sow doubt about the democratic process.

Biden’s lead in decisive state of Pennsylvania grows to 13,371

Joe Biden’s lead in the decisive state of Pennsylvania continues to grow, and he now leads the president by 13,371 votes.

PA senator speculates Biden will win state by some 100,000 votes

Citing estimates from the progressive Voter Project grassroots group, Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey predicts that Joe Biden will win his state by roughly 100,000 votes.

He currently leads Trump by roughly 14,000 votes and some 130,000 votes remain to be counted in the state. The vast majority of those votes are absentee and mail-in ballots, which lean overwhelmingly in Biden’s favor.

Twitter flags ‘president-elect Biden’ posts as premature

Twitter has flagged as premature posts referring to Joe Biden as “president-elect,” as the vote count continued in the knife-edge US election with the Democrat leading Donald Trump in several key states.

Tweets referring to the former vice president with the victor’s title and his running mate Kamala Harris as “vice president-elect” were tagged with messages saying counts were not yet final.

“Official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted,” reads a message below a post from Democratic Coalition co-founder and podcaster Scott Dworkin using the two titles for Biden and Harris.

The notice comes with a link to information about the status of the election.

Twitter and Facebook have been scrambling to flag, mask and limit the spread of premature claims of victory or false attacks on the voting process since the polls closed late Tuesday.

“As votes are still being counted across the country, our teams continue to take enforcement action on tweets that prematurely declare victory or contain misleading information about the election broadly,” Twitter says.

“This is in line with our civic integrity policy and our recent guidance on labeling election results.”

Unfounded claims by Trump regarding the voting process as well as premature claims of victory about either candidate in the race have been flagged or masked, with links provided to reliable sources of information.

Twitter’s action made the comments less visible, and users seeking to read the posts were required to click through a warning.

— AFP

Biden increases lead over Trump in Nevada

Democrat Joe Biden has increased his lead over President Donald Trump in Nevada to 20,137 votes.

Results released from Democrat-heavy Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and three-quarters of Nevada’s population, along with two rural counties, put Biden at 627,104 votes and Trump at 606,967.

Biden’s lead nearly doubled from Thursday, when he was leading Trump by about 11,000 votes.

The Associated Press has not called the presidential race. Votes are still being counted in several battleground states.

Clark County Registrar Joe Gloria says his county has an additional 63,000 mail ballots to be processed over the next few days and 60,000 provisional ballots to be processed later.

Gloria said Clark County would release more results Friday afternoon but he said he did not know exactly how many ballots could be included in that release.

The state has said it will provide an update later Friday on how many ballots are yet to be counted statewide. On Thursday, they reported that number at 190,150.

— AP

Netanyahu said weighing nightly curfews in cities where virus numbers have spiked

As virus numbers spike in major cities including Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is weighing imposing nightly curfews, Channel 12.

Senior Health Ministry officials object to the idea, arguing that it won’t do enough to keep cases down, the network says.

Advocates race to find Georgia voters who cast bad ballots

Advocates for both presidential candidates are racing to find every person in Georgia who submitted a flawed ballot before time ran out to fix the paperwork in a race that could be decided by only a few thousand votes.

Counties are required to contact voters with problem ballots so they can be fixed. Both political parties also have those lists and were reaching out.

Cobb County Republican Party Chairman Jason Shepherd sent out a call Thursday for volunteers to help the state party, saying Republicans were trying to fix provisional ballots. State GOP Political Director Joe Proenza referred comment to a Trump campaign spokesperson who did not respond to an email.

Democrat Joe Biden is leading President Donald Trump in Georgia by about 1,500 votes, but final results will not be known for days. Under Georgia law, a candidate can request a recount if the margin is less than one half of one percentage point.

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in Georgia because the race remains too close to call. The state’s 16 electoral votes could clinch the race for Biden in his quest for the 270 votes needed to win the presidency.

The secretary of state’s office says several thousand absentee ballots were still being counted. Another 8,900 ballots sent to military and overseas voters could be counted if received by the Friday deadline. Counties also have provisional ballots to review.

— AP

Gantz weighed being among 1st to congratulate Biden, decided against it — report

Defense Minister Benny Gantz considered being among the first world leaders to congratulate Democratic nominee Joe Biden on his apparent election victory, Channel 13 reports.

Ultimately, he has held off doing so for the time being due to fears that such a move would lead to a punitive response from Trump, who has yet to concede and will still be in office until January 20.

Senior White House adviser to CNN: ‘It’s over’

A senior adviser to the White House tells CNN, “it’s over.”

Nonetheless, CNN reports that Trump is instructing aides to double down and prepare for legal battles that will go through December.

GOP files Supreme Court suit regarding late-arriving votes in PA

The Pennsylvania GOP has asked the US Supreme Court for an emergency order to ensure no late-arriving mail-in ballots are added to the total vote count, ABC reports.

Trump currently trails Biden in the state by nearly 14,000 votes.

With Trump trailing Biden in the Pennsylvania vote count, state Republicans are asking the US Supreme Court for an emergency order to ensure that no late-arriving mail ballots are added to the totals and that they are instead segregated.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar has told ABC that those late-arriving ballots are not being included in the tally anyways, but the GOP suit argues that Boockvar’s directive is non-binding that some counties have not indicated explicitly that they won’t count late-arriving ballots.

The case is not expected to impact Biden’s lead in the decisive state.

Europe coronavirus deaths surge past 300,000

A second coronavirus wave has plowed on relentlessly through Europe which reported more than 12 million cases and 300,000 deaths as swathes of Italy returned to lockdown and the British city of Liverpool trialed city-wide testing.

The continent has become the new epicenter of the pandemic and a total of 300,688 deaths have been reported in Europe since the Covid-19 virus first hit, according to an AFP tally of health authorities figures.

Two-thirds of these fatalities have been registered in the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain and Russia.

As countries raced to try and curb their spiking cases, they imposed new lockdowns despite signs of growing unrest, with several Italian regions shutting down and Greeks facing fresh stay-at-home orders from Saturday.

The United States is also struggling to rein in the pandemic, recording over 1,200 deaths and more than 120,000 infections between Wednesday and Thursday evening in another daily record, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

— AFP

GA Secretary of state: Georgia remains too close to call

Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger tells reporters in a press conference that his state “remains too close to call” and that a recount is all but certain.

Biden currently leads by a 1,585 margin, with just several thousand more votes left to count.

Ethiopian PM announces airstrikes in country’s Tigray region

Ethiopia’s prime minister says his government has carried out airstrikes against the forces of the country’s well-armed Tigray region, asserting that strikes in multiple locations “completely destroyed rockets and other heavy weapons” and made a retaliatory attack impossible.

Abiy Ahmed’s evening announcement marks another escalation in clashes this week that experts say could slide one of Africa’s most powerful and populous countries into civil war. The conflict pits former allies in the nation’s ruling coalition, with the federal government and regional government now regarding each other as illegal.

There was no mention of casualties in what Abiy calls the “first round of operation” against the region’s government, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. He said the air force destroyed heavy weapons in Tigray’s capital, Mekele, and surrounding areas, alleging the TPLF “has the desire to use them.”

The operation will continue, Abiy says, “until the junta is made accountable by law.” And he warned the Tigray population: ”In order to avoid unexpected peril, I advise that you limit group movements in cities.”

There was no immediate response from the Tigray government, while the region is increasingly boxed in by movement restrictions and a six-month state of emergency imposed by the federal government.

The military operation launched early Wednesday after Abiy accused the Tigray government of a deadly attack on a military base. He asserted Friday that months of trying to resolve differences with the regional government have failed. Now, he said, the operation has “clear, limited and achievable objectives: to restore the rule of law and the constitutional order.”

And with that, the prime minister appears to close the door on dialogue, which some experts and diplomats say is desperately needed.

— AP

US agency pushes back on voter fraud claims

The federal agency that oversees US election security is pushing back at unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud without mentioning that President Donald Trump is making unfounded allegations about the vote count.

A new statement from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency notes that local election offices have detection measures that “make it highly difficult to commit fraud through counterfeit ballots.”

CISA, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, published the statement Friday on a section of its website devoted to dispelling rumors. It said it was countering a rumor about the role of DHS and CISA in the printing of ballots and auditing of results. Neither agency has a role in printing or auditing ballots. CISA principally helps local and state election departments protect themselves against cyberattacks.

CISA also put out a statement noting that the systems and processes used to tabulate votes and certify results “are protected by various safeguards that help ensure the accuracy of election results.”

The agency has been urging the public for weeks to be patient during the counting of results, which was slower this year in large part because of COVID-19 and the large number of mail-in ballots. It has made no comment on Trump saying without evidence that the ballot-counting process is unfair and corrupt.

— AP

Trump frustrated that not enough people are defending him on TV

US President Donald Trump is expressing frustration in the White House that not enough Republican allies are taking to the TV networks in order to defend him, CNN reports.

Rush Limbaugh insists he never conceded election for Trump

After appearing to acknowledge that US President Donald Trump has lost the election to Joe Biden, right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh walks it back.

“I’ve not conceded anything. All I’ve said was that the cable networks were waiting for Fox to do it!” he says on his radio show Rush Limbaugh Live.

Georgia confident votes being properly counted

Top Republican officials in Georgia say they are confident the secretary of state will ensure that ballots are properly counted.

The statement from GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and others comes a day after US President Donald Trump alleged without any details or evidence that election officials are trying to “steal the election” from him.

Trump said Thursday that the “election apparatus in Georgia is run by Democrats,” even though the top election official is a Republican whom he endorsed.

Democrat Joe Biden was leading Trump in Georgia by about 1,500 votes midday Friday. The Associated Press has not called the race for either candidate yet.

— AP

Some senior White House aides reportedly beginning to plan next career moves

CNN reports that some senior White House aides who aren’t as close to Trump have begun inquiring into their next career moves as the president’s chances for re-election have all but disappeared.

US stocks end best week in months with muted session

Wall Street stocks finish their best week in months with a muted session as Joe Biden inched closer to victory in the still-unresolved presidential election.

The broad-based S&P 500 finished at 3,509.44, down less than 0.1 percent for the session, but up 7.3 percent for the week, its best since April.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.2 percent to 28,323.40, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.4 percent at 13,254.32.

— AFP

Bannon lawyer quits fraud case after inflamatory remarks

A lawyer for US President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, has quit defending him in a federal fraud case a day after Bannon made inflammatory comments about Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

In a letter dated today, defense attorney William Burck told a federal court judge in New York City that he was withdrawing from the case. He did not give a reason why. Reached by email, Burck declined to discuss the decision.

The lawyer quits after Bannon suggested on an online broadcast that Fauci and Wray should be beheaded for being disloyal to the president. The remarks prompted Twitter to permanently suspend Bannon’s account.

“I’d put the heads on pikes” as a warning to federal bureaucrats, Bannon said on video. “You either get with the program or you are gone.”

Bannon, 66, is facing charges he ripped off Trump supporters as an organizer of a group called “We Build The Wall” that portrayed itself as eager to help the president build a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. He has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors have accused Bannon and co-defendants of misappropriating money from the group, which raised $25 million from thousands of donors who thought their cash would be used to build the wall.

Prosecutors declined comment on Friday. There was no new lawyer for Bannon named in the court record.

— AP

Missouri poll worker kept COVID diagnosis mostly to herself

A Missouri election judge who came to work despite testing positive for the coronavirus died in her sleep after a 15-hour shift at the polls, the director of her county’s election office says

The woman worked Election Day as an election judge supervisor at Memorial Hall in Blanchette Park in the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles. Officials don’t yet know if COVID-19 was the cause of death. County officials didn’t release her name, citing privacy laws.

She tested positive on Oct. 30 but ignored advice to isolate and worked alongside nine other election judges. More than 1,800 people voted at the precinct. Judges were required to wear masks and were mostly behind a plastic glass barrier.

St. Charles County Election Authority Director Kurt Bahr said in a phone interview that the woman had previously worked several other elections, as had her sister at a different polling site. It was the sister who called Bahr’s office Wednesday to let him know of the woman’s death.

But Bahr says the sister didn’t know of the COVID-19 diagnosis.

“She was just as shocked,” Bahr says. “The family was unaware she had tested positive. As far as I understand, the only person that knew was the spouse of the judge.”

Bahr says that as an election judge, the woman would have shown up around 5 a.m. to help prepare the polling place; worked the entire time the polls were open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.; then spent about an hour wrapping up.

She died in her sleep either late Tuesday or early Wednesday, Bahr says.

— AP

Study finds links between polling errors and states with strong QAnon support

Initial results from a study carried out by University of Southern California researchers indicate a strong statistical correlation between state polls that downplayed US President Donald Trump’s re-election chances and those with higher-than-average amounts of support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, the New York Times reports.

Biden’s slim lead over Trump in Georgia grows to 4,235 votes

Democratic nominee Joe Biden has slightly expanded his slim lead over President Donald Trump in Georgia, as more ballots are counted in the southern US state.

Biden’s lead over Trump is now at 4,235 votes.