USA

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Vowing “to get right to work,” President-elect Joe Biden shrugged off President Donald Trump’s fierce refusal to accept the election outcome as “inconsequential,” even as Democrats elsewhere warned that the Republican president’s actions were dangerous.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. hit a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations Tuesday and surpassed 1 million new confirmed cases in just the first 10 days of November amid a nationwide surge of infections that shows no signs of slowing.

The new wave appears bigger and more widespread than the surges that happened in the spring and summer — and threatens to be worse. But experts say there are also reasons to think the nation is better able to deal with the virus this time around.

ATLANTA (AP) — The 2020 election unfolded smoothly across the country and without any widespread irregularities, according to state officials and election experts, a stark contrast to the baseless claims of fraud being leveled by President Donald Trump following his defeat.

Election experts said the large increase in advance voting — 107 million people voting early in person and by mail — helped take pressure off Election Day operations. There were also no incidents of violence at the polls or voter intimidation.

WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States imposed sanctions on four more Chinese officials in Hong Kong’s governing and security establishment over their alleged role in crushing dissent in the former British colony.

The US Treasury and State Department identified the four as Deng Zhonghua, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office; Edwina Lau, deputy commissioner of police in Hong Kong, and Li Jiangzhou and Li Kwai-wah, two officials at the newly established national security office in Hong Kong.

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - President-elect Joe Biden on Monday said a coronavirus vaccine approval process must be guided by science so the public can have confidence it is safe and effective, warning that the United States is still facing a very dark winter and that a vaccine likely won’t be available for months.

“I implore you, wear a mask. Do it for yourself. Do it for your neighbor. A mask is not a political statement,” Biden said, adding that he would spare no effort to turn the pandemic around once he is sworn in.

Washington, Nov 10 (AP/PTI) The Trump administration threw the presidential transition into tumult on Monday, Attorney General William Barr authorising the Justice Department to probe allegations of voter fraud and President Donald Trump firing the Pentagon chief and blocking government officials from cooperating with President-elect Joe Biden's team.

Despite little evidence of fraud, Barr signed off on investigations into the unsubstantiated claims made repeatedly by Trump.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- The United States confirmed more than 10 million COVID-19 cases on Monday, just 10 days after hitting 9 million. Experts warned the country is entering the pandemic's worst phase as average daily new infections have exceeded 100,000.

Stanley Perlman, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, told Xinhua that the United States is in the "worst part" of the pandemic, and will stay at this level for several weeks.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Monday announced more than a dozen sanctions against Syrian entities and military officials to further pressure the Syrian government.

According to a statement by the Treasury Department, the sanctions designated the head of Syrian Air Force Intelligence, the head of Syrian Political Security Directorate, two members of the Syrian Parliament, the Syrian Ministry of Petroleum, two entities owned by the Syrian Ministry of Defense, among others.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday, sending shockwaves through Washington.

"Mark Esper has been terminated," Trump tweeted. "I would like to thank him for his service."

The announcement came only days after a Pentagon spokesman said Esper "has no plans to resign, nor has he been asked to submit a letter of resignation."

Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, reportedly called Esper to give him a heads-up that the president's tweet was going to be sent out.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- American drugmaker Pfizer and German pharmaceutical company BioNTech announced on Monday data analysis shows their COVID-19 vaccine candidate is more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 in participants without evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The results came from the first interim efficacy analysis conducted on Nov. 8 by an external, independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) from the Phase 3 clinical study of the vaccine BNT162b2, according to a statement of Pfizer.