Sweden Closes High Schools to Stem COVID-19

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Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven announced Thursday that high schools would switch to distance learning beginning Monday through early January to slow the rate of COVID-19 infections in the country. Lofven made the announcement at a Stockholm news conference alongside Swedish Education Minister Anna Ekstrom. He said he hoped the move would have a “breaking effect” on the rate of COVID-19 infections. He added it was not intended to extend the Christmas break for students and he said he was putting his trust in them that they would continue to study from home. The distance learning will be in effect until January 6.Peoplemore

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As Trump Faces End of His Presidency, Questions Abound

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Less than seven weeks before his four-year term ends, questions are swirling around U.S. President Donald Trump.Will he concede defeat to President-elect Joe Biden?So far, Trump has not yet offered a concession, nor is one required. A concession is simply a polite tradition of U.S. presidential elections in which the losing candidate admits the obvious and congratulates the winner.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can An undated portrait of Grover Cleveland, 22nd president of the United States.A question also remains about the inauguration: Will Trump attend?For more than a century, each outgoing president has adhered to custommore

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Among First Acts, Biden to Call for 100 Days of Mask-Wearing

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Joe Biden said Thursday that he will ask Americans to commit to 100 days of wearing masks as one of his first acts as president, stopping just short of the nationwide mandate he’s pushed before to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The move marks a notable shift from President Donald Trump, whose own skepticism of mask-wearing has contributed to a politicization of the issue. That’s made many people reticent to embrace a practice that public health experts say is one of the easiest ways to manage the pandemic, which has killed more than 275,000 Americans. The president-elect has frequentlymore

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VP-Elect Harris Picks Tina Flournoy to Be Her Chief of Staff

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Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has named Tina Flournoy, a veteran Democratic strategist and aide to the Clintons, as her chief of staff, the transition team announced Thursday. Flournoy’s appointment as Harris’ top staffer adds to a team of advisers led by Black women. Harris, who is of Jamaican and Indian heritage, is the nation’s first female vice president. Flournoy joins Ashley Etienne as Harris’ communications director and Symone Sanders as her chief spokeswoman. Flournoy has served as chief of staff for former President Bill Clinton since 2013. That follows a career that took her to top posts at the Democraticmore

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Fauci to Discuss Coronavirus Pandemic with Biden Transition Team

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, is meeting virtually Thursday with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team about the surging coronavirus pandemic in the country and the likely start soon of widespread vaccinations of millions of Americans.Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, was for months the face of the government’s response to the pandemic.But his dire warnings about the health risks of the virus eventually peeved President Donald Trump, who sidelined him in favor of more optimistic medical views ahead of last month’s national election in which Biden defeated Trump. Biden has promised tomore

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Ivanka Trump Questioned Under Oath in Inauguration Funds Lawsuit

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Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and adviser, was questioned under oath this week as part of a civil lawsuit alleging misuse of nonprofit funds for Donald Trump’s inauguration four years ago.District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine’s office disclosed in a court filing on Tuesday that the deposition had taken place that day.In a January 2020 lawsuit, Racine claimed Donald Trump’s real estate business and other entities misused nonprofit funds to enrich the Trump family.According to the suit, a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation called the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee coordinated with the Trump family to grossly overpay for event space inmore

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US Republicans Balk as Trump Uses Defense Bill for Leverage on Big Tech

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President Donald Trump’s threat to veto a defense bill if it does not repeal legal protections for social media companies faced stiff bipartisan opposition Wednesday, setting the stage for a confrontation with lawmakers scrambling to pass the massive bill by year’s end. Unusually, members of his Republican Party broke from Trump to join Democrats in objecting to his threat to veto the annual National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a $740 billion annual bill setting policy for the Pentagon, if it does not include a measure eliminating a federal law — known as Section 230 — protecting tech companies such asmore

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Bill Forcing Chinese Firms to Meet US Accounting Standards Passes Congress

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The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday that could prevent Chinese companies from listing their shares on U.S. exchanges unless they adhere to U.S. auditing standards.The measure passed by unanimous voice vote, after passing the Senate earlier this year, sending it to the White House, which said President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law.”The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act” bars securities of foreign companies from being listed on any U.S. exchange if they have failed to comply with the U.S. Public Accounting Oversight Board’s audits for three years in a row.While it applies to companiesmore

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Former Astronaut Kelly Sworn In as US Senator

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Former astronaut Mark Kelly, who ousted incumbent Republican Martha McSally in last month’s election, was sworn in Wednesday as a U.S. senator from Arizona.Kelly, a Democrat, will serve the remaining two years in the seat once held by longtime Senator John McCain, a prisoner of war in the 1960s in Vietnam and the Republican presidential candidate in 2008. McCain died in 2018 after having served two years of a six-year term. McSally was appointed to replace him in 2018 but lost to Kelly in a special election.Kelly will be up for a full six-year term in the 2022 election. Hemore

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Georgia Republicans Show Party Is Not a Monolithic Group

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President Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud have put doubt in the minds of many Republicans. One state that has seen recounts after the election is Georgia, a state that has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1992. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee shows the diversity of opinions among Republicans on the outcome of the presidential election.Producer: Barry Unger. Camera: Joel Brewer, Michael Catron. …

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Even Trump-Appointed Judges Balk at President’s Efforts to Overturn Election

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Federal judge Stephanos Bibas pulled no punches when he issued a scathing opinion last Saturday rejecting the Trump campaign’s latest attempt to overturn the outcome of the November 3 presidential election.“Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so,” Bibas wrote in a FILE – Election workers, right, verify ballots as recount observers, left, watch during a Milwaukee hand recount of presidential votes at the Wisconsin Center, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 20, 2020.But Bibas, 51, is not just another judge on another court. He is a Trump appointee on the U.S. Court of Appealsmore

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Trump Threatens to Veto Major Defense Bill Unless Law Protecting Tech Companies is Axed

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U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to veto a major defense spending and policy bill unless it includes eliminating a law protecting internet companies from liability for material posted by users. Trump’s threat to veto the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) came in a late Tuesday tweet, and at a time when the $740 billion bill is in the hands of a committee to reconcile two different versions passed by the Senate and House of Representatives. He called the law involving internet companies, known as Section 230, a form of “corporate welfare” and “a serious threat to our National Security & Electionmore

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South Korea to Hold College Entrance Test Amid Pandemic ‘Third Wave’

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As nearly a half-million South Korean students prepare to take an all-important college entrance examination later this week, health and education officials are stepping up efforts to prevent test sites from becoming coronavirus hotspots.  On Thursday, much of South Korea will quiet down as students in their third and final year of high school complete a test that is widely seen as having an oversized impact on one’s academic, professional and even marital prospects. Officials say that roughly 490,000 people have applied for this year’s one and only College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), better known in Korean as the suneung.more

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Barr Reveals He Appointed Special Counsel to Probe Origins of Russia Investigation

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Attorney General William Barr has given extra protection to the prosecutor he appointed to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, giving him the authority of a special counsel to complete the work without being easily fired.   Barr told The Associated Press Tuesday he had appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham as a special counsel in October under the same federal statute that governed special counsel Robert Mueller in the original Russia probe. He said Durham’s investigation has been narrowing to focus more on the conduct of FBI agents who worked on the Russia investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane.  more

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Political Rancor Feels Old to America’s Youth

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Young people watching the rancor between political parties and among average Americans say they do not expect it to get better anytime soon.“No one seems to want to listen to the other side, and it’s halting any possible progress that could be made otherwise in terms of finding out how best to run the country and what would make the most people happy,” said Christopher Charles Laverde, 22, who writes for the popular anime YouTube channel We the Celestials.  Among Gen Zers (18 to 24 years old), three-quarters said they felt the United States is more divided than before, accordingmore

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Trump Threatens Military Spending Veto

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U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to veto a major defense spending and policy bill unless it includes eliminating a law protecting internet companies from liability for material posted by users. Trump’s threat to veto the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) came in a late Tuesday tweet, and at a time when the $740 billion bill is in the hands of a committee to reconcile two different versions passed by the Senate and House of Representatives. He called the law involving internet companies, known as Section 230, a form of “corporate welfare” and “a serious threat to our National Security & Electionmore

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Political Rancor Feels Old to Young in US

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Young people watching the rancor between political parties and among average Americans say they do not expect it to get better anytime soon.“No one seems to want to listen to the other side, and it’s halting any possible progress that could be made otherwise in terms of finding out how best to run the country and what would make the most people happy,” said Christopher Charles Laverde, 22, who writes for the popular anime YouTube channel We the Celestials.  Among Gen Zers (18 to 24 years old), three-quarters said they felt the United States is more divided than before, accordingmore

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US Lawmakers Running Out of Time to Pass Coronavirus Aid

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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says time is running out for U.S. lawmakers to reach an agreement on a second massive round of aid addressing the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.With just a handful of days left in session this year, members of Congress are racing to reach an agreement after months of fruitless negotiations.McConnell told reporters Tuesday he had been in discussion with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows earlier in the day to determine what legislation U.S. President Donald Trump would be willing to sign.“The way you get a result,more

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Biden, Harris Introduce Economic Team Tuesday

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris introduced the top economic officials they have picked for their administration at an event Tuesday. FILE – Former Fed Chair Janet Yellen speaks with Fox Business Network guest anchor Jon Hilsenrath in the Fox Washington bureau in Washington, Aug. 14, 2019.The incoming president and vice president first made their picks public in a statement Monday, including the choice of former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen to be the first woman to lead the Treasury Department in its 231-year history.  The economic team will face the immediate challenge of handling the effects of the coronavirusmore

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Trump Headed to Georgia as Election Turnout Driver, But Also a Threat

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Some establishment Republicans are sounding alarms that President Donald Trump’s conspiratorial denials of his own defeat could threaten the party’s ability to win a Senate majority and counter President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. The concerns come ahead of Trump’s planned Saturday visit to Georgia to campaign alongside Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who face strong Democratic challengers in Jan. 5 runoffs that will determine which party controls the Senate at the outset of Biden’s presidency.  Republicans acknowledge Trump as the GOP’s biggest turnout driver, including in Georgia, where Biden won by fewer than 13,000 votes out of about 5 million cast. Thatmore

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Trump Science Adviser Scott Atlas Leaving White House Job

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Dr. Scott Atlas, a science adviser to President Donald Trump who was skeptical of measures to control the coronavirus outbreak, is leaving his White House post.A White House official confirmed that the Stanford University neuroradiologist, who had no formal experience in public health or infectious diseases, resigned at the end of his temporary government assignment. Atlas confirmed the news in a Monday evening tweet.Honored to have served @realDonaldTrump and the American people during these difficult times. pic.twitter.com/xT1hRoYBMh— Scott W. Atlas (@ScottWAtlas) December 1, 2020Atlas joined the White House this summer, where he clashed with top government scientists, including Dr. Anthonymore

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Biden Names Top Economic Officials

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Monday named his top officials to deal with the country’s coronavirus-ravaged economy, including former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen to be the first woman to lead the Treasury Department in its 231-year history.In addition, Biden named Neera Tanden, currently president of the Center for American Progress, a liberal Washington public policy research and advocacy group, as director of the government’s Office of Management and Budget. If confirmed by the Senate, Tanden would be the first woman of color and first South Asian American to head the agency.FILE – Neera Tanden, president of Center for Americanmore

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‘Mercenary’ Donor Sold Access for Millions in Foreign Money

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As an elite political fundraiser, Imaad Zuberi had the ear of top Democrats and Republicans alike — a reach that included private meetings with then-Vice President Joe Biden and VIP access at Donald Trump’s inauguration. He lived a lavish, jet-setting lifestyle, staying at fine hotels and hosting lawmakers and diplomats at four-star restaurants. Foreign ambassadors turned to Zuberi to get face time in Congress. He was a charming networker and an inveterate namedropper. His Facebook account was filled with pictures of him next to the powerful and famous: having dinner with Hillary Clinton and Robert De Niro and rubbing shouldersmore

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