United States

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has warned that the United States might not return to normal until 2022. Even if a vaccine was available in the next couple of months, there's a chance a "substantial proportion of the people" won't be vaccinated until the second or third quarter of 2021, Fauci said.

"I think it will be easily by the end of 2021, and perhaps even into the next year, before we start having some semblances of normality," so Fauci.

After Monday's shooting of the 27-year-old Black man Walter Wallace, who was shot and killed during a confrontation with Philadelphia police, protests have erupted in the city. According to Police, a large crowd, which they estimated to be approximately 1,000 people, looted businesses in Port Richmond, Philadelphia Tuesday night. Police have now asked residents to stay indoors, "requesting that all residents in the 12, 16, 18, 19, 24, 25, and 26th Districts remain indoors except when necessary."

"All this violence and looting. I don't want to leave a bad scar on my son and my family with this looting and chaos stuff. So I want my son's name and everybody to stop this. Give my son a chance. And the family like we're decent people," Wallace's father told CNN. "Everybody to have respect for our family, to pray for us. Cut it out. The looting is a mindset and it won't bring my son back. And it won't, it will escalate things to get worse instead of better."

The United States have reported over half a million Covid-19 cases over the past week, as much as the country recorded in the first three months of the pandemic (January 21 to April 11). While many states resort to stricter Covid-19 measures, the Trump administration has released its first-term scientific accomplishments which included the line “ENDING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC” written in bold, capital letters.

President Donald Trump has falsely claimed that it's illegal to count ballots after Election day while speaking to reporters before leaving for a campaign rally.

"It would be very, very proper and very nice if a winner were declared on Nov. 3, instead of counting ballots for two weeks, which is totally inappropriate, and I don't believe that's by our laws. I don’t believe that, but we’ll see what happens, " so Trump.

The Senate has voted 52-48 to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Monday, just days before the US election on November 3.

Around 60 million early votes have been cast for the presidential US election, with Americans voting via mail-in ballots and queueing in line at voting sites.

At least five of Vice President Pence's aides have tested positive for Covid-19, including his chief of staff Marc Short, aide Zach Bacher and adviser Marty Obst. According to Pence's spokesman Devin O'Malley, Pence was in close contact with Short but won't quarantine as he tested negative and is considered "essential personnel."

"It's critical to participate in our democracy," Rubins told AP. "We consider it an honor to be able to vote from space." A 1997 law allows astronauts to cast their vote when in "spaceflight," which is forwarded from Mission control to the space station to the county clerk.

According to court documents, investigators found evidence on Internet searches that the young man had been involved in plans to kill Joe Biden and have found several weapons, including an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a canister of explosives, during the search of his vehicle.

On a weapons tour In April, the teenager is also said to have published a memo entitled "Should I kill Joe Biden?" and he also traveled across the country to get various weapons, and searched the Internet for information about Biden's home address, U.S. federal gun laws, and night vision goggles. At one point, the 19-year-old was near Biden's home in New Hampshire. A to-do list was also found that ended with the word "execute".

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Remdesivir, a broad-spectrum antiviral medication, as the first Covid-19 treatment. According to a study by U.S. National Institutes of Health, Remdesivir can cut the time of recovery from 15 to 10 days.

During the final presidential debate on Thursday, Democratic nominee Joe Biden criticises President Donald Trump's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, alleging there was a "dark winter" ahead and Trump had "no clear plan."

"I don’t think we’re going to have a dark winter at all — we’re opening up our country," Trump responded. "We're learning to live with it. We have no choice. We can’t lock ourselves up in a basement like Joe does."

"He says ‘we're learning to live with it.’ People are learning to die with it," Biden countered. "Anyone who’s responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America."

Even though the president, for the first time, said he took full responsibility for the impact of the virus, he quickly blamed China, saying "It’s not my fault that it came here — it’s China’s fault."

During Thursday's final presidential debate, moderated by Kristen Welker of NBC News, Democratic nominee Joe Biden and President Donald Trump were asked questions regarding the current state of the US economy, the effect of Covid-19 on New York, foreign interference in US elections and health care. The candidates’ microphones were muted at times while the other was speaking.

Biden insisted that "people deserve to have affordable health care" which would be provided by Bidencare. Trump has said again he would replace Obamacare but didn't give any further information.-

Trump stated he knew all about foreign interference in US elections but alleged it was a ploy to undermine his candidacy. Biden promised that "they will pay a price if I’m elected" as they were interfering with American sovereignty, referring to China, Russia and Iran.

Barack Obama condemned President Donald Trump in a speech on Wednesday at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, urging Americans to vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden as "the next 13 days will matter for decades to come."

"Philadelphia, we got 13 days — 13 days until the most important election of our lifetimes. And you don't have to wait for Nov. 3 to cast your ballot," Obama said.

"Donald Trump isn't suddenly going to protect all of us. He can't even take the basic steps to protect himself," he added. "Here's the truth. I want to be honest here. This pandemic would have been challenging for any president. But this idea that somehow this White House has done anything but completely screw this up is just not true."

The editorial board of American newspaper USA Today has published its first presidential endorsement in its history, urging Americans to vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

"In 2016, we broke tradition in urging you not to vote for Trump. Now we're making our first presidential endorsement. We hope it's our last," so the Editorial Board. "We urged readers not to vote for Donald Trump, calling the Republican nominee unfit for office because he lacked the “temperament, knowledge, steadiness and honesty that America needs from its presidents.” We stopped short, however, of an outright endorsement of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. This year, the Editorial Board unanimously supports the election of Joe Biden, who offers a shaken nation a harbor of calm and competence."

According to the New York Times, US President Donald Trump has a Chinese bank account and spent years pursuing business projects in the country. The account, controlled by Trump International Hotels Management, paid $188,561 in local taxes between 2013 and 2015.

President Trump has been critical of US firms doing business in China and sparked a trade war between the two countries.

The newspaper's previous reports show Trump paid $750 in US federal taxes in 2016 and 2017 when he became president.

The former chairman of the Republican National Committee and former lieutenant governor of Maryland, Michael Steele, has endorsed Joe Biden for president.

In an advertisement for the conservative political group "The Lincoln Project" Steele has stated his endorsement for Joe Biden and said: "I'm a lifelong Republican and I'm still a Republican, but this ballot is how we restore the would of our nation, electing a good man, Joe Biden, and a trailblazer, Kamala Harris and ensure an orderly transfer of power or plunge our country into chaos".

The non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) on Monday have announced the rules and format for the final televised presidential debate. Each candidate will have their microphones cut off while the other is answering questions.

The CPD stated that "in order to enforce this agreed upon rule, the only candidate whose microphone will be open during these two-minute periods is the candidate who has the floor under the rules."

It was also announced that the 90-minute debate is divided into 15-minute segments into the six topics. Each candidate would be granted two minutes to deliver uninterrupted remarks before proceeding to an open debate for nine minutes of each segment.

Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, picked up the endorsement of the Rolling Stone magazine.

The magazine announced the endorsement on October 19 with an editorial that starts with: "We’ve lived for the past four years under a man categorically unfit to be president. Fortunately for America, Joe Biden is Donald Trump’s opposite in nearly every category."

Facebook has rejected a total of 2.2 million ads and withdrawn 120,000 posts for attempting to "obstruct voting" in the upcoming 2020 US election, said Facebook VP of Global Affairs and Communications Nick Clegg.

Clegg also said: "Thirty-five thousand employees take care of the security of our platforms and contribute for elections. We have established partnerships with 70 specialised media, including five in France, on the verification of information."

Thousands of supporters attended President Donald Trump's rally in Janesville, Wisconsin on Saturday, despite the state's recent surge in Covid-19 cases.

"We’re doing great, we’re doing really well. I wish you’d have a Republican governor because frankly, you got to open your state up. You got to open it up," the President told the crowd. "We’re rounding the corner. We have unbelievable vaccines coming out real soon."

On Saturday, thousands of mostly young women joined together in the second Women's March this year in honour of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The demonstration was hosted to protest Donald Trump's reelection and the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

"His presidency began with women marching, and now it’s going to end with woman voting. Period," so Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of the Women’s March.

During Thursday's town hall event, President Donald Trump refused to disavow the QAnon QAnon conspiracy theory. QAnon followers believe that Trump will save the world from a globalist cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles and cannibals controlled by the "deep state," including public figures such as Hillary Clinton, Tom Hanks and Pope Francis.

"I know nothing about QAnon. I do know they are very much against pedophilia," the president told NBC Town Hall moderator Savannah Guthrie.

Back in August, Trump voiced support for the QAnon movement, telling reporters that he appreciated their support for him and that "these are people that love our country."

Joe Biden's town hall event on ABC averaged around 13.9 million viewers while President Donald Trump's had around 13 million viewers across three different channels.

"The words of a president matter, no matter whether they’re good, bad or indifferent, they matter. When a president doesn’t wear a mask, or makes fun of folks like me when I was wearing a mask for a long time, then people say it mustn’t be that important," Biden told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC.

United States President Donald Trump has shared an article by the site "Babylon Bee" that describes itself as the "world’s best satire site, totally inerrant in all its truth claims. We write satire about Christian stuff, political stuff, and everyday life".

The shared satire article was titled "Twitter Shuts Down Entire Network To Slow Spread Of Negative Biden News" and Trump commented that "this has never been done in history. This includes his really bad interview last night. Why is Twitter doing this.".

In the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, the former vice president Joe Biden leads Donald Trump 54% to 43% among likely voters. It's the highest difference between both candidates since this poll began testing the Biden-Trump matchup in February.

In 2016, Donald Trump had 46% of the votes nationally but clinched a victory in key states in the Electoral College. The current poll shows Biden ahead in several key states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Kamala Harris will halt campaign travel due to two positive Covid-19 cases in people involved in the Biden-Harris presidential campaign. Harris tested negative as recently as Wednesday.

The two cases are a flight crew member and Harris' communications director, Liz Allen.

Campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said, "Neither of these people have had contact with Vice President Biden, Senator Harris or any other staffers since testing positive or in the 48 hours prior to their positive test results."

Barron Trump tested positive for coronavirus during the time President Trump and first lady Melania Trump were sick. The White House initially said he had tested negative after both of his parents tested positive earlier this month.

The first lady said in a statement Wednesday that subsequent testing showed Barron had also come down with Covid-19 but had no symptoms.

NBC News confirmed that they would broadcast President Donald Trump's town-hall-style meeting from Miami on Thursday. The event will be moderated by Today show host Savannah Guthrie and the president will answers questions of Florida voters.

NBC did not explicitly say whether they had received a negative Covid-19 test result from Trump.

The Republican party in California has admitted responsibility for the placement of over 50 ballot drop boxes for mail-in ballots that are not official, but labeled as either "Official Ballot Drop off Box" or as "Ballot Drop Box."

Government officials say the receptacles are illegal and could lead to voter fraud, but the party says it will continue the practice.

The rapper and a self-proclaimed contender for the presidency of the United States, Kanye West, has released his first campaign advertisement 22 days ahead of the election day.

In the video he shared on his Twitter account he states that "through prayer, faith can be restored" as he discusses how Americans in his opinion can and should focus on strengthening their religion and faith in order to improve the United States.

The end of the videos shows a message calling people to write his name into the ballot.