[Photo News] US Election Day gathers supporters across US

The US presidential election battle between incumbent President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was especially fierce in six battleground states on Election Day. Supporters of respective candidates in the US gathered both outdoors and indoors for celebrations after voting, in anticipation of the results. Voters concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic wore masks to such events to prevent further spread of the virus. By Song Donna (donnadsong@heraldcorp.com)

Nov. 4, 2020

Biden, Trump locked in tight races in battleground states

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden were locked in tight races in battleground states across the country Tuesday night as they concluded an epic campaign that will shape America's response to the surging pandemic and foundational questions of economic fairness and racial justice. Trump won the key battlegrounds of Ohio and Iowa while Biden picked up Minnesota and New Hampshire, a pair of modest prizes that the president tried to steal from the Demo

Nov. 4, 2020

Trump leading in all but one of key battleground states

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump was leading in five of six key battleground states, including Florida, while his Democratic rival Joe Biden was projected to win the previously Republican state of Arizona in Tuesday's tight presidential election. Vote counting was still under way in most states, including the battleground states, but Trump was ready to claim victory in a late night press conference. "We were ready to win. Frankly, we did win this election," he said in a White

Nov. 4, 2020

Election Day shadowed by threats of legal challenges

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Even before Election Day, the 2020 race was the most litigated in memory. President Donald Trump is promising more to come. The candidates and parties have enlisted prominent lawyers with ties to Democratic and Republican administrations should that litigation take on a new urgency if a narrow margin in a battleground state becomes the difference between another four years for Trump or a Joe Biden administration. Since the 2000 presidential election, which was ultimately dec

Nov. 3, 2020

2 dead, 15 wounded in Vienna terror attack, authorities say

VIENNA (AP) -- Gunmen opened fire on people enjoying a last night out at Vienna's cafes and restaurants before a coronavirus lockdown Monday in what authorities said was a terrorist attack that left at least two dead -- including one of the assailants -- and 15 wounded. "We are victims of a despicable terror attack in the federal capital that is still ongoing," Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said hours after the gunfire erupted. "One of the perpetrators was neutralized

Nov. 3, 2020

[Photo News] 2020 US presidential election amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Just ahead of the crucial presidential election, US President Donald Trump and Democratic opponent Joe Biden pushed through the country for a final day of campaigning. Supporters gathered at respective rallies to make a final push for votes. Voting through mail ballots was available amid the COVID-19 pandemic to help people vote while social distancing. In the last days of campaigning, Trump participated in five rallies across the nation while Biden focused mainly on Pennsylvania. By

Nov. 3, 2020

In 2020 finale, Trump combative, Biden on offense

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- In the closing hours of a campaign shadowed by a once-in-a-century pandemic, President Donald Trump charged across the nation Monday delivering an incendiary but unsupported allegation that the election is rigged, while Democratic challenger Joe Biden pushed to claim states once seen as safely Republican. America stood at a crossroads. Never before in modern history have voters faced a choice between candidates offering such opposite visions as the nation confronts a virus th

Nov. 3, 2020

Americans set to pick next US president in high-stakes election

WASHINGTON -- Americans will go to the polls this week to decide who will lead their country over the next four years in one of the most contentious presidential elections that could also become the most scandalous election in recent US history. With President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden holding different, and often opposite, views on nearly every issue, the election is widely expected to see the highest voter turnout rate since 1908, when the turnout rate stood at 65.7 perc

Nov. 2, 2020

Trump, Biden hit key states in final weekend sprint before vote

READING (AFP) -- Donald Trump visits five swing states Sunday in a punishing finale to a frantic weekend sprint against challenger Joe Biden just days ahead of the US presidential election. The candidates and their top surrogates barreled through crucial states in the industrial Midwest and coastal southeast on Saturday, pressing closing arguments. Trump will rally voters Sunday with an exhausting schedule in toss-up states Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida while Biden focu

Nov. 1, 2020

China starts once-a-decade census of world's largest population

SHANGHAI (AFP) -- Millions of census-takers began knocking on doors across China on Sunday for a once-a-decade head count of the world's largest population that for the first time will use mobile apps to help crunch the massive numbers. Around seven million community workers and volunteers will drive the two-month data-collection effort, visiting homes ranging from residential skyscrapers in downtown Shanghai to remote Tibetan mountain villages. China conducts the census every ten years to det

Nov. 1, 2020

Hong Kong opposition politicians arrested for legislature protest

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Seven pro-democracy Hong Kong politicians were arrested Sunday over protests and scuffles that broke out in the legislature earlier this year, the latest prosecutions targeting Beijing's opponents in the deeply divided city. The seven politicians -- four of them sitting lawmakers -- were arrested on charges of "contempt" and "interfering" with members of the city's Legislative Council in early May, police said. The chamber passes semi-autonomous Hong Kong

Nov. 1, 2020

Sean Connery, the 'original' James Bond, dies at 90

LONDON (AP) -- Sean Connery, the charismatic Scottish actor who rose to international superstardom as the suave secret agent James Bond and then abandoned the role to carve out an Oscar-winning career in other rugged roles, has died. He was 90. Connery's wife and two sons said he "died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by family" in the Bahamas, where he lived. Son Jason Connery said his father had been "unwell for some time." Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara B

Nov. 1, 2020

Biden joined by Obama as Trump targets Pennsylvania in election finale

MILWAUKEE (AFP) -- Barack Obama will join forces with Joe Biden in Michigan as Donald Trump goes all in on the crucial state of Pennsylvania Saturday and the two candidates dig deep on the final weekend before Tuesday's US presidential election. For the first time since the start of the campaign, Biden, 77, will be joined on stage by his former boss and most popular campaigner, former President Barack Obama. They'll put on two drive-in rallies in the cities of Flint and Detroit in Michigan.

Oct. 31, 2020

China manufacturing growth eases in October but remains strong

BEIJING (AFP) -- Factory activity in China dipped slightly in October, according to official data published Saturday, but remained in growth territory as the world's second-largest economy continued its recovery after being hammered by the coronavirus. The closely watched Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) is a key gauge of manufacturing activity in China, which has largely bounced back after plunging in February because of tough pandemic-control measures. In October, the PMI figure stood at 51

Oct. 31, 2020

Trump flies to Pennsylvania, Biden sits back

WASHINGTON(AFP) -- US President Donald Trump campaigned frantically and frontrunning challenger Joe Biden stayed mostly out of sight Tuesday ahead of a pivotal televised debate with only two weeks until Election Day. The contrast in campaign strategies between Trump, 74, and Biden, 77, has never been more pronounced: the Republican president left for another rally in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, while the Democrat played it cool at his home in Delaware -- though he will deploy his fo

Oct. 21, 2020

Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of violating humanitarian truce

STEPANAKERT (AFP) -- Armenia on Sunday accused Azerbaijan of violating a fresh humanitarian truce aimed at halting weeks of fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region that has claimed hundreds of lives. Yerevan's defence ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said on Twitter that Azerbaijan had fired artillery shells and rockets in the early hours of Sunday, just minutes after the ceasefire went into effect from midnight (2000 GMT). There was no immediate reaction from Azerbaijan. Saturday's

Oct. 18, 2020

Paris goes under curfew as Europe ramps up virus restrictions

PARIS (AFP) -- France on Wednesday became the latest European country to toughen anti-coronavirus measures, imposing a curfew in Paris and eight other cities from Saturday, while Germany and Ireland also ramped up restrictions. "We have to act. We need to put a brake on the spread of the virus," President Emmanuel Macron told public television, announcing a shutdown between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am that will remain in force for as long as six weeks. Other major French cities such as Lyon

Oct. 15, 2020

Trump, Biden to hold rival TV town halls instead of debate

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- President Donald Trump will feature in a televised town hall Thursday on NBC News, the network said, setting up a  direct scheduling clash with rival Joe Biden who had already planned his own version. The two were originally meant to have been meeting for their second debate on Thursday evening. Instead, they will be simultaneously, but separately, talking to voters in TV studios -- NBC for Trump and ABC for Biden. Trump will be in Miami, the network said, while Biden,

Oct. 14, 2020

Defiant Trump returns to campaign trail

SANFORD (AP) -- Defiant as ever about the coronavirus, President Donald Trump on Monday turned his first campaign rally since contracting COVID-19 into a full-throated defense of his handling of the pandemic that has killed 215,000 Americans, joking that he was healthy enough to plunge into the crowd and give voters "a big fat kiss." There was no social distancing and mask-wearing was spotty among the thousands who came to see Trump's return to Florida. He held forth for an hour, tryi

Oct. 13, 2020

Doctor says Trump no longer at risk of transmitting virus

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House doctor said Saturday night that President Donald Trump is no longer at risk of transmitting the coronavirus, a diagnosis that comes as the president prepares to resume campaign rallies and other activities. In a memo released by the White House, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley said Trump meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by "currently recognized standards'" he is no longer consid

Oct. 11, 2020