With the widespread availability of meat substitutes in restaurants and grocery stores, many people are reducing or completely eliminating their meat intake. A vegetarian is somebody who doesn’t eat meat, but might still consume other animal products, such as cheese or milk. Vegans don’t consume any animal products, and many vegans also eliminate the use of products like leather from their lifestyle. The reasons for not eating meat vary, but some of the common reasons are social (such as concerns about factory farming or climate change), cultural, religious or dietary. Many people just don’t like the idea of eating meat. Whatever the reasons are, here are some tips for anyone contemplating a meatless lifestyle.
1. Utilize Supplements
Since some vitamins are found more commonly is animal foods, many vegetarians will supplement their vitamins. You can buy B12 injections and other supplements to reduce the stress of making sure you’re getting enough nutrients. This can help keep your energy up; many vegetarians and vegans have experienced anemia because they weren’t aware of the nutrients they were lacking. If you are not eating meat, you should seriously consider supplements — talk to a healthcare professional to figure out what will work best for you.
2. Plan Meals Ahead of Time
If you’re planning on cutting out meat or other animal products completely, you’ll need to plan ahead when you travel or go out to eat. Meat is so engrained into the everyday diet that at some restaurants, your only vegetarian options might be french fries or what some people call a salad, but is really just a pile of lettuce with some carrot slices. You may want to bring snacks with you to keep you satiated and healthy. Plan ahead and figure out which restaurants will have quality meat-free options so you don’t end up disappointed and hungry. The pre-dinner rolls make a terrible meal.
The same goes for group events — if you’re planning a meal with family or friends and they don’t want a meatless meal, just bring your own main course. It’s easy to prepare something, throw it in a container, and simply bring it to the event. If you’re cutting anything from your diet, don’t expect others to do the same when they’re around you. After all, how would you feel if a friend expected you to eat meat when you were around them?
Many people find going without meat to be very rewarding, both mentally and physically. If it’s done correctly, it can be a very healthy way to live. Just make sure you’re getting the proper supplements and that you know ahead of time what your food options might be when you’re out and about.
New restrictions aimed at curbing coronavirus have been introduced in New York City after Mayor Bill de Blasio warned it was the city’s “last chance” to stop a second wave.
Bars, restaurants and gyms must close by 22:00 and people can only meet in groups of 10 or less.
On November 11, the US is seeing a surge in coronavirus with a record 65,368 Americans being in hospital.
The Covid Tracking Project also reported a record 144,270 new cases.
An average of over 900 people a day are now dying with the disease.
More than a million new cases in November pushed the total confirmed cases to over 10 million nationally, with 233,080 deaths so far.
The US has been seeing more than 100,000 new cases per day over the last eight days in what experts say may be a worse outbreak than those seen in the spring and summer.
According to experts, hospitals across the country could soon be overwhelmed.
On November 11, Dr. Michael Osterhol, a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s Covid-19 advisory panel, said a four to six week lockdown could bring the pandemic under control.
Dr. Osterholm said that the government could borrow enough money to cover lost income for businesses during a shutdown.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also said: “We’re seeing a national and global Covid surge, and New York is a ship on the Covid tide.”
New measures come into effect on November 13 affecting hospitality after Governor Cuomo said contact tracing identified late-night gatherings as key virus spreaders in the state.
If the rate of spread of infection continued to rise, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the New York City’s public school system would close and children would begin online classes.
The mayor tweeted: “This is our last chance to stop a second wave. We can do it, but we have to act now.”
According to NYC’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the city was badly hit by the virus earlier this year when nearly 18,000 people died with Covid-19 in March, April and May.
Other states have broken new case records this week with Texas becoming the first state to hit one million total cases on November 10. If Texas were a separate country, it would rank 11th in the world for most cases.
Other states, including Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California and Florida, have also seen numbers rise. CBS News reports 15 states saw the numbers of patients in hospital due to the virus double in the last month.
Some hospitals, such as in Idaho and Missouri, have had to turn patients away because they ran out of room.
Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa of Bahrain, the world’s longest serving prime minister, has died at the age of 84.
He took office after Bahrain gained independence in 1971 and was an uncle to King Hamad and had a powerful role within the royal family.
Prince Khalifa had been receiving treatment at a hospital in the US, state media said.
He was regarded by some as a hardliner, and his removal was demanded by pro-democracy protesters during a failed Arab Spring uprising in 2011.
Prince Khalifa said the Arab Spring had brought only “death, chaos and destruction”, and denied claims that he had blocked political reform efforts in Bahrain.
Analysts say the choice of the prime minister’s successor will signal whether Bahrain, which recently agreed to normalize relations with Israel, is looking to chart a new course.
Bahrain has continued to clamp down on dissent since security forces crushed the uprising nine years ago. The protests were led by the Shia majority community, which has complained of discrimination.
The government has banned all independent media from operating in the country, dissolved all opposition groups, and sought to silence online criticism.
Prominent human rights defenders, journalists, and opposition leaders have been imprisoned along with scores of protesters.
Hundreds of people have also been stripped of their Bahraini nationality, and five men have been executed after being convicted of terrorism offenses in trials that human rights groups said were marred by serious due process violations and allegations of torture.
Hamburg, November 10, 2020 – The Emporis Skyscraper Award, one of the world’s most renowned prizes for high-rise architecture, goes to a project in Russia for the very first time in its 20-year history. The 1,515 feet high Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg, designed by GORPROJECT and RMJM, is not only the tallest building in Russia, but is the tallest building in Europe and the fourteenth tallest building in the world.
The winner was chosen by an international jury of experts from over 700 skyscrapers completed in 2019 with a minimum height of 100 meters. Marking its 20th anniversary this year, the prestigious Skyscraper Award by Emporis (www.emporis.com), a global provider of building data, has become an indispensable part of the international architecture scene since its introduction in 2000.
Photo credit: Gorproject
When choosing the Lakhta Center as its favorite, the jury was impressed by the skyscraper’s unusual form. The exterior structure of the building consists of five wings that rotate almost 90 degrees. The twist creates a dynamic impression, giving the building the shape of a blazing flame, which resembles the logo of Gazprom, the natural gas producer that has taken up its new headquarters inside the building. The skyscraper was also able to score points with the jury due to its use of environmentally friendly and energy-efficient technologies. As the northernmost supertall skyscraper in the world, the building is exposed to extreme temperatures. A double skin façade prevents unnecessary heat loss and makes it extraordinarily energy efficient. In addition, thanks to the innovative use of infrared radiators, excess heat is not lost but fed back into the system.
Photo credit: Hufton +Crow
Voted into second place, was the Leeza SOHO in Beijing. The unique office building with its round shape and twisted inner core was one of the last projects by star architect Zaha Hadid before her death in 2016. Especially striking to the jury was the atrium of the tower, which runs through the entire building from top to bottom and elegantly divides it into two halves. With a height of 636 feet it is also the highest atrium in the world. The continuous glazing of the atrium ensures that the building is flooded with light and allows an exceptional view into the building as well as to the busy streets of Beijing.
Photo credit: Dave Burk_ Courtesy SOM
In third place is 35 Hudson Yards in New York. The skyscraper is located in Manhattan and is part of a major Hudson Yard construction project bound to reshape the west side of Manhattan. 35 Hudson Yards is the tallest residential building of the Hudson Yards project and includes 143 apartments and a luxury hotel that extends over 11 floors. The 72-story building stood out to the jury particularly due to the use and mix of special building materials. The façade is made of Bavarian limestone and glass, adding to its unique appearance with several setbacks over its full height of 1,010 feet.
This year’s results show again that Europe is quite capable of keeping up with the competition from Asia and North America. After already claiming 2nd and 3rd place in the previous year, this year a European skyscraper was finally able to win the sought-after award again, the first time since 2013.
The use of stem cell therapy in cancer treatment implies the revenue of the red bone marrow. Red bone marrow is suffering from the chemotherapeutic treatment, as well as from radiation therapy. Since the intrinsic structures of the red bone marrow suffer, they need to be “updated”. For this, healthy stem cells are transplanted into the bone marrow.
What is a stem cell transplant done for?
With the help of stem cell therapy, it is possible to completely restore the normal process of hematopoiesis, destroyed by chemotherapy, radiation, or leukemia. Introduced intravenously, hematopoietic stem cells are moving through the bloodstream, settle in the patient’s bone marrow, and give origin to new blood cells.
Many tens of thousands of patients receive such stem cell transplants in Germany each year. If you or your relatives need treatment abroad, with the assistance of Booking Health it will be as comfortable as possible. Booking Health provides a full range of medical services, from quick preventive examinations and diagnostics in the best hospitals to comprehensive treatment and recovery after it. Moreover, the complex organization includes not only the medical services themselves but also the arrangement of a trip to Germany at the most affordable prices.
How do stem cells help with oncology?
The patient’s own material is used in autologous transplantation during the treatment of neuroblastomas, testicular cancer, lymphomas, and brain tumors. In this case, hematopoietic stem cells are harvested from the patient in advance, frozen, and then introduced back. This allows you to treat cancer with high-dose chemotherapy that damages the bone marrow. After it, autologous transplantation restores blood formation without causing immune complications, such as the graft versus host reaction.
Donor material is transplanted to the patient during allogeneic transplantation, which is also applied in patients with leukemia, aplastic anemia, and severe hereditary diseases (Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, Fanconi anemia, Blackfan-Diamond anemia, etc.). Hematopoietic cells for transplant are harvested from a close relative (usually a brother or sister) or a person selected using the donor registry. The meaning of the transplant is to replace the patient’s own blood formation with the donor one and thus cure the disease of the hematopoietic system.
Can stem cells become any specific cells?
The boom in stem cell research has created great confusion in the minds of many researchers who first addressed this topic. The plasticity of many populations of normal stem cells is significantly overrated. There are allegations that stem cells of nerve tissue can turn into myocytes or hepatocytes; mesenchymal stem cells – into osteoblasts, cardiomyocytes; hepatic stem cells can turn into neurons and myocytes, etc. In order to acquire such a possibility of transdifferentiation, committed stem cells must dedifferentiate to an embryonic state in order to regain totipotency, that is, the ability to differentiate into any type of cell. A variety of examples of morphogenesis have shown that there is no complete dedifferentiation in nature and, probably, such a scenario of events is generally impossible.
Can stem cells be used to diagnose cancer?
The ability of stem cells to find a tumor can have practical importance. Thanks to the radioactive labels, it is possible to detect foci of malignant growth that can not be detected by other imaging methods. The life of the patient and the effectiveness of treatment in oncology depend on how timely the malignant growth is diagnosed. Stem cells can be modified and used as vectors to save people affected by malignant neoplasms.
Chemotherapy and stem cells
A clinically manifested tumor usually has billions of malignant cells that need to be destroyed. However, the population of tumor cells is heterogeneous, and the sensitivity of different tumor cells to cancer therapy is different. Therefore, it is extremely important to be able to overcome resistance to antitumor pharmaceuticals in the vast majority of tumor cells. It turned out that this can be achieved by introducing a dose of cytostatics that is ten times higher than the permissible standard dose. Such a sharp increase in the amount of the drug always leads to significant, often irreversible, damage to the hematopoietic cells of the bone marrow and disabling the function of hematopoiesis for many months.
If blood circulation is not restored, a person will die. The main method to overcome the hematological toxicity of chemotherapy is the transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells. In this case, hematopoietic stem cells are harvested either from the donor or from the patient himself. They are administered after the complete elimination of cytostatics from the body. Stem cell therapy in cancer treatment allows to relatively quickly and effectively restore the blood system’s function and save the patient.
A preliminary analysis shows that the first effective coronavirus vaccine can prevent more than 90% of people from getting Covid-19.
The developers – Pfizer and BioNTech – described it as a “great day for science and humanity”.
The vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised.
The companies plan to apply for emergency approval to use the vaccine by the end of the month.
No vaccine has gone from the drawing board to being proven highly effective in such a short period of time.
There are still huge challenges ahead, but the announcement has been warmly welcomed by scientists with some suggesting life could be back to normal by spring.
A vaccine – alongside better treatments – is seen as the best way of getting out of the restrictions that have been imposed on all our lives.
The data shows that two doses, three weeks apart, are needed. The trials – in US, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Turkey – show 90% protection is achieved seven days after the second dose.
However, the data presented is not the final analysis as it is based on only the first 94 volunteers to develop Covid-19 so the precise effectiveness of the vaccine may change when the full results are analyzed.
Pfizer chairman Dr. Albert Bourla said: “We are a significant step closer to providing people around the world with a much-needed breakthrough to help bring an end to this global health crisis.”
Prof. Ugur Sahin, one of the founders of BioNTech, described the results as a “milestone”.
A limited number of people may get the vaccine this year.
The two companies say they will have enough safety data by the third week of November to take their vaccine to regulators.
Until it has been approved it will not be possible for countries to begin their vaccination campaigns.
Pfizer and BioNTech say they will be able to supply 50 million doses by the end of this year and around 1.3 billion by the end of 2021. Each person needs two doses.
Not everyone will get the vaccine straight away and countries are each deciding who should be prioritized.
Hospital staff and care home workers will be near the top of every list because of the vulnerable people they work with, as will the elderly who are most at risk of severe disease.
People under 50 and with no medical problems are likely to be last in the queue.
There are still many unanswered questions as this is only interim data.
We do not know if the vaccine stops you spreading the virus or just from developing symptoms. Or if it works equally well in high-risk elderly people.
The biggest question – how long does immunity last – will take months or potentially years to answer.
There are also massive manufacturing and logistical challenges in immunizing huge numbers of people, as the vaccine has to be kept in ultra-cold storage at below minus 80C.
The vaccine appears safe from the large trials so far but nothing, including paracetamol, is 100% safe.
There are around a dozen vaccines in the final stages of testing – known as a phase 3 trial – but this is the first to show any results.
It uses a completely experimental approach – that involves injecting part of the virus’s genetic code – in order to train the immune system.
Previous trials have shown the vaccine trains the body to make both antibodies – and another part of the immune system called T-cells to fight the coronavirus.
Solar power is becoming an increasingly popular option for powering homes and businesses; however, numerous questions and concerns are associated with making the switch to solar power. Some of the questions include; why solar? Is solar power a good investment? Here we explain some of the reasons you should consider when making the switch to solar power.
Here are 6 common questions about solar power answered:
Question #1: How Do Solar Panels Work?
Solar panels are arranged on rooftops or large outdoor areas and constructed of silicon cells, a metal frame, a glass casing, special film, and wiring.
During the daylight, photovoltaic cells, otherwise referred to as solar cells, absorb sunlight. Each cell contains a semiconductor, which energizes the cell and creates an electrical current when affected by light. Once the energy is converted into usable electricity using an inverter, power is distributed to the electrical panel and throughout a home or business.
A proper solar panel system can efficiently power a home using the sun’s free energy and advanced photovoltaic technology.
Question #2: How Do I Install Solar Panels?
Determine the number of solar panels necessary for your home or business by calculating the kilowatt-hours of power needed to fulfill your energy consumption. Typically, a homeowner needs 28-34 solar panels to completely cover energy usage.
Once you select the number and type of solar panels, choose an installation method for mounting and wiring the solar power system.
If you possess basic construction and electrical skills, consider a DIY approach to save money on labor. Otherwise, hire a specialty contractor to properly and easily install the system.
Question #3: Do I Have to Go Off-Grid?
Going off-grid isn’t required for installing solar panels.
Living off-grid involves utilizing batteries to store collected electricity. Unfortunately, batteries for solar panels are incredibly expensive, inefficient, and underdeveloped.
Staying connected to the grid is a more convenient and cost-effective method for harnessing solar power. Electricity generated through your solar panels is transferred to the local power grid, meaning if you overproduce or underproduce electricity, you’ll be benefitted or covered by the utility company.
Enjoy reliable solar power by staying on the grid.
Question #4: What is the Billing Process?
Billing for solar power involves a practice known as net metering. Net metering is a system designed to compensate solar power system owners for distributing energy to the utility grid.
Electricity generated by your solar panels and consumed by your home is measured using an electric meter. Excess electricity produced is accounted for and delivered to the power grid and local utility. The electricity you provide to the utility company is deducted from your electric bill through credits.
Understand the billing process to learn about the money-saving advantages.
Question #5: What are the Benefits of Solar Power Compared to Traditional Electricity?
Solar power provides numerous benefits compared to traditional forms of electricity.
Solar power offers many advantages including:
Cleaner environment: Avoids emitting harmful gases into the atmosphere during production to combat global warming
Improves public health: Reduces the number of pollutants reduced in the air and water to limit sickness
Immense savings: Receive monthly savings by offsetting your electric bills by 70-90% for utilizing solar power
Tax incentives: Earn 25-30% of the installation costs back on federal taxes through supportive policies
Renewable resource: Offers a sustainable and inexhaustible alternative to traditional, finite energy sources
Reap the environmental and financial benefits of solar power by installing solar panels at your home or business.
Question #6: What is Community Solar?
Community solar refers to a group of people sharing energy generated through collective solar panels. Community solar is also known as shared solar, energy sharing, and solar farms or gardens.
Shared solar works by a third party installing numerous solar panels in a certain area. Energy is converted into electricity and delivered to the local power grid. The utility company then distributes the electricity to homes and businesses.
Joining a community solar project is as simple as finding a local option and subscribing to the service. Becoming a solar farm member is a perfect alternative to personal solar panels for people unable to afford or install the system.
Locate a New York community solar project to benefit the environment and earn guaranteed savings.
Before switching to solar power, review these 6 commonly asked questions to discover if it’s the right option for your home or business.
President Donald Trump is still planning legal challenges to the results in some key states as Joe Biden has been declared president-elect.
Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Fox News that it would be wrong for the president to concede because: “There is strong evidence that this was an election that in at least three or four states, and possibly 10, it was stolen.”
The Trump campaign is yet to provide this “strong evidence” but says it plans to lodge lawsuits in several key states on November 9.
In Georgia
A lawsuit was filed in Georgia’s Chatham County to pause the count, alleging problems with ballot processing.
Georgia Republican chairman David Shafer tweeted that party observers saw a woman “mix over 50 ballots into the stack of uncounted absentee ballots”.
On November 5, a judge dismissed this lawsuit, saying there was “no evidence” of improper ballot mixing.
In Michigan
Donald Trump won the state in 2016 by his slimmest margin – just over 10,700 votes – and Joe Biden has been projected as the winner here in 2020.
On November 4, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit to stop the count over claims of a lack of access to observe the process.
A judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying there was insufficient evidence that oversight procedures weren’t being followed.
In Pennsylvania
Rudy Giuliani says further lawsuits will be filed over a lack of access for poll watchers in the state.
Poll watchers are people who observe the counting of votes, with the aim of ensuring transparency. They are allowed in most states as long as they are registered before Election Day.
In some areas this year, there were restrictions put in place before Election Day, in part due to coronavirus pandemic. There are also capacity limits set to avoid intimidation.
A 20-foot perimeter was set in the Philadelphia counting facility but this was challenged and a court ruling on November 5 said it should be reduced to six feet – as long as poll watchers adhered to Covid-19 protocols.
The Trump campaign has filed a federal lawsuit accusing election officials of violating the judge’s order.
Rudy Giuliani said: “Even when a court order was obtained to allow the Republican inspectors to get six feet closer, they moved the people counting the ballots six further feet away.”
However, the election officials insist they behaved properly.
On November 5, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said: “Every candidate and every political party is allowed to have an authorized representative in the room observing the process. Some jurisdictions including Philly are also live streaming, so you can literally watch their counting process.”
Another ongoing case disputes how long voters should be able to provide proof of identification if it’s missing or unclear on their postal ballots. Voters are currently allowed to fix their ballots up to November 12, but the Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit seeking to reduce this deadline to November 9.
The legal challenge in Pennsylvania also centers on the state’s decision to count ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive up to three days later. Republicans are seeking an appeal.
In Arizona
On November 7, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in Arizona, claiming some legal votes were rejected.
The case cites declarations by some poll watchers and two voters who claim they had problems with voting machines.
The lawsuit is under review, but Arizona’s Secretary of State said it was “grasping at straws”.
In Wisconsin
The Trump campaign has said it will request a recount in the state “based on abnormalities seen” on Election Day, although this wouldn’t require a lawsuit.
It’s unclear when this recount would take place, since typically these don’t happen until after officials finish reviewing the votes.
Wisconsin’s deadline for this part of the process is November 17.
Columbia University Law School professor Richard Briffault says there was a recount in Wisconsin in 2016 as well, and it “changed about a hundred votes”.
The Nevada Republican Party tweeted saying: “Thousands of individuals have been identified who appear to have violated the law by casting ballots after they moved from Nevada.”
Donald Trump’s legal team produced a list of people who it claimed had moved out of state but voted.
However, the list alone does not prove a violation of law.
People who leave the state within 30 days before an election can still vote in Nevada. Students from Nevada – who are studying elsewhere – can also vote.
The case is focused on voters in Clark County, but the county’s registrar has said: “We are not aware of any improper ballots that are being processed.”
In a separate case, a federal judge blocked attempts by the Republicans to stop the use of a signature verification machine, rejecting allegations that it wasn’t able to check signatures correctly.
On November 4, Donald Trump claimed voting fraud – without providing evidence – and said: “We’ll be going to the US Supreme Court.”
If the election result is challenged, it would first require legal teams to challenge it in the state courts.
State judges would then need to uphold the challenge and order a recount.
The Supreme Court could then be asked be asked to weigh in.
To date, the 2000 election is the only one to be decided by the Supreme Court.
In 2000, Democrat Al Gore lost Florida – and the presidential election – by 537 votes out of a total of almost six million cast in the state.
This was followed by a highly controversial recount process that lasted over a month – until the Supreme Court ruled to stop recounting and in favor of Republican George W. Bush who became president.
The global number of confirmed coronavirus cases has surged past 50 million following record numbers of new cases in several countries.
According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 1.25 million people have now died after contracting the new coronavirus.
However, the numbers are thought to be higher because of insufficient testing in many countries.
A second wave of the virus has accounted for a quarter of all cases, Reuters reported.
Europe, with more than 12.5 million cases and 305,700 deaths, is again a hotspot after being the first epicenter of the pandemic earlier this year.
In the US, just under 10 million have tested positive for Covid-19. It has seen more than 125,000 cases per day three days in a row.
The states of North and South Dakota have the highest rates of death per capita.
President-elect Joe Biden has vowed a much more aggressive approach to the pandemic, after President Donald Trump repeatedly downplayed its gravity and resisted public health measures including wearing masks and social distancing.
Joe Biden has vowed to name a group of top scientists to his coronavirus task force as early as November 9, wants more testing and plans to call on every American to wear a mask when they are around people outside their own household.
He is likely to take charge when the pandemic is at its peak in the country, former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb says.
Dr Gottlieb told media that the rate of new infections would probably be starting to decrease by late January, and “the only question is going to be how many people have died in the course of this and how many people have been infected”.
In Europe, France recorded 38,619 new cases on November 8 – many less than November 7 record increase of 86,852 cases. However, the health ministry said it had problems collecting data and there would be a correction on November 9.
France also registered 271 deaths, bringing the total to 40,439. The country is just over a week into a second lockdown with the aim of curbing the spread of the virus.
Under the lockdown restrictions, expected to be in place until December 1, people can only leave their homes to go to work if they cannot work from home, to buy essential goods, seek medical help or to exercise for one hour a day.
Have you ever used a discount or coupon and wondered if you are getting ripped off? Or bought a sale item and thought, “Is the quality of this item different from the regularly-priced one?”
There is no harm in asking such questions and we understand where the concern is coming from! People tend to think that discounted items are of less quality – an older stock, from a collection that has been phased out, or something like that.
But keep in mind – just because coupons and discounts are available does not mean the items are of low quality. Many of you might be familiar with the Born shoes couponwhich is easily available all-year round! This company, like many others, simply wants to entice the customers to buy what they want for a cheaper price, hence the Born shoes coupon. There is no question about high or low quality there.
Despite this, we are here to debunk the stereotypes about discounted items for you.
How Can You Tell if an Item is High Quality or Not?
Be familiar with the industry lingo.
Different industries offer different items, which therefore require another set of materials and processes. This translates to an “industry lingo” that you need to learn because they have certain terms to describe the methods and materials that you might not find elsewhere.
For example, the tags on your bed sheets will give you different terms and information than those of your running shoes. You should also know what you are prioritizing in a certain item so you can find the product (and brand) that is right for you.
2. Do background checks on the brand and customer reviews.
Of course, there will be terms that you won’t find on the product itself so doing personal research will help. It’s not enough to examine the product; you have to look into the company itself before buying anything for the first time.
You will notice that companies and brands that routinely produce high-quality items will have a strong customer base that is loyal throughout the seasons. Checking customer reviews on online threads will save you a lot of trouble because these are real-life stories of people’s experiences.
On the other hand, companies that produce bad products will be known for it too, and past customers will warn potential ones.
3. Manage your expectations.
As with any new item in the market, be realistic. Some reviews or influencers may be biased. There may be some customers who failed to understand or use the product the way it was intended. This is especially common for electronic items and gadgets, so be careful.
It is also worth remembering that even high quality items will have weak points. Signs of wear and tear throughout the years will be noticeable and these cannot be escaped. But you are definitely better off with a higher quality item than a cheap and poorly-manufactured one.
So – don’t fret over discounted items. Most of the time the brand is simply trying to encourage you to purchase from them and let’s be honest – coupons and promo codes succeed in making us do just that!
Kamala Harris has made history by becoming the first female vice-president-elect.
The California senator will also be the first black and the first Asian American vice-president.
Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California, to two immigrant parents – an Indian-born mother and Jamaican-born father.
After her parents’ divorce, Kamala Harris was raised primarily by her Hindu single mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a cancer researcher and civil rights activist.
She grew up engaged with her Indian heritage, joining her mother on visits to India, but Kamala Harris has said that her mother adopted Oakland’s black culture, immersing her two daughters – Kamala and her younger sister Maya – within it.
Her early years also included a brief period in Canada. When her mother took a job teaching at McGill University, Kamala and her younger sister Maya went with her, attending school in Montreal for five years.
She attended college in the US, spending four years at Howard University, one of the nation’s preeminent historically black colleges and universities, which she has described as among the most formative experiences of her life.
Kamala Harris, 55, says she’s always been comfortable with her identity and simply describes herself as “an American”.
In 2014, she married lawyer Doug Emhoff – now a fixture at her campaign stops – and became stepmother to his two children.
After four years at Howard, Kamala Harris went on to earn her law degree at the University of California, Hastings, and began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
She became the district attorney – the top prosecutor – for San Francisco in 2003, before being elected the first woman and the first black person to serve as California’s attorney general, the top lawyer and law enforcement official in America’s most populous state.
In her nearly two terms in office as attorney general, Kamala Harris gained a reputation as one of the Democratic Party’s rising stars, using this momentum to propel her election as California’s junior US senator in 2017.
Joe Biden is to becoming the next US president after defeating Donald Trump in a cliff-hanger vote count after November 3 election.
According to most recent projections, Joe Biden has won the key battleground of Pennsylvania, propelling him over the 270 electoral college vote threshold required to clinch the White House.
However, the Trump campaign has indicated their candidate does not plan to concede.
The former vice-president said it was now time for America to “unite and heal”.
He said: “With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.”
Joe Biden said he was “honored and humbled” to be elected and said the record turnout in the face of “unprecedented obstacles” showed that democracy “beats deep in the heart of America”.
The result makes Donald Trump the first one-term president since the 1990s.
Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, is set to become the first woman vice-president.
Joe Biden’s victory is based on the unofficial results from states that have already finished counting their votes, and the expected results from states like Wisconsin where the count is continuing.
His projected win in Pennsylvania takes him to 273 electoral college votes.
The 2020 election has seen the highest turnout since 1900. Joe Biden has won more than 74 million votes so far, the most ever for a US presidential candidate. Donald Trump has drawn more than 70 million, the second-highest tally in history.
DonaldTrump had falsely declared himself the winner of the election when vote counting was unfinished. He has since alleged irregularities in counting, but has not presented any evidence of election fraud.
The Trump campaign has filed a barrage of lawsuits in various states and on November 6, as Joe Biden appeared on the cusp of victory, said: “This election is not over.”
The election was fought as coronavirus cases and deaths continued to rise across the United States, with President Trump arguing a Biden presidency would result in lockdowns and economic gloom. Joe Biden accused Donald Trump of failing to impose sufficient measures to control the spread of Covid-19.
Joe Biden is now set to return to the White House, where he served for eight years as President Barack Obama’s deputy.
At the age of 78, Joe Biden will be the oldest president in American history.
Usually the losing candidate concedes but Donald Trump has vowed to contest the election results on several fronts.
Responding to the Pennsylvania results, the Trump campaign put out a statement saying: “This election is not over. The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final.”
A recount will be held in Georgia, where the margins are tight, and Donald Trump wants the same in Wisconsin. He has also vowed to take legal action to the Supreme Court, alleging voting fraud without evidence.
If the election result is challenged, it would require legal teams to challenge this in the state courts. State judges would then need to uphold the challenge and order a recount, and Supreme Court justices could then be asked to overturn a ruling.
Meanwhile, votes in some states are continuing to be counted and results are never official until final certification, which occurs in each state in the weeks following the election.
This must be done before 538 electors from the Electoral College – which officially decides who wins the election – meet in their state capitals to vote on December 14.
The electors’ votes usually mirror the popular vote in each state. However, in some states this is not a formal requirement.
The new president is officially sworn into office on January 20 after a transition period to give them time to appoint cabinet ministers and make plans.
The handover of power takes place at a ceremony known as the inauguration, which is held on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC.
After the ceremony, the new president makes their way to the White House to begin their four-year term in office.
Joe Biden ran for the White House twice before.
In 1988, he withdrew from the race after he admitted to plagiarizing a speech by the then leader of the British Labor Party, Neil Kinnock.
In 2008, he tried again to get the Democratic nomination before dropping out and joining Barack Obama’s ticket.
Joe Biden’s eight years as vice-president allowed him to lay claim to much of Barrack Obama’s legacy, including passage of the Affordable Care Act, known as ObamaCare.
Joe Biden has pulled ahead of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, a key state in the presidential race, results data show.
The Democratic candidate is leading by more than 13,000 votes, with 98% counted. If Joe Biden takes the state, he will win the election.
Earlier, Joe Biden edged ahead of his Republican rival in Georgia, another key battleground state, where a recount will now be held.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign said: “This election is not over.”
Trump campaign lawyer Matt Morgan claimed without evidence that ballots in Georgia were “improperly harvested” and that in Pennsylvania election observers were not given “meaningful access” to counting, despite a judge’s order allowing them further access on November 5.
In a statement later, President Trump said: “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.”
A senior Trump administration official has told CBS News President Trump does not plan to concede in the event of a victory declaration by Joe Biden.
There are reports from the Biden campaign in Delaware that he will make a primetime address to the nation on Friday evening local time. This is believed to be dependent on the race being called by then.
Joe Biden currently has 253 Electoral College votes, while Donald Trump has 214. To win the White House, a candidate needs 270.
Some news organizations have a higher tally for Mr Biden, having projected a win for the Democrat in Arizona.
Pennsylvania, where Joe Biden was born, has 20 Electoral College votes. If the Democrat wins it, he will secure the victory with 273 votes.
Election officials there said the count could take several days.
Pennsylvania has always been a major political battleground. The state voted Democrat in six consecutive races before it swung to Donald Trump in 2016.
In Georgia, Joe Biden is currently leading with more than 1,500 votes, with 99% of the ballots counted. Georgia’s secretary of state said there would be a recount because the margin was so small.
Georgia is a traditionally Republican state and has not been won by a Democrat in a presidential race since 1992.
President Trump’s team says legal challenges and recounts in some states will favor them.
Bob Bauer, a Biden campaign lawyer, says the lawsuits are legally “meritless” and designed “to message falsely about what’s taking place in the electoral process”.
The vote is also currently too close to call in Nevada and North Carolina.
A win in just Pennsylvania, or two of the other four remaining states would be enough to confirm Joe Biden as president-elect.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, would need to win Pennsylvania and three of the remaining four states.
He has cut the Democratic candidate’s lead in Arizona (11 electoral votes) to less than 44,000 votes, with 93% counted.
He also had a lead of more than 76,000 in North Carolina (15 electoral votes), with 96% of votes tallied.
In Nevada, Joe Biden has an edge of more than 20,000 over Donald Trump. The state has six votes under the electoral college system. An election official there said the results from more than 51,000 postal ballots would be updated on November 6.
President Trump has made unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.
Speaking from the White House on November 5, the president said: “If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes they can try to steal the election from us.”
Beyond allegations of irregularities, the Trump campaign has not presented any evidence.
President Trump added: “We were winning in all the key locations, by a lot actually, and then our numbers started getting miraculously whittled away in secret.”
He actively discouraged his supporters from voting by mail, while Joe Biden urged his voters to do so, and it is these postal ballots that are now being tallied in the key states.
Election analysts also say President Trump’s claims of Democratic electoral corruption are undermined by the better-than-expected performance of his fellow Republicans in congressional races across the map.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has voted unanimously to overturn the contempt conviction of Dolcefino Consulting President Wayne Dolcefino.
Wayne Dolcefino was jailed in June by Harris County Criminal Court at Law Number 16 Judge Darrell Jordan, who falsely claimed he had interrupted a court hearing. Hidden camera video proved Judge Jordan was lying.
An investigation by Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, serving as a Pro-Tem prosecutor had recommended the conviction be overturned.
“Applicant is entitled to habeas corpus relief,” the opinion reads. “The contempt of court allegation is not supported by the habeas corpus record.”
“First, I thank the appeals court judges for correcting this injustice. However, Judge Jordan’s criminal misconduct will not stand,” said Dolcefino. “This rogue judge lets career criminals walk out of court and throws me in jail because of our investigations into public corruption. Stay tuned.”
The entire confrontation in Judge Darrell Jordan’s court was captured on hidden camera, without his knowledge.
A continuing Dolcefino Consulting investigation since the Dolcefino’s wrongful conviction revealed Judge Jordan has been the subject of multiple complaints filed with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct – including one filed by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. That complaint alleged misconduct and racial bias and is available on www.dolcefino.com
Judge Darrell Jordan was re-elected on November 3.
Since 1997, people have been able to use gold and other precious metals as securities in an IRA. Back then, it was not a common option for people to invest in a gold IRA. It became a trend after people realized the many benefits that come with the unique account. Whether you already have an accumulative 401(K) or are just starting to develop one, it’s a good idea to consider investing in gold.
Why You Should Invest in Gold
A gold individual retirement account is ideal for anyone that wants to diversify their retirement portfolio and reduce the risk of inflation affecting their assets. Traditional IRAs invest in stocks, mutual funds, and bonds. Gold IRAs are used for investing in gold and other precious metals such as platinum and silver. Over the years, gold has proven resilient to an economic downturn. In fact, during times of economic uncertainty or total collapse of the financial markets, gold has almost always experienced a rise in price while the dollar fell. According to the experts at Goldco, “If you’re looking for a long-term investing strategy that will protect your assets from the unknowns, consider investing in a gold IRA.”
The price of stocks and bonds can vary depending on the economy, politics, and world news, often creating a market of high volatility. If you have a regular IRA and you decide to cash it out during an economic uncertainty or a recession, you face the risk of losing the value of your retirement account. This is because, during times of economic pullback and questionable markets, stocks and bonds can lose their value and create the possibility of complete financial ruin for individual retirement account holders. Investing in a gold IRA is an excellent way to prevent that from happening and possibly even put yourself in a position to turn a profit during times of economic hardship.
How to Invest in Gold
Choosing a way to invest your retirement safely can seem overwhelming. With the high volatility of stock markets, setting up a traditional IRA may sound like a bad idea. Thankfully, you can reduce risk and increase your return by investing in a gold IRA with ease. Begin by setting up a self-directed IRA. The process is simple, but it is important that you follow all IRS regulations to prevent accidental violations and unnecessary fees. Next, you will have to rollover your 401(K) into a gold IRA to convert your cash to gold. The process comes with many tax advantages as long as you follow IRS guidelines and regulations. Be sure to check out a gold IRA guide to learn more about the process and rules to ensure a smooth transition of funds.
Benefits of Gold IRAs
Establishing an individual retirement account for gold comes with many benefits. Account-holders receive tax breaks from the government, an increase of protection for their portfolio, and more control over their accounts than traditional IRA holders.
Portfolio protection:
Gold has been used as a type of currency since it was first discovered in the early ages of civilization. The precious metal has proven that it can withstand the test of time and still be as valuable, if not more than it ever has been. When stock investments are down, gold investments are up, balancing your portfolio and reducing the potential for financial loss.
It’s safe to say that investing in a resilient currency like gold is a good method to stabilize your investment portfolio.
Full control:
Gold IRAs allow account-holders to buy and sell their assets with less regulation than traditional IRAs. The IRS does limit the types of precious metals that investors can buy, but it still enables greater freedom for holders of gold IRAs.
Tax breaks:
As with conventional IRAs, retirement investors of gold can receive many tax deductions. With standard gold IRAs, taxes are deferred until the account holder takes distributions from it. If you hold gold assets in a Roth IRA, withdrawals are tax-free due to a post-tax system. People that consistently make eligible contributions to their gold IRA may also qualify for the Retirement Savings Contributions Credit, which can affect up to 50% of your contributions.
Conclusion
It’s essential to have a financial plan for retirement to ensure that you and your family will be well off once you decide to retire. Converting your 401(K) to a gold IRA is a valuable way to leverage your portfolio and protect against economic volatility that could result in a loss for traditional IRAs.
The US has become the first nation in the world to formally withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
President Donald Trump announced the move in June 2017, but UN regulations meant that his decision only takes effect today, the day after the US election.
The US could re-join it in future, should a president choose to do so.
The Paris deal was drafted in 2015 to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change.
It aims to keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5C.
The delay is down to the complex rules that were built into the Paris agreement to cope with the possibility that a future US president might decide to withdraw the country from the deal.
Previous attempts to put together a global pact on climate change had foundered because of internal US politics.
The Clinton administration was unable to secure Senate backing for the Kyoto Protocol, agreed in 1997.
So in the run up to the Paris climate talks, President Barrack Obama’s negotiators wanted to ensure that it would take time for the US to get out if there was a change in leadership.
Even though the agreement was signed in December 2015, the treaty only came into force on November 4,2016, 30 days after at least 55 countries representing 55% of global emissions had ratified it.
No country could give notice to leave the agreement until three years had passed from the date of ratification.
Even then, a member state still had to serve a 12-month notice period on the UN.
So, despite President Trump’s announcement in June 2017, the US was only able to formally give notice to the UN in November last year. The time has elapsed and the US is now out.
While the US now represents around 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it remains the world’s biggest and most powerful economy.
So, when it becomes the only country to withdraw from a global solution to a global problem it raises questions of trust.
For the past three years, US negotiators have attended UN climate talks while the administration has tried to use these events to promote fossil fuels.
While on the campaign trail, Joe Biden said he would seek to re-join as soon as possible – if he was elected President.
Under the rules, all that is required is a month’s notice and the US should be back in the fold.
However, even if the US chose to re-enter the agreement, there would be consequences for being out – even for a few months.
President Trump made leaving Paris a key part of his election platform in 2016, tying it into his vision of a revitalized US with booming energy production, especially coal and oil.
Donald Trump’s perspective on the Paris agreement was that it was unfair to the US, leaving countries like India and China free to use fossil fuels while the US had to curb their carbon.
The US is voting in one of the most divisive presidential elections in decades, pitting incumbent Republican Donald Trump against his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
The first polls opened from 05:00 EST in Vermont.
Nearly 100 million Americans have already cast their ballots in early voting, putting the US on course for its highest turnout in a century.
Both rivals spent the final hours of the race rallying in key swing states.
National polls give a firm lead to Joe Biden, but it is a closer race in the states that could decide the outcome.
Among the first states to begin election-day voting on November 3 are the key battlegrounds of North Carolina and Ohio, followed half an hour later by Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin. Arizona will follow.
To be elected president, a candidate must win at least 270 votes in what is called the electoral college. Each state gets a certain number of votes partly based on its population and there are a total of 538 up for grabs.
This system explains why it is possible for a candidate to win the most votes nationally – like Hillary Clinton did in 2016 – but still lose the election.
The coronavirus pandemic has hung over the election campaign, with the epidemic in the country worsening over the final weeks of the race. The US has recorded more cases and more deaths than anywhere else in the world, and fear of infection has contributed to an unprecedented surge in early and postal voting.
As the nation counts down the hours to the vote, there are fears that pockets of post-election violence could break out.
A new “non-scalable” fence has been put up around the White House in Washington DC. Businesses in the nation’s capital and also in New York City have been seen boarding up their premises due to concerns about unrest.
On November 2, President Trump sprinted through four more battleground states.
In North Carolina, the president told supporters that “next year will be the greatest economic year in the history of our country”. Economists however warn the damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic – the biggest decline in the US economy in more than 80 years – could still take years to overcome.
After North Carolina, Donald Trump headed to Scranton, Pennsylvania, the city where his opponent lived until he was 10. At a rally there he reminded his supporters that he won the state in 2016, despite polls suggesting he would lose.
Joe Biden also went to Pennsylvania where he was joined by singer Lady Gaga at a rally in Pittsburgh. Musician John Legend addressed voters with vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
In Ohio, Joe Biden repeated the core message of his campaign, telling voters that the race was about the soul of America. He said it was time for President Trump to “pack his bags”, saying “we’re done with the tweets, the anger, the hate, the failure, the irresponsibility”.
On November 2, Donald Trump also held rallies in Traverse City, Michigan, and Kenosha, Wisconsin. Kenosha was rocked by violent protests in August after the police shooting of a black man.
In Traverse City the president asked for the votes of black Americans.
He travelled to Grand Rapids, Michigan for his last rally, the same city where he held the final event of the 2016 election race.
In the last hours of the campaign, Twitter and Facebook labelled a post by President Trump as “misleading”, after he claimed that postal ballots in the key state of Pennsylvania could lead to rampant fraud. They also added a link to a website explaining why mail-in votes were safe.
It came after the Supreme Court allowed Pennsylvania to count postal ballots received three days after the election.
President Trump and his campaign have indicated they will sue to block the move.
Legal fights over ballots have also been unfolding in Minnesota, North Carolina and Texas.
When will we get a result?
It can take several days for every vote to be counted after any presidential election, but it is usually pretty clear who the winner is by the early hours of the following morning.
Police are searching for at least one suspect after a multiple gun attack in the Austrian capital, Vienna, that killed four people.
Seventeen other people were wounded – some seriously – after gunmen opened fire at six different locations in Vienna center on November 2.
According to officials, one attacker was shot dead by police.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer described the assailant killed by police as an “Islamist terrorist”.
Two of those who died in the shooting were women and two were men. One of the women was reportedly a waitress. The second woman died of her wounds in hospital overnight, reports said.
The victims were in a city center area busy with people in bars and restaurants, near Vienna’s central synagogue, but it is not yet clear if that was the target.
The interior minister advised people to stay away from the center, as police cordoned off some streets and brought in reinforcements. Parents were told to keep their children home on November 3 if they could.
Seven of the wounded have life-threatening injuries, Austrian media report.
Addressing a news conference, Karl Nehammer described the heavily armed gunman killed by police as an ISIS sympathizer. His home had been searched and video material seized, the minister said. He had been wearing a fake explosive belt, police tweeted.
Earlier, the interior minister said at least one “heavily armed and dangerous” attacker was believed to be still at large. Officials were quoted as saying there could have been as many as four attackers.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called it a “repulsive terror attack”. The government called it “an attack on freedom and democracy”.
The attack came hours before Austria imposed new national restrictions to try to stem rising cases of coronavirus. Many people were enjoying drinks and eating out before a midnight curfew.
The government has announced three days of national mourning, starting immediately, with flags to fly at half-mast and a minute’s silence at midday. Schools will also have a minute’s silence for the victims on Wednesday morning.
European leaders strongly condemned the shooting.
The Vienna shooting comes after a spate of Islamist attacks in France.
Police in the neighboring Czech Republic said they were carrying out random checks on the border with Austria in case the gunman fled in that direction.
Jimmy Klayton Lauder has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the house fire he set while his wife and little children slept inside.
Judge Brian E. Warren of the 209th District Court sentenced Jimmy Klayton Lauder on the 1st Degree Felony Charge of Arson Monday afternoon after two days of testimony from witnesses.
“You are very lucky your ex-wife and your two children did not die that night and the state isn’t seeking to execute you,” said Judge Warren. “You lit a fire in your house and almost burned your four-year-old and two-year-old to death and almost killed your ex-wife. I find you guilty and sentence you to eight years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.”
The family of Lindsey Yanchek had hired Dolcefino Consulting to make sure justice was done in a county too often known for soft on crime sentences. The family asked us to issue a statement on their behalf.
“A family was destroyed, and no one won today,” said Dolcefino Consulting President Wayne Dolcefino. “There had to be consequences for such an evil act. It is justice. We must hold people who commit violent acts accountable. The Judge did what he had to do.”
A large-scale police operation is under way in Vienna following a shooting incident in the Austrian capital.
According to police, several people have been injured in the shooting.
However, state broadcaster ORF TV is reporting that several people were killed.
The interior minister described the incident as a “terror attack” and said that one attacker had been killed.
Another attacker was “on the run” in the Austrian capital after the shooting.
Police have urged people to avoid all public spaces in the area and not to take public transport.
Road blocks have been set up around the city center. Footage posted on social media showed people running as what was reported to be gunshots could be heard.
The shooting took place in the center of the city, hours before the midnight start of a nationwide lockdown, one of several being imposed in Europe to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The area where the shooting took place is packed with bars and Vienna’s main temple, the Seitenstettengasse synagogue, but it was not clear if they had any connection to the violence.
Jewish community leader Oskar Deutsch tweeted that it was unclear if the Vienna synagogue was targeted in the attack as it was closed at the time.
Actor Eddie Hassell has died at the age of 30 after being shot in North Texas on November 1.
Eddie Hassell was best known for his roles in the 2010 Oscar-nominated film The Kids Are All Right, and the NBC TV show Surface.
The star’s representatives confirmed the news of his death to Variety.
Eddie Hassell was killed in what appeared to be a carjacking, although the incident was still being investigated.
According to The New York Times, Eddie Hassell was shot outside his girlfriend’s apartment in a suburb of Dallas just before 2AM on November 1 and died in hospital soon after.
In 2010, the Texas-born actor showcased his skills to the world in the comedy drama film The Kids Are All Right, which was one of the first mainstream movies to show a same-sex couple raising two teenagers.
It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including best picture.
In it, Eddie Hassell played Clay – a friend of Laser (Josh Hutcherson), whose parents (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) believe Hassell’s character is unstable.
Earlier in his career, Eddie Hassell portrayed Phil Nance – the best friend of schoolboy Miles Barnett – In the science fiction TV series Surface.
He appeared in 10 episodes, acting opposite the likes of Leighton Meester and Lake Bell, before NBC announced in 2006 that the series had been canceled after one season.
In 2013, Eddie Hassell played the young Chris Espinosa in Jobs – a biographical film about Apple founder Steve Jobs, alongside Ashton Kutcher.
President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden have been travelling across the nation as the US election enters its closing stage.
Donald Trump visited five battleground states while Joe Biden spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania.
Joe Biden maintains a solid national lead in the polls ahead of November 3 general election.
However, his advantage is narrower in key states which could decide the result.
More than 90 million people have already cast their ballots in early voting, putting the country on course for its highest turnout in a century.
The election comes amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The US has recorded more cases and more deaths than any other country worldwide, reporting more than 99,000 infections on October 31 alone.
Top virus expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has sharply criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic, drawing a rebuke from the White House on November 1.
President Trump had a punishing schedule on November 1, holding rallies in Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Georgia, followed later by Florida – all states where polls suggest a tighter race.
Speaking in Washington, a town in Michigan north of Detroit, President Trump told his supporters that under his leadership “the economy is now growing at the fastest rate ever recorded”.
He predicted he would take the state again as he did in 2016, and said that the state known for its car manufacturing “didn’t have any auto plants four years ago” when he was elected.
He said: “We brought back your car industry. Your car industry was finished. You would have had nothing left.”
At a later rally in Dubuque, Iowa – joined by high-profile supporters like his daughter Ivanka and aide Hope Hicks – President Trump promised secure borders and more conservative judges in the courts.
Addressing Covid-19, the president told supporters they had a choice between a “deadly Biden lockdown” or “a safe vaccine that ends the pandemic”.
Donald Trump’s comments came after Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Washington Post that the US is “in for a whole lot of hurt” in the coming months.
“All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors,” he told the newspaper.
Joe Biden was “taking it seriously from a public health perspective”, while President Trump had a different perspective and was focusing on “the economy and reopening the country”, he added.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said on November 1 that Dr. Fauci’s comments were “unacceptable”, saying that the expert chose “to criticize the President in the media and make his political leanings known by praising the President’s opponent”.
Joe Biden meanwhile headed to Pennsylvania, place of his birth and another key state in the election. President Trump narrowly won there in 2016 but polls suggest Joe Biden is slightly ahead this year.
At a rally in Philadelphia the former vice-president addressed the city’s black community, vowing to address “systemic racism” in the US and attacking the president’s handling of the pandemic – something which has disproportionately affected African Americans.
He said: “It’s almost criminal the way he’s handled it.
“It’s a mass casualty event in the black community and it’s totally unnecessary.”
Earlier in the day Joe Biden also courted Latino voters with a tweet in Spanish, speaking of the separation of migrant families at the border and his response to Hurricane Maria after it hit Puerto Rico.
He tweeted: “President Trump has attacked the dignity of Latino families time and again…This will end when I am president.”
Joe Biden also addressed a report by news site Axios which says the president will declare victory on Tuesday night if it looks as if he is ahead.
“The president’s not going to steal this election,” he told reporters.
Joe Biden also criticized President Trump for encouraging his supporters after some forced a Biden campaign bus to stop on a Texas highway, something the FBI has now confirmed it is investigating.
Donald Trump tweeted on November 1 that in his opinion, “these patriots did nothing wrong.”
The president denied the Axios report, but told journalists before his North Carolina rally that counting ballots after Election Day was a “terrible thing”.
“I don’t think it’s fair that we have to wait for a long period of time after the election,” he said.
Joe Biden’s campaign said he and his running mate Kamala Harris would “fan out” to “all four corners” of Pennsylvania on November 2, joined by their partners and Lady Gaga and John Legend.
On November 1, Kamala Harris campaigned in Georgia, another state which President Trump won in 2016 but which the Democratic Party is trying to win this year.
According to recent reports, Prince William contracted Covid-19 earlier this year.
It is believed the Duke of Cambridge tested positive in April at a similar time to his father, Prince Charles.
According to the Sun, which first reported the story, Prince William, 38, kept his diagnosis private to avoid alarming the nation.
Kensington Palace, the office and home of Prince William, refused to comment officially.
According to the Sun, Prince William, second in line to the throne, did not tell anyone about his positive test result because “there were important things going on and I didn’t want to worry anyone”.
The prince was treated by palace doctors and followed government guidelines by isolating at the family home Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, the paper added.
He reportedly carried out 14 telephone and video call engagements during April.
At the time, the Duchess of Cornwall tested negative for the virus and self-isolated for 14 days.
Prince Chrles, 71, later said he “got away with it quite lightly”.
During his first public engagement after recovering from coronavirus, the Prince of Wales said he had not fully regained his sense of taste and smell.
In April, PM Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital after testing positive for the virus.
The prime minister was moved to intensive care and later thanked healthcare workers for saving his life, saying it “could have gone either way”.
News of Prince William’s diagnosis comes days before England is due to enter a second national lockdown, with four-week measures to start on November 5.
On November 1, the UK recorded another 23,254 confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 1,034,914.
Another 162 people were reported to have died within 28 days of a positive test. It brings the total number of UK deaths to 46,717.
Movie icon Sean Connery has died at the age of 90, his family has announced.
The Scottish actor was best known for his portrayal of James Bond, being the first to bring the role to the big screen and appearing in seven of the spy thrillers.
Sean Connery died peacefully in his sleep in the Bahamas, having been “unwell for some time”, his son, Jason, said.
His acting career spanned five decades and he won an Oscar in 1988 for his role in The Untouchables.
Sir Sean Connery’s other movies included The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Rock.
Jason Connery said his father “had many of his family who could be in the Bahamas around him” when he died overnight in Nassau. Much of Bond film Thunderball had been filmed there.
He said: “We are all working at understanding this huge event as it only happened so recently, even though my dad has been unwell for some time.
“A sad day for all who knew and loved my dad and a sad loss for all people around the world who enjoyed the wonderful gift he had as an actor.”
Sean Connery’s publicist Nancy Seltzer said: “There will be a private ceremony followed by a memorial yet to be planned once the virus has ended.”
The actor leaves wife Micheline and sons Jason and Stephane.
President Donald Trump and his Democratic White House challenger Joe Biden have held dueling rallies in the critical election state of Florida.
Joe Biden told supporters: “You hold the power. If Florida goes blue [Democratic], it’s over.”
Celebrating soaring economic figures, President Trump said of his rival: “He’s going to lock you down.”
With just five days to go until Election Day, Joe Biden has a solid lead nationally in opinion polls.
However, his advantage looks less assured in the battleground states, such as Florida, that will decide who ultimately wins the White House.
More than 81 million people have already voted, 52 million of them by mail, setting the US on course for its highest electoral turnout rate in more than a century.
On October 29, at a rally in Tampa, President Trump reveled in a new federal projection that the US economy had expanded at an unprecedented 33.1% annual rate in the most recent quarter, following a record 31% contraction in the previous three months during the coronavirus crash.
Florida is a must-win for President Trump and a key opinion poll average shows him just 1.4 points behind Joe Biden, which amounts to a statistical dead heat.
At a 100-minute outdoor rally, President Trump told thousands of people, many of them crowded together without masks: “Joe Biden’s plan is to deliver punishing [coronavirus] lockdowns. He’s going to lock you down.”
“Look, we were compared to Europe,” noted the president.
“‘Germany is doing so well, France is doing so well, everyone’s doing so well.’ No, they’re not doing well.”
While emphasizing Europeans were allies, he continued: “They’re spiking up big, they’re shutting down, they’re locking down.
“I disagree with that because we’re never going to lock down again. We locked down, we understood the disease and now we’re open for business.”
The president was introduced by First Lady Melania Trump, making a rare appearance on the campaign trail. Her biggest applause line came when she said: “We are a country of hope, not a country of fear or weakness, and we have a leader who shows us that every single day.”
Donald Trump had been due to hit another key state, North Carolina, on October 29, but canceled that event in Fayetteville because of foul weather from Tropical Storm Zeta in the area.
The storm reportedly disrupted early voting in another election battleground, Georgia, sparking power cuts in some precincts and toppling trees that blocked off mobile polling sites.
President Trump – who began this month in hospital with coronavirus – is visiting 10 states in the last week of the campaign and will host 11 rallies in the final two days, a campaign official said.
He is hoping that media coverage of his rallies will compensate for his chronic deficit in ad spending as a result of his now-limited campaign coffers.
In Florida alone, according to data from ad tracking firm Kantar/CMAG, Joe Biden and his allies are outspending Donald Trump by more than three to one.
In a potential boost for President Trump, on October 29 he won a rare thumbs-up from an African American celebrity, rapper Lil Wayne, who appeared to endorse him.
Lil Wayne tweeted: “Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump@potus besides what he’s done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership. He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done.”
