Agency Reporter

Wisconsin became the last of six states to officially declare victory for Joe Biden late on Monday, in spite of the legal challenges posed by President Donald Trump to stop the certification of results.

Mr Biden’s victory in Wisconsin was certified following a partial recount that only added to his 20,600-vote margin over Mr. Trump, who has promised to file another lawsuit seeking to undo the results.

The finalised vote count in the key battleground states strengthen the president-elect’s majority in the electoral college, taking him up to 306 votes and far beyond the 270 required for victory. The electoral college will meet to formally declare a winner of the election on 14 December.

Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, signed the certificate that completed the process in Wisconsin after recount results were approved by the chairwoman of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Evers’ signature was required by law and is typically a procedural step that receives little attention – but with Mr Trump still refusing to concede defeat weeks after Mr Biden was projected as the winner, this is no typical US election.

“Today I carried out my duty to certify the 3 November election,” Mr Evers said in a statement. “I want to thank our clerks, election administrators, and poll workers across our state for working tirelessly to ensure we had a safe, fair, and efficient election. Thank you for all your good work.”

The action on Monday started a five-day deadline for President Trump to file a lawsuit, which he promised would come no later than Tuesday. Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the results rely on the disqualification of as many as 238,000 ballots. His attorneys have alleged without evidence that there was widespread fraud and illegal activity.

Mr Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, said the recount showed that he won Wisconsin decisively and there was no fraud.

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Even if Mr Trump were successful in Wisconsin, the state’s 10 electoral college votes would not be enough to undo Mr Biden’s overall victory, as states around the country certify their own results.

Earlier on Monday, Arizona officials also certified Mr Biden’s narrow victory in that state.

Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Republican Governor Doug Ducey both vouched for the integrity of the election before signing off on the results.

“We do elections well here in Arizona. The system is strong,” Mr Ducey said.

He did not directly address Mr Trump’s claims of irregularities but said the state pulled off a successful election with a mix of in-person and mail voting despite the pandemic.

Mr Hobbs said Arizona voters should know that the election “was conducted with transparency, accuracy and fairness in accordance with Arizona’s laws and election procedures, despite numerous unfounded claims to the contrary”.

Mr Biden is only the second Democrat in 70 years to win Arizona. In the final tally, he beat Donald Trump by 10,457 votes, or 0.3 per cent of the nearly 3.4 million ballots cast.

Even as Arizona officials certified the election results, Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis met in a Phoenix hotel ballroom a few miles away to make claims of irregularities in the vote count there and elsewhere. They again did not provide evidence of widespread fraud.

“The officials certifying have made no effort to find out the truth, which to me, gives the state Legislature the perfect reason to take over the conduct of this election because it’s being conducted irresponsibly and unfairly,” Mr Giuliani said.

Nine Republican state lawmakers attended the meeting. They had requested permission to hold a formal legislative hearing at the Capitol but were denied by the Republican House speaker and Senate president.

Mr Trump berated Mr Ducey on Twitter on Monday night, asking: “Why is he rushing to put a Democrat in office, especially when so many horrible things concerning voter fraud are being revealed at the hearing going on right now.”

Elections challenges brought by the Trump campaign or his backers in key battleground states have largely been unsuccessful.

Election officials from both political parties have stated publicly that the election went well and international observers confirmed there were no serious irregularities.

Meanwhile, Mr Biden team has moved ahead with the transition process and announced several key members of his future cabinet.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

American pharmaceutical manufacturer Moderna yesterday applied for immediate approval of its coronary vaccine in both the United States (U.S.) and the European Union (EU).

Moderna’s latest initiative is giving new momentum to the international race to get an approved vaccine on the market, at the same time as the pandemic reaches new heights in both the EU and the USA.

The capacity of American hospitals is at a breaking point, with over 160,000 cases of infection daily and over 1,400 deaths.

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Since the COVID-19 virus first appeared in China almost a year ago, 1.4 million people have lost their lives worldwide.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech are applying to begin vaccination in the U.S. in December.

In the UK, the health authorities are also considering Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as a vaccine from AstraZeneca.

Moderna process, if successful, could see the first shots given as early as December 21.

Proving that love is blind, and sometimes kooky, a bodybuilder from Kazakhstan has tied the knot with his dearly beloved – a sex doll he dated for eight months before proposing a year ago.

Clad in a black tux and bow tie, Yuri Tolochko is seen planting a gentle kiss on Margo, who appears a bit stiff in her revealing white gown as she clutches a bouquet of flowers and stares in the distance.

The couple also shared a romantic first dance in front of dozens of guests who attended the traditional ceremony, which was shared on Instagram, The Sun reported.

“It’s happened. To be continued,” the actor and bodybuilder wrote after slipping a ring onto his bride’s finger.

The unconventional couple got engaged in December 2019, when the bald, blue-eyed hunk – who described himself as a “sexy maniac” — popped the question.

Images shared on social media illustrate the couple’s romantic lifestyle, including sunny vacations and bubble baths, captioned with hashtags including #ideal_relationship #true_love and #happy_wife_happy_life.

In one post of them working out together, Tolochko wrote: “Couples need to talk less and connect more. With time and experience, Margo and I realized that it takes more than words to have a conversation.”

He added: “Your partner sure deserves the best, but they have to do their part.”

Tolochko said he met Margo at a nightclub, where he rescued her from some unwanted attention, adding that they had planned to take the plunge in March before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

He told the Daily Star that the wedding was delayed again after he was attacked during a transgender rally in the Kazakh city of Almaty on Oct. 31, when he suffered a concussion and a broken nose after dressing as a woman for the event.

Tolochko, who identifies as a pansexual, told the Daily Star that “our story turns me on much more than sex itself.”
He added that he also enjoys BDSM – bondage and discipline, domination and submission, sadism and masochism.

“I love being tortured; I can endure a lot of pain. I love to dominate too. Margo is capable of what other people are not capable of,” he said, according to the news outlet.

The only requirements for a wedding to take place in Kazakhstan are that both consenting partners have to be male and female over 18 years old – with no mention of whether dolls are included.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

Agency Reporter

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden gained an additional 87 votes in Wisconsin’s partial recount on Sunday, confirming his lead in the state count that is being contested by the Trump campaign over alleged voting irregularities.

Before the partial recount began on Nov. 20, Biden was ahead statewide by about 20,000 votes. Dane and Milwaukee counties started recounts after the Wisconsin Elections Commission approved a request for recount from the Trump campaign at a cost of $3 million.

Trump vowed legal challenges of the state’s results even before the recount concluded, saying on Nov. 28 that the recount “is not about finding mistakes in the count, it is about finding people who have voted illegally.

“We have found many illegal votes. Stay tuned!” he said.

Dane County’s recount reported a 45-vote gain for Trump. Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Sunday that this was largely due to the discovery of absentee ballot envelopes that lacked voter signatures, witness signatures, or witness addresses.

In Milwaukee County, Biden gained a net 132 votes after its recount finished on Nov. 27.

Read Also: Biden names all-women senior communications team

The state holds 10 electoral votes and faces a certification deadline of Dec. 1 Certification will be conducted by the Democratic chair of the bipartisan Wisconsin Election Commission.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Jenna Ellis said in a statement that the Wisconsin recounts have “revealed serious issues” about the validity of the ballots, without elaborating on arguments earlier outlined by the Trump campaign on Nov. 18.

“As we have said from the very beginning, we want every legal vote, and only legal votes to be counted, and we will continue to uphold our promise to the American people to fight for a free and fair election,” Ellis said.

Several legal matters are ongoing in Wisconsin with regard to the election results.

One group filed an emergency petition asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to block the certification of election results because of alleged irregularities.

In its lawsuit, the Chicago-based law firm the Thomas More Society detailed a series of alleged illegal actions taken by Wisconsin officials that led to significant numbers of improper votes being counted. One example listed officials not enforcing state laws that require voters to present photo identification when requesting an absentee, or mail-in, ballot. In a response filing on Nov. 27, state election officials said the petition made arguments that rest “on the flimsiest of legal and factual bases.”

Another lawsuit filed last week also seeks to block the state’s certification of election results, arguing that all ballots cast via “illegal ballot drop boxes” should be discarded as to not dilute legally cast votes.

THE Ethiopian government launched a manhunt yesterday for leaders of a rebellious faction in the northern region of Tigray after announcing federal troops had taken over the regional capital and military operations were complete.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed government has been trying to quell a rebellion by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a powerful ethnically-based party that dominated the central government from 1991 until Abiy came to power in 2018.

He said on Saturday evening that federal troops had taken control of the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, within hours of launching an offensive there, laying to rest fears of protracted fighting in the city of 500,000 people.

The prime minister, who refers to the three-week-old conflict as an internal law and order matter and has rebuffed international offers of mediation, said federal police will try to arrest TPLF “criminals” and bring them to court.

However, TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael told Reuters in a text message on Saturday evening that TPLF forces would fight on, raising the prospect that the conflict could drag on.

Thousands of people are believed to have been killed and nearly 44,000 have fled to Sudan since the fighting began on Nov. 4. The conflict has been another test for Abiy, who took office two years ago and is trying to hold together a patchwork of ethnic groups that make up Ethiopia’s 115 million people.

The flow of refugees and attacks by the TPLF on neighbouring Eritrea have also threatened to destabilise the wider Horn of Africa region.

Claims from all sides are difficult to verify since phone and internet links to Tigray have been down and access tightly controlled since the fighting began.

The police late on Saturday issued arrest warrants for 17 more military officers charged with crimes in connection with the conflict that include treason and embezzlement of public properties, state-affiliated Fana TV reported. They add to the 117 warrants issued for senior military officers, who are connected to TPLF since the conflict broke out.

It was not clear if any TPLF leaders had surrendered, their whereabouts or their next plans.

“Their brutality can only add (to) our resolve to fight these invaders to the last,” the TPLF’s Debretsion told Reuters in a text message on Saturday.

Asked by Reuters if that meant his forces would continue fighting, he replied: “Certainly. This is about defending our right to self-determination.”

Debretsion said in another text message that Tigrayan forces were withdrawing from around Mekelle.

Regional diplomats and experts have warned that a rapid military victory might not signal the end of the conflict.

The TPLF has a history of guerrilla resistance. Tigray’s mountainous terrain and borders with Sudan and Eritrea helped the TPLF during its long struggle against Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, whom it eventually toppled in 1991.

The TPLF and Eritrean forces fought together against Mengistu, but relations later soured after Eritrea became independent in 1993. The two nations fought over a border dispute in 1998-2000 and the TPLF sees Eritrea as a mortal enemy.

Six explosions were reported in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, on Saturday night, the U.S. State Department said, although it was not immediately clear if they were related to the Tigray conflict. The State Department post did not mention the cause or location of the explosions.

Tigrayan forces fired rockets at Eritrea on Nov. 14.

Reuters was unable to reach the Eritrean government or Tigrayan forces for comment.

The TPLF, which denounces Abiy’s warm relations with Eritrea, has accused Eritrea of sending troops to Tigray to join the Ethiopian government’s fight.

It has not been possible to contact the Eritrean government for comment on this.