If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra will be the first Latino to head the federal health department
President-elect Joe Biden has reportedly picked California attorney general Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration’s coronavirus response.
If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra, 62, will be the first Latino to head the Department of Health and Human Services, a $1-trillion-plus agency with 80,000 employees and a portfolio that includes drugs and vaccines, leading-edge medical research and health insurance programs covering more than 130 million Americans.
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New York schools to close again as US approaches 250,000 Covid deaths – live
- New York City public schools to close again on Thursday
- President-elect Biden peaks virtually with healthcare workers
- Trump campaign to request recounts in two Wisconsin counties
- House Democrats reelect Pelosi as nominee for speaker
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10.51pm GMT
The US coronavirus death toll has now surpassed 250,029, representing a higher death toll than an...
Enough is enough: Republicans’ fealty to Trump imperils America itself | Jill Filipovic
When the president refuses to concede, it has a tangible impact on the nation’s future. Why are Republicans enabling this?
The Republican party has spent four years enabling Donald Trump: backing up his lies, defending his most egregious misbehaviors, shattering longstanding democratic norms to keep his, and by extension their, iron grip on power. But by refusing to push him to concede an election he clearly lost, they’re truly following him off a cliff – and threatening to take Amer...
Joe Biden names former Ebola tsar Ron Klain as chief of staff – as it happened
- Biden’s lead over Trump in the popular vote surpasses 5m
- ‘An embarrassment’: Biden criticizes Trump’s refusal to concede
- Pompeo promises smooth transition to ‘second Trump administration’
- Conservative supreme court justices suggest Obamacare will be upheld
- The misinformation media machine amplifying Trump’s election lies
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Waleed Shahid, the communications director for the progressive political action committee Justice Democrats, said Klain “understands the Democratic party has moved in a more progressive direction”.
Progressives and moderates came together to help elect Joe Biden. But post-election, the two camps have already begun to spar over the party’s future, with progressives saying that Biden should embrace more ambitious policy on climate change, policing and healthcare.
Ron Klain understands the Democratic Party has moved in a more progressive direction and that voters expect bold action.
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Best of luck to @RonaldKlain as he manages a team to act on the biggest crises of our time.
Progressives will keep pushing. pic.twitter.com/rxytnuAIy4
‘We are already beginning the transition’: Biden and Harris defend Obamacare – video
Joe Biden said he and vice-president elect Kamala Harris had already begun a transition before his swearing in as US president on 20 January and called Donald Trump's refusal to concede defeat 'an embarrassment'.
Biden said he believed he could 'get a lot done' as he and Harris defended the Affordable Care Act, which was brought before the supreme court in a legal challenge by Texas and other Republican-governed states that was backed by Donald Trump’s administration
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Trump’s longshot election lawsuits: where do things stand?
The president and other Republicans have filed a series of lawsuits in different states that several judges have already dismissed
- US politics live – follow all the latest
Since election day, Donald Trump and other Republicans have filed a smattering of lawsuits in battleground states that have provided cover for Trump and other Republicans to say that the election still remains unresolved.
Related: US election 2020: Biden to speak as Trump and the supreme cou...
Joe Biden says Trump’s refusal to concede defeat ‘an embarrassment’ – live
- President-elect says he has not spoken to Trump since Saturday
- Biden decries ‘rightwing ideologues’ for trying to wreck Obamacare
- Justices’ questions suggest skepticism of Republican arguments
- British PM Boris Johnson congratulates Biden
- Pompeo promises smooth transition to ‘second Trump administration’
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Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has drafted “anti-mob” legislation that would expand the state’s Stand Your Ground Law that would allow citizens to shoot anyone they suspect is engaged in looting, the Miami Herald reports.
The legislation is a reaction to anti-police brutality, The Herald’s Ana Ceballos and David Ovalle report:
“It allows for vigilantes to justify their actions,” said Denise Georges, a former Miami-Dade County prosecutor who had handled Stand Your Ground cases. “It also allows for death to be the punishment for a property crime — and that is cruel and unusual punishment. We cannot live in a lawless society where taking a life is done so casually and recklessly.”
The draft legislation put specifics behind DeSantis’ pledge in September to crack down on “violent and disorderly assemblies” after he pointed to “reports of unrest” in other parts of the country after the high-profile death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer.
Since election day, Donald Trump and other Republicans have filed a smattering of lawsuits in battleground states that have provided cover for Trump and other Republicans to say that the election still remains unresolved.
Legal experts have noted these suits are meritless, and even if they were successful, would not be enough to overturn the election results. Indeed, judges in several of these lawsuits have already dismissed them, noting the Trump campaign has failed to offer evidence to substantiate allegations of fraud.
Related: Trump's longshot election lawsuits: where do things stand?
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Barr tells prosecutors to pursue ‘clear’ fraud claims, without evidence – as it happened
- Attorney general says investigations ‘may be conducted’ in some cases
- President announces ‘Mark Esper has been terminated’
- Biden gets to work as president-elect while Trump refuses to concede
- US coronavirus cases surpass 10m as Ben Carson tests positive
- Republicans back Trump challenge to Biden election victory
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4.02am GMT
Here’s a r...
Coronavirus live news: ‘We cannot give up’ warns WHO chief; protests flare in Italy
Protests against Covid restrictions turn violent in Milan and Turin; US deaths up 10%; Pope to celebrate Christmas without congregation. Follow the latest updates
- Global coronavirus report: Italian police use tear gas to disperse anti-lockdown rally
- Pope Francis criticised for rarely wearing face masks
- Survey uncovers widespread belief in ‘dangerous’ Covid claims
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Tumbling numbers of pregnancies and marriages in Japan during the coronavirus pandemic are likely to intensify a demographic crisis in the rapidly ageing nation, Reuters reports.
Japan has the most aged society in the world, with more than 35% of its population expected to be 65 and over by 2050, a trend that poses risks for economic growth and straining government finances.
“I reckon the spread of the coronavirus is having many people worried about getting pregnant, giving births and rearing babies,” Tetsushi Sakamoto, minister in charge of responses to Japan’s declining birthrates, told a news conference on Friday.
Recently published official data showed the number of notified pregnancies in the three months to July fell 11.4% from a year earlier, while the number of marriages over the same period dropped 36.9%. The sharp decline in marriages matters because the majority of babies in Japan are born in wedlock.
The US Trump administration will this week announce a plan to cover out-of-pocket costs of Covid-19 vaccines for millions of Americans who receive Medicare or Medicaid, Politico reported late on Monday, citing four people with knowledge of the plan.
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According to the plans, Medicare and Medicaid will now cover vaccines that receive emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. The changes are expected to be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the report added.
The planned rule will also address other Covid-19 related issues like expanding flexibility for Medicaid patients seeking care for the coronavirus, Politico reported.
CMS did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular working hours.
Democrats hold Senate floor overnight to protest Amy Coney Barrett confirmation – live
- Trump aide admits ‘we’re not going to control pandemic’ as Pence staff test positive
- Nearly 60 million Americans cast early vote as record-shattering turnout expected
- Many midwest Democrats stayed home in 2016. Will they turn out for Biden?
The summer has been characterised by a series of extreme weather events on both coasts of the US, and that looks set to continue.
Hundreds of thousands of Californians lost power as utilities sought to prevent the chance of their equipment sparking wildfires and the fire-weary state braced for a new bout of dry, windy weather.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy has just described himself as “sad and furious” on his way home from the Senate in the early hours of the morning having been part of the Democrats night long occupation of the Senate floor.
Just finished the 3-5am shift on the Senate floor in protest of the vote later today on radical Amy Coney Barrett.
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She will rule to invalidate Obamacare, causing 23M to lose insurance in the middle of a pandemic. Catastrophic.
Both sad and furious on my rainy drive home. pic.twitter.com/hVEw3AvibW