The Election

Biden takes narrow lead in Georgia, putting White House in reach. Joe Biden took a narrow lead over Donald Trump in the battleground state of Georgia for the first time early on Friday, putting the White House within his reach as it and other undecided states continue to count ballots.

Backers of Trump ramped up demonstrations on Thursday night against an election they believe was rigged or being stolen, clashing with counter-protesters as vote counting continued in battleground states.

Keep up to date with everything you need to know about the election.

A federal judge denied an emergency request from Donald Trump’s campaign on Thursday to stop ballot counting in Philadelphia so long as Republican observers were not present. Trump’s campaign had sued Philadelphia County’s Board of Elections earlier in the day to seek an emergency injunction.

The U.S. Postal Service said about 1,700 ballots had been identified in Pennsylvania at processing facilities during two sweeps Thursday and were being delivered to election officials. In a court filing early Friday, USPS said 1,076 ballots had been found at the USPS Philadelphia Processing and Distribution Center. About 300 were found at the Pittsburgh processing center, 266 at a Lehigh Valley facility and others found at other Pennsylvania processing centers.

Philadelphia police said they are investigating an alleged plot to attack the city’s Pennsylvania Convention Center, where votes from the hotly contested presidential election are being counted. Local police received a tip about a Hummer with armed people driving up from Virginia with plans to attack the convention center, a police representative said.

Facebook removed a fast-growing group in which supporters of President Donald Trump posted violent rhetoric, as it and other companies tackled baseless claims and potential violence after a contentious election.

Twitter suspended an account used by former Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon after he recorded a video in which he called for beheading FBI Director Christopher Wray as well as Dr. Anthony Fauci for being disloyal to Trump.

At least nine popular YouTube channels were promoting debunked accusations about voting fraud in the presidential race, conspiratorial content that could jeopardize advertising and memberships revenue they get from the video service.

Some House of Representatives Democrats blamed Tuesday’s election losses on colleagues who embraced defunding police departments and “socialist” policies, according to sources familiar with a phone call they held. Democrats went into this week’s congressional elections, in which all 435 House seats were up for grabs, with high hopes of significantly building on their majority control of the chamber. Instead, in a jolt that has cast a pall over the party even as Joe Biden was close to toppling Donald Trump, the party suffered the net loss of about a half-dozen House seats.

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

U.S. cases climb by record for second day in a row
Coronavirus cases in the United States surged by at least 120,276 on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, the second consecutive daily record rise as the outbreak spreads in every region.

U.S. cases have risen by over 100,000 for three out of the last seven days. Twenty out of 50 states reported record one-day increases on Thursday. Previously, the most states reporting records for new cases in a single day were 16, on Oct. 30, according to Reuters data.

COVID-19 infections are still rising in 70 countries. See where infections are trending ⬆️ or ⬇️ relative to the size of the outbreak in each country.

Police arrest 104 Londoners for lockdown breaches
British police said they arrested 104 Londoners on Thursday for breach of coronavirus regulations, adding that they expected more arrests as policing operations continued into the night. People gathered in central London despite new restrictions that have been imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Paris bans nighttime food and drink delivery
Paris will ban delivery and takeaway services for prepared food and alcohol between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. from Friday. The police prefecture also said the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks in public spaces would be banned at night. President Emmanuel Macron imposed a new lockdown last month, forcing non-essential shops - such as those not selling basic foods or medicines - to close, and making people use signed documents to justify being out on the streets.

Aspirin to be tested as potential COVID-19 drug
Aspirin will now be evaluated as a possible treatment for COVID-19 in one of the United Kingdom’s biggest trials looking into a range of potential treatments for the illness. Patients infected by the novel coronavirus are at a higher risk of blood clots because of hyper-reactive platelets, the cell fragments that help stop bleeding. Aspirin is an antiplatelet agent and can reduce the risk of clots, the RECOVERY trial’s website said.

Mink ‘good reservoirs’ for COVID-19
Mink appear to be susceptible to the new SARS-CoV-2 virus and “good reservoirs” for the disease, with a mutated strain having caused infections in a dozen people in Denmark, a World Health Organization official said on Thursday. Denmark plans to cull its entire mink population and announced strict new lockdown measures in the north of the country to prevent a mutated coronavirus from spreading in the animals and to humans.

From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Cars, Kalashnikovs, Houses. Russia’s Kalashnikov gets a new owner, and rich-country housing markets look surprisingly cheery. Catch up with the latest pandemic-related financial insights.

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Business and Economy

China's central bank says Ant's IPO suspension is to safeguard consumer, investor interests

The decision to suspend Ant Group’s planned initial public offering in China was based on a comprehensive consideration about safeguarding the interests of financial consumers and investors, a senior central bank official said.

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Tesla launches $250 Tequila, runs out in hours

Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk made good on his promise to sell “Tesla Tequila” - two years after teasing the plan in a tweet, and the $250 bottles quickly flew off the virtual shelf.

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Exclusive: GM thinks bigger in China with plan to import full-size SUVs

General Motors plans to sell full-size sport-utility vehicle models in China for the first time, and will import a range of models to beef up its product lineup into the world's biggest car market, its China chief told Reuters.

4 min read

Fed keeps policy steady as Biden inches closer to victory

The Federal Reserve kept its loose monetary policy intact on Thursday and pledged again to do whatever it can in coming months to sustain a U.S. economic recovery losing speed amid a spreading coronavirus pandemic and facing uncertainty over a still-undecided presidential election.

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