US News Roundup: Trump tries to put COVID-19 behind him with campaign rally in Florida; Supreme Court nominee Barrett faces Senate test and more

2020 U.S. ELECTION: What you need to know right now -With three weeks to go until election day, President Donald Trump tries to put his COVID-19 diagnosis behind him by kicking off his return to the campaign trail with a rally in the battleground state of Florida.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 12-10-2020 18:48 IST | Created: 12-10-2020 18:28 IST
US News Roundup: Trump tries to put COVID-19 behind him with campaign rally in Florida; Supreme Court nominee Barrett faces Senate test and more
US President Donald Trump (File photo) Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Security guard held on suspicion of murder in shooting at Denver political rallies

A security guard hired to protect a Denver television news crew covering opposing rallies of right-wing and left-wing political activists is being held in custody on suspicion of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a protester, police said on Sunday. The deadly gunfire erupted on Saturday following a "verbal altercation" between the suspect and victim just as a "Patriot Rally" and a counter-demonstration dubbed a "BLM-Antifa Soup Drive" was drawing to a close, Denver Police division chief Joe Montoya said.

Explainer: The Electoral College and the 2020 U.S. presidential race

In the United States, the winner of a presidential election is determined not by a national vote but through a system called the Electoral College, which allots "electoral votes" to all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on their population. Complicating things further, a web of laws and constitutional provisions kick in to resolve particularly close elections.

2020 U.S. ELECTION: What you need to know right now

-With three weeks to go until election day, President Donald Trump tries to put his COVID-19 diagnosis behind him by kicking off his return to the campaign trail with a rally in the battleground state of Florida. -U.S. networks aim for credibility, not speed, on Nov. 3 as executives recall hasty projections on election night in 2000 which were later retracted.

Trump tries to put COVID-19 behind him with campaign rally in Florida

President Donald Trump will try to put his bout with COVID-19 behind him when he returns to the campaign trail on Monday, beginning a three-week sprint to the Nov. 3 election with a rally in the vital battleground state of Florida. The event at an airport in Sanford, Florida, will be Trump's first campaign rally since he disclosed on Oct. 2 that he tested positive for COVID-19. Trump, who spent three days in the hospital for treatment, said on Sunday he was fully recovered and no longer infectious, but did not say directly whether he had tested negative for the virus.

Supreme Court nominee Barrett faces Senate test

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett's Senate confirmation kicks off in earnest on Monday as Republicans seek to place her on the bench ahead of the presidential election next month in the face of blanket Democratic opposition. A four-day Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for the conservative appellate court judge, picked by President Donald Trump, will begin with members and Barrett herself making opening statements.

Fauci says his remarks were taken out of context in Trump ad

Top U.S. infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday he had not agreed to be featured in an ad by President Donald Trump's re-election campaign and that his comments were taken out of context. The ad, released last week, discusses Trump's effort to recover from the coronavirus personally, as well as his administration's work to address the pandemic. The 30-second spot uses older remarks from Fauci in a way that suggests he was praising the president.

Transgender man's dream of joining U.S. military thwarted for now

Paulo Batista is lifting weights and hitting the books, striving to fulfill his father's dying wish for him to join the U.S. military. But he says all he has heard from the armed forces is either silence or a door slamming shut. Batista is transgender, effectively banned from military service under a policy announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017 and formally adopted in 2019, reversing a policy former President Barack Obama's administration had enacted, after extensive review, to allow transgender military service.

Senate Republicans will go with Trump on coronavirus stimulus: White House spokeswoman

Republicans in the U.S. Senate will go along with what President Donald Trump wants in coronavirus relief legislation, a White House spokeswoman said on Monday, as the White House pursues a deal with Democratic lawmakers. "I believe Senate Republicans will ultimately come along with what the president wants - the president noted that yesterday," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News. "We believe Senate Republicans are not what's blocking this. It is Democrats."

Analysis: New Apple 'iPhone 12' to offer 5G speeds U.S. networks can't deliver

5G will finally get its U.S. closeup with the expected debut of Apple Inc's next iPhone on Tuesday. But the blazing speeds promised will not materialize for most people. The device, dubbed the iPhone 12 by analysts, can tap into 5G, or fifth generation wireless technology, that theoretically operates as much as 10 to 20 times faster than current 4G wireless networks.

U.S. TV news networks aim for credibility, not speed, on election night

In preparing for election night, some top U.S. television news executives see a cautionary tale in a notorious November evening two decades ago. After major networks projected Vice President Al Gore the winner in the crucial state of Florida, they pivoted in the wee hours to calling his Republican rival George W. Bush the next president. The margin was so slim, Gore conceded, then took it back an hour later.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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