US News Roundup: Biden edges closer to White House win; Police arrest 10 in Portland and more

Biden edges closer to White House win as Trump mounts legal challenge Democrat Joe Biden moved closer to victory in the U.S. presidential race on Thursday as election officials tallied votes in the handful of states that will determine the outcome and protesters took to the streets.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Police arrest 10 in Portland, 50 in New York on night after U.S. vote

Police in the city of Portland made arrests and seized fireworks, hammers and a rifle after late night demonstrations, as Oregon Governor Kate Brown activated the state's National Guard in response to "widespread violence" on the night after voting in the U.S. presidential election. Portland Police said it arrested ten people in the demonstrations after declaring riots in the city's downtown area while the New York Police Department (NYPD) said it made about 50 arrests in protests that spread in the city late on Wednesday.

Biden edges closer to White House win as Trump mounts legal challenge

Democrat Joe Biden moved closer to victory in the U.S. presidential race on Thursday as election officials tallied votes in the handful of states that will determine the outcome and protesters took to the streets. Incumbent President Donald Trump alleged fraud, filed lawsuits and called for recounts in a race yet to be decided two days after polls closed.

Vatican report on disgraced ex U.S. cardinal McCarrick expected this month: sources

A long-awaited Vatican report into disgraced ex-U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is expected to be released this month to coincide with an annual meeting of American bishops, Vatican sources said on Thursday. McCarrick was expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood last year after a Vatican investigation found him guilty of sexual crimes against minors and adults and abuse of power.

U.S. Supreme Court may not have final say in presidential election, despite Trump threat

While President Donald Trump wants the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on a presidential race that is still too close to call, it may not be the final arbiter in this election, legal experts said. They said it was doubtful that courts would entertain a bid by Trump to stop the counting of ballots that were received before or on Election Day, or that any dispute a court might handle would change the trajectory of the race in closely fought states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania.

U.S. sets new record for increase in COVID-19 cases day after election

The United States set a one-day record for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday with at least 102,591 new infections and as hospitals in several states reported a rising tide of patients, according to a Reuters tally. Nine states reported record one-day increases in cases on Wednesday: Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.

Republicans on track to dash Democratic hopes of U.S. Senate majority

Republicans appeared poised to retain control of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, after Senator Susan Collins defied political odds to win re-election in Maine and other Republican incumbents led Democrats in a handful of undecided races. Democrats, who had been favored to win the Senate majority heading into Tuesday's election, had a net gain of only one seat to show by Wednesday afternoon as their options for further increases dwindled, despite a huge Democratic money advantage going into the final weeks of the campaign.

Trump supporters protest outside Arizona vote center

A crowd of Donald Trump supporters, some armed with rifles and handguns, gathered outside an election center in Arizona on Wednesday night after unsubstantiated rumors that votes for the Republican president were deliberately not being counted. Chanting "Stop the steal!", and "Count my vote", the mostly unmasked protesters stood in front of the Maricopa County Elections Department in Phoenix, as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden held a razor thin lead in the critical battleground state. Some news outlets have called Arizona for Biden, but Trump's campaign says it is still in play.

Factbox: More U.S. states okay recreational marijuana in wide-ranging ballot questions

Voters in four states joined several others in legalizing marijuana for recreational use on Election Day, while Oregon approved the country's first therapeutic use for psilocybin, the hallucinogenic drug known as magic mushrooms. The ballot measures, some of which were undetermined until Wednesday, were among at least 124 wide-ranging statutory and constitutional questions put to voters this year in 32 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

Anxiety, suspicion exacerbate U.S. post-election uncertainty

Weary from one of the most bruising U.S. presidential races in modern times, Republican and Democratic voters alike were in a state of high anxiety on Wednesday with the election outcome still unsettled a day after polls closed. President Donald Trump's false declaration of victory in the early hours of Wednesday, as ballot counting continued in several pivotal states, roiled supporters of Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Fox News scores ratings win as early state election call angers Trump and his allies

Fox News Channel's election coverage led all networks with 14.1 million prime-time viewers on a night it riled President Donald Trump and some of his supporters with an early call from a battleground state for Democrat Joe Biden, ratings data showed. AT&T Inc's CNN finished second with 9.4 million from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. EST, followed by Comcast Corp's MSNBC with 7.6 million, according to the Nielsen ratings agency.