Your Friday Briefing – The New York Instances

A third day of voting in the US elections

Two days after the end of the US election, new numbers of votes give Joe Biden new impetus.

The Democratic candidate extended his lead in Nevada and Arizona, two states that are not expected to finish counting until Friday, while President Trump’s lead in Georgia and Pennsylvania has shrunk. “Democracy is sometimes chaotic,” Biden said in a brief statement to reporters on Thursday. “It also takes a little patience sometimes.”

President Trump broke a two-day silence to make a brief statement of outrageous lies and sacrifices about the electoral process, while workers in a handful of states continued to tabulate votes in the president’s race. “If you count the legal votes, I win easily,” Trump said, providing no evidence to support this claim.

Here is the state of affairs as the candidates win 270 electoral college votes.

Legal matters: The Trump campaign scored a small win in a lawsuit in Pennsylvania, which gave campaign observers better access to election counters, while lawsuits in Michigan and Georgia were denied.

On the ground: The Americans took to the streets in mostly peaceful marches across the country. Supporters of Mr. Trump gathered outside the polling station to demand that officials “stop” voting. But the process went on.

In the meantime in Russia: The lengthy aftermath of American Election Day has become the focus of a stand-alone domestic struggle that has fueled a debate over whether Russia’s tightly-written political landscape has unique advantages over American democracy.

In England a lock with gaps

England’s second suspension, which began Thursday, is in some ways very little like a suspension. Many stores have remained open, as have personal courses at schools and universities.

With little political consensus on lockdown measures, England’s new rules are riddled with loopholes. Companies have openly disregarded the relatively mild restrictions in place. And many scientists doubt that four weeks of patchy restrictions will be enough to eradicate the virus, or that by then the government has done enough to overhaul its inadequate contact tracing system.

The UK economy is similarly concerned. On Thursday, the government and central bank announced an expansion of the springtime emergency measures, while the Bank of England downgraded its economic growth forecasts, saying the recession would be deeper this year and the recovery slower next year than forecast would have.

Here are the latest updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:

• For the second straight year, the United States recorded over 100,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday as daily records were broken across the country.

• China stopped almost all travelers from Bangladesh, Belgium, Great Britain, India and the Philippines, with the exception of Chinese citizens, in order to control the coronavirus.

• French Health Minister Olivier Véran warned that the intensive care units would be overwhelmed by mid-November if the new rules were not strictly followed.

• Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced a three-week nationwide lockdown from Saturday on Thursday after infections soared and fears that pressure on Greek hospitals could increase.

A climatic challenge for the Norwegian oil and gas industry

A kind of contradiction: the Norwegian Constitution declares that all citizens have the right to a healthy environment. However, the country’s economy is based on an oil and gas industry, which accounts for more than half of national exports.

The Norwegian Supreme Court must now face this obvious paradox head on as it hears a challenge from environmental groups who want constitutional reasons to invalidate licenses for the exploration of new oils in the Arctic. Experts said it was unclear how the 15 judges would rule on the case that started on Wednesday.

It is one of the most prominent cases in a series of climate action lawsuits from activists in Europe and elsewhere – one that Norwegian news outlets have called “the case of the century”.

Quote: The lawsuit “is the best shot our generation has made to ensure that a significant amount of carbon dioxide stays buried underground and is never burned,” said Andreas Randoy, deputy director of Nature and Youth Norway, adding that a victory “denies The beginning of “would mean the end of the oil age. “

If you have 5 minutes, it’s worth it

How many more earths are there out there?

A decade ago, a group of astronomers set out to answer one of the oldest questions that mocked philosophers, scientists, priests, mystics, and the rest of humanity: How many distant planets could live as we know them?

A new analysis of data from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft has some sort of answer: there may be 300 million potentially habitable exoplanets in the Milky Way alone. And that’s a low estimate. Our science reporter explains.

The following also happens

Kosovo: President Hashim Thaci, a guerrilla leader during Kosovo’s struggle for independence against Serbia, resigned to face crimes against humanity in a special international court in The Hague. Mr Thaci was charged with ten war crimes by the Special Court in the Netherlands in June.

Stimulus package: Political uncertainty in the US has reinvigorated the possibility that lawmakers could agree to new economic bailout law before Christmas. The S&P 500 rose nearly 2 percent, defying predictions that election uncertainty would scare investors, even at 738,000 Workers filed new claims for state unemployment benefits last week.

No smoking in North Korea: The The government expanded a national campaign by banning smoking in public places. However, the state news media continues to show that the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, smokes in the subway, schools and hospitals.

Snapshot: Above, Tiffanie Davis, an American who moved to Paris in 2017, posts videos about life as an expatriate. Lots of travel influencers make their move, while stressed-out lockdown folks (Americans especially) are scrolling Instagram to find an escape.

Lived life: Elsa Raven, a character actress who may be best remembered for a small but pivotal role in the hit 1985 time travel comedy Back to the Future, died Monday at her Los Angeles home at the age of 91 .

What we read: This Guardian article about funny memes from the US election. Take the time to laugh in a week of fear.

Now a break from the news

Cook: This onion tart is uncomplicated and uncomplicated, rustic and sophisticated at the same time.

Clock: “Koko-di Koko-da,” a disturbing Swedish horror film, will ensure you never go into the woods again, writes our reviewer.

Do: There is plenty of evidence to suggest that aerobics can improve your mood. Now, a new study shows that weight training can help reduce anxiety.

You deserve a break. Our At Home collection can help you with ideas on what to read, cook, see and do while staying home safe.

And now for the background story about …

A pandemic during the US elections

As Americans waited for the outcome of an exciting election, the number of new daily coronavirus cases hit a record 107,000 on Wednesday, and expectations grew that the US outbreak was likely to worsen in the coming weeks. Lisa Lerer, a reporter who writes on politics, spoke to our colleagues from the Coronavirus Briefing about reporting on elections during a pandemic. Here is an excerpt.

What was your experience as a political reporter in these elections?

Lisa: Basically, the way we usually report about elections was anything but obscure. One example is that the voters didn’t necessarily want to speak to me. My place to go for talking to voters is the Costco parking lot as it takes people a long time to charge their cars with all of their avocados or whatever so you have time to talk to them. But this year I got kicked off two parking lots and that has never happened to me.

How will these elections shape future election campaigns?

I think people want to keep doing mail-in polls and early polls. I also think there has been some innovation because of technology. Maybe we’ll see more Zoom fundraisers, especially for lower dollar events, because we’ve seen you can raise a ton of money that way. .

How did the pandemic change the tenor of the election based on the talks you had?

I think isolation from the pandemic contributed to a large part of the anger on both sides. I definitely have a feeling that people are more reluctant to give me their name because they fear that if this comes up in the paper, someone will pursue them for their political views.

I wish you a peaceful weekend. Until next time.

– Natasha

Many thanks
To Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the break from the news. You can reach the team at [email protected].

PS
• We listen to “The Daily”. Our last episode is about the state of the elections.
• Here is our mini crossword puzzle and a clue: Abnormal behavior (three letters). You can find all of our puzzles here.
• Do you need a jolt of pure joy? Check out this 52 second colorized video of a snowball fight, recorded in France in 1897.
• The New York Times had seven million subscribers in the third quarter. For the first time, the publisher generates more income from online readers than from print subscribers.