WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Sunday appeared to acknowledge for the first time that Joe Biden won the White House, but made clear he would not concede and would keep trying to overturn the election result. Trump’s statements came in tweets that included several baseless claims about the Nov. 3 vote, which state and federal officials say was safe and secure. Trump, without using B...

BEIJING (Reuters) -- The Chinese city of Jinan said over the weekend it had found coronavirus on beef and tripe and their packaging from Brazil, Bolivia and New Zealand, while two other provincial capitals detected it on packaging on pork from Argentina. China is ramping up testing on frozen foods after repeatedly detecting the virus on imported products, triggering disrupting import bans, even ...

PARIS (Reuters) -- French police stepped up controls in Paris over the weekend to ensure residents were complying with strict lockdown rules imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, amid signs that some people were breaching them. Prime Minister Jean Castex has said people are not abidingby the rules as strictly as during the first lockdown back inthe spring. Police had to break up an illegal par...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thousands of die-hard Donald Trump supporters rallied for a last stand Saturday in Washington, chanting "four more years" and blaming fraud for an election defeat that will force the president to vacate the White House after just one term. Trump himself made a drive-past in his armored motorcade, on his way to play golf, smiling through his limousine window to wild cheers and ...

WASHINGTON -- The United States was able to push through "robust" sanctions against North Korea by the UN Security Council in 2009 thanks to its improved relations with other countries, former US President Barack Obama said. In a new memoir, "A Promised Land," the former US president also said that his 2009 speech in Prague calling for a world free of nuclear weapons was partly aimed at urging e...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden attended on Wednesday separate, simultaneous ceremonies marking Veterans Day, as what should have been a moment of national unity was marred by the Republican's refusal to acknowledge election defeat. On a rainy, gray day in Washington, the president visited Arlington National Cemetery for a somber wreath-laying ceremony,...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The leaders of close US allies on Tuesday telephoned President-elect Joe Biden and pledged to work together but in an extraordinary break, America's top diplomat Mike Pompeo insisted that Donald Trump would remain in power. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel all offered congratulations in calls to Biden, ...

WILMINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Joe Biden signaled strongly on Monday that fighting the raging pandemic will be the immediate priority of his new administration, an abrupt shift from President Donald Trump’s more unworried approach to the virus, as the nation surpassed 10 million COVID-19 cases. Biden began with a direct appeal to all Americans to wear masks, a departure from Trump, who has m...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration threw the presidential transition into tumult on Monday, with President Donald Trump blocking government officials from cooperating with President-elect Joe Biden's team and Attorney General William Barr authorizing the Justice Department to probe unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud. Some Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCon...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- At least three top Trump administration or campaign officials have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending an election night watch party in the White House East Room. The night -- intended to mark a victory that never came -- has become yet another symbol of the president's cavalier attitude toward a virus that is ripping across the nation and infecting more than 100,000 ...

Pfizer Inc. said Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine may be a remarkable 90 percent effective, based on early and incomplete test results that nevertheless brought a big burst of optimism to a world desperate for the means to finally bring the catastrophic outbreak under control. The announcement came less than a week after an election seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump's handling of th...

WASHINGTON -- US President-elect Joe Biden stressed the importance of wearing masks in his first press conference since declaring his victory, insisting the simple act of wearing a mask may save tens of thousands of lives. The call came only hours after an American pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, said an early analysis of data from its coronavirus vaccine trial showed the vaccine to be more than...

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump on Monday replaced his defense chief, Mark Esper, with less than three months left in his presidency. "I am pleased to announce that Christopher C. Miller, the highly respected Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (unanimously confirmed by the Senate), will be Acting secretary of Defense, effectively immediately," Trump tweeted. "Chris will do...

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union pressed ahead Monday with plans to impose tariffs and other penalties on up to $4 billion worth of US goods and services over illegal American support for plane maker Boeing, but expressed hope that trade ties would improve once President Donald Trump leaves office. EU trade ministers were discussing the move on a videoconference after international arbitrator...

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong's legislature will resign "en masse" if Beijing's top law-making committee moves to disqualify four of their colleagues for violating the semi-autonomous city's Basic Law, the convener of the bloc said Monday. The threat came ahead of a meeting of one of China's top law-making bodies, with Hong Kong media reporting that it was considering d...