TRUMP CAMPAIGN DROPS KEY PART IN PA. LAWSUIT
President Donald Trump’s campaign is withdrawing a central request in its lawsuit seeking to stop the certification of the election results in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump to capture the state and help win the White House.
Ahead of a Tuesday hearing in the case, Trump’s campaign dropped its request in the lawsuit that hundreds of thousands of mail- in and absentee ballots — 682,479, to be precise — be thrown out because they were processed without its representatives able to watch.
The campaign’s revised lawsuit, filed in federal court Sunday, maintains the aim of blocking Pennsylvania from certifying a victory for Biden in the state, and it maintains its claim that Democratic voters were treated more favorably than Republican voters.
Hurricane Iota makes landfall on Nicaragua coast. MANAGUA »
Powerful Hurricane Iota made landfall on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast late Monday, threatening catastrophic damage to the same part of Central America already battered by equally strong Hurricane Eta less than two weeks ago.
Iota had intensified into an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm early in the day, but the U. S. National Hurricane Center said it weakened slightly to Category 4, with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph. Its center made landfall about 30 miles south of the Nicaraguan city of Puerto Cabezas, also known as Bilwi.
SpaceX capsule reaches space station. CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. SpaceX’s newly launched capsule with four astronauts arrived Monday at the International Space Station, their new home until spring.
The Dragon capsule pulled up and docked late Monday night, following a 27- hour, completely automated flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The linkup occurred 262 miles above Idaho.
Peru’s Congress selects centrist lawmaker to be new leader. LIMA » Peru’s political crisis appeared on the verge of resolution Monday as Congress cleared the way for a consensus candidate to become the country’s third president in a week.
Jubilant people waved the nation’s red- and- white flag and blared horns on the streets of Peru’s capital as Francisco Sagasti of the centrist Purple Party was selected as the new president of Congress.
The 76- year- old engineer has not yet been sworn into office, but as head of Congress becomes the nation’s chief of state by default. Peru currently has no president or vice president, making him next in line.
Ex- Harvard coach, father charged in $ 1.5M admissions scam. BOSTON » The former fencing coach at Harvard and a wealthy Maryland businessman were arrested Monday on accusations that the coach took $ 1.5 million in bribes in exchange for helping the businessman get his two sons into the Ivy League school as recruited fencers.
Peter Brand, 67, who was fired by Harvard last year, and Jie “Jack” Zhao, 61, of Potomac, Md., face a charge of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery. Their arrest comes more than a year after a newspaper reported that Brand sold his home for nearly double its assessed value to Zhao.
Pro- Western candidate wins Moldova’s presidential election. CHISINAU Maia Sandu, a former World Bank economist who favors closer ties with the European Union, has won Moldova’s presidential runoff vote, decisively defeating the staunchly pro- Russian incumbent, according to preliminary results released Monday.
Sandu captured more than 57% of the vote, leaving the incumbent, Igor Dodon, behind by more than 15 points, according to data from the Central Election Commission, which said nearly 100% of the vote has been counted.