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Massachusetts school districts that lifted mask mandates immediately after the state relaxed its requirement in February saw far more COVID-19 cases than districts that retained the policy voluntarily, according to a new study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The new research from authors at Harvard University, Boston University and the Boston Public Health Commission provides evidence for supporters of mask mandates as they call for school districts to enact protections against future surges. ... Researchers found that, over the course of 15 weeks, those 72 districts saw an additional 45 COVID-19 cases for every 1,000 students and staff — an estimated 11,901 cases overall, or nearly a third of all cases in all districts during that period." (more) https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2211029

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Weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to drop in most of the world, except for in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific, which saw modest rises, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today [Nov. 9] in its weekly update on the pandemic. The WHO received reports of more than 2.1 million cases last week, reflecting a 15% drop from the previous week. Countries reported more than 9,400 deaths, down 10% from the week before. The five countries with the most cases were Japan, South Korea, the United States, Germany, and China. (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/11/global-covid-19-cases-and-deaths-continue-decline

This adapted COVID-19 vaccine targets both the original virus and the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants Approval has today [Nov. 9] been granted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for a Pfizer/BioNTech ‘bivalent’ Covid vaccine that targets both the Original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants. The updated booster vaccine is the second bivalent vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech to receive MHRA approval, after it was found to meet the UK regulator’s standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. The vaccine has been approved for use as a booster dose in individuals aged 12 years and above. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/second-pfizerbiontech-bivalent-covid-19-booster-vaccine-approved-by-uk-medicines-regulator Moderator's note: the prior, original version of the Pfizer bivalent COVID vaccine approved in the UK targeted earlier Omicron variants before BA.4 and BA.5. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/pfizer-biontech-covid-19-booster-114312142.html

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday celebrated the better-than-expected performance of Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm elections, calling the preliminary results a “good day” for democracy and the country. But he admitted the results — which were still trickling in on Wednesday, leaving control of Congress up in the air — showed voters remain concerned with the impacts of high inflation, along with public safety and the rising cost of living. “While the press and the pundits were predicting a giant red wave, we didn’t have it,” Biden told reporters from the White House. (more) https://globalnews.ca/news/9266085/us-midterms-2022-results-biden/

Voters in Maryland and Missouri approved the legalization, while similar proposals were rejected in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota Voters in two states approved the legalization of recreational marijuana in Tuesday’s elections, joining the growing list of states where the cannabis market is regulated for adult use. Maryland and Missouri join 19 other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing recreational marijuana, while legalization proposals did not pass in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota. (more) https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/09/heres-how-five-states-voted-on-the-legalization-of-recreational-marijuana.html

US president points to problems in Vladimir Putin’s war machine but Ukraine president warns there is ‘always resistance from the enemy’ Russia’s troop withdrawal from Kherson showed its military faces “real problems”, the US president, Joe Biden, has said, as his Ukrainian counterpart urged caution and warned his forces that a fight still lay ahead. In a televised announcement on Wednesday, the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, ordered his troops to withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro River in the face of Ukrainian attacks. Gen Sergei Surovikin, who is in overall command of Russia’s war operations, called it a “very difficult decision”, but conceded that “Kherson cannot be fully supplied and function”. (more) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/10/kherson-retreat-russia-military-real-problems-ukraine-says-biden

US midterm results: Trump-backed candidates fared poorly, despite former president's claims Donald Trump was expecting a decisive night for his candidates in the US midterms, ahead of an expected announcement that he will run for president in 2024. But his claims that his candidates enjoyed great success on election night are incorrect, analysis by Sky News suggests ... "A truer measure of a candidate's success is the extent to which they managed to increase the share of people voting for the Republican Party compared to the 2020 presidential election. Looking at the 71% of counties where more than 90% of results have been reported, House candidates backed by Trump managed to increase the Republican vote share by two percentage points. That's well short of the 7.1 percentage point increase for the party in counties without Trump-endorsed Republicans." (more) https://news.sky.com/story/us-midterm-results-trump-backed-candidates-fared-poorly-despite-former-presidents-claims-12742373

Trump touts ‘tremendous’ wins for endorsed candidates, says ‘why would anything change?’ on 2024 announcement Trump says more than 200 of the candidates he endorsed won and says suggestions he was angry are 'fake news' Former President Donald Trump says he is celebrating the wins of the more than 200 "great" Republican candidates he endorsed who were able to claim victory in their midterm election races, telling Fox News Digital on Wednesday that he is "proud" of them and maintaining that his plans to make a "major" announcement next week have not changed due to the "tremendous success" he had. At this point, 216 GOP candidates that Trump endorsed won their races Tuesday night, with 19 losing to the Democrat candidate. "There is a fake news narrative that I was furious — it is just the opposite," Trump told Fox News Digital, responding to reports that suggested he was less than pleased with the election results for his endorsed candidates. (more) https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-touts-tremendous-success-for-endorsed-candidates-says-why-would-anything-change-on-plans-for-2024

The Wall Street Journal editorial board this week put the blame for Republican losses in the midterms at the feet of former President Trump, calling him the GOP’s “biggest loser.” The board said in an editorial published Wednesday that Trump-style Republican candidates lost in races that were “clearly” winnable, but the defeats might be what the Republican Party needs to see before the 2024 presidential election. ... Republicans were hoping for a red wave to retake control of both houses of Congress, but Democrats outperformed the polls in many races. (more) https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3729130-wall-street-journal-labels-trump-biggest-republican-loser/ Trump Is the Republican Party’s Biggest Loser He has now flopped in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022 https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-is-the-gops-biggest-loser-midterm-elections-senate-house-congress-republicans-11668034869

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And yet, there's another separate news report today that references the "next round" of COVID vaccine acquisitions by the government, as follows: "Provinces will now need to keep storing unexpired vaccines and antibody treatments aged more than two months, as the next round of vaccine procurement, which is no longer covered under emergency protocols, is expected to go through more lengthy procurement procedures." https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG221110100608755

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman ... At a meeting of the UN General Assembly last month, the Saudis voted in favor of a resolution declaring Russia's annexation of swaths of east Ukraine illegal, in a snub to Putin that further isolated him in a global forum. Crown Prince Mohammed more recently announced a huge increase in the humanitarian aid the Saudis would send Ukraine, adding $400 million to the $10 million pledged in April. The Saudis also played a key role in brokering a high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, in which some UK and US citizens who had been captured fighting for the Ukrainian military were freed. (more) https://news.yahoo.com/us-quietly-extracting-concessions-saudi-101619894.html

All the Extreme Republicans Boosted by Democrats in the Primaries Lost Their Midterm Races Democrats faced criticism this year for investing nearly $19 million in the primary races of far-right Republican candidates, but their gamble appeared to pay off on election night. According to an analysis by The Washington Post, Democrats intervened in 13 primary races to support the more extreme right-wing Republican, in the hopes that the Republican would be easier to defeat in the general election against a Democratic opponent. Of the six of those Republicans who won the primary, all of them lost their general election races by Wednesday. (more) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/all-the-extreme-republicans-boosted-by-democrats-in-the-primaries-lost-their-midterm-races/ar-AA13Vncq

The updated indictment also includes a new reference to the additional targets on the alleged list that DePape had for his attacks: "e) DEPAPE further identified another person, referred to here as “Target 1,” as “way up” on his target list, and he explained that he had a plan to use Speaker Pelosi to lure Target 1 to DEPAPE." https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1551006/download

The above referenced federal indictment indicates the San Francisco Police officers who responded to the Pelosi home were wearing their functioning body cameras at the time they encountered the suspect DePape: "6. Moments later, at approximately 2:31 a.m., SFPD officers responded to the Pelosi Residence and two officers knocked on the front door. The two officers who approached the door had their body-worn cameras activated. The two officers opened the door to see the foyer of the Pelosi Residence, Mr. Pelosi, wearing a long-sleeved shirt, DEPAPE in shorts, running shoes and a sweatshirt, and DEPAPE and Mr. Pelosi jointly gripping a hammer." And that the entire encounter between police and DePape lasted about 15 seconds in total. https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1551006/download

Paul Pelosi’s alleged attacker indicted by federal grand jury (CNN) -- A grand jury has returned a federal indictment charging David DePape, the man accused of violently attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband in late October, with attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault of an immediate family member of a federal official. “If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for the assault count and 20 years in prison for the attempted kidnapping count,” the Justice Department said in a statement Wednesday. With the indictment, DePape is facing both federal and state charges, which include “attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder, as well as threats to a public official and their family,” according to San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins. (more) https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/09/politics/depape-indictment-federal-grand-jury-pelosi/index.html https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-indicted-connection-attempted-kidnapping-and-assault-pelosi-residence Man Indicted in Connection with Attempted Kidnapping and Assault at Pelosi Residence A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging a California man with assault and attempted kidnapping in connection with the break in at the Pelosi residence on Oct. 28 in San Francisco. The indictment supersedes the federal criminal complaint filed on Oct. 31. (more)

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...exit polls by Edison Research... "A third of voters said their House vote was intended to send a message to oppose Biden; 1 in 5 said it was intended to support him. Nearly half of voters said Biden's policies were "hurting" the country; only a third said they were "helping." Even so, Biden had a more positive standing than Trump – or, put another way, a less negative one. Biden's favorable-unfavorable rating was 41%-56%, 15 points underwater. Trump's rating was 39%-58%, 19 points underwater." https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/11/09/midterms-republicans-house-biden/8307403001/

Here's where things stand with the balance of power in the Senate and the House With the day after the election wrapping up, control of Congress remains undetermined. Republicans hold 49 seats in the Senate, while the Democrats have 48. Two states are uncalled and Georgia's Senate seat will be decided by a December runoff election. In the House, it could be days until a full picture emerges as votes are still being counted in states like California, Oregon, Nevada and Arizona. (more) https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-results-congress-senate-house-11-09-2022/

Kevin McCarthy almost has the reins of a House majority. Can he hold on? As the minority leader inches closer to taking the speaker’s gavel, the Republican leader will have to navigate a fractious conference with a likely slim majority ... The House majority remains unknown as of Wednesday evening as numerous races remain close in districts Republicans believed they would easily win. House Republicans, to be sure, are largely still expected to win the majority. But some are frantic over what appears to be a razor-thin victory as they stare down what many privately say is the impossible task of governing an ideologically fractious conference with slim margins. (more) https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/09/kevin-mccarthy-republicans-house-speaker/

Democrats are breathing a sigh of relief. But their troubles are far from over America is returning to an era of divided government and two years of grinding trench warfare It was a result that, Joe Biden said on Wednesday, gave everyone a “whew! sigh of relief” that Make America Great Again (Maga) Republicans are not taking over the government again. Biden won and Donald Trump lost in midterm elections to decide control of Congress. But just as in 2020, a collective exhalation is not enough to spell the end of political dysfunction in America. Things are about to get messy. (more) https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/09/biden-legislative-agenda-republicans-control-house-analysis

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https://edition.cnn.com/

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