A US state of Georgia election official has said President Donald Trump will bear responsibility for any violence that results from unsubstantiated election fraud claims he has stoked.

In a fiery statement, Gabriel Sterling, a Republican, said: "It's all gone too far! All of it! It has to stop!"

Georgia is carrying out a second recount of votes in the state at the Trump campaign's request.

Democratic president-elect Joe Biden was declared the narrow winner there.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said it is trying to make sure "that all legal votes are counted and all illegal votes are not".

"No-one should engage in threats or violence, and if that has happened, we condemn that fully."

Voice quaking with anger at a news conference in Atlanta on Tuesday, Mr Sterling, the state's voting systems implementation manager, rebuked his fellow Republicans, including the president.

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One of the most powerful ways to lose weight, stay healthy, and live longer is so shockingly simple, even a toddler can do it. All you have to do is put one foot in front of the other. "Walking has always been my main source of cardio, and except for when I was pregnant, I've been the same weight my entire life!" says fitness expert Denise Austin. The key is to strut for, ideally, at least 30 minutes a day, says Melina B. Jampolis, M.D., author of The Doctor on Demand Diet. And whether you decide to lace up your sneakers and walk to work, pair up with a friend, or join a hiking club, walking can do everything from lowering your blood pressure and reducing your risk of chronic diseases to making your brain sharper and your heart happier.

"Walking is so simple that everyone can do it," says Austin. "Plus it has tremendous benefits, from supporting a healthy immune system to boosting your metabolism to strengthening your joints, muscles, and bones—not to mention it's amazing for stress relief and enjoying a little 'me time.'" Here’s what else you can expect when you start walking for just a half hour every day—that's less time than it takes to listen to one album on your ear buds!—most days of the week.

1. Walking will improve your mood.
A glass of wine or a square (or three) of dark chocolate can blunt the edge of a rough day—but going for a walk is a zero-calorie strategy that offers the same perk, says Dr. Jampolis.



“Research shows that regular walking actually modifies your nervous system so much that you’ll experience a decrease in anger and hostility,” she says, especially when you're going for a stroll through some greenery or soaking in a bit of sunlight. This can be particularly helpful during the colder months, when seasonal depression spikes.

Finally, when you make your walks social—you stride with, say, your partner, a neighbor, or a good friend—that interaction helps you feel connected, says Dr. Jampolis, which can make you feel happier.

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(CNN Business)A version of this article first appeared in the "Reliable Sources" newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.

Trump is Trump. There's nothing new to say about the man. But there is still lots to learn about his enablers. So many people, from GOP functionaries to Fox News hosts, are helping him to undermine democracy by denying the election and attacking reality. So many people are complicit.

People like Maria Bartiromo. Formerly an acclaimed journalist, known around the world for making CEOs tell the truth, now she tees up Trump to recite lie after lie. Her Sunday morning call with Trump on Fox News was his first "interview" since he lost the election, but it wasn't a real interview at all. He wasn't ready to acknowledge that he lost, and neither was she. He displayed delusional weakness. She was complicit. And she's far from the only one.

GOP leaders stay silent
Ron Brownstein on CNN Sunday night: As Trump's conspiracy theory about the "rigged" election "gets more and more fantastical and far-reaching, implicating the DOJ, the FBI, and Republican governors, the silence of Republicans in Congress — Mitch McConnell in particular, Kevin McCarthy in particular, who are allowing this poison to spread in the American political system — looks more and more like a modern analogue to the silence of Republican congressional leaders during the rampages of Joe McCarthy in the early 1950s. I think history will have no trouble finding a parallel between Mitch McConnell's efforts to kind of look the other way and what so many Republican leaders did until Joseph Welch said, at long last, sir 'have you no decency?'"

Trump is backsliding
He lost the election nearly four weeks ago yet he refuses to admit it. Judging by his tweets, he's spiraling even deeper into denial. The Bartiromo interview was a sign that he's prepared to do battle in public -- a disturbing display of weakness that some people interpret as strength. His Thanksgiving evening Q&A with reporters was another sign of the same thing. After holding a call with members of the military, he fielded questions for the first time in three weeks — the "longest gap" of his presidency — mostly by deflecting and deceiving. When he walked out, one reporter asked "Is this the language of a dictator?" and another said, "Mr. President, some people say you're denying reality."

On Sunday's "Reliable Sources," Jonathan Rauch placed Trump's recent statements in the context of information warfare. Trump is running a "classic Russian-style disinfo campaign," known as the "firehose of falsehood," which is when you "push out as many different stories and conspiracy theories and lies and half-truths as you possibly can," Rauch said. "The goal here is to confuse people, and he's doing very well at that. This is a classic propaganda tactic."

>> Craig Mazin, the creator of HBO's "Chernobyl," reacted to my segment with Rauch by reprising one of the most memorable lines from his series: "The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all."


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(CNN)America is sliding into a winter limbo of alarming spikes in Covid-19 cases and deepening economic pain while an apathetic lame duck White House and a deadlocked Congress provide no political leadership.

The darkest holiday season in modern history beckons, yet President Donald Trump and his closest aides, sulking after his election defeat, are doing little to save lives, apart from claiming credit for a vaccine that represents a way out of the nightmare of 2020 but remains months away for most Americans.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and GOP-led Senate will return to Washington this week, but have shown no signs they can get together to ease the consequent economic pain of millions of unemployed Americans amid scenes of long Great Depression-style lines outside food banks.



President-elect Joe Biden is moving quickly to put a diverse and experienced team around him -- he rolled out an all-female senior communications team Sunday, and he is expected to announce top economic officials this week.

But even a President-elect who promises to replace Trump's neglect with a science-based approach to the pandemic can only do so much before he takes office on January 20, when the health crisis and economic toll are likely to be far worse.

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London (CNN)In the days since Oxford University and AstraZeneca unveiled the results of the partnership's Phase 3 Covid-19 vaccine trials, a growing number of questions have emerged.

The stated 70% average efficacy was significantly lower than the 94.5% to 95% reported by the other two leading candidates, Moderna and Pfizer.

Yet this vaccine could still prove to be more valuable for the world than the other two in the coming months. If the questions over its results are answered and it receives approval, it may lead the way in providing vaccine coverage in poorer countries where it is urgently needed.

The UK government took the first step in that approval process on Friday, announcing that it had formally referred the candidate to the UK's medicines regulator for assessment.