Republicans will have a majority in the House when the next Congress convenes in January but it’s not clear how slim the margins will be following disappointing results for the GOP. Some Republican candidates breezed to election victories as they faced no challenger at all, while others were opposed by third-party figures with little prospect of winning last week. Fred Wellman, who describes himself on Twitter as a pro-democracy advocate, questioned why Democrats had decided not to run candidates in certain races....

The bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which passed by unanimous consent, was introduced by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR). The bill will be sent to the House of Representatives for consideration before it has to receive presidential sign-off by Joe Biden. In a statement following Wednesday’s vote, Rubio and Merkley praised the Senate’s decision, which would add to an existing ban on cotton and tomatoes produced in the Chinese autonomous region....

Democrats are keen for O’Rourke to give an answer over whether he would challenge GOP Governor Greg Abbott in 2022. Texas Democratic Party chairman Gilberto Hinojosa told the Associated Press that “impatience is not the word for it,” in referring to wanting confirmation of an O’Rourke gubernatorial run, “but anxious is.” “I told him that I thought that we needed a strong candidate for governor and he certainly fit that mold, and that, in my opinion, if anybody could beat Abbott, he could beat him,” Hinojosa added....

Joe Biden’s party has odds of 4-6 of retaking the upper chamber, suggesting a 60 percent chance, according to Oddschecker. The GOP’s price to retain control of the Senate is 2-1 (suggesting a 33.33 percent chance) while a tie is 6-1 (14.29 percent chance). There are 35 seats up for grabs in the Senate in the 2020 election—23 of those belong to the Republicans. A recent forecast by the Cook Political Report found nine GOP senators were at risk of losing re-election with Martha McSally of Arizona and Cory Gardner of Colorado said to be most at risk....

While women are still in wide jubilation, Norwegian midfielder Caroline Graham Hansen also took to social media to celebrate the equal pay, happening for the first time in football. This means the country’s female players will get almost double of their previous pay from 3.1m krone (£296,845) to 6m krone (£574,540) like the men. A post shared by Caroline Graham Hansen (@graham95) on Oct 6, 2017 at 11:22am PDT...

At least a little fight with his mouth. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, when describing the events following the Bank of America 500 last Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, expressed some disappointment that he never got a chance to get close enough to Keselowski to get into trouble. MORE: Talladega picks | Johnson says ‘frustration’ high going into Talladega | Chase standings | “My team guys wouldn’t let me do anything,” Hamlin said Friday at Talladega Superspeedway....

“We have agreed to the terms that Eddie has put out to us for a fight in the U.K.," Wilder’s co-manager Shelly Finkel told ESPN . “Deontay has accepted his terms to fight in the U.K. Deontay sent an email to Joshua (Sunday) night and I sent one today to Barry Hearn and Eddie telling them that we officially accept the offer to fight under the terms they gave us and to send us the contract....

Per the report, the Department of Justice is inquiring about whether the NCAA’s ban of satellite camps could jeopardize or lessen opportunities for youth players noticed by college football coaches. MORE: Crimson Tide deserves No. 1 until someone dethrones them Earlier this month, the NCAA disallowed college teams from holding camps for high school players anywhere but on their own campuses. The ban also won’t allow coaches from being employed at other schools’ camps and clinics....

Why were they celebrating? From their perspective as rejectionists of Israel’s right to exist, the encampment represented a political and public-relations coup. By kidnapping, then murdering, an Israeli policeman last week, the Islamic militant group Hamas forced both the Israeli government and the rival Palestine Liberation Organization into untenable positions. Israel’s predictably harsh reprisal-the largest such transfer since 1967-stirred up the inevitable storm of international criticism, threw the future of the faltering Middle East peace talks into question and added another item to President-elect Bill Clinton’s growing list of foreign-policy headaches....

“I am disgusted by the conduct of Republican senators who pose as reputable people, but shamelessly hide under rocks instead of calling out the president’s horrendous behavior as the gross misconduct that they know it to be,” Don Ayer, who served in both the Reagan and Bush administrations, told The Washington Post before the letter was released. The letter, drafted by the group Checks and Balances, is intended to add conservative support for the impeachment, Stuart Gerson, who worked in the Bush administration, told the Post....

With no fans in Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, the natural sound from the field came through loud and clear on the NBC broadcast. That meant that when Carr yelled out “James Harden,” “Pistol Pete,” “Purple Walrus” and more, it came through loud and clear to the millions of Americans tuned in to the game. Kansas City won 35-31, but did Mahomes yell out seemingly random NBA players’ names during the middle of the game?...

Attorneys for the former Minneapolis police officer filed the request for new proceedings just two weeks after Chauvin was found guilty in the death of George Floyd last year. They alleged that misconduct by the judge, prosecutors and jurors compromised Chauvin’s right to a fair trial. They also accused the court of abusing its discretion by refusing to move the trial to another city and not adequately shielding the jury from pretrial publicity....

That playoff run ended in defeat after five NBA Finals games against the loaded Golden State Warriors, and Williams’ contributions can be best remembered by his 1.0 points per game in 12.2 minutes per game in those Finals. He scored five points in a Game 4 win but scored no points in the other four, including Game 1 in which he spent 19 minutes on the floor and only recorded one assist and three rebounds....

Cousins has been suspended for punching Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverley in the stomach with 9:44 remaining in the first quarter of the Kings' 129-103 loss on Tuesday night in Sacramento. He has been fined for verbally abusing a game official and failing to leave the court in a timely manner following an ejection with 8:21 remaining in the third quarter. Cousins, who leads the team in scoring (22.3 points per game) and rebounding (11....

The key duo have picked up untimely knocks, with neither able to feature in Monday’s 2-1 Premier League victory over Burnley. Jurgen Klopp’s side were able to get the job done at Turf Moor without their assistance , but the Reds will not want to be without either for long. It could, however, be that they welcome arch-rivals Everton to Anfield on Friday without the services of a creative influence being heavily linked with Barcelona and their 23-goal top scorer....

The message, though, feels more relatable to Liverpool this season with a reaction of fatalism served up on every occasion they fail to register victory. While the conclusions on Jurgen Klopp’s side are often overblown and removed from context, the frustrations of supporters are understandable and valid given their witnessing of the same issues ruining a really good thing. The amount of attacking weaponry the club possesses is frightening and when the forward players fully find their offensive groove, Steven Gerrard’s famous “all the best” remark to opposition defences will again trend....

The previous peak—97,894 new infections—was recorded in late September. In the last 24 hours, 103,558 new infections have been reported. There were 478 deaths Sunday, raising India’s death toll to 165,101. The milestone comes amid a surge in daily infections. India’s seven-day rolling average is more than 73,000 cases per day, higher than any country in the world. Infections had receded in India but began to rise in late February....

Between January 28 and February 3, weekly new cases dropped more than 16% from the previous week and dropped below one million for the first time since early November, according to the COVID-19 Tracking Project. Ten states saw drops of more than 25% in new cases. And deaths from the illness declined for the first time since mid-October (exempting those correlated with a holiday reporting period). Experts say that the data is cause for some hope....

The head of emergencies at the World Health Organization (WHO) spoke about it on Tuesday during a panel discussion hosted by the World Economic Forum. “We may never end the virus” because such pandemic viruses “end up becoming part of the ecosystem,” Dr. Michael Ryan said. “[But] we have a chance to end the public health emergency this year if we do the things that we’ve been talking about.”...

The Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) in Redding, California, advised students, faculty and staff to shelter-in-place on October 2, and moved classes to a virtual learning model. Students and school employees were asked to stay home and quarantine themselves. “During this shelter-in-place, students have been asked to self-quarantine, regardless of whether or not they are experiencing symptoms. Students have been instructed to only leave home for essentials, not participate in any social gatherings, and not visit any local non-essential businesses or public spaces,” according to a statement on the church’s website....