VOA常速英语:多名共和党参议员联名抗议选举人团投票结果

This is VOA news. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton. A growing number of Republican lawmakers have joined US President Donald Trump's extraordinary effort to overturn the Presidential election, pledging to reject the results when Congress meets next week to count the electoral college votes and certify President-Elect Joe Biden's win. On Saturday, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas announced a coalition of 11 senators who will vote against certain state electors unless Congress appoints an electoral commission to immediately conduct an audit of the election results. Earlier a GOP senator Josh Holley of Missouri said he would object to the vote tallies. Both acknowledge that they are unlikely to change the results of the election, which state and federal officials say ran smoothly. Mr. Biden is set to be inaugurated on January 20th.

Officials in India and in the United States have announced some progress toward expanded COVID-19 immunization campaigns. New Delhi staged nationwide drills on Saturday to launch one of the world's biggest Coronavirus vaccination programs. Meanwhile, the country's drug regulator approved two vaccines, one developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, the other by Bharat biotech and the state-run Indian Council of medical research. India as the world's second most populous country, it has more than 10.3 million confirmed COVID-19 infections, and that's second only to the United States. In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday said the country had administered more than 4.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines nationwide and had distributed more than 13 million doses. The US continues to lead the world with more than 20 million infections. That's about one fourth of the 84 and a half million COVID-19 cases recorded globally. VOA news.