November 12, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

In Georgia, President-elect Biden leads President Trump by more than 14,000 votes, but the state will conduct a hand recount of nearly 5 million ballots. Trump and Georgia Republicans continue to ask for investigations into “voting irregularities,” but the Republican secretary of state has seen no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

Wildfires scorched millions of acres across the Western United States this past summer, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes. Jocksana Corona and her family were among them, after flames reached their Talent, Oregon, neighborhood. They have been living in a Girl Scout facility since then. Corona shares her Brief But Spectacular take on surviving a wildfire.

A growing number of Republicans say President-elect Biden should be able to receive a daily national security briefing. Biden has also announced longtime aide Ronald Klain will be his chief of staff. Meanwhile, President Trump’s reelection campaign continues its legal challenges to the election -- despite many rejections. Yamiche Alcindor and Lisa Desjardins join Judy Woodruff to discuss.

While Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health and other health experts are hopeful vaccines will make a real difference in managing COVID-19, some of the pandemic's challenges are likely to persist for a long time. Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a physician and sociologist at Yale University, has written a book about what the virus means for our lives. He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

In our news wrap Thursday, the U.S. Treasury reports the federal government ran up a record $284 billion budget deficit for the month of October. That shortfall is more than double what it was last year. Also, a helicopter carrying Multinational Force and Observers peacekeepers crashed off the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, killing at least eight people -- including six American service members.

American presidential elections always draw intense interest globally. This year, Joe Biden’s win was met with an array of reactions, from elation to wariness to silence. The president-elect has already spoken with allies from Europe, Japan and South Korea -- but he has yet to hear from American adversaries including China, North Korea and Russia. Nick Schifrin reports.

How are other countries reacting to Joe Biden’s victory? Marwan Muasher has served as Jordan’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister and is now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Nathalie Tocci is director of the Institute for International Affairs in Italy; and Minxin Pei of Claremont McKenna College focuses on China. They join Nick Schifrin to discuss their perspectives.

President Trump has repeatedly made misleading and false statements about mail-in ballots, the vote-counting process and more. Some of his supporters and members of the conservative media have, too. Social platforms like Twitter and Facebook have tried to limit the spread of disinformation -- but doing so is complicated. William Brangham talks to The Washington Post's Elizabeth Dwoskin.