The World Health Organization’s (WHO) chief scientist said Thursday the agency hopes there will be about two billion doses of a vaccine against COVID-19 by the end of next year that would be reserved for “priority populations.”Speaking at a virtual news conference in Geneva, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan told reporters, “It’s a big ‘if’ because we don’t…
read moreNew Zealand on Thursday reported its third confirmed coronavirus case this week, a development that has prompted the government to further restrict its quarantine rules for those entering the country after it had declared local transmission of the virus eradicated.All three cases involve people who flew to New Zealand from elsewhere in the world, the…
read moreThe new chief executive of the agency that oversees Voice of America has dismissed the leaders of other agency organizations, including the heads of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Free Liberty.U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Michael Pack made the move in notices issued late Wednesday.The Associated Press reported…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump engaged in interactions with various world leaders, including China’s Xi Jinping, to undermine national interests for his own political gains, according to Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton.In an op-ed in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, Bolton writes that during the 2018 G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Trump asked Xi to…
read moreDemocratic presidential candidate Joe Biden would beat U.S. President Donald Trump in a landslide if the election were held today, a new poll shows. The new survey by Reuters-Ipsos has 48% of respondents saying they would cast their ballots for Biden and 35% for Trump. The poll shows 40% approving of the way Trump has handled the…
read moreU.S. policing reforms are taking center stage Wednesday in Congress, as Senate Republicans offer their legislation promoting police accountability for their actions on the streets of America, while House Democrats moved to advance their more far-reaching measure to curb abusive police conduct. Whether the divided lawmakers can reach common ground less than five months before the…
read moreDonald Trump pleaded with China’s leader Xi Jinping for help to win re-election in 2020, the U.S. president’s former aide John Bolton writes in an explosive new book, according to excerpts published Wednesday.Trump met with Xi at a summit last June when he “stunningly turned the conversation to the US presidential election, alluding to China’s…
read moreThe joint Europe and U.S. Solar Orbiter spacecraft has made its first close approach to the Sun, getting as close as 77 million kilometers and taking the closest images of the sun ever captured.The collaboration between the the U.S. space agency, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), began in February when the orbiter was…
read moreWith the coronavirus threat, the US is taking an urgent look at vote-by-mail in this presidential election year …
read moreCOVID lockdowns are clearing the air around the world, but the emissions reductions may only be temporary. …
read moreSenate Republicans are proposing changes to police procedures and accountability with an enhanced use-of-force database, restrictions on chokeholds and new commissions to study law enforcement and race, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press.The JUSTICE Act — Just and Unifying Solutions To Invigorate Communities Everywhere Act of 2020 — is the most ambitious…
read moreA study by researchers at Britain’s University of Nottingham published this week suggests there could be more than 30 intelligent civilizations in our galaxy.The study, published Monday in the Astrophysical Journal, uses a calculation based on how long it took advanced life to develop on Earth – about five billion years ago – and applied…
read moreA cheap and widely available steroid drug has shown it can save the lives of the most seriously ill COVID-19 patients, British researchers said Tuesday. Scientists called the use of dexamethasone, normally used to reduce inflammation in patients with arthritis and other diseases, a “major breakthrough” in the treatment of patients infected by the coronavirus who…
read moreFor most mayors in deep-red states like Oklahoma, the prospect of hosting the first rally for President Donald Trump in months would be a delight. It would showcase the city on an international stage and draw revenue for local businesses that have been shuttered for months amid the coronavirus outbreak.But G.T. Bynum, the first-term mayor…
read moreThe Maine GOP submitted petitions Monday designed to stop the use of a ranked voting style for president, setting up an Election Day fight over the future of the method. Maine became the first state in the country to adopt ranked choice voting when residents approved of it in 2016. The rollout of the voting…
read moreResearchers in England say they have the first evidence that a drug can improve COVID-19 survival: A cheap, widely available steroid called dexamethasone reduced deaths by up to one third in severely ill hospitalized patients. Results were announced Tuesday and researchers said they would publish them soon. The study is a large, strict test…
read moreAn investigation conducted on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has found that agency leaders violated NOAA’s own scientific integrity policy in releasing a statement last year contradicting their own forecasters and supporting U.S. President Trump’s false assertion about the path of Hurricane Dorian last year.NOAA is the agency that includes the…
read morePresumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is getting some help from his “former boss,” Barack Obama, as he looks to fill his campaign coffers and unify the Democratic Party ahead of the November election. The former president and Biden will appear together next Tuesday for a “virtual grassroots fundraiser,” the former vice president announced on Twitter.…
read moreShortly before Elizabeth Warren joined their virtual happy hour on a recent Friday afternoon, the five African American women co-hosting the #TheSipHour mused about calling her by her first name. The Massachusetts senator had her own moniker in mind. “I was going to say I’m here today as an ally, but can we really…
read moreGoogle announced earlier this month that Chinese-backed hackers were observed targeting former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign staff. The internet giant said that hackers did not appear to compromise the campaign’s security, but the surveillance was a reminder of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Analysts say China’s primary motive for breaking into a campaign…
read morePresident Donald Trump is hitting the road again. And while a campaign event with a president who draws TV cameras and raucous crowds can be gold for down-ballot candidates, these days its value can be debatable. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, facing a competitive North Carolina reelection contest, “is looking forward to campaigning” with Trump,…
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