A federal judge said the Justice Department unlawfully rescheduled the execution of the only woman on federal death row, potentially setting up the Trump administration to schedule the execution after president-elect Joe Biden takes office.U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss also vacated an order from the director of the Bureau of Prisons that had set…
read moreThe Africa and Nigerian Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week said a new variant of the coronavirus has emerged in Nigeria. The head of Nigeria’s CDC said it is studying the new strain, which is different from new strains discovered in Britain and South Africa.The variant strain was discovered in two patient samples…
read moreSouth Korea, Japan, and Indonesia recorded the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases Friday as a third wave of COVID-19 hit the countries.In South Korea 70% of the more than 1,200 new cases were in the greater Seoul area, where half the country’s 52 million people live.In Japan, with 884 cases reported Friday nationwide, Tokyo had the…
read moreSouth Korea, Japan, and Indonesia recorded the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases Friday as a third wave of COVID-19 hit the countries.In South Korea 70% of the more than 1,200 new cases were in the greater Seoul area, where half the country’s 52 million people live.In Japan, with 884 cases reported Friday nationwide, Tokyo had the…
read moreNigerian authorities this week announced the country is officially seeing a second wave of the coronavirus after it recorded its highest daily number of COVID-19 infections Dec. 17. Authorities are imposing new restrictions on public gatherings and have warned those celebrating the Yuletide holiday to avoid parties, gatherings and Christmas caroling. But some Nigerians are…
read moreAs U.S. industries push for their workers to receive early access to COVID-19 vaccines, local health departments and pharmacies face the challenge of verifying the identity of essential workers to ensure no one cuts the line.The vaccination campaign under way is now focused on hospital staff and nursing homes, tightly controlled environments where verification is…
read moreThe suspected Russian hackers behind the worst U.S. cyberattack in years used reseller access to Microsoft Corp. services to penetrate targets that had no compromised network software from SolarWinds Corp., investigators said.Updates to SolarWinds’ Orion software were the only known point of entry until Thursday, when security company CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. said hackers had gained access…
read moreMexico became the first Latin American country Thursday to launch a COVID-19 vaccination initiative, offering hope to a nation that has lost some 120,000 people to the pandemic. Maria Irene Ramirez, the 59-year-old head nurse at the intensive care unit at Mexico City’s Ruben Lenero hospital, was the first to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, in keeping…
read moreRepublicans in the U.S. House of Representatives blocked a Democratic attempt Thursday to pass President Donald Trump’s demand for $2,000 stimulus payments to millions of Americans who have been hard hit by the U.S. coronavirus pandemic.Late Tuesday, the outgoing president demanded an increase in direct payments from $600 to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday granted full pardons to former campaign manager Paul Manafort and former adviser Roger Stone, sweeping away the most important convictions made under the long-running Russia election probe.Trump also issued a full pardon for Charles Kushner, a real estate developer and the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.It was the…
read moreBrazilian researchers said Wednesday the coronavirus vaccine developed by Chinese drug maker Sinovac Biotech was found to be more than 50% effective in a late-stage clinical trial. But officials at the state-run research institute Butantan say they are withholding the results of the trial at Sinovac’s request, raising issues once again about the lack of transparency…
read moreThe U.S. cybersecurity agency said on Wednesday that a sprawling cyber espionage campaign made public earlier this month is affecting state and local governments, although it released few additional details.The hacking campaign, which used U.S. tech company SolarWinds as a springboard to penetrate federal government networks, was “impacting enterprise networks across federal, state, and local…
read moreLatin America received its first doses of COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, with a shipment landing in Mexico City.Mexico’s Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard was on hand when the flight carrying the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine landed from Belgium.”Today is the beginning of the end of that pandemic,” Ebrard said.Mexico is scheduled to receive 1.4 million doses of the…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday granted full pardons to former campaign manager Paul Manafort and former adviser Roger Stone, sweeping away the most important convictions made under the long-running Russia election probe.Trump also issued a full pardon for Charles Kushner, a real estate developer and the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.It was the…
read morePresident-elect Joe Biden’s top advisers say the incoming administration will “need time” to undo what they regard as damaging U.S. immigration and border enforcement policies implemented under President Donald Trump.In an interview with Spanish wire service EFE this week, Susan Rice, Biden’s incoming domestic policy adviser, and Jake Sullivan, his pick for national security adviser,…
read morePfizer-BioNTech said Wednesday they will supply the United States with an additional 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine as the country struggles to contain surges in infections.The drug makers said they expect to complete the delivery by the end of July in a nearly $2 billion deal with the federal government.“Securing more doses from…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump vetoed a $740 billion bill setting policy for the Department of Defense on Wednesday, despite its strong support in Congress, raising the possibility that the measure will fail to become law for the first time in 60 years.Trump said he vetoed the annual National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, because it…
read moreU.S. President-elect Joe Biden introduced Connecticut education commissioner Miguel Cardona as his education secretary nominee on Wednesday, touting him as a strong advocate of public schools who can lead the agency through struggles to educate students safely during the ongoing coronavirus crisis. “We can do it if we give school districts, communities and states…
read morePfizer-BioNTech said Wednesday they will supply the United States with an additional 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine as the country struggles to contain surges in infections.The drug makers said they expect to complete the delivery by the end of July in a nearly $2 billion deal with the federal government.“Securing more doses from…
read moreMore than 170 people have died from yellow fever outbreaks in Nigeria this year, despite vaccines being available since 2004. A preference among some Nigerians for traditional, herbal medicine is part of the problem. But experts say apathy to vaccines in rural areas is the biggest challenge, as Ifiok Ettang reports from Bauchi, Nigeria.Producer: Marcus…
read moreTwitter said Tuesday it would not automatically transfer the millions of followers of official Trump administration accounts to the incoming Biden administration but instead would give users the option to continue or not. The move affects followers of government-led accounts such as @WhiteHouse and @POTUS, which will be transferred to Joe Biden when he takes over…
read morePresident Donald Trump threatened Tuesday not to sign a massive year-end bill passed by lawmakers that includes a $900 billion coronavirus aid package and $1.4 trillion in annual government funding. Trump said in a video that was tweeted out Tuesday night that the bill didn’t deliver enough aid to Americans. The bill provides for a $600…
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