Early data on the rollout of the vaccines for COVID-19 shows that minority populations in the United States already disproportionately affected by the pandemic are not being immunized at the same rate as white Americans. Yahoo News Medical Contributor Dr. Uché Blackstock believes there are multiple factors contributing to this disparity. “One of the problems that I saw very early on is that if you're going to have mostly hospitals and pharmacies dispensing the vaccine, we're going to miss a lot of people,” Blackstock said.
Joe Biden has been back in Washington for six days, and already he has attended Catholic Mass twice. Then, on the first Sunday of his presidency, he took in morning services at Holy Trinity Church, in the Georgetown neighbourhood of northwest DC. The Jesuit-affiliated Holy Trinity is the same church to which John F Kennedy, the nation's first Catholic president, belonged.
Allies of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who faces years in prison, called for new protests next weekend to demand his release, following a wave of demonstrations that turned out tens of thousands across the country in a defiant challenge to President Vladimir Putin. Mass rallies took place Saturday in over 100 cities in what observers said was the largest outpouring of anger in years, and Navalny's supporters urged protesters to keep up the pressure. During Saturday's protests, over 3,700 people were detained, according to OVD-Info, a human rights group that monitors political arrests.
Senate Democrats are drawing a line at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) demand that a power-sharing agreement in the 50-50 Senate include a pledge to retain the legislative filibuster. "If we gave him that, then the filibuster would be on everything, every day," Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) told NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday's Meet the Press.
Indonesia is set to officially surpass one million coronavirus cases on Tuesday, a grim milestone for the Southeast Asian nation that has struggled since last March to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control. The world's fourth-most-populous country had recorded 999,256 coronavirus infections as of Monday, with the average daily increase running above 11,000 for more than a week, according to official data. Deaths from the respiratory disease have totalled 28,132.
At his federal trial in Miami, one of the nation's biggest Medicare fraud cases, Esformes was found guilty of 20 counts of bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice, resulting in a 20-year prison sentence that was commuted by Trump. But the jury also deadlocked on six counts, including the main charge of conspiring to commit healthcare fraud, in the $1 billion case against Esformes, who owned a chain of skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities in Miami-Dade.
The patter of paws is being heard in the White House again following the arrival of President Joe Biden's dogs Champ and Major. The two German shepherds are the first pets to live at the executive mansion since the Obama administration. Major burst onto the national scene last year after Biden, then president-elect, broke his right foot while playing with the dog at their home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Indian and Chinese soldiers armed with sticks and stones have brawled again along their disputed frontier, Delhi said, as the neighbours' months-long border stand-off continued. Indian security officials said there were clashes after at least 18 Chinese soldiers tried to cross into Indian-claimed territory at Naku La in Sikkim on January 20. A senior Indian Army official told the Telegraph that four Indian soldiers were wounded after they challenged the Chinese PLA soldiers.
The European Union will hold off from imposing fresh sanctions on Russian individuals if the Kremlin releases pro-democracy campaigner Alexei Navalny, EU foreign ministers said on Monday, sending the bloc's top diplomat to Moscow next week. Despite calls from Baltic countries, Italy and Romania for sanctions on Russian officials in response to Navalny's detention as he returned to Russia from Germany on Jan. 17, Germany pushed to give the Kremlin more time. "We have agreed today to wait for the court's decision, to wait to see ...
Five people were arrested in Sydney in largely peaceful Australia Day protests on Tuesday with thousands defying public health concerns and rallying across the nation against the mistreatment of the Indigenous people. The Jan. 26 public holiday marks the date the British fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour in 1788 to start a penal colony, viewing the land as unoccupied despite encountering settlements. But for many Indigenous Australians, who trace their lineage on the continent back 50,000 years, it is "Invasion Day".
President Joe Biden has brought back Dr. Kevin O'Connor as his physician, replacing President Donald Trump's doctor with the one who oversaw his care when he was vice president. The White House confirmed that Dr. Sean Conley, the Navy commander who served as the head of the White House Medical Unit under Trump and oversaw his treatment when he was hospitalized with COVID-19, will assume a teaching role at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. O'Connor, a retired Army colonel, was Biden's doctor during his entire tenure as vice president, having remained in the role at Biden's request.
Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke accused Sen. Ted Cruz - who he challenged in a Senate race in 2018 - of being "guilty of sedition." Mr O'Rourke made the statement on Twitter while imploring citizens not to "let him off the hook" for his involvement in the US Capitol riots. "Don't let him off the hook.
Nepal's caretaker Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli was thrown out of the country's ruling Communist party on Monday, his opponents said, in protest at his abrupt decision in December to dissolve parliament and call for an early general election. On Monday, dozens of protesters who marched near Oli's residence to oppose the parliament's dissolution clashed with police who used water cannons and caned some with rattan sticks to break up the anti-Oli rally. The ruling Nepal Communist Party has split over Oli's call for a new parliament to be elected more than a year ahead of schedule on the basis that his colleagues were not cooperating with the government on policy interventions.
California's health department on Monday released to the public previously secret data points used to determine future hospital intensive care unit capacity, the key metric for lifting the state's coronavirus stay-at-home order. Last week, state health officials told The Associated Press they were keeping all the data secret because it is complicated and might mislead the public. The release of the data points came after coronavirus experts, joined by a public access organization and a business group, said the information should be public, and as Gov. Gavin Newsom's political opponents decried the secrecy.
Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-Fla.) attacks on Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) have drawn some sharp pushback from her spokesperson. Gaetz has been slamming Cheney over her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump in the House of Representatives, and he's planning a trip to her home state of Wyoming for an event as he demands she step down as House Republican Conference chair. Now, a spokesperson for Cheney is hitting back.
New York Times editor Lauren Wolfe tweeted about having "chills" seeing Biden arrive for his inauguration. Many criticized her for appearing to show political bias, and The Times later fired Wolfe. A New York Times editor lost her job after receiving criticism for tweeting about her excitement for President Joe Biden's inauguration.
World leaders are holding a high-level and largely virtual summit on climate change -- with a return appearance by the United States. The event, called the Climate Adaptation Summit, comes only days since President Biden's order last week to rejoin the Paris climate agreement. John Kerry, the former secretary of state and presidential candidate, is Biden's new climate change envoy: "President Biden knows that we have to mobilize in unprecedented ways to meet a challenge that is fast accelerating.
Backers of the union of the United Kingdom's four nations should boycott any "wildcat" independence referendum for Scotland, the leader of the Scottish Conservative Party said on Monday, after the nation's first minister pressed ahead with plans for a vote. Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said on Sunday she was hoping a strong performance by her Scottish National Party (SNP) in an election in May would give her the mandate to hold a second referendum. To get a legal referendum, any such vote must be approved by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has ruled out doing so.
A sprawling quarantine center with more than 4,000 rooms is being thrown up in northern China in response to a COVID-19 outbreak in Shijiazhuang, a city of more than 10 million people in Hebei province. Satellite images from the European Space Agency show dramatic changes over 10 days in an area where there had been only flat land before construction started on Jan. 13. It's common practice for China to mobilize resources nationwide to tackle natural disasters and other crises.
Sarah Sanders, Donald Trump's former press secretary, announced on Monday that she is running to be governor of Arkansas, setting up a potential Republican primary battle centered around Mr Trump and his legacy. Ms Sanders left the White House in 2019 to return to her home state and is still a strong supporter of the former president. She launched her campaign for governor less than a week after the end of Mr Trump's time in office and as he faces an impending impeachment trial.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday that Democrats may try to pass much of President Joe Biden's coronavirus relief bill using a process that would bypass a Republican filibuster and could pass with a majority vote. Biden wants Congress to pass a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief proposal, but many Republicans have balked at the price tag. The Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote.
Mexico's official death toll from the coronavirus passed 150,000 on Monday following a surge in infections in recent weeks that has stretched the health system in the capital to the limit and led to the president contracting COVID-19. The Health Ministry on Monday reported 659 new deaths, bringing the total death toll to 150,273. The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
Three Connecticut female student athletes who filed a discrimination complaint over transgender competition argue that the president's new executive order is not fair.
The wife of the late Republican Senator John McCain has said she counts being censured by the Arizona GOP as a “badge of honour”. Cindy McCain was among three people censured by the state party for openly disparaging former president Donald Trump. Former Sen. Jeff Flake and Gov. Doug Ducey were also censured following a vote by the Arizona GOP, although their censure is largely symbolic.
President Joe Biden vowed on Monday to leverage the purchasing power of the U.S. government, the world's biggest single buyer of goods and services, to strengthen domestic manufacturing and create markets for new technologies. The Democratic president signed an executive order aimed at closing loopholes in existing "Buy American" provisions, which apply to about a third of the $600 billion in goods and services the federal government buys each year. The order will make any waivers more transparent and create a senior White House role to oversee the process.
“By encouraging this act of terror on our capital, Trump’s legacy is destroyed.”
“Both backers and critics of Trump agreed that he remade the federal judiciary — a change that will impact America for decades.”
“He was largely responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans who did not need to die.”
“I do know what the future should hold for this country. That is to say, a policy of Trumpism without Trump.”
“It will be decades before the consequences of his tenure are fully known.”