HealthYahoo NewsCan employers require workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine before full approval?
Under EUA, Americans can start receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, but the initial supplies of it will be reserved for vulnerable groups like health care workers and nursing home residents before it becomes more widely available in the U.S. But recent polls have shown Americans have mixed feelings about getting a coronavirus vaccine. A recent AP-NORC poll conducted Dec. 3-7 found that only about half of American adults plan to get the vaccine, while a Gallup poll released Dec. 8 found that 63 percent of Americans say they are willing to be inoculated against the disease, up from 50 percent in September.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderAttorney General Barr reportedly instructed prosecutors not to reveal the Hunter Biden tax probes before the election to keep the DOJ out of politics
Attorney General William Barr went to great lengths to prevent prosecutors and senior Justice Department officials from revealing the existence of federal tax investigations into Hunter Biden before the election, The Wall Street Journal reported. The report includes new details of Barr's efforts to keep the investigations under wraps. Monday's report adds to a growing list of frustrations President Donald Trump has with Barr and may catalyze the president's efforts to fire the attorney general weeks before he leaves office.
WorldReutersChina urges EU to stop 'irresponsible remarks' after statement on Bloomberg employee
BEIJING (Reuters) -China said on Monday the European Union should stop making "irresponsible remarks" after it called for the release of all those arrested for reporting in China in a statement on a detained Chinese national working for Bloomberg News. China's foreign ministry said on Friday authorities had detained Haze Fan, who works for the Bloomberg bureau in Beijing, on suspicion of endangering national security. The European Union called for authorities to grant Fan "medical assistance if needed, prompt access to a lawyer of her choice, and contacts with her family."
U.S.The Daily BeastU.S. Sanctions Iranian Intel Officers for Kidnapping Ex-FBI Man Who Died in Their Custody
The Treasury Department says it knows the Iranian intelligence officers who kidnapped the former FBI agent Robert Levinson who died in their custody. U.S. officials announced on Monday that two members of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) would be sanctioned for their alleged role in Levinson's kidnapping and detention. “Senior Iranian officials authorized Levinson's abduction and detention and launched a disinformation campaign to deflect blame from the Iranian regime,” the statement reads.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Georgia to audit one county's signatures on ballot envelopes
Georgia's secretary of state on Monday announced an audit of signatures on absentee ballot envelopes in one county, but the outcome of the presidential race in the state will not change as a result of the audit. Now that the signature matching has been attacked again and again with no evidence, I feel we need to take steps to restore confidence in our elections," Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said during a news conference as he announced the audit that will focus on Cobb County in suburban Atlanta. Also Monday, Georgia's 16 presidential electors formally cast their ballots for Joe Biden as the electoral college confirmed the Democrat's victory.
- ScienceReuters Videos
NZ PM defends policy after Greta Thunberg's criticism
Thunberg took to Twitter on Sunday (December 13) and said that New Zealand's "so called climate emergency declaration" was "of course nothing unique to any nation." Ardern told reporters that whilst Thunberg was also referring to only a portion of their climate change goals, it's "only a good thing that there are people out there continuing to urge ambition and action." "If it was the sum total of what we were doing, it would be worthy of criticism, it's clearly not," Ardern said.
PoliticsThe IndependentTrump signs executive order making Christmas Eve a federal holiday in 2020
Christmas Eve will be considered a federal holiday in the United States this year, according to a new executive order signed by President Trump. Under the executive order, signed Friday, “all executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Thursday, 24 December 2020, the day before Christmas Day”. The executive order does make an exception, however, for the heads of executive departments and agencies, who may determine that “certain offices and installations of their organisations, or parts thereof, must remain open,” as well as for employees who may be needed to work for “reasons of national security, defense, or other public need”.
WorldReutersAfter 60 years, East Jerusalem Palestinians face eviction under Israeli settler rulings
For Nabil al-Kurd, being forced out of the East Jerusalem home he has lived in since the 1950s would be a fate worse than death. But the 76-year-old and his wife and children are among dozens of Palestinians under threat of eviction from two districts of the disputed city, after an Israeli court ruled their properties are built on land belonging to Jewish settlers. The ownership claims against him and others in Sheikh Jarrah and a second neighbourhood, Batan al-Hawa, are a focal point of settler development plans in East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in a war in 1967.
HealthBusiness InsiderHead of White House security office has his right foot amputated because of severe COVID-19 and is facing 'staggering medical bills,' new report says
The head of the White House security office, Crede Bailey, had a part of his lower right leg and the big toe of his left foot amputated because of COVID-19, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Bailey has been hospitalized with a severe case of COVID-19 for three months but is said to be recovering. Friends of Bailey's have raised over $35,000 through a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for his rehabilitation and "staggering" healthcare costs.
PoliticsUSA TODAYMichigan House punishes Republican state Rep. Gary Eisen for hinting at Electoral College disruption
Michigan Republican legislative leaders pulled a GOP lawmaker from his committee assignments Monday after the lawmaker hinted he was part of a group that sought to disrupt or otherwise undermine the Electoral College vote slated to happen at the Michigan state Capitol on Monday. Rep. Gary Eisen, R-St. Clair Township, made the comments Monday morning during an interview with Port Huron-area radio station WPHM. He was asked about the Electoral College, set to meet Monday in the state Senate chamber to cast the state's 16 electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden. Eisen made the comments in the context of he and others in Lansing having some sort of event, either at the Capitol or somewhere else.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Biden returns to Georgia as validator for Ossoff, Warnock
The first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia since 1992, Biden will return to the state Tuesday to campaign alongside Ossoff and Warnock ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff elections. The runoffs will determine which party controls the Senate and shape the legislative ambitions of Biden's presidency. They also will serve as an early test of Biden's power as president-elect while President Donald Trump continues to fight the election results by falsely claiming widespread voter fraud — even though election officials across the country have confirmed the election was not marred by fraud.
LifestyleReutersGermans deprived of mulled wine in Christmas lockdown
Germany's tightened lockdown measures have eliminated one remnant of seasonal frivolity: "Gluehwein" or mulled wine, a staple of Christmas markets usually served in steaming mugs on cold days in town squares round the nation. A blanket outdoor alcohol ban, starting mid-week, was announced on Sunday among measures to curb the coronavirus second wave. While Germany's famed Christmas markets had already largely been forbidden this year, many people were still able to get their fill of Gluehwein, dropping masks to imbibe in temporary open-air stands popping up instead.
WorldThe TelegraphEmmanuel Macron ‘acting like he has God-given right to British fish during Brexit talks’
Brexit trade talks to continue until New Year's Eve Supermarkets stockpile groceries after no-deal warning Camilla Tominey: Brexit stalemate is not just about talks, but who will be blamed Coronavirus latest news: London, Essex and Hertfordshire expected to enter Tier 3 from Wednesday The rules for pubs and restaurants in Tiers 1, 2 and 3 A Conservative peer has accused the EU of treating the UK like a "colony" and President Macron of "acting as if France has a God-given right of access to the British fish in British waters" Speaking during a debate on the state of Brexit talks, Lord Howard of Rising said negotiations had "a strong element of Alice in Wonderland" about them.
PoliticsThe WeekHow we get to civil war
Democrat Joe Biden won the presidential election, and it wasn't especially close. When the village idiot proclaims himself to be Napoleon Bonaparte and no one recognizes him as such, he's just a lunatic. This combination of events — the courts rejecting legally frivolous efforts to overturn election results while significant numbers of Republican officeholders (and voters) continue to cheer on the conspiracy — shows that the primary danger of this moment isn't and never was that Trump would succeed in his hapless coup attempt.
ScienceAssociated PressJapan space agency confirms asteroid soil inside capsule
Japan's space agency said Monday it has confirmed the presence of black soil samples inside a capsule that the spacecraft Hayabusa2 brought back from a distant asteroid last week. The pan-shaped capsule, 40 centimeters (15 inches) in diameter, was dropped by Hayabusa2 from space onto a spot in a sparsely populated Australian desert on Dec. 6. It arrived in Japan last Tuesday for research that will hopefully provide insights into the origins of the solar system and life on Earth.
BusinessBusiness InsiderRanking the most flexible US airlines to book for travelers cautiously planning 2021 trips as vaccines offer hope for a return to normal
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Alaska Airlines have all eliminated domestic and international change fees, though with some caveats. Luckily, a perfect combination of cheap flights and flexible booking policies is putting consumers in the driver's seat when booking travel for 2021. With multiple COVID-19 vaccines nearing emergency authorization, experts are predicting a return to normal by this time next year and perhaps by the end of summer, opening the door for travel once again.
- WorldReuters
Armenia and Azerbaijan exchange first prisoners after Karabakh war
Armenia and Azerbaijan have begun exchanging groups of prisoners of war, part of an "all for all" swap mediated by Russia after a bloody conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, Russia's defence ministry said on Tuesday. The six-week conflict between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces over the region and its surrounding areas was brought to a halt by a Russian-brokered ceasefire deal last month. The fighting locked in territorial gains for Azerbaijan and has stoked anger in Yerevan, prompting street protests against Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
U.S.The IndependentNeilia Hunter: How the tragic loss of Joe Biden’s first wife shaped his Washington career
Joe Biden's ongoing recovery from the trauma of the deaths of his first wife and youngest child have dramatically shaped his career, from the ways in which he speaks to crowds about grief and mourning to his views on healthcare. While out shopping just days before Christmas in 1972, his 30-year-old wife Neilia and 13-month-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car accident after a tractor-trailer carrying corn broadsided the family's Chevrolet station wagon. Campaign literature featuring the young senator-elect from Delaware littered the streets.
WorldAssociated PressIran president says Israel was behind killing of scientist
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Monday claimed that Israel was behind the killing of a scientist who founded the Islamic Republic's military nuclear program in the 2000s in an effort to start a war in the last days of President Trump's administration. Rouhani's comments in a news conference marked the first time he has directly accused the Jewish state of carrying out the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh late last month. Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists over the last decade, has repeatedly declined to comment on the attack.
U.S.USA TODAYA small town dragged its feet on COVID-19 mask mandates. Now residents are paying the price.
In the midst of a worsening pandemic, as coronavirus cases climbed, elected leaders in a former frontier town famous for its gunfights faced a choice. The five commissioners of Dodge City, Kansas, a politically red cattle community of some 27,000 people, had resisted such measures all summer and into fall. Like other parts of rural and small-city America, Dodge City had mostly returned to normal after shaking off the pandemic's first wave.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderA voting technology company at the center of election conspiracy theories demanded a retraction from Fox News, accusing them of 'a concerted disinformation campaign'
Smartmatic, a voting technology company, sent cease and desist letters on Monday to Fox News, One America News, and Newsmax, demanding retractions. The company has become the subject of conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, and accused the media organizations of spreading them. In a letter to Fox News obtained by Insider, Smartmatic says Fox News hosts Lou Dobbs, Jesse Watters, and Maria Bartiromo have been instrumental in spreading the conspiracy theories, which first gained widespread currency with lawsuits from ex-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell.
PoliticsReutersU.S. sanctions NATO ally Turkey over purchase of Russian defense system
The United States imposed long-anticipated sanctions on Turkey on Monday over Ankara's acquisition of Russian S-400 air defense systems, further complicating already strained ties between the two NATO allies. Turkey condemned the sanctions as a "grave mistake" and urged Washington to revise its "unjust decision." Senior U.S. officials said in a call with reporters that Ankara's purchase of the S-400s and its refusal to reverse its decision, despite repeated pleas from Washington, left the United States with no other choice.
HealthAssociated PressAfter 110K virus deaths, nursing homes face vaccine fears
After 110,000 deaths ravaged the nation's nursing homes and pushed them to the front of the vaccine line, they now face a vexing problem: Skeptical residents and workers balking at getting the shots. “You go get that first and let me know how you feel,” said Denise Schwartz, whose 84-year-old mother lives at an assisted living facility in East Northport, New York, and plans to decline the vaccine. Everyone from members of the military to former presidents have announced their intentions to get the shots, echoing the refrains of others who say the drugs are the product of rigorous review, firm data and independent experts.
PoliticsThe Independent‘This is a moment I have dreamed about’: Stacey Abrams presides over Georgia electoral college vote to name Biden official winner
Former Democratic lawmaker and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams presided over Georgia's electoral college and announced that Joe Biden would receive the state's 16 electoral votes. The announcement was met with applause by the slate of electors present. Republicans - including two of the states own senators and Donald Trump - have alleged, without clear evidence, that the state's elections were rife with voter fraud.
BusinessBusiness InsiderSee the first COVID-19 vaccine doses roll out of Pfizer's factory as the US embarks on a historic vaccination drive
On Sunday, workers at Pfizer's Michigan warehouse began packaging and loading COVID-19 vaccines onto trucks. The process includes covering vaccines in dry ice, labeling them with VIP tags, and loading them into freezers before drivers and security escorts took them to their final locations. Every US state on Monday will receive vaccine doses to give the most at-risk people, including frontline workers and people over 65.
“The prospect of a 2024 run is politically significant. It’s also a complete fiction.”
“His flirtation with a 2024 bid ensures he’ll remain the dominant force in the Republican Party.”
“He shouldn’t run for president again. There’s a better job and life for him on the horizon.”
“Trump is in for years of scandals and humiliations…He’ll have to devote much of his energy to trying to stay out of prison.”
“If Trump himself passes on the opportunity, his two very political children could also potentially pick up the mantle.”