White House holds moment of silence to honor Covid victims
President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris, and Doug Emhoff held a moment of silence outside the White House in honor of the 500,000 Americans who have died of Covid-19.
Texans whose homes were damaged in a deadly winter storm are having a difficult time finding new housing in an already tight market. There's also a tremendous need for food. Janet Shamlian shares the latest.
Italy on Wednesday pressed the United Nations for answers about the attack on a U.N. food aid convoy in Congo that left a young ambassador and his paramilitary police bodyguard dead. Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told lawmakers in Rome that Italy has asked both the U.N. and the U.N. World Food Program to open an investigation into the security arrangements for convoy, which was attacked two days earlier. The minister said Italy also will spare no effort to determine the truth behind the killing of Ambassador Luca Attanasio and Carabiniere paramilitary officer Vittorio Iacovacci.
If confirmed, Haaland will be the first Native American Cabinet secretary. Can she finally help shield indigenous people from the hundreds of inactive yet still toxic uranium mines that have been scarring their lands and poisoning them for decades?
Since the couple recently announced they wouldn't be returning to royal duties, they will have more freedom this time around.
Celebrity dermatologist Dr. Pimple Popper used her fingers to squeeze and loosen the "cute" and slimy lipoma on a woman's shoulder.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will maintain the current level of coronavirus restrictions in the capital Manila until mass vaccinations start, his spokesman said on Monday, despite calls to ease curbs and revive the country's ailing economy. The Philippines, among the fastest growing economies in Asia before the pandemic, saw its gross domestic product slump by a record 9.5% in 2020, as one of the world's longest and strictest COVID-19 lockdowns shuttered thousands of businesses and left millions out of work. The restrictions in Manila, the epicentre of the Philippine epidemic, were set to end this month but will be extended until the mass vaccination drive is underway.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that white supremacy and neo-Nazi movements are becoming a "transnational threat" and have exploited the coronavirus pandemic to boost their support. Addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council, Guterres said the danger of hate-driven groups was growing daily. Without naming states, Guterres added: "Today, these extremist movements represent the number one internal security threat in several countries."
Canada's parliament passed a non-binding motion on Monday saying China's treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region constitutes genocide, putting pressure on Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government to follow suit. Canada's House of Commons voted 266-0 for the motion brought by the opposition Conservative Party. Trudeau and his Cabinet abstained from the vote, although Liberal backbenchers widely backed it.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought on Tuesday to turn the page on the Trump era, stressing the countries' deep ties and pledging to work together to counteract Chinese influence and address climate change. "The United States has no closer friend, no closer friend than Canada," Biden told Trudeau via an electronic video link with the Canadian leader and top aides. "That's why you were my first call as president (and) my first bilateral meeting," he said.
Britain's foreign secretary Dominic Raab on Monday denounced torture, forced labour and sterilisations that he said were taking place against Muslim Uighurs on an "industrial scale" in China's Xinjiang region. Activists and U.N. rights experts have said that at least 1 million Muslims are detained in camps in the remote western region. China denies abuses and says its camps provide vocational training and are needed to fight extremism.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for a New York City prosecutor to obtain former President Donald Trump's tax returns and other financial records as part of a criminal investigation, dealing a blow to Trump who has fiercely fought to keep his financial papers out of the hands of investigators.The justices without comment rebuffed Trump's request to put on hold a lower court ruling directing his longtime accounting firm, Mazars, to comply with a subpoena.Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who has been seeking Trump’s tax records as part of an investigation that began more than two years ago, had subpoenaed the records from the accounting firm.But Trump's lawyers sued to block the subpoena, arguing that as a sitting president, Trump had absolute immunity from state criminal investigations. The court’s order is a win for Vance, a Democrat, who issued a statement after the court's action, saying quote "The work continues."Vance's investigation involves hush money payments that Trump's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen made before the 2016 election to two women - adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal - who said they had sexual encounters with Trump.The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority included three Trump appointees, had already ruled once in the dispute.Last July it rejected Trump's broad argument that he was immune from criminal probes as a sitting president.Unlike all other recent U.S. presidents, Trump refused during his campaign and four years in office to make his tax returns public. The data could provide details on his wealth and the activities of his family real-estate company, the Trump Organization.
Armenia would welcome the expansion of a Russian military base on its territory and the redeployment of some Russian forces closer to its border with Azerbaijan after a conflict with its neighbour last year, its defence minister said on Monday. Ethnic Armenian troops in the Nagorno-Karabakh region ceded swathes of territory in and around the enclave to Azerbaijan in a six-week conflict in 2020 that claimed thousands of lives.
Hong Kong's government will gazette a bill later this week that will require community level district councils to pledge an oath of allegiance to the Chinese-ruled city's mini-constitution, further stifling democratic opposition. Secretary for Mainland and Constitutional Affairs Eric Tsang said politicians deemed insincere would be blocked from office, releasing details of the bill a day after a senior official in China's cabinet said provisions should be made to ensure "patriots" were running Hong Kong. "The law will fulfill the constitutional responsibility of the government," Tsang said.
Scotland's vaccination drive appears to be markedly reducing the risk of hospitalisation for COVID-19, suggesting that both the Pfizer-BioNtech and Oxford-AstraZeneca shots are highly effective in preventing severe infections, preliminary study findings showed on Monday. Results of the study, which covered the entire Scottish population of 5.4 million people, showed that by the fourth week after the initial dose, the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines were found to reduce the risk of hospitalisation by up to 85% and 94% respectively. "These results are very encouraging and have given us great reasons to be optimistic for the future," said Aziz Sheikh, a professor at the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute who co-led the study.
The family of Cristian Pineda is suing two power companies in Texas after the 11-year-old was found dead in their freezing mobile home.
Iranian lawmakers protested on Monday against Tehran's decision to permit “necessary” monitoring by the U.N. nuclear watchdog for up to three months, saying the move broke a law mandating an end to the agency's snap inspections this week. "The government has no right to decide and act arbitrarily," said Mojtaba Zolnour, chairman of the parliament’s national security committee, according to Iranian state media. Iran has been gradually breaching terms of a 2015 nuclear pact with world powers since then U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.
Former Mandalorian star hits back after being dropped from Star Wars series over controversial post.
After a seven-month, 300 million mile journey, Perseverance has landed. And has the first high-definition color pictures of Mars to prove it.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday Iran might enrich uranium up to 60% purity if the country needed it and would never yield to U.S. pressure over its nuclear programme, state television reported. Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six powers, which it has been breaching since the United States withdrew in 2018, caps the fissile purity to which Tehran can refine uranium at 3.67%, well under the 20% achieved before the agreement and far below the 90% suitable for a nuclear weapon.
Spotify said on Monday it would nearly double its market presence by launching in 85 new markets in the next few days, making the music streaming service available to more than a billion people around the world. While Spotify is the leader in music streaming, entry in new countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America would significantly increase the gap with its rivals, Apple Music and Amazon Music. "Together these markets represent more than a billion people, with nearly half of them already using the internet," said Chief Premium Business Officer Alex Norstrom.