Biden names Gen Kurilla as new US Centcom chief By: AFP on January 8, 2022President Joe Biden is nominating Army Lt. Gen. Michael Kurilla to lead the US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, the Pentagon announced Friday. If confirmed by the Senate, General Kurilla will succeed Marine General Kenneth McKenzie at the head of Centcom, which oversees military operations in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen. According to his […]
US schools delay openings as Omicron rages By: Reuters on January 4, 2022Thousands of US schools delayed this week’s scheduled return to classrooms following the holiday break or switched to remote learning as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus pushed COVID-19 cases to record levels. In other school districts, officials pressed on with plans to reopen, including in hard-hit New York City, where one of every three […]
Twitter permanently bans US representative’s personal account By: Reuters on January 3, 2022Twitter Inc on Sunday said it permanently banned the personal account of Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for tweets that repeatedly violated the social media’s misinformation policy on COVID-19. Twitter has previously temporarily suspended Greene’s account, @mtgreenee. It has also labeled some of her tweets “misleading.” “Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t […]
US man shoots dead daughter after mistaking her for intruder By: AFP on December 31, 2021A man in Ohio shot dead his own 16-year-old daughter after mistaking her for an intruder breaking into the family home, local police said Thursday. The death of Janae Hairston added to the long list of gun violence victims in the United States this year. Her mother called emergency services at 4:30 am Wednesday to report […]
Omicron and bad weather: US told to consider domestic flight vaccine; more planes grounded By: Reuters on December 28, 2021SEATTLE: Rising COVID-19 cases, along with bad weather, caused airlines to cancel more than 1,000 flights on Monday, and the spread of the Omicron variant prompted the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert to suggest the government consider mandating vaccines for domestic flights.Monday’s travel woes marked a fourth day of flight cancellations, capping a glum […]
Fauci vows more testing as COVID’s Omicron hammers us By: AFP on December 27, 2021Top US pandemic advisor Anthony Fauci on Sunday acknowledged a Covid “testing problem” as the Omicron strain overwhelms the nation, and he vowed to make more tests available to Americans next month. “One of the problems is that that’s not going to be totally available to everyone until we get to January, and there are […]
US life expectancy saw huge drop in 2020 due to Covid By: AFP on December 22, 2021US life expectancy dropped by 1.8 years in 2020, final official figures showed Wednesday, the steepest drop in more than 75 years driven in large part by the Covid-19 pandemic. Life expectancy at birth was 77.0 years for the total US population last year, down from 78.8 years in 2019, according to the Centers for […]
‘We’re prepared’ to tackle Omicron virus variant: Biden By: AFP on December 22, 2021WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Tuesday sought to reassure Americans about the country’s ability to battle the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, saying it was “prepared” to fight what is now the dominant coronavirus strain in the United States. In a televised address, Biden formally announced a raft of new measures to combat the winter surge […]
Omicron now dominant in US as WHO urges greater effort to end pandemic By: AFP on December 21, 2021The fast-spreading Omicron variant is now the dominant strain of Covid-19 in the United States, health authorities reported Monday, as the WHO called for greater efforts to ensure the pandemic ends next year. The new variant has helped fuel record case surges, forcing a return to harsh restrictions in some countries. But in the United […]
American ex-priest jailed for 12 years for child sex abuse in East Timor By: AFP on December 21, 2021A defrocked American priest was jailed for 12 years on Tuesday for sexually abusing children at an East Timor shelter, in a case that caused sharp divisions in the deeply Catholic nation. At least 15 women had accused Richard Daschbach, 84, of sexually abusing them when they were children at his shelter in the enclave […]