United States

• Monday, December 14th 2020 - 07:50 UTC

  NASA to Provide Spanish-Language Coverage, Livestream of Solar Eclipse

  

  NASA will provide live coverage this Monday, Dec. 14, of a solar eclipse that will pass over South America, treating parts of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay to views of a total eclipse of the Sun. A Spanish-language program will air on NASA Television and the public channel on the agency’s website. A separate livestream of the eclipse without narration will air on the media channel.

• Saturday, December 12th 2020 - 09:54 UTC

  US launches mass-inoculation campaign as FDA approves the Pfizer vaccine

  

  United States health authorities, shipping services and hospitals stood ready on Friday to immediately launch a mass-inoculation campaign of unparalleled dimension, as federal regulators granted emergency approval to the first COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.

• Friday, December 11th 2020 - 09:54 UTC

  Panel of US FDA advisers votes to endorse emergency use of Pfizer vaccine

  

  A panel of outside advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday (Dec 10) voted overwhelmingly to endorse emergency use of Pfizer Inc's coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for the agency to authorize the shot for a nation that has lost more than 285,000 lives to Covid-19.

• Thursday, December 10th 2020 - 09:43 UTC

  Facebook faces mass lawsuits and could be forced to sell WhatsApp and Instagram

  

  Facebook could be forced to sell its prized assets WhatsApp and Instagram after the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and nearly every US state filed lawsuits against the social media company, saying it used a “buy or bury” strategy to snap up rivals and keep smaller competitors at bay.

• Thursday, December 10th 2020 - 08:58 UTC

  Hunter Biden tax affairs under investigation; president elect supports his son

  

  President-elect Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden, a focus of attacks from President Donald Trump and his Republican allies during the campaign for the White House, said on Wednesday the U.S. Attorney's Office in Delaware is investigating his tax affairs.

• Wednesday, December 9th 2020 - 08:00 UTC

  Biden plans to nominate ex Iowa governor Vilsack as next agriculture secretary

  

  United States president-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack for agriculture secretary, Axios reported on Tuesday. Vilsack, who led the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under former President Barack Obama, could not immediately be reached. His spokeswoman, Regina Black, declined to comment “as an official announcement hasn't been made.”

• Tuesday, December 8th 2020 - 08:02 UTC

  Biden expected to announce first Afro-American General as Secretary of Defense

  

  President-elect Joe Biden has chosen retired General Lloyd Austin, who oversaw U.S. forces in the Middle East under President Barack Obama, to be his defense secretary. Austin, who would be the first Black U.S. secretary of defense, was a surprise pick over Michele Flournoy, a former top Defense Department official who was considered the leading contender for the job. Flournoy would have been the first woman defense secretary. The news was first reported by Politico.

• Monday, December 7th 2020 - 08:54 UTC

  The Havana syndrome: US diplomatic staff in Cuba and China “bombarded” with microwaves radiation

  

  The most probable cause of a series of mysterious afflictions that have sickened American spies and diplomats abroad in the past several years was radio-frequency energy, a type of radiation that includes microwaves, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has concluded in a report.

• Monday, December 7th 2020 - 08:45 UTC

  US jobs picked up in November, but the challenge remains long term employment

  

  U.S. employers added 245,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate slipped to 6.7%, the Department of Labor said on Friday. The fresh economic data shows the labor market clawing its way out of the pandemic-induced downturn, but still far away from a full recovery. The unemployment rate in the U.S. was 3.5% in February before the crisis hit.

• Sunday, December 6th 2020 - 09:16 UTC

  Obama, Bush and Clinton willing to be vaccinated against Covid 19 on television

  

  Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton said they were willing to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus on television in order to ease any public skepticism over the safety of new vaccines.