United States

• 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.

• Sunday, December 6th 2020 - 08:59 UTC

  US companies rushing to organize an ultra-freeze storage chain for the Covid 19 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines

  

  With the imminent arrival of coronavirus vaccines that will need to be stored at ultra-low temperatures, US companies are gearing up for a massive logistical effort to aid their distribution.

• Friday, December 4th 2020 - 09:45 UTC

  Imaginative Argentine minister almost spoils first video phone dialogue between Biden and Fernandez

  

  Argentine foreign minister Felipe Solá was involved in an incident which would have normally demanded his resignation or sacking, because he misinterpreted or simply invented the issues of a conversation between president elect Joe Biden and his Argentine peer, Alberto Fernandez triggering a serious diplomatic misunderstanding in a most delicate moment.

• Friday, December 4th 2020 - 09:23 UTC

  Uruguay/Google Tannat cable system links with Brazil and Argentina

  

  The Tannat cable system connecting Uruguay and Brazil by sea has now been officially extended to Argentina. The cable is co-owned by Uruguay’s state-run telco Antel and by Google. Active since 2018, the 2,000km system links Maldonado, near Montevideo in Uruguay, to Praia Grande/Santos in Brazil’s São Paulo state.

• Friday, December 4th 2020 - 08:56 UTC

  S&P Dow Jones will launch cryptocurrencies indices in 2021

  

  S&P Dow Jones Indices, a division of financial data provider S&P Global Inc, said on Thursday that it will launch cryptocurrency indices in 2021, making it the latest major finance company to enter the nascent asset class.

• Friday, December 4th 2020 - 08:40 UTC

  “Make Amazon Pay” campaign supported by 400 lawmakers from 34 countries

  

  More than 400 lawmakers from 34 countries have signed a letter to Amazon.com Inc boss Jeff Bezos backing a campaign that claims the tech giant has “dodged and dismissed … debts to workers, societies, and the planet,” organizers said.