“Pfizer said Monday its COVID-19 vaccine safely protects children ages 5 to 11 and it will ask federal regulators to clear it for use in that age group soon, a significant potential milestone in the fight against a disease that has infected more than 42 million people and killed over 673,000 in the United States.
The vaccine made by the New York-based drug giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech is already available for anyone 12 and older. But with children back in school and the highly contagious Delta variant causing pediatric infections to surge, many parents and teachers are eager to get younger kids vaccinated — to protect them and others who have contact with them.” Read more at Boston Globe
Rows of white flags placed near the Washington Monument commemorate the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have died from Covid-19.
PHOTO:CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
“The number of known Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. has surpassed the country’s fatalities from the 1918-19 flu pandemic.
The U.S. on Monday crossed the threshold of 675,000 reported Covid-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which tracks data from state health authorities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the influenza pandemic killed about that many people in the U.S. a century ago, in 1918 and 1919. Both figures are likely undercounts, epidemiologists and historians say.
There are several differences between the current pandemic and the one that claimed nearly as many lives more than 100 years ago. The U.S. at that time was roughly one-third its current size, so the flu pandemic took a proportionately bigger toll on the population. That pandemic had a devastating effect on young people, including small children and young-to-middle-aged adults, while Covid-19 has hit older people hardest, according to health officials.
Additionally, there was no vaccine for the flu a century ago, nor antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infections that the illness can cause, according to the CDC.
Covid-19 vaccines have helped protect many Americans during the most recent wave of infections, especially older people, who have the highest vaccination rates and are otherwise at greatest risk of dying from the disease. But the highly contagious Delta variant and low vaccination rates in parts of the country have driven cases and fatalities to levels far above those seen last summer, before vaccines were available.
The U.S. is currently tallying nearly 2,000 Covid-19 deaths a day, according to a seven-day rolling average of data tracked by Johns Hopkins University, and that figure has been rising even after case counts recently began leveling off in some parts of the country. Fatalities lag behind diagnosis counts by at least several weeks. During the peak of last summer’s wave, in late July and early August, the U.S. averaged around 1,100 new deaths a day, according to Johns Hopkins.
At the January peak of the pandemic, deaths averaged more than 3,400 daily, according to Johns Hopkins data. The pace of deaths slowed following the winter surge. After adding 100,000 deaths in about a month in both January and February, the U.S. has taken seven months to add 175,000 new fatalities.
The first Covid-19 vaccines were administered in mid-December 2020, as part of the most ambitious vaccination campaign in modern U.S. history. By mid-April, most Americans were eligible for a shot. About 75% of adults and children ages 12 and over have received at least one dose, according to the CDC.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will hear arguments Dec. 1 in Mississippi’s bid to have the landmark Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion overturned.
The court issued its arguments calendar for late November and early December on Monday.
Mississippi is asking the high court to uphold its ban on most abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. The state has told the court it should overrule Roe and the 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that prevent states from banning abortion before viability, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb, around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
The court recently allowed a Texas law to take effect that bans abortions after cardiac activity can be detected, around 6 weeks of pregnancy, before some women even know they are pregnant. The law is unusual in that it allows private citizens to sue people who may have facilitated a prohibited abortion. The court, split 5-4, did not rule on the constitutionality of the law, but rather declined to block enforcement while a challenge to the law plays out in the courts.
Still, abortion providers took the vote as an ominous sign about where the court, its conservative majority fortified with three appointees of former president Donald Trump, might be heading on abortion.” Read more at Boston Globe
“President Biden’s governing agenda is at risk of unraveling on Capitol Hill after a mounting series of delays, clashes and setbacks that have sapped momentum from an ambitious and intricate push to deliver on long-standing Democratic policy priorities.
An overhaul of the nation’s voting laws has been blocked by Republicans. An effort to strike a bipartisan deal on police reforms has lost all momentum. A sweeping immigration plan to provide a path to legal residency for millions of undocumented immigrants is now all but dead.
And centrist Democrats on Capitol Hill appear poised to pare down a planned $3.5 trillion economic package as their liberal counterparts in the House threaten in turn to kill the bipartisan infrastructure deal that passed the Senate last month.
Both chambers returned to session together Monday for the first time since July, as many Democrats acknowledged a sense of foreboding about the weeks ahead, with not only major aspects of their agenda on the line but also key deadlines looming to provide government funding and extend the federal debt limit.” Read more at Washington Post
“The Biden administration plans to set the refugee admissions cap for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 to 125,000, meeting a target that President Biden set as a candidate during the 2020 campaign after facing backlash from immigrant advocates saying he wasn’t accepting enough refugees from around the world.
The figure was confirmed in a State Department report submitted to Congress that outlined the administration’s refugee plans for fiscal 2022. In April, Biden announced that his administration would keep refugee admission levels for the current fiscal year at 15,000 — a record-low level set by his predecessor, Donald Trump — but abruptly backtracked after protests from Democratic lawmakers and advocates.
Under the proposed admissions levels, the United States next year will accept up to 40,000 refugees from Africa, 15,000 from East Asia, 10,000 from Europe and Central Asia, 15,000 from Latin America and the Caribbean and 35,000 from near East and South Asia. Another 10,000 refugees can be accepted from any region.” Read more at Washington Post
“Washington (CNN)White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the White House is seeking more information on the ‘horrific’ viral videos that appear to show US Border Patrol agents on horseback confronting Haitian refugees at the US border.
I'‘ve seen some of the footage. I don't have the full context. I can't imagine what context would make that appropriate, but I don't have additional details, and certainly I don't have additional context,’ Psaki said at the White House press briefing. ‘I don't think anyone seeing that footage would think it was acceptable or appropriate.’
Videos taken by Al Jazeera and Reuters appear to show law enforcement officers on horseback using aggressive tactics when confronting migrants, including authorities swinging long reins near migrants who crossed the US-Mexico border near Del Rio, Texas.
Reuters video shows the officers at the water's edge, twirling the long reins as migrants crossed the border at the US shoreline of the Rio Grande. At one point in the video, the officer's horse nearly charges into one of the migrants, who falls back and into the water.
In the Al Jazeera video, a law enforcement officer on horseback is seen swirling the long reins near a group of migrants. Shortly beforehand, another individual on horseback is heard yelling at the migrants, saying, ‘You use your women? This is why your country's sh*t, because you use your women for this.’” Read more at CNN
United States Border Patrol agents on horseback tries to stop Haitian migrants from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas on September 19, 2021. - The United States said Saturday it would ramp up deportation flights for thousands of migrants who flooded into the Texas border city of Del Rio, as authorities scramble to alleviate a burgeoning crisis for President Joe Biden's administration. (Photo by PAUL RATJE / AFP) (Photo by PAUL RATJE/AFP via Getty Images)
TORONTO (AP) — Canadians gave Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party a victory in Monday’s parliamentary elections, but his gamble to win a majority of seats failed and the result was remarkably similar to the election two years ago.
The Liberals won the most seats of any party. The 49-year-old Trudeau channeled the star power of his father, the Liberal icon and late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, when he first won election in 2015 and has led his party to the top finish in two elections since.
Trudeau’s Liberals were leading or elected in 157 seats — exactly the same number they won in 2019, 13 short of the 170 needed for a majority in the House of Commons.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Washington (CNN)A conservative lawyer working with then-President Donald Trump's legal team tried to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence that he could overturn the election results on January 6 when Congress counted the Electoral College votes by throwing out electors from seven states, according to the new book ‘Peril’ from Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
The scheme put forward by controversial lawyer John Eastman was outlined in a two-page memo obtained by the authors for "Peril," and which was subsequently obtained by CNN. The memo, which has not previously been made public, provides new detail showing how Trump and his team tried to persuade Pence to subvert the Constitution and throw out the election results on January 6.” Read more at CNN
“The Biden administration will lift travel restrictions starting in November for foreigners who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, reopening the country to thousands of people, including those who have been separated from family in the United States during the pandemic, and easing a major source of tension with Europe.
The halt to the 18-month ban on travel from 33 countries, including members of the European Union, China, Iran, South Africa, Brazil, and India, will also rejuvenate a US tourism industry that was left crippled by the pandemic. The industry suffered a $500 billion loss in travel expenditures in 2020, including a 79 percent decease in spending from international travel, according to the US Travel Association, a trade group that promotes travel to and within the United States.” Read more at Boston Globe
“WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats launched an uphill fight Monday to rescue their drive to help millions of immigrants remain legally in the United States, their pathway unclear and the uncertainty exposing tensions between party leaders and progressive groups demanding bold results.
Lawmakers and advocacy organizations said they were already weighing fresh options, a day after the Senate parliamentarian said their sweeping proposal must fall from a $3.5 trillion measure that's shielded against bill-killing Republican filibusters. But it seemed strongly likely that Democrats might have to winnow their measure to help fewer than the 8 million immigrants they envisioned, and even then faced daunting prospects to prevail.” Read more at Boston Globe
“WASHINGTON — Top congressional Democrats announced on Monday that they would tack a measure lifting the federal borrowing limit through the end of 2022 onto a bill to keep the government funded through December, escalating a brewing showdown with Republicans who have vowed to oppose legislation needed to avert a fiscal catastrophe.
The House is expected to take up the bill as early as this week, as Democrats juggle work on their $3.5 trillion economic package with the pressing need to avoid a government shutdown in 10 days and a potential default on the national debt within weeks.
But Republicans have warned repeatedly that they are unwilling to support raising the debt ceiling, leaving the fate of both measures in doubt. In pairing the two, Democratic leaders hoped to pressure Republicans into dropping their opposition and allowing passage of legislation that is expected to contain urgently needed spending, including disaster relief to help their states.” Read more at New York Times”
“Russia was responsible for killing Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian agent turned Kremlin critic who died in London by polonium poisoning in 2006, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said Tuesday.” Read more at CNN
“NORTH PORT, Fla. (AP) — FBI agents and police Monday searched the home of the boyfriend wanted for questioning in the death of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, whose body was discovered over the weekend at a Wyoming national park months after the couple set out on a cross-country road trip.
The FBI gave no details on the search by at least a dozen law enforcement officers, but agents removed several boxes and towed away a car that neighbors said was typically used by 23-year-old Brian Laundrie’s mother. Local media said Laundrie’s parents were seen getting into a police vehicle.
Laundrie and Petito had been living with his parents at the North Port home before the road trip on which she died.
The young couple had set out in July in a converted van to visit national parks in the West. They got into a fight along the way, and Laundrie was alone when he returned in the van to his parents’ home on Sept. 1, police said.
In Wyoming, the FBI announced on Sunday that agents had discovered a body on the edge of Grand Teton National Park, which the couple had visited. No details on the cause of death were released. An autopsy was set for Tuesday.” Read more at AP News
“Lawyers for the Trump Organization’s finance chief asked a judge for more time to prepare their defense, saying that they were reviewing millions of pages of documents and that prosecutors may file charges against other people.
‘We have strong reasons to believe there could be other indictments coming,’ Bryan Skarlatos, a lawyer for Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, told New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Monday. “We are shooting at a moving target.”
Justice Merchan, the judge overseeing the proceedings, told the lawyers to clear their calendars for a potential trial in late August or early September of next year. Prosecutors didn’t respond in court to Mr. Skarlatos’s comment about more indictments.
Monday marked the first public court proceeding since former President Donald Trump’s company and Mr. Weisselberg were indicted earlier this summer.
In July, the Manhattan district attorney’s office unveiled an indictment charging Mr. Weisselberg, 74 years old, and his longtime employer with tax fraud and other crimes. The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James is working with the district attorney’s office on the case.
Prosecutors accused the defendants of a 15-year-long scheme to avoid paying taxes. The Trump Organization provided some employees with apartments, cars and cash payments, without appropriately paying taxes on them, prosecutors said. Those perks amounted to secret pay raises at the expense of taxpayers, according to prosecutors.
Mr. Weisselberg faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, grand larceny in the second degree.
Both Mr. Weisselberg and the Trump Organization have pleaded not guilty. A Trump Organization lawyer has called the case unprecedented and said compensation cases are typically resolved by civil authorities. Mr. Weisselberg’s lawyers said Monday that the indictment was full of unsupported and flawed factual and legal assertions regarding their client.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Worries about spreading troubles from China’s property market snapped an extended streak of calm in stock indexes and sent the S&P 500 to its worst day since May.
The growing concerns over property developer China Evergrande Group, which has the biggest debt burden of any publicly traded real-estate management or development company in the world, triggered a rush out of riskier assets such as stocks, oil and bitcoin, and into safer ones. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 614.41 points, or 1.8%, to 33970.47, dragged down by shares of Caterpillar Inc. and financial heavyweights such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.7%, and the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.2%, after being down more than 3% earlier Monday afternoon. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are on track for their worst months since last September, while the Dow is headed toward its biggest monthly decline since October 2020.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Attempts to develop vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 in the form of nasal spray are underway to help fight the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Currently available vaccines are highly effective in preventing the disease from becoming serious, but they don't offer absolute protection.
As there is fear that much more contagious variants of the virus may spread in the near future, attention is increasingly being focused on finding new medicines that are more effective in preventing infections, in addition to those for treating patients who have the disease.” Read more at Boston Globe
“A political strategist who was pardoned by the former president after being convicted in a 2012 campaign finance scheme is facing new charges related to an alleged 2016 plot to illegally funnel donations made by a Russian national to support then-candidate Donald Trump’s White House bid.
Jesse Benton, 43, who was previously a top aide to former congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and later ran a pro-Trump super PAC, was charged this month, according to a federal indictment in Washington unsealed Monday. Also charged is Roy Douglas ‘Doug’ Wead, 75, a conservative author and former special assistant to President George H.W. Bush.
According to the indictment, in the months before the 2016 presidential election, Benton and Wead solicited a U.S. campaign donation from a Russian national in violation of federal law, then filed false campaign finance reports to make it seem that the donation was from Benton.” Read more at Washington Post
“General Motors Co. said it would start next month to fix Chevrolet Bolt electric cars that were recalled for fire risk, although many owners likely will have to wait months to receive the remedy.
GM said Monday that it would start shipping new battery cells to dealerships as early as mid-October to begin replacing potentially faulty battery modules. GM and supplier LG Energy Solution have identified and fixed a manufacturing defect, and LG recently resumed production of cells at a factory in Michigan.
In late August, GM expanded a previous recall on the Chevy Bolt, after receiving additional reports of battery fires and concluding an earlier fix wasn’t adequate. The recall now covers roughly 142,000 vehicles produced since the electric car went on sale in late 2016.
GM’s recall of the Chevy Bolt—its only electric model sold in the U.S.—has in recent months overshadowed the company’s commitment to battery-powered vehicles and to closing the gap on leader Tesla Inc. In the coming years, GM plans to introduce a few dozen electric models, including a GMC pickup truck later this year and a new Cadillac SUV by next summer.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
““BURGAS, Bulgaria—As a European Union member state, Bulgaria has access to Western-approved Covid-19 vaccines and enough doses for its population. But a mix of misinformation, low trust in authorities and conflicting messaging means less than a fifth of Bulgarians are fully vaccinated.
With few takers at home and some shots soon expiring, the government recently donated 172,500 doses to the Kingdom of Bhutan, nearly 4,000 miles away. Some expired shots are being thrown away.
Bulgaria, a country of some seven million people, has fully vaccinated far less of its population than the EU average of 61% and the U.S. rate of 54%, according to Our World in Data, a project based at Oxford University. It has emerged as an extreme case study of the challenge to convince vaccine holdouts to get the shot. It also illustrates the risks if those efforts fail as the infectious Delta variant spreads. Bulgaria currently has the EU’s highest death and hospitalization rates relative to the population, according to Our World in Data.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“KABUL, Afghanistan — The director of a girls’ school in Kabul desperately wants to learn details of the Taliban’s plan for girls’ education. But she can’t attend the weekly Taliban committee meetings on education. They are for men only.
‘They say, ‘You should send a male representative,’ ‘the director, Aqila, said inside the Sayed Ul-Shuhada High School, which was shattered in May by a terrorist bombing that killed scores of girls.
But Aqila and other Afghan educators don’t need to attend meetings to comprehend the harsh new reality of education under Taliban rule. The emerging government has made clear that it intends to severely restrict the educational freedoms enjoyed by many women and girls the past 20 years.
The only question is just how draconian the new system will be, and what type of Islamic-based education will be imposed on both boys and girls. Just as they did when they ruled most of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, the Taliban seem intent on ruling not strictly by decree, but by inference and intimidation.” Read more at New York Times
No posts