Tag Archives: United States

Biden Considers Sending Troops To Eastern Europe

CNN reports: President Joe Biden discussed options for bolstering US troop levels in the Baltics and Eastern Europe with his top military officials during a briefing at Camp David on Saturday, according to a senior official. The briefing, which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley attended virtually, included the discussion of …

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Blinken Warns Russia Of “Severe Response” On Ukraine

CNN reports: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that any movement of Russian military forces across Ukraine’s border would represent “a renewed invasion” that will be “met with swift, severe and a united response” from the United States and allies. Blinken’s remarks followed an hour and a half bilateral meeting Friday in Geneva with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey …

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US Again Breaks Daily Record With 1.35M New Cases

Reuters reports: The United States reported 1.35 million new coronavirus infections on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, the highest daily total for any country in the world as the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant showed no signs of slowing. The previous record was 1.03 million cases on Jan. 3. A large number of cases are reported each …

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US Breaks All-Time COVID Hospitalizations Record

Reuters reports: COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States reached a fresh high of 132,646, according to a Reuters tally on Monday, surpassing the record of 132,051 set in January last year, amid a surge of the highly contagious Omicron variant. While potentially less severe, health officials have warned that the sheer number of infections caused by the Omicron variant could …

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US To Discuss Missile Deployments With Russia

The Washington Post reports: Negotiators for the United States are planning to show up to talks with their Russian counterparts Monday with proposals to discuss the placement of missiles and scope of military exercises in Europe, according to people familiar with the plans. The White House is looking to test whether Moscow is serious about ending the Ukraine crisis through …

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Biden Doubles US Order Of Pfizer COVID Treatment Pill

CBS News reports: President Biden announced on Tuesday that he’s directing his team to double the United States’ order of Pfizer antiviral pills from 10 million COVID-19 treatment courses to 20 million treatment courses, and the delivery will be accelerated from September to June. “We may need even more. That’s the estimate we need right now,” Mr. Biden said, noting …

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US Sets Global Daily Record With Over 1M New Cases

Bloomberg News reports: More than 1 million people in the U.S. were diagnosed with Covid-19 on Monday as a tsunami of omicron swamps every aspect of daily American life. The highly mutated variant drove U.S. cases to a record, the most — by a large margin — that any country has ever reported. Monday’s number is almost double the previous …

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China: US Would Pay “Unbearable Price” Over Taiwan

Reuters reports: The United States is at risk of paying an “unbearable price” due to its actions over Taiwan, Wang Yi, state councillor and foreign minister, said in an interview with state media on Thursday. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and in the past two years has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to assert its …

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US Shatters Daily Record With 488,000 New Cases

The New York Times reports: With a caseload nearly twice that of the worst single days of last winter, the United States shattered its record for new daily coronavirus cases, a milestone that may still fall short of describing the true toll of the Delta and Omicron variants because testing has slowed over the holidays. As a second year of …

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US Breaks All-Time Record For New Daily COVID Cases

The Washington Post reports: The lightning spread of the coronavirus’s omicron variant in the United States pushed the seven-day average of new daily cases to 253,245 as of Tuesday afternoon, surpassing the previous high of 248,209 cases on Jan. 12. The omicron variant, first identified late last month in southern Africa, has sent infections soaring to levels not seen since …

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Data: US Life Expectancy Plummeted 1.8 Years In 2020

PBS NewsHour reports: COVID-19 helped erase 1.8 years from the average American’s life expectancy in 2020, according to the latest federal mortality data released Wednesday, marking the greatest change in the American lifespan since World War II. During that one brutal year, COVID-19 became the third-most common cause of death in the United States, with one out of 10 fatalities …

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US Adult LGBTQ Population Estimated To Be Over 20M

Changing America reports: At least 20 million adults in the U.S. identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to a new analysis of government data, representing nearly 8 percent of the nation’s total adult population. Millions more may identify as something “more expansive” like pansexual or asexual, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation said in a recent report. Using data …

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United States COVID Deaths Surpass 800,000

Reuters reports: The United States on Sunday reached 800,000 coronavirus-related deaths, as the nation braces for a potential surge in infections due to more time spent indoors with colder weather and the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus. The milestone means the U.S. death toll from this one virus now exceeds the entire population of North Dakota. Even with …

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US Wins Appeal To Extradite Julian Assange From UK

Axios reports: England’s High Court on Friday overturned a British judge’s decision to block the extradition of Julian Assange to the U.S., dealing a major blow to the WikiLeaks founder in his decade-long fight to avoid prosecution by the U.S. government. Assange, who was arrested in Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2019 after its government revoked his asylum, is wanted …

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China Issues Threat Over US Boycott Of Olympics

Reuters reports: U.S. politicians should stop calling for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics to avoid hurting bilateral ties and China will take “countermeasures” if necessary, China`s foreign ministry said on Monday. The Biden administration is expected to announce this week that U.S. government officials will not attend the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, CNN reported on Sunday. Those …

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Israeli Spyware Used To Eavesdrop On US Diplomats

The Washington Post reports: Apple alerted 11 U.S. diplomats that their iPhones had been hacked in recent months by spyware from NSO Group, an Israeli-based company that helps government clients in dozens of countries secretly steal files, eavesdrop on conversations and track the movements of its targets, according to people familiar with the notifications. The news, first reported by Reuters …

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First US Case Of Omicron Variant Found In California

CNN reports: The United States’ first confirmed case of the Omicron coronavirus variant has been identified in California. The World Health Organization designates Omicron a “variant of concern.” In a technical brief released this week, WHO noted that the variant poses a “very high” global risk. The variant was first identified by scientists in South Africa, and has since been …

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US Bans Travel From Eight Nations Over New Variant

The Associated Press reports: The discovery of a new coronavirus variant sent a chill through much of the world Friday as nations raced to halt air travel, markets fell sharply and scientists held emergency meetings to weigh the exact risks, which were largely unknown. In response, the United States joined the European Union and several other countries in instituting travel …

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US Listed As “Backsliding Democracy” For First Time

The Washington Post reports: The United States for the first time was added to a list of “backsliding democracies” in a report released Monday by the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. “The United States, the bastion of global democracy, fell victim to authoritarian tendencies itself, and was knocked down a significant number of steps on the democratic …

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US COVID Cases Spiking Ahead Of Holiday Weekend

The New York Times reports: Federal medical teams have been dispatched to Minnesota to help at overwhelmed hospitals. Michigan is enduring its worst case surge yet, with daily caseloads doubling since the start of November. Even New England, where vaccination rates are high, is struggling, with Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire trying to contain major outbreaks. Nationally, case levels remain …

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