TheNewsGuru

Tag: U.S.

  • Trump heads to Washington for New Year’s, bails on planned party unexpectedly

    Trump heads to Washington for New Year’s, bails on planned party unexpectedly

    U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania changed their schedule to spend New Year’s Eve in Washington unexpectedly, bailing on a planned party in Florida.

    The two were to leave Florida on Thursday morning according to an updated daily programme published by the White House.

    Trump will, therefore, not be present at the New Year’s party at his Mar-a-Lago club resort, which guests had bought tickets to, U.S. media reported.

    The White House did not give a reason for the early departure.

    Trump has refused to acknowledge the election victory of his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, and his campaign has filed dozens of lawsuits attempting to overturn the election results, with almost all being rejected.

    All eyes are on now on Jan. 6, when Congress is set to certify the Electoral College results submitted by the states, the final step on Biden’s path to being sworn in as the 46th president on Jan. 20 at the Capitol Building in Washington.

  • U.S. nurse tests positive for COVID-19 after receiving vaccine

    U.S. nurse tests positive for COVID-19 after receiving vaccine

    An ICU nurse in San Diego, who had received Pfizer Inc. vaccine’s shot against COVID-19 on December 18, has tested positive for the virus.

    Matthew W, a 45-year-old nurse in San Diego, told ABC News San Diego affiliate KGTV that after receiving the vaccine he had only experienced arm soreness as a side-effect of the vaccine.

    However, six days later after working a shift in the COVID-19 unit, he said he had chills, muscle pain and fatigue.

    A coronavirus test confirmed him positive for COVID-19, he said.

    Following this incident, Dr Christian Ramers, an infectious disease specialist with the Family Health Centre of San Diego, told KGTV that this was not unexpected.

    “We know from the vaccine clinical trials that it is going to take about 10 to 14 days for you to start to develop protection from the vaccine.

    “That first dose we think gives you somewhere around 50 per cent and you need that second dose to get up to 95 per cent,” Ramers further explained.

    There is another possibility that the nurse likely contracted COVID-19 before the vaccination but did not rule out the opposite, the expert added.

  • U.S. congressman-elect, Luke Letlow dies of COVID-19

    U.S. congressman-elect, Luke Letlow dies of COVID-19

    A newly elected U.S. congressman, Luke Letlow has died shortly after testing positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

    A Wednesday post on the Republican politician’s Facebook page read: “Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, 41, passed away this evening at Ochsner-LSU Health Shreveport due to complications from COVID-19.”

    The 41-year-old was admitted to the hospital on Dec. 19 after testing positive.

    Three days later he was placed in intensive care.

    Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said he ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on the day of Letlow’s funeral, which is yet to be announced.

    “Louisiana has lost more than 7,300 people to COVID-19 since March, and each one of them leaves a tremendous hole in our state,” Edwards said as he offered his condolences to the congressman-elect’s family.

    Letlow, who was due to be sworn into office on Sunday following his recent electoral victory, is survived by his wife and two young children.

    There are currently more than 19 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

    The number of cases in the U.S. exceeds that of any other country, and the number is expected to increase following the holiday season.

    More than 338,000 people have died in the U.S. from COVID-19.

  • Fresh outrage erupts in U.S. after policeman kills unarmed Black man

    Fresh outrage erupts in U.S. after policeman kills unarmed Black man

    The killing of an unarmed African-American man by police in the US city of Columbus, Ohio sparked a fresh wave of outrage this week against racial injustice and police brutality in the country.

    Andre Maurice Hill, 47, was in the garage of a house on Monday night when he was shot several times by a police officer who had been called to the scene for a minor incident.

    Bodycam footage shows Hill walking towards the policeman holding a cell phone in his left hand, while his other hand cannot be seen.

    Seconds later, the officer fired and Hill collapsed.

    The footage has no sound and it is not clear why the officer, Adam Coy, fired. Hill was not carrying a weapon.

    Coy and his colleague waited several minutes before approaching the victim, who was still alive, but died later.

    According to local media reports, Coy had previously received complaints of excessive force.

    A wake will be held Thursday in memory of Hill, the second African-American killed by police in Columbus in less than three weeks.

    Casey Goodson Jr, 23, was shot several times on December 4 while returning home. His family say he was holding a sandwich in his hand which law enforcement mistook for a gun.

    The killings come after a summer in which the US was rocked by historic protests against racial injustice and police brutality, sparked by the May killing of African American man George Floyd.

    Floyd, also unarmed, suffocated beneath the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis. Horrified passers-by filmed his death, with the footage swiftly going viral.

    “Once again officers see a Black man and conclude that he’s criminal and dangerous,” said lawyer Ben Crump, who defends several families of victims including Floyd’s, on Wednesday.

    He denounced a “tragic succession of officer-involved shootings.”

    Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said he was “outraged” by Hill’s death.

    He “known to the residents of the home where his car was parked on the street,” he said Wednesday at a press conference, describing him as a “guest… not an intruder.”

    Ginther said he was “very disturbed” by the fact that the two police officers present did not give first aid to Hill. He called for the “immediate termination” of Coy.

  • U.S. reacts to rescue of Kankara schoolboys, sends important message to FG

    U.S. reacts to rescue of Kankara schoolboys, sends important message to FG

    The United States on Thursday urged the Nigerian government to hold those responsible for the kidnapping of Kankara schoolboys, accountable ” to the full extent of the law”.

    The U.S. Department of State condemned the abduction in a statement issued by a spokesperson, Cale Brown after the release of the abducted students on Thursday.

    Gunmen said to be Boko Haram members stormed Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, on Dec. 11 and abducted over 300 students.

    One of the captured student said the abducted students were 520 and that some died in the course of fire fight between the abductors and Nigerian military.

    “We offer our sincere sympathies to the families of the missing students and the security guard killed in the attack.

    “School should be a safe place where children can learn and thrive,” the U.S. State Department said.

    According to Governor Aminu Masari, 344 of the abducted students were released by the abductors on Thursday night.

  • Clinton renews call for abolition of U.S. Electoral College

    Clinton renews call for abolition of U.S. Electoral College

    Former U.S. First Lady and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, on Monday renewed her call for the abolition of the country’s Electoral College.

    She made the call in a tweet shortly after voting as an elector alongside her husband and former President Bill Clinton in New York.

    “I believe we should abolish the Electoral College and select our president by the winner of the popular vote, same as every other office.

    “But while it still exists, I was proud to cast my vote in New York for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” the tweet reads.

    Recall that Hilary lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump in spite of winning the popular votes.

    Trump was elected after securing 304 electoral vote to Clinton’s 227.

    The Clintons were joined by Gov. Andrew Cuomo alongside 26 other electors on Monday who formerly sealed Biden’s victory in the Nov. 3 election in New York.

    The U.S. Electoral College is a group of 538 presidential electors who converge in state capitals every December of an election year to ratify the election of the President and the Vice President following the recently concluded general polls on Nov. 3.

    The number of electors in each state is equivalent to the number seats in state’s legislature.

    A candidate requires an absolute majority of 270 electoral votes to win the election.

    But if no candidate secures the 270 votes, Congress holds a contingent election to pick the president and Vice President.

    Biden’s election is expected to be ratified in the Electoral College held in all state capitals on Monday following the Nov. 3 general polls.

    The former Vice President is projected to receive 306 electoral votes to be secured against Trump’s 232 electoral votes who is still contesting the election results.

  • U.S. Attorney General, Barr resigns

    U.S. Attorney General, Barr resigns

    U.S. Attorney General William Barr is resigning from the top cabinet position with effect from Dec. 23, confirming the resignation rumours.

    Barr did not give reasons for the decision in his two-page resignation letter posted by President Donald Trump on Twitter on Monday evening.

    “Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job!

    “As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” Trump said in the tweet.

    The president named Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, whom he described as an outstanding person, as Barr’s successor in acting capacity.

    Barr’s resignation came as the Electoral College formally confirmed Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.

    Trump had yet to concede defeat and is challenging the election results for alleged widespread voter fraud, but his efforts to overturn the outcome had been unsuccessful in court.

    In the letter, the outgoing attorney general thanked the president for the opportunity to serve in his administration and the American people.

    He said he was proud to have contributed to the “many successes and unprecedented achievements” delivered by Trump for the American people.

    “Your record is all the more historic because you accomplished it in the face of relentless, implacable resistance.

    “Few could have weathered these attacks, much less forge ahead with a positive programme for the country,” he wrote.

    Barr went ahead to outline the president’s achievements in areas such as economy, immigration, border security, Middle East and protection of competition in the tech sector, among others.

    “As discussed, I will spend the next week wrapping up a few remaining matters important to the Administration and Depart on Dec. 23,” he said.

    Trump recently began to criticise the Department of Justice for “missing in action” on the voter fraud probe launched by Barr in November.

    On Dec. 1, Barr told the Associated Press that the investigation had found no evidence of widespread fraud in the Nov. 3 elections as alleged by the president.

    “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” he said in the interview.

    The declaration did not go down well with Trump who accused Barr of having done nothing because he had not looked hard enough.

    He declined to say whether or not he still had confidence in the attorney general, and simply said: “Ask me in a couple of weeks from now.”

  • U.S.-Russia rivalry will continue under Biden, says Russian lawmaker

    U.S.-Russia rivalry will continue under Biden, says Russian lawmaker

    Senior Russian lawmaker, Konstantin Kosachev, says there will be no breakthroughs in the U.S.-Russia relations under President-Elect Joe Biden as Washington’s military and political rivalry with Moscow will continue.

    Kosachev, who is the chairman of the Russian upper house’s foreign affairs committee, made the remarks to Sputnik on Tuesday.

    Biden was on Monday confirmed as the next president by the U.S. Electoral College, with 306 electoral votes against incumbent Donald Trump’s 232.

    The U.S. Congress will certify the results on January 6.

    “I assume that under the next president, the U.S. will base its relations with the outside world, including Russia, on the same ‘America First’ principle, no matter what new rhetoric accompanies it.

    “Thus, there will be no breakthroughs in the Russia-U.S. relations, the bitter rivalry in the political and military areas will persist as well as the economic competition,” Kosachev said.

    The lawmaker recalled that Biden’s predecessors, Trump and Barack Obama, both started their presidential tenures promising to revise the country’s foreign policy and prove the U.S. leadership by showing off its achievements instead of imposing its interests.

    “Biden has not made such pronouncements and is unlikely to do so. Firstly, because the U.S. has fewer and fewer achievements, the Americans are starting to lose on the global competition.

    “Secondly, the U.S. can secure its global dominance only through brutal imposition of its interest on both allies and opponents,” Kosachev stressed.

    The lawmaker went on to say that Biden in fact has even less room for maneuvering than his predecessors.

    As Biden heads to the White House, many experts and officials around the globe speculated his presidency will represent a sharp break with Trump’s foreign policy approach.

  • BREAKING: U.S. administers first COVID-19 vaccine

    BREAKING: U.S. administers first COVID-19 vaccine

    The United States of America (USA) has administered the first Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed the development on Monday.

    “First Vaccine Administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD,” Trump tweeted.

    The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has not been approved or licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

    But it has been authorized for emergency use by FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to prevent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) for use in individuals 16 years of age and older.

    A healthcare worker in New York City was the first person in the US to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

    Nurse Sandra Lindsay received the shot at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens.

    “I feel great … It didn’t feel any different from taking any other vaccine,” Lindsay said shortly after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

  • U.S. govt faces cyber attack linked to Russia

    U.S. govt faces cyber attack linked to Russia

    Hackers have been targeting the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments and other government agencies, according to media reports on Sunday.

    National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot told dpa “the U.S. government is aware of these reports and we are taking all necessary steps to identify and address potential issues related to this situation.”

    The Department of Commerce confirmed to CNN that hackers had overcome protective measures in one of its offices.

    The Washington Post reported hackers with ties to Russian intelligence agency SVR were responsible for the attacks on the Treasury and Commerce departments as well as other U.S. agencies.

    It was unclear what information had been captured, according to the report, which also said the FBI had been brought in to investigate.

    The cyberattacks have reportedly been going on for months.

    Cybersecurity firm FireEye, which U.S. authorities often work with in cyberattack cases, said the hackers were the same group who had attacked it.

    FireEye said last Tuesday that a cyberattack had stolen attack software that the company usually uses to test its customers’ defence systems.

    It was still unclear whether these tools would be used for hacking attacks, it said, adding that the attackers would have been particularly interested in information about the company’s government customers.

    FireEye said its initial analysis pointed to a state-sponsored attack, due to the technical skills and discipline of the attackers.