Category: WORLD NEWS

US President Donald Trump has signed into law a massive USD 2.3 trillion spending bill that includes a USD 900 billion coronavirus relief package, averting a government shutdown and extending coronavirus aid to millions suffering from the economic impact of the pandemic. Trump initially refused to approve the legislation for days after receiving it. He had called the bill a disgrace . It was not immediately clear why Trump, who leaves office on January 20, finally decided to sign the bill into law. He had been under growing pressure from…

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The ruling Nepal Communist Party on Tuesday appeared to be headed for a split after the warring factions held separate Central Committee meetings, with Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli announcing a new 1,199-member committee to organise the party’s general convention in an effort to strengthen his hold on it. Oli, who is also one of the two chairmen of the ruling party, announced the new committee during a meeting of the party’s Central Committee members close to him at Baluwatar, the prime minister’s official residence, the Kathmandu Post reported.…

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Singapore has received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines, making it the first country in Asia to take the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech as it plans to inoculate its 5.7 million people by the third quarter of 2021. The first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine landed in Singapore on Monday, The Straits Times reported. Singapore is one of the first few countries to approve and get COVID-19 vaccines. Others that have approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are Britain, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Bahrain and Qatar. Britain, the…

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The leader of the Trump administration’s vaccination program says people who have been infected with the coronavirus a group that includes President Donald Trump should receive the vaccine. Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser of Operation Warp Speed, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that the vaccine is safe for those who have recovered and offers stronger and potentially longer protection than does the virus itself. “We know that infection doesn’t induce a very strong immune response and it wanes over time. So I think, as a clear precaution,…

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US President-elect Joe Biden has announced his climate and energy team, which the transition said is ready on day one to advance his agenda and lead the world to confront the undeniable, accelerating and punishing reality of climate change. The nominees are Congresswoman Deb Haaland as Secretary of Interior, Jennifer Granholm as Energy Secretary, Michael Regan as administrator for Environmental Protection Agency and Brenda Mallory as Chair of the Council of the Council on Environmental Quality. Biden on Thursday also announced the appointment of Gina McCarthy as his National Climate…

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President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted that he intends to veto a wide-ranging defence policy bill, raising new but unspecified concerns about China as a reason to reject a traditionally bipartisan measure with a nearly 60-year track record of being signed into law. The biggest winner of our new defence bill is China! I will veto! Trump said. The White House did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on Trump’s specific concerns about China. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said the bill would help deter…

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The US gave the final go-ahead Friday to the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine, marking what could be the beginning of the end of an outbreak that has killed nearly 300,000 Americans, according to a person familiar with the decision but not authorised to discuss it publicly. Shots for health workers and nursing home residents are expected to begin in the coming days after the Food and Drug Administration authorised an emergency rollout of what promises to be a strongly protective vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech. Initial…

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Joe Biden has suggested he can’t go as far with executive authority as some of his most vocal supporters would like, declaring that he won’t violate the Constitution in a leaked recording of his call with civil rights leaders. Audio from the private call on Tuesday was obtained by The Intercept. Biden is urged to use executive action to promote police reform and is heard promising to use his presidential power to overturn every single damn thing that President Donald Trump did via executive action. But, he added, I am…

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President Donald Trump has approached the US Supreme Court against the results of last month’s presidential election, which he alleges were rigged in favour of his Democratic challenger and President-elect Joe Biden. Trump, a Republican, has been making unsubstantiated claims about widespread voter fraud and electoral malpractice in the presidential polls. State election officials have denied any such large-scale fraud. Biden received 306 electoral votes, more than the required 270 of the 538 Electoral College votes in the November 3 presidential election. Trump on Wednesday moved to intervene in a…

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 India’s weapons procurement from the United States jumped from a meagre USD 6.2 million to a whopping USD 3.4 billion in the final year of the Donald Trump’s administration, according to official data. As per the data released by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), the jump in the sale of American weapons to India comes at a time when sale of weapons from the US to other countries has dipped to USD 50.8 billion in 2020 from USD 55.7 billion in 2019. In 2019, the sale of US weapons…

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