The FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn have reportedly started an investigation that involves looking into how New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus task force dealt with nursing homes and long-term care institutions amid the COVID-19 crisis.
As 150 million Americans are placed under severe winter warnings, the Salvation Army (SA), an international Christian humanitarian aid organization, has been preparing to help those struggling in the massive deadly storm that continues to batter huge swathes of the US.
Kosovo held parliamentary elections to form a new government amid concerns that the popularity of an anti-establishment party could undermine talks on normalizing relations with neighboring Serbia. Adding to problems is the coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis in what is the Western Balkan’s most impoverished nation.
The former head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, has been sworn-in as Italy’s prime minister after political turmoil over coronavirus policies.
Fourteen Republican state attorneys general have signed a letter to President Biden, telling him that his cancellation of permits needed to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline will cause dramatic economic suffering to local communities. The attorneys have asked the President to reconsider his decision.
The United Nations Security Council was unable to reach agreement on a joint declaration about the devastating war in Syria after yet another round of UN peace talks on Tuesday, i24News reports. It was hoped a new declaration would revive the grid-locked peace talks.
Iran is at an unprecedented “low point” due to actions carried out by Israel and the US, but it has not stopped investing in its nuclear project, OC IDF Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Tamir Heiman said this week.
Former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who spent most of the 1980s trying to end the Cold War and reach Middle East peace, has died. He was 100.
Amid mounting international pressure over its perceived crackdown on dissent, Russia has expelled three diplomats from Germany, Sweden, and Poland, prompting an angry response from the European Union. Moscow says the diplomats joined unauthorized protests supporting opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who was jailed earlier this week.
Scientists and veterinarians in France have partnered in a project which trains dogs to detect the new coronavirus through smelling human sweat, en24News reports. The stated aim of the ‘Cynocov’ project is to provide a “complimentary solution” to the pandemic crisis at a time when “a comprehensive, rapid and non-invasive screening offering is needed.”
U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday he was considering reimposing sanctions against Myanmar after the military seized power in a coup.
The United States must be ready for a nuclear war with China or Russia and seek new ways to deter both countries’ use of newly acquired advanced strategic weapons, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command is warning in a major new review of the global balance of nuclear forces.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who became the controversial de facto leader of Myanmar, has been detained under house arrest by the military in an apparent coup, her party confirmed.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte resigned Tuesday after former PM Matteo Renzi pulled his Italia Viva party out of a deeply divided governing coalition, Sky News reports. Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella has asked Mr. Conte to stay on in a caretaker capacity while he begins consultations with the leaders of the other parties on Wednesday.
Ethiopia is in the midst of a full-blown humanitarian crisis as refugees flee to the border with Sudan and up to two million people face starvation while the government wars against a separatist group in the country’s Tigray region, CBN News reports. Among daily reports of mass killings on both sides is the reported massacre of over 700 Orthodox Christians outside their church in Tigray’s city of Aksum earlier this month.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing in Baghdad this week that killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 100.
The U.S. security chief imposed a 100-day pause on deportations Wednesday, rejecting concerns it could lead to a migration surge.
The incoming Biden administration will work toward the speedy passage of its $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, Voice of America reports.
Italy’s embattled Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte won a crucial Senate confidence vote Tuesday night, allowing him to keep his shaky coalition afloat.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday announced that parliamentary and presidential elections will take place in the country for the first time in 15 years.