USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is considering pushing to have a special counsel appointed to advance a federal tax investigation into the son of President-elect Joe Biden, setting up a potential showdown with incoming acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen.

Trump — angry that out-going Attorney General William Barr didn’t publicly announce the ongoing, two-year investigation into Hunter Biden — has consulted on the matter with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and outside allies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The first home test for COVID-19 that doesn’t require a prescription will soon be on U.S. store shelves.

U.S. regulators Tuesday authorized the rapid coronavirus test, which can be done entirely at home. The announcement by the Food and Drug Administration represents another important — though incremental — step in efforts to expand testing options.

Regulators granted emergency use for a similar home test last month, but that one needs a doctor’s prescription.

(AP) --- After a punishing fall that left hospitals struggling, some Midwestern states are seeing a decline in new coronavirus cases. But the signs of improvement are offset by the virus’s accelerating spread on both coasts: In California, officials scrambled to distribute body bags and deploy mobile morgues as infections rose at an alarming rate.

BOSTON (AP) — Some of America’s most deeply held secrets may have been stolen in a disciplined, monthslong operation being blamed on elite Russian government hackers. The possibilities of what might have been purloined are mind-boggling.

Could hackers have obtained nuclear secrets? COVID-19 vaccine data? Blueprints for next-generation weapons systems?

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden nominated his former rival Pete Buttigieg as secretary of transportation on Tuesday and intends to choose former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm as his energy secretary.

Biden also plans to tap Gina McCarthy, a former Environmental Protection Agency chief, for the powerful new position of domestic climate chief to run his ambitious climate plans across the federal government.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds more hospitals around the country began dispensing COVID-19 shots to their workers in a rapid expansion of the U.S. vaccination drive Tuesday, while a second vaccine moved to the cusp of government authorization.

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a month after the election, top Republicans finally acknowledged Joe Biden as the next U.S. president on Tuesday, a collapse in GOP resistance to the millions of voters who decisively chose the Democrat. Foreign leaders joined the parade, too, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Speaking from the floor of the U.S. Senate where Biden spent 36 years of his career, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated his former colleague as president-elect. The two men spoke later in the day.

New York, Dec 15 (AP-PTI) Lawyers for the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein are urging a judge to free her to await trial under a USD 28.5 million bail package that would include armed guards to keep her in a New York City residence and protect her safety.

The bail arguments on behalf of Ghislaine Maxwell were filed under seal last Tuesday, but were publicly filed late Monday with redactions in Manhattan federal court that were approved by Judge Alison J Nathan.

Washington, Dec 15 (AP-PTI) A crush of sign-ups expected Tuesday on the last day of open enrolment for HealthCare.gov could help solidify the standing of Obamacare as an improbable survivor in the Donald Trump years.

In 36 states that use HealthCare.gov,- December 15 is deadline day for coverage that starts January 1, while another 14 states and Washington, D.C., have later dates. Analysts and advocates who follow the annual insurance sign-ups say interest has gotten stronger with the coronavirus pandemic gripping the nation.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called on member states to help address the severe economic crisis in Yemen, which has been mired in a civil war since late 2014.

"I call on all member states to step up their financial support for United Nations relief operations, and to help address the severe economic crisis in the country," the secretary-general said in a statement issued by his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on the second anniversary of the Stockholm Agreement between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels.