USA

(Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers used a mobile phone app over the last two weeks to remotely cast votes for the first time, according to technologists and some involved in the process, embracing technology to facilitate an internal party leadership contest.

The development marks a shift in how Congress is adapting to the internet, especially in the midst of a pandemic. Use of the app, named Markup ERVS, had not been publicly disclosed before Friday.

MARIETTA, Ga. (Reuters) - Beau Davis, a 33-year-old security specialist from the Atlanta suburbs, is the kind of voter Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue may need to win runoff elections next month that will determine the balance of power in Washington.

Juneau, Dec 4 (AP-PTI) The US Bureau of Land Management plans to hold an oil and gas lease sale in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge next month, weeks before President-elect Joe Biden, who has opposed drilling in the region, is set to take office.

Conservation groups criticized Thursday's announcement as rushed and based on environmental reviews that are being challenged in court as flawed.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday announced that he has selected Brian Deese, a former Obama administration official and currently head of sustainable investing at BlackRock, to serve as the next director of the National Economic Council.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions against an Iranian entity and its director allegedly related to Iran's chemical weapons research.

The Treasury Department said in a statement that it had designated Shahid Meisami Group and its director, accusing the entity of being involved in Iran's chemical weapons research and subordinate to the Iranian Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, which was blacklisted by the United States in 2014.

NEW YORK, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- The global COVID-19-related deaths have passed the 1.5 million mark, while the caseload worldwide has surpassed 65 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

As of 10:26 p.m. Thursday (0326 GMT Friday), the exact number of the coronavirus cases on the university's COVID-19 dashboard was 65,169,904, and the global death toll stood at 1,505,527.

The United States, Brazil, India, and Mexico have each registered over 100,000 deaths, according to the center. 

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Sound and stable China-U.S. relations are essential for the post-pandemic world, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said on Thursday.

"It is clear that the post-pandemic world would not be stable and global governance would not be effective without sound and stable relations between China and the U.S.," Cui said in his opening remarks at the annual conference of the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS).

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is accusing Facebook in a lawsuit of discriminating against U.S. workers in favor of foreigners with special visas to fill more than 2,600 high-paying jobs.

The Justice Department announced the suit Thursday, alleging that the social media giant refused to recruit, consider or hire qualified and available U.S. workers for the positions that Facebook reserved for temporary visa holders. Facebook sponsored the visa holders for “green cards” authorizing them to work permanently.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The official serving as President Donald Trump’s eyes and ears at the Justice Department has been banned from the building after trying to pressure staffers to give up sensitive information about election fraud and other matters she could relay to the White House, three people familiar with the matter tell The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed the nomination of Christopher Waller for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, placing another of President Donald Trump’s picks on the Fed’s influential board after a string of high-profile rejections.