USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States launched airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, targeting facilities near the Iraqi border used by Iranian-backed militia groups. The Pentagon said the strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops.

The airstrike was the first military action undertaken by the Biden administration, which in its first weeks has emphasized its intent to put more focus on the challenges posed by China, even as Mideast threats persist.

WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) – U.S. President, Joe Biden, revoked an executive action by his predecessor, banning legal immigration for family members of U.S. citizens and residents, and diversity visa lottery recipients.

Biden said that, former President, Donald Trump’s order, blocking green card applicants and temporary foreign workers “does not advance the interests of the United States.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Katherine Tai, President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. trade representative, on Thursday will explain to senators her approach to competition with China, rebuilding battered American supply chains and patching up strained ties with U.S. allies.

At her confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Tai will lay out her plans for enforcing existing trade deals and forging new ones that treat Americans as “workers and wage earners, not just consumers.”

(Reuters) - Boeing Co was planning to replace engine covers on its 777 jets months before a pair of recent serious failures, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing an internal Federal Aviation Administration document.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday ordered immediate inspections of the 777 planes with Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines before further flights, after an engine failed on a United Airlines flight on Saturday.

(Reuters) - Boeing Co was planning to replace engine covers on its 777 jets months before a pair of recent serious failures, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing an internal Federal Aviation Administration document.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday ordered immediate inspections of the 777 planes with Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines before further flights, after an engine failed on a United Airlines flight on Saturday.

(Reuters) - Moderna Inc said on Thursday it was expecting to post $18.4 billion in sales from its COVID-19 vaccine this year.

Pfizer Inc, which makes the only other vaccine authorized for emergency use in the United States so far, said earlier this month that it was expecting to record sales of about $15 billion in 2021 from the coronavirus vaccine that it makes with German partner BioNTech.

Moderna also said Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks would leave the company in late September.

24 Feb 2021; MEMO: US President Joe Biden's administration said today it would continue its international re-engagement by seeking election to the UN Human Rights Council where it will press to eliminate a "disproportionate focus" on ally Israel, Reuters reported.

Under former President Donald Trump Washington quit the council in 2018 but the Biden government has already returned as an observer.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States has launched a major new initiative to study the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the means of prevention and treatment of individuals who have been sickened by COVID-19, but do not recover fully over a long period of time.

The initiative, announced by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Tuesday, aims to learn more about how SARS-CoV-2 may lead to such widespread and lasting symptoms, and to develop ways to treat or prevent these conditions.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Wednesday urged governments to take strong policy actions to prevent the dangerous divergence between and within countries when climbing out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Most of the world is facing a slow rollout of vaccines even as new virus mutations are spreading -- and the prospects for recovery are diverging dangerously across countries and regions," Georgieva said in a blog, as Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bank governors meet virtually this week.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order directing a review of supply chains for key products and sectors to address vulnerabilities and risks in U.S. supply chains, which business insiders hope will not result in new trade barriers.

The order directs an immediate 100-day review across federal agencies to address vulnerabilities in the supply chains of pharmaceuticals, critical minerals, semiconductors and large-capacity batteries, according to the White House.