Growth in the US service industry, where most Americans work, pulled back in December after expanding at a record pace the previous two months. The Institute for Supply Management reported Thursday that its monthly survey of service industries declined to a reading of 62 last month, from an all-time high of 69.1 in November. Any reading above 50 indicates growth. Stay here for news updates from across the US that you cannot miss:Read Less
Pandemic sidelines 800 police, firefighters in Los Angeles
A dramatic surge in coronavirus cases has sidelined more than 800 Los Angeles city police and fire personnel and led to slightly longer ambulance and fire response times, adding to concerns about shortages of critical staff including health care workers.
Wall St mostly edges up in volatile trade, day after sell-off
White House says Russia talks will go on despite Kazakh situation
Unrest in Kazakhstan will not affect plans for NATO’s talks with Russian next week over Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday. The United States and its European allies are to hold three sets of talks involving the Russians next week starting with a meeting in Geneva.
Chicago schools shut for 2nd day over virus safety protocols
Hundreds of thousands of Chicago students remained out of school for a second straight day Thursday after leaders of the nation’s third-largest school district failed to resolve a deepening clash with the influential teachers union over Covid-19 safety protocols. The Chicago Teachers Union, which voted to revert to online instruction, told teachers to stay home Wednesday during the latest COVID-19 surge while both sides negotiate.
Oregon’s secretary of state ruled Thursday that former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof is not eligible to run for governor. Questions about Kristof’s residency had dogged him even before he announced his candidacy in October. According to Oregon law, a candidate must have been a resident of the state for at least three years before an election.
Biden planned to outline “the singular responsibility” then-President Donald Trump bears for the violence of that day, when he egged on his protesters and waited hours before calling for calm. He also planned to warn that Jan. 6 is part of an enduring challenge to the nation’s system of government
US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman will step down from his post and David Satterfield, the outgoing US ambassador to Turkey, will take up the role in coming days, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement
Another veteran US envoy tapped to handle Sudan, Ethiopia crises
A veteran US diplomat who has handled turbulent ties with Turkey was named Thursday to tackle crises in Sudan and Ethiopia after the current envoy quit following impasses. David Satterfield, the outgoing US ambassador to Turkey who has worked extensively in the Middle East, will become special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced.
The decision by the United States to boycott the Beijing Olympics in February 2022 in the wake of the genocide and inhumane treatment of Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province is a fair response in all respects because the humiliation, torture, and suffering of 1 million Uighur Muslims in the reformatory camps in Xinjiang is unbearable and indescribable, reported Pakistan Vernacular media
US oil futures show tight supply to stay despite Omicron fear
Benchmark U.S. crude futures suggest oil supplies will remain tight early in the new year, even as the Omicron coronavirus variant has raised worries that the pandemic, which has dampened fuel consumption, is not going away anytime soon
WADA welcomes US funding payment after reform package
The United States has paid its outstanding 2021 dues to the World Anti-Doping Agency in the wake of governance reforms approved at a meeting in Paris last year, WADA confirmed on Thursday. A statement from WADA said the US Office of National Drug Control Policy had released a $1.3 million (1.1 million euros) payment to complete its total annual funding of $2.9 million to the agency
US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman will step down from his post after more than nine months in the job, and David Satterfield, the outgoing US ambassador to Turkey, will take up the role in coming days, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement confirming
Cuomo due in court virtually after DA drops fondling case
Andrew Cuomo will be required to appear virtually for a court session Friday as a judge considers a prosecutor’s request to dismiss a fondling case against the former New York governor. Albany County District Attorney David Soares asked Judge Holly Trexler on Tuesday to dismiss the misdemeanor complaint, just three days before Cuomo’s scheduled arraignment. Trexler notified prosecution and defense lawyers Thursday that they will be required to appear virtually, along with Cuomo.
For the first time, the United States has been classified as a “backsliding democracy” in a global assessment of democratic societies by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, an intergovernmental research group
Fed’s Daly says ‘closing in’ on achieving inflation, employment goals
San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly on Thursday said the U.S. economy is “closing in” on the US central bank’s two goals of full employment and 2% inflation, at least in the short run. “There’s a difference in the short run and the long run…balancing those things as we move forward in 2022 will be the critical point of business for monetary policy,” Daly said at a Bank of Ireland virtual event. While the labor market “looks like it’s very strong,” she said, the economy is supporting millions of jobs fewer than it did pre-pandemic as women and older workers stay out of the labor force due to Covid constraints.
“And so at this moment we must decide what kind of nation we are going to be,” Biden will say, according to excerpts of his remarks released early Thursday. “Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies? We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it.”
US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s plan to reform the Electoral Count Act is “unacceptable, insufficient and even offensive,” Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said on Thursday
US nuclear power generation capacity offline Thursday falls to 1,906 MW
Biden decries ‘big lie,’ blames Trump for insurrection
President Joe Biden on Thursday forcefully condemned Donald Trump’s election “big lie” that sparked the deadly breach of the Capitol by his supporters and continues to motivate deep national division. He marked the anniversary of the insurrection by declaring he will stand and fight for “the soul of America.” Biden’s criticism was blistering of the “defeated president” who he blamed for the attack that has fundamentally changed Congress and raised global concerns about the future of American democracy.
Trump and his supporters holding a dagger to America’s throat and democracy: Biden
