Month: September 2021

A 16-year-old boy was killed and two other teenagers were injured in a shooting at a school bus stop in Louisville, Kentucky, Wednesday morning. According to the Louisville Metro Police Department, the three teens were waiting for a bus when they were shot in a drive-by at about 6:30 a.m. local time.

One of the injured kids, a 14-year-old boy, is in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The other survivor, a 14-year-old girl, was treated for minor injuries at the scene, police said. Police are looking for the occupants of a grey Jeep they say was in the area at the time of the shooting.

The three victims have not been identified but Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Marty Pollio said they are students at Eastern High School. The school bus arrived shortly after the “traumatic” slaying, Pollio said, and a bus stop for middle schoolers was close by.

The White House said that the Biden administration will purchase 500 million more doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to donate to low- and middle-income countries, bringing the total number of shots committed by the U.S. for the global supply to 1.1 billion.

President Biden announced the news during a virtual COVID summit on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. The doses of Pfizer’s vaccine will begin shipping out to countries in January, and Mr. Biden said the 500 million doses will all be shipped by September 2022. The U.S. has so far committed to giving more than 600 million vaccine doses to other nations. Nearly 160 million of these vaccine doses have been shipped abroad thus far.

Mr. Biden has stressed that defeating the COVID-19 pandemic requires a global response, and he called on fellow world leaders at the start of Wednesday’s summit to do more to enhance equitable access to vaccines, expand availability of tests and therapeutics, and take steps to prepare for the next pandemic.

House Democrats on the Appropriations Committee introduced a bill Tuesday to keep the federal government running and suspend the debt ceiling past the 2022 midterms. Democratic leaders warned they will insert a measure raising the country’s debt ceiling into a bill to fund government operations in an effort to push Republicans on passing both, but Republicans are holding firm against the measure. Republicans are using the issues to protest the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending package being considered in the House and Senate. The Democrats are trying to use the budget resolution process to get around Republican opposition. Ten Republicans would have to join Democrats for the bill to pass in the Senate.

Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro said in a statement:  “As our nation continues to face the COVID-19 pandemic and other serious challenges, the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act meets the continuing needs of people who live paycheck to paycheck. It is critical that Congress swiftly pass this legislation to support vital education, health, housing and public safety programs and provide emergency help for disaster survivors and Afghan evacuees.”

The federal government will cease funding after Sept. 30 unless the House and Senate act to end the standoff leading to a partial government shutdown.

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In his first address to the United Nations, President Joe Biden has urged global unity through “a decisive decade for our world”. Reaffirming his support for democracy and diplomacy, Mr Biden said: “We must work together like never before.”

At a gathering of the 76th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, Biden addressed climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, both of which have sharpened global divides. Mr Biden urged cooperation on these fronts, saying: “Whether we choose to fight for our shared future or not will reverberate for generations to come. Simply put, we stand, in my view, at an inflection point in history.”

President Biden also stressed that the U.S. is “not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs,” adding that the U.S. “is ready to work with any nation that steps up and pursues peaceful resolution to shared challenges, even if we have intense disagreements in other areas.”

And despite the widespread criticism by allies on the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan, Biden said the US was ending a “period of relentless war” for a “new era of relentless diplomacy”.

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Pfizer said Monday its COVID-19 vaccine is effective for children ages 5 to 11, and that it will seek U.S. authorization for this age group soon. The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech already is available for anyone 12 and older. For elementary school-aged kids, Pfizer tested a much lower dose, equal to a third of the amount that’s in each shot given now.  However after their second dose, children ages 5 to 11 developed coronavirus-fighting antibody levels just as strong as teenagers and young adults said Dr. Bill Gruber, a Pfizer senior vice president. The children’s dosage also proved safe, with similar or fewer temporary side effects — such as sore arms, fever or lethargy — that teens experience, he said.  Dr. Gruber said the companies aim to apply to the Food and Drug Administration by the end of the month for emergency use in this age group, followed shortly afterward with applications to European and British regulators.

While kids are at lower risk of severe illness or death than older people, more than 5 million children in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began and at least 460 have died, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Cases in children have risen dramatically as the Delta variant swept through the country.

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The White House announced Monday that the U.S. will begin allowing foreign travelers into the country in November if they provide proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test. The new policy will replace various restrictions that have been in effect since last year, which barred U.S. entry for foreign travelers if they’d spent any of the previous 14 days in Britain, the European Union, China, India, Iran, Ireland, Brazil and South Africa.

Under the new policy, foreign travelers will be required to show proof of vaccination before they board a U.S.-bound flight and a negative coronavirus test no older than three days. Vaccinated U.S. residents traveling abroad will also need to show a negative test to return — and unvaccinated Americans will have to test one day before their flight, and must test again once they return.