The Biden administration has announced a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday that the administration “will not send any diplomatic or official representation” to the Winter Games because of China’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.” […]
Campaigners warn that autonomous weapons systems pose “grave threats” worldwide. The Biden administration on Thursday rejected demands for a binding international agreement banning or tightly regulating the use of so-called killer robots, autonomous weapons that campaigners fear will make war more deadly and entrench a global norm of “digital dehumanization.” “The prospect of a future where […]
ONBOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT — The United States and South Korea are preparing to develop “a new, operational war plan” to better address the growing threat from North Korea’s military. The new plan would replace existing strategies meant to respond to potential North Korean aggressions which were drawn up about a decade ago and do not […]
JOHANNESBURG — Despite the rise of coronavirus cases in South Africa where the new omicron variant was detected, stricter lockdown measures are not being imposed. The country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa instead told those who remain unvaccinated that it’s time to roll up a sleeve. South Africans were relieved to begin their week like any other Monday. […]
U.S. President Joe Biden announced the United States will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other African countries, effective Monday. Any non-U.S. citizen who has been in one of the eight nations during the 14 days before coming to the United States will be denied entry. The restrictions do not apply to […]
The U.S. State Department is calling on Houthi rebels in Yemen to vacate a U.S. compound they breached in the capital, Sanaa, this week and release detained Yemeni nationals hired by the United States to guard the facility. The compound had housed the U.S. Embassy until 2015, when the U.S. suspended operations there because of […]
“AstraZeneca’s decision to start profiting from Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine mid-pandemic shows the utter folly of giving away publicly funded science to Big Pharma.” The multinational pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca drew immediate backlash Friday for announcing an end to its pledge not to profit from its publicly funded coronavirus vaccine until the end of the pandemic, which is still […]
“President Biden should forswear future U.S. production and use of anti-personnel landmines and fulfill the previous U.S. goal of eliminating this inherently indiscriminate weapon.” As a benchmark report on worldwide landmine casualties showed a 21% increase in deaths and injuries in 2020, one of the paper’s editors on Wednesday renewed calls for the Biden administration to […]
“The rapid rebound in emissions as economies recover from the pandemic reinforces the need for immediate global action on climate change.” After falling in 2020 due to coronavirus-related shutdowns, global carbon dioxide emissions are on pace to nearly reach pre-pandemic levels this year as powerful nations—including the United States—continue to burn fossil fuels at a dangerous clip. […]