USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — From the inaugural platform, President Joe Biden saw American sickness on two fronts — a disease of the national spirit and the one from the rampaging coronavirus — and he saw hope, because leaders always must see that.

“End this uncivil war,” he implored Americans on Jan. 20, 2021. Of the pathogen, he said: “We can overcome this deadly virus.”

Neither malady has abated.

COLLEYVILLE, Texas (AP) — U.S. and British authorities Monday continued an investigation into the weekend standoff at a Texas synagogue that ended with an armed British national dead and a rabbi crediting past security training for getting him and three members of his congregation out safely.

COLLEYVILLE, Texas (AP) — Four hostages are safe and their captor is dead after an hourslong standoff that began when the man took over services at a Texas synagogue where he could be heard ranting on a livestream and demanding the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - U.S. households can order four free at-home COVID-19 tests from the website COVIDTests.gov starting on Jan. 19 with shipping expected within seven to 12 days of ordering, the White House said on Friday.

The batch of free tests are aimed at easing a shortage of COVID-19 tests across the country amid increased demand during the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

The U.S. government has contracted already for more than 420 million tests, the White House said.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military and its civilian leaders are wrong to wage the "New Cold War" by overemphasizing militarized responses to economic and diplomatic challenges, The Diplomat magazine has reported.

Perhaps the key American misstep, the report said Wednesday, is relying too much on hyper-expensive legacy weapons -- aircraft carriers, unusable and redundant nuclear missiles, over-budget and underperforming F-35 fighter jets -- that can't protect U.S. interests and citizens well.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Taking over from the Republic of Guinea the leadership of the Group of 77 (G77) and China for 2022, Pakistan assumed its duties on Friday.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi presided over the proceedings of the opening segment of the handover ceremony held in a virtual format, which was also attended by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and president of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid.

"The work of the Group of 77 and China is pivotal," said the UN chief.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials on Friday encouraged more Americans to wear the kind of N95 or KN95 masks used by health-care workers to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Those kinds of masks are considered better at filtering the air. But they were in short supply previously, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials had said they should be prioritized for health care workers.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s attorney general is asking federal prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into 16 Republicans who submitted false certificates stating they were the state’s presidential electors despite Joe Biden’s 154,000-vote victory in 2020.

Dana Nessel, a Democrat, disclosed Thursday that her office had been evaluating charges for nearly a year but decided to refer the matter to the U.S. attorney in western Michigan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Concerned but not giving up, President Joe Biden is anxiously pushing ahead to prod people to get COVID-19 shots after the Supreme Court put a halt to the administration’s sweeping vaccinate-or-test plan for large employers.

At a time when hospitals are being overrun and record numbers of people are getting infected with the omicron variant, the administration hopes states and companies will order their own vaccinate-or-test requirements. And if the presidential “bully pulpit” still counts for persuasion, Biden intends to use it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined a Russian effort is underway to create a pretext for its troops to further invade Ukraine, and Moscow has already prepositioned operatives to conduct “a false-flag operation” in eastern Ukraine, according to the White House.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday the intelligence findings show Russia is also laying the groundwork through a social media disinformation campaign that frames Ukraine as an aggressor that has been preparing an imminent attack against Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine.