Joe Biden Administration

Biden also stressed that hospitals in some places could be overrun both in terms of equipment and staff. The US President made these remarks during a virtual meeting held by the White House with several state governors and top health advisors. Earlier on Sunday, the White House also promised to quickly resolve the Covid-19 test shortage that the US is facing.

The National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law on Monday, less than two weeks after the Senate approved it in a 89-10 vote, reports Yonhap News Agency. The House of Representatives had also approved the bill earlier this month. According to Biden, "the Act provides vital benefits and enhances access to justice for military personnel and their families, and includes critical authorities to support our country's national defense".

The decision to change the selection criteria was taken by former president Donald Trump in January 2021, which was widely opposed by several industry bodies and companies in the US. It proposed to move away from lottery-based selection to a new system of selection based on ranking and wage levels. The proposal was challenged in the US court and the Court vacated the rule in September 2021.

Friday's ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio, lifted a November injunction that had temporarily suspended the rule from the Labour Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which requires companies with 100 or more employees to vaccinate their workforce or make them subject to weekly testing and compulsory masking, reports Xinhua news agency.

The position paper released on Sunday by China's State Council argued that there is no fixed model of democracy and it manifests itself in many forms. Chinese top government had titled the papers “China: Democracy That Works.” Their counterattack drives deeper as Beijing criticizes democracy in the United States and calls it flawed.

The US President warned Russian President Vladimir Putin at the two-hour summit on Ukraine that Russia will face strong Western economic blowback if it tries to attack Kyiv. The Russian President also demanded that the NATO alliance keep clear of Russia.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that Biden's administration's ambitious $1 trillion infrastructure bill or any government subsidies should not be passed as the Americans do not need it. He made these remarks while speaking at the Wall Street Journal's CEO summit late on Monday. The billionaire's Tesla currently operates more than 3,000 charging stations with around 30,000 connectors globally.

In November, President Biden had told reporters that the boycott was under his consideration as both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were pushing for it in view of China's human rights abuses.  China has threatened to respond with "firm countermeasures" though they are yet to share details on what retalitaory action they have in mind. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plans to toughen coronavirus testing and screening of international fliers to the US by requiring them to provide a negative result from a test taken within 24 hours of departure, said The New York Times on Wednesday. Administration officials are also considering a requirement that all travellers get re-tested within three to five days of arrival.

The Republican Fed chair, whose four-year term expires in February, is backed by Republican lawmakers and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, but has drawn criticism and opposition from some progressive Democrats due to Fed officials' controversial stock trading during the pandemic, and Fed policies.