Ghana Is First Nation to Get Free Covid-19 Vaccines Under Covax Plan
The shipment of the vaccines marks the beginning of what is shaping up to be the biggest vaccination drive in history aimed at developing countries.
Former Vice President Walter Mondale (D), who died Monday, led a successful effort to reform the filibuster in 1975, when he was a U.S. senator from Minnesota. Before Mondale and James Pearson (R-Kan.) introduced a resolution to reform cloture, the parliamentary mechanism to end a filibuster, at the beginning of the 94th Congress, a two-thirds majority of senators present and voting were needed to break a filibuster; Mondale and Pearson pushed for three-fifths of all senators voting and present. Senate Rule XXII, which governed cloture, "in its present form, has protected the right of debate at the expense of the right to decide," Mondale told his Senate colleagues. "Rule XXII has significantly impaired the ability of this body to function." Sen. James Allen (D-Ala.) led the opposition to the measure, and after several rancorous weeks of debate, the Senate agreed to a compromise resolution in which three-fifth of the entire Senate, or 60 senators, had to agree to invoke cloture and thwart a filibuster. That rule still stands for legislative filibusters, though once again there is clamor for reform amid obstruction. Earlier in his Senate career, Mondale supported a simple majority of 51 senators to quash a filibuster. And he and Pearson briefly set a precedent for a 51-vote cloture, James Wallner explained in 2019. But Mondale had changed his mind by then. "As I see it, it is an issue between the ability to paralyze, on the one hand, and the ability to require full ventilation of an issue, on the other," he said in 1971. "In my opinion, there are crucial issues which demand full consideration by the Senate." By 2011, Mondale was ready for another round of cloture reform. In 1975, senators hoped lowering the threshold to 60 votes from 67 "would preserve debate and deliberation while avoiding paralysis, and for a while it did," he wrote in a 2011 New York Times op-ed. "But it's now clear that our reform was insufficient for today's more partisan, increasingly gridlocked Senate." Mondale suggested lowering the threshold to 55 votes, or "requiring a filibustering senator to actually speak on the Senate floor for the duration of a filibuster." "I still would like to keep some of the filibuster," Mondale said in 2013. "I think the Senate should be different from the House. I'm looking for that mysterious line between requiring debate and consultation on the one hand and paralysis on the other hand. ... What we clearly have today is paralysis." More stories from theweek.comThe new HBO show you won't be able to stop watchingDonald Trump's most dangerous political legacyFauci flubs the freedom question
PlayStation fans were furious that Sony had plans to close the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita digital storefronts. Now, Sony's reversing course.
NASA’s experimental helicopter Ingenuity rose into the thin air above the dusty red surface of Mars on Monday, achieving the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet. The triumph was hailed as a Wright brothers moment. The mini 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) copter even carried a bit of wing fabric from the Wright Flyer that made similar history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903.
Former President of the United States sits down for first on-camera interview since leaving office
Thirteen-year-old Adam Toledo dropped the gun he'd been holding, turned and began raising his hands just as the officer had commanded. The graphic video that became the latest tragic touchstone in the nation’s reckoning with race and policing puts a microscope on those split-second decisions with far-reaching and grave consequences.
Opposing View: If Joe Biden will work with Republicans, we can expand infrastructure and economic opportunity — instead of the federal government.
Just moments after the jury had exited the courtroom on Monday to begin deliberations in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the defense attorney pushed for a mistrial over its coverage.
Israelis went about barefaced on Sunday after the order to wear masks outdoors was rescinded in another step towards relative normality thanks to the country's mass-vaccination against COVID-19. With about 81% of citizens or residents over 16 - the age group eligible for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in Israel - having received both doses, contagions and hospitalisations are down sharply. But entry by foreigners is still limited and non-immune Israelis who return from abroad must self-isolate, due to concern virus variants could challenge the vaccine.
Underwood reportedly has a Netflix show in the works. An online petition opposes it, citing stalking allegations against the newly out 'Bachelor' star.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin said on Monday he supports a sweeping labor reform bill, giving the legislation some momentum after it passed in the House last month. The bill, introduced in February by Democratic Senator Patty Murray and supported by President Joe Biden, would bolster collective bargaining rights, allow unions to collect dues from non-members covered by their contracts, and establish penalties for corporations that violate workers' rights, among other measures. Backers of the bill would also have to get the support of Democratic Senators Mark Warner, Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, who have all expressed some level of skepticism.
The bZ4X is a compact SUV that looks similar to Toyota's RAV4, but has several distinctive features, including a yoke steering wheel.
The YouTuber admitted to messaging with 16-year-old boys earlier this month.
A high-ranking general key to Iran's security apparatus has died, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced on Sunday. Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hosseinzadeh Hejazi, who died at 65, served as deputy commander of the Quds, or Jerusalem, force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The unit is an elite and influential group that oversees foreign operations, and Hejazi helped lead its expeditionary forces and frequently shuttled between Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.
The unusual rejection of West's disclosure forms likely has to do with his failure to report wife Kim Kardashian West's income, a watchdog group says.
Released Monday, the first trailer for "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" gives fans a sneak peek at Marvel's first superhero of Asian descent.
Counties that supported Trump in 2020 have more vaccine-hesitant people, even though Trump has aggresively argued that the vaccines are his doing.
The climber thought the petroglyphs were graffiti.
A sheriff's office in Louisiana has issued an arrest warrant for Seattle Seahawks defensive end Aldon Smith. St. Bernard Parish sheriff's deputies responding to a call for medical assistance in Meraux on Saturday evening found a man who said he had been assaulted by an acquaintance outside a business in Chalmette, Sheriff James Pohlmann said Monday in a post on the agency's Facebook page. Detectives identified the suspect as Smith, 31, and took out a warrant for second-degree battery.
The State Department said more than 80% of countries around the world will soon carry its "do not travel'' level. Fewer than 20% carry that label now.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis argues President Biden 'has failed on dealing with illegal immigration and rule of law.'