March 8, 2021 12:47 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Fully vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing. That’s according to long-awaited guidance from federal health officials. The recommendations were announced Monday. They also say that vaccinated people can come together in the same way with people considered at low-risk for severe disease, such as in the case of vaccinated grandparents visiting healthy children and grandchildren. Officials say a person is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last required dose of vaccine. About 30 million Americans or only about 9% of the U.S. population have been fully vaccinated with a federally authorized COVID-19 vaccine so far.
March 8, 2021 4:33 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The State Department says the U.S. and South Korea have reached an agreement in principle on a new arrangement for sharing the cost of the American troop presence. Details were not released, but the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs said Sunday that the deal includes a negotiated increase in Seoul’s share of the cost for the U.S. troop presence. Talks had broken down during the Trump administration over Washington’s demand for a five-fold increase in South Korea’s share of the cost. A State Department spokesperson declined to specify the agreed increase in Seoul’s share.
March 8, 2021 4:29 am
LONDON (AP) – Oprah Winfrey’s two-hour prime-time interview with Prince Harry and Meghan contained revelations and allegations that have left Britain’s royal family reeling, painting a picture of racism, insensitivity and deep-rooted dysfunction. Among the claims was an allegation that family members were concerned about the skin color of Harry and Meghan’s child. Meghan revealed that she had had suicidal thoughts, while Harry said he felt trapped within the royal institution and disclosed the breakdown in his relationships with his father, Prince Charles, and brother Prince William. And the couple disclosed that they exchanged vows in private three days before their 2018 wedding. The palace has not responded to the interview.
March 8, 2021 4:28 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Now that President Joe Biden is on the verge of his first big legislative victory, a key moderate Democrat says he may be open to changing Senate rules that could allow for more party-line votes to push through the White House’s agenda. Sen. Joe Manchin says he wants to retain a procedural hurdle known as a filibuster and that major legislation should always have minority party input. But Manchin suggests there could be ways to loosen the current requirement of 60 senators to allow for passage of bills. Democrats are beginning to look to their next priorities after the Senate approved a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan on a party-line 50-49 vote Saturday. Final passage is expected Tuesday in the House.
March 8, 2021 4:27 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Jury selection in the trial of a former Minneapolis officer accused in the death of George Floyd is on hold while a court considers whether to reinstate a third-degree murder charge. Derek Chauvin is already facing a second-degree unintentional murder charge and a manslaughter charge. But there’s an active appeal on whether the third charge, which was dropped by a judge, can be restored. The reason is simple: reinstating the count could increase the prosecution’s odds of getting a murder conviction in what will be one of Minnesota’s highest-profile trials ever. While prosecutors could win a conviction without the third-degree charge, legal experts say the case isn’t a slam dunk.
March 8, 2021 4:22 am
CENTER VALLEY, Pa. (AP) – Officials say a vehicle left the road and slammed into a tree in eastern Pennsylvania, killing three people and injuring one. The Lehigh County coroner’s office says the crash occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m. Saturday in Upper Saucon Township. The coroner’s office says two males and a female were pronounced dead at the scene about an hour later. Their identities haven’t been released. Autopsies are planned Monday. The (Allentown) Morning Call reports that the office said Sunday that a fourth person was transported to a hospital. The crash is under investigation by township police and the county district attorney’s office as well as the coroner’s office.
March 8, 2021 4:21 am
WHITEHALL, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say a second person has died following a shooting in the parking lot of a Walmart store in eastern Pennsylvania last month that killed a woman. The Lehigh County coroner’s office reported Sunday that 22-year-old Jonathan Martinez of Allentown died at 1:30 a.m. Sunday at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Cedar Crest. An autopsy is planned to determine the cause of death, but the coroner’s office ruled the manner of death homicide. Twenty-year-old Nicolette Law of Allentown was pronounced dead earlier of gunshot wounds following the Feb. 26 shooting in the parking lot of the Whitehall Township store. A man was charged earlier.
March 8, 2021 4:19 am
ALLEGHENY CO., Pa. — (WPXI) – Allegheny County Police are investigating a shooting in Clairton that left a man in critical condition Sunday night. The shooting happened around 9:45 p.m. in the 500 block of Farnsworth Avenue — near First United Methodist Church. First responders found the victim, who has not yet been identified, shot in the back. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. It’s unclear what led to the shooting, and police did not provide information on a suspected shooter. Anyone with information is asked to call police.
March 7, 2021 7:24 am
BANGKOK (AP) — The escalation of violence in Myanmar as authorities crack down on protests against the Feb. 1 coup is raising pressure for more sanctions against the junta, even as countries struggle over how to best sway military leaders inured to global condemnation. The challenge is made doubly difficult by fears of harming ordinary citizens who were already suffering from an economic slump worsened by the pandemic but are braving risks of arrest and injury to voice outrage over the military takeover. Still, activists and experts say there are ways to ramp up pressure on the regime, especially by cutting off sources of funding and access to the tools of repression. The U.N. special envoy on Friday urged the Security Council to act to quell junta violence that this week killed about 50 demonstrators and injured scores more.
March 7, 2021 7:23 am
BEIJING (AP) — China’s foreign minister warned the Biden administration on Sunday to roll back former President Donald Trump’s “dangerous practice” of showing support for Taiwan, the island democracy claimed by Beijing as its own territory. The claim to Taiwan, which split with the mainland in 1949, is an “insurmountable red line,” Wang Yi said at a news conference during the annual meeting of China’s ceremonial legislature. The United States has no official relations with Taiwan but extensive informal ties. Trump irked Beijing by sending Cabinet officials to visit Taiwan in a show of support. “We urge the new U.S. administration to fully understand the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue” and “completely change the previous administration’s dangerous practices of ‘crossing the line’ and ‘playing with fire,’” he said. President Joe Biden says he wants a more civil relationship with Beijing but has shown no sign of softening Trump’s confrontational measures on trade, technology and human rights. Surveys show American public attitudes turning more negative toward China, which is seen as an economic and strategic competitor.
