The Biden administration and private companies are working to develop a standard way of handling credentials — often referred to as “vaccine passports” — that would allow Americans to prove they have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus as businesses try to reopen.
Turkey‘s purchase and installation of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system is a “done deal” despite vehement U.S. objections, top Turkish officials said Wednesday, once again openly defying Washington and deepening a rift between the NATO allies.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a chance to stay in power for a six-term despite facing corruption allegations as his party held the lead in elections, projections showed.
The European Union has confirmed its plans to issue ‘digital green certificates’ to vaccinated members of its 450 million population, allowing them to travel freely across the bloc this summer, the UK’s Daily Mail reports. The new ‘passport’ would be issued to those who have been recently tested or who have recovered from the virus as well.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas traveled to the US-Mexico border on Friday with a group of bipartisan senators. Typically on such a trip, a cabinet secretary and lawmakers would be accompanied by reporters or a member of the White House press pool to feed notes back to newsrooms.
The US House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would revive the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) by repealing the 1982 deadline that states had been given to ratify it, the Washington Examiner reports. The ERA was designed principally to ban federal and state laws that discriminate against women; its central principle is that sex should not determine the legal rights of men or women.
The US House of Representatives has begun to debate two bills that would, respectively, expand firearm background checks, and extend the time-frame for conducting background checks on gun purchases, the Washington Examiner reports. Both bills were passed by Democrats in 2019 but the Republican-led Senate discarded them at the time.
The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval Wednesday to the nearly two trillion dollar COVID relief bill that includes a boost in unemployment payments and stimulus checks for American families. The measure is controversial on many levels because it includes deficit spending and non-COVID pet projects. Now there’s an even bigger concern that’s come up for pro-life Americans because the Hyde Amendment is notably absent from the massive spending bill.
Five Christians were arrested Sunday morning during a police raid on a house church in China’s Chengdu, International Christian Concern reports. The Spring of Life Church (East Hall) was in the middle of a service when authorities arrived and took away the elder Cha Changping, who leads the church, his wife, and three others.
Israel reopened most of its economy Sunday as it removed many of its coronavirus lockdown restrictions introduced a year ago, after a controversial vaccination campaign.
The United States Senate has approved one of the most extensive stimulus packages in modern U.S. history.
A standoff between the European signatories to the Iran nuclear deal and Tehran has been eased, at least temporarily, by the Iranian regime’s agreement to hold technical talks next month with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over questions about its nuclear program.
Answering questions from his audience on Zoom at a Likud event on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of two reasons four Arab states normalized ties with Israel in the past year, and more want to join them: the economic advantages of cooperating, and shared security aims.
Negotiations over President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill go into overdrive this week as the U.S. Senate begins debate over the sweeping legislation and lawmakers jockey to include pet projects, while tossing others overboard.
Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have discussed expanding cooperation in facing common enemies, an Israeli official familiar with the matter said Monday.
Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump suggested Sunday that he might run for office again.
More than 500 US evangelical pastors and leaders have condemned ‘Radical Christian Nationalism’ in an open letter responding to the January 6 assault on the US Capitol, Religious News reports. Entitled “Evangelical Leaders Statement Condemning Christian Nationalism’s role in the January 6th Insurrection,” the letter explains the signatories come from diverse backgrounds and political persuasions, but stand together against ‘the perversion of the Christian faith” displayed at the insurrection, and against “the theology and the conditions” that led to the attack itself.
Israel’s Health Ministry rolled out its “green passport” program requiring that citizens show their green badge in order to enter places such as registered gyms, swimming pools, hotels, theaters, places of worship and concerts. Restaurants and bars are expected to join the program in March.
Britain, France and Germany on Tuesday said they “deeply regret” Iran’s decision to restrict site inspections by the UN’s nuclear watchdog after a US refusal to lift existing sanctions.
Kosovo held parliamentary elections to form a new government amid concerns that the popularity of an anti-establishment party could undermine talks on normalizing relations with neighboring Serbia. Adding to problems is the coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis in what is the Western Balkan’s most impoverished nation.