Fda clears covid drug from Eli Lilly that shows promise against omicron
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday gave emergency authorization to a new monoclonal antibody drug that has been found to be potent against the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The Biden administration said it would make the therapy immediately available to states free of charge. The authorization of the treatment, bebtelovimab, means that the United States has four drugs available for high-risk COVID-19 patients early in the course of the illness that have been found to neutralize the omicron variant. The drug is manufactured by Eli Lilly, which said it had signed a contract to provide up to 600,000 courses of the treatment for at least $720 million.
On Capitol Hill, a push to unionize House aides gains traction
More than 25 years after Congress first voted to give its employees the right to unionize, Democrats are making a fresh push to make it possible for House aides to bargain collectively. A majority of House Democrats have signed on to a resolution that would for the first time extend to employees of their chamber the same labor rights and protections other federal workers enjoy. The measure was introduced Wednesday, just days after a group of Capitol Hill aides announced they had formed the Congressional Workers Union to press for “meaningful changes to improve retention, equity, diversity and inclusion on Capitol Hill.”
Biden, a veteran of Supreme Court fights, ponders his own historic pick
President Joe Biden, who led the Senate Judiciary Committee for a dozen years and is a veteran of high court battles, is probably the most experienced president ever when it comes to filling a Supreme Court vacancy. Now, he is trying to bring that knowledge to bear as he makes his choice of the first Black woman to be nominated to serve on the high court, a selection that will be a significant element of his presidential legacy. Whether all that personal history pays off will become evident within the next two weeks if Biden sticks to his timeline of disclosing his choice before the end of the month.
Canada toughens stance on protests, promising ‘robust’ police response
After weeks of treading lightly around protests paralyzing much of Canada’s economy, federal, provincial and local officials adopted a tougher approach Friday, threatening protesters with arrests and heavy fines, and obtaining a court order to halt the blockade of a major route to the United States. Ontario Premier Doug Ford warned protesters demanding an end to pandemic restrictions that if they did not disband, “there will be consequences, and they will be severe.” He said those who continued to impede the movement of people and goods could face fines up to 100,000 Canadian dollars (about $78,500), up to a year in prison and revocation of their driver’s licenses.
Taliban free 2 Westerners working for UN, days after quiet detention
The Taliban on Friday released two Western citizens and two Afghan colleagues who had been working for the United Nations in Afghanistan, hours after the U.N. had announced they had been held by the Taliban for several days in Afghanistan. The team members, including Andrew North, a British citizen and former BBC reporter, were on assignment with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and were detained in Kabul. “We are doing our utmost to resolve the situation,” the U.N.’s initial statement said. The Taliban did not initially respond to requests for comment. But hours later, the government’s chief spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the Westerners had been released.
As other hot spots boil, US shows its foreign policy focus is Asia
With Europe bracing for the possibility of its biggest ground war in decades, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took a 27-hour flight this week in the opposite direction. On Friday, Blinken met with the foreign ministers of Australia, Japan and India at a summit in Melbourne, Australia. His message was clear: Despite crises in Ukraine and elsewhere, the United States is committed to bolstering its presence across Asia and presenting a different vision of the future than the one offered by China. “Countries deserve to have the freedom to work together and associate with whom they choose,” Blinken said before Friday’s meeting.
Switzerland, long a safe haven for tobacco ads, weighs a Ban
Although many countries have long banned cigarette advertising, it has lived on in Switzerland, where loose regulations on the sale and marketing of tobacco products make the country an outlier in much of the Western world. The ads adorn billboards on city streets, are shown in movie theaters, and are ubiquitous at sports and cultural events such as Montreux’s famed jazz festival. But this weekend, much of that may start to fade away as Swiss voters decide whether to place restrictions on tobacco ads that would effectively ban them in public spaces. The initiative, expected to pass, has been endorsed by health advocates.
Australia declares koalas an endangered species
The Australian government on Friday declared the koala an endangered species, as drought, bush fires, disease and habitat loss have drastically reduced the numbers of an animal that is an emblem of the country’s unique wildlife. The announcement, by the country’s environment minister, came two years after a parliamentary inquiry predicted that koalas could be extinct by 2050 without urgent government intervention. Reclassification from vulnerable to endangered does not require the Australian government to take any special action. But it separately announced that it would adopt a recovery plan for the koala issued by the country’s environmental department.
By wire sources