CDC endorses updated COVID boosters, shots to begin soon
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has endorsed updated COIVD-19 boosters. The decision opens the way for a fall vaccination campaign that could blunt a winter surge if enough Americans roll up their sleeves. The new boosters targeting today’s most common omicron strains should begin arriving in pharmacies and clinics within days. The decision by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky came shortly after the agency’s advisers voted in favor of the recommendation. The shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna offer the most up-to-date protection at yet another critical period in the pandemic.
Ex-NYPD officer sentenced to record 10 years for Jan. 6 riot
A retired New York Police Department officer has been sentenced to a record-setting 10 years in prison for attacking the U.S. Capitol and using a metal flagpole to assault one of the police officers trying to hold off a mob of Donald Trump supporters. Thomas Webster’s prison sentence is the longest so far among roughly 250 people who have been punished for their conduct during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. The previous longest was shared by two other rioters, who were sentenced separately to seven years and three months in prison. Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge.
House committee reaches deal to get Trump financial records
A House committee seeking financial records from former President Donald Trump has reached an agreement that ends litigation on the matter and requires his accounting firm to turn over certain records to the panel. The committee’s leader, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, announced the settlement Thursday. It follows a July decision by the federal appeals court in Washington that narrowed what records Congress is entitled to obtain. The long-running case began began in April 2019 when the House Committee on Oversight and Reform subpoenaed a wealth of records from Trump’s then-accounting firm, Mazars USA.
New online dashboard helps flyers with delays, cancellations
The Department of Transportation has launched a customer service dashboard to help vacationers ahead of the travel-heavy Labor Day weekend. Starting Thursday, travelers will be able to check the dashboard and see what kinds of guarantees, refunds or compensation the major domestic airlines offer in case of flight delays or cancellations. The dashboard is designed to allow travelers to comparison shop and favor those airlines that offer the best compensation, thereby influencing all to follow suit. Flight delays and cancellations have bedeviled airline travel this year. Federal officials blame many of the disruptions on understaffing at airlines. The airlines blame staffing problems at the Federal Aviation Administration, which employs air traffic controllers.
Jan. 6 panel calls Gingrich to testify, saying he had role in Trump plot
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol asked former Speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday to sit for a voluntary interview about his involvement in former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. In a letter to Gingrich, a Republican from Georgia, the committee said its investigators had obtained evidence that he was in contact with senior advisers to Trump about television advertisements that amplified false claims of fraud in the 2020 election and other aspects of the scheme to block the transfer of power, before and after a mob attacked the Capitol.
Tech companies slowly shift production away from China
In the coming weeks, Apple and Google will unveil their latest generation of smartphones, jockeying to distinguish the new devices from previous models. But one of the most significant changes will go largely unnoticed by consumers: Some of these phones will not be made in China. The shift is a response to growing concerns about the geopolitical tensions and pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions that have involved China in the past few years. A very small portion of Apple’s latest iPhones will be made in India, and part of Google’s newest Pixel phone production will be done in Vietnam.
UN inspectors arrive at Ukraine nuclear plant amid fighting
A U.N. inspection team has arrived at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on a mission to safeguard it from catastrophe. It reached the site Thursday amid fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces that prompted the shutdown of one reactor and underscored the urgency and the danger of the task. The 14-member team from the International Atomic Energy Agency reached Europe’s biggest nuclear plant in a convoy of SUVs and vans, after months of negotiations to get inside the complex and take steps to prevent a disaster on the continent.
Russia launches war games with China amid tensions with US
Russia has launched weeklong war games that involve forces from China and other nations in a show of growing defense cooperation between Moscow and Beijing as they both face tensions with the U.S. The maneuvers are also intended to demonstrate that Moscow has a sufficient capability for massive drills even as its troops are engaged in military action in Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry says that the Vostok 2022 (East 2022) exercise will be held until Sept. 7 at seven firing ranges in Russia’s Far East and the Sea of Japan and involve more than 50,000 troops and over 5,000 weapons units, including 140 aircraft and 60 warships.
By wire sources