The head of the World Health Organization says he will begin an independent evaluation of the U.N. health agency’s response to the coronavirus pandemic “at the earliest appropriate moment.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the pledge Monday after an independent oversight advisory body published its first interim report about the U.N. health agency’s response to COVID-19 from January to April.
The 11-page report raised questions such as whether WHO’s warning system for alerting the world to outbreaks is adequate, and suggested member states might need to “reassess” WHO’s role in providing travel advice to countries.
The advisory body’s review and recommendations appeared unlikely to appease the United States administration, which has been scathing in its criticism of WHO — in part over President Donald Trump’s allegation that it had criticized a U.S. travel ban that he ordered on people arriving from China, where the outbreak first appeared late last year.
Trump ordered a temporary suspension of funding for WHO from the United States — the health agency’s biggest single donor — pending a review of its early response. But the review panel, echoing comments from many countries, said such a review during the “heat of the response” could hurt WHO’s ability to respond to it.
The Albany County Sheriff’s office says a woman who accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo of groping her breast at the New York governor’s state residence has filed a criminal complaint against him.
United Airlines will require U.S.-based employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by late October, and maybe sooner.
Hiring surged in July as American employers added 943,000 jobs.
State lawmakers are telling New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo that their ongoing impeachment investigation is “nearing completion” and gave him a deadline of Aug. 13 to provide additional evidence.
The Mexican government is suing U.S. gun manufacturers and distributors, arguing that their commercial practices have unleashed tremendous bloodshed in Mexico.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week by 14,000 to 385,000 more evidence that the economy and the job market are rebounding briskly from the coronavirus recession.
The White House will be requiring incoming travelers to the U.S. to be vaccinated., Gov. Cuomo is potentially looking at criminal charges, and Jeopardy! might be heading in a surprise direction for a new host.
The Biden administration wants automakers to raise gas mileage and cut tailpipe pollution between now and model year 2026. It also has won a voluntary commitment from the industry that electric vehicles would make up roughly half of U.S. sales by 2030.
A Belarusian Olympic sprinter who criticized her coaches at the Tokyo Games said Thursday that she showed police at the airport a translated plea for help on her phone as she tried to avoid being put on a plane back home.
The State Department says it's looking into the apparent disappearance of a nearly $6,000 bottle of whisky given more than two years ago to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by the government of Japan.
