Job losses caused 8.3% decline in global income, International Labor Organization says

Former US ambassador to South Korea Sung Kim has been appointed acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. The Korea American diplomat was appointed to the post as of Wednesday, according to information available on the website of the State Department. Up until then, Kim had served as the US ambassador to Indonesia. Still, it was not clear whether Kim would be form...

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japan's government has privately concluded the Tokyo Olympics will have to be cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, The Times reported, citing an unnamed senior member of the ruling coalition. The government's focus is now on securing the Games for Tokyo in the next available year, 2032, the newspaper said. Japan has been hit less severely by the pandemic than many ot...

US President Joe Biden on Thursday reaffirmed his plan to get up to 100 million Americans vaccinated over the next 100 days as part of his strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic that he said is based on science and not politics. Biden also urged the people to "mask up" until they get vaccinated, insisting the act of wearing a mask alone can save tens of thousands of lives over the next few mon...

HOMESTEAD (AP) -- Immigrants cheered President Joe Biden’s plan to provide a path to US citizenship for about 11 million people without legal status, mixing hope with guarded optimism Wednesday amid a seismic shift in how the American government views and treats them. The newly inaugurated president moved to reverse four years of harsh restrictions and mass deportation with a plan for sweeping l...

WEST PALM BEACH (AP) -- His presidency over, Donald Trump bid farewell to Washington on Wednesday but also hinted at a comeback despite a legacy of chaos, tumult and bitter division in the country he led for four years. "Goodbye. We love you. We will be back in some form," Trump told supporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland where he received a 21-gun salute as part of a military send-off bef...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Kamala Harris broke the barrier that has kept men at the top ranks of American power for more than two centuries when she took the oath Wednesday to hold the nation’s second-highest office. Harris was sworn in as the first female US vice president -- and the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to hold the position -- in front of the US Capitol by...

WASHINGTON -- Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, promising to repair the country's global leadership, as well as its relationship with allies. The former vice president took the oath of office on the steps of the Capitol in an inauguration ceremony with only a few participants and nearly no spectators. Biden and his transition team had noted the need to keep ...

WASHINGTON -- US President Joe Biden promised efforts to repair his country's relationship with its allies on Wednesday, also promising to bolster its global leadership by the "power of example. Biden made the pledge shortly after he took office as president, ending Donald Trump's term and "America First" policy. "We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again, not to meet ye...

Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States on Wednesday, declaring that "democracy has prevailed," according to the AP. He swore the oath of office to take the helm of a deeply divided nation and inheriting a confluence of crises arguably greater than any faced by his predecessors. Biden's inauguration came at a time of national tumult and uncertainty, a ceremony of resilience as ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris arrived at the US Capitol on Wednesday for their official inauguration ceremony. Biden, 78, is to be sworn in at noon (1700 GMT) by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as the 46th president of the United States. Harris, 56, will be the first woman to become vice president. Donald Trump left Washington thre...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Antony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden's choice to be secretary of state, will vow Tuesday that the United States will "outcompete" a rising China while reviving frayed alliances, in a sea change from Donald Trump's go-it-alone "America First" approach. On the eve of Biden's inauguration, Blinken was set to say at his confirmation hearing that the United States will seek t...

WASHINGTON -- Joe Biden is set to be inaugurated as the next US president this week in probably a never-before-seen ceremony that will highlight the dangers from the worst pandemic and a political divide facing the United States. Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the US on Wednesday. As is customary, the inauguration ceremony will be held at around noon on the steps of the US Capi...

World facing catastrophic temperature rises this century, UN chief says

An American woman was put to death by lethal injection Wednesday, becoming the first female to be executed by US federal authorities in nearly seven decades. Lisa Montgomery's execution came in the final days of the government of US President Donald Trump, which pushed forward with her execution despite a legal battle that the Supreme Court ended with a ruling in the early hours of Wednesday. M...