By Steve Holland, Jarrett Renshaw and Heather Timmons WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden launched his re-election bid on Tuesday with a promise to protect American liberties from “extremists” linked to former President Donald Trump, who he beat in 2020 and might face again in 2024. Biden made his announcement in a video released by his…
By Jennifer Rigby and Maggie Fick LONDON (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc has pledged to deliver critical new medicines more quickly in low-income nations, but its first such vaccine effort faces hurdles likely to delay distribution in poorer countries by several years, global health officials told Reuters. Pfizer made a commitment on more equitable access last…
By Sharon Bernstein (Reuters) – A day after all five women in the South Carolina state senate banded together to block a proposed abortion ban, Republican Senator Sandy Senn posted a picture of the group on her Facebook page calling the three Republicans, one Democrat and one Independent “united and unstoppable.” The senators came together…
By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) – A federal judge in Denver on Friday rejected a Catholic medical center’s bid to block Colorado from banning an unproven treatment meant to reverse the effects of a medication abortion drug. U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico said there was no need to block the first-of-its-kind ban because the state has…
By John Kruzel WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito believes the leak last May of a draft opinion that ended the nationwide right to abortion was meant to “intimidate” the court into changing its decision, the conservative justice told the Wall Street Journal. “It was a part of an effort to prevent…
By Daniel Trotta (Reuters) – Montana statehouse Republicans on Wednesday silenced Democratic transgender legislator Zooey Zephyr from floor debates for breaking decorum after she said lawmakers who backed a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors would have “blood on your hands.” Under the motion that passed with a vote of 68-32, Zephyr will be allowed…
By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) – The Biden administration has asked a federal appeals court to put on hold a judge’s ruling striking down the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that insurers cover preventive care, including screenings for certain cancers and pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV (PrEP), at no extra cost to patients. In a filing Thursday evening…
(Reuters) – Scores of famous figures, including writers and actors, have signed an open letter urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to free opposition politician Alexei Navalny and to end what they called his torture in prison. Nobel prize-winning writers Svetlana Alexievich, JM Coetzee, Herta Mueller, Orhan Pamuk, Olga Tokarczuk and Mario Vargas Llosa were among…
By Gabriella Borter and Sharon Bernstein (Reuters) – State legislatures are wrestling with how much to restrict or expand abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Here is a snapshot of pending and passed legislation seeking to restrict or protect access in 2023, including details on a law that…
(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Pfizer Inc’s next-generation vaccine to prevent pneumococcal disease in children aged six weeks to 17 years, the company said late on Thursday. The vaccine, Prevnar 20, offers more protection against the disease versus the company’s widely-used Prevnar 13 vaccine, by targeting seven more serotypes…
