The Georgia state Senate on Tuesday passed legislation that would require voters to submit a driver’s license number, state identification card number or a photocopy of an approved form of identification in order to vote absentee in the state. Senate Bill 67 passed the upper chamber in 35-18 vote on Tuesday and now heads to the state House for consideration, The Associated Press reports . The bill has already been met with opposition from Democrats and voting rights groups who say the legislation would make it difficult for voters who don't have a driver’s license or state identification card to vote absentee. According to the AP, absentee ballots are currently tallied using signature verification. ADVERTISEMENT State Sen. Larry Walker, one of the Republicans sponsoring the bill, said the bill would not affect about 97 percent of voters, according to the AP. The remaining percentage of voters, Walker said, could vote in person. In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, voting rights group Fair Fight Action said the bill would add “needless barriers to voting in Georgia” and accused proponents of the measure of ignoring voters who would be affected by the legislation. “In Georgia, with more than 7,692,567 registered voters, that means that 230,777 electors may not have the requisite identification and will therefore incur a burden in complying with the law,” the group said, while also adding that the “discriminatory policy” shows “Georgia has not moved past the racist motivations for which it was included in preclearance under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.” The bill, which has more than 25 Republican co-sponsors, is one of a number of bills Republicans have filed in the Georgia General Assembly that would directly impact voting, particularly absentee voting , and voter registration in the state. Another bill advanced by a state Senate subcommittee in a party-line 3-2 vote would, if passed, require Georgians who wish to vote by absentee to ...
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Second Boeing Plane Fails Mid-Flight, Forcing Emergency Landing
A second Boeing plane was forced to conduct an emergency landing over the weekend after a flight departing the Netherlands experienced significant engine failure. The Boeing 747-400 cargo plane, operated by the charter airline service Longtail Aviation and traveling from Maastricht, Netherlands, to New York, was forced to land shortly after taking off Saturday due to a significant engine failure, CNN reported . After airplane parts fell from the plane onto the town of Meerssen, Netherlands, injuring two people, the plane’s crew conducted an emergency landing in Belgium. “Our flight crew dealt with this situation professionally and in accordance with the correct aviation standards, resulting in a safe and uneventful landing,” said Martin Amick, accountable manager for Longtail Aviation, according to CNN. “We are now in the process of working closely with the Dutch, Belgian, Bermuda and UK authorities to understand the cause of this incident.” Of the injured people, one was rushed to the hospital, according to Dutch safety inspector Veiligheidsregio, CNN reported. Cars and houses were damaged from falling debris as well. (RELATED: Plane Lands Safely In Denver After Engine Catches Fire, Debris Rains Down) An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board arrives in a Colorado neighborhood to investigate the debris of a United Airlines flight that was forced to land after engine failure Saturday. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images) “A few seconds after the plane took off, air traffic control noted an engine fire and informed the pilots,” Maastricht Aachen Airport (MAA) said in a statement . “They then switched off the engine concerned and sent out an emergency signal.” It is unclear what the cause of the engine fire was, MAA added. The Dutch Safety Board and Aviation Police are currently investigating the incident. A Boeing spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that it was monitoring the news out of the Netherlands in ...
Biden administration buys 100,000 doses of Lilly antibody drug
The Biden administration on Friday announced an agreement to purchase 100,000 doses of Eli Lilly's monoclonal antibody cocktail that was recently authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The move will increase the available supply of one of the few proven treatments for people with COVID-19. The antibody drugs are authorized for use in patients who are at high risk of becoming seriously ill but are not yet hospitalized. Under the agreement, the federal government will pay $210 million for the initial purchase of up to 100,000 treatment courses of the therapeutic, which is a combination of the drug bamlanivimab, which was authorized last November for high-risk COVID-19 patients, with a second drug known as etesevimab. ADVERTISEMENT The combination received emergency use authorization earlier this month , after data showed it reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 70 percent. The agreement includes flexibility to purchase up to a total of 1.2 million doses through November, but it will likely depend on the course of the pandemic over the next several months. The government has already committed to purchase a total of 1,450,000 doses of bamlanivimab alone, which includes more than 1 million doses that have been delivered and an agreement to deliver 450,000 additional doses by the end of March. The government has said it will provide neutralizing antibodies at no out-of-pocket cost to patients, although health care facilities may charge a fee for the product's administration. To receive an antibody therapeutic treatment, patients should contact their health care providers. ADVERTISEMENT Another antibody treatment manufactured by Regeneron is also authorized by FDA. Regeneron is supplying the federal government up to 1.5 million doses. But despite their effectiveness and the federal efforts to encourage use, antibody therapy has seen lackluster demand. Supply was limited at first, and making ...
At Least 5 Deaths Reported in Bloodiest Day of Myanmar Coup Protests
The crackdown against opponents of Myanmar’s military takeover intensified Sunday as security forces were reported to have fired on protesters, killing at least five people in the deadliest day of demonstrations since the February 1 coup. Witnesses say police used tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and in some cases live ammunition in the country’s biggest city Yangon. According to the Associated Press, photos of shell cases from live ammunition were posted on social media. Police also aggressively sought to break up protests in Mandalay and Dawei. Popular protests have been staged across Myanmar on a daily basis since the military detained de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the civilian government last month, claiming widespread fraud in last November’s election, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won in a landslide. The junta has declared a one-year state of emergency. Its commander, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, has pledged that new elections will be held to bring about a "true and disciplined democracy,” but did not specify when they would take place. In Pictures: Bloodiest Day of Myanmar Coup Protests The crackdown against opponents of Myanmar’s military takeover intensified Sunday as security forces were reported to have fired on protesters, killing and injuring several people in the deadliest day of demonstrations since the February 1 coup Myanmar’s electoral commission denied the military’s claims of election fraud. The United States and other Western nations have demanded the release of Suu Kyi and her lieutenants and called on the junta to restore power to the civilian government. The country’s crisis was complicated further Friday when Myanmar’s U.N. envoy, Kyaw Moe Tun, appealed to a special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to reject the military coup and “use any means necessary” to protect the people. On Saturday, Myanmar state television reported Kyaw ...
Russia Seeks to Strengthen Old Ties with Myanmar Junta
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA - Russia’s appetite for influence and lucrative arms sales in Southeast Asia has been whetted by the latest coup in Myanmar, where isolated generals remain distrustful of China but still require allies on the United Nations Security Council. Chinese investments had flourished in Myanmar under the now-deposed civilian government effectively led by former opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi, and the military, also known as Tatmadaw, benefitted through state owned enterprises brought under its control before Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won historic 2015 elections. However, relations between junta leaders and Beijing have long been strained over Chinese interference across their common border – an existential threat not shared with Russia – and Beijing’s assistance to long-running ethnic insurgencies, including the sale of weapons to rebels. Bradley Murg, a senior research fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said Russia and China are both maneuvering to protect their vested interests in Myanmar. “We’ve seen Russia step up to the plate twice with its actions in the Security Council on the Myanmar question and again joining with China and others in the human rights council to potentially oppose any form of condemnation of the new regime,” he said. Russia and China used their power in the Security Council to water down the world body’s response to the coup, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. China labeled the coup a “cabinet reshuffle” while Russia called it a “purely domestic affair,” and, according to The Irrawaddy , a news site, even asked the international community for “practical assistance to the new authority of Myanmar." That was despite the message from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said he would do everything in his power to pressure Myanmar and “make sure that this coup fails.” Guterres has also consistently slammed the repression and violence inflicted upon protesters. ...
