US President Joe Biden will sign a series of executive orders aimed to address climate change, including a new ban on some energy drilling.
The orders aim to freeze new oil and gas leases on public lands and double offshore wind-produced energy by 2030.
They are expected to meet stiff resistance from the energy industry and come as a sea change from Donald Trump, who cut environmental protections.
Mr Biden will also label climate change a “national security” priority.
The series of executive orders that Mr Biden is due to sign on Wednesday will establish a White House office of domestic climate policy and announce a summit of leaders in the movement to tackle climate change to be held in April.
Mr Biden will also call upon the US Director of National Intelligence to prepare an intelligence report on the security implications of climate change.
Mr Biden is using the power he has as president to make climate change a central issue of his administration.
The executive orders and memorandum – which cannot go as far as congressional legislation in combating climate change – can be undone by future presidents, as he is currently doing to Mr Trump.
According to a statement from the White House, Mr Biden will direct the Department of the Interior, which oversees federal public lands, to pause oil and gas drilling leases on federal lands and water “to the extent possible” and to launch a review of existing energy leases.
Mr Biden aims to conserve at least 30 percent of federal lands and oceans by 2030.
According to the New York Times, fossil fuel extraction on public lands accounts for almost a quarter of all US carbon dioxide emissions.
Public lands are controlled by the federal government. Mr Biden’s order does not affect private property owners or state-held public lands.
Mr Biden’s “whole-of-government” approach, the White House says, will create the first-ever National Climate Advisor who will lead the office of Domestic Climate Policy at the White House.
Later today, Mr Biden’s envoy for climate – another new position – will join the White House press briefing.
The orders also direct all federal agencies to develop plans for how climate change will affect their facilities and operations.
It also will require agencies to determine ways to help the public better access climate change forecasts and information.
Mr Biden is also making it clear his administration will make decisions based on the best science available.
He’s directed agencies to only make “evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data”.
The pharmaceutical company Sanofi will help produce millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and German company BioNTech in an effort to help meet the huge demand for the shots.
The French drugmaker in a statement Wednesday said it will provide BioNTech access to its “established infrastructure and expertise” in an unusual arrangement to produce over 125 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Europe.
Initial supplies will originate from Sanofi’s production facilities in Frankfurt beginning this summer, the company said.
Pfizer and BioNTech have been looking for ways to increase vaccine supply. The companies have one of only two COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the U.S.
Sanofi is collaborating with GlaxoSmithKline on its own COVID-19 vaccine candidate, and said developing that drug will continue to be a priority.
But the companies last month said their vaccine did not trigger enough of an immune response in people over the age of 50, delaying its launch until likely much later this year.
The move by Sanofi raises questions about whether other companies that have not succeeded in making effective coronavirus vaccines will follow suit in throwing their manufacturing power and expertise into helping the ones that have.
This week for instance, Merck said it was discontinuing the development of its two COVID-19 vaccine candidates because of weak immune responses.
Sanofi’s CEO Paul Hudson said he recognizes the severity of the global pandemic requires some drastic steps, like helping produce a competitor’s vaccine.
“We are very conscious that the earlier vaccine doses are available, the more lives can potentially be saved. Today’s announcement is a pivotal step towards our industry’s collective goal of putting all the effort in to curb this pandemic,” Hudson said in a statement.
“Although vaccination campaigns have started around the world, the ability to get shots into arms is being limited by lower than expected supplies and delayed approval timelines owing to production shortages. We have made the decision to support BioNTech and Pfizer in manufacturing their COVID-19 vaccine in order to help address global needs, given that we have the technology and facilities to do so,” Hudson said.
There are so many people who should be in prison if this government had not run out of steam, and so the system is being manipulated.
Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, on Wednesday, lambasted the Nigerian government for its inefficiency in the fight against corruption in the country, saying many persons ought to be in jail if the system worked.
Soyinka noted that corruption cases involving some state governors over whom much evidence had already been gathered suddenly died down without any tangible reason.
The playwright stated this on an African Independent Television’s programme, Kakaaki, adding that the system had been so corrupted that cases were stretched out into silence by all kinds of technicalities.
He said, “There are so many people who should be in prison if this government had not run out of steam, and so the system is being manipulated.
“There are cases where the prosecution had reached the level where evidence had been given on governors who had been stealing and depositing in bits and pieces so as not to flout a certain regulation.
“I mean cases have been taken to that level and suddenly, silence.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which I backed solidly ever since the days of (Nuhu) Ribadu, in all kinds of ways; we no longer can distinguish from right and left.”
Asked whether the National Assembly, dominated by the All Progressives Congress, was not putting enough pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari, he said NASS had a lot of work to do in its relationship with the President.
However, Soyinka said the desire of some lawmakers for committee positions “where I think all the goodies are shared” has made them compromise.
He added, “It is the responsibility of the constituency to remind them of these derelictions; these failures to come up to scratch as expected when they come round next for elections.”
US President Joe Biden has warned Russian leader Vladimir Putin about election meddling in their first call as counterparts, the White House says.
The conversation also included a discussion about the ongoing opposition protests in Russia.
A Kremlin statement did not refer to any points of friction, saying the call was “business-like and frank”.
Both leaders reportedly signalled willingness to renew the countries’ last remaining nuclear deal.
Former US President Donald Trump sometimes undercut his own administration’s tough posture on Russia and was accused by some of being too deferential to Mr Putin.
But former President Barack Obama – under whom Mr Biden served as vice-president – was also criticised for failing to check the Kremlin as it annexed Crimea, supported rebel forces in eastern Ukraine and muscled in on Syria.
“President Biden made clear that the United States will act firmly in defence of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies,” the White House said in a short statement, referencing the main talking points of Tuesday afternoon’s call but listing no further details.
The US said that the two presidents also discussed the massive SolarWinds cyber-attack, which has been blamed on Moscow; reports that the Kremlin placed bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan; and the poisoning of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny.
The Kremlin statement about the call said their president had “noted that the normalisation of relations between Russia and the United States would meet the interests of both countries and – taking into account their special responsibility for maintaining security and stability in the world – of the entire international community”.
The two leaders appeared to seal an agreement to renew New Start, an Obama-era accord that limits the amounts of warheads, missiles and launchers in the US-Russian nuclear arsenals.
It was due to expire next month, and Mr Trump had refused to sign on.
British residents arriving in England from Covid hotspots will have to quarantine in hotels, Home Secretary Priti Patel is expected to announce.
The measures will apply to people coming from most of South America, southern Africa and Portugal, amid concern over new variants of the virus.
Most overseas visitors from those countries are already barred from entering the UK.
But Labour said hotel quarantine should be mandatory for all arrivals.
British nationals and those with residency rights who arrive from high-risk countries will be required to quarantine in a hotel at their own expense for up to 10 days, in a bid to improve compliance with self-isolation rules.
Senior ministers met on Tuesday night to approve the plan, following days of disagreement over the details.
They also agreed that if other areas were designated as high risk in the future, then the requirement for hotel quarantine would be extended.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had argued for a targeted approach to quarantine, while the home secretary had favoured its more widespread use, according to BBC political correspondent Iain Watson.
Ms Patel will set out further details in the House of Commons, including the timescale for the policy and who will be exempt.
She told MPs on Tuesday the government would not hesitate to take further action to protect the UK from new variants, adding: “Measures are always under review.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for tougher measures to combat the spread of new variants from abroad.
He told reporters on Tuesday: “It’s very clear that we need to have quarantine comprehensively in hotels for everybody coming into the country, we need much stronger defences at our borders.”
image captionIran has detained several US-Iranian dual citizens and Iranians with US permanent residency in recent years
Iran says it has arrested a US-Iranian dual national facing spying charges who attempted to leave the country.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili did not identify the man, but said he “had been free on bail”.
Iranian media reported last week that a US-Iranian businessman named Emad Shargi had been arrested has he tried to cross a western border illegally.
It could complicate plans by new US President Joe Biden to re-engage diplomatically with Iran.
His predecessor Donald Trump subjected the Tehran government to a “maximum pressure” campaign of crippling economic sanctions.
Mr Trump wanted to compel Iranian leaders to renegotiate a 2015 nuclear deal that he abandoned, but they refused to do so and retaliated by violating a series of key commitments.
Mr Biden has said he is open to rejoining the accord and easing the sanctions if Iran returns to full compliance.
Iran has detained a number of US-Iranian dual citizens and Iranians with US permanent residency in recent years, most of them on spying charges.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Mr Esmaili responded to a question about the reported arrest of an US-Iranian “defendant”.
He said Iranian law did not recognise dual nationality, but that “the defendant had been free on bail… and was arrested as he tried to leave the country”. This person “faced charges from earlier in the area of spying and gathering information for foreign countries”, he added.
According to tweets shared on President Buhari’s , he stated the following;
I have accepted the immediate resignation of the Service Chiefs, and their retirement from service. I thank them all for their overwhelming achievements in our efforts at bringing enduring peace to Nigeria, and wish them well in their future endeavours.
I have also appointed new Service Chiefs, to replace the retired officers:
Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff.
Major-General I. Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff.
Rear Admiral A.Z Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff.
Air-Vice Marshal I.O Amao, Chief of Air Staff.
Major-General Leo Irabor, Nigeria’s new Chief of Defence Staff.
Major-General I. Attahiru, Nigeria’s new Chief of Army Staff.
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from enforcing its 100-day deportation freeze in one of the first legal battles over the new president’s agenda.
Judge Drew Tipton issued a temporary restraining order against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that will apply nationwide while the lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) plays out.
“Texas has thus far satisfactorily demonstrated it is entitled to immediate and temporary relief from the January 20 Memorandum’s 100-day pause on removals,” wrote Tipton, who was appointed by former President Trump to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Biden’s freeze, Tipton wrote “is clearly not in accordance with, or is in excess of, the authority accorded to the Attorney General.” Tipton disputed the federal government’s claim that U.S. Code allows the attorney general to pause deportations when a final order of removal has already been issued. This argument, he writes, is based on an interpretation of the statue that “contravenes the unambiguous text.”
“Where Congress uses specific language within its immigration statutes to direct the Attorney General toward a specific result, courts are not free to assume based on a matrix of principles, statutes, and regulations that the Attorney General’s authority is simply ‘a matter of discretion,'” Tipton added.
Paxton announced the lawsuit last Friday, two days after Biden took office.
“If left unchallenged, DHS could re-assert this suspension power for a longer period or even indefinitely, effectively granting a blanket amnesty to illegal aliens that Congress has refused to pass time and time again,” Paxton’s complaint reads.
The day before Paxton’s lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo that called for the 100-day freeze on most deportations as part of a broader “reset and review” of immigration enforcement throughout the department.
The Hill has reached out to Paxton’s office and the Justice Department for comment.
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from enforcing its 100-day deportation freeze in one of the first legal battles over the new president’s agenda.
Judge Drew Tipton issued a temporary restraining order against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that will apply nationwide while the lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) plays out.
“Texas has thus far satisfactorily demonstrated it is entitled to immediate and temporary relief from the January 20 Memorandum’s 100-day pause on removals,” wrote Tipton, who was appointed by former President Trump to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Biden’s freeze, Tipton wrote “is clearly not in accordance with, or is in excess of, the authority accorded to the Attorney General.” Tipton disputed the federal government’s claim that U.S. Code allows the attorney general to pause deportations when a final order of removal has already been issued. This argument, he writes, is based on an interpretation of the statue that “contravenes the unambiguous text.”
“Where Congress uses specific language within its immigration statutes to direct the Attorney General toward a specific result, courts are not free to assume based on a matrix of principles, statutes, and regulations that the Attorney General’s authority is simply ‘a matter of discretion,'” Tipton added.
Paxton announced the lawsuit last Friday, two days after Biden took office.
“If left unchallenged, DHS could re-assert this suspension power for a longer period or even indefinitely, effectively granting a blanket amnesty to illegal aliens that Congress has refused to pass time and time again,” Paxton’s complaint reads.
The day before Paxton’s lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo that called for the 100-day freeze on most deportations as part of a broader “reset and review” of immigration enforcement throughout the department.
The 2020 comedy film has broken a four-year record formally held by Kemi Adetiba’s ‘The Wedding Party’.
Funke Akindele and JJC Skillz’ ‘Omo Ghetto (The Saga)’ is now Nollywood’s highest grossing movie of all time.
According to Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN), the 2020 comedy film has so far grossed N468,036,300 after holding the number one spot for its third week in a row.
‘Omo Ghetto’ has officially broken a four year record by knocking off Kemi Adetiba’s 2016 comedy, ‘The Wedding Party’. The movie has been Nollywood highest grossing movie with N453,000,000. In the third place is ‘The Wedding Party 2’ with N433,197,377.
The Bellos’ latest feat is probably the most shocking news in recent times as it comes amid a pandemic that crippled the film industry for months.
Released on Christmas day 2020, the movie which is a sequel to 2010 trilogy ‘Omo Ghetto’, follows the chaotic life of Shalewa aka Lefty (Funke Akindele). Lefty struggles between living a life of wealth and comfort provided by her adopted mother or returning to her ghetto lifestyle.
The comedy stars Akindele in the dual role of Ayomide and Lefty, Tina Mba, Adebayo Salami aka Oga Bello, Chioma Akpotha, Bimbo Thomas, Eniola Badmus, Deyemi Okanlawon, Zubby Michael, Mercy Aigbe, Timini Egbuson, Alex Ekubo among others.
Meanwhile , Funke Akindele and her husband, JJC skillz celebrated the news by sharing the video below;
The suspects were allegedly using a primary school building to commit the act.
The Bauchi State Hisbah says it recently arrested no fewer than six youths who specialized in organising sex orgies and fomenting trouble in Dolam village in Tafawa Balewa local Government Area of the state.
Malam Aminu Idris, the permanent commissioner in-charge of Hisbah and Sharia implementation, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi, on Monday.
Idris, who identified the culprits as Abdurrauf Kabir,25, Dabo Yusuf, 26, Abdurrazak Isah, 24, Habu Umar, 27, Yaron Nuhu-Maikaji, 30, and Abdurrashid Shehu, 31, said they were using a primary school building in the area to commit the act.
The department also recently confiscated and destroyed no fewer than 885 cartons of liquor (image used for illustration) [NTA]
He said the culprits were in the habit of organizing disco parties, locally called Gwaidu, during which they lured young girls into illicit sexual relationships, while at times they used force to intimidate innocent people.
Idris said the attention of his department was drawn by the local Hisbah office in the area, after which the office swung into action and arrested all those involved.
After discreet investigations, the commissioner said, the state Hisbah office summoned the parents of the culprits, counselled them and made them to sign an undertaking against repeating the offence.
Idris said the Hisbah department would, hence forth, not hesitate to prosecute such culprits in a competent court of law, stressing, “As a Lawyer I will do everything possible to ensure that our existing laws were not flagrantly violated.”
He appealed to the state government to hasten the appointment of the state Hisbah Board, as well as provide additional financial and logistics support to the department to enable it perform optimally.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that only recently, the Hisbah department also confiscated and destroyed no fewer than 885 cartons of liquor, as part of its efforts to implement Sharia law in the state.
10 Nigerian nationals were picked up by the police from Uttam Nagar in Dwarka district on Wednesday, January 6.
Three Nigerians have been deported from India for overstaying their visas, bringing to nine the total number of Nigerians expelled from the country since the beginning of this year, Delhi Police said on Monday.
According to a statement released on its official Twitter page, the Dwarka Police said the Nigerians were arrested and deported by officers from Mohan Garden police station, after they were found to be living in India without valid visas and passports.
They were said to be among 10 Nigerian nationals picked up by the police from Uttam Nagar in Dwarka district on Wednesday, January 6.
“#PersistentActionAgainstIlleglstay 3 Nigerian Nationals, who were found living without any valid papers were #deported by the staff of PS Mohan Garden during area #Patrolling duty,” the police said.
Over the years, several Nigerians residing in India have been arrested and deported over illegal stay, internet fraud, online romance scams and drug peddling.
Two Nigerians – a male and a female – were deported on January 11, 2021 while two Nigerian males were deported from the country on January 13, 2021.
Another two were expelled back to Nigeria on January 21.
The Biden administration has said it will seek to push forward a plan to make anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman the face of a new $20 bill.
image captionHarriet Tubman was a spy and a nurse for the Union during the US Civil War
A note featuring Ms Tubman, who was born a slave in about 1822, was originally due to be unveiled in 2020.
The US Treasury said she would replace former President Andrew Jackson, a slave owner.
But the effort was delayed under former President Donald Trump, who branded it “pure political correctness”.
Now President Joe Biden has revived the project, with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki telling reporters the Treasury was “exploring ways to speed up” the process.
The move would make Ms Tubman the first African American to appear on a US banknote, and the first woman for more than 100 years.
“It’s important that our notes, our money – if people don’t know what a note is – reflect the history and diversity of our country, and Harriet Tubman’s image gracing the new $20 note would certainly reflect that,” Ms Psaki said on Monday.
image captionA mock-up of the new $20 note
The women last depicted on US notes were former First Lady Martha Washington, on the $1 silver certificate from 1891 to 1896, and Native American Pocahontas, in a group image on the $20 bill from 1865 to 1869.
However, given the complexities of redesigning and producing US banknotes, the bill is not expected to be released any time soon.
In 2019, Mr Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said the redesign would be delayed until at least 2026. At the time, he said he was focused on redesigning bills to address counterfeiting issues, not making changes to their imagery.
Mr Trump, an admirer of his populist predecessor Andrew Jackson – whose portrait hung in his office – expressed opposition to the redesign.
While campaigning in 2016, Mr Trump suggested that Ms Tubman be put on the $2 bill instead.
Who was Harriet Tubman?
Born into slavery in about 1822, Ms Tubman grew up working in the cotton fields in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was the fourth of nine children born to two enslaved parents, Benjamin Ross and Harriet Rit.
As a teenager, she was hit in the head by an iron weight thrown by an overseer, leaving her severely injured.
She escaped from a slave plantation in 1849, fleeing north to the neighbouring state of Pennsylvania.
In the years that followed, Ms Tubman returned multiple times to Maryland to rescue others, conducting them along the so-called “underground railroad”, a network of safe houses used to spirit slaves from the south to the free states in the north.
She is estimated to have made some 13 missions to rescue more than 70 enslaved people, including family and friends, using the network.
Later, she became a spy for the Union Army during the Civil War, a prominent supporter of the women’s suffrage movement, and a famous veteran of the struggle for the abolition of slavery.
After the war, Ms Tubman toured eastern cities giving speeches in support of women’s suffrage, drawing on her experiences in the fight against slavery.
She died in 1913, aged 91, surrounded by her family
A further 20,089 coronavirus cases have also been recorded.
The prime minister is leading a Downing Street press conference with England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty and NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens.
Mr Johnson told the briefing he was “deeply sorry for every life that has been lost”.
He said: “The years of life lost, the family gatherings not attended and for so many relatives, the missed chance even to say goodbye.
“I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who’s lost a loved one.
“Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and the many grandparents who’ve been taken.”
Mr Johnson continued that “we will come together as a nation to remember everyone we lost and to honour the selfless heroism of all those on the front line who gave their lives to save others” once the country is through the pandemic.
Prof Chris Whitty described it as a “very sad day”.
But he said the number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in the UK “has been coming down” and the number of people in hospital with Covid has “flattened off”.
“It looks as if it’s coming down very slightly in some areas, including London, and the South East and East of England, but there are some areas of the country where it is still not convincingly reducing,” he said.
He said the number of pe ople dying “will come down relatively slowly over the next two weeks – and will probably remain flat for a while now”.
“We will still unfortunately be having additional deaths to add to that very sad total that the prime minister talked about,” Prof Whitty added.
A jealous Mexican woman identified by the police simply as Leonora R, has been arrested in the municipality of Cajeme, Sonora, after she allegedly stabbed her husband, Juan N, multiple times.
In a statement on Tuesday, the police said officers had responded to a ‘domestic disturbance call’ and on arrival at the apartment, found out that Leonora had stabbed her husband after finding images on his cell phone that showed him having sex with ‘another’ woman, not realizing that the pictures in question were actually images of herself and her husband from when they were still dating.
“When officers arrived at the apartment, they found that Leonora’s husband had been stabbed several times on his legs and arms.
“Without giving him time to explain himself, Leonora began stabbing Juan over and over again, while hurling insults at him,” the police said.
The statement added that Juan was eventually able to wrestle the knife out of his incensed wife’s hands, and asked her what photos she was talking about.
“He then explained to her that the photos were actually of him and Leonora taken years earlier when they were just dating.
“Leonora didn’t immediately recognize herself because the woman in the images was younger, thinner and wearing make-up.”
Juan told police he then explained to his wife that he had recently found the images in an old email and saved them to his phone. Leonora was immediately taken into custody and remains behind bars pending charges.
An article of impeachment against former President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has been presented to the Senate for his (Trump’s) trial on accusations of inciting the deadly January 6 attack on Capitol hill.
The article of impeachment was delivered on Monday by members of the House of Representatives thus setting the tone for Senate trial against the former United States president, which is expected to start next month.
The article charged Trump with “incitement of insurrection” in relation to the deadly storming on January 6 of the US Capitol building in Washington, DC by a mob of his supporters.
It was read out loud to the upper house yesterday by Representative Jamie Raskin, a constitutional scholar and one of the House managers.
“President Trump repeatedly issued false statements asserting that the presidential election results were the product of widespread fraud, and should not be accepted by the American people, or certified by state or federal officials,” Raskin said.
Trump’s impeachment trial will begin on February 8, making it the first time a former president will face such charges after leaving office.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who announced the schedule last Friday evening after reaching an agreement with Republicans in the Senate, said the delay in commencing the trial was to give Trump a chance to organize his legal team and prepare a defense on the sole charge of “incitement of insurrection” emanating from the Capitol Building riots on January 6.
One of the houses of Sunday Igboho in Soka area of Ibadan has been burnt by unknown people. This happened following the fulani herdsmen saga in Oyo town
Recall that Sunday Igboho disclosed that angry youths were involved in the burning of the house of the fulani herdsmen leader, ” Seriki” in Oyo town.
The CEO of a casino company valued at nearly $2bn (£1.6bn) has quit after he and his wife were charged with misleading authorities to get a Covid vaccine.
Rod Baker, of the Great Canadian Gaming Corp, and his wife Ekaterina had travelled to the remote northern Yukon territory for the jabs.
The region, home to many indigenous people, has a faster vaccination rate than in the rest of Canada, data shows.
The couple had posed as motel workers.
They were only found out after asking to be taken to the airport straight after the vaccination last week in the small community of Beaver Creek, on the border with the US state of Alaska.
“I am outraged by this selfish behaviour,” said Yukon’s Community Services Minister John Streicker.
“We had not been imagining that someone would go to this sort of length to mislead or deceive,” he added.
Meanwhile, White River First Nation Chief Angela Demit, leader of the local indigenous nation, wrote on her Facebook page: “We are deeply concerned by the actions of individuals who put our elders and vulnerable people at risk to jump the line for selfish purposes.”
Mr Baker and his wife were also later fined for failing to self-isolate for 14 days after arriving in Yukon from the city of Vancouver.
The Biden administration has renewed Trump-era Covid-19 travel bans on non-US visitors from Brazil and most of Europe, including the UK and Ireland.
The White House also imposted a new ban on South Africa over its virus variant.
Former President Donald Trump had ordered the bans to end on 26 January as one of his final acts in office.
The new travel restrictions came as Minnesota recorded the first US case of the Brazil variant from a resident who had recently travelled to that country.
The unnamed patient lives in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, said the department.
With the national coronavirus case count above 25 million cases, the US is seeking to ramp up its vaccine rollout.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the decision to continue the restrictions on foreign travellers on Monday.
“On advice of our administration’s medical and Covid team, President Biden has decided to maintain the restrictions previously in place for the European Schengen area, the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and Brazil,” Ms Psaki told reporters.
“With the pandemic worsening and more contagious variants spreading, this isn’t the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel. And in light of the contagious variant, B1351, South Africa has been added to the restricted list.”
All international travellers must also present a negative test within three days of air travel to the US.
President Joe Biden looks up after singing an Executive Order reversing the Trump era ban on Transgender serving in military, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The attack by the soldiers was said to be a reprisal after members of the ESN engaged them in a shootout last Friday.
Operatives of the Nigerian Army on Monday again attacked residents of Okporo, Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State, killing about five persons.
SaharaReporters gathered that many persons were also injured when the soldiers stormed the community suspected to be the operational base of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) security outfit, Eastern Security Network (ESN).
The attack by the soldiers was said to be a reprisal after members of the ESN engaged them in a shootout last Friday.
SaharaReporters gathered that one person died at the community market square during the security operation last Friday.
Also, about 10 buildings, including a church, Blessed Holy Trinity Sabbath Mission, were allegedly set ablaze by the soldiers.
“They came back today and started killing our people, I can’t confirm the number of casualties now but they are more than five. They were here last Friday and killed one person at the market square. About 10 buildings were also burnt by these masked security agents on Friday.
“Imo State is not safe presently; Governor Hope Uzodinma shouldn’t allow soldiers to kill all his people,” a source told SaharaReporters.
IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, had in December 2020 launched ESN to protect the people of South-East and South-South regions from terrorists and bandits allegedly trooping in from the North.
Kanu described the outfit as a replica of the Western Nigeria Security Network, also known as Amotekun, earlier launched by the governors of the South-West to curb insecurity in the region.
“The sole aim and objective of this newly formed security outfit known as Eastern Security Network is to halt every criminal activity and terrorist attack on Biafraland,” Kanu had said.
“This outfit, which is a vigilante group like the Amotekun in the South-West and the Miyetti Allah security outfit, will ensure the safety of our forests and farmland which terrorists have converted into slaughter grounds and raping fields.”
He added that the establishment of the security outfit became necessary following what he described as the “failure” of the governors of the South-South and South-East to put in place measures to protect the people in those regions.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the Nigerian Army had deployed combat helicopters, gun trucks and soldiers to search some forests in the South-East states where the ESN was suspected to be camping.
SaharaReporters reported that the military search had been ongoing for days, and had no time frame, as the army was acting on “orders from above.”
From drones and hidden cameras believed to be installed by the ESN, a video captured the Nigerian Army helicopters and their vehicles and soldiers searching for the camp of the ESN to make arrests.
Recently, it was learnt that some Nigerian soldiers resigned and joined the ESN, on the grounds that the ESN, being funded by both international and local donors, had better welfare packages for its officers than the military.
“The Kanu ESN boys are not a bunch of rookies and untrained fellows brandishing guns. I personally know five guys from my hometown in Anambra State who left the Nigerian Army to join the ESN. Two of them were formerly serving in Operation Lafiya Dole, Borno State, before they quit.
“We are being reliably informed that there are other soldiers, particularly of the South-East extraction, who will soon leave for other various reasons and they are likely to be recruited into the fold,” a military source told SaharaReporters.
In July 2012, about 356 soldiers in the North-East and other theatres of operation had resigned from the army – some on voluntary retirement, while others cited loss of interest as their reason for disengagement.
The soldiers had written to the army chief, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, on July 3, 2020, under Reference NA/COAS/001, quoting the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service soldiers/rating/airmen (Revised) 2017.
The approval of the voluntary disengagement of the 356 soldiers was contained in a 17-page circular from Buratai, AHQ DOAA/G1/300/92, signed by Brig Gen T.E. Gagariga for the army chief.
Again, this January, another batch of 127 soldiers resigned from the Nigerian Army and are due to leave by May.
They comprised one Master Warrant Officer, three Warrant Officers, 22 Staff Sergeants, 29 Sergeants, 64 Corporals, seven Lance Corporals and one Private.
SaharaReporters had also reported how a cross-section of Nigerians criticised the Nigerian Army for deploying aircraft and gun trucks to locate Kanu’s ESN camp, saying it was a misplaced priority in the security challenges facing the country.
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Nigeria soldiers are killing people (Biafrans) in Orlu local govt area of Imo state of Biafra land.
A few others, however, supported the military saying the ESN could become a regional security threat since the South-East governors had also dissociated themselves from the outfit.
On Twitter, several Nigerians believed that the military action was a misplaced priority and such enthusiasm and energy were not seen in the North-East against the Boko Haram terrorists nor against the bandits in the North-West.
Some people were having to shelter in public buildings or out in the open as temperatures fell below zero, it said.
One child has reportedly died as a result of the harsh weather conditions.
image captionSome 6.6 million people are internally displaced across Syria
Children and women make up 80% of the region’s 1.5 million camp residents.
More than 12 million Syrians have fled their homes since the start of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad almost 10 years ago. Some 6.6 million are internally displaced, while 5.6 million have sought refuge abroad.
image captionAfter snow fell in western Aleppo, children cleaned the roof of their tent to prevent it from collapsing and to stop water leaking insideimage captionSome displaced people are having to shelter in public buildings or out in the open as temperatures drop below zero
Care’s country director in Turkey, Sherine Ibrahim, said humanitarian organisations were rushing to provide emergency relief to the thousands who had lost their homes in Aleppo and Idlib, but that reaching them had been made difficult by the flooding of access roads.
They are also concerned that the situation might contribute to the rise in Covid-19 infections, she added. As of last Wednesday, health authorities in north-western Syria had recorded 20,000 confirmed cases and 379 deaths.
image captionMost camps in the region are located in flat orchards, suitable for agriculture rather than constructionimage captionThe ability to repair affected tents is limited during the winter, and floods are likely to reoccur with renewed rainfall
“With inadequate shelter and increasing hunger for displaced Syrians in the north-west of the country, they are running out of coping strategies to keep themselves and their loved ones safe,” Ms Ibrahim warned.
“Zainab”, a woman living at a camp in Idlib told Care: “The water came into the tent where I live with my grandchildren, covering the ground. We cannot live in it now. Look at how our situation has become. We do not have blankets, food, or any other supplies.
image caption”Zainab” and her grandchildren were living in one tent at a camp in northern Idlib
“The water has destroyed everything; there is nothing left. These are difficult times,” she added.
“Abu Ali”, who was displaced last year, said his family had not had any clean drinking water for more than a week because there was no way for aid agencies to deliver it to their camp.
image caption”Abu Ali” does not have dry clothes, mattresses, or blankets to keep him and his children warm at night
The Syria Civil Defence, whose first responders are known as the White Helmets, said on Sunday that it was continuing emergency operations despite the rainstorm ending. It was also providing services and assistance to more than 3,200 affected families in more than 225 camps.
Last week, the Syria Civil Defence reported that a six-year-old boy was killed in Idlib after a brick wall built around his tent collapsed on top of him.
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