Author Archives: Reuters News Agency

Factbox-Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

(Reuters) – Novavax Inc on Monday said its COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective, including against a variety of concerning variants of the coronavirus in a large, late-stage U.S.-based clinical trial.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

EUROPE

* Prime Minister Boris Johnson delayed his plans to lift remaining COVID-19 curbs by a month, warning that thousands of more people might die if he did nothing because of the rapid spread of the more infectious Delta variant.

* COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca offer high protection of more than 90% against hospitalization from the Delta coronavirus variant, a new analysis by Public Health England showed.

* Norway now expects to receive 900,000 fewer Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine doses in the July-September quarter compared to what authorities had earlier anticipated, the health minister said.

* The Delta variant doubles the risk of hospitalization compared with the previously dominant variant in Britain, but two doses of vaccine still provide strong protection, a Scottish study found.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte extended partial coronavirus curbs in the capital and nearby provinces until end-June, but placed more areas under tighter quarantine measures because of rising infections and high hospital occupancy.

AMERICA

* Mexican health officials said the country will receive its first shipment of J&J vaccines on Tuesday.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Africa will get priority treatment for the Group of Seven’s pledged 870 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, a senior World Health Organization adviser said on Monday.

* Johnson & Johnson will export more ready-to-administer COVID-19 vaccines to South Africa beyond the 300,000 doses already pledged, CEO of Aspen Pharmacare said.

* In Afghanistan, the two main hospitals treating people with COVID-19 have had to close their doors to new patients because of a lack of beds, a senior health official and doctors said.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* South Korean drugmaker Celltrion announced positive results for its experimental antibody COVID-19 treatment.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Global stock markets were mixed on Monday, U.S. Treasury yields ticked up and gold slid as investors prepared themselves for an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting and any clues on the trajectory of its unprecedented monetary stimulus. [MKTS/GLOB]

* The European Union began selling the first bond backing its recovery fund, according to a lead manager, a crucial step in financing member states’ economic recovery.

* The World Bank has approved a $250 million loan to support Botswana’s economic recovery efforts.

(Compiled by Krishna Chandra Eluri, Juliette Portala and Veronica Snoj; edited by Catherine Evans, Mark Heinrich and Arun Koyyur)

Delta variant doubles risk of hospitalization; Novavax vaccine highly effective in large trial

By Nancy Lapid

(Reuters) – The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Delta variant doubles risk of COVID-19 hospitalization

The delta variant of the coronavirus first identified in India may double the risk of hospitalization among COVID-19 patients, compared with the alpha variant first discovered in the UK, a study from Scotland suggests. Researchers looked at 19,543 COVID-19 cases and 377 hospitalizations among 5.4 million people, including 7,723 cases and 134 hospitalizations in patients with the delta variant, who tended to be younger and more affluent. The risk of COVID-19 hospital admission was about double with the delta variant compared to the alpha variant, with the risk particularly increased in those with five or more medical conditions known to contribute to more severe disease, the researchers reported on Monday in The Lancet. They found that two doses of the vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech and from AstraZeneca still provide strong protection, although not as strong as the protection provided against the alpha variant. Two weeks after the second dose, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was found to provide 79% protection against infection from the delta variant, compared to 92% against the alpha variant. With AstraZeneca’s vaccine, there was 60% protection against delta compared with 73% for alpha. Because this was an observational study, more research is needed to confirm the findings, the research team said.

Novavax vaccine highly effective in North American trial

Novavax Inc on Monday said its COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective, including against a variety of concerning coronavirus variants, in a large, late-stage clinical trial, providing another potential weapon against the disease once approved for use. In the trial involving nearly 30,000 volunteers in the United States and Mexico, the two-shot vaccine was 100% effective in preventing infection by the original version of the coronavirus, the company said. It was more than 93% effective against the predominant variants of the virus that have been of concern among scientists and public health officials. The alpha variant first identified in the UK was the predominant variant in the United States while the trial was being conducted, the company said. The vaccine was 91% effective among volunteers at high risk of severe infection and 100% effective in preventing moderate and severe cases of COVID-19. Novavax said the vaccine was generally well tolerated, with side effects similar to those seen with existing COVID-19 vaccines. The Novavax COVID-19 shot is a more conventional type of vaccine than those currently available. It contains an actual version of the virus’ spike protein that cannot cause disease but can trigger the immune system directly. The company said the results put it on track to file for emergency authorization in the United States and elsewhere in the third quarter of 2021.

Tetanus, diphtheria boosters tied to less severe COVID-19

Older individuals who have gotten a diphtheria or tetanus vaccine booster shot in the last 10 years may be at lower risk for severe COVID-19, a new study suggests. Using a large UK registry, researchers looked back at 10 years of immunization records from 103,409 participants with an average age of 71. They saw a trend toward a lower risk of a positive COVID-19 test in people who had gotten a tetanus or diphtheria booster shot during the study period, although the difference was small and might have been due to chance. There was, however, a statistically significant association between the booster shots and the odds of severe COVID-19. After accounting for age, sex, underlying respiratory diseases, and socioeconomic status, the odds of developing severe COVID-19 were 64% lower in people who had gotten a diphtheria booster and 50% lower in recipients of tetanus booster, according to a report posted on medRxiv on Saturday ahead of peer review. The study does not prove cause and effect. If there is some effect of the boosters, it might be that they protect against severe COVID-19 symptoms by stimulating the immune system, the authors suggest. “The possibility that these vaccinations may influence the severity of COVID-19 warrants follow-up investigations,” they conclude.

(Reporting by Nancy Lapid, Carl O’Donnell and Alistair Smout; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

UK’s Johnson delays COVID reopening by a month, citing Delta variant risk

By Alistair Smout and William James

LONDON (Reuters) -Prime Minister Boris Johnson delayed his plans to lift most remaining COVID-19 restrictions by a month on Monday, warning that thousands more people might die if he did nothing because of the rapid spread of the more infectious Delta variant.

Under the final stage of a plan outlined by Johnson in February, he had hoped to lift most social restrictions on June 21, meaning pubs, restaurants, nightclubs and other hospitality venues could fully reopen.

That much-anticipated step was pushed back to July 19.

“I think it is sensible to wait just a little longer,” Johnson told a news conference. “As things stand, and on the evidence that I can see right now, I’m confident that we will not need more than four weeks.”

The extra time would be used to speed up Britain’s vaccination program – already one of the world’s furthest advanced – by shortening the recommended time between doses for those aged over 40 to eight weeks from 12 weeks.

The situation would be reviewed on June 28, which could allow the reopening to be brought forward, although Johnson’s spokesman said that was considered unlikely.

In recent weeks there has been fast growth in new cases caused by the Delta variant, first discovered in India. Health officials believe it is 60% more transmissible than the previous dominant strain and scientists have warned that it could trigger a third wave of infections.

The opposition Labor Party blamed the government for the delay, saying it had been too slow to close borders to travelers from India.

On Monday, Britain recorded 7,742 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths. Johnson said the number of cases was growing by about 64% per week and the number of people in hospitals’ intensive care units was rising.

“By being cautious now we have the chance in the next four weeks to save many thousands of lives by vaccinating millions more people,” he said.

Britain has officially reported almost 128,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, the seventh highest number globally.

Monday’s decision was based on scientific modelling which showed that, if the reopening went ahead as planned, under some scenarios hospitalizations could match those in March last year when ministers feared the health system could be overwhelmed.

“The four week delay should reduce the peak – whatever it would be – by something between 30 and 50%,” the government’s Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said.

Studies on Monday showed the Delta variant doubles the risk of hospitalization, but two doses of vaccine still provide strong protection.

Unlike in March 2020, the increase in hospitalizations was likely to be among younger people who require shorter treatment and are less at risk of dying.

Nevertheless, the risk of increased pressure on the health system meant that the tests the government set out for going ahead with the reopening had not been met.

Johnson sets COVID-19 restrictions for England, with devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland making their own policy.

NO NEW SUPPORT

There are no plans to extend new economic help to businesses as a result of the delay, Johnson said. He said current data on vaccines and infections showed no need to do so.

Britain’s furlough program supports just over 2 million jobs and is due to continue until the end of September. But from July employers will have to pay 10% of furloughed staff’s wages, rising to 30% in September.

The hospitality industry has also called for an extension of other sector-specific aid. The Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre said thousands of jobs were hanging in the balance.

Despite Monday’s delay, the government lifted some restrictions on the number of guests allowed to attend weddings, and will continue pilots of crowds at sporting events and theatrical shows.

Deutsche Bank estimated last week that a four-week delay would temporarily reduce gross domestic product by around 0.25% – a fraction of the historic 9.8% slump recorded in 2020.

It comes despite Britain having one of the fastest vaccine rollouts in the world. More than 41 million people have received their first shot and nearly 30 million have had both doses – about 57% of the adult population.

(Additional reporting by Sarah Young and David Milliken; Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Giles Elgood and Alex Richardson)

Biden backs effort in Congress to repeal ‘forever war’ authority in Iraq

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration said on Monday it supported an effort in the U.S. Congress to repeal the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force that allowed the war in Iraq, boosting lawmakers’ push to pull back the authority to declare war from the White House.

“The administration supports the repeal of the 2002 AUMF, as the United States has no ongoing military activities that rely solely on the 2002 AUMF as a domestic legal basis, and repeal of the 2002 AUMF would likely have minimal impact on current military operations,” the administration said in a policy statement.

The U.S. Constitution gives the power to declare war to Congress. However, that authority has gradually shifted to the president as Congress passed AUMFs that did not expire – such as the 2002 Iraq measure, as well as one that allowed the fight against al Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

A handful of members of Congress have been pushing for years to repeal, and possibly replace, the authorizations.

The administration statement said Biden is committed to working with Congress to ensure that outdated authorizations are repealed and replaced with “a narrow and specific framework” to ensure the country can continue to protect itself.

The House of Representatives is due to vote this week on the legislation to repeal the 19-year-old Iraq war authorization, which was introduced by Democratic Representative Barbara Lee. There was no immediate word on when the Senate might consider it.

Lee has long sought to hold presidential military powers in check. She was the only member of Congress to oppose the AUMF passed days after the Sept. 11 attacks, saying it provided too much of a “blank check” to allow the president to pursue military action.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Philippines again suspends scrapping of troop pact with U.S. amid China dispute

By Karen Lema and Idrees Ali

MANILA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Philippines has again suspended a decision to scrap a crucial agreement governing the U.S. troop presence in the country, its foreign minister said on Monday, amid continuing maritime pressure from China.

The Pentagon welcomed the announcement from Manila – the third suspension of the decision covering the two-decade-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that had been due to expire in August – but analysts said there would be disappointment in both countries that it was not renewed.

Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin said the suspension would be for a further six months while President Rodrigo Duterte “studies, and both sides further address his concerns regarding, particular aspects of the agreement.”

The Philippines is a U.S. treaty ally and several military agreements are dependent on the VFA, which provides rules for the rotation of thousands of U.S. troops in and out of the Philippines for war drills and exercises.

Having the ability to rotate in troops is important not only for the defense of the Philippines, but strategically for the United States when it comes to countering China’s increasingly assertive behavior in the region.

“The Department welcomes the government of the Philippines’ decision to again suspend termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

“We value the Philippines as an equal, sovereign partner in our bilateral alliance. Our partnership contributes not only to the security of our two nations, but also strengthens the rules-based order that benefits all nations in the Indo-Pacific.”

MARITIME TENSIONS

Greg Poling, a maritime security expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said there would be frustration in Washington and most of the Philippine government.

“It isn’t the worst possible scenario, obviously, but Philippine officials were really signaling that they were confident they had reached a deal Duterte would get on board with, and instead everyone has to remain in limbo for at least another six months,” he said.

Poling said he did not think there was any substantive issue holding up an agreement.

“It is now as simple as Duterte doesn’t seem to want it, but everyone else does. If he won’t reverse course but he also doesn’t want to waste political capital on an unpopular decision heading into election season, then kicking the can down the road is his preferred option.”

Duterte told Washington last year he was cancelling the deal amid outrage over a senator and ally being denied a U.S. visa, but he has repeatedly suspended the expiration date.

The latest suspension comes at a time of continued tensions between Manila and Beijing over disputed waters in the South China Sea and a U.S. announcement last week that the Philippines would be among countries that would receive millions of COVID-19 vaccines it is donating.

Ties between Washington and its former colony have been complicated by Duterte’s rise to power in 2016 and his frequent condemnation of U.S. foreign policy and embrace of China, which has nevertheless continued to pressure his country’s maritime boundaries.

Manila has repeatedly protested what it calls the “illegal” and “threatening” presence of hundreds of Chinese “maritime militia” vessels inside its exclusive economic zone.

Jose Manuel Romualdez, Manila’s ambassador to Washington, told Reuters this month the VFA had been revamped to make it “acceptable” and “mutually beneficial” to both countries.

Manila has in the past been unhappy about issues such as a lack of jurisdiction over U.S. personnel who commit crimes in the Philippines and environmental damage during maritime drills.

(Reporting by Karen Lema in Manila; additional reporting by Idrees Ali and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie and Alex Richardson)

New York City to hold ticker-tape parade for essential COVID-19 workers

(Reuters) – New York City will hold a ticker-tape parade next month for essential workers to honor their heroism on the front lines in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday.

The parade will be held along the Canyon of Heroes in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday, July 7. For generations, ticker-tape parades in the largest U.S. city have been typically reserved for championship sports clubs, astronauts and war veterans.

“We are going to hold a parade to honor them, to thank them and to celebrate them,” de Blasio said in a video statement released by his office. “This one will have a special spirit to it, a special heart and soul because it’s about celebrating everyday New Yorkers who did something so heroic.”

In addition to health care workers, the parade will honor police officers, teachers and transportation workers, who went to their jobs each day during the pandemic despite the risks.

More than 33,000 people lost their lives to COVID-19 in New York City, once an epicenter of the outbreak, as hospitals were besieged and streets virtually devoid of human activity.

“It has literally been the greatest crisis in the history of New York City. We were knocked down, but got back up,” de Blasio said.

In announcing the parade, de Blasio also urged New Yorkers to get a COVID-19 vaccine, with the city’s rate of fully vaccinated residents standing at 47% as of Monday, according to the city’s health department.

New York City, with 8.3 million people, reported a 0.59% seven-day average positivity rate and only 50 new hospitalizations on Monday. Most indoor capacity restrictions throughout the city were lifted in May, though masking requirements remain in place.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Dan Grebler)

U.S. COVID-19 deaths cross painful 600,000 milestone as country reopens

By Sharon Bernstein

(Reuters) – The United States has now lost over 600,000 mothers, fathers, children, siblings and friends to COVID-19, a painful reminder that death, sickness and grief continue even as the country begins to return to something resembling pre-pandemic normal.

A bride forced by the pandemic to have a Zoom wedding is planning a lavish in-person anniversary celebration this summer, but all of the guests must attest they are vaccinated.

A Houston artist, still deep in grief, is working on a collage of images of people who died in her community. Others crowd theaters and bars, saying it is time to move on.

“There will be no tears – not even happy tears,” said Ali Whitman, who will celebrate her first wedding anniversary in August by donning her gown and partying with 240 vaccinated friends and family members in New Hampshire.

COVID-19 nearly killed her mother. She spent her wedding day last year with 13 people in person while an aunt conducted the ceremony via Zoom.

“I would be remiss not to address how awful and how terrible the past year has been, but also the gratitude that I can be in a singular place with all the people in my life who mean so much to me,” said Whitman, 30.

The United States passed 600,000 COVID-19 deaths on Monday, about 15% of the world’s total coronavirus fatalities of around 4 million, a Reuters tally shows.

The rate of severe illness and death has dropped dramatically as more Americans have become vaccinated, creating something of a psychological whiplash that plagues the millions whose lives have been touched by the disease. Many are eager to emerge from more than a year of sickness and lockdown, yet they still suffer – from grief, lingering symptoms, economic trauma or the isolation of lockdown.

“We’ve all lived through this awful time, and all of us have been affected one way or another,” said Erika Stein, who has suffered from migraines, fatigue and cognitive issues since contracting COVID-19 last fall. “My world flipped upside down in the last year and a half – and that’s been hard.”

Stein, 34, was active and fit, working as a marketing executive and fitness instructor in Virginia outside Washington, D.C., before the initial illness and related syndrome known as long-COVID ravaged her life.

Like many, she has mixed feelings about how quickly cities and states have moved to lift pandemic restrictions and re-open.

‘FOR MY FAMILY, THERE IS NO NORMAL’

In New York, social worker Shyvonne Noboa still cries talking about the disease that ravaged her family, infecting 14 out of 17 relatives and killing her beloved grandfather, who died alone in a hospital where they could not visit him.

She breaks down when she goes to Target and sees the well-stocked aisles, recalling the pandemic’s depths, when she could not find hand sanitizer to protect her family.

“New York City is going back to quote-unquote ‘normal’ and opening up, but I can assure you that for my family there is no normal,” said Noboa, who lives in Queens, an early epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. She is vaccinated but still wears a mask when she is out, and plans to continue doing so in the near future.

In Houston, artist Joni Zavitsanos started looking up obituaries of people in Southeast Texas who had died in the pandemic’s early days, reading their stories and creating mixed-media memorials displaying their names and photographs. Around each person she painted a halo using gold leaf, an homage to the Byzantine art of the Greek Orthodox church she attends.

Zavitsanos has now created about 575 images, and plans to keep going, making as many as she can, each portrait on an eight-by-eight-inch piece of wood to be mounted together to form an installation. Her brother and three adult children contracted COVID-19 and recovered. A very close friend nearly died and is still struggling with rehabilitation.

Chris Kocher, who founded the support and advocacy group COVID Survivors for Change, urged sympathy and support for people who are still grieving.

“We’re being given this false choice where you can open up and celebrate, or you need to be locked down in grief,” he said. “Let’s be thankful that people are getting vaccinated, but let’s also acknowledge that going back to normal is not an option for millions of Americans.”

One way to acknowledge the toll that COVID-19 has taken is to incorporate the color yellow into celebrations and gatherings, or display a yellow heart, which for some has become a symbol of those lost to the disease, he said.

The bittersweet mix of grief at the pandemic’s toll with relief brought by its ebb was clear at Chicago’s O’Hare airport on Thursday, where Stephanie Aviles and her family waited for a cousin to arrive from Puerto Rico.

Aviles, 23, lost two close friends to the virus, and her father nearly died. And yet, here she was, greeting family she had not been able to see for 15 months as the pandemic raged.

“I’m grateful, but it’s a lot,” she said. “It’s a strange feeling to be normal again.”

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Who’s who in Israel’s new patchwork coalition government

By Ari Rabinovitch

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s new government is a hodgepodge of political parties that had little in common other than a desire to unseat veteran right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The coalition, sworn in on Sunday, spans the far left to far right and includes for the first time a small Islamist faction representing Israel’s Arab minority.

It is expected to focus mostly on economic and social issues rather than risk exposing internal rifts by trying to address major diplomatic matters such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Here are the people who are leading the new government:

NAFTALI BENNETT – PRIME MINISTER

Bennett leads the ultranationalist Yamina (Rightwards) party that champions Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He made a fortune in Israeli high-tech before entering politics in 2013. Bennett, 49, served in previous Netanyahu-led governments, most recently as defense minister.

Now he says he joined with opponents to save the country from political turmoil that could otherwise have led to a fifth election in just over two years. A plan he has floated to annex much of the West Bank seems unfeasible, given his new partners. He opposes the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Under the coalition deal, Bennett will serve as prime minister for two years whereupon he is to be replaced by Yair Lapid. He is Israel’s first leader to wear a kippah, a skullcap worn by Orthodox Jews.

YAIR LAPID – FOREIGN MINISTER

Lapid heads the centrist Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party and was the architect behind the new government. His party is the biggest in the coalition but he agreed to share power with Bennett to secure a parliamentary majority.

Lapid, 57, whose late father was a justice minister in a previous governing coalition, quit his job as a TV anchor in 2012 and formed his own party, running on a promise to ease financial pressures on the middle-class.

He also seeks to end many of the state-funded privileges enjoyed by ultra-Orthodox Jews, a long-running source of grievance to many secular Israelis.

Lapid initially served as finance minister before moving to the opposition, which he led until Sunday. He will serve as foreign minister for two years and then take over as prime minister until the end of the government. If it lasts that long.

BENNY GANTZ – DEFENCE MINISTER

Just two years ago Gantz, a former armed forces chief of staff heading the centrist Blue and White party, was the opposition’s best hope to unseat Netanyahu.

But he agreed to join Netanyahu in a “unity” government, a decision that angered many of his supporters. Gantz, 62, is in the new coalition, remaining as defense minister.

AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN – FINANCE MINISTER

A far-right immigrant from Moldova who lives in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, Lieberman, 63, has been a political wildcard over the past decade. He has joined Netanyahu governments, including as defense minister, but also quit.

As finance minister he will have to rein in a budget deficit that ballooned during the coronavirus crisis.

He has also said he will try to change the status quo between the government and Israel’s politically powerful ultra-Orthodox minority, which was a mainstay of Netanyahu’s outgoing government.

The ultra-Orthodox community has low participation rates in the workforce and relies heavily on government handouts while focusing on religious studies. Lieberman has said he will work to integrate them more into the economy.

GIDEON SAAR – JUSTICE MINISTER

Saar was Netanyahu’s main rival within Likud, but Netanyahu did his best to keep him out of the spotlight and away from the highest-level portfolios. Frustrated, Saar launched an ultimately failed leadership bid then spun off his own party.

As head of the New Hope party, Saar, 54, will serve as justice minister, where he will oversee the legal system and become a member of the security cabinet.

MANSOUR ABBAS

Abbas’s small United Arab List is the first party in an Israeli government to be drawn from Israel’s 21% Arab minority – Palestinian by culture and heritage, but Israeli by citizenship.

He split with other Arab politicians who prefer to remain outside government and cast aside differences with Bennett and other right-wingers to tip the scales against Netanyahu.

Abbas, 47, is expected to serve as a deputy minister in the prime minister’s office. He aims to negotiate a big increase in government spending in Arab towns and villages.

But his presence is a potentially destabilizing factor. He has been criticized by Palestinians for agreeing to support an Israeli government while Israel continues to occupy territories it captured in a 1967 war and which Palestinians seek a state. Addressing these tensions, Abbas told the Italian daily La Repubblica on Friday: “There will be difficult decisions to be made, including security decisions. We have to juggle our identity as Palestinian Arabs and citizens of the State of Israel, between civil and nationalistic aspects.”

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; additional reporting by Giulia Segreti in Rome; editing by Stephen Farrell and Mark Heinrich)

U.S. Supreme Court declines to expand crack cocaine reforms

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that potentially hundreds of low-level crack cocaine offenders cannot benefit under a 2018 federal law that reduced certain prison sentences in part to address racial disparities detrimental to Black defendants.

The justices in an opinion by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas ruled 9-0 against a Florida man named Tarahrick Terry who had asked them to include offenders like him – people who had been arrested in possession of small amounts of crack cocaine – within the scope of the First Step Act signed into law by former President Donald Trump.

The First Step Act provision in question made retroactive another 2010 law, called the Fair Sentencing Act, that reduced a disparity that had left sentencing for crack cocaine crimes more severe than for powder cocaine crimes.

Black defendants were far more likely to face crack cocaine charges than white defendants, who were more apt to face powder cocaine charges. Terry, scheduled to be released from prison in September, is Black.

Thomas wrote that the text of the law dictated a “straightforward result.” Thomas said that the efforts by Terry, backed by President Joe Biden’s administration, to argue otherwise constituted a linguistic “sleight of hand.”

Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a separate opinion agreeing with the ruling and calling for Congress to amend the law, saying that it is unfair that some offenders did not benefit.

“This is no small injustice,” Sotomayor wrote.

The sentencing disparity was established by Congress in 1986 during that decade’s crack epidemic. Lawmakers created a 100-to-one quantity ratio under which a person arrested with just a small amount of crack cocaine would receive a much larger sentence than someone charged with possessing the same amount of powder cocaine. The 2010 law cut the ratio to 18-to-one, but did not apply it to those already convicted.

The 2018 law was passed with bipartisan congressional support. Although Trump signed the statute, his administration subsequently concluded that possession of a small amount of crack cocaine was not a “covered offense” under it.

Terry, now 33, pleaded guilty in 2008 in Florida to one count of possession with intent to distribute 3.9 grams of crack cocaine. He was sentenced to 15-1/2 years in prison. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year ruled against Terry’s effort to reduce his sentence.

Justice Department lawyer Eric Feigin told the justices in the May oral argument in the case he could not provide definitive numbers on how many inmates would be affected but said it would likely be “in the low three figures.”

Those convicted of higher-level crack offenses are already covered under the First Step Act. As of the end of last year, more than 2,500 people had been released from prison under that law, according to the Bureau of Prisons. Thousands more inmates have been released from prison as a result of other First Step Act provisions.

Of those resentenced under the crack cocaine provision of the First Step Act, 91 percent were Black, according to the Sentencing Project, a group that advocates for sentencing reform.

Sotomayor took issue with Thomas’s recitation of the history of the sentencing disparity, saying his account was “unnecessary, incomplete and sanitized” by among other things pointing out that Black leaders at the time had supported the legislation. Thomas is the court’s only Black justice.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)

U.S. to expand work permits for immigrants who are crime victims

By Ted Hesson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A new U.S. immigration policy set to be announced on Monday will expand access to work permits and deportation relief to some immigrants who are crime victims while their visa cases are pending, according to a summary reviewed by Reuters.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will create a process that could allow tens of thousands of applicants for U visas to receive work permits if their claims are deemed to be made in good faith and without the intention of defrauding the immigration system, the summary said.

The United States offers 10,000 U visas annually to immigrants who are victims of certain crimes and who aid law enforcement investigations or prosecutions. The visas provide access to a work permit and the ability to apply for permanent residence after three years, but high demand means applicants currently wait at least five years until they can receive work authorization, according to USCIS.

To qualify for a visa, applicants must be victims of domestic violence, trafficking or other serious crimes.

The number of U visa applicants who will qualify for work permits under the new policy remains unclear.

USCIS is currently considering nearly 269,000 U visa applicants, according to agency data current to December. However, not all of those applicants are in the United States, a USCIS spokesperson told Reuters.

In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the move would both help victims and promote public safety.

“These are individuals who have come forward to help law enforcement keep us all safe, but who are in need of a measure of protection for themselves, as well,” he said.

(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Kristina Cooke and Jonathan Oatis)