USA

New Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules say astronaut hopefuls must be part of the flight crew and make contributions to space flight safety.

That means Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson may not yet be astronauts in the eyes of the US government.

These are the first changes since the FAA wings programme began in 2004.

The Commercial Astronaut Wings programme updates were announced on Tuesday - the same day that Amazon's Bezos flew aboard a Blue Origin rocket to the edge of space.

In recent months, the US has seen a massive rise in migrants and asylum seekers from Central America. Violence, natural disasters and pandemic-related economic strife are some of the reasons behind the influx, experts say.

Some have also suggested the perception of a more lenient administration under Democrat Joe Biden has contributed to the crisis, though the White House has urged migrants against journeying to the US border.

The US also ranks highest in total number of recorded cases, with nearly 33.5 million infections since 2020.

This latest milestone comes as President Joe Biden's goal of getting 70% of US adults vaccinated by 4 July appears increasingly likely to fail.

Over 173 million people, around 52% of the US, have had at least one dose.

The attack in Boulder ended with an injured, shirtless suspect being led away from the King Soopers market.

The shooting was live-streamed by witnesses and broadcast on YouTube.

The incident began around 14:30 local time (20:30 GMT) when the suspect entered the grocery store and began firing.

The Boulder police tweeted some 20 minutes later that there was an "Active Shooter at the King Soopers on Table Mesa" street.

Steady movement toward a vaccine rollout on the eve of a critical review by leading US medical experts comes as Covid-19 infections and hospitalisations surged alarmingly higher, straining healthcare systems in some pandemic hot spots to the breaking point.

Ten mostly rural counties scattered across California reported having no intensive care unit beds available on Wednesday, according to state health data analysed by Reuters.

Some traditions have continued, like the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, which was closed to spectators.

Many have also travelled home to celebrate the holiday, despite warnings from health officials.

More than three million people are reported to have travelled through US airports from Friday to Sunday in what was the busiest travel weekend since the outbreak began in mid-March.

But the number is around half the usual figure for Thanksgiving travel, and many people have opted out of seeing friends and family for the holiday.

The flight, scheduled to arrive this weekend has been postponed to a later, yet to be confirmed date.

The Prime Minister, Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, announced the decision reached by cabinet on Wednesday and apologised to the families of the 300 passengers booked for the flight.

He also apologised to the returning Samoans, especially seafarers, who had been waiting for months to return home after their contracts ended since March.

Tuila'epa said the government paid for the flight but the money would not be recovered.

The results come hot on the heels of similar results from Pfizer, and add to growing confidence that vaccines can help end the pandemic.

Both companies used a highly innovative and experimental approach to designing their vaccines.

Moderna says it is a "great day" and they plan to apply for approval to use the vaccine in the next few weeks.

However, this is still early data and key questions remain unanswered.

Biden spent much of his election campaign criticising President Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic, which has now caused the deaths of 237,000 people in America.

The United States saw a record number of new infections last week, with the total number of cases nearing 10 million.

After four days of uncertainty as votes were counted in key states, Biden's victory in Pennsylvania put him over the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes he needed to clinch the presidency. Trump has not conceded and has vowed to challenge the outcome in court.

The app had faced being blocked from Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play marketplace from 23:59 Eastern time.

Existing US-based users would have been able to continue using it.

But they would not have been able to re-download the app if they deleted it from their phones, nor have been offered software updates.

Judge Carl Nichols of the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary injunction on Sunday evening at the request of TikTok.

The opinion was sealed, meaning that no reason for the decision was released.