Secretary of State Antony Blinken told "Axios on HBO" the Biden administration is determined to "get to the bottom" of COVID-19's origins, and said the U.S. will hold China accountable.
Why it matters: "The most important reason we have to get to the bottom of this is that's the only way we're going to be able to prevent the next pandemic or at least do a better job in mitigating it," he said during a wide-ranging interview in the State Department's Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room.
The sinking of a cargo ship carrying containers of harmful chemicals and plastics off the coast of Sri Lanka last week is shaping up to be an environmental disaster for the country.
The state of play: The ship, the X-Press Pearl, caught fire on May 20 and burned for two weeks before finally beginning to sink. Toxic debris from the fire has blanketed miles of the country's western coastline.
The number of students signing up for summer school is expected to be greater than ever before, with the Biden administration requiring states to devote some of the federal pandemic relief packages to these programs, the Associated Press reports.
The big picture: Families are enrolling their children in academic-focused summer programs to catch up and stay on track after the last 18 months.
The U.S. will donate 750,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) announced after arriving in the capital, Taipei, on a bipartisan congressional visit Sunday.
Why it matters: The island state is facing spiking coronavirus cases, and officials say their efforts to obtain vaccines are being impeded by China's government, which considers Taiwan to be part of its territory.
United Airlines will from June 15 require all new hires based in the U.S. to show confirmation that they've been vaccinated against COVID-19, CNBC first reported Saturday.
The big picture: United is the second major U.S. airline after Delta to require new staff to have the vaccine. "As we welcome new employees to the company, it's important we instill in them United’s strong commitment to safety," United said in a note to staff also shared with Axios.
A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association this week found that the iPhone 12's magnetic charging system may interfere with cardiac implantable electronic devices.
Why it matters: Authors of the study said the phone's Magsafe charging technology can produce a magnetic field strong enough to potentially "inhibit lifesaving therapy" if placed directly on the skin over one of the implantable devices.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Wegovy, a version of a diabetes medicine that can now be marketed and sold as a weight-loss drug in the United States.
Why it matters: The drug helped certain people lose an average of 15% of their body weight over multiple weeks when used alongside increased physical activity and a reduced calorie meal plan.
President Biden on Saturday released a statement recognizing the 40th anniversary of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and announcing that he has asked Congress to provide $670 million to fight new infections.
Driving the news: NIAID director Anthony Fauci — who has played a key role in tackling AIDS — told Axios that he believes it's possible to end the epidemic by 2030 with a combination of different treatments.
NIAID director Anthony Fauci called criticism against him "completely inappropriate, distorted, misleading, and misrepresented attacks."
Details: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow asked Biden's chief medical adviser if he worried about being the subject of personal attacks as the public face of the federal government's coronavirus response, but Fauci said he was more concerned about the "attack on science."
