Jaclyn Diaz

The Trump administration introduced new addiction treatment guidelines Thursday that give physicians more flexibility to prescribe a drug to patients struggling with opioid addiction.

Updated 4 p.m. ET

Law enforcement officials are bracing for possible serious security breaches and violent assaults ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's swearing-in next week. State and federal officials are taking no chances as the countdown begins for Inauguration Day.

The heightened security comes after a violent siege at the U.S. Capitol last week from pro-Trump extremists that resulted in the death of five people and forced lawmakers into hiding.

On Thursday night, the federal government executed a drug trafficker responsible for seven murders in 1992, despite his attorneys having claimed moving forward with the execution would be "cruel and usual punishment" because of his recent COVID-19 infection.

Corey Johnson, 52, was executed at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana and pronounced dead at 11:34 p.m. He is the 12th person to be executed by the government since July, after the Trump administration restarted federal executions following a 17 year hiatus.

Some Republicans who broke from the GOP to back the Democrats' historic second impeachment resolution for President Trump are facing heat from their local Republican parties for how they voted.

More than a year ago, all House Republicans voted against the president's first impeachment. On Wednesday, 10 GOP members joined with every Democrat to impeach Trump, some of whom were the sole representative from their state's delegation to vote that way.

"The right decision" is how Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey characterized banning President Trump from the social media platform. But he lamented that the move was divisive and sets a precedent that Dorsey said is dangerous to a "free and open global internet."

In his 13-tweet thread, Dorsey said the "offline harm" posed by Trump's tweets drove the company to kick the president off of Twitter.

YouTube, citing "the ongoing potential for violence," has suspended President Trump's account for at least a week.

The social media platform is the latest to take action against Trump following a riot at the U.S. Capitol last week organized by the president's supporters. The attack forced lawmakers into hiding and resulted in the deaths of five people, including an officer of the Capitol Police.

Updated at 9:34 p.m. ET

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a Trump administration request to reinstate restrictions for patients seeking to obtain a drug used to terminate early pregnancies.

Malaysia's king approved a coronavirus emergency declaration, delaying the country's general election and giving an extended reprieve to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah's declaration suspended the national parliament and state legislatures for an unspecified period of time. No elections can be held during the emergency either, which could last until Aug. 1.

Updated at 6:50 a.m. ET

Indonesian navy divers recovered a flight data recorder from the ocean floor at the site of a Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea over the weekend, putting investigators one step closer to discovering what went wrong.

The discovery of the plane's "black box" on Tuesday leaves the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder still to be found, according to The Associated Press.

With just eight days until President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, law enforcement and local government officials in Washington, D.C., are implementing security measures that will make the historic transition of power look very different from those in the past.

The former chief of U.S. Capitol Police says security officials at the House and Senate rebuffed his early requests to call in the National Guard ahead of a demonstration in support of President Trump that turned into a deadly attack on Congress.

The PGA of America has canceled plans to hold a major golf tournament at a Trump Organization golf course in New Jersey next year, citing concern over the organization's "brand."

The PGA of America Board of Directors voted Sunday night to terminate the agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster in New Jersey, Jim Richerson, the PGA of America president, announced.

Updated Friday at 12:05 a.m. ET

U.S. Capitol Police announced late Thursday that an officer hurt during this week's violent assault on the chambers of Congress by protesters loyal to President Trump has died from his injuries.

"At approximately 9:30 p.m. this evening (January 7, 2021), United States Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty," a statement from the U.S. Capitol Police said.

Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has tested positive for the coronavirus. He announced on Twitter on Tuesday that he was going into quarantine.

Brady received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 18 and tested negative for COVID-19 as recently as New Year's Day. Brady, who was on the House floor this week and interacted with fellow members, said he would "begin treatment" Wednesday.

Republican attorney Cleta Mitchell resigned from her law firm Tuesday after advising President Trump on a phone call with Georgia state officials during which he urged them to find evidence that could overturn the state's November election results.

Mitchell resigned her partnership from the Washington, D.C., office of Foley & Lardner following criticism of her involvement in the Jan. 2 phone call between Trump and Georgia officials.

Updated 2 p.m. ET Tuesday

The top U.S. prosecutor in Atlanta resigned from his post Monday, giving no clear reason for his departure.

Paramedics in Southern California are being told to conserve oxygen and not to bring patients to the hospital who have little chance of survival as Los Angeles County grapples with a new wave of COVID-19 patients that is expected to get worse in the coming days.

The Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency issued a directive Monday that ambulance crews should administer supplemental oxygen only to patients whose oxygen saturation levels fall below 90%.

Depending on whom is asked, President Trump's Saturday phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — during which he urged state officials to "find" votes that could overturn his loss in the state during November's election — may have violated state and federal law.

Updated at 3:15 p.m. ET

A British court has denied a request from U.S. officials to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on charges of illegally obtaining and sharing classified material related to national security. The judge cited the risk of suicide if Assange is sent to U.S. custody.

Updated at 12:15 p.m. ET

The U.S. presidential election, and the time for questioning its results, are over, all 10 living former secretaries of defense wrote in a forceful op-ed published on Sunday.

Georgia Sen. David Perdue is quarantining with his wife after coming into close contact with someone that tested positive for the coronavirus, his campaign said Thursday.

News of his possible exposure to the virus comes with just days to go until his state's runoff election for his Senate seat.

His campaign said Perdue was notified of the exposure Thursday morning. The campaign said in a statement that, "Both Senator Perdue and his wife tested negative today, but following his doctor's recommendations and in accordance with CDC guidelines, they will quarantine."

From coast to coast, New Year's Eve celebrations in the U.S. looked very different Thursday evening from past years — as the pandemic that defined 2020 extended its reach into 2021.

The thousands of people that usually flock to major cities, like New York City, Las Vegas and Miami, for various events and local traditions largely stayed home.

Snowstorms, holidays and general inexperience in handling a pandemic response is to blame for a "lag" in the number of Americans so far vaccinated for the coronavirus, according to U.S. officials.

The federal government previously estimated that 20 million Americans would receive the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine by the end of the year. But as 2020, a year defined by the coronavirus pandemic, comes to a close on Thursday, the government appears set to fall well short of that goal.

Samuel Little, a convicted murderer who the FBI says is the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history, died Wednesday at age 80.

Little was serving three consecutive life-without-parole sentences for the deaths of three women in the late 1980s in Los Angeles, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in its announcement of his death.

Health officials in the U.K. authorized the AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday, giving the nation a second option for inoculation against the coronavirus.

The government will begin rolling out the inexpensive and easy-to-store vaccine beginning Monday. It has ordered 100 million doses — enough to vaccinate 50 million residents, or three-quarters of the country's population.

The government has already given first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to more than 600,000 Britons.

Updated at 6:30 a.m. ET

Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, who won a runoff earlier this month to represent Louisiana's northeastern 5th District, died Tuesday from complications of COVID-19.

Letlow was set to be sworn in as U.S. representative on Jan. 3.

The New York Legislature approved a sweeping eviction ban for tenants living in the state, giving residents fearful of losing their homes during the pandemic some relief at least until May.

Federal regulators have issued new guidelines allowing drones to operate at night and over people — a change in the rules that could expand the use of the machines for commercial deliveries.

The new rules from the Federal Aviation Administration will also require remote identification technology so that the machines can be identifiable from the ground. The FAA said this standard will address security concerns and make drones easier to track.

Chinese regulators have ordered Ant Group, the mobile payments company run by billionaire Jack Ma, to overhaul major aspects of its business — a move that follows a scuttled IPO and comes just days after regulators announced an investigation of affiliate Alibaba.

Regulators announced Sunday that it had found major problems in Ant Group's business practices in China.

The Chinese billionaire CEO of video game developer Yoozoo Group died on Christmas Day following a suspected colleague's alleged poisoning plot.

Lin Qi died at the age of 39, according to Shanghai police. Lin's company, Yoozoo, is best known for its Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming game.