(Reuters) -U.S. Representative Donald McEachin, a Democrat from Virginia who was recently re-elected to his fourth term in Congress, died on Monday aged 61, his office said.

McEachin had been battling colorectal cancer since 2013, his chief of staff, Tara Rountree, said in a statement.

“Until a new representative is elected, our office will remain open and continue to serve our constituents,” she said.

No details about a special session to replace McEachin were announced, but regardless of the outcome, the Republicans are expected to maintain a thin majority over the Democrats in the House of Representatives.

“It is with great sadness that I join Virginians tonight in mourning the loss of Congressman Donald McEachin: a tireless champion for Virginia families and a force for economic opportunity and environmental justice,” U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

Republicans won at least 220 seats in the Nov. 8 election against 213 by the Democrats, with five seats still to be determined.

McEachin defeated Republican challenger Leon Benjamin Sr. by about 30 points in Virginia’s fourth congressional district, which includes the state capital, Richmond.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Additional reporting by Urvi Dugar; Editing by Robert Birsel and Clarence Fernandez)

By Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court’s legal counsel on Monday defended Justice Samuel Alito after two Democratic lawmakers demanded answers about a former anti-abortion leader’s claim that he was told in advance about the outcome of a major 2014 ruling the conservative jurist wrote in a case concerning contraceptives.

“There is nothing to suggest that Justice Alito’s actions violated ethical standards,” legal counsel Ethan Torrey wrote in a letter to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Hank Johnson.

At issue was a Nov. 19 report in the New York Times quoting Christian minister Rob Schenck as saying he was informed of the 2014 ruling weeks before its public announcement after two conservative allies of his dined at the home of Alito and his wife.

The court has not yet disclosed its findings in an investigation announced by Chief Justice John Roberts into the May leak of a draft of a ruling overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion nationwide.

Torrey, whose role is to support the nine justices on case-related issues and provide legal services for the court as an institution, wrote in his letter that Alito has already stated that neither he nor his wife revealed the decision in that case and that any such allegation is uncorroborated.

“Relevant rules balance preventing gifts that might undermine public confidence in the judiciary and allowing judges to maintain normal personal friendships,” Torrey wrote.

The 2014 decision in the case called Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, like the June abortion decision, represented a victory for religious conservatives. The Hobby Lobby decision exempted family-owned businesses that objected on religious grounds from a federal requirement that any health insurance they provide to employees must cover birth control for women.

Torrey was responding to a Nov. 20 letter sent by Whitehouse and Johnson asking Roberts whether the court is investigating the claims involving Schenck or re-evaluating its practices related to judicial ethics.

“It seems that the underlying issue is the absence of a formal facility for complaint or investigation into possible ethics or reporting violations,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter.

In a joint statement on Monday, Whitehouse and Johnson said Torrey’s letter “reiterated Justice Alito’s denials but did not substantively answer any of our questions.” They called the letter “an embodiment of the problems at the Court around ethics issues.”

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said his panel is reviewing the matter. Durbin urged passage of legislation that would create a code of ethics for the Supreme Court.

Schenck, who formerly led an evangelical Christian nonprofit group in Washington, was quoted as saying that he used his knowledge of the Hobby Lobby ruling to prepare a public relations campaign and that he also tipped off the president of the craft store chain about the outcome. Schenck, according to the Times, wrote to Roberts about his claim.

Schenck in the Times report described how two of his star donors, Ohio couple Donald and Gayle Wright, dined with the Alitos in early June 2014. Schenck said one of the Wrights then told him that Alito had authored the Hobby Lobby opinion and that it would favor the company, the newspaper reported. The decision was publicly announced three weeks later.

In a statement released after the Times report was published, Alito said he and his wife have had a “purely social relationship” with the Wrights and that he would have strongly objected to any effort to obtain confidential information.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Additional reporting by Nate Raymond, Matt Spetalnick and Laura Sanicola; Editing by Will Dunham)

LONDON (Reuters) -The United States is still talking to Russia about a deal to free jailed Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan but Moscow has not provided a “serious response” to any of its proposals, a senior U.S. diplomat said in comments published on Monday.

Elizabeth Rood, the U.S. chargée d’affaires in Moscow, told Russia’s state-owned RIA news agency that talks were continuing through the “designated channel”.

“The United States, as we have said, has put a significant proposal on the table. We have followed up on that proposal and we have proposed alternatives,” she said. “Unfortunately, so far the Russian Federation has not provided a serious response to those proposals.”

In Washington, the White House said conversations with Russia were ongoing. “We want them both home as fast as possible, and this administration is going to stay committed to that task,” national security spokesman John Kirby said.

Basketball star Griner was taken this month to a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia to serve a nine-year drug sentence after being arrested in February with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. She said at her trial she used them to relieve the pain from sports injuries and had not meant to break the law.

Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, is serving 16 years in the same region on charges of espionage, which he denies.

His brother, David Whelan, said on Monday he was concerned that the family had not heard from Paul Whelan in days. Paul Whelan told them to contact the U.S. Embassy in Moscow if he didn’t call home for more than three days, his brother said. When they did so, the consular staff said it had not heard from him either.

“It’s incredibly unusual for Paul to miss trying to call home on a holiday like Thanksgiving,” David Whelan said in a statement.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Nov. 18 he was hopeful of agreeing a prisoner swap that could see the release of Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian weapons trafficker who is in prison in the United States.

In her interview, Rood also held open the possibility of a follow-up to a meeting between CIA Director William Burns and Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin in Istanbul two weeks ago – the first publicly announced face-to-face meeting between top officials of the two countries since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

“The United States has channels for managing risk with the Russian Federation, particularly nuclear risks, and that was the purpose of CIA director Burns’ meeting with his Russian counterpart,” Rood said.

“Director Burns did not negotiate anything and he did not discuss a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. I’m sure if there’s a need for another conversation in that channel, it can happen. There’s not anything scheduled that I know of.”

Washington has said Burns used the meeting to warn about the consequences of any Russian use of nuclear weapons. Russia has declined to comment on what was discussed, describing the subject matter as sensitive.

(Writing by Mark Trevelyan, Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Jeff Mason and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Cynthia Osterman)

By Emma Farge and Shivani Tanna

GENEVA (Reuters) -The World Health Organization said on Monday it would start using a new preferred term, “mpox”, as a synonym for monkeypox and urged others to follow suit after receiving complaints that the current name for the disease was racist and stigmatising.

“Both names will be used simultaneously for one year while ‘monkeypox’ is phased out,” the WHO said in a statement.

The WHO launched a public consultation process to find a new name for the disease earlier this year and received more than 200 proposals. The United States, which was among the countries and bodies supporting the name change, welcomed the announcement.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)will also begin using the term “mpox”, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a tweet.

“We welcome and support the renaming to mpox to reduce stigma and barriers to care for those most impacted,” Walensky added.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said “reducing stigma associated with disease is one critical step in our work to end mpox.”

One of the more popular public suggestions was “mpox” or “Mpox”, put forward by men’s health organisation RÉZO among others. Its director said at the time that the removal of monkey imagery helped people take the health emergency seriously.

Some ideas were farcical such as “Poxy McPoxface” which alluded to Boaty McBoatface – the choice of a public vote on the name of a British polar research vessel, before a decision to give it another name – Sir David Attenborough.

The WHO said global experts settled on “mpox” after considering the scientific appropriateness, extent of current usage as well as pronounceability among other factors.

Mpox, discovered in 1958 and named after the first animal to show symptoms, mostly spread in a group of countries in west and central Africa until this year.

Around 100 countries where mpox is not endemic have now reported outbreaks of the viral disease.

The WHO has a mandate to assign new names to existing diseases under the International Classification of Diseases.

Generally, it seeks to avoid associating any disease or virus with a country, region, animal or ethnic group.

Last year, it assigned the letters of the Greek alphabet to new coronavirus variants to stop a practice of linking them with specific countries.

(Reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva, Shivani Tanna and Baranjot Kaur in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Ahmed Aboulenien and Jeff Mason in Washington; Editing by Mark Heinrich & Simon Cameron-Moore)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Monday said it supported the Chinese people’s right to peacefully protest against COVID-19 lockdowns and it did not see supply chain impacts from the demonstrations.

“People should be allowed … the right to assemble and to peacefully protest policies or laws or dictates … that they take issue with,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. “The White House supports the right of peaceful protest.”

Kirby also said the United States had not received any requests from China for COVID-19 vaccines.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Jeff Mason; Editing by Mark Porter)

By David Milliken

LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday that the so-called “golden era” of relations with China was over, saying Beijing’s systemic challenge to Britain’s interests and values was growing more acute.

In his first major foreign policy speech, Sunak said Britain’s approach to China needed to evolve and Beijing was “consciously competing for global influence using all the levers of state power”.

“Let’s be clear, the so-called ‘golden era’ is over, along with the naive idea that trade would lead to social and political reform,” Sunak said in London’s financial district, a reference to former finance minister George Osborne’s description of Sino-British ties in 2015.

Some in Sunak’s Conservative Party have been critical of Sunak, regarding him as less hawkish on China than his predecessor Liz Truss. Last year when he was finance minister, he called for a nuanced strategy on China to balance human rights concerns while expanding economic ties.

However, a planned meeting between Sunak and China’s President Xi Jinping at this month’s G20 summit in Bali fell through and last week London banned Chinese-made security cameras from sensitive government buildings.

“We recognise China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests, a challenge that grows more acute as it moves towards even greater authoritarianism,” he said, referring to the BBC statement that one of its journalists had been assaulted by Chinese police.

“Of course, we cannot simply ignore China’s significance in world affairs – to global economic stability or issues like climate change. The U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and many others understand this too.”

Sunak said under his leadership Britain would not choose the “status quo” and would confront international competitors “not with grand rhetoric but with robust pragmatism”.

On Ukraine, he said the government would maintain military aid to Kyiv next year, maintaining the strong support offered by former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Truss.

“So be in no doubt, we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will maintain or increase our military aid next year. And we will provide new support for air defence,” he said.

In September, Britain said it was the second-largest military donor to Ukraine after the United States, providing 2.3 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) of aid this year.

Sunak said Britain needed to take the same long-term approach as its adversaries and competitors such as Russia and China.

“In the face of these challenges, short-termism or wishful thinking will not suffice. We can’t depend on Cold War arguments or approaches, or mere sentimentality about the past,” he said.

($1 = 0.8288 pound)

(Reporting by David Milliken and Michael Holden; Editing by David Gregorio and Cynthia Osterman)

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday called on Congress to intervene to avert a potential rail strike that could occur as early as Dec. 9, warning of a catastrophic economic impact if railroad service ground to a halt.

Biden asked lawmakers to adopt the tentative deal announced in September “without any modifications or delay – to avert a potentially crippling national rail shutdown” and added that up to 765,000 Americans “could be put out of work in the first two weeks alone.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers would take up legislation this week “to prevent a catastrophic nationwide rail strike, which would grind our economy to a halt.”

On Monday, more than 400 groups called on Congress to intervene in the railroad labor standoff that threatens to idle shipments of food and fuel and strand travelers while inflicting billions of dollars of economic damage.

A rail traffic stoppage could freeze almost 30% of U.S. cargo shipments by weight, stoke inflation and cost the American economy as much as $2 billion per day by unleashing a cascade of transport woes affecting U.S. energy, agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare and retail sectors.

“A rail shutdown would devastate our economy,” Biden said. “Without freight rail, many U.S. industries would shut down … Communities could lose access to chemicals necessary to ensure clean drinking water. Farms and ranches across the country could be unable to feed their livestock.”

Biden hailed the contract deal that includes a 24% compounded wage increase over a five-year period from 2020 through 2024 and five annual $1,000 lump-sum payments.

Workers in four unions have rejected the tentative deal, while workers in eight unions have approved it.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have been involved in discussions with the rail industry, unions and agriculture industry stakeholders.

Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, praised Biden’s call to Congress to act and said no one side was fully happy with the compromise contract deal “but the responsible thing to do is avoid the strike.”

The Association of American Railroads said “congressional action to prevent a work stoppage in this manner is appropriate … No one benefits from a rail work stoppage – not our customers, not rail employees and not the American economy.”

In a letter on Monday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, National Retail Federation, American Petroleum Institute, National Restaurant Association, American Trucking Associations and other groups warned that impacts of a potential strike could be felt as soon as Dec. 5.

Biden said Congress “should set aside politics and partisan division and deliver for the American people. Congress should get this bill to my desk well in advance of December 9th so we can avoid disruption.”

“The risks to our nation’s economy and communities simply make a national rail strike unacceptable,” says the letter to congressional leaders first reported by Reuters, warning a strike could halt passenger railroad Amtrak and commuter rail services that “would disrupt up to 7 million travelers a day.”

Biden’s Presidential Emergency Board in August released the framework for the tentative deal forged in September between major railroads and a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers. Those carriers include Union Pacific, Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern.

Unions and railroads have until Dec. 9 to resolve differences. If they do not, workers could strike or railroads could lock out employees – unless Congress intervenes. But railroads would halt hazardous materials shipments at least four days ahead of a strike deadline.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in WashingtonEditing by Lisa Shumaker and Matthew Lewis)