North America

Acquitted US protest shooter to launch video game

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP)  — A US teen cleared in court after killing people amid unrest over police mistreatment of African-Americans unveiled Thursday a video game centered on shooting targets representing journalists. Kyle Rittenhouse said in online posts that money raised from sales of the game will be used to sue “leftwing media organizations” for defamation over their coverage of his 2020 case. He did not specify which news outlets he intended to sue, […]

Passenger jet catches fire while landing at Miami airport

MIAMI, June 22, 2022 (AFP) –  Officials arrived in Miami Wednesday to investigate a passenger jet that caught fire as it touched down at the US city’s international airport, forcing more than 100 people to flee the burning and mangled aircraft. Three people were hospitalized after the crash of Red Air Flight 203 late Tuesday, according to Miami-Dade fire officials, but no deaths or serious injuries have been reported among those on board. Dramatic video […]

US calls Russia’s threat against captured Americans ‘appalling’

WASHINGTON, June 21, 2022 (AFP) – by Sebastian Smith The United States on Tuesday called it “appalling” for the Kremlin to suggest that two US citizens captured while fighting for Ukraine against the Russian invasion could face execution. “It’s appalling that a public official in Russia would even suggest the death penalty for two American citizens that were in Ukraine,” John Kirby, a White House spokesman, told reporters after the Kremlin spokesman said the two […]

Biden to call for three-month suspension of federal gas tax as prices skyrocket

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2022 (AFP)   US President Joe Biden will ask Congress Wednesday to suspend the federal gas tax for three months as skyrocketing prices cause widespread anger among Americans just months before crucial mid-term elections. The White House wants to discontinue the tax of 18 cents per gallon (3.78 liters) until September and will call on US states, which also tax at the pump, to do the same to “provide direct relief to […]

Texas school shooting response deemed ‘abject failure’

NEW YORK, June 21, 2022 (AFP)   The police response to the Uvalde school massacre in Texas last month was an “abject failure,” a top law enforcement official told a hearing into the tragedy Tuesday, saying officers wasted vital time looking for a classroom key that was “never needed.” Nineteen young children and two teachers were killed when a teenage gunman went on a rampage at Robb Elementary on May 24 in America’s worst school shooting […]

President of Panama announces blood cancer diagnosis

  PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP) — The President of Panama Laurentino Cortizo said on Monday that he has blood cancer, although the 69-year-old said he feels well and is in “good spirits.” In late May, Cortizo’s doctors detected “a decrease in hemoglobin and white blood cell count” during routine testing, the president said in a televised statement. Specialists recommended that a bone marrow biopsy be performed, and samples were sent to a US laboratory, and […]

Russian Nobel laureate sells medal for $103.5 mn to benefit Ukraine kids

by Maggy Donaldson  Agence France-Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Dmitry Muratov, the Russian editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, on Monday auctioned off his Nobel Peace Prize gold medal for a whopping $103.5 million to benefit children displaced by the war in Ukraine. The medal was sold to an as yet unidentified phone bidder at the sale in New York organized by Heritage Auctions. The sale was a spirited one, with lots […]

Boy killed, three wounded in shooting after Washington concert

A 15-year-old boy was killed and three other people, including a police officer, were wounded in a shooting after a concert in Washington Sunday night, the local police chief said. The shooting was preceded by two other incidents which caused panic at the unpermitted “Moechella” concert celebrating Juneteenth, with several people injured while running away, DC police chief Robert Contee told reporters. Police then shut down the sidewalk concert on safety grounds but shortly afterwards, […]

US approves Covid vaccines for youngest kids

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US health authorities on Saturday cleared the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines for children aged five and younger, in a move President Joe Biden greeted as a “monumental step” in the fight against the virus. The United States thus became the first country to approve use of the so-called mRNA vaccines for children as young as six months. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had on Friday authorized their […]

‘I am good’: Biden falls from bike but is unhurt

US President Joe Biden took a tumble as he was riding his bicycle near his beach home in the state of Delaware Saturday morning, but was unhurt. A video from a White House pool report showed the 79-year-old president immediately getting up after his fall. He then says: “I’m good.” He was biking with First Lady Jill Biden in a state park near their beach home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and had stopped to talk […]

Elon Musk sued for $258 bn over dogecoin support

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — An investor in dogecoin, originally created as a joke but whose value increased and fell as it was promoted by Elon Musk, filed a $258 billion lawsuit Thursday against the billionaire and his companies Tesla and SpaceX. Keith Johnson, who says he lost money after investing in dogecoin, described himself as an “American citizen who was defrauded” by what he called a “Dogecoin Crypto Pyramid Scheme.” He is asking […]

Is recession the only way out of US inflation scourge?

by Heather Scott  Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A massive interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve and promises of more to come are fueling warnings that the only offramp from the searing price hikes engulfing American families is a full-blown recession. The Fed remains hopeful it can slow activity and demand, cooling the blistering pace of inflation, without derailing the world’s largest economy. But skepticism is growing about the chances of […]