North America

US, China dominated arms market in 2019: report

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — US and Chinese companies dominated the global arms market in 2019, while the Middle East made its first appearance among the 25 biggest weapons manufacturers, a report by the SIPRI research institute said Monday. The US arms industry accounted for 61 percent of sales by the world’s “Top 25” manufacturers last year, ahead of China’s 15.7 percent, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Total sales by the “Top 25” […]

Giuliani latest Covid-19 diagnosis in Trump inner circle

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump said Sunday his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for Covid-19, the latest member of the president’s inner circle — where mask wearing is rare — to contract the disease. The 76-year-old former New York City mayor’s age puts him in a high-risk group, and the New York Times and ABC reported he was hospitalized on Sunday in Washington as the US faces a record […]

Pandemic sends hunger rising in America, and children bear the brunt

by Chris Stein Agence France Presse Before the pandemic closed her middle school and US immigration agents deported her father to El Salvador, Kimberly Orellana did not fear going hungry. But with her mother now alone and cleaning houses for pay that isn’t enough to reliably feed Orellana and her two younger sisters, the 14-year-old is left to trek to a nearby school for a handout of groceries organized by a non-profit. “Everyone in our […]

US judge orders Trump administration to restore ‘Dreamer’ immigration program

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A US judge ordered the Trump administration Friday to fully reinstate a program that protects from deportation immigrants who came to the country illegally as children. The administration must allow newly eligible immigrants to apply to the so-called DACA program, Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the US District Court in Brooklyn wrote. Over the summer, the administration had issued a memo limiting the program to those who were already enrolled. […]

Moderna plans 100 million Covid vaccine doses in early 2021

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Moderna plans to have 100 to 125 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine available in the first quarter of 2021, the vast majority of which will go to the United States, the biotechnology company announced Thursday. Between 85 and 100 million of the doses will be distributed in the United States, with the rest of the world receiving the remaining 15 to 25 million, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company said in […]

Former US presidents ready to publicly receive Covid-19 vaccine

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are volunteering to take a coronavirus vaccine on camera if it will help promote public confidence. Obama, in an interview with SiriusXM radio, said he would be inoculated if top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci signs off on a Covid-19 vaccine. “If Anthony Fauci tells me this vaccine is safe, and can vaccinate, you know, immunize you from […]

California to ban gatherings and ‘non-essential’ activities

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced new statewide bans on gatherings and “non-essential” activities, as hospitals in the nation’s most populous state face being overwhelmed by record Covid-19 cases. The limits will come into effect once capacity in intensive care units hits 15 percent or lower — a development expected in four of California’s five regions “as early as the next day or two.” “We are announcing and […]

US Covid daily death toll surpasses 2,700, highest since April: monitor

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 2,700 in one day as of Wednesday evening, the highest since April, Johns Hopkins University said. The new tally of 2,731 fatalities raises the overall known death toll in America to 273,181 since the pandemic started late last year. The number of new infections over the past 24 hours was 195,121, the university said. © Agence France-Presse

Trump floats idea of 2024 White House run

by Jerome CARTILLIER WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Still irate and bitter one month after his election defeat to Joe Biden, Donald Trump is openly musing about a second run at the US presidency in 2024. Refusing to accept defeat, Trump’s lawyers and supporters continued Wednesday to file lawsuits and even call for extraordinary intervention, such as martial law, to force a new vote. And Trump released an extraordinary 46 minute video in which he […]

Mexico signs deal for 34.4 million Pfizer vaccines

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico said it signed an agreement Wednesday with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to buy 34.4 million vaccines against the coronavirus, with a first batch due to arrive this month. The Latin American nation has reported almost 107,000 Covid-19 deaths — one of the world’s highest tolls — and more than 1.1 million infections. The health ministry announced on Twitter that it expected to receive the first 250,000 doses in December. […]

US expects 100 million people vaccinated by February

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US hopes to have immunized 100 million people against Covid-19 by the end of February, a top official said Wednesday, which is approximately 40 percent of the country’s adult population. The push should start within weeks, when vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna-NIH are expected to be approved. Each of these require two doses, the second after three weeks and four weeks, respectively. “Between mid-December, and the end of […]

More than 2,500 US virus deaths in 24 hours: Johns Hopkins

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States, the country hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic and in the throes of a surge in cases, on Tuesday registered more than 2,500 deaths in a 24-hour period, the highest total since late April, Johns Hopkins University said. More than 180,000 new infections were recorded, according to real-time data provided by the Baltimore-based university at 8:30 pm (0130 GMT Wednesday). The last time the daily death toll […]