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MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Florida, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the southeastern US, has surpassed half a million cases and now has a death toll of more than 7,600, state health authorities said Wednesday. The Florida Health Department reported only 5,409 new daily cases in its latest count, a considerable drop after recent figures of around 10,000 new infections per day in recent weeks. The number of cases however may have […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — The United States on Wednesday announced its “highest level” visit in decades to Taiwan, a move sure to infuriate China at a time when relations between Washington and Beijing are at historic lows. Washington’s trade office in Taipei confirmed that health chief Alex Azar would lead an upcoming delegation to the self-ruled island, which China’s communist leaders claim and have vowed to one day seize. “This marks… the first Cabinet member […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Ammonium nitrate, which Lebanese authorities have said was the cause of the Beirut blast, is an odorless crystalline substance commonly used as a fertilizer that has been the cause of numerous industrial explosions over the decades. These include notably at a Texas fertilizer plant in 2013 that killed 15 and was ruled deliberate, and another at a chemical plant in Toulouse, France in 2001 that killed 31 people but was […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US on Tuesday added 1,302 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The world’s largest economy also added 53,847 new cases of the virus, the Baltimore-based institution’s tracker showed at 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Wednesday). The US has now recorded 4,765,170 total cases with 156,668 deaths, making it by far the worst-hit country in the world. But President Donald Trump […]
by Peter HUTCHISON NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Tropical storm Isaias pounded the US eastern seaboard with driving rain and strong winds on Tuesday, cutting power to over one million households and felling trees, including in New York. At least one person was killed in New York City after a tree fell on their car, while another was critically injured by a falling branch, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Wind gusts up to 78 […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Tuesday there was no evidence that Chinese-owned TikTok had abused the data of its hundreds of millions of users. “We have had a good look at this, and there is no evidence for us to suggest… that there is any misuse of any people’s data,” he told the Aspen Security Forum meeting in Aspen, Colorado. “There are plenty of things that are on TikTok […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Tuesday successfully tested an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in a launch directed from an airborne command center, the Air Force said. The missile was launched at 12:21 am (0721 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, travelling 6,700 kilometers (4,200 miles) over the Pacific Ocean before landing in the sea near the Marshall Islands. “The test demonstrates that the United States’ nuclear […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US biotech company Novavax on Tuesday announced its experimental COVID-19 vaccine elicited a robust immune response, producing more antibodies than are present in recovered patients, and with generally tolerable side-effects in its early-stage trial. The company was given $1.6 billion by the US government last month to develop and fund the drug under Operation Warp Speed — but in terms of timeline it is behind other firms including Moderna and […]
MYRTLE BEACH, United States (AFP) — Hurricane Isaias slammed into North Carolina Monday as a category one storm, with winds of up to 85 miles (140 kilometers) an hour, the US National Hurricane Center said. The storm came ashore in the southern part of the state near Ocean Isle Beach at 11:10 pm (0310 GMT Tuesday). Meteorologists warned of heavy rain and potentially life-threatening storm surges. © Agence France-Presse
by Paul HANDLEY WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump gave popular Chinese-owned video app TikTok six weeks to sell its US operations to an American company, saying Monday it would be “out of business” otherwise, and that the government wanted a financial benefit from the deal. “It’s got to be an American company… it’s got to be owned here,” Trump said. “We don’t want to have any problem with security.” Trump said […]
by Logan Cyrus MYRTLE BEACH, United States (AFP) — Tropical Storm Isaias was set to regain hurricane strength Monday before slamming into the US eastern seaboard, bringing life-threatening storm surges to North and South Carolina. The storm, currently 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, was packing sustained winds of 70 miles (100 kilometers) per hour, with wind speeds predicted to increase during the day. Isaias is forecast to “make landfall tonight as […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States has entered a “new phase” of the pandemic, White House coronavirus advisor Deborah Birx warned Sunday, with rural areas just as threatened as major cities. Birx, who heads the White House coronavirus task force, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that local virus mitigation procedures were starting to work, but added that “what we are seeing today is different from March and April”. “It is extraordinarily […]
