LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — A patient in California’s Orange County was Saturday confirmed as the third person on US soil infected with the new deadly virus that originated in China, health officials said. The infected person was a traveler from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the outbreak, the Orange County Health Care Agency said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the patient had tested positive for […]
North America
JUST IN: Canada reports first ‘presumptive’ coronavirus case
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Canada’s first “presumptive” case of a new coronavirus has been detected in a man who returned to Toronto from the Chinese city where the virus first appeared, health officials announced Saturday. “We have the first presumptive case confirmed of this novel coronavirus here” in Toronto, Eileen de Villa, head of the city’s public health agency, said at a press conference. The patient, a man in his 50s, had been staying […]
34 US troops injured in recent Iranian strike: Pentagon
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Nearly three dozen US troops suffered traumatic brain injuries or concussion in this month’s Iranian air strike on a military base in Iraq, the Pentagon said on Friday. “Thirty-four total members have been diagnosed with concussions and TBI (traumatic brain injury),” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters. President Donald Trump had initially said that no Americans were injured in the strike on the Ain al-Asad base in western Iraq […]
US confirms second case of China virus, 50 suspected cases under investigation
A woman in Chicago in her sixties was Friday confirmed as the second patient on US soil infected with a deadly new virus originating in China, health officials said, with 50 other suspected cases under investigation. The contagion has so far claimed 26 lives in China, sickened hundreds and has spread across several Asian countries as well as the US. “I’m pleased to report she is clinically doing well and is in stable condition,” […]
At least one killed, several injured in Seattle mass shooting
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — At least one person was killed and seven others, including a child, were wounded on Wednesday after gunfire broke out in downtown Seattle near a popular tourist area, police and hospital officials said. Police said at least one suspect was being sought in connection with the mass shooting that took place near a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant, just blocks away from the Pike Place Market. It was the third shooting […]
Volkswagen in Canada ordered to pay CAN$196.5 million over emissions scandal
TORONTO, Canada (AFP) – A court in Toronto on Wednesday ordered Volkswagen to pay a fine of Can$196.5 million (US$150 million) after the automaker pleaded guilty to violating environmental laws in the emissions cheating scandal. The court accepted an agreement that the German automaker reached with the Canadian government, which in December filed a 60-count indictment against the company. This fine is in addition to nearly Can$2.4 billion that Volkswagen had agreed to pay in […]
Mexican troops repel border-storming migrant caravan
by Gabriela COUTINO / with Henry MORALES in Tecun Uman, Guatemala Agence France-Presse Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico (AFP) — Hundreds of Central Americans from a new migrant caravan tried to storm into Mexico Monday by fording the river that divides the country from Guatemala, but National Guardsmen fired tear gas to force them back. The Central Americans, from the so-called “2020 Caravan” of around 3,500 undocumented migrants, gathered on the Guatemalan side of the Suchiate River […]
Trump brief assails impeachment, demands immediate acquittal
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump’s lawyers submitted a trial brief Monday calling his impeachment by the House “a dangerous perversion” of the US constitution and demanding his immediate acquittal by the Senate. Almost simultaneously, House impeachment managers responded to an earlier Trump filing, saying the president had engaged in “corrupt conduct… to cheat in the next election” and that the Senate should remove him from office “following a fair trial.” The dueling […]
Trump lawyers present defense for ‘dangerous’ impeachment
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump’s legal team presented Saturday its line of defense for his upcoming impeachment trial, a process they dismissed as unconstitutional and “dangerous.” It was the first time the team presented its arguments, modeled on those put forward since December by Trump and his fellow Republicans. White House counsel Pat Cipollone will be lead lawyer, backed by Trump’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow. They will be joined by Ken […]
Auto tariff threat not mentioned in US talks: EU commissioner
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US threats to put tariffs on European autos did not come up during talks this week with American trade officials in Washington, EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said Thursday. Hogan’s remarks came hours after Germany’s defense minister confirmed a media report that Washington had threatened 25 percent duties on autos, demanding that three EU nations increase pressure on Iran. “It was not mentioned, it was hardly mentioned,” Hogan told reporters […]
Ken Starr, celebrity lawyer Dershowitz join Trump defense team
by Sebastian Smith Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Ken Starr, who was at the center of Bill Clinton’s impeachment in the 1990s, and America’s biggest celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz were announced Friday to be joining President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment defense. The administration has yet to unveil the full team but confirmed that White House counsel Pat Cipollone will be lead lawyer, backed by Trump’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow. “President Trump has done […]
US girds for cyber threats from Iran as military clash fears ebb
by Rob Lever Agence France Presse Iran is widely expected to ramp up cyberattacks against the United States in response to the US killing of a top Iranian leader this month even as fears have receded about a military confrontation between the two countries. The simmering tensions since the US drone attack that killed Qasem Soleimani, who was by some measures the second most influential person in Iran, make it likely that Iran will seek […]





