by Francois Picard All four people taken hostage in a more than 10-hour standoff at a Texas synagogue have been freed unharmed, police said late Saturday, and their suspected captor is dead. The hostage siege in the small Texas town of Colleyville — in which the suspect was apparently demanding the release of a convicted terrorist — had sparked an outpouring of concern from US Jewish organizations as well as from the Israeli government. Colleyville […]
Tag: US
Poet Maya Angelou becomes first Black woman to appear on US coin
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) – Poet and activist Maya Angelou has become the first Black woman to appear on the US quarter, in a new version of the coin unveiled by the US Mint on Monday. Angelou, author of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” will also be the first figure commemorated through the American Women Quarters Program, which was signed into law in January 2021. The US Mint “has begun shipping the […]
US lays out case against ‘unlawful’ China maritime claims in South China Sea
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Wednesday laid out its most detailed case yet against Beijing’s “unlawful” claims in the South China Sea, rejecting both the geographic and historic bases for its vast, divisive map. In a 47-page research paper, the State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs said China had no basis under international law for claims that have put Beijing on a collision course with […]
Reduced hospitalization risk, shorter stays for Omicron patients: US study
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A preliminary US study of nearly 70,000 Covid positive people showed a substantially reduced risk of hospitalization and death from Omicron even after controlling for growing population immunity levels. People infected with Omicron were half as likely to be hospitalized, about 75 percent less likely to need intensive care, and around 90 percent less likely to die compared to those infected with the formerly dominant Delta variant, according to the […]
US sanctions five North Koreans after missile launch
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States imposed sanctions Wednesday on five North Koreans linked to the country’s ballistic missile program, a day after Pyongyang carried out what it said was the launch of a hypersonic missile. The Treasury Department said the five North Koreans being sanctioned were “responsible for procuring goods for the DPRK’s (North Korea’s) weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile-related programs.” “Today’s actions, part of the United States’ ongoing efforts […]
US gov’t donates add’l 2.7 million Pfizer doses; total COVID-19 vaccines delivered to PHL breach 213M doses
(Eagle News) — The United States donated an additional 2.7 million Pfizer vaccine doses to the country which were delivered on Sunday, January 9. The additional 2,703,870 Pfizer doses were donated by the US government through the COVAX facility. As of Monday, January 10, 2022, over 22.7 million Pfizer doses have been delivered to the country through the facilitation of the US government, while 40 million were procured by the Philippine government bringing to […]
‘Victims on every floor’: Nine kids among 19 dead in New York fire
by Ana FERNANDEZ, Ed JONES and Eleonore SENS NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Nine children were among at least 19 people killed and dozens injured when a fire tore through a high-rise apartment building in New York on Sunday in one of America’s worst residential fires in recent memory. Witnesses reported seeing trapped residents screaming for help from windows during the deadly inferno that the city’s fire chief said had been caused by a […]
Russia rules out any concession at Ukraine, security talks with US
by Nina Larson with Shaun Tandon in Washington Russia ruled out Sunday any concession at talks with the United States on soaring tensions over Ukraine as Moscow seeks a wide-ranging new security arrangement with the West but faces strong pressure to pull back troops. Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian news agencies ahead of his talks in Geneva the Kremlin was also “disappointed” with signals coming from both Washington and Brussels, where NATO […]
Baldwin says complying with ‘Rust’ shooting investigation
US actor Alec Baldwin insisted Saturday that he was complying with the investigation into the fatal on-set shooting of a cinematographer nearly a month after detectives obtained a warrant for his phone. “Any suggestion that I am not complying with requests or orders or demands or search warrants about my phone, that’s b……t, that’s a lie,” the US actor said in a video message posted on Instagram. He said that authorities in New Mexico, where […]
Pioneering movie star Sidney Poitier dies at 94
Sidney Poitier, Hollywood’s first major Black movie star and the first Black man to win the best actor Oscar, has died at 94, prompting an outpouring of grief from the entertainment industry and beyond. Stars including Denzel Washington along with current and past US presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama led emotional tributes as news broke Friday of the death of the celebrated thespian. “He was a gentle man and opened doors for all of […]
US snowstorm strands drivers for 24 hours or more
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The snow storm is over but the travel misery lingered: drivers on a major highway outside Washington reported Tuesday they were stuck in their cars in freezing weather for 24 hours or more. As families tried to return home from the long New Year weekend, I-95 in Virginia was dangerously icy, gas tanks were running low and for hours there was no help in sight, drivers said. Aerial footage showed […]
Japan extends US military support amid China, N.Korea ‘challenges’
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Japan moved ahead with an expansion of support to US troops as the allies held top-level talks on tensions with China and North Korea. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the two nations were signing a five-year extension of the support package provided by Japan for the hosting of nearly 50,000 US troops on its soil. The new agreement “will invest greater resources to deepen our military readiness […]





