Tag: US

US offers $10 million bounty for DarkSide hackers

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States announced a $10 million reward Thursday for help finding leaders of the high-profile ransomware gang DarkSide, authorities’ latest try at combating spiking cyber-extortion attacks. Washington blamed the Russia-based group for the online assault that forced the shutdown of the largest oil pipeline in the eastern United States in May. Cyber-extortion heists involve breaking into a company or institution’s network to encrypt its data, then demanding a ransom, […]

US businesses face Jan 4 deadline to get workers vaccinated

by Chris Stein WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday set a January 4 deadline for enforcement of strict rules intended to push tens of millions of American workers into getting Covid-19 vaccines The mandates targeting businesses with more than 100 employees, as well as health care workers and federal contractors, represent the most aggressive steps Washington has taken against the virus and the Delta variant, which has hobbled economic recovery. […]

US father of cognitive therapy dies at 100

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — American psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck, considered the father of cognitive therapy — an approach developed in the 1960s that revolutionized the field of psychotherapy — died Monday at age 100. He died at his home in Philadelphia, according to a statement from his daughter Judith Beck, the president of the Beck Institute, an organization of thousands of professionals practicing cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT. “My father dedicated his life to […]

New York poised to elect Black ex-cop Adams as mayor

by Peter HUTCHISON and Diane DESOBEAU NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New Yorkers voted Tuesday in a mayoral election that is virtually guaranteed to elect Black former policeman Eric Adams as the next leader of America’s biggest city. The centrist Democrat is expected to trounce Republican rival and volunteer crime fighter Curtis Sliwa in the liberal-voting bastion to become just the second African American to lead the Big Apple. Being New York’s mayor is […]

US poised for final approval of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for children aged 5-11

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An expert panel unanimously recommended Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds on Tuesday, the penultimate step in the process that will allow injections in young children to begin this week in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the top US public health agency, was expected to endorse that recommendation later Tuesday. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the vaccine for the age group […]

Climate change main cause of fires in US west: study

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Climate change caused overwhelmingly by human activity is the primary source of the unprecedented forest fires regularly ravaging the western United States, according to a study published Monday. Fires destroyed an average of 13,500 square kilometers (5,200 square miles) per year in the American west between 2001 and 2018 — twice as much as between 1984-2000. “It’s happened so much faster than we previously anticipated,” Rong Fu, who led […]

US approval for Moderna teen vaccines delayed

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US biotech firm Moderna said Sunday that American officials have delayed approving its Covid-19 vaccine for teenagers to allow more time to better assess the potential risk of developing myocarditis, or heart inflammation. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday “informed Moderna that the agency requires additional time to evaluate recent international analyses of the risk of myocarditis after vaccination,” the biotech company said Sunday in a statement. […]

Alec Baldwin says fatal shooting was ‘one in a trillion’

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — US actor Alec Baldwin said Saturday in his first public comments on his fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with a prop gun on a movie set that the tragedy was a “one in a trillion episode.” In footage aired by TMZ, Baldwin and his wife Hilaria spoke to reporters who intercepted them in Manchester, Vermont. The Hollywood star declined to comment on the investigation of the shooting on […]

Drought to downpour: California weather whiplash is climate change sentinel

  by Paula RAMON Agence France Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — It had been completely dry in Sacramento for six months. Then the heavens opened and a record-breaking amount of rain fell in one day. Such extreme shifts are becoming more frequent in California and are a harbinger of what is to come for the rest of a warming planet, scientists say. “California is a sentinel state. It’s like a canary in a […]

Amazon, Apple weighed down by supply and chip troubles

    by Glenn CHAPMAN Agence France Presse Amazon and Apple announced billions of dollars in quarterly profits on Thursday, but supply chain bottlenecks and the great chip shortage dented the tech giants, which have been riding a pandemic-stoked boom. Apple said sales of its signature iPhone and iPad were held back due to supply constraints, while Amazon struggled to get products and enough workers to meet demand. Both firms soared in the pandemic era […]

W.House expects Biden-Erdogan meeting in Glasgow: official

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AFP) — US President Joe Biden expects to meet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a UN climate summit in Glasgow next week, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Thursday. “I anticipate he will meet with the president of Turkey in Glasgow,” he told reporters aboard Biden’s plane headed to Rome for an earlier G20 summit. “I don’t have confirmation, but that’s the present expectation.” Biden […]

Former New York governor Cuomo charged with sex crime

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo was on Thursday charged with a misdemeanor sex crime for forcible touching, a court spokesperson said. The charge is the first to be filed since the once-powerful politician was forced to resign this year following a slew of sexual harassment allegations. “A misdemeanor complaint against former governor Andrew Cuomo has been filed in Albany City Court,” said Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the […]