Page 33 - United States

China launches 3 astronauts to its under-construction space station

China on Tuesday launched a spacecraft with a three-person crew to its under-construction space station amid intensifying competition with the United States. The Shenzhou-15 spaceship carrying the aircraft was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China. It carried three astronauts -- Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming, and Zhang Lu. Fei will be the commander of the mission, Ji Qiming, assistant to the director of the CMSA, told the media. The launch was carried out with a Long March-2F carrier rocket. The crew will stay in orbit for about six months, a period in which the construction of the low-orbit space station is expected to be completed.

US weekly flu hospitalisations hit record high since 2010: CDC data

Five flu-associated paediatric deaths were reported in the week ending November 19, which increased the overall number to 12, according to the CDC

New subvariants account for over half of new Covid-19 cases in US

The two variants are descendants of Omicron's BA.5 subvariant

US judge stops Amazon from firing employees for unionisation efforts

A US judge has issued a cease and desist order against Amazon to stop the commerce giant from firing employees for unionisation.

Macron to talk Ukraine war, trade with Biden in visit to Washington

French President Emmanuel Macron is headed to Washington for the first state visit of Joe Biden's presidency - a revival of diplomatic pageantry that had been put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden-Macron relationship had a choppy start. Macron briefly recalled France's ambassador to the United States last year after the White House announced a deal to sell nuclear submarines to Australia, undermining a contract for France to sell diesel-powered submarines. But the relationship has turned around with Macron emerging as one of Biden's most forward-facing European allies in the Western response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This week's visit - it will include Oval Office talks, a glitzy dinner, a news conference and more - comes at a critical moment for both leaders. The leaders have a long agenda for their Thursday meeting at the White House, including Iran's nuclear program, China's increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and growing concerns about security

Supreme Court to hear arguments over Biden's deportation policy today

The Supreme Court is taking up a dispute over a blocked Biden administration policy that would prioritise deportation of people in the country illegally who pose the greatest public safety risk. Republican-led states sued and won a nationwide court order that is meant to limit immigration officers' discretion in deciding whom to deport. The justices are hearing arguments in the case Tuesday. It's the latest example of a Republican litigation strategy that has succeeded in slowing Biden administration initiatives by going to GOP-friendly courts. In a separate ongoing legal dispute, three judges chosen by President Donald Trump are among the four Republican-appointed judges who have so far prevented the administration's student loan cancellation program from taking effect. At the center of the immigration legal fight is a September 2021 directive from the Department of Homeland Security that paused deportations unless individuals had committed acts of terrorism, espionage or egregiou

Arizona county refuses to certify election despite lack of evidence

Republican officials in a rural Arizona county refused Monday to certify the 2022 election despite no evidence of anything wrong with the count, a decision that was quickly challenged in court by the state's top election official. The refusal to certify by Cochise County in southeastern Arizona comes amid pressure from prominent Republicans to reject results showing Democrats winning top races. Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who narrowly won the race for governor, asked a judge to order county officials to canvass the election, which she said is an obligation under Arizona law. Lawyers representing a Cochise County voter and a group of retirees filed a similar lawsuit Monday, the deadline for counties to approve the official tally of votes, known as the canvass. The two Republican county supervisors delayed the canvass vote until Friday, when they want to hear once more about concerns over the certification of ballot tabulators, though election officials have repeatedly

US continues to support right of peaceful protest: White House on China

The United States continues to stand up and support the right of peaceful protests in China, the White House said Monday. The United States is closely watching the developments in China, White House's National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters at a news conference. Our message to peaceful protesters around the world is the same and consistent: People should be allowed the right to assemble and to peacefully protest policies or laws or dictates that they take issue with, Kirby said Protests have erupted across China against the Chinese government's hash Covid rules. "We're watching this closely, as you might expect we would. And again, we continue to stand up and support the right of peaceful protest. And I think we're going to watch this closely, and we'll see where things go," he said in response to a question. Kirby said the US has not offered any aid to China at this time. We are the largest supplier of COVID vaccines around the

5 officers in Connecticut charged after Black man paralysed in police van

Five Connecticut police officers were charged Monday with cruelly neglecting a Black man after he was partially paralyzed in the back of a police van, despite his repeated and desperate pleas for help. Randy Cox, 36, was being driven to a New Haven police station June 19 for processing on a weapons charge when the driver braked hard at an intersection to avoid a collision, causing Cox to fly headfirst into a metal partition in the van. I can't move. I'm going to die like this. Please, please, please help me, Cox said minutes after the crash. As Cox pleaded for help, some of the officers at the detention center mocked him and accused him of being drunk and faking his injuries, according to dialogue captured by surveillance and body-worn camera footage. Officers dragged Cox by his feet from the van and placed him in a holding cell prior to his eventual transfer to a hospital. I think I cracked my neck, Cox said after the van arrived at the detention center. You didn't crack it, no,

States, trade body settle with Google, iHeartMedia over misleading ads

The Federal Trade Commission and a handful of states announced settlements Monday with Google and iHeartMedia related to misleading radio advertisements about a Google cellphone. The settlements stem from complaints alleging Google paid to have radio personalities endorse and talk about their personal experiences using the Pixel 4, one of the company's cellphones, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta. At the time, the phone wasn't available and many of the radio DJs had not used it, Bonta said. The ads ran more than 23,000 times across 10 media markets, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, Bonta's office said. Google will pay $9 million and iHeartMedia will pay $400,000, Bonta's office said. iHeartMedia is the largest owner of radio stations in the nation. Some smaller radio stations also ran the ads. Google tried to take shortcuts in advertising its products, and now it's paying the price, Bonta said in a statement. Asking DJs to share personal experiences about

US Census Bureau chief defends new privacy tool, calls it 'best solution'

The US Census Bureau's chief is defending a new tool meant to protect the privacy of people participating in the statistical agency's questionnaires against calls to abandon it by prominent researchers who claim it jeopardises the usefulness of numbers that are the foundation of the nation's data infrastructure. The tool known as differential privacy was selected as the best solution available" against efforts by outside groups or individuals to piece together the identities of participants in the bureau's censuses and surveys by using third-party data and powerful computers, US Census Bureau Director Robert Santos said in a letter last week. Concerns about privacy have grown in recent years as cyber-attacks and threats of personal data being used for the wrong reasons have become more commonplace. Several prominent state demographers and academic researchers had asked the statistical agency in August to abandon using differential privacy on future annual population estimates, which

US-France competition heats up for fighter jets to deck INS Vikrant

The intense competition between US aerospace giant Boeing and French major Dassault Aviation to deck their fighter jets on India's INS Vikrant seems to have heated up

Biden administration eases Venezuela sanctions as opposition talks resume

The Biden administration on Saturday eased some oil sanctions on Venezuela in an effort to support newly restarted negotiations between President Nicols Maduro's government and its opposition. The Treasury Department is allowing Chevron to resume limited energy production in Venezuela after years of sanctions that have dramatically curtailed oil and gas profits that have flowed to Maduro's government. Earlier this year the Treasury Department allowed the California-based Chevron and other U.S. companies to perform only basic upkeep of wells it operates jointly with state-run oil giant PDVSA. Under the new policy, profits from the sale of energy would be directed to paying down debt owed to Chevron, rather than providing profits to PDVSA. Talks between the Maduro government and the Unitary Platform resumed in Mexico City on Saturday after more than a yearlong pause. It remained to be seen whether they would take a different course from previous rounds of negotiations that have not ..

Thanksgiving Day online sales touch $5.3 bn in US, mobile top choice

According to Adobe Analytics, mobile devices accounted for 55 per cent of all online shopping, up 8.3 per cent from a year ago

India waging a lonely battle to lay its hands on 26/11 attack masterminds

The United State does not remind Pakistan of its obligation to punish the perpetrators of the 26/11 attacks any more

US regulators ban Huawei, ZTE Telecom equipment on data-security risk

''These new rules are an important part of our ongoing actions to protect the American people from national security threats involving telecommunications''

US official urges 'de-escalation' as Turkey conducts airstrikes on Syria

A US. official in Syria on Friday called for an immediate de-escalation following days of deadly airstrikes and shelling along the Syria-Turkey border, saying the actions destabilise the region and undermine the fight against the Islamic State group. Turkey this week launched a wave of airstrikes on suspected Kurdish rebels hiding in neighbouring Syria and Iraq, in retaliation for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the Kurdish groups. The groups have denied involvement in the bombing and say the Turkish strikes have killed civilians and threatened the anti-IS fight. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said that 67 civilians, gunmen and soldiers, have been killed in Turkish attacks in northern Syria since the airstrikes began. Nikolas Granger, the U.S. senior representative to northeastern Syria, said Washington strongly opposes military action that further destabilizes the lives of communities and families in Syr

FIFA World Cup 2022: US frustrates England again with a 0-0 draw

Loud jeers rang around the stadium. England's fans were not happy. The United States had frustrated them yet again at a World Cup. That's three times and counting that the teams have met on soccer's biggest stage and England is still waiting for its first win against the Americans after a 0-0 draw on Saturday. Coach Gareth Southgate had reminded his players of that record beforehand, with the US famously winning 1-0 in 1950 and playing out a 1-1 draw in 2010. They didn't seem to heed his warning and didn't respond to Gregg Berhalter's young and energetic team. England beat Iran 6-2 in its opening game in Qatar to justify its status as one of the tournament favourites. But it could consider itself fortunate not to have dropped another match to the US, after Christian Pulisic hit the crossbar with a first-half strike and Weston McKinnie lifted a shot over from eight yards out. The England fans had turned up at the Al Bayt Stadium in anticipation of celebrating a win and qualification

After a year, omicron still driving Covid-19 surges and worries in US

A year after omicron began its assault on humanity, the ever-morphing coronavirus mutant drove COVID-19 case counts higher in many places just as Americans gathered for Thanksgiving. It was a prelude to a wave that experts expect to soon wash over the US. Phoenix-area emergency physician Dr Nicholas Vasquez said his hospital admitted a growing number of chronically ill people and nursing home residents with severe COVID-19 this month. It's been quite a while since we needed to have COVID wards," he said. It's making a clear comeback. Nationally, new COVID cases averaged around 39,300 a day as of Tuesday far lower than last winter but a vast undercount because of reduced testing and reporting. About 28,000 people with COVID were hospitalized daily and about 340 died. Cases and deaths were up from two weeks earlier. Yet a fifth of the US population hasn't been vaccinated, most Americans haven't gotten the latest boosters and many have stopped wearing masks. Meanwhile, the virus kee

US consumers spend $11 bn more online for domestic flights this yr: Report

Domestic flight bookings so far this year have driven $76 billion in online spend, 17 per cent more than the comparable period in 2019 (pre-pandemic), where $65 billion had been spent