North America

WASHINGTON, August 6. /TASS/: Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov slammed as absurd Washington’s attempts to shift responsibility for the global food crisis to Russia.

OTTAWA, Aug 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), confirmed 957 cases of monkeypox in the country, as of yesterday.

The health agency said that, of the confirmed cases, 449 cases are from Ontario, 407 from Quebec, 81 from British Columbia, 16 from Alberta, and two each from Saskatchewan and the Yukon.

In the wake of the World Health Organisation and the United States’ declaration of monkeypox as a public health emergency, questions are being raised about whether Canada should follow suit.

WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The Biden administration's next security assistance package for Ukraine is expected to be $1 billion, one of the largest so far, and include munitions for long-range weapons and armored medical transport vehicles, three sources briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday.

The package is expected to be announced as early as Monday and would add to about $8.8 billion in aid the United States has given Ukraine since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. federal reports on long COVID released Wednesday fail to address the needs of patients, NBC reported on Thursday.

The reports neglected to include many of the recommendations of doctors and advocacy groups for how to address the long COVID crisis, the report said.

It also said the reports commit to establishing a long COVID office within the Department of Health and Human Services, but offer no details on how such an office would be funded and staffed, nor do they offer any timeline for the setup.

HAVANA (AP) — A fire set off by a lightning strike at an oil storage facility raged uncontrolled Saturday in the city of Matanzas, where four explosions and flames injured nearly 80 people and left 17 firefighters missing, Cuban authorities said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden tested negative for COVID-19 on Saturday but will continue to isolate at the White House until a second negative test, his doctor said.

Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote in his latest daily update that the president, “in an abundance of caution,” will abide by the “strict isolation measures” in place since his “rebound” infection was detected July 30, pending a follow-up negative result.

(AP) --- Elon Musk said Saturday his planned $44 billion takeover of Twitter should move forward if the company can confirm some details about how it measures whether user accounts are ‘spam bots’ or real people.

The billionaire and Tesla CEO has been trying to back out of his April agreement to buy the social media company, leading Twitter to sue him last month to complete the acquisition. Musk countersued, accusing Twitter of misleading his team about the true size of its user base and other problems he said amounted to fraud and breach of contract.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats pared part of their proposed minimum tax on huge corporations and made other changes in their giant economic bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday, as they drove toward delivering a campaign-season victory to President Joe Biden on his domestic agenda.

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Four people were shot to death in an Ohio neighborhood, and a man considered armed and dangerous was being sought, authorities said.

Police in Montgomery County’s Butler Township said officers were called to the area shortly before noon Friday on a report of shots fired. Chief John Porter said four victims with gunshot wounds were found at “multiple crime scenes” and all were pronounced dead at the scene.

LaPLACE, La. (AP) — Enthusiastic church volunteer Sonia St. Cyr lost something she treasures during the blackout caused by Hurricane Ida — her independence, afforded her by the electric wheelchair she expertly maneuvers over bumpy city sidewalks.

“After Ida I was housebound,” said St. Cyr, who has multiple sclerosis. She did her best to conserve power on her wheelchair, going only to the end of her block or sitting on her porch after the storm made landfall last August 29.