North America

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. multinational pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer has come under pressure over alleged data fraud suspicion in its COVID-19 clinical trials, according to British medical journal The BMJ.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday hailed Congress’ passage of his $1 trillion infrastructure package as a “monumental step forward for the nation” after fractious fellow Democrats resolved a months-long standoff in their ranks to seal the deal.

“Finally, infrastructure week,” a beaming Biden told reporters. “I’m so happy to say that: infrastructure week.”

HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities said they would watch video, interview witnesses and review concert protocols to determine how eight people died at a Houston music festival when fans suddenly surged toward the stage to watch rapper Travis Scott.

City officials said Saturday they were in the early stages of investigating the pandemonium that unfolded Friday evening at Astroworld, a sold-out, two-day event in NRG Park with an estimated 50,000 people in attendance. One attendee said that as a timer clicked down to the start of Scott’s performance, the crowd pushed forward.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 06 (APP): Nearly 23 million people, or 55 per cent of the Afghan population, are estimated to be in crisis or experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity between now and March of next year, a UN spokesperson has said.

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the Secretary-General, also pointed to reports that isolated clashes and violence affecting civilians and resulting in casualties continued countrywide this week.

UNITED NATIONS, November 6. /TASS/: A dialogue on settling bilateral relations with Ukraine and Georgia is impossible until they reject groundless accusations directed at Russia, Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva Andrey Belousov who represented the country at the meetings of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly in New York told Russian journalists.

WASHINGTON, November 6. /TASS/: A meeting of the representatives of the US Department of State and Russia’s Foreign Ministry to discuss irritants in bilateral relations as well as the visa issue is planned for the next few days, Russia’s Charge d’Affaires in the United States Sergey Koshelev told the RTVI channel on Friday.

NEW YORK, November 6. /TASS/: CIA director William Burns visited Moscow in order to let Russia know that the US was closely monitoring the alleged buildup of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border. As CNN reported on Friday, citing its sources, the US intelligence chief was supposed to determine what was motivating Russia’s actions.

According to CNN, during meetings in Moscow, the CIA’s chief tried to warn Russia against any plans for an offensive, stressing that the US closely monitors all the movements of Russian troops.

WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US State Department announced the approval Thursday of the sale of $650 million worth of air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia to help the country protect itself from drone attacks.

  The approval will allow the Saudis to buy up to 280 of the AIM-120C advanced medium-range missiles and related equipment, replenishing an existing supply of the missiles, the department said.

MEXICO CITY, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- A migrant caravan traveling on foot through southern Mexico to the U.S. border on Thursday overwhelmed the Mexican National Guard trying to contain its advance and resumed its march toward Mexico City.

The migrants and guard members clashed on the highway linking the towns of Pijijiapan and Tonala in Chiapas state, leaving at least two guard members injured and many people arrested, according to local media reports and images posted on social media.

HOUSTON, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people died and scores of others were injured at the Astroworld music festival in the U.S. city of Houston on Friday night, officials said.

"The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage and that caused some panic and it started causing some injuries," Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena told a press briefing outside NRG Park early Saturday morning.

"We had at least eight confirmed fatalities tonight and scores of individuals that were injured," Pena said.