USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation is soaring, businesses are struggling to hire and President Joe Biden’s poll numbers have been in free-fall. The White House sees a common culprit for it all: COVID-19.

Biden’s team views the pandemic as the root cause of both the nation’s malaise and his own political woes. Finally controlling COVID-19, the White House believes, is the skeleton key to rejuvenating the country and reviving Biden’s own standing.

DENVER (AP) — Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota called Friday for House leaders to take “appropriate action” against Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert for using anti-Muslim language in describing a recent encounter she had with Omar at the U.S. Capitol.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders demanded Boebert retract her comments.

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Three people were shot and wounded Friday during an apparent fight between two groups at a North Carolina mall crowded with shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving, the police chief said.

Authorities said in the late afternoon that one person was detained and there was no further threat to the public. A bystander described “mass hysteria” on one of the busiest shopping days of the year as shoppers ducked into stores for cover or ran for the exits.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Friday recommended an overhaul of the nation’s oil and gas leasing program to limit areas available for energy development and raise costs for oil and gas companies to drill on public land and water.

The long-awaited report by the Interior Department stops short of recommending an end to oil and gas leasing on public lands, as many environmental groups have urged. But officials said the report would lead to a more responsible leasing process that provides a better return to U.S. taxpayers.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 26 (APP): The World Health Organization, a Geneva-based UN agency, has urged all countries to adopt a risk-based and scientific approach to travel bans linked to a new coronavirus variant identified in South Africa and Botswana.

The development on Friday came as a World Health Organization (WHO) panel prepared to meet to assess the potential impact of a new coronavirus variant identified as B 1.1.529.

According to WHO’s COVID-19 technical expert, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the information is still limited.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 26 (APP): One in five refugee or internally displaced women have faced sexual violence, and the situation continues to worsen globally, the UN refugee agency, (UNHCR), said Friday.

On the 30th anniversary of the campaign for 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the UN agency said that there’s been a global surge in domestic violence, child marriages, trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse since March.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The United States should recommit to engagement with China because engagement has played a crucial role in discouraging confrontation between the two countries, said Javier Solana, former secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In a commentary published Monday on the website of Project Syndicate, the former NATO chief said engagement with China is not popular among U.S. policymakers nowadays, and their tough China stance has a "fatal flaw."

WASHINGTON, Nov 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Pentagon is creating a new office to investigate unidentified flying objects amid concerns that after broad probes it cannot explain mysterious sightings near highly sensitive military areas.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, working with the US director of national intelligence, ordered the new investigatory body to be established in the US Defense Department’s intelligence and security office, the Pentagon said.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden's recent moves to lower energy prices is "undercutting his lofty goals on climate," The Washington Post has analyzed.

In an article published on Tuesday, the U.S. media outlet pointed out some of the contradictory moves of the Biden administration amid a dilemma between the near-term needs of the economy, the pressures of domestic politics and the longer-term emission target.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Racial inequities remain pervasive in the U.S. health system, a new study has found.

"Black, Latinx/Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native populations are less likely to have health insurance, more likely to face cost-related barriers to getting care, and more likely to incur medical debt," said the Commonwealth Fund in a new report.

"It is also less common for individuals from these groups to have a usual source of care or to regularly receive preventive services like vaccinations," it added.