USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two suspected hackers accused of ransomware attacks resulting in 5,000 infections have been arrested as part of a global cybercrime crackdown, Europol announced Monday.

The two, who were not identified by name, were arrested last week by Romanian authorities. Officials say the attacks, linked to the ransomware gang known as REvil, yielded about half a million euros in ransom payments.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is encouraging local school districts to host clinics to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to kids — and information to parents on the benefits of the shots — as the White House looks to speedily provide vaccines to those ages 5 to 11.

First lady Jill Biden and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy are set to visit the Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia, on Monday to launch a nationwide campaign to promote child vaccinations. The school was the first to administer the polio vaccine in 1954.

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — A man who suffered a severe arm injury when he was shot by Kyle Rittenhouse during a night of protests against racial injustice is expected to testify this week as prosecutors near the end of their case in Rittenhouse’s murder trial.

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States State Department has announced rewards of up to $5m each for information that will help authorities capture and convict four Mexican drug cartel leaders, including the brother of infamous trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Along with Aureliano Guzman-Loera, US authorities are also upping their pursuit of brothers Ruperto Salgueiro-Nevarez, Jose Salgueiro-Nevarez and Heriberto Salgueiro-Nevarez.

WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The White House has received recommendations for restarting remittances to Cuba but sent some back for further work to craft "innovative options" to ensure that money sent by Cuban Americans to families on the island does not fall into the hands of Cuba's government, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

President Joe Biden in July asked the Treasury Department and State Department to study the matter and report back on how to allow remittance payments - once a financial lifeline for many Cubans - without Cuba's government and military profiting.

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.