USA

WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A senior al-Qaeda leader was killed in a US drone strike in Syria, the Pentagon said.

  The Friday strike comes two days after a base in southern Syria, used by the US-led coalition fighting the Daesh group, was assaulted.

  “A US airstrike today (Friday) in northwest Syria killed senior al-Qaeda leader Abdul Hamid al-Matar,” said Central Command spokesman Army Major John Rigsbee in a statement.

  There were no known casualties from the strike, he said, adding it was conducted using an MQ-9 aircraft.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Friday discussed cooperation in the Sahel and Indo-Pacific regions and agreed to meet in Rome later this month, said the White House.

Biden and Macron in a phone conversation discussed efforts to support stability and security in the Sahel, enhance cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and enable a more capable European defense, according to a White House statement.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Rates of gun violence in the United States surged by almost a third during last year's COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published Thursday in Scientific Reports.

Researchers identified around 51,000 incidents of gun violence across the United States during the 13-month period of the pandemic, from March 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, up from nearly 39,000 during the preceding 13-month period.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- More than 80 countries opposed the interference in China's internal affairs under the pretext of human rights at the Third Committee of the 76th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Thursday.

During the meeting, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, resolutely refuted the unfounded accusations against China which were launched by a few countries, including the United States and France.

He expressed China's firm opposition, and later held a press conference on China's position on human rights issues.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is welcoming tens of thousands of Afghans airlifted out of Kabul but has disclosed little publicly about a small group who remain overseas: dozens who triggered potential security issues during security vetting and have been sent to an American base in the Balkan nation of Kosovo.

22 Oct 2021; MEMO: Saudi authorities must stop the arbitrary detention of Palestinians "immediately", the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said yesterday.

NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida businessman who helped Rudy Giuliani’s effort to dig up dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine was convicted Friday of campaign finance crimes, including funneling a Russian entrepreneur’s money to U.S. politicians.

Lev Parnas was on trial for more than two weeks as prosecutors accused him of using other people’s money to pose as a powerful political broker and cozy up to some of the nation’s star Republicans.

(AP) --- Federal health regulators said late Friday that kid-size doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine appear highly effective at preventing symptomatic infections in elementary school children and caused no unexpected safety issues, as the U.S. weighs beginning vaccinations in youngsters.

The Food and Drug Administration posted its analysis of Pfizer’s data ahead of a public meeting next week to debate whether the shots are ready for the nation’s roughly 28 million children ages 5 to 11. The agency will ask a panel of outside vaccine experts to vote on that question.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A deal within reach, President Joe Biden and Congress’ top Democrats edged close to sealing their giant domestic legislation, though the informal deadline appeared to slip as they worked to scale back the measure and determine how to pay for it.

Negotiations were expected to continue into the weekend, all sides indicating just a few issues remained unsettled in the sweeping package of social services and climate change strategies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As supporters of Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6th, battling police and forcing lawmakers into hiding, an insurrection of a different kind was taking place inside the world’s largest social media company.