USA

(AP) --- The U.S. moved a step closer Wednesday to offering booster doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to senior citizens and others at high risk from the virus as the Food and Drug Administration signed off on the targeted use of extra shots.

NEW YORK, Sep 22 (APP): A proposed SAARC meeting was canceled after Pakistan’s objections that the annual gathering in New York would be “inappropriate” due to India’s ongoing atrocities in Kashmir as well as the question of legal representation of Afghanistan, according to diplomatic sources here.

The SAARC Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting, scheduled for September 25, was proposed by Nepal reportedly at India’s behest.

NEW YORK, Sept 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Federal authorities in New York have arrested a man who they say threatened to kill the president of the Dominican Republic, who is in the city for the UN General Assembly.

Enrique Figueroa, 47, began threatening President Luis Abinader on social networks last month, according to a criminal complaint filed by New York prosecutors.

Figueroa posted on the internet “threats to kidnap, kill and injure” Abinader, the complaint said.

WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron will meet in Europe in October, the White House said following a call between the two leaders earlier on Wednesday.

Macron will also send France's ambassador to the United States back to Washington next week "to start intensive work with senior U.S. officials," the White House said in a statement.

NEW YORK, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Individuals with Asian or Chinese names are punished twice as severely as those with Western names in economic espionage charges in the United States, showed a U.S. study released on Tuesday.

The study, titled "Racial Disparities in Economic Espionage Act Prosecutions (EEA): A Window into the New Red Scare," also said that one in three Asian Americans accused of espionage may have been falsely accused.

NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The newly-announced deal between the United States, Britain and Australia on nuclear-powered submarines has massive flaws, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Monday.

Speaking at a webinar organized by the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, Rudd said the Australian government's unilateral repeal of the submarine contract with France and switch to nuclear-powered submarines took place like "a bolt from the blue."

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) — When the sheriff of San Luis Obispo County hailed the arrests in April of a father and son in the 25-year-old disappearance of college student Kristin Smart, he said he was confident they had the evidence needed to convict them.

A judge on Wednesday will determine if they have enough evidence to proceed to trial after a 22-day preliminary hearing.

(AP) --- President Joe Biden is set to announce that the United States is doubling its purchase of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shots to share with the world to 1 billion doses as he embraces the goal of vaccinating 70% of the global population within the next year.

The stepped-up U.S. commitment is to be the cornerstone of the global vaccination summit Biden is convening virtually Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, where he plans to push well-off nations to do more to get the coronavirus under control.

22 Sep 2021; MEMO: US President Joe Biden said yesterday that he backs the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, stating this is the "best way" to ensure the future of Israel as a Jewish state, news agencies reported.

22 Sep 2021; MEMO: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) yesterday condemned the removal of $1 billion in military aid intended for Israel from the US government's spending bill.

This came after the US House of Representatives removed the article related to the military fund for Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system after a number of progressive Democrats threatened they would not allow the bill to pass.