USA

WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on a Cuban security minister and an interior ministry special forces unit for alleged human rights abuses in a crackdown on anti-government protests earlier this month.

The move marked the first concrete steps by President Joe Biden's administration to apply pressure on Cuba's Communist government as it faces calls from U.S. lawmakers and the Cuban-American community to show greater support for the biggest protests to hit the island in decades.

WASHINGTON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military in the past few days conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan to support Afghan security forces, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

According to media reports, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said that "in the last several days, we have acted, through airstrikes, to support the ANDSF (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces)," without providing details.

A defense official told the Associated Press that the U.S. military conducted more than four airstrikes supporting Afghan forces on Wednesday and Thursday.

WASHINGTON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a set of policy reforms to the concessional lending facilities to better support the recovery of low-income countries (LICs) from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"These reforms are set to ensure that the Fund has the capacity to respond flexibly to LICs' needs over the medium term while continuing to provide concessional loans at zero interest rates," the IMF said Thursday in a statement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose last week from the lowest point of the pandemic, even as the job market appears to be rebounding on the strength of a reopened economy.

The Labor Department said Thursday that jobless claims increased last week to 419,000, the most in two months, from 368,000 the previous week. The number of first-time applications, which generally tracks layoffs, has fallen steadily since topping 900,000 in early January.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are raising new concerns about the thoroughness of the FBI’s background investigation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after the FBI revealed that it had received thousands of tips and had provided “all relevant” ones to the White House counsel’s office.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The eruption of COVID-19 last year caused the proportion of people working from home in the U.S. to nearly double, with the shift most pronounced among college graduates and workers in such fields as finance and professional services.

The share of employed people working from home shot up from just 22% in 2019 to 42% in 2020, the Labor Department said Thursday.

BLY, Ore. (AP) — The nation’s largest wildfire raged through southern Oregon on Friday but crews were scaling back some night operations as hard work and weaker winds helped reduce the spread of flames even as wildfires continued to threaten homes in neighboring California.

The Bootleg Fire, which has destroyed an area half the size of Rhode Island, was 40% surrounded after burning some 70 homes, mainly cabins, fire officials said.

At least 2,000 homes were ordered evacuated at some point during the fire and an additional 5,000 were threatened.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 22 (APP): The head of the UN World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has welcomed the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games as a chance to spread “hope to the world”.

Speaking in the Japanese capital Tokyo, he said the world must unite with “determination, dedication and discipline” to triumph over the coronavirus pandemic.

“More than any other event (the Games) have the power to bring the world together; to inspire; to show what is possible,” Tedros told the International Olympic Committee, with the Olympic flame in his hand.

SURFSIDE (Florida, US), July 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — As the remaining rubble from the collapse of a 12-storey oceanfront condominium was cleared away on Wednesday, a Florida judge said victims and families who suffered losses will get a minimum of US$150 million in compensation initially.

FLORIDA: As the remaining rubble from the collapse of a 12-storey oceanfront condominium was cleared away on Wednesday (Jul 21), a Florida judge sai

WASHINGTON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- As the global vaccination campaign against COVID-19 is getting underway, the competition between rich and poor countries would be lopsided, according to a recent report of U.S. media.

Poor countries have vaccinated 1 percent of their population, compared with 55 percent in the United States and about 25 percent globally, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

"Few expected poor countries to be at the mercy of donations from the rich, or that the inequity would be this bad for so long," it said.