USA

WASHINGTON, July 17. /TASS/: Russia cut its investment in US government securities from $3.957 bln in April to $3.805 ln in May, the US Department of Treasury said on Friday.

The share of long-term bonds in May amounted to $305 mln. Short-term bonds accounted for $3.5 bln.

Russia began to sharply reduce investments in the US national debt in the spring of 2018. Thus, in April their level fell from $96 bln to $48.7 bln, and in May - to $14.9 bln. In May last year, Russia cut its investment from $6.85 bln to $5.39 bln.

NEW YORK, July 17. /TASS/: Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya will meet with US government officials, Congress members and foreign ambassadors in Washington next week, a source familiar with details of the upcoming visit told TASS.

"Tikhanovskaya will be in Washington next week. Among other events, she will meet with US Ambassador to Belarus Julie Fisher," the source said, without giving any further information about the schedule.

WASHINGTON, July 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for a national effort to fight misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines, urging tech companies, health care workers, journalists and everyday Americans to do more to address a problem “that cost us lives”.

In a 22-page advisory, his first as President Joe Biden’s surgeon general, Murthy wrote that bogus claims have led people to reject vaccines and public health advice on masks and social distancing, undermining efforts to end the coronavirus pandemic and putting lives at risk.

NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) - Libya's unity government Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said on Friday he was unaware of any understanding between Russia and Turkey on a withdrawal of their foreign fighters, but that such a move would be welcomed.

Speaking to Reuters in New York, Dbeibah also said he was committed to holding elections on Dec. 24, but warned that some lawmakers may be reluctant to give up power. Dbeibah, a businessman appointed interim prime minister in February, said he has not yet decided whether to run for office.

WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will host Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi at the White House on July 26, the White House said on Friday.

The visit will highlight the strategic partnership between the two countries and advance bilateral cooperation under a 2008 agreement that governed the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

WASHINGTON, July 16 (Xinhua) -- The number of migrants encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border reached a yearly high in June, according to new statistics released Friday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

CBP encountered 188,829 people attempting to come to the United States through its southern border in June, a 5 percent increase from May, CBP said, in which 180,641 individuals were encountered.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is investigating a recent rash of mysterious health incidents reported by American diplomats and other government employees in Vienna, Austria, U.S. officials said Friday.

Some of the symptoms are similar to those first reported by U.S. diplomats and spies in Havana, Cuba, in 2016 and 2017 for which no definitive cause has yet been determined, according to the officials, who said more than 20 new cases were being looked at by medical teams at the State Department and elsewhere, including the Pentagon and CIA.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Dry, unstable and windy conditions will keep fueling a massive wildfire in southern Oregon, forecasters said, as the largely uncontained blaze grows by miles each day.

The Bootleg Fire was just one of numerous wildfires burning across the U.S. West.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two weeks after celebrating America’s near “independence” from the coronavirus, President Joe Biden is confronting the worrying reality of rising cases and deaths — and the limitations of his ability to combat the persistent vaccine hesitance responsible for the summer backslide.

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — In Republicans’ bid to retake control of Congress, this traditionally Democratic stretch of south Texas has quietly become a top battleground.

After making unexpected gains last November, the GOP is zeroing in on a trio of House seats in the region as key targets heading into next year’s midterm elections. They include the 15th congressional district, which hasn’t sent a Republican to Washington since its creation in 1903, but where a GOP newcomer came within three points of winning in 2020.