USA

14 July 2021; MEMO: A quarter of American Jews believe Israel is an apartheid state according to a new poll which has made a number of striking findings over the extent to which the occupation state is losing the battle for hearts and minds amongst the most populous Jewish community outside Israel.

Washington, Jul 14 (PTI) US President Joe Biden has nominated a prominent Indian-American physician and a surgeon to serve in key roles in his administration.

West Virginia's former health commissioner Dr Rahul Gupta was nominated on Tuesday as the next director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Congressman Mark Green has warned against a new "Cold War" between the United States and China.

In an article recently published in The National Interest, a conservative U.S. magazine, Green wrote that "we must do everything we can to avoid a new cold war -- this time one between the United States and China."

WASHINGTON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. budget deficit soared to 2.24 trillion U.S. dollars during the first nine months of fiscal year 2021, which ends on Sept. 30, the U.S. Treasury Department reported on Tuesday.

Federal revenue for the nine-month period ending in June rose to 3.05 trillion dollars, while total outlays rose to 5.29 trillion dollars, driven by payments for jobless benefits and COVID-19 relief programs, according to the department.

UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that 11 billion doses are needed to vaccinate 70 percent of the world to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

NEW YORK (AP) — An Iranian intelligence officer and three alleged members of an Iranian intelligence network have been charged in Manhattan with plotting to kidnap a prominent Iranian opposition activist and writer in exile and take her back to Tehran, authorities said Tuesday.

An indictment in Manhattan federal court alleges that the plot was part of a wider plan to lure three individuals in Canada and a fifth person in the United Kingdom to Iran. Victims were also targeted in the United Arab Emirates, authorities said.

BLY, Ore. (AP) — Fierce wildfires in the northwest are threatening American Indian tribal lands that already are struggling to conserve water and preserve traditional hunting grounds in the face of a Western drought.

Blazes in Oregon and Washington were among some 60 large, active wildfires that have destroyed homes and burned through close to a million acres (1,562 square miles, 4,047 square kilometers) in a dozen mostly Western states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats announced late Tuesday that they’d reached a budget agreement envisioning spending an enormous $3.5 trillion over the coming decade, paving the way for their drive to pour federal resources into climate change, health care and family-service programs sought by President Joe Biden.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — President Joe Biden declared preserving voting rights an urgent national “test of our time” on Tuesday but offered few concrete proposals to meet it. Texas Democrats took their own dramatic action to stymie Republican efforts to tighten ballot restrictions in their state.

(AP) --- The COVID-19 curve in the U.S. is rising again after months of decline, with the number of new cases per day doubling over the past three weeks, driven by the fast-spreading delta variant, lagging vaccination rates and Fourth of July gatherings.

Confirmed infections climbed to an average of about 23,600 a day on Monday, up from 11,300 on June 23, according to Johns Hopkins University data. And all but two states — Maine and South Dakota — reported that case numbers have gone up over the past two weeks.