USA

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Much of California is on the brink of sweeping new restrictions on businesses and activities, a desperate attempt to slow the frighteningly rapid escalation of coronavirus cases that threatens to overwhelm hospitals.

Five San Francisco Bay Area counties imposed a new stay-at-home order for their residents that will take effect Sunday. Southern California and a large swath of the central portion of the state could join this weekend.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden is facing increasing pressure to expand the racial and ideological diversity in his choices for Cabinet and other top jobs. A month and a half before he takes office, he’s drawing rebukes from activists who fear he’ll fall short on promises to build an administration that looks like the country it governs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — One leading candidate for agriculture secretary hails from Cleveland, has the backing of progressives and has worked for years to boost food stamp programs. Another is a former senator from farm-state North Dakota who has championed production agriculture and boasts of a voting record squarely in the middle.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — States faced a deadline on Friday to place orders for the coronavirus vaccine as many reported record infections, hospitalizations and deaths, while hospitals were pushed to the breaking point — with the worst feared yet to come.

Washington, Dec 5 (AP-PTI) The Pentagon has said it is pulling most US troops out of Somalia on President Donald Trump's orders, continuing a post-election push by Trump to shrink US involvement in counterterrorism missions abroad.

Houston, Dec 5 (AP-PTI) A federal appeals court ruled Friday that a lower court was wrong to bar the Trump administration from taking 3.6 billion from military construction projects for a border wall.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 03 (APP): An additional 207 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030, due to the severe long-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic, bringing the total number to more than a billion worldwide, a new study from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has found.

According to the study, released on Thursday, such a “high damage” scenario would mean a protracted recovery from COVID-19, anticipating that 80 per cent of the pandemic-induced economic crisis would continue over a decade.

04 Dec 2020; MEMO: The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday voted with an overwhelming majority in favour of a draft resolution affirming Syria's sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, and considering all Israeli procedures in them null and void.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 04 (APP): Reaffirming its full support to the Palestinians’ struggle for self-determination and against foreign occupation, Pakistan has urged the international community to help them establish an independent State of their own with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital.

“The tragedy of Palestine is the collective failure of the international community to uphold the fundamental principled provision of the UN Charter and the binding resolutions of the Security Council,” Pakistani delegate Saad warraich told the UN General Assembly.

04 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Republican Senator Ted Cruz presented a bill in the Senate that proposes adding the Muslim Brotherhood to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs).