USA

NEW YORK, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Global COVID-19 deaths surpassed 1.1 million on Friday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The global death toll rose to 1,100,364, while there were more than 39 million cases worldwide as of 12:24 p.m. (1624 GMT), the CSSE data showed.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. federal budget deficit soared to a record 3.1 trillion dollars in the fiscal year 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted massive fiscal stimulus and caused tax revenue to fall, official data showed Friday.

Budget deficit for the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, was 2.1 trillion dollars higher than that of the prior year, according to the final budget results for fiscal year 2020 jointly released by U.S. Treasury Department and White House Office of Management and Budget.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Call him low-key, understated, maybe even “boring.” First-term Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan is betting voters care more about his effectiveness, as he desperately fights to keep a seat his party is counting on to take the Senate majority.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gone are the days when President Donald Trump held forth daily at the White House podium flanked by members of his coronavirus task force. And the days when Vice President Mike Pence and other task force officials would head to Trump’s office to brief him immediately after their meetings.

The White House won’t say when Trump last met with the task force.

17 Oct 2020; AA: The US Department of Defense said Friday it is "aware" of reports that Turkey recently tested an advanced Russian air defense system, saying if the reports are true it "strongly condemns the test."

"We have been clear: an operational S-400 system is not consistent with Turkey’s commitments as a U.S. and NATO Ally," spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement, calling the system "a barrier to progress elsewhere in the bilateral relationship."

Washington, Oct 17 (AP/PTI) The US and Russia on Friday rejected each other's proposals for potentially salvaging the last remaining legal constraint on their strategic nuclear forces.

President Vladimir Putin called for an unconditional extension of the soon-to-expire New START treaty, and the White House called that a non-starter. Adding an edginess to the diplomatic clash, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, suggested the Russians rethink their stance before a costly arms race ensues.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. David Perdue mocked Kamala Harris, his Senate colleague and the Democratic vice presidential nominee, on Friday by repeatedly mispronouncing her name at a Georgia rally for President Donald Trump.

Perdue was wrapping up his remarks at an event in Macon when he referred to Harris as “KAH’-mah-lah? Kah-MAH’-lah? Kamala-mala-mala? I don’t know. Whatever.” The audience laughed.

A spokesperson for Perdue said the first-term senator “didn’t mean anything by it.”

(AP) --- New documents from a former Cambridge Analytica insider reveal what an election watchdog group claims was illegal coordination between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and a billionaire-funded pro-Trump super PAC.

The legal complaint touches on some of the same people involved in today’s hotly contested presidential race and provides a detailed account alleging that Trump’s last campaign worked around election rules to coordinate behind the scenes with the political action committee.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration abruptly reversed course and approved California’s application for disaster relief funds to clean up damage from six recent deadly and destructive blazes that have scorched the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday.

“Just got off the phone with President Trump who has approved our Major Disaster Declaration request. Grateful for his quick response,” Newsom said in a brief statement.

MACON, Ga. (AP) — Backed into a corner and facing financial strains, President Donald Trump went after his opponent’s family and defended his own struggle to contain the pandemic on Friday as he fought to energize his sagging reelection bid in the nation’s Sun Belt. With Election Day looming, Democrat Joe Biden pushed to keep voters focused on health care in the Midwest.