USA

Washington, Oct 15 (AP/PTI) Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden raised USD 383 million for his election effort in September, a record-breaking sum that eclipses the unprecedented fundraising from the previous month.

The haul, announced Wednesday night, leaves him with USD 432 million in the bank just weeks before the November 3 election.

He raised the money in conjunction with the Democratic National Committee.

PARIS/WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States has offered to settle a long-running aircraft subsidy dispute with the European Union and remove tariffs on wine, whisky and other products if Airbus AIR.PA repays billions of dollars in aid to European governments, several sources close to the matter told Reuters.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- World Bank Group President David Malpass on Wednesday welcomed the extension of debt relief program by the Group of Twenty (G20), calling for further efforts to help the poorest countries tackle the debt crisis.

Earlier this year, "the G20 endorsed a vital debt relief program for the poorest countries, giving people a ray of hope," Malpass made the remarks at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, virtually held during the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Wednesday that maintaining fiscal and monetary support to households and firms while containing COVID-19 is critical for a durable economic recovery from the pandemic.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump said Wednesday that her and the president’s teenage son, Barron, tested positive for the coronavirus not long after his parents, but had no symptoms. She made the revelation in a lengthy note chronicling her personal experience with COVID-19, including being hit with a “roller coaster” of symptoms that she treated naturally with vitamins and healthy food.

Mrs. Trump said she is now negative and hopes to resume her duties soon.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — It’s the big question looming over one of this year’s bloodiest mass shootings: Who opened fire at a crowded house party in Rochester, New York, on the last weekend of summer, killing two teenagers and wounding 14 other people?

Nearly a month after gunshots rang out just after midnight on Sept. 19, there have been no arrests, no rewards offered and little word from authorities on where the investigation stands. If the police have suspects in mind, they haven’t said so publicly. Nor have they told people who lost loved ones or were wounded themselves.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Political groups fighting for control of the U.S. Senate have poured more than $118 million into the contest between Montana’s Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock and Republican incumbent Steve Daines, a record shattering figure for the sparsely-populated state that dwarfs spending on a per-voter basis in all other Senate battleground states.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service agreed Wednesday to reverse changes that slowed mail service nationwide, settling a lawsuit filed by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock during a pandemic that is expected to force many more people to vote by mail.

The lawsuit filed against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the U.S. Postal Service on Sept. 9 argued changes implemented in June harmed access to mail services in Montana, resulting in delayed delivery of medical prescriptions, payments, and job applications, and impeding the ability of Montana residents to vote by mail.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Wildfires churning out dense plumes of smoke as they scorch huge swaths of the U.S. West Coast have exposed millions of people to hazardous pollution levels, causing emergency room visits to spike and potentially thousands of deaths among the elderly and infirm, according to an Associated Press analysis of pollution data and interviews with physicians, health authorities and researchers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee is poised to take the first steps toward approving Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett following two long days of Senate testimony in which she stressed that she would be her own judge and sought to create distance between herself and past positions.