USA

14 Oct 2020; MEMO: The US Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday it has reached no firm conclusion about what caused the August 4 explosion in the port of Beirut that killed nearly 200 people and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Other US and European government agencies closely following the investigations into the explosion strongly believe that the blast was accidental.

Washington, Oct 14 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has said that he felt like a "Superman" after his experimental COVID-19 treatment and boasted about his new immunity to the disease which has claimed the lives of 216,000 Americans.

Trump, who tested positive for COVID-19 on October 1 and was admitted to a military hospital for three nights and four days, declared himself cured after he was treated with an experimental antibody drug cocktail.

White House doctors have now cleared him for holding election rallies.

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — With Election Day just three weeks away, President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden concentrated Tuesday on battleground states both see as critical to clinching an Electoral College victory, tailoring their travel to best motivate voters who could cast potentially decisive ballots.

(AP) --- The Black Lives Matter movement isn’t named in any of the 120 statewide ballot measures up for a vote on Nov. 3. But this year’s nationwide protests over police brutality and racial injustice are major factors in the campaigns in several states for measures with distinctive racial themes.

In California, voters will decide whether to allow affirmative action in public hiring, contracting and college admissions — 24 years after Californians approved an initiative outlawing programs that give preference based on race and gender.

(AP) --- The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration can end census field operations early, in a blow to efforts to make sure minorities and hard-to-enumerate communities are properly counted in the crucial once-a-decade tally.

The decision was not a total loss for plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the administration’s decision to end the count early. They managed to get nearly two extra weeks of counting people as the case made its way through the courts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is being forced to play Electoral College defense with a trip to Iowa, a state he won handily in 2016 but where Democrat Joe Biden is making a late push.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett returns to Capitol Hill for a third day of confirmation hearings as senators dig deeper into the conservative judge’s outlook on abortion, health care and a potentially disputed presidential election — the Democrats running out of time to stop Republicans pushing her quick confirmation.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 13 (APP): Pakistan has called for establishing a facility under UN’s umbrella to provide adequate financing for infrastructure investment in developing countries to spur economic development as they cope with the losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

NEW YORK, October 13. /TASS/: Russia intends to have clinical trials of its Sputnik V vaccine against the new coronavirus in different countries, since it is confident in its effectiveness, the drug will be one of the most studied in the world. Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said this in an interview with CNN, which was released on Monday.

13 Oct 2020; MEMO: US President Donald Trump asked UAE Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Zayed to encourage other countries in the region to build ties with Israel, Arab48 reported yesterday.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Arab48 reported White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere saying that Trump and Bin Zayed discussed the latest updates about the Middle East on the telephone.