USA

LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — Hurricane Delta crashed onshore Friday in southwestern Louisiana as a Category 2 storm, ripping tarps from already damaged roofs and slinging debris piled by roads along a path of destruction inflicted by Hurricane Laura only six weeks earlier.

The center of the hurricane made landfall about 6 p.m. near the town of Creole — a distance of only about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from where Laura struck in August.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 09 (APP): Pakistan has called for creating a “robust” mechanism for the return of stolen assets of developing countries that illicitly flow to “haven” nations.

“These flows stifle economic growth in the developing countries and condemn their poor population to a life of inequality and indignity,” Aamir Khan, deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the General Assembly’s Second Committee, which deals with economic and financial matters.

NEW YORK, October 9. /TASS/: Director of the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center William Evanina accused Russia, China and Iran of attempting to prevent the United States from obtaining and using a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

In an interview with Hearst Television, Evanina accused "foreign nations" of "trying to prevent us from obtaining the vaccine first."

"But once we do, they're going to surely prevent us from trying to get it into your arm," he continued. "China, Russia and Iran are trying to prevent us from getting the vaccine."

09 Oct 2020; MEMO: The United States on Thursday slapped fresh sanctions on Iran’s financial sector, targeting 18 Iranian banks in an effort to further shut Iran out of the global banking system as Washington ramps up pressure on Tehran weeks ahead of the US election, Reuters reports.

09 Oct 2020; MEMO: The United States has compiled a list of 80 sites linked to Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and presented it to the government in Baghdad. The Americans have told the Iraqi government that they will target the sites and close the US Embassy if the militias are not reined in.

New York, Oct 9 (AP/PTI) President Donald Trump has said he doesn't think he's contagious anymore, but medical experts say that's impossible to know a week after his diagnosis with COVID-19.

Most people with COVID-19 can stop isolating and be around others about 10 days after they first showed symptoms, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday the United States could have enough COVID-19 vaccine doses for every American as early as March.

The U.S. government's coronavirus vaccine program Operation Warp Speed expects to have up to 100 million doses by the end of the year, Azar said during a keynote speech at the Goldman Sachs Healthcare virtual event on the coronavirus.

"We project having enough for every American who wants a vaccine by March to April 2021," he said.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Thursday returned to its own chamber for an in-person meeting, the first time in almost seven months after a lockdown from the coronavirus.

At the beginning of the meeting on Mali, Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, who chaired the meeting as president of the Security Council for the month of October, thanked council members for agreeing to return to the venue.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- A new ensemble forecast published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday projects up to 233,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States by Oct. 31.

The new national ensemble forecast predicts that 2,800 to 6,800 new COVID-19 deaths will likely be reported during the week ending Oct. 31, and a total of 224,000 to 233,000 COVID-19 deaths will be reported by that date.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An attorney for the family of a Black teen killed by a suburban Milwaukee police officer vowed Thursday to keep fighting and working to prove racism pervades the officer’s department, after a prosecutor declined to file charges in the case.