USA

Washington DC; 02 Oct 2020 (UMMN):  US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump have tested coronavirus positive early Friday.

"Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!" Trump tweeted shortly before 1 a.m. Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court has energized his conservative supporters, but public opinion on abortion, healthcare and other hot-button issues the court may face could work against him in the November election, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

Trailing Democrat Joe Biden in national opinion polls, the Republican Trump hopes to build enthusiasm for his re-election among undecided and independent voters, especially in U.S. battleground states that decide presidential elections.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hasmik Burushyan has not lived in Armenia, but like many young Armenian-Americans in her California city, she feels a strong connection to her ancestral land and a deep concern for what could happen next in an escalating conflict with Azerbaijan.

The 22-year-old is among those mobilizing to demand stronger action from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to support Armenia in a battle over breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh - part of Azerbaijan but run by its mostly ethnic Armenian inhabitants.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday welcomed the announcements of an agreement to launch talks on border delineation between Lebanon and Israel, said his spokesman.

The talks will be hosted by the United Nations at the premises of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon in Naqoura, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, in a statement.

The United Nations, through its representatives, will remain fully committed to supporting the process as requested by the parties and within its capacity and mandate, said the statement.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that he won't agree to any rule changes at the remaining two debates with 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

"Why would I allow the Debate Commission to change the rules for the second and third Debates when I easily won last time?" Trump tweeted, while several polls showed that most viewers think Biden did better in the first 2020 presidential debate.

HOUSTON, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Data from the Donald Trump administration has shown that U.S. trade policies toward China have done badly, a U.S. expert on China said Thursday.

The comment was made by David J. Firestein, president and CEO of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations, during an online presentation held by the Folks Center for International Business in the University of South Carolina.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — One by one, leaders and ministers from over 100 nations admitted that 25 years after the adoption of a road map to achieve equality for women not a single country has reached that goal — and many warned that instead of progress there is now push back. French President Emmanuel Macron put it bluntly, “women’s rights are under attack.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats controlling the House narrowly passed a $2.2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill Thursday night, a move that came as top-level talks on a smaller, potentially bipartisan measure dragged on toward an uncertain finish. An air of pessimism has largely taken over the Capitol.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The sun rose Thursday over a somber ceremony marking the third anniversary of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, as Las Vegas remembered the excruciating night when 58 people were killed at an outdoor country music festival in 2017.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Guard has designated military police units in two states to serve as rapid reaction forces so they can respond quickly to any potential civil unrest around the country, following violent protests that rocked the nation’s capital and several states this summer.