USA

NEW YORK, Aug 12 (APP): US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has renewed his concern over the deteriorating situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IlOJK), saying restrictions on dissent, such as preventing peaceful protests or shutting or slowing down the internet, weakens democracy.

12 Aug 2020; MEMO: US President Donald Trump has pledged to conclude an agreement with Iran within four weeks, if he wins the presidential elections slated for November.

In a press conference held in the White House, Trump confirmed that in case he wins the election, he will conclude a number of agreements and deals with several countries, indicating that conditions will be different if the Democrats win.

WASHINGTON, Aug 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump announced a $1.5 billion contract with US biotech company Moderna for 100 million doses of an eventual coronavirus vaccine, the sixth such deal reached since May.

“I’m pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Moderna to manufacture and deliver 100 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine candidate,” Trump said at a White House news conference. “The federal government will own these vaccine doses, we’re buying them.”

Washington, Aug 12 (PTI) Joe Biden has picked Indian-origin Senator Kamala Devi Harris as his running mate, recognising the crucial role Black voters could play in his determined bid to defeat President Donald Trump in the US presidential election in November.

By naming the 55-year-old lawyer and politician from California as his running mate, Biden made history by selecting the first Black woman to compete on a major party's presidential ticket.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar held off a well-funded challenger Tuesday and won the Democratic primary in her congressional district, putting her on track for re-election in November along with other members of the “Squad” of four liberal freshmen.

Omar defeated attorney Antone Melton-Meaux, who had accused her of prioritizing her celebrity over her constituents, and several other challengers, the New York Times said.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. federal appeals court on Tuesday reheard the criminal case against Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump's former national security adviser who once pleaded guilty to lying to federal intelligence agents, to decide whether to drop the case as demanded by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. politicians risk making a "dreadful mistake" by stoking a geopolitical Cold War with China, a renowned U.S. economist has warned.

"The last Cold War was dangerous enough," Jeffrey Sachs, an economics professor at Columbia University and senior United Nations advisor, said in an interview with CNBC on Monday.

"This one would be even more dangerous. It's completely misconceived and misguided, but a lot of Americans want to put it to China and think that we run the show, which is a very dangerous view of thinking," he said.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council remains at odds over the way the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon operates on the ground, with the United States backing Israel’s demands for major changes.

At a closed council meeting Tuesday on the mission known as UNIFIL, whose mandate is up for renewal at the end of the month, U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft stressed the need for a new mandate.

DENVER (AP) — A police department in suburban Denver faced a new set of investigations and legal problems Tuesday as scrutiny mounts over the death last year of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man put into a chokehold by officers, and other run-ins with people of color.

McClain’s parents sued the Aurora Police Department and paramedics who injected their son with a sedative, saying they were seeking both accountability for the loss of a “beautiful soul” and to send a message that “racism and brutality have no place in American law enforcement.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — No, Russia is not having a Sputnik moment.

The announcement Tuesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country was the first to approve a coronavirus vaccine did not provoke the awe and wonder of the Soviet Union’s launch of the first satellite into orbit in 1957. Instead it was met by doubts about the science and safety.