USA

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — President Donald Trump will begin his Independence Day weekend on Friday with a patriotic display of fireworks at Mount Rushmore before a crowd of thousands, but even in a part of the country where many remain supportive of the president, the event has drawn controversy and protests.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Four U.S. states — Arizona, California, Florida and Texas — reported a combined 25,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases Thursday as the infection curve rose in 40 of the 50 states heading into the July Fourth holiday weekend.

With the number of daily confirmed coronavirus cases nationwide climbing past 50,000, an alarming 36 states saw an increase in the percentage of tests coming back positive for the virus.

Washington, Jul 2 (PTI) Democratic presidential candidate and former US vice president Joe Biden has said that he will lift the temporary suspension on H-1B visas, the most sought-after by Indian IT professionals, if he wins the November presidential elections.

On June 23, in a huge blow to Indian IT professionals eyeing the US job market, the Trump administration suspended the H-1B visas along with other types of foreign work visas until the end of 2020 to protect American workers in a crucial election year.

WASHINGTON, July 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Donald Trump’s administration has put special law enforcement teams in place to protect monuments it believes could be vandalised by protesters over the 4th of July holiday weekend, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The announcement did not provide details on the teams’ sizes or makeup, how much the deployment cost, or how they would respond to any perceived threats. It also did not say exactly which memorials would be guarded or whether specific threats were made.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 02 (APP): The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that countries that do not use every option available to them to tackle coronavirus face a “long, hard road ahead” to beat the disease.

Speaking at the regular virtual press briefing in Geneva, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the pandemic was still raging and countries – and individuals – needed to keep up their efforts in order to stay safe.

WASHINGTON, July 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to convert the Hagia Sophia into a mosque and said Istanbul’s celebrated former cathedral should remain open to all.

Erdogan, whose roots are in political Islam, has mused about turning Hagia Sophia back into a mosque, triggering tension with neighboring Greece.

Pompeo issued a statement on the eve of an expected Turkish court decision on whether Hagia Sophia was rightfully turned into a museum.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Every day, energy merchants collect and scrutinize whatever information they can find on fuel demand to get a trading edge: from satellite data tracking oil tankers worldwide to thermal images from cameras on pipelines and storage tanks.

Real-time data on fuel demand would be the ultimate prize.

On-the-spot gasoline consumption figures would change the way oil markets trade, because it is “the holy grail of metrics,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

UNITED NATIONS, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution on COVID-19, demanding a general and immediate cessation of hostilities in all situations on its agenda.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Wednesday joined the Senate in approving a bill to rebuke China over its crackdown in Hong Kong by imposing sanctions on groups that undermine the city’s autonomy or restrict freedoms promised to its residents.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Criticized for inaction, President Donald Trump and top officials stepped up their defense of the administration’s response to intelligence assessments that Russia offered bounties for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Trump’s national security adviser said he had prepared a list of retaliatory options if the intelligence proved true.