USA

WASHINGTON, June 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States plans to give priority to the elderly, those with pre-existing conditions and essential workers once there is a vaccine against COVID-19, a senior Trump administration official said.

Under Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the US government is aiming to deliver 300 million vaccine doses by January 2021, investing in manufacturing capacity to relieve pharmaceutical firms of the financial risk.

UNITED NATIONS, June 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN General Assembly on Wednesday will elect five new members of the Security Council for 2021 and 2022, with battles underway for the Western and African seats.

Kenya and Djibouti are facing off for one seat, while in the Western bloc, three nations — Canada, Ireland and Norway — are vying for two seats among them.

UNITED NATIONS, June 17 (NNN-XINHUA) – A Chinese envoy asked the United States to immediately lift unilateral sanctions against Syria.

Years of economic blockade have caused tremendous hardships on the Syrian people, in particular women and children. The sufferings caused by the devaluation of the Syrian currency and soaring commodities prices, including food prices, fall heavily on civilians across the country, said Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

17 June 2020; AFP: With 740 new coronavirus deaths in 24 hours, the United States has seen more people die from the pandemic than died in World War I, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The new figure, counted at 8:30 pm (0030 GMT) Tuesday, brought the country's total COVID-19 deaths up to 116,854, the tracker from the Baltimore-based university showed.

The increase came after two days of death tolls under 400.

UNITED NATIONS, June 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for inter-Korean dialogue to defuse tension on the Korean Peninsula, said his press office on Tuesday.

"The secretary-general is concerned by the latest developments on the Korean Peninsula," said the press office in a note to correspondents, quoting an unnamed spokesman of Guterres. "The secretary-general calls for the resumption of inter-Korean dialogue leading to peaceful solutions that benefit peace and prosperity for all." 

UNITED NATIONS, June 16 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday asked the United States to immediately lift unilateral sanctions against Syria.

Years of economic blockade have caused tremendous hardships to the Syrian people, in particular women and children. The sufferings caused by the devaluation of the Syrian currency and soaring commodities prices, including food prices, fall heavily on civilians across the country, said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are proposing changes to police procedures and accountability with an enhanced use-of-force database, restrictions on chokeholds and new commissions to study law enforcement and race, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government watchdogs are warning that a legal determination by the Trump administration could severely limit their ability to oversee more than $1 trillion in spending related to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to four congressional committees, a panel of inspectors general overseeing a sweeping economic rescue law said an “ambiguity” in the law could block the watchdogs from conducting independent oversight.

ATLANTA (AP) — The deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta in the span of less than three weeks have led to a push in the U.S. for more training of police officers in how to de-escalate tense situations before they explode in violence.

“You’ve got to get cops to understand that it’s not a cowardly act, that backing off could save this person’s life,” said Tom Manger, a retired police chief in Virginia and Maryland and former president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned Tuesday that the U.S. economy faces a deep downturn with “significant uncertainty” about the timing and strength of a recovery. He cautioned that the longer the recession lasts, the worse the damage that would be inflicted on the job market and businesses.