USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for youngsters ages 12 to 15 by next week, according to a federal official and a person familiar with the process, setting up shots for many before the beginning of the next school year.

The announcement is set to come a month after the company found that its shot, which is already authorized for those age 16 and older, also provided protection for the younger group.

UNITED NATIONS, May 02 (APP): The United Nations strongly condemned Friday’s suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan, in which at least 21 persons were killed and over 100, including women and children, wounded.

According to media reports, a vehicle laden with explosives detonated near a guesthouse on Friday evening (local time) in Puli-e-Alam, the provincial capital of Logar, about 70 kilometres south of Kabul. A number of students are said to be among the casualties.

WASHINGTON, May 03 (APP): A prominent Kashmir advocacy organization has called for international solidarity for human rights and freedom of expression of the people in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), saying there is no press freedom in the disputed territory.

(Reuters) --- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview that aired on Sunday that China had recently acted "more aggressively abroad" and was behaving "increasingly in adversarial ways."

Asked by CBS News' "60 Minutes" if Washington was heading toward a military confrontation with Beijing, Blinken said: "It's profoundly against the interests of both China and the United States to, to get to that point, or even to head in that direction."

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden's 4-trillion-U.S.-dollar spending plans may be a tough sell in Congress, as tax hikes proposed to offset the cost have prompted backlash from Republican lawmakers, and even raised eyebrows among moderate Democrats.

Biden unveiled a 1.8-trillion-dollar spending proposal for childcare and education on Wednesday night, when addressing a joint session of Congress, just weeks after putting forward a 2.3-trillion-dollar infrastructure plan.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration said Monday that four families that were separated at the Mexico border during Donald Trump’s presidency will be reunited in the United States this week in what Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calls “just the beginning” of a broader effort.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Afghan government forces face an uncertain future and, in a worst-case scenario, some “bad possible outcomes” against Taliban insurgents as the withdrawal of American and coalition troops accelerates in the coming weeks, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The U.S. top trade negotiator will begin talks with the World Trade Organization on ways to overcome intellectual property issues that are keeping critically needed COVID-19 vaccines from being more widely distributed worldwide, two White House officials said Sunday.

The White House has been under pressure from lawmakers at home and governments abroad to join an effort to waive patent rules for the vaccines so that poorer countries can begin to produce their own generic versions of the shots to vaccinate their populations.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Tribal leaders in northeastern Wisconsin were in shock Sunday hours after a gunman opened fire at their casino complex, killing two people and wounding another in what witnesses described as a hailstorm of bullets.

Brown County Sheriff’s Lt. Kevin Pawlak said the shooting at the Oneida Casino in Green Bay on Saturday night didn’t appear to be a random attack.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Iran are in active talks over the release of prisoners, a person familiar with the discussions said Sunday as Washington denied a report by Iranian state-run television that deals had been struck.

Prisoner swaps between the U.S. and Iran are not uncommon and both countries in recent years have routinely sought the release of detainees. But any movement between the two countries is particularly sensitive as the Biden administration looks to restart nuclear talks. A 2015 atomic accord between the nations included prisoner exchanges.