USA

MANSFIELD, Texas (AP) — Adam Kinzinger came to Texas this week to hunt unicorns.

The Illinois congressman was looking for Republicans who, like him, see former President Donald Trump as a scourge on their party and a threat to democracy. Kinzinger met privately with one sympathetic Republican, former President George W. Bush, on his first day in the state. And on the second, he had lunch with Michael Wood, the only openly anti-Trump Republican competing on Saturday in a crowded special election for a seat in Congress.

NEW YORK (AP) — Rudy Giuliani sought to discredit the federal investigation into his dealings in Ukraine on Thursday, a day after agents raided his home and office.

Giuliani said the 6 a.m. search, which he said involved seven FBI agents, was unnecessary because he offered for two years to provide federal prosecutors his electronic devices and to “talk it over with them.”

“They won’t explain to me what they’re looking into for two years,” Giuliani said in an evening appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

(Reuters) --- Total global spending on COVID-19 vaccines is projected to reach $157 billion by 2025, driven by mass vaccination programs underway and "booster shots" expected every two years, according to a report by U.S. health data company IQVIA Holdings Inc (IQV.N) released on Thursday.

(Reuters) --- The United Nations failed on Thursday to bridge disagreements over restarting peace talks on ethnically-split Cyprus, with the rival sides standing their ground in a conflict that spans half a century.

Diplomats had been trying to break a jogjam in talks between rival Greek and Turkish Cypriots, which collapsed in acrimony in 2017. Cyprus's split is a constant source of tension between NATO allies Greece and Turkey, and has taken on sharper focus since the discovery of natural gas in the region.

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- There is no change of phase in lockdown at UN Headquarters in New York despite the New York State's recent loosening of restrictions, said a spokesman on Wednesday.

"There's no official change of phase to announce at this point. So, we will continue to evaluate those circumstances," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on Wednesday called for more international diplomacy to unlock progress in Syria.

"If this highly internationalized conflict is to move toward resolution, we need a more constructive and comprehensive international diplomacy on Syria to try to unlock progress step-for-step," he told the Security Council in a briefing.

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that "it is not time yet" to start talking about tapering the central bank's asset purchase program despite a strengthening economic recovery.

"We've said we would let the public know when it is time to have that conversation. We said we would do that well in advance to the decision of tapering," Powell said at a virtual press conference after the Fed concluded a two-day policy meeting.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is announcing another diverse group of candidates for his second round of judicial nominations, a day after some in his first slate of picks went before a Senate committee.

28 Apr 2021; MEMO: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Turkey and all U.S. allies on Wednesday should refrain from making further purchases of Russian weaponry, threatening the possibility of more sanctions, Reuters reports.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made history Wednesday as the first women — one of them Black and Indian American — to share the stage in Congress during a presidential address.

President Joe Biden noted the historic development at the very opening of his address. After taking the podium, Biden greeted the two women standing behind him with a “Madam Speaker” and “Madam Vice President.”

He then declared, “No president has ever said those words — and it’s about time.”