USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one COVID-19 shot, the government announced Sunday, marking another milestone in the nation’s largest-ever vaccination campaign but leaving more work to do to convince skeptical Americans to roll up their sleeves.

Almost 130 million people 18 or older have received at least one dose of a vaccine, or 50.4% of the total adult population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Almost 84 million adults, or about 32.5% of the population, have been fully vaccinated.

NEW YORK, Apr 18 (APP): Prominent Kashmiri leader Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai has strongly condemned Thursday’s mass shooting at a FedEx centre in the US city of Indianapolis where eight people, including four Sikh-Americans, were killed by a lone gunman, and expressed solidarity with the Sikh community.

In a statement, Dr. Fai, Secretary-General of the Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum, an advocacy group, said he has been in touch with the leadership of the Sikh-American community and expressed his sympathies and condolences with the families of the victims.

WASHINGTON, April 18. /TASS/: The United States has nothing to do with any plots against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and any suggestion otherwise is "absolutely untrue," a US State Department official told TASS on Sunday.

"We have seen reports in Russian state media of a supposed plot against Alexander Lukashenko, as well as his direct claims to media. Any suggestion that the U.S. Government was behind or involved in an assassination attempt on Lukashenka is absolutely untrue," he said.

17 Apr 2021; MEMO: Libya's High Council of State on Saturday welcomed UN Security Council Resolution 2570, which calls for timely presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya scheduled for December 24 this year, Anadolu Agency reports.

Washington, Apr 18 (PTI) Influential American lawmakers and Sikh community leaders have sought a thorough investigation into the mass shooting at a FedEx facility in the US state of Indiana as a potential hate crime that killed eight people, including four Sikhs.

Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi on Saturday called for investigation of potential anti-Sikh motivations in the incident that took place late Thursday night.

Sacramento (US), Apr 18 (AP-PTI) The man accused of going on a shooting rampage at a Southern California business, killing four people, should not have been allowed to buy or own guns because of a California law that prohibits people from purchasing weapons for 10 years after being convicted of a crime.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department on Saturday ordered non-essential diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Chad to leave the African nation due to potential insurgent attacks on the capital.

In addition to non-essential embassy staff, the department also ordered the families of American personnel stationed there to leave because armed groups appear to be moving on the capital of N’Djamena.

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) — As protests intensified in the Minneapolis suburb where a police officer fatally shot Daunte Wright, a group of Black men joined the crowd intent on keeping the peace and preventing protests from escalating into violence.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Members of Indianapolis’ tight-knit Sikh community joined with city officials to call for gun reforms Saturday as they mourned the deaths of four Sikhs who were among the eight people killed in a mass shooting at a FedEx warehouse.

At a vigil attended by more than 200 at an Indianapolis park Saturday evening, Aasees Kaur, who represented the Sikh Coalition, spoke out alongside the city’s mayor and other elected officials to demand action that would prevent such attacks from happening again.

Washington, Apr 17 (PTI) Four Sikhs, including three women, were among eight people who were killed in a mass shooting at a FedEx facility in the US state of Indiana staffed by a large number of Indian-American employees, shocking the community leaders who appealed to President Joe Biden to tackle the growing hate crimes and gun violence in the country.