USA

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd ’s death enters its third week Monday, with the state nearing the end of a case built on searing witness accounts, official rejections of the neck restraint and expert testimony attributing Floyd’s death to a lack of oxygen.

NEW YORK, Apr 11 (APP): A top Pakistani diplomat has expressed the hope that the United Nations under the new Biden administration, will revive its active engagement at the United Nations to enable the world community to effectively respond to global challenges such as the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, terrorism and promoting Sustainable Development goals (SDGs).

LOS ANGELES, Apr 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Three kids were found fatally stabbed, at an apartment in Los Angeles, yesterday, authorities said.

Patrol officers responded to the 8000 block of Reseda Blvd for a radio call, involving a possible death at one of the apartments, at about 9:30 a.m. local time. Police officers discovered three children at the scene, after they went inside, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

The three children, all appeared to be under the age of five, were pronounced dead at scene, according to the department.

NEW YORK, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 hospitalizations in New York State dropped to 4,241 on Friday, compared with 4,351 one day earlier, tweeted Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the single-day COVID-19 test positivity rate went down to 2.79 percent on Friday from 2.96 percent on Thursday, he said, adding that there were 57 COVID-19 deaths in the state on Friday, compared with 56 one day earlier.

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors hope to preserve a July trial date for Ghislaine Maxwell by defending a late-hour expansion of charges against her, saying they developed when a woman spoke after Maxwell’s arrest about her abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s.

The rewritten indictment lodged against the 59-year-old British socialite on March 29 added sex trafficking charges to allegations that Maxwell recruited three teenage girls from 1994 to 1997 for then-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse. New charges stretched the conspiracy to 2004.

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday discussed with his Philippine counterpart China’s recent positioning of “militia vessels” near the Philippines in the South China Sea.

Austin spoke by phone with Philippine Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana while Austin was flying from Washington to Israel to begin an international trip.

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump staked his claim to the Republican Party in a closed-door speech to donors Saturday night, casting his populist policies and attack-dog politics as the key to future Republican success.

WASHINGTON (AP) — From a secure room in the Capitol on Jan. 6, as rioters pummeled police and vandalized the building, Vice President Mike Pence tried to assert control. In an urgent phone call to the acting defense secretary, he issued a startling demand.

“Clear the Capitol,” Pence said.

Elsewhere in the building, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were making a similarly dire appeal to military leaders, asking the Army to deploy the National Guard.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 10 (APP): The vast majority of coronavirus vaccines administered have so far gone to wealthy nations, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported other day.

Although more than 700 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, richer countries have received more than 87 per cent, and low-income countries just 0.2 per cent.

“There remains a shocking imbalance in the global distribution of vaccines”, WHO chief Tedros Adhanonom Ghebreyesus said, speaking during the agency’s regular briefing from Geneva.

WASHINGTON, April 10. /TASS/: Russia should show more transparency regarding its actions near the border with Ukraine, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters on Friday.

When asked to comment on the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border, the spokesman said: "We would like better clarity. We would like the Russians to be more transparent about what it is doing with this force buildup in Crimea and also along the eastern border of Ukraine. It’s not exactly clear."