USA

UNITED NATIONS, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Security Council has welcomed the positive developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and voiced concern over violence in the east and the dire humanitarian situation in the country.

In a press statement, the members of the Security Council welcomed the efforts of President Felix Tshisekedi toward reconciliation and peace and stability in the DRC.

UNITED NATIONS, April 3 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday welcomed the revocation by the United States of former President Donald Trump's executive order on sanctions against senior officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC plays an important role in advancing accountability for international crimes. The secretary-general affirms the continued cooperation of the United Nations under the Relationship Agreement between the United Nations and the ICC, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Guterres, in a statement.

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The United States is seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases, including cases from new and emerging COVID-19 variants, as experts are concerned about another surge amid the spring break.

COVID-19 cases in the country were steadily decreasing for approximately 10 weeks. However, trends are changing, and cases have increased during the past 12 days, according to data of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Joe Biden preaches patience but acts with urgency, his vision of the powers of the Oval Office is quickly taking shape, modeled after Democratic predecessors who dramatically expanded the reach of government to confront generational crises.

In a recent meeting with historians and in private conversations with advisers, Biden looked to the examples set by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson as he aims to use the levers of executive authority to create opportunities and break down barriers.

NEW YORK (AP) — Details from more than 500 million Facebook users have been found available on a website for hackers.

The information appears to be several years old, but it is another example of the vast amount of information collected by Facebook and other social media sites, and the limits to how secure that information is.

The availability of the data set was first reported by Business Insider. According to that publication, it has information from 106 countries including phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, and email addresses.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Vaccine passports being developed to verify COVID-19 immunization status and allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop and dine have become the latest flash point in America’s perpetual political wars, with Republicans portraying them as a heavy-handed intrusion into personal freedom and private health choices.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who rammed a car into two officers at a barricade outside the U.S. Capitol, killing one of them before he was shot to death by police, had been suffering from delusions, paranoia and suicidal thoughts, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Saturday. Investigators believe it was an isolated incident from a disturbed young man.

Video of the Friday afternoon attack shows the driver emerging from the crashed car with a knife in his hand and starting to run at the pair of officers, Capitol Police acting Chief Yogananda Pittman told reporters.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 03 (APP): Pakistan has called on the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) to play an “active role” in resolving conflicts and disputes, like Jammu and Kashmir, to promote peace and security in the region.

“We must address disputes frontally,” Ambassador Munir Akram told a virtual meeting organized on Friday by the Mission of Kazakhstan on ‘How to build stronger confidence in Asia and make CICA more responsive to the challenges of the 21th Century’.

WASHINGTON, April 3. /TASS/: One in five residents of the United States has already been fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Rochelle Walensky said during a briefing for foreign journalists, held via a video linkup on Friday.

Full vaccination means that a person received either both doses of the two-component Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, or a one-component Johnson & Johnson jab, currently permitted for use in the United States.

WASHINGTON, April 3 (NNN-Xinhua) — The United States has recorded more than 13,000 infection cases of coronavirus variants, according to the latest data of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Among the total of 13,052 variants cases reported by the CDC as of Thursday, 12,505 cases were caused by the variant known as B.1.1.7, which was originally detected in Britain.

There were 323 cases of a new strain initially discovered in South Africa, called B.1.351, and 224 cases of the P.1 strain first discovered in Brazil.