Americans set to pick next US president in high-stakes election

WASHINGTON -- Americans will go to the polls this week to decide who will lead their country over the next four years in one of the most contentious presidential elections that could also become the most scandalous election in recent US history. With President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden holding different, and often opposite, views on nearly every issue, the election is widely expected to see the highest voter turnout rate since 1908, when the turnout rate stood at 65.7 perc

Nov. 2, 2020

Trump, Biden hit key states in final weekend sprint before vote

READING (AFP) -- Donald Trump visits five swing states Sunday in a punishing finale to a frantic weekend sprint against challenger Joe Biden just days ahead of the US presidential election. The candidates and their top surrogates barreled through crucial states in the industrial Midwest and coastal southeast on Saturday, pressing closing arguments. Trump will rally voters Sunday with an exhausting schedule in toss-up states Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida while Biden focu

Nov. 1, 2020

China starts once-a-decade census of world's largest population

SHANGHAI (AFP) -- Millions of census-takers began knocking on doors across China on Sunday for a once-a-decade head count of the world's largest population that for the first time will use mobile apps to help crunch the massive numbers. Around seven million community workers and volunteers will drive the two-month data-collection effort, visiting homes ranging from residential skyscrapers in downtown Shanghai to remote Tibetan mountain villages. China conducts the census every ten years to det

Nov. 1, 2020

Hong Kong opposition politicians arrested for legislature protest

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Seven pro-democracy Hong Kong politicians were arrested Sunday over protests and scuffles that broke out in the legislature earlier this year, the latest prosecutions targeting Beijing's opponents in the deeply divided city. The seven politicians -- four of them sitting lawmakers -- were arrested on charges of "contempt" and "interfering" with members of the city's Legislative Council in early May, police said. The chamber passes semi-autonomous Hong Kong

Nov. 1, 2020

Sean Connery, the 'original' James Bond, dies at 90

LONDON (AP) -- Sean Connery, the charismatic Scottish actor who rose to international superstardom as the suave secret agent James Bond and then abandoned the role to carve out an Oscar-winning career in other rugged roles, has died. He was 90. Connery's wife and two sons said he "died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by family" in the Bahamas, where he lived. Son Jason Connery said his father had been "unwell for some time." Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara B

Nov. 1, 2020

Biden joined by Obama as Trump targets Pennsylvania in election finale

MILWAUKEE (AFP) -- Barack Obama will join forces with Joe Biden in Michigan as Donald Trump goes all in on the crucial state of Pennsylvania Saturday and the two candidates dig deep on the final weekend before Tuesday's US presidential election. For the first time since the start of the campaign, Biden, 77, will be joined on stage by his former boss and most popular campaigner, former President Barack Obama. They'll put on two drive-in rallies in the cities of Flint and Detroit in Michigan.

Oct. 31, 2020

China manufacturing growth eases in October but remains strong

BEIJING (AFP) -- Factory activity in China dipped slightly in October, according to official data published Saturday, but remained in growth territory as the world's second-largest economy continued its recovery after being hammered by the coronavirus. The closely watched Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) is a key gauge of manufacturing activity in China, which has largely bounced back after plunging in February because of tough pandemic-control measures. In October, the PMI figure stood at 51

Oct. 31, 2020

Trump flies to Pennsylvania, Biden sits back

WASHINGTON(AFP) -- US President Donald Trump campaigned frantically and frontrunning challenger Joe Biden stayed mostly out of sight Tuesday ahead of a pivotal televised debate with only two weeks until Election Day. The contrast in campaign strategies between Trump, 74, and Biden, 77, has never been more pronounced: the Republican president left for another rally in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, while the Democrat played it cool at his home in Delaware -- though he will deploy his fo

Oct. 21, 2020

Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of violating humanitarian truce

STEPANAKERT (AFP) -- Armenia on Sunday accused Azerbaijan of violating a fresh humanitarian truce aimed at halting weeks of fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region that has claimed hundreds of lives. Yerevan's defence ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said on Twitter that Azerbaijan had fired artillery shells and rockets in the early hours of Sunday, just minutes after the ceasefire went into effect from midnight (2000 GMT). There was no immediate reaction from Azerbaijan. Saturday's

Oct. 18, 2020

Paris goes under curfew as Europe ramps up virus restrictions

PARIS (AFP) -- France on Wednesday became the latest European country to toughen anti-coronavirus measures, imposing a curfew in Paris and eight other cities from Saturday, while Germany and Ireland also ramped up restrictions. "We have to act. We need to put a brake on the spread of the virus," President Emmanuel Macron told public television, announcing a shutdown between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am that will remain in force for as long as six weeks. Other major French cities such as Lyon

Oct. 15, 2020

Trump, Biden to hold rival TV town halls instead of debate

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- President Donald Trump will feature in a televised town hall Thursday on NBC News, the network said, setting up a  direct scheduling clash with rival Joe Biden who had already planned his own version. The two were originally meant to have been meeting for their second debate on Thursday evening. Instead, they will be simultaneously, but separately, talking to voters in TV studios -- NBC for Trump and ABC for Biden. Trump will be in Miami, the network said, while Biden,

Oct. 14, 2020

Defiant Trump returns to campaign trail

SANFORD (AP) -- Defiant as ever about the coronavirus, President Donald Trump on Monday turned his first campaign rally since contracting COVID-19 into a full-throated defense of his handling of the pandemic that has killed 215,000 Americans, joking that he was healthy enough to plunge into the crowd and give voters "a big fat kiss." There was no social distancing and mask-wearing was spotty among the thousands who came to see Trump's return to Florida. He held forth for an hour, tryi

Oct. 13, 2020

Doctor says Trump no longer at risk of transmitting virus

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House doctor said Saturday night that President Donald Trump is no longer at risk of transmitting the coronavirus, a diagnosis that comes as the president prepares to resume campaign rallies and other activities. In a memo released by the White House, Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley said Trump meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for safely discontinuing isolation and that by "currently recognized standards'" he is no longer consid

Oct. 11, 2020

American poet Louise Gluck wins Nobel literature prize

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- The Nobel Prize for literature was awarded to American poet Louise Gluck on Thursday "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal." The prize was announced in Stockholm by Mats Malm, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy. The award comes after several years of controversy and scandal for the world's pre-eminent literary accolade. In 2018 the award was postponed after sex abuse allegations rocked the Swed

Oct. 8, 2020

World shares mixed after Trump calls halt to stimulus talks

AP -- World shares were mostly lower on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump ordered a stop to talks on another round of aid for the economy.  US futures were up slightly after dropping on Trump's announcement the day before. Markets were down slightly in Germany, France and Japan but closed higher in Hong Kong. Hours after his tweets about ending the stimulus talks, Trump appeared to edge back a bit, calling on Congress to send him a "Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,20

Oct. 7, 2020

Trump's return means more anxiety for White House reporters

President Donald Trump's return to the White House to recover from the coronavirus seems certain to raise the already heightened anxiety level of the journalists assigned to follow him. Three reporters have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days while covering a White House described as lax, at best, in following basic safety advice like wearing masks. Discomfort only increased Monday with news that press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had tested positive. The image of Trump standing on a bal

Oct. 6, 2020

3 scientists win Nobel physics prize for black hole finds

Three scientists won this year's Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for advancing our understanding of black holes, the all-consuming monsters that lurk in the darkest parts of the universe. Briton Roger Penrose received half of this year's prize "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity," according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. German Reinhard Genzel and American Andrea Ghez received the second half of the prize &

Oct. 6, 2020

Trump, still infectious, back at White House -- without mask

BETHESDA (AP) -- President Donald Trump staged a dramatic return to the White House Monday night after leaving the military hospital where he was receiving an unprecedented level of care for COVID-19. He immediately ignited a new controversy by declaring that despite his illness the nation should not fear the virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans -- and then he entered the White House without a protective mask. Trump's message alarmed infectious disease experts and suggested th

Oct. 6, 2020

3 win Nobel medicine prize for discovering hepatitis C virus

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and British-born scientist Michael Houghton jointly won the Nobel Prize for medicine on Monday for their discovery of the hepatitis C virus, a major source of liver disease that affects millions worldwide. Announcing the prize in Stockholm, the Nobel Committee noted that the trio's work identified a major source of blood-borne hepatitis that couldn't be explained by the previously discovered hepatitis A and B viruses. Their work, d

Oct. 5, 2020

Trump criticized for leaving hospital to greet supporters

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Donald Trump sparked an angry backlash from the medical community Sunday with a protocol-breaking visit to his supporters outside the hospital where he is being treated for the highly-infectious, potentially deadly new coronavirus. He was masked as he waved from inside his bulletproof vehicle during the short trip outside Walter Reed military medical center near Washington, which appeared designed to take back the narrative on his improving health after a weeke

Oct. 5, 2020