Doctor: Trump improving, but not 'out of the woods' yet

BETHESDA (AP) -- President Donald Trump went through a “very concerning” period Friday and faces a “critical” next two days in his fight against COVID-19 at a military hospital, his chief of staff said Saturday -- in contrast to a rosier assessment moments earlier by Trump doctors, who took pains not to reveal the president had received supplemental oxygen at the White House before his hospital admission. Trump remained at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on

Oct. 4, 2020

Trump 'much better' but says coming days 'the real test'

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- One US presidential candidate wants to raise taxes, the other lower them. One will pursue an ongoing trade war, the other may throttle back tensions. And neither will get much done without Congress's approval. The proposed economic policies of President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden offer starkly different views of the world's largest economy and its global role, ahead of the tense November 3 election. Biden's agenda is aimed at poorer Americans and inclu

Oct. 4, 2020

[Newsmaker] What we know, and what we don't, about Trump's coronavirus

There are many unanswered questions surrounding President Donald Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said he only had mild symptoms, and his doctor said Trump was fatigued. But the president was being flown to Walter Reed Medical Center, where he was expected to stay a few days. Here's what we know and what we don't know: WHO INFECTED TRUMP? We don't know, although there's no shortage of possible suspects. Trump, who typically shuns masks, was

Oct. 3, 2020

Trump, stricken by COVID-19, flown to military hospital

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Stricken by COVID-19, a feverish and fatigued President Donald Trump was flown to a military hospital Friday night after being injected with an experimental drug combination in treatment at the White House. In a day of whipsaw events, the president who has spent months downplaying the threat of the virus was forced to cancel all campaign events a month before the election as he fought a virus that has killed more than 205,000 Americans and is hitting others in his orbit as we

Oct. 3, 2020

President Trump and first lady test positive for COVID-19

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, the president tweeted early Friday. Trump’s positive test comes just hours after the White House announced that senior aide Hope Hicks came down with the virus after traveling with the president several times this week. Trump is 74 years old, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has now killed more than 200,000 people nationwide. “Tonight

Oct. 2, 2020

NY Times: Trump paid $750 in US income taxes in 2016, 2017

President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times. Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years. The details of the tax filings complicate Trump's description of himself as a shrewd and patriotic businessman, revealing instead a series o

Sept. 28, 2020

Trump taps 'eminently qualified' Barrett for Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Saturday, capping a dramatic reshaping of the federal judiciary that will resonate for a generation and that he hopes will provide a needed boost to his reelection effort. Barrett, a former clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, said she was "truly humbled" by the nomination and quickly aligned herself with Scalia's conservative approach to the law, saying his "judicial philosop

Sept. 27, 2020

Japan's new PM says stable Japan-China ties key to region

TOKYO (AP) -- New Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in talks Friday to work closely together by holding high-level meetings including summits, but did not discuss the possibility of a visit by Xi to Japan. "I told (Xi) that the stability of Japan-China relations is crucial, not only for the two countries but also for the region and for international society," Suga told reporters after their phone conversation.  His talks with

Sept. 26, 2020

Putin proposes election non-interference pact with US

MOSCOW (AFP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed Friday concluding a pact with the United States against interfering in one another's elections, just weeks before the US heads to the polls. Western countries have for years accused Russia of using hackers and internet trolls to sway the outcome of elections, and US intelligence officials have said that it is once again manipulating social media in favour of Donald Trump as it did in 2016. In a Kremlin statement, Putin called

Sept. 25, 2020

Justice Department asks judge to allow US to bar WeChat from US app stores

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The US Justice Department asked a federal judge in San Francisco early on Friday to allow the government to bar Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google from offering WeChat for download in US app stores pending an appeal. The filing asked US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler to put on hold her preliminary injunction issued Saturday. That injunction blocked the US Commerce Department order which was set to take effect late on Sept. 20 and that would also bar other US transactio

Sept. 25, 2020

[Graphic News] Climate change, infectious disease seen as major threats: survey

　Climate change and the spread of infectious diseases are seen as the top threats by the majority of people in 14 economically advanced nations surveyed by the Pew Research Center. 　In similar surveys conducted by the Washington-based center in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018, the chief threats were seen as climate change and terrorism. 　For the latest survey, Pew questioned 14,276 adults living in Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spai

Sept. 24, 2020

World powers clash, virus stirs anger at virtual UN meeting

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Kept apart by a devastating pandemic and dispersed across the globe, world leaders convened electronically Tuesday for an unprecedented high-level meeting, where the UN chief exhorted them to unite and tackle the era's towering problems: the coronavirus, the "economic calamity" it unleashed and the risk of a new Cold War between the United States and China. As Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the first virtual "general debate" of the UN Gener

Sept. 23, 2020

World powers set to take the stage, virtually, at UN debate

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The UN's first virtual meeting of world leaders was set to start Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. Among those expected to speak Tuesday are US President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose countries have reported the highest and second-highest coronavirus death tolls, respectively. Also on dec

Sept. 22, 2020

[Graphic News] Minorities made up 78% of US COVID-19 pediatric deaths: study

　Racial minorities accounted for 78 percent of COVID-19 deaths under the age of 21 in the United States between February and July, a government report said. 　Out of 121 deaths among under-21s, 45 percent were among Hispanics, 29 percent among blacks and 4 percent among American Indians or Alaskan Natives, according to the study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 　Together, these groups represent 41 percent of the US population under 21. 　Overall, mortality among children a

Sept. 22, 2020

Trump pledges woman for court, pushes Senate to act

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Saturday promised to put forth a female nominee in the coming week to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, pushing the Republican-controlled Senate to consider the pick without delay. Taking the stage at a North Carolina rally to chants of "Fill that seat," the president said he would nominate his selection despite Democrats' objections. And, after conducting what he joked was a "very sci

Sept. 20, 2020

Coronavirus cases top 30 million worldwide: AFP tally

PARIS (AFP) -- The number of coronavirus cases registered worldwide topped 30 million on Thursday, according to an AFP tally based on official sources. The grim landmark came as the World Health Organization warned of "alarming rates of transmission" of Covid-19 across Europe. The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Many countries

Sept. 18, 2020

Esper says 'Quad' will be more effective than bilateral alliance

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on Wednesday reiterated the need to build a collective security alliance in the Indo-Pacific region, insisting his country must focus more on multilateral cooperation than one-on-one alliances. Speaking in a seminar organized by US think tank RAND Corporation, the US defense chief said the country's bilateral alliances with countries in the Indo-Pacific, including South Korea, provide a valuable, cost-free asset to deter conflict with China or R

Sept. 17, 2020

Trump, Kim both promise lasting friendship, but only time will tell: Woodward

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un both claim to have formed a special and close friendship, but only time will tell if their friendship is genuine, famed Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward writes in his soon-to-be released book, "Rage." "Trump has personally said they are 'love letters,' Woodward writes in his upcoming book, referring to 27 letters exchanged between Trump and Kim that he has obtained. "They are more than that

Sept. 15, 2020

[Newsmaker] Suga as next Japanese premier likely to stay course on S. Korea relations: experts

As Yoshihide Suga, a key loyalist of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is poised to succeed the hawkish leader, Tokyo is likely to stay the course in its hard-line stance on Seoul rather than seeking an immediate policy shift, analysts said Monday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga won the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)'s leadership contest and is expected to be endorsed as new premier in a parliamentary vote slated for Wednesday. Abe announced his surprise decision to step down due to ill

Sept. 14, 2020

Yoshihide Suga wins party vote for Japan prime minister

TOKYO (AP) -- Yoshihide Suga was elected as the new head of Japan's ruling party on Monday, virtually guaranteeing him parliamentary election as the country's next prime minister. Suga received 377 votes in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party election to pick a successor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced last month that he would resign due to health problems. The other two contenders received a combined 157 votes -- former Foreign minister Fumio Kishida got 89 and former Defense Mini

Sept. 14, 2020