Kiev, June 12 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Ukrainian government said that the army has regained three frontline villages in the separatist Donetsk region, marking one of the first victories in Kiev's counter-offensive against Russia, the media reported on Monday.

Footage on social media showed Ukrainian troops celebrating in the neighbouring settlements of Blahodatne and Neskuchne, reports the BBC.

In footage shared by pro-Ukrainian accounts on social media, troops could be seen raising the Ukrainian flag outside a burned out building in Blahodatne.

The state border guard also published videos showing soldiers announcing that "Neskuchne of the Donetsk region is under the Ukrainian flag again", before shouting the now standard battle cry of "Glory to Ukraine".

Meanwhile in a Telegram post, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar claimed that the army had also seized the village of Makarivka.

Maliar also said "troops continue offensive actions" around the eastern city of Bakhmut, CNN reported.

Ukrainian forces were making progress around the Berkhivka reservoir northwest of Bakhmut, and on two fronts south of the city, in one case advancing as much as 1,500 meters (around a mile), according to the Deputy Defence Minister.

Earlier Sunday, other Ukrainian officials reported similar progress to the northwest and southwest of the city.

Russia is yet to comment on Ukraine's claim of recapturing the three villages.

The start of the much-anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive was announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday after months of speculation.

The three villages would be the first liberated since his comments, but not the first that Ukraine has recaptured since June 5, when pockets of its forces began to advance in the country's south.

Source: IANS

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Kiev, April 18 (SocialNews.XYZ) Sergiy Nikolaychuk, the deputy chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), said the war-torn nation plans to attract $42 billion in financial aid this year as Russia continues its full scale invasion of Kiev.

In particular, Ukraine is counting on receiving about $4.6 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Nikolaychuk said after his visit to the US, where he met officials of the global lender, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The financial support of our partners is very important in this challenging time for Ukraine," Nikolaychuk stressed.

The situation in the Ukrainian economy this year has improved compared with that of 2022, the official noted.

Last month, the IMF approved a 48-month extended arrangement for Ukraine worth about $15.6 billion.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said his government hoped to receive $115 billion in long-term support from partners.

Source: IANS

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By T.N. Ashok

Washington, Nov 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The second term syndrome seems to have sunk into the minds of both US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, anxious to occupy the White House again from where power flows, global attention follows and decisions affecting the world are made.

Both Biden (80) and Trump (76) are aging politicians who will be 82 and 78 when they run for the White House in 2024 and generally not favoured by either the Democratic or Republican voters, who both want a younger face like Ron DeSantis, the Republican Florida Governor who won a spectacular race, and Democrats -- California Governor Gavin Newsom and Vice-President Kamala Harris, all in their 40s and 50s.

Biden has announced his intent to run but he has not made a formal decision or announcement to oppose Trump, though majority opinion in the Democratic party is that if either Trump or DeSantis were to win the primaries, Biden is most favoured to beat them both by a larger margin in case of the former and probably by a smaller margin the latter.

Even as the Democratic National Congress awaits a formal announcement from Biden, a flurry of candidates are already lobbying with their donors and preparing for Plan B, should Biden choose not to contest on health grounds.

Though Biden has been successful in stemming the tide of the Republican Wave against his inept handling of the inflation issue, voters had abortion rights and jobs and election deniers as a threat to democracy uppermost in their minds while voting.

While 61 per cent of the Republicans want Trump to run, there is a doubt if he will even make it to the primaries because billionaires and donors and media barons see a great future for the GOP in DeSantis rather than Trump. In fact, billionaire media baron Rupert Murdoch lampooned Trump in his networks from Fox News to the New York Post to Wall Street Journal running edits against him as a liability for the party with his legal baggage. Post-November midterm polls show a seven per cent rise in popularity for DeSantis against Trump.

Trump has to contend with the January 6 panel hearings of his alleged involvement in the Capitol Hill's insurrection, face the tax fraud evasion case with the New York Attorney General Letitia James (Democrat) suing him for $250 million in punitive damages for tax fraud, obtaining loans from banks on fraudulent claims by inflating its property values, and the Department of Justice chasing him for the 11,000 top secret documents he spirited away to his Florida home instead of handing them over to the National Archives. This is not going to be easy for him, media reports say.

The BBC of the UK says Biden is the oldest President in US history and his approval ratings have stalled in the low 40s. Is President Joe Biden ripe for a primary challenge in 2024, the network asked?

With both of them being too old and voters wanting a young energetic President, there is a chance for a lot of young liberals to make it to the primaries. Starting with Vice- President Harris.

Perhaps nobody would benefit more from an aging President stepping aside than his Deputy Kamala Harris, says BBC, adding a former prosecutor who went on to serve as California's Attorney General and as its junior US Senator, the 58-year-old broke glass ceilings in 2020 as the first female, black and Asian-American Vice-President in the US history.

Last year, she briefly served as acting President in the 85 minutes it took Biden to undergo a colonoscopy. Problem here is that Harris is even less popular than the President and some voters have even questioned her competence.

Since assuming office, she has been given some of the administration's toughest portfolios -- influx of immigrants at the southern US border. Conservative critics have accused her of awkward public appearances. High staff turnover and reports of low morale in the Vice-President's office have only made matters worse, the network claimed. But her supporters have claimed she has been a victim of misogyny and sexist slander.

Gavin Newsom: He is in the spotlight among the Democrats garnering a lot of attention in the 2024 buzz for presidency. Newsom, 55, came into national focus when he issued the same-sex marriage licenses in 2004 in utter violation of the state law as the Governor of California. He is a wine merchant who strayed into politics and made it good when he was elected Governor of his home state in 2018. Soon enough he became champion of the progressive campaign against the conservative Trump administration.

He has earned considerable admiration for his assertive leadership when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. But he was also caught-on-camera on the wrong foot at a dinner in which he flouted his own Covid rules leading to a call to end his governorship before his term ended.

Finally, defeating the Republican-led recall, Newsom has just begun his second term as the California Governor having won impressively in the November midterms.

Newsom has a massive campaign war chest and the backing of major Democratic donors, but it is his willingness to pick fights on the national stage recently -- from launching ads in Republican-held states like Florida and Texas to criticising his own party for its weak messaging -- that is drawing attention to his future ambitions, BBC said.

Pete Buttigieg, the Transport Secretary, is now attracting a lot of attention among the Democrats. In 2020 he was among 28 candidates who ran for the primaries seeking candidacy in 2020. Pete Buttigieg was the only star that shone at the time, though he lost the bid.

The 40-year-old out-performed seasoned politicians before dropping out of the race and endorsing the eventual President, media reports said.

Buttigieg is young, dynamic, suave, sophisticated and polished in his speech. Voters gravitated towards the Harvard graduate who attended Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship and served with the US Navy in Afghanistan. He is however tainted by his gay leanings. Dubbed "Mayor Pete" by his supporters, Biden chose him as Transport Secretary.

Bernie Sanders: If Biden is being thought of as old, then Sanders is an 81-year-old Senator from Vermont. If he is to be a Presidential runner, it does not make sense. But many voters perceive the experienced lawmaker with a long tenure in the Senate as the frontrunner for a growing left-wing movement in the country.

It may be recalled that Sanders, an independent candidate from Vermont, who always votes with the Democrats, nearly beat the odds in the 2016 presidential nominating contest against Democratic heavyweight Hillary Clinton, BBC recalled.

Other presidential hopefuls in the Democratic party are: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: She is known to her legions of adoring fans as "AOC", the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress. She will turn 35 -- the minimum age to be the US President -- one month before the 2024 election. Ocasio-Cortez has big plans for America and her popularity is ever growing with the supporter base expanding. She has avoided questions about her future, telling GQ recently that her time as a lawmaker has given her "a front-row seat" to the misogyny of American society.

Ro Khanna: A self-acclaimed "progressive capitalist", the Indian-American lawmaker represents the heart of Silicon Valley in Congress. He has indicated he will not run if Biden is the nominee.

Elizabeth Warren: The 73-year-old Senator from Massachusetts is champion of the Left movement against the Supreme Court turning down the Roe Vs Wade case and stands staunchly for abortion rights.

Gretchen Whitmer: The 51-year-old from Michigan faced a kidnapping plot in her first term as the state's Governor, then swept through the re-election in the midterms. She says she has no plans to ever run for President.

Source: IANS

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Caracas, Nov 12 (SocialNews.XYZ) Progress has been made towards a social pact with opposition parties, head of a Venezuelan government delegation Jorge Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez, president of Venezuela's National Assembly, or Congress, made the remarks after meeting with Gerardo Blyde, a representative of a Venezuelan opposition bloc, during the Paris Peace Forum, reports Xinhua news agency.

Also present at the meeting were Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, French President Emmanuel Macron and Norway's Foreign Affairs Minister Anniken Huitfeldt, said Rodriguez.

The heads of state and top officials, he said, were "at the disposal of the entire process of accompanying, facilitating and resuming negotiations and dialogue between a sector of the Venezuelan opposition and the Bolivarian government".

He reiterated that Venezuela has been very frank and was "in the best disposition to advance towards a general agreement", but the lifting of sanctions would have to precede talks.

"Every discussion, every dialogue and every negotiation must take place after those aggressive measures have been lifted, that's what we are also talking about in this process," said Rodriguez.

The Paris Peace Forum takes place on November 11-13 in the French capital.

Source: IANS

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Berlin, Aug 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) The turbine for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which was serviced in Canada, is ready for use and could be delivered to Russia "at any time", said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

"All it takes is for someone to say, 'I'd like to have it'. Then it will be there very quickly," Xinhua news agency quoted Scholz as saying after a visit to the Siemens plant in Muelheim an der Ruhr in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the turbine is currently located.

The turbine was serviced by Siemens Energy in Canada, after which it has been in Germany since mid-July.

"Nothing stands in the way of its onward transport to Russia, except that the Russian buyers must state that they also want the turbine and provide the necessary information for customs transport," said Scholz.

Russian gas supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline have been reduced several times and Europe's biggest economy is struggling to fill its gas storage.

Last week, the deliveries were further cut to 20 percent of the pipeline's full capacity.

German's former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder held Siemens Energy responsible for the turbine's late delivery, questioning why it was brought to Germany and not to Russia.

"This is the responsibility of Siemens," he told RTL/n-tv.

To reduce natural gas consumption in power generation, the German government allowed coal-fired power plants to return from reserve and is also considering extending the lifetime of the country's last three nuclear power plants beyond 2022.

In order to prepare for the coming winter, energy ministers of the European Union (EU) last week agreed on a voluntary savings target of 15 per cent compared to a country's average gas consumption in the past five years until the end of March 2023.

If the gas crisis worsens, the EU decision also provides for the possibility of triggering a "Union alert".

In this case, the reduction of gas consumption would become mandatory.

Source: IANS

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Phnom Penh, July 1 (SocialNews.XYZ) Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday released more than 1 million fry and 200,000 young shrimps into a reservoir in Phnom Srok district to celebrate National Fish Day.

Speaking at the event, Hun Sen said the event was marked after a two-year hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The release of fry and other aquatic creatures is necessary to increase fisheries resources, which are a source of protein and income for people," he said.

He urged fishermen not to fish during the annual fish breeding season from July to October and encouraged farmers to expand fish raising in order to reduce the catches of natural fish.

Veng Sakhon, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, said the celebration aimed at encouraging people to preserve fish species in natural habitats and to increase fish raising activities.

He added that a variety of aquatic creatures, including fish, shrimps, tortoises, turtles and frogs, were freed into the Trapeang Thmor reservoir.

According to Sakhon, the Southeast Asian nation has 475 freshwater fishing communities, 41 marine fishing communities, 682 fisheries conservation locations and 915 fish habitats.

Source: IANS

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Washington, June 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) A criminal complaint was filed against a man from California on federal charges of attempted murder of US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Nicholas John Roske, 26, of Simi Valley made an initial appearance in US District Court in Greenbelt of Maryland on Wednesday afternoon, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to an affidavit, on June 8, 2022, at approximately 1.05 a.m., two Deputy Marshals saw an individual dressed in black clothing and carrying a backpack and a suitcase, get out of a taxicab that had stopped in front of Kavanaugh's residence.

The individual, later identified as Roske, looked at the two Deputy Marshals, who were standing next to their parked vehicle, and then turned to walk down the street.

Roske was later detained by police after he called an emergency centre in which he told it that he had a firearm in his suitcase, was having suicidal thoughts and had intentions to kill Kavanaugh.

A search of his suitcase and backpack revealed a black tactical chest rig and tactical knife, a pistol with two magazines and ammunition, a pepper spray and other items.

Roske allegedly told detectives that he was upset about the leak of a recent Supreme Court draft decision regarding the right to abortion as well as the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, left 19 children and two teachers dead.

Kavanaugh, a conservative, is purportedly included in the majority for the Supreme Court draft opinion on abortion, a copy of which was obtained and published by Politico last month.

If convicted, Roske faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

Source: IANS

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Baghdad, March 18 (SocialNews.XYZ) Four Katyusha rockets struck the Balad Air Base, Iraq's largest military air base in north of the capital Baghdad, a security source said.

The rockets landed at the Balad Air Base in Salahudin province, some 90 km north of Baghdad, causing no human casualties, Col. Mohammed al-Bazi from the provincial police told Xinhua news agency.

Three of the rockets hit a building inside the base, leaving minor damages, while the fourth landed in an empty area, al-Bazi said, adding that the rockets were fired from the neighbouring province of Diyala.

Balad Air Base houses Iraq's F-16 fighters.

The US technical team has already withdrawn from the base amid rocket attacks by unidentified militias.

On December 29, 2021, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi confirmed the end of the US-led coalition forces' combat mission in Iraq.

Source: IANS

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Canberra, Nov 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) Australia's unemployment rate has risen in October as a result of widespread coronavirus lockdowns.

According to labour force data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday, the official unemployment rate for October was 5.2 per cent, up from 4.6 per cent in September, reports Xinhua news agency.

The number of employed Australians fell by 46,300, with 40,400 full-time and 5,900 part-time jobs lost between September and October.

There was also a fall of 1 million in the number of hours worked.

The underemployment rate, which measures the portion of employed people who are not working as many hours as they like, rose from 9.2 per cent to a 12-month high of 9.5 per cent.

Responding to the data, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said it was important to note that it was collected when Australians in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory were in lockdown.

"The unemployment rate increased to 5.2 per cent, confirming what we already know, that lockdown hits jobs. Lockdowns are detrimental to the labour market," he told reporters.

"In Victoria, in the month, around 50,000 jobs were lost and an additional 20,000 people were stood down on zero hours."

Frydenberg declared that the Australian economy has "turned the corner."

"Business and consumer confidence are both up - our business confidence back to where it was in April," he said.

"Consumer confidence is up now, up eight out of the last nine weeks. Job ads are more than 30 per cent higher than they were at the start of the pandemic and at a 12-year high."

Source: IANS

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Gaza, Aug 15 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Islamic Hamas Movement has said that the recent Israeli relaxations of some of the tightened measures imposed on the Gaza Strip "are not enough".

Hazem Qassem, the movement's spokesman in Gaza, told reporters that the declared Israeli relaxations "are not enough," adding that "there are contacts to lift the Israeli siege that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for 15 years", reports Xinhua news agency

"The contacts that are held with Egypt, Qatar and the UN aimed at lifting all the Israeli restrictions that were imposed on the crossing points of the Gaza Strip before May 10," he added.

On Friday, the Israeli authorities announced that it will ease some of the tightened restrictions.

A total of 1,000 merchants and 350 businessmen from the Gaza Strip will be allowed to enter Israel starting on Sunday, said Ghassan Alian, chief of the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Israel's military liaison to the Palestinians.

"Amid the security stability with Gaza, it will also be possible to expand imports from Israel into the Gaza Strip, which will include components of transportation and communications sector," according to the COGAT statement.

The equipments and goods will be allowed into the Gaza Strip in order to develop the humanitarian infrastructure, it added.

Israel captured territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and has controlled them ever since.

Israel bans the entry of Palestinians unless they have special permits issued by the military.

Source: IANS

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Seoul, July 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) A majority of overseas South Korean military unit, dispatched to the waters off Africa on an anti-piracy mission, were confirmed to have been infected with Covid-19, the SJoint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Monday.

A total of 247 sailors of the 301-strong Cheonghae unit tested positive as of Monday, with 50 having tested negative and the virus tests for the remaining four seen as undecipherable, reports Xinhua news agency.

It accounted for 82 per cent of the unit's entire service members.

Sixteen sailors were at hospitals for treatment, and the remainder were in isolation on their 4,400-tonne destroyer.

The destroyer departed for Africa in ebruary on the anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden and around the Strait of Hormuz.

The Cheonghae unit has been rotated every six months since 2009.

The first sailor, who developed the symptoms of a cold, was found on July 2, after the destroyer's visit to a nearby port to load supplies.

Two KC-330 aerial tankers were dispatched to Africa on Sunday to airlift all service members of the unit.

The destroyer will be piloted back to South Korea by a group of sailors who left for Africa aboard the aerial tankers.

Source: IANS

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Bangkok, July 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) Thailand on Saturday extended a ban on public gatherings nationwide and might further tighten restrictions as the numbers of daily Covid-19 cases and fatalities surged to new records.

The country reported 10,082 new cases on Saturday, surpassing 10,000 for the first time, despite the partial lockdown imposed in worst-hit regions since Monday, reports Xinhua news agency.

The total number of infections has risen to 391,989, according to the Centre for the Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), the country's coronavirus task force.

Cumulative deaths rose to 3,240, up by 141 on Saturday, according to the CCSA.

The country extended a ban on public gatherings nationwide, which took effect immediately, according to a royal gazette issued late Friday.

Violators may be subject to a fine of up to 40,000 baht ($1,220) or a maximum of two years in jail or both.

The CCSA said it was also considering tougher measures such as closure of more businesses and public mobility restrictions to tackle the current situation.

The Southeast Asian country has been grappling with its worst-ever wave of the outbreak.

The worsening situation came as the highly contagious Delta variant is spreading fast in the country, with the medical system crumpling under pressure while the already dire economic situation turning critical for many.

The country's economy continued to take a toll from the pandemic, with the World Bank this week lowering its 2021 growth forecast for the economy to 2.2 percent, from a projection of 3.4 per cent in March.

"Economic activity is not expected to return to its pre-pandemic levels until 2022, and the recovery is projected to be slow and uneven," the World Bank said in its Thailand Economic Monitor for July.

The report said any delay in the scheduled vaccine roll-out, with the Thai government planning to vaccinate 70 per cent of the nearly 70 million population by the end of 2021, could adversely impact domestic mobility, consumption and tourism.

The country has been accelerating vaccine roll-out.

Till date, it has administered more than 14 million doses of vaccine, with less than 5 per cent of the total population having been fully vaccinated, according to the CCSA.

Source: IANS

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Los Angeles, July 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) Public health authorities in the Los Angeles County announced residents will be required to wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of their vaccination status, due to increased Covid-19 transmission.

The new mandate will go into effect at 11.59 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The new mandate comes a month after California fully reopened its economy on June 15 by lifting almost all restrictions.

State authorities said then that masks were no longer required for fully vaccinated individuals in most public settings.

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said that the county "sees more than a seven-times increase in new cases since the June 15 reopening", adding that community transmission of the virus has rapidly increased from moderate to substantial, based on the trend in daily new cases.

On June 15, Los Angeles County saw 210 new cases and officials confirmed on Thursday the highest number of new cases since mid-March with a total of 1,537.

The test positivity rate has increased from the 0.5 per cent seen a month ago to Thursday's 3.7 per cent, according to the data released by the department.

It's the seventh day in a row the county, home to over 10 million residents, has reported over 1,000 new cases amid spread of Delta variant in the region.

"We expect to keep masking requirements in place until we begin to see improvements in our community transmission of COVID-19," said Muntu Davis, Health Officer for Los Angeles County, urging all eligible residents to get vaccinated.

To date, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has reported 1,262,578 positive cases with 24,566 deaths in the county.

Official data showed that among residents aged 16 and above in Los Angeles County, 69 per cent have received at least one dose, and 61 per cent now have been fully vaccinated.

Source: IANS

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Cairo, July 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) Egypt has welcomed on Russia's decision to lift a ban on charter flights to the African country's Red Sea resorts after around six years of suspension, the Foreign Ministry in Cairo in a statement.

"Egypt expresses its aspiration for the speedy return of Russian tourism to Egyptian resorts, which would enhance bilateral cooperation in the tourism field," Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

Issued in November 2015, a few days after a Russian plane crashed over the Sinai Peninsula killing 224 people, the ban was annulled earlier on Thursday by a decree from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Before Thursday's decision, only regular Russian flights to Cairo and official flights to Egypt were allowed.

The Russian flight suspension greatly affected the tourism industry in Egypt, for Russia used to be a top source of tourists for Egypt's popular Red Sea resorts of Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada.

Before the 2015 crash, Russian tourists accounted for about 40 per cent of all foreign visitors to Egypt, mostly arriving on chartered flights to Sharm El Shiekh and Hurghada.

The resumption of the chartered flights comes at a time when Egypt's vital tourism sector is slowly recovering from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The government this week allowed hotels nationwide to operate at 70 per cent of their capacity, up from 50 per cent. Preventive measures remain in force.

Egypt welcomed 13 million tourists in 2019, the year before the pandemic struck, earning $13.03 billion.

Last year, its revenues from the sector dropped to $4 billion.

The tourism industry, which normally accounts for about 15 per cent of Egypt's gross domestic product, earned the Treasury about $4 billion during the first half of 2021.

Source: IANS

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Hong Kong, June 25 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Hong Kong government announced that the quarantine requirements for persons arriving from the UK will be tightened from June 28.

In a statement on Thursday, the government said the decision was taken in view of the recent rebound of the pandemic situation in the UK and the widespread of Delta variant, coupled with a number of cases with the L452R mutant virus strains detected on people arriving from Britain or during quarantine in Hong Kong, Xinhua news agency reported.

The government will also classify the UK, which is currently a "high-risk" place, as "very high-risk" with effect from June 28, reports Xinhua news agency.

Persons from the UK boarding for Hong Kong have to present at boarding negative result proof of a nucleic acid test conducted within 72 hours before the scheduled time of departure of the aircraft, as well as the confirmation of a room reservation in a designated quarantine hotel in the city.

On confirmation of negative test results at the Hong Kong International Airport, they will then be required to board the designated transport to proceed to the designated quarantine hotels for a 21-day compulsory quarantine, during which four tests will be conducted, followed by a seven-day self-monitoring period as well as compulsory testing on the 26th day of arrival, the statement added.

Source: IANS

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Washington, June 18 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Democratic-led US House of Representatives has voted to repeal the 2002 authorisation for the Iraq War, an effort to curb presidential war powers.

The House revoked the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) in a vote on Thursday of 268 to 161, with 49 Republicans joining 219 Democrats, reports Xinhua news agency.

"After nearly 20 years of fighting for this, we're finally one step closer to ending forever wars," Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the sponsor of the repeal bill, said in a tweet after the vote.

The 2002 AUMF allows military action to defend the national security of the US "against the continuing threat posed by Iraq".

It was repeatedly used by the following US Presidents to justify military action against terrorist threats.

The former Donald Trump administration cited the 2002 AUMF as a legal justification for launching drone strikes that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in January 2020.

The House voted to repeal the 2002 AUMF after the strike, but the effort went nowhere in the Senate, which was then controlled by Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday voiced support to revoke the authorisation and said he would put a similar measure on the Senate floor.

US media reported that the momentum is building for full congressional repeal of the 2002 authorisation.

The White House said in a statement earlier this week that the administration supports the move.

"The President is committed to working with the Congress to ensure that outdated authorisations for the use of military force are replaced with a narrow and specific framework appropriate to ensure that we can continue to protect Americans from terrorist threats," it added.

Source: IANS

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Washington, May 28 (SocialNews.XYZ) US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that she expected to see high inflation rates through the end of the year as the economy continues to recover from the Covid pandemic.

"My judgment right now is that the recent inflation that we have seen will be temporary. It's not something that's endemic," Yellen said at a virtual hearing on Thursday held by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.

"I expect it to last, however, for several more months and to see high annual rates of inflation through the end of this year," she said, adding the Treasury and economists in the White House are monitoring inflation trends very carefully.

"I came of age and studied economics in the 1970s. And I remember what that terrible period was like, and no one wants to see that happen again."

Yellen's remarks came after the Labour Department recently reported that consumer price index (CPI) in April rose 4.2 per cent from a year ago, the largest 12-month increase since September 2008, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The high inflation reading and the CPI that we saw last month partly reflects the fact that service prices as our economy is coming back, these prices, they're still below where they were pre-pandemic, but they're moving up," Yellen explained, adding there're also supply bottlenecks.

"I think as the economy gets back online, it's going to be a bumpy process, but I do believe we'll see some adjustments. I don't think this is endemic inflation," she said.

Source: IANS

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Yerevan, May 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said here that Moscow is committed to ensuring the security of its ally Armenia.

Lavrov made the remarks during the meeting with Armenian caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan on Thursday, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We are committed to the ensuring the security of our ally, the Republic of Armenia. This has been confirmed in your talks with President (Vladimir) Putin, as well as during the intensive and regular interactions between our Ministries," Lavrov told Pashinyan.

Lavrov also stated that Russia will continue to make efforts for the solution of all humanitarian issues concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including the return of all the detainees, together with the other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

For his part, Pashinyan assured the Russian Minister that Armenia is committed to implementing the agreements on the cease-fire of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that broke out in September 2020.

He reiterated that the peace process should be resumed to seek a final peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Prior to the meeting, Lavrov met his Armenian counterpart Ara Ayvazyan and participated in a joint press conference in Yerevan.

The two sides also signed an inter-governmental memorandum on ensuring biological security.

Lavrov arrived in Armenia on Tuesday for a two-day visit.

Source: IANS

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Washington, April 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) Initial unemployment claims in the US have dropped to 576,000, the lowest level since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic early last year that ravaged the labour market, the Labour Department reported.

In the week ending April 10, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits decreased by 193,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised level of 769,000, according to a report released on Thursday by the Department's Bureau of Labour Statistics.

This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000, Xinhua news agency quoted the report as saying.

The latest report also showed that the number of people continuing to collect regular state unemployment benefits in the week ending April 3 increased by 4,000 to reach 3.7 million.

Meanwhile, the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs, state and federal combined, for the week ending March 27 decreased by 1.2 million to 16.9 million, as the country continues to grapple with the fallout of the pandemic.

Last spring, as Covid-19 shutdowns rippled through the workforce, initial jobless claims spiked by 3 million to reach a record 3.3 million in the week ending March 21, 2020, and then doubled to reach a record 6.87 million in the week ending March 28.

After that, the number, though at record highs, has been declining overall, but the trend was reversed multiple times amid Covid-19 resurgence.

Initial jobless claims in the US fell to revised level of 658,000 in the week ending March 20, before rising to 728,000 and 769,000 in the following weeks, indicating continued disruption to labour market recovery.

Source: IANS

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Washington, Jan 23 (SocialNews.XYZ) US Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said on Friday that the House will deliver the impeachment article against former President Donald Trump to the upper chamber on Monday, January 25, triggering preparations for a trial that could start as early as next week.

"Make no mistake, a trial will be held in the United States Senate and there will be a vote whether to convict the President. I've spoken to Speaker Pelosi, who informed me that the articles will be delivered to the Senate on Monday," Schumer said from the Senate floor.

"It will be a full trial," Schumer said.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, proposed on Thursday that Trump's impeachment trial be delayed until mid-February so as to give him enough time to prepare a defence, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Schumer's announcement puts a new deadline for the Senate leaders to reach a stalled agreement over the Senate's power-sharing, as the impeachment logistics are part of a broader negotiation including topics like the filibuster, said a report.

Schumer said on Friday that McConnell's insistence the Senate's organising resolution include a provision protecting the filibuster was "unacceptable -- and it won't be accepted."

Earlier this month, McConnell told Republican senators that under the Senate's impeachment rules, a trial is required to begin the day after the House managers present the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber.

The Democrats-controlled House voted to impeach Trump over "incitement of insurrection" in a 232-197 vote on January 13, making him the first President to be impeached twice.

The impeachment resolution cited Trump's speech to supporters on January 6 that was followed by some of the crowd breaching the Capitol building to interrupt Congress' certification of the 2020 election results as evidence of his "incitement of insurrection."

Source: IANS

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Washington, Nov 28 (SocialNews.XYZ) A federal appeals court in the US state of Pennsylvania upheld a previous ruling by a lower court against the re-election campaign of President Donald Trump, dealing another blow to his effort to overturn the results of the November 3 election.

On Friday, the three-judge panel of the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia determined that the Trump campaign's claims of widespread voter fraud in the state "have no merit", Xinhua news agency reported.

"Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy," Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, wrote in the 21-page opinion.

"Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here," he added.

The three Republican-appointed judges determined that US District Judge Matthew Brann's ruling last week to reject the campaign's lawsuit seeking to prevent the Pennsylvania's certification of its election results for Democratic President-elect Joe Biden was justified.

The campaign's lawsuit alleged that some counties in the 'Keystone State' allowed mail-in voters to fix problems by casting provisional ballots.

Brann said in a scathing opinion that the lawsuit provided "strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence".

The judge appointed by former President Barack Obama said he could not find any case in which a plaintiff "has sought such a drastic remedy in the contest of an election".

In reaction to Friday's development, Trump said on Twitter that the ruling was "all a continuation of the never ending Witch Hunt", adding that Brann "would not even allow us to present our case or evidence" .

Brann didn't allow the campaign to file an amended complaint, which led to the campaign's appeal.

"The Campaign never alleges that any ballot was fraudulent or cast by an illegal voter," wrote Bibas, the Third Circuit's judge.

"It never alleges that any defendant treated the Trump campaign or its votes worse than it treated the Biden campaign or its votes. Calling something discrimination does not make it so.

"The Second Amended Complaint still suffers from these core defects, so granting leave to amend would have been futile," he added.

The Trump campaign is reportedly going to appeal the case to the US Supreme Court.

Pennsylvania certified its election results on Tuesday for Biden, formally awarding its 20 electoral votes to the former Vice President.

So far, Biden has won 80,218,808 popular votes to date, compared to Trump's 73,947,962, according to The Cook Political Report, an influential analytical site focused on US presidential, congressional and gubernatorial elections.

US media have projected that Biden has won 306 electoral votes, surpassing the 270-vote threshold for clinching the presidency.

Biden has declared victory and announced the first tranche of his Cabinet nominees, including national security and foreign policy officials.

The General Services Administration has initiated Biden's formal transition into the White House, but Trump, despite having directed his administration to facilitate the process, has vowed to continue the legal fight to challenge the election results.

Source: IANS

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Washington, Nov 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) US President Donald Trump has said that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden in December.

The President made the remarks on Thursday while reporters after concluding a teleconference with US troops to mark the Thanksgiving holiday, reports Xinhua news agency.

He said if the Electoral College confirms Biden's victory when it meets on December 14, he "certainly" will relinquish presidential power.

"It's going to be a very hard thing to concede... If they (the electors) do (vote for Biden) they made a mistake," the President said.

Trump doubled down on the claim that there was voter fraud in the November 3 election.

"No one wants to see the kind of fraud this election has come to represent," he said.

"I know one thing, Joe Biden didn't get 80 million votes."

Biden has won 80,218,808 popular votes to date, compared to Trump's 73,947,962 votes, according to The Cook Political Report, an influential analytical site focused on US presidential, congressional and gubernatorial elections.

US media have projected that Biden has won 306 electoral votes, surpassing the 270-vote threshold for clinching the presidency.

Biden has declared victory and announced the first tranche of his Cabinet nominees, including national security and foreign policy officials.

The General Services Administration has initiated Biden's formal transition into the White House, but Trump, despite having directed his administration to facilitate the process, has vowed to continue the legal fight to challenge the election results.

Source: IANS

The post Will leave WH if Electoral College votes for Biden: Trump appeared first on Social News XYZ.

New York, Nov 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) US President-elect Joe Biden renewed his call to Americans to "hang on!", mask up and limit social gatherings until the coronavirus vaccine is available at population scale.

"We have to try to slow the growth of the virus. We owe that to the doctors, the nurses, and the other front-line health care workers who have risked so much and heroically battled this virus for so long," Biden said in his Thanksgiving message to the nation ahead of a long weekend that traditionally features large family gatherings and a burst of cross country travel.

Biden promised to "change the course of the disease" soon after his inauguration, on January 20, 2021.

"More testing will find people with cases and get them away from other people, slowing the number of infections. More protective gear for businesses and schools will do the same a" reducing the number of cases. Clear guidance will get more businesses and more schools open," he said.

Biden struck an upbeat tone despite the looming crisis of a "dark winter" that medical experts have warned about. "There is real hope, tangible hope. So hang on. Don't let yourself surrender to the fatigue," Biden urged Americans as daily cases and deaths shattered records.

"I know we can and we will beat this virus. America is not going to lose this war. You will get your lives back. Life is going to return to normal. That will happen. This will not last forever," he said.A

Biden noted that in his own family, a big Thanksgiving is off the table because of the pandemic.

By the time Biden spoke on Wednesday afternoon, more than 4 million people had already passed through airport checkpoints starting last Friday.

Hospitals in multiple states are at capacity and doctors are preparing for the worst spike in cases all year, post Thanksgiving. America leads the world in coronavirus cases and deaths.

(Nikhila Natarajan can be reached at nikhilanatarajan@gmail.com)

Source: IANS

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Washington, Nov 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in the US on Wednesday ordered an injunction halting the certification of the rest of the ballots in the presidential election, pending a hearing about a case filed by Republicans alleging irregularities in mail-in voting.

The ruling came one day after the state's department of state certified the results for Democrat Joe Biden and Governor Tom Wolf's subsequent ascertainment that the former vice president is the apparent president-elect, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Republican voters in the state, including Representative Mike Kelly and GOP congressional candidate Sean Parnell, brought up a case alleging that a state law allowing for no-excuse absentee voting violated the Pennsylvania constitution.

"To the extent that there remains any further action to perfect the certification of the results of the 2020 General Election ... for the office of President and Vice President of the United States of America, Respondents are preliminarily enjoined from doing so, pending an evidentiary hearing," Judge Patricia McCullough wrote in the ruling. The hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro disputed the ruling, saying on Twitter that the "order does not impact yesterday's appointment of electors. We will be filing an appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court momentarily."

Since Biden was projected by US media to have won the November 3 election, the campaign of President Donald Trump has filed over 30 lawsuits across several states seeking to overturn the results - most of which have failed. Pennsylvania is where the campaign still has some of its last active litigations.

The General Services Administration has started the formal transition process for Biden, and the "outreach" by the federal agency, as Biden told media in an interview aired Wednesday, "has been sincere" without "begrudging so far."

Trump said Monday that he had directed the federal government to facilitate the transition, which he said is "in the best interest of our Country." In the meantime, the President said the legal fights will continue.

Source: IANS

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Washington/Beijing, Nov 25 (SocialNews.XYZ) Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday became the latest world leader to congratulate US President-elect Joe Biden.

"Promoting the healthy and stable development of China-US relations is not only in the fundamental interests of both peoples, but also meets the common expectation of the international community.

"I hope to see both sides uphold the spirit of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, and focus on cooperation while managing and controlling disputes," he said in his message of congratulations, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan on Wednesday also sent a congratulatory message to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Xinhua said.

Nearly a week after Biden and Harris delivered their victory speeches after they were projected winners even as President Donald Trump refused to concede and continued to allege fraud, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman had, on November 13, extended congratulations to the Democratic winners, but noted that the outcome would be "ascertained in accordance with US laws and procedures."

With Xi's congratulations, Russian President Vladimir Putin is the only significant leader who is yet to greet Biden.

On Sunday, the Russian President had said that he is still not ready to recognise Biden as the winner of the US presidential elections, but is ready to "work with anyone who has the confidence of the American people".

"But that confidence can only be given to a candidate whose victory has been recognised by the opposing party, or after the results are confirmed in a legitimate, legal way," he had said, adding that the decision to not congratulate Biden was "a formality" with no ulterior motives.

Asked if this would strain relations, Putin said that he believed that relations between the US and Russia have already been ruined.

Source: IANS

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By IANS Bureau

New York, Nov 25 (SocialNews.XYZ) US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris took the stage on Tuesday to bookend US President-elect Joe Biden's first big "America is back" announcement of top appointments to the country's incoming national security team. The carefully curated show was a study in contrast to four years of Donald Trump events, where the audience almost never know the rundown.

Below is the full transcript of Harris' remarks, delivered in Wilmington, Delaware:

"Thank you, Secretary Kerry. And congratulations Mr President-elect on bringing together this extraordinary team.

I have always believed in the nobility of public service, and these Americans embody it.

Their lives and careers are a testament to the dedication, sacrifice, and commitment to civic responsibility that have strengthened our democracy -- and kept America's promise alive -- for more than two hundred years.

President-elect Biden and I have long known that when we were elected, we would inherit a series of unprecedented challenges upon walking into the White House.

Addressing these challenges starts with getting this pandemic under control, opening our economy responsibly, and making sure it works for working people.

And we also know that overcoming our challenges here at home is a necessary foundation for restoring and advancing our leadership around the world.

And we are ready for that work.

We will need to reassemble and renew America's alliances; rebuild and strengthen the national security and foreign policy institutions that keep us safe and advance our nation's interests; and confront and combat the existential threat of climate change that endangers us all.

I take these issues very seriously.

My whole career has been about keeping people safe, from serving as District Attorney to California's Attorney General to the United States Senate, where I have served on the Intelligence and Homeland Security Committees.

I have come to know firsthand the gravity of the challenges and threats facing the United States.

And, over the past few months, I have also come to know the sound judgment, expertise, and character of the people on this stage.

I can say with confidence that they are a" to a person a" the right women and men for these critical positions.

And I look forward to working alongside them on behalf of the American people, and on behalf of a President who will ask tough questions; demand that we be guided by facts; and expect our team to speak the truth. No matter what.

A President who will be focused on one thing and one thing only: doing what's best for The People of the United States of America.

When Joe asked me to be his running mate, he told me about his commitment to making sure we selected a cabinet that looks like America that reflects the very best of our nation.

That is what we have done.

Today's nominees and appointees come from different places. They bring a range of different life and professional experiences and perspectives. And they also share something else in common: an unwavering belief in America's ideals.

An unshakeable commitment to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

And they understand the indispensable role of America's leadership in the world.

These women and men are patriots and public servants to their core, and they are the leaders we need to meet the challenges of this moment, and those that lie ahead.

Thank you."

Source: IANS

The post Kamala Harris bookends Biden’s national security team unveiling: Full transcript appeared first on Social News XYZ.

By Nikhila Natarajan

New York, Nov 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The career bureaucrats are roaring back. When US President-elect Joe Biden formally introduces his national security team to the nation on Tuesday, it will signal a stark departure of Donald Trump-era theatrics and the return to power of what the Biden team likes to call "crisis-tested" subject matter experts who are expected to bring a more traditional style to governing.

Ivy League credentials, long years of Washington experience and the unmistakable stamp of the Obama years come as a package deal in the first raft of Biden's staff picks. Biden, however, will be the first President since Ronald Reagan not to have an Ivy League degree at the undergraduate or graduate level.

The first reveal of Biden's Cabinet also adds to a growing list of women and people of colour breaking historic barriers even as the President-elect stacks his A team to reflect multicultural America.

"These officials will start working immediately to rebuild our institutions, renew and reimagine American leadership to keep Americans safe at home and abroad, and address the defining challenges of our time -- from infectious disease, to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, cyber threats, and climate change," is how the Biden transition describes the coming shift.

Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken has passed through Harvard, Columbia Law, National Security Council, State Department, Senate Foreign Relations, and the Vice President's office.

Treasury nominee Janet Yellen studied at Brown and Yale, led the Federal Reserve and was the White House CEA chair.

Department of Homeland Security nominee Alejandro Mayorkas has checked off multiple boxes: Berkeley, Loyola Marymount Law, US attorney, DHS, CIS, WilmerHale.

Chief of Staff choice Ron Klain has journeyed through Georgetown, Harvard Law, Supreme Court clerkship, House, Senate, Chief of Staff to VP, and Ebola czar in the Obama administration.

Incoming Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines is a career veteran who has served at the CIA, the State Department, and the NSA. Haines studied at University of Chicago and Georgetown Law.

Next National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is a double Yale graduate who went on to win a Rhodes Scholarship before working at the State Department and the White House.

Praise is pouring in. This one's from Hillary Clinton's Twitter: "The incoming administration could not have chosen better personnel for the foreign policy and national security teams."

Susan Rice, former Ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Advisor wrote on her social feeds that Antony Blinken "will make a superb Secretary of State and do our nation proud".

Rice joins a long list of experienced government officials echoing of relief amidst their hope for a return to a less chaotic method. "Competence, decency, strength, and respect for our career professionals are coming back," she posted.

Source: IANS

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