US

Top US health official Fauci warns of 'disturbing' new US surge

A panel of health officials, including Dr Anthony Fauci, said the next few days will be crucial to stem the new outbreaks.

Cases are climbing rapidly across a number of US states.

The four top experts also testified they were never told by President Donald Trump to "slow down" testing.

Their comments come after Mr Trump told a weekend rally in Oklahoma that he had asked his team to do less testing to help keep official case counts down.

The White House has said his comment was "in jest".

Trump targets foreign workers with new visa freeze

High-skilled tech workers, non-agricultural seasonal helpers, au pairs and top executives will be affected.

The White House said the move will create jobs for Americans hurting economically due to the pandemic.

But critics say the White House is exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to tighten up immigration laws.

Who's affected?

In a briefing for reporters, the administration said the freeze, in place through the end of the year, would impact about 525,000 people.

Rayshard Brooks shooting: Use of deadly force by Atlanta police condemned

Rayshard Brooks, 27, was shot dead as he fled officers in a restaurant car park in Atlanta late on Friday.

The killing sparked protests. A top House Democrat said Mr Brooks' actions "did not call for lethal force" - echoing a statement by Atlanta's mayor.

The city's police chief has quit and the officer involved has been fired.

Atlanta is one of many US cities where the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police has sparked protests against racism and police brutality.

US takes more Manus, Nauru refugees

Twenty-four will leave Nauru after nearly seven years on the island to live in cities including Chicago and Philadelphia.

About 200 refugees remain on Nauru and 180 in PNG while 200 others, transferred to Australia for medical treatment, continue to be held in detention centres and hotels being used as alternative places of detention.

More than 750 refugees detained offshore by Australia since 2012 have been resettled by the US, despite Australia refusing to grant them asylum.

 

     

New charges for all four sacked officers over George Floyd’s death

The charge against Derek Chauvin has been elevated to second-degree murder, court documents show.

The other three officers, previously uncharged, face counts of aiding and abetting murder.

Floyd's death has sparked huge protests across the US against racism and the police killings of black Americans.

The vast majority of demonstrations over the past eight days have been peaceful, but some have turned violent and curfews have been imposed in a number of cities.

US to ban passenger flights from China

The Department of Transportation said it was punishing Beijing for refusing to let US flights to China resume following the coronavirus outbreak.

In recent weeks the countries have sparred over the pandemic and China's policies in Hong Kong.

But Washington said it would continue to "engage" on the air travel issue.

The Department of Transportation order applies to four airlines - Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines.

George Floyd death homicide, official post-mortem declares

He suffered a cardiac arrest while being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on 25 May, the report found.

It listed Mr Floyd's cause of death as "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression".

The examination also showed he had heart disease and recent drug use.

The findings of the official post-mortem were released shortly after those of a private examination carried out by medical examiners hired by the Floyd family.

George Floyd's family lawyer calls it 'premeditated murder'

Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder, but lawyer Benjamin Crump told CBS news it was a case of first-degree murder.

"We think that he had intent... almost nine minutes he kept his knee in a man's neck that was begging and pleading for breath," he said.

Looting is reported in Philadelphia.

Video from two Philadelphia TV stations on Sunday shows youths smashing several police cars and looting at least one store.

Millions of periodical cicadas to emerge in parts of US

Periodical cicadas are expected to come out in early summer across southwest Virginia, parts of North Carolina, and in West Virginia.

The last time the cicadas emerged in many of those regions was in 2003 and in 2004, though some areas saw an emergence in 2013.

As many as 1.5 million of the insects can emerge per acre of land.

While they are some of the longest-lived insects in the world, periodical cicadas a spend almost their entire life underground as what entomologists call "nymphs".

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'Murder hornets' land in the US for the first time

The 2-inch long Asian giant hornets have landed in the US for the first time, spotted on the west coast.

Multiple stings are deadly to humans and in their "slaughter phase" the hornets destroy honeybees, whose bodies they feed to their young.

Scientists are now on a hunt for the hornets, hoping to eradicate the species before they wipe out US bees.

Though they typically avoid people, in Asia, "murder hornet" stings are thought to cause as many as 50 human fatalities a year, according to the New York Times.