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

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