Iran’s foreign minister said on Saturday that US officials tried to discuss restarting nuclear talks last month, but he insisted Washington must first release US$10 billion of Tehran’s frozen funds as a sign of good will.Iran has rejected direct talks with the United States, and indirect talks on reviving a 2015 nuclear accord aimed at keeping Iran from being able to develop a nuclear weapon stopped in June.The United States used intermediaries at the United Nations last month to attempt to…

The world’s major economies must do more at the upcoming UN COP26 climate summit in Scotland to show they are serious about wanting to tackle global warming and heed the warnings of young activists, policymakers said on Saturday.COP26 President Alok Sharma said there was renewed urgency in the climate debate following preparatory talks in Milan where thousands of youth activists, including Greta Thunberg, urged governments to match words with action and stump up billions of dollars to wean the…

A Canadian jihadist who fought for Islamic State and narrated violent propaganda videos has been taken into custody by the United States and charged, the Justice Department said on Saturday.Mohammed Khalifa, 38 and born in Saudi Arabia, was captured during a firefight in January 2019 by Kurdish-dominated Syrian forces allied with the United States.He was handed over “recently” to US authorities and charged in Virginia with conspiring to provide material support to Isis resulting in death, says…

Carrying signs with slogans such as “my body, my choice, my right” thousands of women rallied on Saturday in Washington at the start of a day of nationwide protests aimed at countering a conservative drive to restrict access to abortions.The perennial fight over the procedure in America has become even more intense since Texas adopted a law on September 1 banning almost all abortions, unleashing a fierce counter-attack in the courts and in Congress, but with few public demonstrations until now…

Actor Daniel Craig will be honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, it has been announced.The James Bond star, 53, will be the latest entertainment figure to be immortalised on the Los Angeles tourist attraction.Craig's star – the 2,704th – will be dedicated during a ceremony on October 6, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce said.It will be placed at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard, a nod to his character's famous code name and next to the star of one of his predecessors, Roger Moore.Britain…

Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée on Friday questioned US President Joe Biden’s commitment to hold the kingdom accountable three years after the writer’s brutal murder.Marking the anniversary, Hatice Cengiz travelled to Washington for a demonstration outside the Saudi embassy and an evening vigil near the US Capitol where she unveiled a portrait of Khashoggi made out of newspaper columns.She voiced dismay that days ahead of the anniversary, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake…

Former US president Donald Trump asked a federal judge to force Twitter to temporarily reinstate his account while he sues to permanently return to the social media network.Trump’s request for a preliminary injunction against Twitter was filed late Friday in Miami, Florida. The Republican, who lost his bid for a second term in office, claims Twitter cancelled his account in January under pressure from his political rivals in Congress.Twitter declined to comment on the filing.Facebook staff…

The United States reached its latest heartbreaking pandemic milestone on Friday, eclipsing 700,000 deaths from Covid-19 just as the surge from the Delta variant is starting to slow down and give overwhelmed hospitals some relief.It took 3 ½ months for the US to go from 600,000 to 700,000 deaths, driven by the variant’s rampant spread through unvaccinated Americans. The death toll is larger than the population of Boston.This milestone is especially frustrating to public health leaders and…

US President Joe Biden pledged on Friday on Congress‘ home ground to “get it done” as Democrats strained to rescue a scaled-back version of his US$3.5 trillion government-overhaul plan and salvage a related public works bill after days of frantic negotiations resulted in no deal.Biden huddled with House Democrats in a private meeting that was part instructional, part morale booster for the tattered caucus of lawmakers, telling them he wanted both bills passed regardless of the time it takes. He…

New York health officials have revoked the medical licence of a doctor with the cultlike group NXIVM who branded 17 women with the initials of the group’s leader, Keith Raniere.A health department hearing committee sustained multiple of counts of professional misconduct against Danielle Roberts, who belonged to a secret women’s group within NXIVM called DOS that required a “vow of obedience” between master and slave.Many of the counts stem from Roberts using a cauterising device to brand “KAR”…

California will become the first US state to mandate statewide Covid-19 vaccinations for schoolchildren as early as January, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Friday.But first the US Food and Drug Administration must fully approve inoculations for their age groups, he said.The Democrat made the announcement at a news briefing as the United States approached the grim threshold of 700,000 Covid-19 deaths.The country has reported an average of more than 2,000 deaths per day over the past week, which…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with French officials in Paris next week while chairing an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conference, the latest step aimed at repairing a key bilateral relationship that frayed last month when President Joe Biden announced a new military alliance with Britain and Australia.Previewed on Friday by Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs assistant secretary Karen Donfried and Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs…

Drug maker Merck said on Friday that its experimental Covid-19 pill reduced hospitalisations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus, potentially a leap forward in the global fight against the pandemic.The company said it will soon ask health officials in the US and around the world to authorise the pill’s use. A decision from the US Food and Drug Administration could come within weeks after that, and the drug, if okayed, could be distributed quickly soon afterward…

The Pentagon plans to rely on air strikes to prevent a resurgence of al-Qaeda now that US troops have left Afghanistan, but experts and some lawmakers are sceptical about the effectiveness of the so-called “over-the-horizon” strategy.Announcing the complete withdrawal of US troops in April, President Joe Biden vowed he would not allow a comeback of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden hatched the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.Since then, the Pentagon has…

This is the first in a series of stories looking at China’s Xinjiang province and how the far-western region is coping economically under a series of US sanctions over alleged human rights violations and the widespread use of forced labour.Nine months ago, when the United States banned cotton and tomato products from Xinjiang over alleged human rights violations and the widespread use of forced labour in the region, cotton farmers in particular in the far-west region feared the worst.But with…

Scarlett Johansson and the Walt Disney Co have settled her lawsuit over the streaming release of Black Widow, bringing a swift end to what had begun as the first major fight between a studio and star over recent changes in roll-out plans for films.Johansson filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court two months ago, saying the streaming release of the Marvel movie breached her contract and deprived her of potential earnings.Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the two sides released a…

Latin singer Gloria Estefan has revealed that she was sexually abused at the age of nine by a music teacher who was part of her family.The Turn the Beat Around singer spoke for the first time about the abuse on an episode of Red Table Talk: The Estefans that was released on Facebook Watch on Thursday.She did not identify the man but said he threatened to kill her mother if she spoke about the abuse.“He was family, but not close family. He was in a position of power because my mother had put me…

A United States senator wrote to Microsoft and LinkedIn on Thursday demanding an explanation for the professional networking platform’s recent decision to block China-based users accessing the accounts of several US journalists.Earlier this week, LinkedIn blacklisted the accounts of Axios’ Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and independent journalists Melissa Chan and Greg Bruno, the latest in a string of actions the Silicon Valley-headquartered company has taken to preserve access to the Chinese market…

Canadians on Thursday commemorated a century of injustices against its Indigenous populations in the first ever National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, following shocking discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential schools.“It is a day to reflect. It is a day to honour. It is a day to grieve. It is a day to mourn. It is a day to shed tears,” Algonquin elder Claudette Commanda told a ceremony in front of parliament attended by thousands.Gatherings and marches were also…

The US Congress approved a stopgap funding bill on Thursday in a rare show of cross-party unity to keep federal agencies running past the end of the fiscal year and avert a government shutdown.Hours ahead of the midnight deadline, the House of Representatives voted by 254 votes to 175 to keep the lights on for another two months with a resolution that had already advanced comfortably from the Senate.“This is a good outcome, one I’m happy we are getting done,” Chuck Schumer, the top Democratic…