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French court hears Agent Orange case against chemical firms
Évry (France) (AFP) - A French court will on Monday hear a case against more than a dozen multinationals, accused by a French-Vietnamese woman of causing grievous harm to her and others by selling the Agent Orange defoliant to the US government which used it to devastating effect in the Vietnam War. Tran To Nga, born in 1942 in what was then French Indochina, worked as a journalist and activist in Vietnam in her 20s. She filed the lawsuit in 2014 against 14 firms that made or sold the highly toxic chemical, including Monsanto, now owned by German giant Bayer, and Dow Chemical. Backed by severa...
AFP
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Republicans signal deep resistance to Trump Senate trial
Washington (AFP) - Republican lawmakers signaled Sunday that Democrats will have a fight on their hands to secure the conviction of Donald Trump when the Senate next month opens its first-ever impeachment trial of a former president. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected on Monday to send senators a single article of impeachment passed in the House of Representatives that blames Trump for inciting the chaotic Capitol invasion of January 6, which left five people dead. But as both sides prepared for what is expected to be a quick trial, Republicans pushed back with political and constitutional argu...
AFP
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SpaceX rocket deploys record-setting cargo
Miami (AFP) - SpaceX on Sunday launched its Falcon 9 rocket carrying a record number of satellites on board, the private space company said. The rocket successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 10:00 am (1500 GMT), 24 hours after its initial take-off had been scrubbed due to bad weather. Andy Tran, a SpaceX production supervisor, said in a video of the launch that the Falcon 9 was carrying 133 commercial and government "spacecraft" as well 10 SpaceX satellites. "The most spacecraft ever deployed on a single mission," Tran said. SpaceX is flying Falcon 9 under a "rideshare" program ...
AFP
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US passes 25 million Covid-19 cases: Johns Hopkins
Washington (AFP) - More than 25 million Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the United States since the pandemic began, Johns Hopkins University said Sunday, just days after President Joe Biden's inauguration. The milestone was reached only five days after the US, the world's wealthiest and hardest-hit nation, recorded 400,000 deaths from the disease. Biden has made fighting the coronavirus a priority and is pushing for Congress to approve a $1.9-trillion relief package that would include billions of dollars to boost vaccination rates. Biden has said he wants 100 million people vaccinated wi...
AFP
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US says support for Taiwan 'rock-solid' as Chinese jets buzz island
Washington (AFP) - The United States' commitment to Taiwan is "rock-solid", the State Department said late Saturday, as it warned that China's "attempts to intimidate" the island are a threat to regional peace. The comments are the first from Washington on relations with Taiwan since President Joe Biden's inauguration last week, and came on the same day Taipei reported multiple Chinese jets and bombers had flown into its air defense zone. State Department spokesman Ned Price said it "notes with concern the pattern of ongoing PRC attempts to intimidate its neighbors, including Taiwan" and "urge...
AFP
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US Fed holds first policy meeting of Biden administration
Washington (AFP) - With a new year and a new administration in the White House, the US central bank nonetheless faces an unprecedented challenge in guiding the post-pandemic economic recovery. One thing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is unlikely to face from President Joe Biden is the barrage of Twitter attacks he was subject to, sometimes daily, under former president Donald Trump. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki last week said Biden "clearly has a great deal of respect and value for the Federal Reserve and role they play." But even absent political pressures, the outlook is daunting. ...
AFP
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Miami's successful pitch to tech firms: How can we help?
Miami (AFP) - The city of Miami, with a growing reputation as a financial services center enhanced by its balmy climate and low taxes, is now making a concerted and increasingly successful push to attract hi-tech firms from Silicon Valley and New York. Goldman Sachs and other financial firms already have a presence in the southern Florida metropolis. The latest arrival is New York firm Blackstone, which earlier this month rented a building for a technology unit. And now "techies" are starting to arrive in increasing numbers -- investors, designers and engineers -- attracted by a thriving tec...
AFP
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Venezuela's Maduro says willing to establish 'new path' with US
Caracas (AFP) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Saturday he was willing to "turn the page" with the US under President Joe Biden, calling for a "new path" after years of tension with Donald Trump's White House. "We are willing to walk a new path in our relations with Joe Biden's government based on mutual respect, dialogue, communication and understanding," the leftist leader told supporters, adding that he "is willing to turn the page" with the new US administration. Trump's government had slapped multiple economic sanctions on Venezuela, including an oil embargo in place since 2019,...
AFP
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LGBT politicians break barriers across US in historic election wins
Washington (AFP) - When Brianna Titone first ran for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives, she was viewed as an unlikely candidate, and her opponents didn't bother to say much about her being a transgender woman. But after winning the seat in an upset and becoming the first transgender legislator in state history, a rival lawmaker voiced robocalls claiming Titone "wants to force a radical sexual agenda on every Coloradan." When she held campaign events, people began shouting expletives from passing cars. Yet that didn't stop voters in Titone's suburban Denver district from giving h...
AFP
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Trump's extreme-right backers angry and not going anywhere
Washington (AFP) - The American far right is angry: Angry at Joe Biden, angry at Donald Trump, angry at the enigmatic "Q" and angry with themselves. The online postings and chatrooms of extremists have been brimming with disappointment and dissent since the failed January 6 insurrection against Congress and the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. Followers of the QAnon conspiracy movement -- and its Delphic prophet Q -- are most in disarray, their millenarian predictions of chaos and doom accompanying Biden's elevation to the presidency not (or not yet) coming true. Ultranationalists like ...
AFP
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