US & Canada

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for snap elections, hoping to pull the plug on a two-year minority government and gain a strong majority in Parliament. According to Press TV, in a meeting on Sunday with Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon, who represents the Canadian monarch Queen Elizabeth II, Trudeau …

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) has criticized what he called President Joe Biden’s “botched exit” from Afghanistan after the Taliban entered the capital city of Kabul. The Taliban took control of the presidential palace in Kabul after President Ashraf Ghani fled the war-torn country on Sunday. It took the …

Covid-19 cases in the United States could soon return to 200,000 a day, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has warned. As of Saturday, the US has averaged about 129,000 daily new cases over the last 7 days, but according to NIH director Dr. Francis Collins, that number could jump …

Under pressure from the U.S. government to contain illegal immigration, Mexico has been quietly flying thousands of undocumented migrants to the south of the country to expedite their departure, according to officials and migrants. The government said in late May it had carried out four return flights of migrants as …

U.S. health experts say most people don’t need a COVID-19 booster shot — yet. But all three companies, which make the vaccines being used in the U.S., are studying whether, and when, they might be. The CEO of Pfizer says it appears a booster will be needed between eight and …

Incoming New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Sunday that she supported mask mandates for children in school as a necessary safety step for helping New York get through a new wave of COVID-19 infections. Hochul, speaking in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” program, said masks for …

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau officially announced on Sunday morning that Canada’s federal election will be held on September 20. Trudeau, also Canadian Liberal Party leader, made the announcement after his meeting with Governor-General Mary Simon, who approved his request to dissolve Parliament, triggering the issuing of the election writs …

The crush of new COVID-19 infections in Mississippi has become so dire that the state has turned to efforts reminiscent of the earliest days of the US pandemic, when a field hospital was set up in New York’s Central Park and a medical ship was moored in the Hudson River. …

Republican members of the US Congress have slammed President Joe Biden over withdrawing troops from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized the country’s second-and third-biggest cities as resistance from American-trained government forces crumbled. The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and removed the Taliban from power. American forces occupied the country …

The number of white Americans has declined fast in recent years and the population growth in the US is driven entirely by minority communities, according to new data by the US Census Bureau. The data released on Thursday showed that non-Hispanic whites make up about 58 percent of the American …

China’s newly appointed ambassador in Washington stressed the utmost importance of Taiwan in the Sino-U.S. relationship during his first meeting with a top U.S. official since assuming the job, according to Chinese state media. Qin Gang, 55, who has earned a reputation for pointed public defences of his country’s positions, …

The United States grew significantly more diverse over the past decade, as the populations of people who identify as Hispanic and Asian surged and the number of people who said they were more than one race increased, the Census Bureau reported on Thursday. Overall population growth slowed dramatically over the …

Afghanistan’s third-largest city, Herat, was on the verge of falling to the Taliban on Thursday amid heavy fighting, as the militant group also established a bridgehead within 150 km (95 miles) of Kabul. The group claimed control over Herat and, in what would be its most significant two victories since …

The rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus has pushed cases and hospitalizations in the United States to a six-month high, with some states like Hawaii saying they will re-impose COVID restrictions to avert straining their healthcare. “I’ll be signing an executive order that will limit social gatherings, …

The administration of US President Joe Biden is ramping up deportations and prosecutions of migrants crossing the southern border, under a Trump-era order, that left vulnerable asylum-seekers subjected to sexual abuse and murder at the he hands of drug cartels and human traffickers, right organizations warn. US authorities are lately …

Most of parents in the United States are opposed with Covid-19 vaccination mandates at schools even after the FDA’s full approval of the existing vaccines, a new poll revealed. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll released on Wednesday, 58 percent of parents whose children are eligible for the …

Dr. Anthony Fauci says an additional COVID-19 booster shot will be recommended for previously vaccinated people with weakened immune systems. He told NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday that he expects the booster recommendation to come “imminently.” People have compromised immune systems for a variety of reasons, including organ transplants, cancer, …

Canada is working to create a digital vaccine passport that would allow citizens to travel abroad and it should be available in the next few months, government officials said on Wednesday. Before the passport can be created Ottawa needs to agree on a common approach with the 10 provinces and …

The US won a bid to expand the scope of its appeal against a London court decision that ruled Julian Assange can’t be extradited due to his mental health. The decision at a hearing on Wednesday comes after the nation was last month granted only limited permission to appeal the …

The US Senate on Tuesday passed a $1 trillion infrastructure package that is a top priority for US President Joe Biden, a bipartisan victory for the White House that could provide the nation’s biggest investment in decades in roads, bridges, airports and waterways. The vote was 69-30 in the 100-seat …