Pfizer said Wednesday that final results from the late-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine show it was 95 percent effective, adding it had the required two-months of safety data and would apply for emergency US authorization within days. The drugmaker said efficacy of the vaccine developed with German partner BioNTech SE was consistent across age and ethnicity demographics, and that there were no major side effects, a sign that the immunization could be employed broadly around the world.

WASHINGTON -- The US will slash troop levels in Afghanistan and Iraq to their lowest levels in nearly 20 years of war after President Donald Trump pledged to end conflicts abroad, the Pentagon announced Tuesday. Rejecting concerns that precipitous drawdowns could give up all the US has fought for, Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller said around 2,000 troops would be pulled from Afghanistan by January 15. Five hundred more would come back from Iraq by the same date, leaving 2,500 in each coun

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Global hopes of vanquishing the coronavirus pandemic were boosted Monday after a vaccine was found to be nearly 95 percent effective in a trial, bringing much-needed optimism amid surging infections and grueling new restrictions. The news from the US biotech firm Moderna comes after similar results were announced last week for a vaccine candidate developed by pharma giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. Major stock markets surged Monday in response, building on a bo

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Sunday appeared to acknowledge for the first time that Joe Biden won the White House, but made clear he would not concede and would keep trying to overturn the election result. Trump’s statements came in tweets that included several baseless claims about the Nov. 3 vote, which state and federal officials say was safe and secure. Trump, without using Biden’s name, tweeted that “He won,” something Trump had not said before

BEIJING (Reuters) -- The Chinese city of Jinan said over the weekend it had found coronavirus on beef and tripe and their packaging from Brazil, Bolivia and New Zealand, while two other provincial capitals detected it on packaging on pork from Argentina. China is ramping up testing on frozen foods after repeatedly detecting the virus on imported products, triggering disrupting import bans, even as the World Health Organization says the risk of catching COVID-19 from frozen food is low. In

PARIS (Reuters) -- French police stepped up controls in Paris over the weekend to ensure residents were complying with strict lockdown rules imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, amid signs that some people were breaching them. Prime Minister Jean Castex has said people are not abidingby the rules as strictly as during the first lockdown back inthe spring. Police had to break up an illegal party hosting up to 400 people at Joinville-Le-Pont near Paris early on Saturday. Under the lockdo

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thousands of die-hard Donald Trump supporters rallied for a last stand Saturday in Washington, chanting "four more years" and blaming fraud for an election defeat that will force the president to vacate the White House after just one term. Trump himself made a drive-past in his armored motorcade, on his way to play golf, smiling through his limousine window to wild cheers and signs saying "Best prez ever" and "Trump 2020: Keep America Great." &q

WASHINGTON -- The United States was able to push through "robust" sanctions against North Korea by the UN Security Council in 2009 thanks to its improved relations with other countries, former US President Barack Obama said. In a new memoir, "A Promised Land," the former US president also said that his 2009 speech in Prague calling for a world free of nuclear weapons was partly aimed at urging efforts to prevent Iran and North Korea from further advancing their nuclear progr

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden attended on Wednesday separate, simultaneous ceremonies marking Veterans Day, as what should have been a moment of national unity was marred by the Republican's refusal to acknowledge election defeat. On a rainy, gray day in Washington, the president visited Arlington National Cemetery for a somber wreath-laying ceremony, his first official appearance since the November 3 vote. He made no public remarks. At the same tim

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The leaders of close US allies on Tuesday telephoned President-elect Joe Biden and pledged to work together but in an extraordinary break, America's top diplomat Mike Pompeo insisted that Donald Trump would remain in power. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel all offered congratulations in calls to Biden, who a week earlier edged out Trump in the presidential election. "I'm letting them know that Am

　Nearly half of South Koreans believe that there will be no major impact on inter-Korean relations when US President-elect Joe Biden takes office early next year, a poll showed. 　In the Realmeter survey of 500 people aged 18 or older nationwide conducted Nov. 6 on prospects for Seoul-Pyongyang relations during Biden’s term, 48.8 percent said there would be “little difference.” 　Only 16.4 percent bet on an improvement in relations, while 26.5 percent said relations are lik

WILMINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Joe Biden signaled strongly on Monday that fighting the raging pandemic will be the immediate priority of his new administration, an abrupt shift from President Donald Trump’s more unworried approach to the virus, as the nation surpassed 10 million COVID-19 cases. Biden began with a direct appeal to all Americans to wear masks, a departure from Trump, who has mocked Biden and others who make a point of always wearing protective face coverings when a

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration threw the presidential transition into tumult on Monday, with President Donald Trump blocking government officials from cooperating with President-elect Joe Biden's team and Attorney General William Barr authorizing the Justice Department to probe unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud. Some Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, rallied behind Trump's efforts to fight the election results. Few in the GOP acknowledged Bide

WASHINGTON (AP) -- At least three top Trump administration or campaign officials have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending an election night watch party in the White House East Room. The night -- intended to mark a victory that never came -- has become yet another symbol of the president's cavalier attitude toward a virus that is ripping across the nation and infecting more than 100,000 people a day. Ben Carson, the secretary for housing and urban development, tested pos

Pfizer Inc. said Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine may be a remarkable 90 percent effective, based on early and incomplete test results that nevertheless brought a big burst of optimism to a world desperate for the means to finally bring the catastrophic outbreak under control. The announcement came less than a week after an election seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump's handling of the scourge, which has killed more than 1.2 million people worldwide, including almost a quarter-m