WORLD VIEW: US Budget, Violent California Storm, China with Virus Surge, Sudan Coup, More

• Pivotal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin appears to be on board with White House proposals for new taxes on billionaires and certain corporations to help pay for President Joe Biden’s scaled-back social services and climate change package.
• In Sudan, military forces arrested the acting prime minister and senior officials, disrupted internet access and blocked bridges in the capital Khartoum. Thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Khartoum to protest the apparent military takeover.
• Children as young as 3 will start receiving COVID-19 vaccines in China
• A camera operator told authorities that Alec Baldwin had been careful with weapons on the set of the film “Rust” before the actor shot and killed a cinematographer with a gun he’d been told was safe to use.

ANDREW MELDRUM, Africa News Editor

The Associated Press

The Rundown

AP source: Manchin agreeable to wealth tax for Biden plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pivotal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin appears to be on board with White House proposals for new taxes on billionaires and certain corporations to help pay for President Joe Biden’s scaled-back social services and climate change…Read More

Forecasters: California storm could bring ‘historic’ rain

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A powerful storm roared ashore Sunday in Northern California, flooding highways, toppling trees and causing mud flows in areas burned bare by recent fires as forecasters predict record-breaking rainfall. …Read More

Chinese province closes tourist sites following virus cases

BEIJING (AP) — A northwestern Chinese province heavily dependent on tourism closed all tourist sites Monday after finding new COVID-19 cases. Gansu province lies along the ancient Silk Road and is famed for the Dunhuang grottoes filled with B…Read More

African effort to replicate mRNA vaccine targets disparities

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — In a pair of Cape Town warehouses converted into a maze of airlocked sterile rooms, young scientists are assembling and calibrating the equipment needed to reverse engineer a coronavirus vaccine that has yet to r…Read More

Crew member: Baldwin careful with guns before fatal shooting

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A camera operator told authorities that Alec Baldwin had been careful with weapons on the set of the film “Rust” before the actor shot and killed a cinematographer with a gun he’d been told was safe to use, court records …Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

Sudanese gov’t officials detained; group sees apparent coup

CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese officials say military forces have detained at least five senior government officials on Monday, as the Sudanese Professionals’ Association has called o…Read More

In France, Trump-like TV pundit rocks presidential campaign

PARIS (AP) — A survivor of the terrible journey to Auschwitz remembered how the youngest wailed. There were 99 children squeezed among 751 adults gasping for air, crazed by t…Read More

Proposed mine tests UK climate efforts ahead of UN meeting

WHITEHAVEN, England (AP) — In the patchwork of hills, lakes and sea that makes up England’s northwest corner, most people see beauty. Dave Cradduck sees broken dreams. The co…Read More

Stripping military bases of Confederate names stirs passions

BLACKSTONE, Va. (AP) — Civil War history casts a long shadow in Virginia, the birthplace of Confederate generals, scene of their surrender, and now a crossroad of controversy…Read More