USA

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 05 (APP): Pakistan, speaking for the Group of 77 (developing countries) and China, has called for steps to avert all forms of gender-based violence, in particular femicide, and to ensure that women are not subject to multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on ‘Advancement of Women” on Tuesday, Ambassador Aamir Khan, deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, said that violence against women and girls continues to be a major obstacle to achieving gender equality and their empowerment.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER /US/, October 5. /TASS/: The Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying an international crew of four, including Russia’s Anna Kikina, has been orbited from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew Dragon’s flight to the International Space Station is being streamed on the NASA website.

The Falcon 9 launch vehicle orbited the Crew Dragon in 12 minutes. The docking with the ISS is expected the next day.

WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden called on his administration and Congress to explore ways to boost U.S. energy production and reduce OPEC's control over energy prices after the cartel's "shortsighted" production cut, the White House said on Wednesday.

The Saudi Arabia-led OPEC+ cartel at a Vienna meeting on Wednesday ignored pleas from the White House to keep oil flowing and agreed to cut output by 2 million barrels per day, its deepest cuts in production since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Almost 14.8 million children in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.

Nearly 238,000 of these cases have been added in the past four weeks. Approximately 6.9 million reported cases have been added in 2022, according to the report.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. national debt has surpassed 31 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time amid higher interest rates, raising concerns about fiscal sustainability.

The total public debt outstanding reached 31.1 trillion dollars on Monday, including 24.3 trillion dollars in debt held by the public and 6.8 trillion in intergovernmental holdings, said the U.S. Treasury Department's daily treasury statement released Tuesday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Leading Republicans are entering the final month of the midterm campaign increasingly optimistic that a Senate majority is within reach even as a dramatic family fight in Georgia clouds one of the party’s biggest pickup opportunities.

And as some Democrats crow on social media about apparent Republican setbacks, party strategists privately concede that their own shortcomings may not be outweighed by the GOP’s mounting challenges.

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon has suspended at least 50 warehouse employees who refused to work their shifts following a trash compactor fire at one of its New York facilities, according to union organizers.

The company suspended the workers, with pay, on Tuesday, a day after the fire disrupted operations at the Staten Island warehouse that voted to unionize earlier this year.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.. (AP) — For the first time in 20 years, a Russian cosmonaut rocketed from the U.S. on Wednesday, launching to the International Space Station alongside NASA and Japanese astronauts despite tensions over the war in Ukraine.

“We’re so glad to do it together,” said Anna Kikina, Russia’s lone female cosmonaut, offering thanks in both English and Russian. “Spasibo!”

FORT MYERS, Florida (AP) — President Joe Biden toured hurricane-ravaged areas of Florida on Wednesday, surveying storm damage by helicopter as he pledged that federal, state and local governments will work together to help rebuild homes, businesses and lives — putting politics on mute for now.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 05 (APP): Pakistan on Tuesday drew world community’s attention to the threat posed to peace and security in South Asia by India’s “ultranationalist and hegemonic” policies, that, among other objectives, seek to crush the legitimate Kashmiri quest for self-determination with an occupation army of 900,000 troops.