North America

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.

NEW YORK, October 4. /TASS/: The United States is set to announce on Tuesday a new $625 million military aid package for Ukraine that will include four HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems, the Associated Press news agency reported, citing US officials.

The Pentagon will send its rocket systems to Kiev for the first time since July to increase the number of supplied HIMARS to 20. The US will also supply ammunition and equipment necessary for the Ukrainian troops as part of the new aid package, the news agency reported.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called on all countries to make climate action the global priority.

The UN chief told journalists at the UN headquarters in New York that all countries, led by the G20, can demonstrate that "climate action truly is the top global priority" as government representatives begin finalizing the agenda for the COP27 (the 27th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) next month.

COP27 will take place in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt, from Nov. 6-18.