North America

JACKSON, Ky. (AP) — Evelyn Smith lost everything in the floods that devastated eastern Kentucky, saving only her grandson’s muddy tricycle. But she’s not planning to leave the mountains that have been her home for 50 years.

Like many families in this dense, forested region of hills, deep valleys and meandering streams, Smith’s roots run deep. Her family has lived in Knott County for five generations. They’ve built connections with people that have sustained them, even as an area long mired in poverty has hemorrhaged more jobs with the collapse of the coal industry.

WASHINGTON, Jul 30 (APP): Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan has said that Pakistan’s exports to the United States have marked year-on-year rise, with a total volume of $9 billion at an annual growth rate of 35 percent.

Pointing out that the volume of the exports last year was $7 billion, the Pakistani envoy said, the net increase in the last one year was $2 billion.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 (APP): Human trafficking is a horrific crime and “an all-out assault on people’s rights, safety and dignity,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Saturday, marking World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

“Tragically, it is also a problem that is growing worse – especially for women and girls, who represent the majority of detected trafficked persons globally,” he said in a message. Conflicts, forced displacement, climate change, inequality and poverty, have left tens of millions of people around the world destitute, isolated and vulnerable.

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi sounded the alarm about China's behavior in the Indo-Pacific during a visit to Washington on Friday, saying the "logic of brute force" was gaining more traction over the rule of law in the region.

In a speech at a Washington think tank, Hayashi referred to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and said such moves should never be allowed elsewhere. He said it was essential that it go down as "clear failure," or other countries would attempt to change the status quo by force.

HAVANA, July 30 (Reuters) - The Cuban capital of Havana will begin electricity blackouts in August, has canceled carnival and is taking other measures as the country’s energy crisis worsens, state media reported on Saturday.

The capital, home to a fifth of the population of 11.2 million and center of economic activity in Cuba, had been spared the daily power outages of four or more hours that the rest of the island has endured for months.

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden declared on Friday that "a major disaster exists" in Kentucky amid the deadly flooding in the state.

Biden had ordered federal aid to supplement Kentucky and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides, according to the White House.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear tweeted on Friday morning that the federal funding "is critical for our recovery efforts and Kentuckians impacted by the historic flooding."

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday to ban assault weapons with a narrow 217-213 vote.

The legislation would prohibit the sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of semiautomatic assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices.

But it would allow the possession of any semiautomatic assault weapon lawfully possessed on the date of enactment and the sale or transfer of any semiautomatic assault weapon lawfully possessed on the date of enactment following a background check, among other things.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Friday approved wide-ranging legislation aimed at helping communities in the West cope with increasingly severe wildfires and drought — fueled by climate change — that have caused billions of dollars of damage to homes and businesses in recent years.

The measure combines 49 separate bills and would increase firefighter pay and benefits; boost resiliency and mitigation projects for communities affected by climate change; protect watersheds; and make it easier for wildfire victims to get federal assistance.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council voted Friday to relax the arms embargo against the Central African Republic, a disappointment to its government, which sought a complete lifting of the ban on the sale or transfer of weapons and ammunition.

The vote was 10-0 with Russia, China and the council’s three African members that supported a lifting of the embargo abstaining.

Sylvie Baïpo-Temon, the Central African Republic’s foreign minister, told the council after the vote that the government welcomed the first step toward an arms embargo on armed groups.

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis acknowledged Saturday that he can no longer travel like he used to because of his strained knee ligaments, saying his weeklong Canadian pilgrimage was “a bit of a test” that showed he needs to slow down and one day possibly retire.

Speaking to reporters while traveling home from northern Nunavut, the 85-year-old Francis stressed that he hadn’t thought about resigning but said “the door is open” and there was nothing wrong with a pope stepping down.