North America

21 Oct 2021; MEMO: The United Nations said Thursday it has launched a crisis trust fund to provide money directly to Afghans to prevent a humanitarian crisis and the breakdown of the economy following the Taliban's takeover this August, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The UN Development Program (UNDP) launched a new crisis response initiative as part of an overall response to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and the breakdown of the country's economy.

21 Oct 2021; MEMO: An Afghan detainee who was held for 14 years at the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will soon be released after a federal judge ruled his detention was illegal, Anadolu News Agency reports.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The Coast Guard received multiple reports of a possible fuel spill off the Southern California coast earlier than previously disclosed and asked local authorities to investigate about 15 hours before its own personnel confirmed a large oil slick, which came from a leaking undersea pipeline, records show.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The boss of a notorious Haitian gang accused of kidnapping 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group last weekend is warning that the hostages will be killed if his demands aren’t met.

“I swear by thunder that if I don’t get what I’m asking for, I will put a bullet in the heads of these Americans,” gang leader Wilson Joseph said in a video posted on social media Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House and Democrats are hurriedly reworking key aspects of President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion domestic policy plan, trimming the social services and climate change programs and rethinking new taxes on corporations and the wealthy to pay for a scaled-back package.

The changes come as Biden more forcefully appeals to the American public, including in a televised town hall Thursday, for what he says are the middle-class values at the heart of his proposal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has voted to hold Steve Bannon, a longtime ally and aide to former President Donald Trump, in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the committee investigating the violent Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

In a rare show of bipartisanship on the House floor, the committee’s Democratic chairman, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, led the floor debate along with Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of two Republicans on the panel. Still, the vote Thursday was 229-202 with all but nine GOP lawmakers who voted saying “no.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions more Americans can get a COVID-19 booster and choose a different company’s vaccine for that next shot, federal health officials said Thursday.

Certain people who received Pfizer vaccinations months ago already are eligible for a booster and now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says specific Moderna and Johnson & Johnson recipients qualify, too. And in a bigger change, the agency is allowing the flexibility of “mixing and matching” that extra dose regardless of which type people received first.

WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States has barred imports from a Malaysian latex glove maker over alleged labour abuses, the latest firm from the country to face such a ban.

   The relatively affluent Southeast Asian nation is home to millions of migrant workers employed in manufacturing and agriculture, but critics say they are often mistreated.

   US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced the ban on Supermax gloves on Wednesday, after a probe found indications of forced labour in the firm’s manufacturing operations.

BRIDGETOWN, Oct 21 (NNN-TELESUR) — Barbados’ Parliament on Wednesday unanimously voted Governor Sandra Mason to be declared as first Barbadian president and formally end their country’s association to the British Crown on Nov 30.

“I am convinced that Mason will play a good role as president for her tireless work on behalf of the Barbadian people during over 30 years of political career,” lawmaker Joseph Atherley stated while he congratulated the President-elect.

SAN JOSE, Oct 21 (NNN-TELESUR) — Costa Rica’s National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) and the Canadian Forest Fire Interagency Center (CIFFC) signed a plan to strengthen their partnership in forest fire management.

“It is of the utmost importance for Costa Rica to have established this agreement with Canada, which is a world leader in prevention and control of forest fires,” the SINAC Director Rafael Gutierrez stated.