North America

OTTAWA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - As Canada's election race enters its final weekend, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is redoubling efforts to motivate supporters, knowing his bid for re-election on Monday could be doomed by low turnout.

Recent opinion polls show Trudeau's Liberals neck and neck with the opposition Conservatives led by Erin O'Toole, suggesting that getting out the vote will be crucial.

Low turnout tends to favor the Conservatives, who are traditionally better at ensuring their supporters cast ballots.

NEW YORK, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. federal government is seeking to achieve broader vaccination against COVID-19, targeting corporates, official departments and global meetings, as the pandemic keeps claiming more and more American lives and will likely become the biggest pandemic killer in the country's history.

According to The New York Times, the 7-day average of confirmed cases stood at 152,605 nationwide on Wednesday, with its 14-day change striking an 8-percent fall. COVID-19-related deaths were 1,943 on Wednesday, with the 14-day change realizing a 37-percent rise.

(AP) --- President Joe Biden tried to hammer out the world’s next steps against rapidly worsening climate change in a private, virtual session with a small group of other global leaders Friday, and announced a new U.S.-European pledge to cut climate-wrecking methane leaks.

Ever-grimmer findings from scientists this year that the world is nearing the point where the level of climate damage from burning oil, gas and coal becomes catastrophic and irreversible “represent a code red for humanity,” Biden said at the session’s outset.

17 Sep 2021; MEMO: The United Nations' political mission in Libya is being blocked by Russia, threatening the country's unity ahead of a presidential election due to be held on 24 December, diplomatic sources said.

Russia vetoed a resolution drafted by Britain on the withdrawal of foreign troops and mercenaries from Libya as well as the role of the UN envoy to Libya because it did not approve the wording of the document, reports have said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The prosecutor tasked with examining the U.S. government’s investigation into Russian election interference charged a prominent cybersecurity lawyer on Thursday with making a false statement to the FBI five years ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The architect of a Washington protest planned for Saturday that aims to rewrite history about the violent January assault on the U.S. Capitol is hardly a household name.

Matt Braynard worked as an analyst for the Republican Party, crunched data for a small election firm and later started a consulting business that attracted few federal clients, records show. He started a nonprofit after he was dismissed by Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign following several months on the job, but struggled to raise money. The group’s tax-exempt status was revoked last year.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — In another ominous sign about the spread of the delta variant, Idaho public health leaders on Thursday expanded health care rationing statewide and individual hospital systems in Alaska and Montana have enacted similar crisis standards amid a spike in the number of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization.

The decisions marked an escalation of the pandemic in several Western states struggling to convince skeptical people to get vaccinated.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s decision to form a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and Britain to counter China is angering France and the European Union. They’re feeling left out and seeing it as a return to the Trump era.

The security initiative, unveiled this week, appears to have brought Biden’s summer of love with Europe to an abrupt end. AUKUS, which notably excludes France and the European Union, is just the latest in a series of steps, from Afghanistan to east Asia, that have taken Europe aback.

NEW YORK, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — All leaders and diplomats attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week will have to provide proof of vaccination, the city government said, sparking anger from Russia.

  Delegates must be vaccinated to enter the debate hall, the mayor’s office told the assembly president in a letter dated Sept 9, but Moscow queried whether New York had the authority to enforce the mandate.

  Attendees must also be vaccinated if they want to eat or exercise indoors, the letter added.

16 Sep 2021; MEMO: Turkey and Qatar are working to resume normal flights to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport, the United States State Department spokesperson said yesterday.

Ned Price said that the Taliban also share the same desire with Qatar and Turkey.

Beside chartered flights, he added: "there will be additional options for individuals to leave from Kabul International Airport."