North America

10 Aug 2021; MEMO: The nearly two-decade-long campaign by the families of victims of the September 11 2001 terror attack to expose the alleged role the Saudi Arabian government played has been given a new lease of life following a decision by President Joe Biden to offer his support into a "fresh review" of classified documents.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- China said on Monday the United States is not qualified to make irresponsible remarks on the issue of South China Sea.

"The United States itself is not qualified to make irresponsible remarks on the issue of South China Sea," Dai Bing, charge d'affaires of China's permanent mission to the United Nations, told the Security Council meeting on maritime security.

(AP) --- Earth is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, according to a report released Monday that the United Nations called a “code red for humanity.”

“It’s just guaranteed that it’s going to get worse,” said report co-author Linda Mearns, a senior climate scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. “Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”

But scientists also eased back a bit on the likelihood of the absolute worst climate catastrophes.

DENVER (AP) — As a police sergeant in a rural town, Carlos Cornejo isn’t the prototypical social media influencer. But his Spanish-language Facebook page with 650,000 followers was exactly what Colorado leaders were looking for as they recruited residents to try to persuade the most vaccine-hesitant.

Cornejo, 32, is one of dozens of influencers, ranging from busy moms and fashion bloggers to African refugee advocates and religious leaders, getting paid by the state to post vaccine information on a local level in hopes of stunting a troubling summer surge of COVID-19.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After weeks of fits, starts and delays, the Senate is on track to give final approval to the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan, with a growing coalition of Democrats and Republicans prepared to lift the first phase of President Joe Biden’s rebuilding agenda to passage.

Final Senate votes are expected around 11 a.m. EDT Tuesday, and the bill would then go to the House.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 09 (APP): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reaffirmed UN’s full support to amplifying the powerful testimony of the survivors of the atomic bomb that was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, 76 years ago, which has helped build a “powerful global movement against nuclear arms”.

In his message to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial on the August 9 anniversary, the UN Secretary-General said he continued to be humbled by the “selfless acts of the hibakusha, the name given to the 1945 survivors, who continue to bear witness.

WASHINGTON, August 9. /TASS/: Russia’s Pulsar Scientific and Production Enterprise, Charter Green Light Moscow and Asia-Invest have been sanctioned by the US administration as Washington deems that they violate the US national legislation that bans proliferation of WMDs in relation to Iraq, North Korea and Syria, the US State Department published the notice on Monday in the Federal Register.

The document shows that the decision was made on July 29.

MEXICO CITY, Aug 9 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Of the 126 million Mexican population, almost 44% were considered poor at the end of 2020, according to official data from the government.

In effect, 3,8 million Mexicans fell below the official poverty line last year to reach 56 million compared with the end of 2018, when current president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office.

WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order imposing new measures aimed at punishing Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko as the United States steps up pressure against his government in coordinated action with the United Kingdom and Canada.

NEW YORK, Aug 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called out bullying in the South China Sea on Monday and warned the U.N. Security Council that a conflict "would have serious global consequences for security and for commerce," sparking a strong rebuke from China.

The South China Sea has become one of many flashpoints in the testy relationship between China and the United States, with Washington rejecting what it calls unlawful territorial claims by Beijing in the resource-rich waters.