USA

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are back to tumbling on Wall Street Thursday as rising bond yields and worries about a possible recession put the squeeze back on markets.

The S&P 500 was 2.1% lower in midday trading and back to its lowest level since late 2020. The washout has the index on track to more than erase its big rally from a day before. That’s when forceful moves by the Bank of England to get suddenly spiking U.K. yields under control triggered a global burst of relief among investors.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, appeared on Thursday for a voluntary interview with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The committee has for months sought an interview with Thomas in an effort to know more about her role in trying to help former President Donald Trump overturn his election defeat. She texted with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin in the weeks after the election.

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Ian destroyed a cross-section of Florida, trapping people in flooded homes, forcing patients from nursing homes and hospitals, cutting off a popular barrier island and obliterating a historic waterfront pier. Nearly 2.7 million people lost power as rain fell and waters rose.

29 Sep 2022; MEMO: A United Nations Envoy has acknowledged that Israel continues to defy a Resolution by the UN Security Council (UNSC) to immediately cease all activity in building illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, as Tel Aviv has advanced plans for the construction of almost 2,000 housing units for settlements in the past three months.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 28 (APP): Antony Blinken, America’s top diplomat has stoutly defended the sale of F-16 aircraft maintenance package to Pakistan, as India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who had sharply criticized the Biden administration’s move a day earlier, listened silently while his US counterpart justified the deal, saying it was aimed at bolstering the country’s capacity to fight terrorism.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 29 (APP): As the war in Ukraine stokes a crisis for countries that are struggling just to access the food they need, the world community needs to ensure that doesn’t spill over into a “food availability crisis”, the head of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a Rome-based UN agency, said Wednesday.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- In their general debate speeches at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, leaders and senior representatives from developing countries underscored the importance of development and called on the international community to lend a helping hand to developing countries facing challenges.

Furthermore, the Global Development Initiative (GDI) proposed by China is hailed as "timely" and a valued contribution to addressing common challenges.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is hosting Pacific Island leaders for a two-day summit as the U.S. looks to counter China’s military and economic influence in the region. Pacific Island leaders, meanwhile, see an even more pressing concern: climate change.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation Wednesday to overhaul oversight and bring greater transparency to the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons following reporting from The Associated Press that exposed systemic corruption in the federal prison system and increased congressional scrutiny.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will provide an additional $1.1 billion in aid to Ukraine, with funding for about 18 more advanced rocket systems and other weapons to counter drones that Russia has been using against Ukrainian troops, the Biden administration announced Wednesday.

The latest package is being provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which funds contracts to purchase weapons and equipment. And it brings the total of U.S. aid to Ukraine to nearly $17 billion since the Biden administration took office.