USA

UNITED NATIONS, September 21. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold meetings on Wednesday within the framework of the UN General Assembly session with IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Central African Republic’s President Faustin-Archange Touadera, the Russian delegation told the media.

NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin's thinly veiled threat to use nuclear weapons after Russian setbacks in Ukraine was "dangerous and reckless rhetoric," NATO's secretary general said on Wednesday, adding that the only way to end the war was to prove Moscow will not win on the battlefield.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that the world is in big trouble and needs collective action across the board.

"Our world is in big trouble. Divides are growing deeper. Inequalities are growing wider. And challenges are spreading farther," Guterres said while addressing the UN General Assembly before the opening of the General Debate.

"We need action across the board," he said.

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Disease experts predict that COVID will remain among the top 10 causes of death in the United States for the foreseeable future, said a report of NBC News.

After U.S. President Joe Biden said the coronavirus pandemic was "over" in an interview Sunday, many people were left wondering how to reconcile his comment with the fact that the country is still averaging about 500 COVID deaths every day, said the report published on Monday.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s new moon rocket sprouted another fuel leak Wednesday as engineers tested the plumbing ahead of a launch attempt as early as next week.

The daylong demo had barely begun when hazardous hydrogen fuel began escaping at the same place and same time as before, despite new seals and other repairs. Engineers halted the flow and warmed the lines in hopes of plugging the leak, and proceeded with the test. But the leak persisted.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Two U.S. military veterans who disappeared while fighting Russia with Ukrainian forces have been released after about three months in captivity, relatives said Wednesday.

Alex Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, went missing in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine near the Russian border June 9. Both had traveled to Ukraine on their own and became friends because both are from Alabama.

The families announced their release in a joint statement from Dianna Shaw, an aunt of Drueke.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Wednesday that the U.S. Embassy in Cuba will begin processing full immigrant visas in early 2023, making it easier for Cubans to reunite with family members in the United States.

The embassy in Havana had last processed full immigrant visas in 2017. The U.S. government will also stop requiring Cubans seeking visas in family preference categories to travel to Georgetown, Guyana, for their interviews.

CAYEY, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona strengthened into a Category 4 storm Wednesday after devastating Puerto Rico, then lashing the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was forecast to squeeze past Bermuda later this week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Campaigning for a northwestern Ohio congressional seat, Republican J.R. Majewski presents himself as an Air Force combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, once describing “tough” conditions including a lack of running water that forced him to go more than 40 days without a shower.

Military documents obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request tell a different story.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Joe Biden declared at the United Nations on Wednesday that Russia has “shamelessly violated the core tenets” of the international body with its war in Ukraine as he summoned nations around the globe to stand firm in backing the Ukrainian resistance.