USA

28 Sep 2021; MEMO: The year 2020 was the worst for the Palestinian Authority (PA) since its establishment in 1994 due to the Israeli occupation and the coronavirus pandemic, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said yesterday.

UNCTAD said in its annual report that the PA's economic decline in 2020 was a continuation of its already bad economic conditions in 2019.

It blamed the COVID-19 and measures taken by the Israeli occupation for the economic downturn across the occupied Palestinian territories.

Washington, Sep 27 (AP-PTI) Instagram is putting a hold on the development of Instagram kids, geared towards children under 13, so it can address concerns about the vulnerability of younger users.

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, wrote in a blog post Monday that a delay will give the company time to work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators, to listen to their concerns, and to demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today".

United Nations, Sep 27 (PTI) Afghanistan and Myanmar will not address the UN General Assembly's high-level General Debate on Monday as both the countries are not listed as speakers to address the 76th session of the world body.

According to the latest list of speakers for the last day of the General Debate of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, Afghanistan and Myanmar are not listed as speakers to address the session.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States need to rethink its relations with China and how to deal with China's rise, said a recent article in a leading U.S. journal on international affairs.

The United States has adopted a strategy of "congagement" towards China, which was a combination of "military containment and economic engagement," said the article, titled "America needs to rethink how it is handling China's rise," in The National Interest.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday received his COVID-19 vaccine booster shot on camera at the White House.

"Boosters are important, but the most important thing we need to do is get more people vaccinated," Biden said before getting his booster shot.

About 23 percent of eligible Americans haven't gotten any shot, said the president.

Some 20 million Americans are eligible for a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine, according to a CNN report.

CHICAGO (AP) — After five years of legal battles, gentrification concerns and a federal review, Barack and Michelle Obama were expected to attend a celebratory groundbreaking Tuesday on their legacy project in a lakefront Chicago park.

Construction on the site along Lake Michigan, near the Obama family home and where the former president started his political career on Chicago’s South Side, officially began last month. Work on the Obama Presidential Center is expected to take about five years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In their first public testimony since the U.S. completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, top Pentagon leaders will face sharp questions in Congress about the chaotic pullout and the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country.

Republicans in particular have intensified their attacks on President Joe Biden’s decision to pull all troops out of Afghanistan by Aug. 30, saying it left the U.S. more vulnerable to terrorism. They are demanding more details on the suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 13 American service members in the final days of the withdrawal.

NEW YORK (AP) — For years, decades even, allegations swirled that R&B superstar R. Kelly was abusing young women and girls, with seeming impunity.

They were mostly young Black women. And Black girls.

And that, say accusers and others who have called for him to face accountability, is part of what took the wheels of the criminal justice system so long to turn, finally leading to his conviction Monday in his sex trafficking trial. That it did at all, they say, is also due to the efforts of Black women, unwilling to be forgotten.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators blocked a bill to keep the government operating and allow federal borrowing, but Democrats aiming to avert a shutdown pledged to try again — at the same time pressing ahead on President Joe Biden’s big plans to reshape government.

The efforts are not necessarily linked, but the fiscal yearend deadline to fund the government past Thursday is bumping up against the Democrats’ desire to make progress on Biden’s expansive $3.5 trillion federal overhaul.

NEW YORK, Sep 26 (APP): Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said in an interview with The New York Times published Sunday that the Afghanistan’s ambassador in the United Nations from Afghanistan’s toppled regime had no standing and that the war-torn country’s seat at the U.N. should remain vacant for now.

Ghulam Isaczai, who so far remains the officially recognized envoy of Afghanistan at the U.N., is listed to speak in the General Assembly on Monday when the 193-member body concludes its high-level debate.