USA

DEL RIO, Texas (AP) — No migrants are left at a Texas border encampment, about a week after nearly 15,000 people — most of them Haitians — huddled in makeshift shelters hoping for the chance to seek asylum.

Some will get that chance, while the others will be expelled to their homeland. The Department of Homeland Security planned to continue flights to Haiti throughout the weekend, ignoring criticism from Democratic lawmakers and human rights groups who say Haitian migrants are being sent back to a troubled country that some left more than a decade ago.

NEW YORK, Sep 24 (APP): Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday met the Foreign Minister of Japan, Motegi Toshimitsu, on the sidelines of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The two Foreign Ministers exchanged views on bilateral relations between Pakistan and Japan as well as on other issues of mutual interest including the situation in Afghanistan.

24 Sep 2021; MEMO: The window is still open to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal but won't be forever, a senior US official said yesterday, saying Iran has yet to name a negotiator, set a date for talks or say whether it would resume where they left off in June, Reuters reports.

Washington was prepared to be patient, the US official told reporters, but said at some point Iran's nuclear advances would overtake the deal and the United States and its partners would have to decide whether Iran was willing to revive it.

LOS ANGELES, Sept 24 (NNN-Xinhua) — An explosive wildfire in northern California expanded to 4.9 square km in 24 hours, triggering multiple mandatory evacuation orders, under which over 4,000 residents fled from their homes.

Dubbed Fawn Fire, the fire started some 19 km north of Redding city on Wednesday night, burned wildly Thursday afternoon and threatened Redding city, which has a population of 100,000, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Dozens of Indian Americans have gathered at Lafayette Square, the park in front of the White House, to protest against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United States.

Chanting slogans and holding placards that read “Save India from fascism”, the protesters castigated Modi over human rights violations, persecution of Muslims and other minorities, new farm laws, and the crackdown in Indian-administered Kashmir.

24 Sep 2021; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that the United States has begun transferring weapons and ammunition to terrorist organisations in Syria, stressing that his country will not stand idle as this takes place.

Erdogan told reporters in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting, that Ankara has worked well with former US presidents, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, but he cannot say that "work with Joe Biden started well".

24 Sep 2021; MEMO: The US House of Representatives has approved $1 billion in new funding for Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system, just days after the funding was removed from a broader spending bill.

Legislators passed the bill in a 420-9 vote yesterday, meaning the bill now goes to the Senate for a vote.

Washington, Sep 24 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described India and America as "natural partners" as he held the first in-person meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House during which they decided to further cement the Indo-US strategic partnership and discussed global issues of common interest, including threats to democracy, Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific.

WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Leaders of United States, Japan, India and Australia, sharing concerns about China's growing power and behavior, meet in person as a group for the first time on Friday for a summit expected to bring progress on COVID-19 vaccines, infrastructure and technological cooperation.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Joe Biden administration is preparing for a possible government shutdown in the event that current funding runs out on Sept. 30, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday.

"It's consistent with longstanding practice across many administrations for OMB to simply remind agency senior staff of the need to review and update orderly shutdown plans," Psaki said at a press briefing, referring to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).