USA

21 Sep 2021; AA: US President Joe Biden is moving to significantly increase the number of refugees his country will resettle annually for the 2022 fiscal year, fulfilling a pledge he made on the campaign trail. 

Biden informed Congress that he is raising the admissions target from its current level of 62,500 to 125,000 for the fiscal year that begins in October, the State Department said in a statement.

21 Sep 2021; AA: The Biden administration announced on Monday it will lift COVID-19 travel bans starting in November while mandating that all foreign nationals seeking to come to the US show proof of vaccination before they are allowed entry.

Passengers will have to show proof of vaccination prior to boarding a US-bound plane beginning in "early November," said Jeff Zients, the administration's pandemic response coordinator.

20 Sep 2021; MEMO: Democrat representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez last week presented an amendment to the US defence budget bill. If agreed, the amendment will block the transfer of $735 million worth of Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) to Israel.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter said Monday it will pay $809.5 million to settle a consolidated class action lawsuit alleging that the company misled investors about how much its user base was growing and how much users interacted with its platform.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden planned to use his first address before the U.N. General Assembly to reassure other nations of American leadership on the global stage and call on allies to move quickly and cooperatively to address the festering issues of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and human rights abuses.

Biden, who arrived in New York on Monday evening to meet with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of Tuesday’s address, offered a full-throated endorsement of the body’s relevance and ambition at a difficult moment in history.

(AP) --- Stocks slumped on Wall Street Monday, mirroring losses overseas and putting the S&P 500 index on track for its biggest drop since February.

Worries about debt-engorged Chinese property developers — and the damage they could do to investors worldwide if they default — are rippling across markets. Investors are also concerned that the U.S. Federal Reserve could signal this week that it’s planning to pull back some of the support measures it’s been giving markets and the economy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major easing of pandemic travel restrictions, the U.S. said Monday it will allow foreigners to fly into the country this fall if they have vaccination proof and a negative COVID-19 test — changes replacing a hodgepodge of rules that had kept out many non-citizens and irritated allies in Europe and beyond where virus cases are lower.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic congressional leaders backed by the White House announced Monday they would push ahead with a vote to fund the government and suspend the debt limit, all but daring Republicans who say they will vote against it despite the risk of a fiscal crisis.

Congress is rushing headlong into an all-too-familiar stalemate: The federal government faces a shutdown if funding stops at the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30. At the same time, the U.S. risks defaulting on its accumulated debt load if the borrowing limits are not waived or adjusted.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 20 (APP): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dr Yousef Al-Othaimeen, discussed several issues of mutual concern, including Afghanistan, the Middle East Process, and the situation in Myanmar during a meeting on Sunday, according to a UN press release.

The press release gave no further details.

The UN chief, it said, thanked Dr. Al-Othaimeen for his personal contribution to enhancing UN-OIC cooperation during his tenure.

LOS ANGELES, Sept 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Two huge wildfires, the Windy and KNP Complex fires, burning around the Sequoia National Forest and the Sequoia National Park in California, spread to 18,075 acres (73.1 square km) and 21,777 acres (88.1 square km).