USA

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Democratic allies of California Gov. Gavin Newsom continued to express confidence Saturday in his chances of beating back a recall but warned his supporters not to let up on urging people to vote as they seek a decisive win, while Republicans said the contest is far from settled.

“We don’t need to just win by a little, we need to win by a lot. We need to send a message: Hands off our democracy, hands off our California,” said April Verrett, president of the SEIU Local 2015, as she rallied union members who have been among Newsom’s biggest supporters.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a dire warning that the world is moving in the wrong direction and faces “a pivotal moment” where continuing business as usual could lead to a breakdown of global order and a future of perpetual crisis. Changing course could signal a breakthrough to a greener and safer future, he said.

The U.N. chief said the world’s nations and people must reverse today’s dangerous trends and choose “the breakthrough scenario.”

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Warning that the nation was falling into division and extremism, former President George W. Bush appealed Saturday for a return to the spirit of cooperation that emerged — almost instantaneously — after the 9/11 attacks 20 years ago.

Delivering the keynote address at the national memorial to the victims of Flight 93, who forced down their airplane hijacked by al-Qaida terrorists before it could be used as a weapon against the nation’s capital, Bush warned of “violence that gathers within.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI late Saturday released a newly declassified document related to logistical support given to two of the Saudi hijackers in the run-up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The document details contacts the hijackers had with Saudi associates in the U.S. but does not provide proof that senior Saudi government officials were complicit in the plot.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The United States has submitted an initial offer to the European Union (EU) that involves a tariff-rate-quota system to resolve a three-year dispute over steel imported from the bloc, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing a person familiar with the situation.

U.S. and EU officials will discuss the issue at the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council on Sept. 29 in Pittsburgh, the report said, adding the U.S. initial offer pertained to steel only and didn't include aluminum shipments.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday launched Our Common Agenda, a landmark new report, setting out his vision for the future of global cooperation and ushering in UN 2.0 era featuring "multilateralism with teeth."

NEW YORK (AP) — Twenty years ago, the 11th of September dawned as just a date. By midnight, it was 9/11, the staggering starting point for a new era of terror, war, politics, patriotism and tragedy.

The U.S. marks the milestone anniversary Saturday under the pall of a pandemic and in the shadow of a frantic withdrawal from Afghanistan, which fell to the same militant rulers who gave safe haven to the plotters of the 2001 attacks.

NEW YORK (AP) — The dust cloud caught Carl Sadler near the East River, turning his clothes and hair white as he looked for a way out of Manhattan after escaping from his office at the World Trade Center.

Gray powder billowed through the open windows and terrace door of Mariama James’ downtown apartment, settling, inches thick in places, into her rugs and children’s bedroom furniture.

Barbara Burnette, a police detective, spat the soot from her mouth and throat for weeks as she worked on the burning rubble pile without a protective mask.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The head of the Louisiana State Police said Friday he wants to know why 67% of his agency’s uses of force in recent years have been directed at Black people, and would welcome a U.S. Justice Department “pattern and practice” probe into potential racial profiling if that is deemed necessary.

(AP) --- New U.S. studies released Friday show the COVID-19 vaccines remain highly effective against hospitalizations and death even as the extra-contagious delta variant swept the country.

One study tracked over 600,000 COVID-19 cases in 13 states from April through mid-July. As delta surged in early summer, those who were unvaccinated were 4.5 times more likely than the fully vaccinated to get infected, over 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.