USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will survey damage in parts of the northeast that suffered catastrophic flash flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, and use the muddy backdrop to call for federal spending to fortify infrastructure so it can better withstand such powerful storms.

Biden is set o tour Manville, New Jersey, and the New York City borough of Queens on Tuesday.

BOSTON (AP) — Over two decades, the United States and its allies spent hundreds of millions of dollars building databases for the Afghan people. The nobly stated goal: Promote law and order and government accountability and modernize a war-ravaged land.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Connor Jones sunbathed with his dog on the otherwise empty beach at Ski Run Marina on Monday, as residents trickling back into town filled up their cars at a gas station behind him and employees of a water sports rental company docked jet skis and boats they had anchored away from the shores of Lake Tahoe to prevent them from igniting from wildfire.

He and others living in the resort city of South Lake Tahoe breathed a collective sigh of relief on Sunday when officials downgraded a mandatory evacuation order put in place a week ago to a warning.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 05 (APP): A United Nations-sponsored international aid conference will convene in Geneva on Sept. 13 to help avert what U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called a “looming humanitarian catastrophe”.

“We need the international community to stand together and support the Afghan people,” the UN chief has said in a post on Twitter, adding he would seek a swift scale-up in funding for humanitarian relief.

WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US economy added fewer jobs than expected in August as employment rose by 235,000.

The figure was well down on the 1.05 million jobs created in July, adding to fears that the recovery from the pandemic may be running out of steam.

Despite the disappointing hiring levels, the unemployment rate fell to 5.2% in August from 5.4% in July.

Economists say rising infections caused by the Delta variant have hit spending on travel, tourism and hospitality.

NEW YORK, Sept 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hurricane Ida’s death toll continued to rise with many in the US Northeast holding out hope for people missing in the floodwaters, while nearly 600,000 customers in Louisiana still lacked power a week after the storm made landfall.

Ida slammed into Louisiana on Aug 29 as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 240kmh. The latest death toll there rose to at least 13 people on Sunday.

WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday condemned the "politically motivated conviction and shameful sentencing" of Belarusian opposition figures Maria Kolesnikova and Maxim Znak.

"These sentencings are further evidence of the regime’s total disregard for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Belarus," Blinken said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Divers at the site of an ongoing oil spill that appeared in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida have identified the apparent source as one-foot diameter pipeline displaced from a trench on the ocean floor and broken open.

Talos Energy, the Houston-based company currently paying for the cleanup, said in a statement issued Sunday evening that the busted pipeline does not belong to them.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Tens of thousands of people who fled South Lake Tahoe in the teeth of a wildfire were returning home as crews finally managed to stall the advance of flames scant miles from the resort.

But authorities warned that residents of the scenic forest area on the California-Nevada state line weren’t out of the woods yet, with risks ranging from smoky, foul air to belligerent bears.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 05 (APP): The world experienced a brief, sharp drop in emissions of air pollutants last year, especially in urban areas, amid lockdown measures and related travel restrictions put in place over the coronavirus pandemic, according to UN weather experts.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO’s) Air Quality and Climate Bulletin, said South East Asia saw a 40 per cent reduction in the level of harmful airborne particles caused by traffic and energy production in 2020.