USA

UNITED NATIONS, July 25 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for leadership of the Group of 20 (G20) on global climate action.

"The world urgently needs a clear and unambiguous commitment to the 1.5-degree goal of the Paris Agreement from all G20 nations. There is no pathway to this goal without the leadership of the G20," he said in a statement on the G20 ministerial meeting on environment, climate and energy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday named a second Republican critic of Donald Trump, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, to a special committee investigating the Capitol riot and pledged that the Democratic-majority panel will “get to the truth.” Kinzinger said he “humbly accepted” the appointment even as his party’s leadership is boycotting the inquiry.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The United States is in an “unnecessary predicament” of soaring COVID-19 cases fueled by unvaccinated Americans and the virulent delta variant, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert said Sunday.

“We’re going in the wrong direction,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, describing himself as “very frustrated.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators are racing to seal a bipartisan infrastructure deal as soon as Monday, as pressure is mounting on all sides to show progress on President Joe Biden’s top priority.

Heading into a make-or-break week, key senators and staff spent the weekend trying to reach a final agreement. One major roadblock is how much money should go to public transit. But spending on highways, water projects, broadband and others areas remains unresolved, as is whether to take unspent COVID-19 relief funds to help pay for the infrastructure.

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska July 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday that the Afghan security forces' first job was to make sure they could slow the Taliban's momentum before attempting to retake territory, as Afghan forces plan to consolidate forces around strategically important parts of the country.

Reuters reported that Afghanistan's military is overhauling its war strategy against the Taliban to concentrate forces around the most critical areas like Kabul and other cities, border crossings and vital infrastructure.

WASHINGTON, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns has said there may be no definite conclusion about the origin of COVID-19 virus, according to U.S. media.

"The honest answer today is that we cannot offer a definitive conclusion about whether this originated in a lab accident or whether it originated in a natural transmission from infected animals to human beings," Burns said when asked about whether the virus was created in China's Wuhan lab during a recent interview with U.S. National Public Radio.

INDIAN FALLS, Calif. (AP) — Flames racing through rugged terrain in Northern California destroyed multiple homes Saturday as the state’s largest wildfire intensified and numerous other blazes battered the U.S. West.

The Dixie fire, which started July 14, had already leveled over a dozen houses and other structures when it tore through the tiny community of Indian Falls after dark.

WASHINGTON/BEIJING, July 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will tell China in upcoming talks that while Washington welcomes competition with Beijing, there needs to be a level playing field and guardrails to ensure that does not veer off into conflict, senior U.S. officials said on Saturday.

The officials, briefing reporters ahead of Sherman's talks in Tianjin with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday, said the world's two largest economies needed responsible ways to manage competition.

24 July 2021; MEMO: A Republican Texas official announced yesterday that he is considering blacklisting US-based ice cream company Ben & Jerry's following its decision to withdraw its product from settlements in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territory. "We believe that it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry's ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," explained the company

LOS ANGELES, July 23 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's private rocket company SpaceX was awarded a $178 million launch services contract for NASA's first mission focusing on Jupiter's icy moon Europa and whether it may host conditions suitable for life, the space agency said on Friday.

The Europa Clipper mission is due for blastoff in October 2024 on a Falcon Heavy rocket owned by Musk's company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said in a statement posted online.