USA

UNITED NATIONS, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council meetings will be "completely" physical if health conditions allow, Nicolas de Riviere, French UN ambassador and president of the Council for the month of July, said on Thursday.

"This month in July, if health conditions allow, the meetings will be completely, all of them, in person," de Riviere told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

"There will be no longer any video conferences. So, the participants will be in-person participants, including ministers that are invited," he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an encouraging burst of hiring, America’s employers added 850,000 jobs in June, well above the average of the previous three months and a sign that companies may be having an easier time finding enough workers to fill open jobs.

02 July 2021; MEMO: The UN Security Council revealed on Thursday that it will not be able to resolve the dispute between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over the Renaissance Dam on the River Nile because the issue is "beyond the scope" of the international body. The claim has shocked both Egypt and Sudan.

REDDING, Calif. (AP) — Wildfires fueled by bone-dry brush and timber surged through Northern California forests on Friday, burning several homes and forcing thousands to flee mountain communities even as authorities prepared for a hot, crowded Fourth of July weekend that could bring the threat of new blazes.

Three wildfires near the towering Mount Shasta volcano an hour’s drive from the Oregon border had burned around 50 square miles of land — a relatively small figure compared to sweeping, deadly fires of years past that blackened thousands of square miles.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is acting swiftly to launch a new investigation of the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, choosing a diverse slate of eight lawmakers — one from the opposing party — to serve on a select committee with subpoena power.

Republicans have the chance to recommend five additional members, but it’s unclear whether they will do so. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who could be called to testify about a conversation with former President Donald Trump as the attack unfolded, has not committed to any appointments.

SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) — Florida officials are working on plans to tear down what’s left of a partially collapsed oceanfront condominium building after concerns about the structure’s instability prompted a 15-hour halt to the search for survivors.

After rescue efforts resumed Thursday evening, officials said they had started planning for the likely demolition of the remaining structure even as searchers continue to comb the rubble pile beneath it.

TULELAKE, Calif. (AP) — Ben DuVal knelt in a barren field near the California-Oregon border and scooped up a handful of parched soil as dust devils whirled around him and birds flitted between empty irrigation pipes.

DuVal’s family has farmed the land for three generations, and this summer, for the first time ever, he and hundreds of others who rely on irrigation from a depleted, federally managed lake aren’t getting any water from it at all.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Many of the dead were found alone, in homes without air conditioning or fans. Some were elderly — one as old as 97. The body of an immigrant farm laborer was found in an Oregon nursery.

As forecasters warned of a record-breaking heat wave in the Pacific Northwest and western Canada last weekend, officials set up cooling centers, distributed water to the homeless and took other steps. Still, hundreds of people are believed to have died from Friday to Tuesday.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 01 (APP): UN counter-terrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov has warned that terrorists are becoming increasingly innovative in a world shaken by the coronavirus pandemic in spite of “significant progress” in the fight against terrorism.

WASHINGTON, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Four more victims of the collapse of a condominium in Surfside, Florida, have been found, bringing the death toll from the disaster to 16, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava confirmed Wednesday.

"We've now recovered four additional victims. The number of deceased is at 16," the mayor said.

She said that 12 next of kin have been notified about the tragic loss of their loved ones, and that there are four families still waiting to hear.