North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — The GOP-held Senate on Wednesday passed a bipartisan $4.6 billion measure to deliver aid to the southern border before the government runs out of money to care for thousands of migrant families and unaccompanied children.

The sweeping 84-8 vote came less than 24 hours after the Democratic-controlled House approved a similar measure backed by liberals. The House bill , which contained tougher requirements for how detained children must be treated, faced a White House veto threat and was easily rejected by the Senate.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaks. Pointed accusations. A top official’s resignation. And above all, increasingly dire conditions for migrants — those who make it across the border and those who fail, as captured in the searing images of a father clutching his child, both drowned , on the banks of the Rio Grande.

WASHINGTON (AP) — This was no Trump rally. Ten Democrats kicked off the presidential debate season with a sober rendering of policy that featured a smattering of missteps on climate change, the economy and more but no whoppers.

The Democrats spoke largely in generalities Wednesday night and when they got into the nuts and bolts, their claims largely checked out. But not always.

A look at the rhetoric from the first debate, with 10 more Democrats taking the stage in Miami on Thursday:

CLIMATE CHANGE

MIAMI (AP) — Ten Democrats railed against a national economy and Republican administration they argued exist only for the rich as presidential candidates debated onstage for the first time in the young 2020 season, embracing inequality as a defining theme in their fight to deny President Donald Trump a second term in office.

26 June 2019; AFP: The mystery of the Martian methane continues.

NASA's Curiosity Rover last week detected the highest ever levels of the colorless, odorless gas over the course of its seven year mission on the Red Planet, raising hopes it could be evidence of the existence of microbial life.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 (APP): Pakistan reaffirmed its dedication to the Palestinian cause at the 2019 pledging conference for the cash-strapped UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees by announcing a fresh commitment of financial support.

“The international community must not fail the Palestinian people,” Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told the pledging event for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) held at UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday.

UNITED NATIONS, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The UN envoy for South Sudan said Tuesday that the South Sudanese's desire for peace is palpable and urged the country's politicians to respond to it.

UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for South Sudan David Shearer told the Security Council that "the desire for peace is palpable and there is a fierce aversion to any renewal of fighting."

The strong desire for peace is echoed in results of a Perception Survey carried out by UNMISS, the UN peacekeeping mission that Shearer leads in the country.

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Xinhua) -- A seven-day Section 301 tariffs hearing wrapped up Tuesday after more than 300 business representatives had made their case against Washington's proposed additional tariffs on Chinese imports.

The overwhelming sentiment expressed by representatives from various sectors was that imposing additional tariffs up to 25 percent on about 300 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese imports would significantly harm U.S. businesses and consumers.

UN, June 26. /TASS/: The Russian forces in Syria strike only terrorist facilities identified as such by intelligence data, Russia’s UN envoy, Vasily Nebenzya, said during a UN Security Council session to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

The Syrian government troops and the Aerospace Forces of Russia "conduct strikes that target only terrorist facilities, confirmed as such by intelligence data," he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — American businesses are bracing for a painful escalation in President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.

Yet they might just get a reprieve.

If history repeats itself — and most analysts are betting it will — Trump and President Xi Jinping will agree to some kind of cease-fire when they meet late this week at a Group of 20 international summit in Osaka, Japan.