USA

HOUSTON (AP) — Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the upper Texas coast late Monday night.

The storm made landfall about 5 miles (8 kilometers) north of Port O’Connor, Texas, with maximum winds of 45 mph (72 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Its winds weakened as it made its way to shore over several days.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department identified New York City, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle as three cities that could have federal funding slashed under a memorandum by President Donald Trump that sought to identify localities that permit “anarchy, violence and destruction in American cities.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has said he would nominate a woman to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday at the age of 87 and was a champion of gender equality. A look at the top contenders:

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AMY CONEY BARRETT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s attorney general announced Monday that he has selected a former Madison police chief to serve as an independent consultant for prosecutors weighing whether to file charges against the officer who shot Jacob Blake, a Black man who was left paralyzed from the waist down.

The shooting of Blake on Aug. 23 by a white Kenosha police officer made Wisconsin the epicenter of the nation’s ongoing debate over police violence and racial injustice. It came three months after the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An enormous wildfire that churned through mountains northeast of Los Angeles and into the Mojave Desert was still threatening homes on Monday and was one of more than two dozen major fires burning across California.

Five of the largest wildfires in state history are currently burning and more than 5,600 square miles (14,500 square kilometers) have been charred, an area larger than the state of Connecticut, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N.’s first virtual meeting of world leaders was set to start Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet’s biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump met with Judge Amy Coney Barrett at the White House as the conservative jurist emerged as a favorite to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, the start of a monumental Senate confirmation fight over objections from Democrats it’s too close to the November election.

NEW YORK, Sep 21 (APP): The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir, which met in New York on Sunday, voiced “deep concern” over the continued human rights violations by India in occupied Kashmir, and called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Security Council and the Human Rights Council to take steps to end those abuses.

The meeting, which was requested by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, was held on the eve of the UN General Assembly’s high-level debate opening on Tuesday.

NEW YORK, Sep 20 (APP): An Indian-American academician has denounced what he called the “systematic” abuse of police and judicial powers in India—with the apparent blessing of the Modi government— that threaten Indian democracy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday prepared to push ahead with plans for his third U.S. Supreme Court nomination, which would cement a 6-3 conservative majority, as some Republicans wavered on whether to support the move weeks ahead of an election.

The death of liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg upended the campaign season, giving Trump and his party an opportunity to strengthen its grip on the court whose decisions influence most spheres of American life, from healthcare to gun rights to voting access.