USA

JUNIPER HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Homes were destroyed Friday by an unrelenting wildfire that reached a Mojave Desert community and was still growing on several fronts after burning for nearly two weeks in mountains northeast of Los Angeles.

Officials were investigating the death of a firefighter on the lines of another Southern California wildfire that erupted earlier this month from a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used by a couple to reveal their baby’s gender.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just six weeks before the election cast an immediate spotlight on the crucial high court vacancy, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell quickly vowing to bring to a vote whoever President Donald Trump nominates.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden vigorously disagreed, declaring that “voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice to consider.”

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 18 (APP): The World Food Programme (WFP), a Rome-based UN agency, has warned that in addition to the threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic, a wave of famine could sweep the globe, overwhelming countries already weakened by years of instability.

“This fight is far, far, far from over,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley, briefing the UN Security Council during a virtual debate on conflict-induced hunger.

NEW YORK, September 18. /TASS/: US Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Biden considers Russia an opponent, not an enemy. He voiced this opinion at an event hosted by CNN in Pennsylvania.

Answering the question of the moderator, whether he considered Russia an enemy, the presidential candidate responded: "I believe Russia is an opponent. I really do." He added: "Putin’s overwhelming objective is to break up NATO, to fundamentally alter the circumstance in Europe so he doesn’t have to face an entire NATO contingent."

WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Donald Trump will not attend next week’s UN General Assembly gathering in person, his chief of staff told journalists aboard Air Force One Thursday, according to a pool
report.

The decision marks an about-face for Trump, who last month said he wanted to deliver his speech in the General Assembly hall in New York, even if other world leaders are staying away due to the coronavirus pandemic.

WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The family of a black woman shot dead 16 months ago by a Texas police officer said justice was closer Thursday after the officer was charged in her death.

Officer Juan Delacruz of Baytown, a Houston suburb, was indicted earlier this week by a grand jury for felony aggravated assault in the death of 44- year-old Pamela Turner.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden’s recent warning that Britain must honor Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace agreement to secure a U.S. trade deal adds new complexity to already tough trade talks between the United States and the U.K.

“We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit,” Biden wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, referring to the deal that ended three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland and created a shared regional government.

18 Sep 2020; MEMO: The US Department of Justice on Thursday announced charges against three Iranians over allegations they stole information from aerospace and satellite technology firms on behalf of the Islamic republic’s Revolutionary Guards, Reuters reported.

NEW YORK, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Global COVID-19 cases surpassed 30 million on Thursday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The global case count reached 30,003,378, with a total of 942,989 deaths worldwide as of 6:22 p.m. local time (2222 GMT), the CSSE data showed.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- China-U.S. relations have changed a great deal, and the international community expects that China and the United States should work together on global challenges, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai has said.

"It has expanded, it has deepened, and it has gotten more complicated, more comprehensive and more complex. We have opened up many new areas for cooperation, areas which we may not have imagined about early on," he said in a recent interview with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.