USA

WASHINGTON, September 12. /TASS/: The Russian Embassy in the United States filed a request to the U.S. State Department not to transfer Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko to another prison, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Friday.

"At the request of the relatives of the Russian citizen, we sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. Department of State with a request not to change the place of detention of Konstantin Yaroshenko," Antonov said. His words are published on the facebook page of the Russian diplomatic mission in the U.S.

NEW YORK, Sept 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Rivals for the White House have displayed a moment of unity as the US marks the 19th anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden greeted Vice-President Mike Pence at the Ground Zero memorial in New York, where each attended ceremonies.

Biden then travelled to Shanksville, Pennsylvania – the site of the Flight 93 memorial – to pay respects.

President Donald Trump spoke there earlier on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday Washington is deeply concerned about 12 Hong Kong democracy activists being held in China, saying they have been denied access to lawyers and local authorities have not provided information on their welfare or the charges against them.

The United States questions the Hong Kong leadership’s commitments to protecting citizens’ rights, Pompeo said in a statement. The activists were arrested about two weeks ago off the coast of Hong Kong, according to the statement.

NEW YORK (AP) — Two members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family will have to answer questions about the Sept. 11 attacks in what lawyers for victims call a turning point in a long-running lawsuit, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in a written ruling unsealed late Thursday ordered Saudi Arabia to make the royals — and other Saudi witnesses, including current and former government official — available for depositions.

(AP) --- Aviation regulators and pilots from several countries will begin next week reviewing Boeing’s proposal for training pilots to fly the revamped 737 Max, a sign that the grounded plane is moving closer to returning to service.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that the review will start Monday at London’s Gatwick Airport and last about nine days. The review will include aviation officials and pilots from the United States, Canada, Brazil and the European Union.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a wide-ranging resolution on tackling the coronavirus pandemic Friday over objections from the United States and Israel, which protested a successful last-minute Cuban amendment that strongly urged countries to oppose any unilateral economic, financial or trade sanctions.

The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 169-2, with Ukraine and Hungary abstaining. It was a strong show of unity by the U.N.’s most representative body, though many countries had hoped for adoption by consensus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A whistleblower’s complaint and a tight timeline are making it increasingly unlikely that the Senate will confirm Chad Wolf as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security before the election.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bahrain on Friday agreed to normalize relations with Israel, becoming the latest Arab nation to do so as part of a broader diplomatic push by President Donald Trump and his administration to further ease the Jewish state’s relative isolation in the Middle East and find common ground with nations that share U.S. wariness of Iran.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3 trillion for the first 11 months of this budget year, the Treasury Department said Friday.

The ocean of red ink is a product of the government’s massive spending to try to cushion the impact of a coronavirus-fueled recession that has cost millions of jobs.

The deficit from October through August is more than double the previous 11-month record of $1.37 trillion set in 2009. At that time the government was spending large sums to get out of the Great Recession triggered by the 2008 financial crisis.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal prosecutor who was helping lead the investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe has resigned from the Justice Department, a spokesman said.

Nora Dannehy was a top prosecutor on a team led by U.S. Attorney John Durham of Connecticut, who was appointed last year to lead an investigation into how the FBI and other federal agencies set out to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign had coordinated with the Kremlin.