USA

NEW YORK, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Global COVID-19 deaths surpassed 880,000 on Sunday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The global deaths from the coronavirus reached 880,779, with a total of more than 26,951,838 cases worldwide as of 2:28 p.m. (1828 GMT), the CSSE data showed.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Five boats sank in a Texas lake during a nautical parade in support of President Donald Trump as tightly packed boats created large waves, officials said Sunday.

Boaters began calling for help “almost immediately” after the procession for Trump’s reelection got underway on a lake west of Austin on Saturday, according to Kristen Dark of the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies ultimately responded to 15 distress calls and received three other reports of boats taking on water. No one was injured or killed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris says foreign interference, doubt cast about the election by President Donald Trump and voter suppression could potentially cost her and Joe Biden the White House in November.

“I am a realist about it. Joe is a realist about it,” the California senator said during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” that aired Sunday.

The 2020 election will be held under challenging circumstances.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered for rallies and marches against police violence and racial injustice Saturday night in Portland, Oregon, as often violent nightly demonstrations that have happened for 100 days since George Floyd was killed showed no signs of ceasing.

Molotov cocktails thrown in the street during a march sparked a large fire and prompted police to declare a riot. Video posted online appeared to show tear gas being deployed to clear protesters from what police said was an unpermitted demonstration.

(AP) --- Spending cuts to schools, childhood vaccinations and job-training programs. New taxes on millionaires, cigarettes and legalized marijuana. Borrowing, drawing from rainy day funds and reducing government workers’ pay.

These are some actions states are considering to shore up their finances amid a sharp drop in tax revenue caused by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jacob Blake has spoken publicly for the first time since a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer shot him seven times in the back, saying he’s in constant pain from the shooting, which doctors fear will leave him paralyzed from the waist down.

In a video posted Saturday night on Twitter by his family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, Blake said from his hospital bed that, “Twenty-four hours, every 24 hours it’s pain, nothing but pain. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to sleep, it hurts to move from side-to-side, it hurts to eat.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The battle for control of Congress is solidifying into a race about President Donald Trump, as Republicans hitch their fortunes to their party’s leader and Democrats position themselves as a bulwark against him — and as partners in a potential Joe Biden White House.

So far, voters are signaling they want to finish the job they started in 2018 by installing Democrats for House majority control. Now, they’re on track to potentially do the same in the Senate.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — The mayor of Rochester promised reforms are coming to the city’s police department as community elders sought to bring calmer minds to a fifth night of demonstrations Sunday over the March death of Daniel Prude, who lost consciousness after police held him down with a hood over his head.

SHAVER LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Rescuers in military helicopters airlifted 207 people to safety over the weekend after an explosive wildfire trapped them in a popular camping area in California’s Sierra National Forest, one of dozens of fires burning amid record-breaking temperatures that strained the state’s electrical grid and for a time threatened power outages for millions.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 06 (APP): Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram has renewed Islamabad’s commitment to achieving a just solution of the festering Kashmir dispute through a plebiscite guaranteed to the Kashmiri people by numerous Security Council resolutions.

“We desire peace in the region,” he said in a message released in New York on Sunday to mark Pakistan’s Defence Day.