USA

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 15 (APP): On the 15th anniversary of the International Day of Democracy, commemorated on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “across the world, democracy is backsliding”.

“Civic space is shrinking. Distrust and disinformation are growing. And polarization is undermining democratic institutions,” he said in his video message marking the day.

He said that “now is the time” to raise the alarm, and “reaffirm that democracy, development, and human rights are interdependent and mutually reinforcing”.

WASHINGTON, Sep 15 (APP): Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Masood Khan, has called the floods in Pakistan “a deluge of epic proportions” and said “timely and generous” US assistance for the victims was a reflection of deep bonds between the two countries.

He was talking to a high level US delegation comprising representatives from US State Department, US Agency for International Development (USAID), Center for Disease Control (CDC), US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US State Department announced it was sending $756 million in new humanitarian aid to Syria, where need remains “dire” after more than a decade of war.

The funds, which are in addition to a tranche of $808 million announced earlier this year, will go to “continue our unwavering support for the Syrian people,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
 
He added that the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, had made the announcement earlier in the day at a UN Security Council meeting on Syria.

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Over 14.6 million children in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.

Over 340,000 of these cases have been added in the past four weeks. Approximately 6.7 million reported cases have been added in 2022, according to the report.

CHICAGO, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. state of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is signing a disaster proclamation to secure resources for the migrants bused to Illinois from Texas, Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.

The governor's office said the disaster proclamation enables coordination among state, city and county governments to provide assistance including transportation, emergency shelter, food, health screenings and medical treatment.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that next week's General Debate of the General Assembly must be about hope.

"This year's General Debate must be about providing hope and overcoming the divisions that are dramatically impacting the world," he told a press conference ahead of the high-level week of this year's General Assembly session.

"That hope can only come through the dialogue and debate that are the beating heart of the United Nations and that must prevail next week against all divisions," he said.

SAN DIEGO, the United States, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- A group of veterans living in the western U.S. state of California started a series of protests Tuesday along I-15, a key freeway linking Los Angeles and San Diego, calling on the U.S. military to cancel the Miramar Air Show and take other measures to deal with the climate crisis.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to meet at the White House on Friday with family members of WNBA star Brittney Griner and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, both of whom remain jailed in Russia, senior administration officials told The Associated Press.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective who has long been accused of sexually preying on Black women during criminal investigations was indicted Thursday on charges that he sexually abused two women, the FBI said.

Roger Golubski, 69, was arrested at his home in Edwardsville after a federal grand jury indicted him on six counts of civil rights violations. He was expected to make his first court appearance Thursday afternoon.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A long-delayed plan to dismantle Interstate 375, a 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) depressed freeway in Detroit that was built by demolishing Black neighborhoods 60 years ago, was a big winner of federal money Thursday, the first Biden administration grant awarded to tear down a racially divisive roadway.

The $104.6 million is among $1.5 billion in transportation grants handed out to 26 projects nationwide thanks to increased funding from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.