North America

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "deeply disturbed" by the reported order of the Taliban-run administration in Afghanistan banning women from working for national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), his spokesman said on Saturday.

"The secretary-general reiterates the rights of all women to participate in the workforce thus contributing to the greater good," said Stephane Dujarric, Guterres' spokesman, in a statement.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Millions of people hunkered down in a deep freeze overnight and early morning to ride out the frigid storm that has killed at least 18 people across the United States, trapping some residents inside homes with heaping snow drifts and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.

NEW YORK, December 23. /TASS/: Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has refuted the claims made by the Wall Street Journal that Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly receives "distorted information" on the progress of the special military operation.

"The president, as earlier, has multiple channels for receiving information," the Kremlin official said as quoted in an article published on the newspaper’s website on Friday. "Any claims that he receives distorted information do not correspond to reality," he added.

WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (NNN-ANDINA) – An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5, jolted 37 km North of Pucallpa, Peru, at 1313 GMT on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicentre, with a depth of 156.983 km, was initially determined to be at 8.042 degrees south latitude, and 74.503 degrees west longitude.

WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Airline cancellations topped 5,700 U.S. flights on Friday as massive winter storms snarled airport operations around the United States and frustrated tens of thousands of holiday travelers.

That followed nearly 2,700 canceled flights on Thursday, while just over 1,000 flights have already been canceled for Saturday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

Passenger railroad Amtrak has canceled dozens of trains through Christmas, disrupting holiday travel for thousands.

Dec 24 (Reuters) - An arctic blast gripped much of the United States on Saturday driving power outages, flight cancellations and car wrecks, as plummeting temperatures were predicted to bring the coldest Christmas Eve on record to several cities from Pennsylvania to Georgia.

Temperatures are forecast to top out on Saturday at just 7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 13 Celsius) in Pittsburgh, surpassing its previous all-time coldest Christmas Eve high of 13 F, set in 1983, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations intends to continue to engage with the Burkina Faso government after a senior UN official was declared as "persona non grata" by the authorities of the West African country, a UN spokesman said Saturday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has "learned with regret" that the transitional government of Burkina Faso declared Barbara Manzi, UN resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator in the country, as "persona non grata," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN chief, said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Congress on Friday passed a bill with mammoth funding package to the White House despite criticism of high military spending and concern about inflation.

The bill, worth up to 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars, cleared the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday along party lines, a day after the Senate approved it.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that he "will sign it into law as soon as it reaches my desk."

MEXICO CITY (AP) — For Miguel Zadquiel, the secret to staying in step as he dances at the front of the annual Christmastime procession through his neighborhood is in the bass drum.

“For every sound it makes, I move one foot, then another one, then I jump around, then I move my shoulders,” he said.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — After fleeing violence in their Guatemalan town, but with their way to relatives in California blocked by continuing U.S. asylum restrictions, a family of 15 joined an Advent candlelight ceremony organized by their shelter just south of the border.