North America

HAVANA (AP) — Puerto Ricans braced for severe wind and rain as Tropical Storm Fiona bore down amid expectations it would grow into a hurricane before striking the U.S. territory’s southern coast on Sunday.

Forecasters said “historic” levels of rain were expected to produce landslides and heavy flooding, with up to 25 inches (64 centimeters) forecast in isolated areas.

“It’s time to take action and be concerned,” said Nino Correa, Puerto Rico’s emergency management commissioner.

PHOENIX (AP) — Simmering discontent among a segment of Arizona Republicans over John McCain’s famous penchant for bucking his party boiled over in the winter of 2014 with the censure of the longtime U.S. senator.

McCain’s allies responded with an all-out push to reassert control over the Arizona Republican Party. Censure proponents were ousted or diminished, and McCain went on to defeat his far-right challenger in a blowout during the 2016 primary.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is finding it’s easier to call out attacks on democracy than it is to stop them.

His fundamental rationale for running for president was that America’s democratic traditions were in jeopardy. Now, 20 months into his presidency, the dangers are worse, Biden’s warnings are more dire -- and the limits of his own ability to fix the problem are clearer.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 (APP): With the ‘Transforming Education Summit’ underway at the UN General Assembly, leaders of Pakistan and several other countries Saturday backed the establishment of the first-ever international funding mechanism for schools to widen access to education in some of the world’s poorest countries.

WASHINGTON, September 16. /TASS/: The US sanctions and export control measures do not hinder civil space cooperation with Russia under the International Space Station (ISS) project, with professional relations between US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts continuing, NASA spokesman Josh Finch told TASS on Friday.

WASHINGTON, September 17. /TASS/: US President Joe Biden has warned that Russia would face international consequences if it uses chemical or tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine in an interview with CBS made public on Friday.

The American leader was asked as to what he would say to Russian President Vladimir Putin "if he is considering using chemical or tactical nuclear weapons." "Don't. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II," Biden replied.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN General Assembly is back in person after the pandemic disruption but in a world as full of crises as ever, with the war in Ukraine set to pit the West against Russia.

Some 150 world leaders will descend on New York for a week of diplomacy, with all required to come in person to speak save one — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, granted an exception as he leads the fight against Russian invaders.

NEW YORK, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Up to 77 percent of Black Americans said the descendants of people enslaved in U.S. history should be repaid in some way, reported U.S. media outlet USA Today this week, citing a recent survey by Pew Research Center.

However, most of the interviewees don't think the Blacks will get the reparation though the goal has been long sought by the ethnic group and some U.S. officials, said the report.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Discord between U.S. Republicans and Democrats is exploding over migrants sent from the country's southern border states to cities in the northeast.

Two buses from Texas dropped off over 100 migrants outside U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., Thursday morning.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court Friday to lift a judge’s order that temporarily barred it from reviewing a batch of classified documents seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home last month.