New York

NEW YORK, Aug 08 (APP): Braving torrential rain, Kashmiri-Americans and their supporters Sunday staged a huge rally in New York’s iconic Times Square to denounce India’s “illegal” measures of 5 August 2019 that revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, as they also called for the United Nations to honour its pledge to grant the Kashmiris their right of self-determination.

Raising vociferous anti-India slogans and waving placards, a large number of people turned up to mark Youm-e-Istehsal – the third anniversary of the Indian siege of occupied Jammu & Kashmir.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 07 (APP): The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the Israeli brutal attacks on Gaza, diplomats said.

The meeting was requested by the UAE — a UNSC member — along with China (the current Council chairman), France, Ireland and Norway.

During the Monday meeting, Security Council members will discuss “the current developments and ways to support international efforts to achieve a comprehensive and just peace,” an Arab diplomat said.

NEW YORK, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. launch of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) at the recent G7 summit reflects the Joe Biden administration's relentless attempt to undermine the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, said a recent report published by the personal website Scheerpost.

Although Biden did not explicitly mention it, the media widely believed that this is the West's move targeting the Belt and Road Initiative, said Scheerpost, which is run by Robert Scheer, a journalist with nearly 60 years of journalistic experience.

NEW YORK, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Concern about safety has been top of mind of many Philadelphians this summer as the number of homicides in the city reached 322 as of Tuesday, of which 290 were shooting victims, the National Public Radio reported Wednesday.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney affirmed the city is experiencing a gun violence crisis, pointing out that it is a statewide and nationwide problem, the report said.

"If I had a magic wand and could get rid of guns tomorrow, I'd do it," Kenney said, blaming the accessibility of weapons for the continued crime surge.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 06 (APP): “Nuclear weapons are nonsense,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Saturday at the 77th anniversary of world’s first atomic bombing over the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Guterres joined the thousands packed into the Peace Park in the centre of Hiroshima to mark the anniversary of the bombing that killed 140,000 before the end of 1945, only the second time a U.N. chief has taken part in the annual ceremony, according to media reports.

NEW YORK, Aug 05 (APP): Pakistan has called on India to stop human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, reverse demographic changes there, and restore the State’s identity by rescinding its “illegal” measures of 5 August 2019 to pave the way for a dialogue aimed at resolving the decades-old dispute.

NEW YORK, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, said on Friday he has started to send buses carrying migrants to New York City in an effort to push responsibility for border crossers to Democratic mayors and U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

The first bus arrived early on Friday at the city's Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan carrying around 50 migrants. Volunteers were helping to steer people who had no relatives in town to city resources.

NEW YORK, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- No one is immune from COVID-19, but not everyone's experience of the pandemic is the same in the United States, where the poor face higher risk, NBC reported on Wednesday.

Privileged Americans have free, high-quality testing and can quickly get access to anti-COVID medication, while those without insurance now have to pay for testing, and quick access to medication has proven elusive for some, said the report.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday expressed the hope that the Summit of the Future scheduled for the General Assembly high-level week in September will produce a Pact for the Future.

The summit is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reinvigorate global action, recommit to fundamental principles, and further develop the frameworks of multilateralism so they are fit for the future, he said in a briefing to the General Assembly on the progress on his Our Common Agenda.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for taxation on windfall profits of oil and gas companies to ease the impact of the energy crisis on the most vulnerable people.

"It is immoral for oil and gas companies to be making record profits from this energy crisis on the backs of the poorest people and communities and at a massive cost to the climate," said Guterres at the launch of the third report of his Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance over the Ukraine conflict.