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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. chief warned Thursday that the social and economic impact of COVID-19 “is enormous and growing” and said it’s foolish to believe a vaccine can undo damage from the global pandemic that will last for years or even decades.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 03 (APP): Nearly 100 world leaders, including Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, are set to address the U.N. General Assembly’s two-day special session, which opens Thursday, on the response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic and forge a united path forward to better recovery, including access to a vaccine.

The pandemic has claimed 1.5 million live worldwide, shattered economies, and left tens of millions of people unemployed in developed and developing countries.

NEW YORK, Dec 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that could close US stock and money markets to Chinese firms.

The “Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act” could be quickly placed on the desk of US President Donald Trump for final approval, since it was already passed by the Senate.

The measure introduced in 2019 by Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy would mandate that foreign companies listed on US stock exchanges comply with accounting requirements of the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

United Nations, Dec 3 (AP-PTI) Nearly 100 world leaders and several dozen ministers are slated to speak at the U.N. General Assembly's special session starting Thursday on the response to COVID-19 and the best path to recovery from the pandemic which has claimed 1.5 million lives, shattered economies, and left tens of millions of people unemployed in countries rich and poor.

Assembly President Volkan Bozkir said when he took the reins of the 193-member world body in September that it would have been better to hold the high-level meeting in June.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- UN General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir on Wednesday called for joint efforts to fight misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19.

"Aside from the virus and its impacts, another adversary has been plaguing our response: misinformation and disinformation. COVID-19 is a communications crisis. It is not simply a pandemic. It is an 'infodemic.' And this has cost lives," said Bozkir.

NEW YORK (AP) — National lawmakers introduced a joint resolution Wednesday aimed at striking language from the U.S. Constitution that enshrines a form of slavery in America’s foundational documents.

The resolution, spearheaded and supported by Democratic members of the House and Senate, would amend the 13th Amendment’s ban on chattel enslavement to expressly prohibit involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime. As ratified, the original amendment has permitted exploitation of labor by convicted felons for over 155 years since the abolition of slavery.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 02 (APP): The President of U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, has called for providing emergency financing for coronavirus-hit developing countries to enable them to avoid economic collapse, as he stressed the need for international cooperation at this critical stage.

(AP) --- An overheating world obliterated weather records in 2020, creating an extreme year for hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves, floods, droughts and ice melt, the United Nations’ weather agency reported Wednesday.

02 Dec 2020; MEMO:  Just hours after the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist, Tehran demanded the United Nations Security Council condemn the killing and take action against those responsible, but diplomats say the call is likely to go unheeded.

NEW YORK (AP) — Health care workers and nursing home residents should be at the front of the line when the first coronavirus vaccine shots become available, an influential government advisory panel said Tuesday.

The panel voted 13-1 to recommend those groups get priority in the first days of any coming vaccination program, when doses are expected to be very limited. The two groups encompass about 24 million people out of a U.S. population of about 330 million.