New York

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 14 (APP): The 75th UN General Assembly session, which begins Tuesday, will be unlike any other in the organization’s three quarters of a century of existence — world leaders will not be physically present in the iconic hall for their annual gathering because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The centre piece of any General Assembly session is undoubtedly the General Debate, which starts on Sept. 22, a week after the official opening, in which usually over 100 hundred heads of state/government participated in the past years to discuss key global issues.

NEW YORK, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 6.5 million on Sunday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. case count rose to 6,501,904, with the national death toll reaching 193,843 as of 1:26 p.m. local time (1726 GMT), according to the CSSE.

The hardest-hit U.S. state of California reported 759,437 cases. Texas and Florida both recorded more than 660,000 cases, followed by the state of New York with 444,365 cases, the tally showed.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday welcomed the start of negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar.

"The start of intra-Afghan peace negotiations today in Doha between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban presents a major opportunity to achieve the long-held aspirations of the people of Afghanistan for peace," he said in a video message.

NEW YORK, Sept 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Rivals for the White House have displayed a moment of unity as the US marks the 19th anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden greeted Vice-President Mike Pence at the Ground Zero memorial in New York, where each attended ceremonies.

Biden then travelled to Shanksville, Pennsylvania – the site of the Flight 93 memorial – to pay respects.

President Donald Trump spoke there earlier on Friday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Two members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family will have to answer questions about the Sept. 11 attacks in what lawyers for victims call a turning point in a long-running lawsuit, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in a written ruling unsealed late Thursday ordered Saudi Arabia to make the royals — and other Saudi witnesses, including current and former government official — available for depositions.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a wide-ranging resolution on tackling the coronavirus pandemic Friday over objections from the United States and Israel, which protested a successful last-minute Cuban amendment that strongly urged countries to oppose any unilateral economic, financial or trade sanctions.

The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 169-2, with Ukraine and Hungary abstaining. It was a strong show of unity by the U.N.’s most representative body, though many countries had hoped for adoption by consensus.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 11 (APP): Voicing concern that UN principles are being flouted, a top Pakistani diplomat has described as a “grave violation of international norms” the 1992 destruction of the historic Babri Mosque in the Indian city of Ayodhya and the construction now underway of a Hindu Temple on its site.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Thursday voiced grave concern about the significant increase of attacks on schools in recent years and the resulting alarming number of children denied access to quality education.

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign, drawing both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday urged countries to use recovery from COVID-19 to tackle climate change.

"We have a choice: business as usual, leading to further calamity; or we can use the recovery from COVID-19 to provide a real opportunity to put the world on a sustainable path," he told a joint press conference with the chief of the World Meteorological Organization for the launch of "United in Science 2020," a multi-agency report of the latest climate science.