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UNITED NATIONS, Jul 06 (APP): India has “callously exploited” the coronavirus crisis to further advance its occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, a top Pakistani diplomat has said, as he urged the UN Security Council to end the “open aggression and atrocities” against the Kashmiri people.

“The Council must denounce India’s illegal actions in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and take urgent actions to reign in its fascist ambitions that are putting enormous strain on peace and security of our region and beyond,” Ambassador Munir Akram told the 15-member body.

NEW YORK, July 6. /TASS/: Russian nationals who wished to return home have left New York for Moscow Sunday aboard a repatriation flight operated by Aeroflot Russian Airlines, John F. Kennedy International Airport website shows.

The airport’s online schedule shows that SU103 flight left and is expected to land in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport at 11:13 Moscow time.

UNITED NATIONS, July 6. /TASS/: The Islamic State and Al-Qaeda terrorist groups (both outlawed in Russia) are using the COVID-19 pandemic to spread propaganda, Under Secretary General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) Vladimir Voronkov said in an exclusive interview with TASS.

"In the past months, we have seen that ISIL (former name of the IS - TASS) and Al-Qaeda have attempted to use the pandemic to spread propaganda," Voronkov said. "They have changed their propaganda to show the pandemic as a punishment for others," he added.

New York (AP) — Prosecutors on Sunday asked a judge to schedule a Friday court appearance in New York for Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime associate to face charges she helped him recruit women to sexually abuse.

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, was arrested Thursday at a $1 million estate on 156 acres that she purchased last December in Bradford, New Hampshire.

She has been detained without bail after agreeing to be moved to New York. Prosecutors have labeled her an “extreme risk of flight” and said they want her jailed until trial.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on the anniversary of one of his most famous speeches, delivered in that city in 1852.

Police said the statue of Douglass was taken on Sunday from Maplewood Park, a site along the Underground Railroad where Douglas and Harriet Tubman helped shuttle slaves to freedom.

The statue was found at the brink of the Genesee River gorge about 50 feet from its pedestal, police said. There was damage to the base and a finger.

NEW YORK, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Global confirmed COVID-19 cases topped 11 million on Friday, reaching 11,031,905 as of 6:33 p.m. (2233 GMT), according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

A total of 523,777 people worldwide have died of the disease, the data showed.

The United States suffered the most from the pandemic, with 2,788,395 cases and a death toll of 129,306, the tally showed. The country's daily new cases kept breaking record in recent days, adding over 52,000 on Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Before Jeffrey Epstein’s jailhouse suicide last year, his defense hinged on a 2008 deal with federal prosecutors in Florida over his alleged sexual abuse of multiple teenage girls. His lawyers said it prevented him from being charged with further crimes.

Could that same deal now help Ghislaine Maxwell, the Epstein confidante arrested Thursday, evade charges she helped lure at least three girls into sexual liaisons with him?

Maxwell’s lawyers haven’t outlined their defense strategy, but her legal team is bound to raise the issue in the months ahead.

03 July 2020; MEMO: The UN Security Council must remind the United Arab Emirates (UAE) it is bound by international law against “destructive and malicious policies” in the Middle East and North Africa, Turkey told the international body, Anadolu Agency reports.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. economy just posted its best single-month job gain in history.

U.S. unemployment is at one of its worst points since the Great Depression.

Both are true.

As Republicans and Democrats fought to spin Thursday’s jobs numbers to their advantage, both sides face tremendous political risks in navigating a delicate and defining issue heading into the presidential campaign’s final months.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 02 (APP): The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that countries that do not use every option available to them to tackle coronavirus face a “long, hard road ahead” to beat the disease.

Speaking at the regular virtual press briefing in Geneva, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the pandemic was still raging and countries – and individuals – needed to keep up their efforts in order to stay safe.