North Carolina officials say the catastrophic flooding and destruction from Hurricane Helene likely caused at least $53 billion in damages and recovery needs in the state.

The Palestinians have circulated a draft U.N. resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the West Bank within six months.

Sierra Leone’s president says Africa cannot wait any longer to get a bigger voice in the United Nations’ most powerful body, the Security Council.

South Carolina is trading its all-male state Supreme court for an all-white one.

Liberian President Joseph Boakai has signed an executive order to create a long-awaited war crimes court to deliver justice to the victims of Liberia's two civil wars.

The Palestinians want the Security Council to vote later this month on their revived request for full membership in the United Nations, despite the United States reiterating that Israel and the Palestinians must first negotiate a peace agreement.

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has vetoed two top Democratic legislative priorities.

South Carolina has collected about $1.8 billion in a bank account over the past decade and accountants are trying to figure out where the cash came from and where it was supposed to go.

The United States is spearheading the first United Nations resolution on artificial intelligence, aimed at ensuring the new technology is “safe, secure and trustworthy” and that all countries, especially those in the developing world, have equal access.

Pennsylvania’s highest court is deliberating whether the Legislature can proceed with its impeachment trial against Philadelphia’s elected progressive prosecutor.

“Stop the bombs and save lives!”.

A historic number of state lawmakers were ousted in this week’s Virginia primary, which featured about four dozen legislative races that set the parties’ slate of candidates for what will be a hard-fought general election.

Canada’s foreign minister says the country is considering the expulsion of Chinese diplomats over an intelligence agency report saying one of them plotted to intimidate the Hong Kong relatives of a Canadian lawmaker.

In massive victories for Republicans, North Carolina’s newly GOP-controlled state Supreme Court has thrown out a previous ruling against gerrymandered voting maps and upheld a photo voter identification law that colleagues had struck down as racially biased.

The mayor of Baltimore has called for a summer curfew after two teenagers were shot while police were attempting to break up a large crowd of minors.

The North Carolina Supreme Court is hearing arguments again in a redistricting case it ruled on only three months ago.

North Korea has accused U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of “an extremely unfair and imbalanced attitude,” as it lambasted him for condemning its recent missile test but ignoring alleged U.S. hostility against the North.

Hong Kong supporters of a tough national security law imposed by China’s ruling Communist Party have set their sights on a United Nations session, drawing concern from rights advocates.

China has come in for a grilling over its human rights record as a two-day hearing opened at the United Nations human rights office.

The pay raise plan that gives Illinois lawmakers an 18% annual salary hike started in the governor's office.

Two well-informed U.N. diplomats say a key U.N. committee has again blocked Myanmar’s military junta from taking the country’s seat at the United Nations.

A federal trial to determine whether South Carolina’s congressional maps are legal is closing with arguments over whether the state Legislature diluted Black voting power.

Russia has vetoed a U.N. resolution that would have condemned its referendums in four Ukrainian regions as illegal, declared that they are invalid and urged all countries not to recognize any annexation of the territory claimed by Moscow.

China and Russia have defended their vetoes of a strongly backed U.S. resolution that would have imposed tough new sanctions on North Korea.

After decades of complaints about vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, some momentum is building behind a proposal to subject any vetoed matter to scrutiny by the world body's full membership in the General Assembly.

Maryland lawmakers have overridden GOP Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of a measure to expand access to abortion in the state.

The 2022 session of the Georgia General assembly saw some bright moments of bipartisan cooperating, including a mental health overhaul.

The war in Ukraine has put a spotlight on the U.N. Security Council’s failure to stop Russia’s aggression and carry out its mandate to ensure international peace and security.

Maryland Gov_ Larry Hogan has approved a new congressional map with more compact districts, after a judge struck down a previous map 10 days ago for being a “product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.”.

Georgia senators are scrapping further big changes in state election law.

A Maryland judge has ruled the state's new congressional map is unconstitutional.

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee have confirmed a businessman to the State Board of Education despite a backlash over his company's online sales of ammunition used in mass shootings.

Interpol is holding its General Assembly in Istanbul to discuss security threats and to hold a closely watched election for the international policing body's new leadership.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is defending a new law assigning sprawling limits on COVID-19 restrictions, despite his office’s warning that it would violate federal disability law.

President Joe Biden delivered remarks before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday morning for the first time in his presidency.

Despite the still raging COVID-19 pandemic, more than 100 world leaders are heading to New York for the annual high-level U.N. gathering.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s reluctance to get a vaccine is a rarity in his country — and may complicate his plans to attend the U.N.’s General Assembly next week.

A lot has changed since the 1960s. And the world can change quickly, too. If there has ever been a time when that is clear, it’s now.

The U.N. Security Council has given unanimous backing to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a second term, assuring his election as the next U.N. chief by the General Assembly, most likely on June 18.

The process officially began with a joint letter signed virtually by General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir and Britain’s U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose current term expires on Dec. 31, announced last month that he is seeking a second five-year term. AdA 2015 General Assembly resolution, which was adopted by consensus, changed the previously largely secretive selection of the secretary-general to a more open and transparent process. Six straw polls were held in the Security Council between July and October, and Guterres led in all of them. Woodward and Bozkir said informal dialogues with candidates will take place before the Security Council begins the selection process by May or June.

Australias highest court has upheld a states border closure and dismissed a case arguing the pandemic measure was unconstitutional. The High Court judges ruled that Western Australias border closure to non-essential travel applied during a hazard in the nature of a plague or epidemic complied with the constitution. The seven High Court judges ruled that Western Australia’s state border closure to non-essential travel applied during “a hazard in the nature of a plague or epidemic” complied with the constitution. All Australian states and territories have used border restrictions to curb infections and a court ruling against Western Australia could have impacted their pandemic responses. The General Assembly voted 150-0 on a resolution authorizing the meeting, though the United States, Israel and Armenia abstained.

TANZANIA – The United Nations voted Thursday to hold a summit on the COVID-19 pandemic on Dec. 3-4 to press for action on the global spread of the coronavirus and its “unprecedented” effects on societies, economies, jobs, global trade and travel. The General Assembly voted 150-0, with the United States, Israel and Armenia abstaining, on a resolution authorizing the meeting and spelling out arrangements. It will include prerecorded speeches by world leaders and a discussion led by World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “This is a time for action -- action in memory of the souls lost to COVID-19, action to protect the most vulnerable people who are depending upon us. “It’s also an opportunity to come and identify the gaps that exist right now in our response to the pandemic.”

A Russian medical worker adminsters a shot of Russia's experimental Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. Russian health authorities have launched advanced trials of the vaccine among 40,000 volunteers, a randomized, placebo-controlled study. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr)MOSCOW – What do you do when Vladimir Putin offers you Russia’s new coronavirus vaccine, for free? Only results from small early studies on Russian vaccine have been published, raising concerns among some scientists that the vaccine isn’t ready yet for widespread use -- and prompting worldwide memes about potential bizarre side effects. The virus has not spared the staff of the United Nations, its headquarters and regional entities,” Putin said in a prerecorded speech from Moscow.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration declared Saturday that all U.N. sanctions against Iran have been restored, a move most of the rest of the world rejects as illegal and sets the stage for an ugly showdown at the world body ahead of its annual General Assembly. The administration said that its triggering of the “snapback” mechanism in the U.N. Security Council resolution that enshrined the 2015 Iran nuclear deal had taken effect at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. “The United States expects all U.N, member states to fully comply with their obligations to implement these measures,” Pompeo said. They say the U.S. lost legal standing to invoke snapback when President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed American sanctions on Iran. Thus, the three countries said, the sanctions relief provided by the nuclear deal will remain in place.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. The commissioners of a coastal Georgia county where Black man Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot after being pursued by armed white men are suing to stop a referendum on abolishing the county police department. The Glynn County Commission filed the lawsuit Friday, The Brunswick News reports. Glynn County commissioners have opposed that effort, saying two local Republican lawmakers are trying to help their political ally, Sheriff Neal Jump. A Glynn County narcotics officer was found to have been having sex with two confidential informants. The county also argues the law is improperly targeted at only Glynn County.

He also left behind pictures of himself holding the gun used in the killings, posing at historic Civil War and African American sites and holding the Confederate flag. Outraged political leaders came together and overwhelmingly voted to take down a Confederate flag that flew near a monument to Confederate soldiers on the Statehouse lawn. The law protects all historical monuments and names of buildings, requiring a two-thirds vote from the state General Assembly to make any changes. The president of the University of South Carolina wants lawmakers to let the school remove the name of J. Marion Sims from a women's dorm. The time has come to take down the monuments that honor the evil that was done in the name of Charleston, in the name of South Carolina," Rivers said Tuesday at the foot of Calhoun's statue.

Previous attempts to do so were quickly dispatched in the Republican-controlled General Assembly, in votes largely along party lines. Hudson said she plans to reintroduce legislation her predecessor, David Toscano, sponsored, giving cities and counties the ability to remove Confederate monuments. Richmond's City Council has also twice rejected a resolution asking the General Assembly for the authority to decide the statues' fate. Earnest, with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said allowing the removal of Confederate monuments could open the floodgates. "Now that the Democrats have retaken the General Assembly, the pressure should be on Gov.

Within four months, state judges hearing two separate cases struck down dozens of North Carolina legislative districts and stopped the use of the congressional district map in 2020 elections. But unlike in North Carolina, none of those other claims were revived with new state court lawsuits. In North Carolina, Democratic Gov. The two North Carolina state court cases have been bankrolled in part by an arm of a national Democratic group. That has resulted in an improved process, members of both parties say, signaling the litigation could have a long-term impact on North Carolina mapmaking.