Brics special envoys on middle east meet

Polish government officials said on Monday that they are sending 500 additional army troops and special vehicles to the border with Belarus to strengthen it against increasing migrant pressure that they say is orchestrated by Belarus and Russia to destabilise the European Union. “We are dealing with a well-organised action directed from Minsk and Moscow,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said. “We will defend Poland's border with full determination,” he said after a meeting with the interior minister and the head of the Border Guards. Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said 500 more troops and eight specialised vehicles will be sent to the border this week. EU members Poland and Lithuania are facing increasing migrant pressures on their borders with Belarus, which are part of the bloc’s eastern border. They say it is a “hybrid attack” by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Minsk that is aimed at destabilising the 27-nation EU. Mr. Morawiecki noted, however, …

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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki vowed to defend its border with Belarus and prevent further migrants from crossing into the country, the Associated Press reported. The defensive effort involves 500 additional troops and eight specialized vehicles being sent to the border this week, according to Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski. The Polish government said the migrant influx is part of an orchestrated plot by Belarus and Russia against the European Union as the nations seek to destabilize the bloc, AP reported. Morawiecki said during a Monday news conference that Poland is contending with a "well-organized action" from Minsk and Moscow, but he pledged to combat the effort. "We will defend Poland's border with full determination," Morawiecki said after meeting with the country's interior minister and the head of the Border Guards. For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below. EU members Poland and Lithuania are facing increasing migrant pressures on …

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The White House on Monday would not reveal when President Joe Biden would answer questions on the crises of inflation, the southern border, and ongoing deadly Afghan evacuation. “When is the president going to hold another news conference when we can ask are questions to him about all of these issues — about inflation, about the border, and Afghanistan,” a reporter asked in the White House press briefing. White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded by pointing to last week, when Biden answered questions about last week’s challenges. “The president took questions probably four or five times last week, so I would point you to that,” Psaki said. Reporter: "When is the president going to hold another news conference?" pic.twitter.com/6btoAVIs0z — The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 20, 2021 According to The American Presidency Project (APP), Biden has only given four solo press conferences, three joint press conferences, and zero primetime news …

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Wearing a wetsuit and fins, Paul de Gelder rolled over the edge of a dinghy and into the cold water of Sydney Harbor. It was an unseasonably chilly morning in February 2009, and as he turned onto his back and started kicking, he glimpsed the famous Sydney Harbor bridge and opera house in the distance. Above him, the sky was gray. As a clearance diver with the Australian Navy, de Gelder, then 30, had clocked at least 500 hours in dives, doing everything from tactical operations, to disarming mines and explosives, to repairing battle damage to ships, ports and anything under water. (Think: The Hurt Locker meets Men of Honor meets Aussies.) But each time he slipped beneath the surface, he supressed a terrible fear: sharks. That day, he and three other divers were in the midst of a counterterrorism exercise for the military, testing an unmanned video and sonar device by swimming from one point to another to see if the device could detect their presence. The new guy on the team had …

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Edward I. Koch, the master showman of City Hall, who parlayed shrewd political instincts and plenty of chutzpah into three tumultuous terms as New York’s mayor with all the tenacity, zest and combativeness that personified his city of golden dreams, died Friday. He was 88. Mr. Koch’s spokesman, George Arzt, said he died of congestive heart failure at 2 a.m. at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital. The former mayor had experienced coronary and other medical problems since leaving office in 1989. But he had been in relatively good health despite — or perhaps because of — his whirlwind life as a television judge, radio talk-show host, author, law partner, newspaper columnist, movie reviewer, professor, commercial pitchman and political gadfly. Ebullient, flitting from broadcast studios to luncheon meetings and speaking engagements, popping up at show openings and news conferences, wherever the microphones were live and the cameras rolling, Mr. Koch, in his life after politics, …

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Illegal pot farms dry up Western creeks Today is Monday. Welcome to Equilibrium, a newsletter that tracks the growing global battle over the future of sustainability. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup . Illegal cannabis farms are drying up creeks and sucking up scarce groundwater out West in what Oregon Sheriff Dave Daniel called “just a blatant theft of water, ” The Associated Press reported. The Western states’ legalization of marijuana created two parallel industries: a legal one and a much bigger illegal one, which hides large unlicensed farms in the backcountry, where even a small extra drain can tip a stressed-out ecosystem into collapse , a study from University of Berkeley found. Those impacts are magnified because peak cannabis demand comes in the dry season, the study found. But some farms are big; Daniel said he raided an illegal farm of 200,000 plants where a system of pumps and pipes went “into the ground so deep” that …

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close Video Fox News Flash top headlines for September 20 Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. The role for versatile rookie Micah Parsons in the Dallas defense just got a little more intriguing after the linebacker essentially replaced injured star pass rusher DeMarcus Lawrence in a 20-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. While the Chargers cost themselves two touchdowns with penalties, there was no denying the impact of Parsons, particularly when matched up against right tackle Storm Norton. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Parsons' first career sack came on a generous call by officials who ruled quarterback Justin Herbert was in his grasp when he threw a pass while backpedaling. Regardless, the 18-yard sack ultimately forced the Chargers to settle for a tying field goal. That fourth-quarter possession ended up being the last for L.A. as Dak Prescott led a …

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When the remnants of Hurricane Ida swept into New York this month, the storm’s ferocity shocked the city. Even with meteorologists warning of intense rains and flooding, the swiftness with which the storm turned streets into rushing — and deadly — rivers caught officials and residents off guard. New York has taken steps to prepare for the extreme weather driven by climate change. For years, particularly after Hurricane Sandy flooded much of the region, civic groups, environmental organizations and officials had raised alarms and urged action to protect from extreme storms. But much of the post-Sandy work focused on flooding caused by rising waters surrounding the city’s shores. The rains brought by Ida — and two other storms this summer that deluged parts of the area — pose a different kind of threat: massive rainfall in a short period. The storms exposed how New York City’s aging infrastructure — including its vital subway, built for a different climate — needs significant …

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The head of the United Nations warned that deepening tensions between the U.S. and China could lead to "Cold War" risks and urged the two nations to mend their "dysfunctional relationship," the Associated Press reported. Preceding the annual U.N. congregation of world leaders set to take place this week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the two nations need to work together on issues and initiatives like climate change, COVID-19, trade and technology in spite of their continuing divides. He said that re-establishing the "functional relationship" between the two countries was "essential" in addressing those problems and others, especially seeing the importance both countries have in the international community, the AP reported. Guterres had warned international leaders two years ago that the world could see a major rift as the U.S. and China established rival internets, rules on trade and finance "and their own zero-sum geopolitical and military strategies." …

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Elon Musk shot down a rumor that Tesla had decided to build its next plant in Russia. The report originated from Russian news site Arguments of the Week and cited unnamed sources in the country's Ministry of Industry and Trade as well as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The sources, the outlet claimed, confirmed the news "at once." It also claimed that the plant would be but in Korolev, an industrial area just outside Moscow that has been called "the heart" of the Russian space industry. Musk, the CEO of Tesla, responded to the report after he was tagged in a tweet. While he shot down the idea, his phrasing did not explicitly shut the door on the idea. "Tesla has not yet decided on a fourth Gigafactory location," Musk tweeted. "Gigafactories" are Tesla's massive production facilities designed to meet their projected production needs for electric cars and other associated products. The first of these facilities began production in 2016 and is located just east of Reno, …

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