Washington, Sep 17: US lawmakers made a bipartisan pitch for early passage of a bill that seeks to create a 100-foot protest-free buffer zone around places of worship during religious services.

More than 30 groups, including those representing Hindus, Sikhs and Jews among others, gathered at Capitol Hill on Wednesday to rally support for the draft legislation introduced in the House by Congressmen Tom Suozzi and Brad Knott.

The Right to Worship Act would establish a 100-foot, protest-free buffer zone around houses of worship during religious services, making it unlawful to knowingly disrupt or impede people from attending.

“Exercising your right to worship should not require you to exhibit particular courage as you enter your synagogue, church, mosque, temple, mandir, or gurdwara,” said Suozzi, a Democrat from New York.

“The breadth of support for the Right to Worship Act is very gratifying. So many groups recognise the horrifying reality that the threat to the freedom to worship is not unique to any one faith or congregation. Every religious community feels it, which is why this bill will protect everybody,” Suozzi said.

Knott, a Republican from North Carolina, said the right to worship was under threat, which amounted to a First Amendment violation.

“If people in the United States cannot worship, we do not have a First Amendment. And the right to worship is under attack,” Knott said.

The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects core individual liberties, including freedom of religion, speech, the press, assembly, and petition.

Suozzi’s Right to Worship Act builds on his earlier introduction of the Safeguarding Access to Congregations and Religious Establishments from Disruption (SACRED) Act in April, which also aimed to establish a 100-foot protest-free buffer zone around places of worship.

The Right to Worship Act is a bipartisan and bicameral effort introduced in August.

Representatives from Hindu American Foundation, UNITED SIKHS, American Jewish Committee, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, Coalition of Hindus of North America and Jewish Federations of North America were among the organisations supporting the measure.

“In recent years, we have seen a disturbing rise in the harassment of devotees and disruption of services at Hindu mandirs across America, which has deeply shaken the sense of safety for our families and devotees,” said Suhag Shukla, Executive Director at the Hindu American Foundation.

By making it unlawful to intentionally disrupt or harass individuals within 100 feet of a religious establishment and establishing civil penalties, this legislation ensures that our mandirs remain the sacred spaces of peace and community they are meant to be, Shukla said.

“Protecting religious freedom and protecting freedom of expression are not mutually exclusive. Both are essential to a free, diverse, and democratic society. The right to worship freely and the right to express oneself freely go together,” said Gurvinder Singh Gill, International Aid Director of UNITED SIKHS.

Four of our mandirs have been vandalised in recent years, and a family should never have to think twice before walking through the door of a house of worship, said Mukesh Swaroop, Director of Government Relations for BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha.

“This is a much-needed step to help ensure that devotees of every faith can visit their places of worship and pray without fear of being targeted or intimidated for simply exercising their First Amendment rights,” said Hitesh Trivedi, COO of Coalition of Hindus of North America.

United Nations, Sep 17: The United Nations chief urged global competitors in artificial intelligence on Wednesday to cooperate in addressing threats from the technology, warning that “the world cannot afford a race to the bottom on AI safety.”

Secretary-General António Guterres said concerns raised by those on the frontlines of AI technology that its development “is racing ahead of our understanding of the risks” can’t be ignored.

Governments must assume their first responsibility to protect civilians from AI threats, which means “national action is essential,” Guterres told UN reporters. “But global coordination is also indispensable.”

“We need guardrails to build trust — and that make AI safe, transparent, accountable, with human dignity at the center.”

Guterres was referring to a proposal from Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, to ensure AI safety by coordinating a slowdown in its development by leading technology companies and governments.

OpenAI’s Sam Altman, SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk and other prominent industry leaders have said in recent days that AI’s development needs to slow down. But Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg distanced the company Wednesday, saying every AI company has to ensure its technology is safe.

There are other obstacles to a coordinated effort on AI, including domestic and global competition, especially from China, and profit motivations. And there has been pushback from President Donald Trump, who this week called threats that AI might destroy humanity “a HOAX” and claimed efforts to limit the technology are part of a “SICK conspiracy.”

Guterres has praised the enormous potential of AI, including to accelerate economic development and education and to strengthen health systems. But he has also warned of the “existential” threat of “runaway artificial intelligence.” He said AI will be a major topic in his discussions with world leaders at their annual gathering next week for the high-level session of the UN General Assembly.

“The United Nations will continue to explore practical ideas and approaches in the immediate days ahead,” Guterres said. “We need a shared understanding of how to advance the safe, secure and responsible development of AI — while identifying when increasingly powerful systems may require stronger safeguards, or additional measures to manage potential risks.”

At Guterres’ behest, the General Assembly established the first global scientific body on AI in 2025. In its preliminary report in July, the 40-member panel warned that the rapid, unchecked use of AI at scale risks harm to the mental health of users, “potential use as a destructive tool, impacts on social, economic and environmental systems, and challenges associated with controlling the technology.”

The secretary-general told reporters he is aware that geopolitical divides might pose problems. But he said countries “that have the highest capacity in the frontiers of AI” should establish contact, exchange information and agree on some common guardrails “to avoid this race to the bottom that could lead one day to a gigantic disaster at global level.”

Guterres responded to a question asking whether next week’s meeting of top officials from the UN’s 193 member nations wouldn’t be the perfect opportunity for a summit on curbing the excesses of AI. He said there wasn’t time to properly prepare a meeting.

But he said, “I think it makes full sense at the right moment to have a serious international summit on artificial intelligence.” And at a summit, he said, “it is absolutely essential to have everybody on board” — governments, companies, scientists and civil society — “and I hope that this will be possible.”

Washington, Sep 17: The Trump administration has denied visas for a high-level Palestinian delegation to attend an annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations for the second year in a row.

The State Department said Wednesday that Palestinian officials, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, had failed to live up to their commitments under previous agreements to seek peace with Israel.

In a statement, the department said the Palestinian Authority had continued to pursue legal action against Israel at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court and kept paying stipends to the families of prisoners convicted of attacks against Israelis. It also mentioned officials tied to the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO.

“As a consequence of their failure to reform, contrary to their commitments to the United States, and their ongoing activities that undermine the prospects for peace, the United States will extend sanctions that deny visas to PLO members and PA officials” in accordance with standing US law, the department said.

The move is the latest by the Trump administration to restrict visas and it further signals the close US alliance with Israel, which has faced international isolation over its war in Gaza following the deadly October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas. A fragile, US-brokered ceasefire took hold in October, but Israel has continued to carry out strikes in the Palestinian territory.

It also comes as the Trump administration has launched a campaign to dismantle the ICC, accusing it of trying to unfairly prosecute US and Israeli soldiers for alleged crimes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Gaza. Israel and the United States are not members of the global tribunal.

Despite the visa denials, the Palestinians will still be represented at next week’s high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly by their diplomats who are already accredited to the United Nations. Last year, Abbas appeared by video.

Two back-to-back earthquakes struck northwestern Nepal on Wednesday, authorities said.

However, there have been no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

According to the National Seismological Research Centre, the first tremor of magnitude 4.5 was recorded at 1:51 am (local time).

The second quake, with a magnitude of 4.2, struck at 4:28 am (local time), with its epicentre also located around Kalai in Mugu district, the centre said.

The shock was also felt in neighbouring districts of Dolpa and Jumla. However, there was no immediate report of any damage caused by the tremors.

Nepal, situated in a seismically active zone, frequently experiences earthquakes. The region continues to be on alert, with authorities monitoring for any aftershocks or potential structural damage in the affected areas.