![United States Commerce Department data shows retail sales climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent in August even as many economists predicted a decline, but initial weekly claims for aid from jobless Americans ticked upward after hitting a pandemic low [File: Kriston Jae Bethel/Bloomberg]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/377285640.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
The latest data from the United States Department of Commerce and the Labor Department paint a nuanced picture.
News
![West African leaders met in Ghana's capital, Accra, to decide how to respond to the coup [Kweku Obeng/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-16T152936Z_1991726324_RC20RP9PLPKE_RTRMADP_3_GUINEA-SECURITY.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Mining company representatives in Guinea say they held ‘promising’ talks with Colonel Mamady Doumbouya in Conakry.
![Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, depicted here in a court sketch, is set to appear before a federal judge on Thursday to enter a plea on a charge of violating a Black teen's civil rights in 2017 [Cedric Hohnstadt Illustration via Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-14-USA-RACE-GEORGEFLOYD.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Former Minneapolis police officer, convicted of the death of George Floyd, used a neck restraint on 14-year-old boy.
![Baradar, once seen as the likely head of a Taliban government, had not been seen in public for some time [File: Karim Jaafar/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/000_9LA3TA-1.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Taliban’s former political office chief in Doha is ‘absolutely fine and healthy’ amid rumours of internal divisions.
![El-Sisi stressed the importance of the upcoming elections [File: Iakovos Hatzistavrou/Pool via AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/000_8TJ4RZ.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Egyptian president holds talks with Libya’s interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, days after Haftar meeting.
![UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomes Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Downing Street, London, United Kingdom [Hannah McKay/Pool/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-16T131542Z_437037374_RC21RP9JL98O_RTRMADP_3_BRITAIN-ABU-DHABI.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
UAE investments in UK will target infrastructure, clean energy and technology.
![The Israeli police routinely chase down individuals in the Orthodox community who dodge military service and attempt to conscript them [File: Jack Guez/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/000_9923LN.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Hearing on September 20 will address the appeal of a Jewish anti-Zionist against the Home Office rejection.
![The Beirut explosion flattened much of the city's port [File: Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/AP20218324621823.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Judge issues arrest warrant after former public works minister Youssef Fenianos fails to appear for questioning.
![The Kremlin has excluded swaths of critical voices from participating in the parliamentary election [File: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-09-15T133317Z_1703853393_RC2DQP9YZKZN_RTRMADP_3_RUSSIA-ELECTION-UKRAINE-DONETSK.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The electorate has been left with little real choice in the State Duma ballot, critics say.
![Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro delivers a speech next to a bodyguard during opening ceremony of the judicial year at the Supreme Tribunal of Justice building in Caracas [File: Yuri Cortez/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/000_8ZD2TJ.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
New report says independence of judiciary has eroded, allowing abuses, including torture, to persist.
![The SDR allocation comes at a moment of severe financial and political crisis that has driven more than 70 percent of Lebanon's population into poverty [File: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2021-01-28T155443Z_1074428511_RC23HL9KJKM6_RTRMADP_3_LEBANON-CRISIS-POVERTY.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The new government has not yet said how it will use the desperately needed funds.
![Somalia's Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble [File: Feisal Omar/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-02-10T135211Z_137927753_RC2PPL95BDVL_RTRMADP_3_SOMALIA-POLITICS.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed suspends Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble’s power to hire and fire officials.
![A total of 23 journalists have been killed in the EU since 1992, with the majority of the killings taking place during the past six years [File]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/bb30acdce08246a4ab4b6c559d167036_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Brussels urges member states to ‘protect’ reporters amid recent spike in killings and widespread online threats.
![Peel region has recorded more than 114,000 cases since the pandemic began [Usaid Siddiqui/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_5057-1.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
Residents of Ontario’s Peel region, hard-hit by coronavirus, express muted interest in upcoming federal vote.