WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama awarded 24 American giants of the arts and humanities with medals on Thursday, lauding their accomplishments - and sharing some laughs.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that American companies were welcome to invest in Iran.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said the resignation of his finance minister and trusted aide Luis Videgaray was prompted by Donald Trump's visit to Mexico last month, which led to widespread condemnation of the government.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's practice of putting children in immigration detention centers or separating them from detained parents is causing them psychological harm and violates international law, a rights group said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The World Bank division that lends to the world's poorest countries is preparing to raise billions of dollars from capital markets next year after winning top-tier, first-ever credit ratings from Moody's Investors Service and Standard and Poor's.

WARSAW (Reuters) - A proposal to completely ban abortion in Poland is posing a dilemma for the ruling conservatives, wary of antagonizing the powerful Catholic Church if they fail to support it or fanning public outcry if they do.

Sept 22 (Reuters) - Those who think events in Syria cannot get worse are "dead wrong," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday. He's correct, of course.

MOSCOW, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Russia expressed concern to the U.S. Pentagon over an attack by a U.S. coalition on Syrian government forces on Saturday, Interfax reported on Thursday, citing the Russian defense ministry.

SIRTE, Libya, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Libyan forces said they foiled three attempted car bombings in renewed heavy fighting against Islamic State holdouts in the group's former stronghold of Sirte on Thursday.