USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — A whistleblower’s allegation that he was pressured to suppress intelligence about Russian election interference is the latest in a series of similar accounts involving former Trump administration officials, raising concerns the White House risks undercutting efforts to stop such intrusions if it plays down the seriousness of the problem.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities were continuing to search Monday for a gunman who walked up to a parked sheriff’s squad car and opened fire, critically wounding two Los Angeles County deputies in an ambush recorded on surveillance video.

Officials asked for the public’s help in identifying the gunman in a weekend ambush after officials offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

WAVELAND, Miss. (AP) — Storm-weary Gulf Coast residents prepared for a new weather onslaught Monday as Tropical Storm Sally churned northward.

Jeffrey Gagnard of Chalmette, Louisiana, was spending Sunday in Mississippi helping his parents prepare their home for Sally — and making sure they safely evacuated ahead of the storm.

(AP) --- The owner of TikTok has chosen Oracle over Microsoft as the American tech partner that could help keep the popular video-sharing app running in the U.S., according to a source familiar with the deal who was not authorized to speak publicly about it.

Microsoft announced Sunday that its bid to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations was rejected, removing the tech giant from the running a week before President Donald Trump promises to follow through with a plan to ban the Chinese-owned app in the U.S. over spying concerns.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — In open defiance of state regulations and his own administration’s pandemic health guidelines, President Donald Trump on Sunday hosted his first indoor rally since June with a packed, almost mask-less Nevada crowd.

Eager to project a sense of normalcy in imagery, Trump soaked up the raucous cheers inside a warehouse. Relatively few in the crowd wore masks, with one clear exception: Those in the stands directly behind Trump, whose images would end up on TV, were mandated to wear face coverings.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Public health officials were already warning Americans about the need to prepare for the coronavirus threat in early February when President Donald Trump called it “deadly stuff” in a private conversation that has only now has come to light.

At the time, the virus was mostly a problem in China, with just 11 cases confirmed in the United States.

There was uncertainty about how the U.S. ultimately would be affected, and top U.S. officials would deliver some mixed messages along the way. But their overall thrust was to take the thing seriously.

BEAVERCREEK, Ore. (AP) — Nearly all the dozens of people reported missing after a devastating blaze in southern Oregon have been accounted for, authorities said over the weekend as crews battled wildfires that have killed at least 35 from California to Washington state.

The flames up and down the West Coast have destroyed neighborhoods, leaving nothing but charred rubble and burned-out cars, forced tens of thousands to flee and cast a shroud of smoke that has given Seattle, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, some of the worst air quality in the world.

WASHINGTON, September 13. /TASS/: The US Department of Commerce and Russia’s nuclear state corporation Rosatom initialed a draft amendment to extend the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation, which expires this year.

The amendment, if finalized, will extend the deal to 2040 and "reduce US reliance on uranium from Russia" for the next 20 years.

WASHINGTON/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee on Saturday won election as president of the Inter-American Development Bank, the region’s main economic development lender, making him the first U.S. citizen to lead the institution in its 61-year history.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trump’s senior Latin America adviser, told the bank’s governors before voting began that he would be “a passionate advocate” for the bank, its staff and the region. He will take office on Oct. 1 and has pledged to serve only one five-year term.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday welcomed the start of negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar.

"The start of intra-Afghan peace negotiations today in Doha between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban presents a major opportunity to achieve the long-held aspirations of the people of Afghanistan for peace," he said in a video message.