USA

DALLAS (AP) — The chief of the Federal Aviation Administration tested the Boeing 737 Max in a flight simulator Thursday, but the FAA declined to say how its updated anti-stall software performed.

That software kicked in before two Max jets crashed, and fixing it is central to Boeing’s effort to get the grounded airplane flying again.

New FAA chief Stephen Dickson said his agency has no timetable for reviewing changes that Boeing is making to the plane.

Dickson also toured the Max assembly line near Seattle and met with senior Boeing officials.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. announced Thursday that it is expelling two Cuban diplomats and restricting travel of members of Cuba’s permanent mission to the United Nations as leaders gather from around the world for the annual U.N. General Assembly.

The Cuban diplomats who are being expelled are attached to the U.N. mission and tried to “conduct influence operations against the United States,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. She provided no details on the allegations and the diplomats’ names weren’t released.

AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke says he’s open to broadening his proposal to require owners of AK-47s and AR-15s to sell them to the government.

During an emotional town hall Thursday near the site of the Colorado theater shooting, a man who identified himself as a survivor of the 1999 Columbine massacre noted that the shooters there didn’t use the military-style weapons O’Rourke wants to take. They instead used regular semi-automatic weapons. He challenged O’Rourke to confiscate those arms as well.

HOUSTON (AP) — The Latest on the remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda (all times local):

9:50 p.m.

Houston officials say floodwaters are receding across most of the city and efforts will continue through the night to clear the city’s freeways of hundreds of vehicles stalled by the flooding.

The dangerous flooding all but paralyzed the city Thursday after the remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda reversed course and hit Houston and Southeast Texas a second time.

Two people died Thursday. They both drowned.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The man charged with killing two North Carolina university students and wounding four others in April pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of first-degree murder and other charges, then apologized for his crimes.

Trystan Andrew Terrell also pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of attempted murder and discharge of a firearm on educational property - charges filed in connection with the April 30 shooting of students gathered in a lecture hall at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A key Senate panel on Thursday approved $250 million to help states beef up their election systems, freeing up the money after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came under criticism from Democrats for impeding separate election security legislation.

CHINA, Texas (AP) — The slow-churning remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda flooded parts of Texas on Thursday, leaving at least two people dead and rescue crews with boats scrambling to reach stranded drivers and families trapped in their homes during a relentless downpour that drew comparisons to Hurricane Harvey two years ago.

Officials in Harris County, which includes Houston, said there had been a combination of at least 1,000 high-water rescues and evacuations to get people to shelter. The storm also flooded parts of southwestern Louisiana.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s efforts to keep his tax returns private played out on both coasts Thursday, with a California judge handing him an initial victory and his lawyers in New York City arguing that federal prosecutors there are trying “to harass” him by seeking the documents.    

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration plunged into an extraordinary showdown with Congress Thursday over access to a whistleblower’s complaint about reported incidents including a private conversation between President Donald Trump and a foreign leader. The blocked complaint is both “serious” and “urgent,” the government’s intelligence watchdog said.

Washington, Sep 19 (AFP/PTI) Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved last weekend's attack on Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure, CBS News reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed US official.

The report came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, flying to the kingdom, called Saturday's strikes which knocked out half of Saudi crude output an "act of war."

CBS, without giving specifics about the US official or how they obtained the information, said Khamenei approved the attack only on condition that it be carried out in a way to deny Iranian involvement.