North America

20 September 2023; MEMO: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi yesterday said the US should prove its “goodwill and determination” to revive the 2015 nuclear pact as months of indirect talks between the long-time foes have led nowhere, Reuters reports.

20 September 2023; MEMO: US President Joe Biden urged rapid efforts to reduce violence and tensions in the Occupied West Bank as he met, Wednesday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Anadolu Agency reports.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 20 (Reuters) - It was to be Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy's first in-person appearance at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Moscow's invasion of his country when Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia objected to him taking the floor at the start of the meeting.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, serving as president of the tense session, responded with a gibe at Moscow, which has long said the invasion does not amount to a war but was a mere "special military operation".

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of 25 state governors that make up the U.S. Climate Alliance and the Biden administration announced a pledge Thursday to quadruple the number of heat pumps in U.S. homes by 2030, from 4.7 million to 20 million.

Heat pumps use little electricity, yet are able to heat and cool buildings. Since they often replace oil or gas furnaces that add greenhouse gases to the air, they can meaningfully address climate change.

Buildings account for more than 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Gen. CQ Brown as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, putting him in place to succeed Gen. Mark Milley when he retires at the end of the month.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican David McCormick is expected to announce Thursday that he will enter Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race and make his second bid for the office, this time to take on Democratic Sen. Bob Casey after losing in last year’s crowded Republican primary.

McCormick’s aides have sent invites to a “special announcement” by McCormick at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh at 5 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press previously has reported on McCormick’s plans, citing three people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss his intentions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a whirlwind return visit to Washington on Thursday to shore up U.S. support for Ukraine, this time facing some Republicans who are now questioning the flow of American dollars that for 19 months has helped keep his troops in the fight against Russian forces.

(AP) --- A 96-year-old U.S. federal appeals court judge was barred Wednesday from hearing cases for a year after a panel said she refused to undergo medical testing amid concerns that she is no longer mentally fit to serve on the bench.

It’s the latest development in an unusually public and bitter fight over whether Judge Pauline Newman should continue to serve on the Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that has sparked a lawsuit and turned judges against one another.

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A woman walking her dog on a wooded trail in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains spooked a cow moose Wednesday and it charged, headbutting the hiker and stomping on her before she escaped back down the trail, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Authorities said the woman was taken to a hospital but they declined to provide information on the woman’s injuries or condition. They said the moose had stomped on her “several times” and that the dog had minor injuries.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Nine Memphis jail deputies have been indicted in the death of a Black man who was having a psychotic episode and died in custody last fall after jailers punched, kicked and kneeled on his back during a confrontation, a sheriff said Wednesday.

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, who oversees the jail where 33-year-old Gershun Freeman was beaten, disclosed the existence of the indictments during a news conference Wednesday but declined to offer more details, including the names of the county jail deputies and the charges they face.