North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met at the White House on Friday and reflected on how their nations were tested in their respective battles to preserve democracy, with the U.S. president declaring that democracy ultimately “prevailed” over the far-right mobs that stormed their governments’ halls of power in an attempt to overturn election victories.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine’s supporters have circulated a proposed resolution for adoption by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of its smaller neighbor that would underscore the need for peace ensuring Ukraine’s “sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.”

The draft, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, is entitled “Principles underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A leak in a fuel pipeline facility in California forced a shutdown of deliveries of gasoline and diesel from the Los Angeles area east to areas including Las Vegas and Phoenix, but officials said Friday they believed supplies would not immediately be affected.

Pipeline operator Kinder Morgan told The Associated Press the leak was discovered Thursday afternoon at a company station near Los Angeles and that its CALNEV and SFPP West pipelines were shut down while the Houston-based pipeline operator worked to resolve the issue.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republicans are fighting over who will lead the Kansas GOP for the next two years, and frustrations over two key election losses last year in the GOP-leaning state have ramped up the acrimony already roiling the party nationally.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Years before Memphis Police officer Demetrius Haley pulled Tyre Nichols from his car on Jan. 7, setting in motion a deadly confrontation, Haley was accused of taking part in the savage beating of an inmate at a county prison.

The 2015 assault of the inmate was so disturbing that 34 others — the entire cellblock — signed a letter to the corrections director.

“We are truly asking that this matter gets looked into before someone gets hurt really bad or lose their life because of some unprofessional officers,” the letter stated.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The subpoena to former Vice President Mike Pence is a milestone moment in an ongoing Justice Department special counsel investigation. But it doesn’t guarantee he’s going to be testifying before a grand jury anytime soon.

Pence is the latest official in former President Donald Trump’s administration to be subpoenaed as part of the investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, but the push for Pence’s testimony is unique because he’s the highest-ranking official known to have been summoned.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. military fighter jet shot down an unknown object flying off the remote northern coast of Alaska on Friday on orders from President Joe Biden, White House officials said.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the object was downed because it was flying at about 40,000 feet (13,000 meters) and posed a “reasonable threat” to the safety of civilian flights, not because of any knowledge that it was engaged in surveillance. Asked about the object’s downing, Biden on Friday said only that “It was a success.”

NEW YORK, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Although U.S. President Joe Biden tried to emphasize what his administration had done to tackle climate change, millions of U.S. people are displaced by natural disasters worsened by a changing climate.

A new Census Bureau report found that more than 3 million adults were forced to evacuate their homes in the past year because of hurricanes, floods and other events, said U.S. news website Politico on Monday.

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile has been launched from California to test the defense system, the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command said.

The Minuteman III missile lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11:01 p.m. Thursday and its reentry vehicle traveled about 4,200 miles (6,800 kilometers) over the Pacific Ocean to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, an Air Force statement said.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Senate passed a measure Friday to ban TikTok from state government-issued devices, reflecting bipartisan concerns about the Chinese-owned social media app.

The bill easily cleared the Senate on a 31-0 vote to advance to the House. The action reflects a growing push among American lawmakers to block the social media platform from government devices, based on cybersecurity concerns.

In Kentucky, the measure is a “prudent” step in responding to those security concerns, said Republican state Sen. Robby Mills, the bill’s lead sponsor.