USA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s new moon rocket remained on track to blast off on a crucial test flight Monday, despite a series of lightning strikes at the launch pad.

The 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket is the most powerful ever built by NASA. It’s poised to send an empty crew capsule into lunar orbit, a half-century after NASA’s Apollo program, which landed 12 astronauts on the moon.

FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) — Chaz Andrews has wanted to join the Army since he was 19, but he has failed the service’s academic test more than 10 times over the past decade.

Now, at age 29, Andrews thinks he has a real shot to pass, thanks to a new Army program that gives lower-performing recruits up to 90 days of academic or fitness instruction to help them meet military standards.

28 August 2022; MEMO: A judge in the United States has recommended that the victims of the 9/11 attacks and their families not be allowed to receive billions of dollars in Afghanistan's Central Bank assets, saying that those assets are beyond the US government's authority.

27 August 2022; AA: Frank McKenzie, a former top general who led US Central Command from 2019 to April 2022, has said that Washington engaged in failed nation-building in Afghanistan and insisted on a Western model for the country which was wrong.

27 August 2022; AA: The US announced Friday that it will appoint an envoy for the Arctic region for the first time in its history amid Russia’s increased military actions in the region recently.

"... the President plans to elevate the Arctic Coordinator position by appointing an Ambassador-at-Large for the Arctic Region, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate," Vedant Patel, deputy spokesperson of the State Department, said in a written statement.

NEW YORK, Aug 27 (APP): Pakistani-American community members have swung into action, collecting funds and relief materials for their flood-hit compatriots in Pakistan, as rescuers in the country’s devastated areas work to evacuate thousands of marooned people.

On Friday, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan, made an impassioned appeal to the Pakistani-American community to step forward and help the flood affectees in Pakistan.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — UN member states ended two weeks of negotiations without a treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas, an agreement that would have addressed growing environmental and economic challenges.

“Although we did make excellent progress we still do need a little bit more time to progress towards the finish line,” said conference chair Rena Lee, adding that a plenary session had nonetheless approved resumption of the
negotiations at a future unspecified date.

Aug 27 (Reuters) - The United States plans to name an ambassador at large for the Arctic, reflecting the region's growing strategic and commercial importance as its shrinking opens up new sea lanes and vast oil and mineral resources.

Russia has reopened hundreds of Soviet-era military sites in the region, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday, a day after visiting the Arctic, saying Russian capabilities there pose a strategic challenge to the 30-nation alliance.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois voters have the chance to sign up to send their ballots for November and spring elections by mail — forever.

Elections officials are sending applications for permanent permission to vote by mail to each of the state’s 8 million registered voters.

No one is obligated to sign up. But for as long as they stay at the same address, those who do will receive ballots they can complete at home and put in the mail for all future elections.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Federal agents in Memphis have seized a potentially 3,000-year-old ancient Egyptian artifact that was shipped in from Europe.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says they intercepted the Egyptian canopic jar lid of the funeral deity named Imsety on Aug. 17. The jars were used to hold the internal organs of mummies.

The agency says the item was sent from a dealer to a private buyer in the U.S., and the shipper made contradicting statements about its value.