North America

HOUSTON; 16 Sep2018; (AP) — Texas authorities charged a U.S. Border Patrol supervisor with murder following what they called a two-week serial killing spree that left four female sex workers dead and ended when a fifth woman escaped at a gas station and found help.

Juan David Ortiz, 35, an intel supervisor for the Border Patrol, was charged with four counts of murder as well as aggravated assault and unlawful restraint, Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said in a tweet.

CAPE CANAVERAL, 15 Sep2018; (AP) — A Japanese supply run to the International Space Station has been delayed again.

The countdown was halted Saturday local time in Japan, with only a few hours remaining before liftoff. Earlier in the week, a typhoon delayed the launch.

The Japanese space agency said there was an issue with the propulsion system. No new launch date has been set.

The cargo ship — the seventh to be launched by Japan — contains new batteries needed for a pair of NASA spacewalks.

DALLAS; 15 Sep2018; (AP): Dozens of demonstrators marched through the streets of downtown Dallas and briefly blocked the westbound lanes of Interstate 30 to protest a white police officer’s fatal shooting of a black man in his own apartment.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- At least five people have been killed so far in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence which was downgraded Friday afternoon to a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph (110 km/h) along the U.S. East Coast.

Hurricane Florence blew ashore in the U.S. state of North Carolina with howling 90 mph (144 km/h) winds and terrifying storm surge early Friday, felling trees, splintering buildings, trapping hundreds of people and swamping entire communities along the coast.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore on Friday cited the frequent occurrence of many of natural disasters in the world this year as a justifying reason for the U.S. return to the Paris Agreement on climate change.

US House of Representatives have passed a measure on Wednesday, which will become law, to provide $38 billion defence aid to Israel.

Called U.S.-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018, the law cannot be repealed by future US Presidents.

WASHINGTON, September 13. /TASS/. The US Department of Treasury blacklisted Russia’s Volasys Silver Star company located in Vladivostok in terms of sanctions against North Korea, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) reports on Tuesday.

An individual from North Korea and a Chinese company are also hit by sanctions.

UN, September 14. /TASS/. Participants of the nuclear deal with Iran (Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Iran) will hold a ministerial meeting on September 24 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, a diplomatic source in the organization told TASS.

"The meeting was scheduled for September 24," the source said. "It will also be attended by the European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini."

WASHINGTON, September 13. /TASS/. The US Treasury is considering the possibility of introducing sanctions against Russian company "Sukhoi", allegedly because its planes may have been used in Syrian chemical attacks, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea stated on Thursday during a session of the US House of Representatives.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Hurricane Florence that caused road flooding on the U.S. East Coast weakened to a Category 1 storm on Thursday night, hours before making landfall in the Carolinas.

"Hurricane Florence is producing a life-threatening storm surge and hurricane conditions over portions of eastern North Carolina. The threat of freshwater flooding will increase and spread inland over the next several days," the the U.S. National Hurricane Center tweeted late Thursday night.