North America

WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk, days after floating a possible deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine that drew condemnation in Ukraine, suggested that tensions between China and Taiwan could be resolved by handing over some control of Taiwan to Beijing.

"My recommendation . . .  would be to figure out a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable, probably won't make everyone happy," the world's richest person, told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for international support for Pakistan in the wake of devastating floods.

The United Nations is working with the Pakistani government to convene a pledging conference to provide concrete support for rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts, he told the UN General Assembly, which is expected to adopt a resolution on solidarity with Pakistan.

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday said inflation in Mexico has topped out and could begin to decline.

Earlier in the day, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) reported that annual inflation in September held steady at 8.7 percent, the same as the previous month.

Describing the report as "good news," Lopez Obrador said that "it has reached its ceiling, its maximum limit, and my forecast is that it will start to go down."

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 election filed paperwork Friday seeking to compel testimony from a new batch of Trump allies, including former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and his Democratic challenger Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes stuck to their scripts — and their time limits — as they met for a debate Friday evening in a hotly contested race that could determine party control of the U.S. Senate.

In battleground Wisconsin, it was a welcome chance for both candidates to clarify their positions on a variety of issues, and though they disagreed on most subjects, their comments were similar to those they’ve made on the campaign trail. Here are the key takeaways:

THE ECONOMY

WASHINGTON (AP) — Soldiers are leaving the Army National Guard at a faster rate than they are enlisting, fueling concerns that in the coming years units around the country may not meet military requirements for overseas and other deployments.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Recent revelations about the search warrant that led to Breonna Taylor’s death have reopened old wounds in Louisville’s Black community and disrupted the city’s efforts to restore trust in the police department.

Former Louisville officer Kelly Goodlett admitted in federal court that she and another officer falsified information in the warrant. That confirmed to many, including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, that Taylor never should have been visited by armed officers on March 13, 2020.

RICHMOND, Vt. (AP) — Residents of a small community in Vermont were blindsided last month by news that one official in their water department quietly lowered fluoride levels nearly four years ago, giving rise to worries about their children’s dental health and transparent government — and highlighting the enduring misinformation around water fluoridation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the Supreme Court and its newest justice, said before the term began that she was “ready to work.” She made that clear during arguments in the opening cases.

The tally: 4,568 words spoken over nearly six hours this past week, about 50% more than any of the eight other justices, according to Adam Feldman, the creator of the Empirical SCOTUS blog.

7 October 2022; MEMO: The US State Department has approved the potential sale of the National Advanced Surface-To-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and Medium Range Air Defence System to Kuwait in a deal valued at an estimated $3 billion, the Pentagon said yesterday, Reuters reports.