North America

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas contacted at least two Wisconsin state lawmakers, including the chair of the Senate elections committee, urging them to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win in the tightly contested state, emails obtained Thursday by The Associated Press show.

Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a conservative activist, also had sent messages to more than two dozen lawmakers in Arizona.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee seeking financial records from former President Donald Trump has reached an agreement that ends litigation on the matter and requires an accounting firm to turn over some of the material, the panel’s leader announced Thursday.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s capital city was restoring running water to some homes and businesses Thursday, but many faucets remained dry or had only a trickle of water as crews worked to repair a flood-impaired water treatment plant.

Jackson leaders reported some overnight progress in refilling tanks at the O.B. Curtis Water Plant, the facility at the root of the latest water woes in Jackson.

Those among Jackson’s 150,000 residents who had running water again remained under a boil order that pre-dates the problems caused by flooding.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will sound an alarm Thursday night about what he views as “extremist” threats to American democracy from the restive forces of Trumpism, aiming to reframe the November elections as part of an unceasing battle for the “soul of the nation.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge awaited arguments Thursday on whether to appoint an outside legal expert to review government records seized by the FBI last month in a search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home.

31 August 2022; MEMO: Canadian intelligence helped smuggle Shamima Begum and other Britons to Syria to join Daesh over the years, a new book has claimed.

According to Richard Kerbaj, former security correspondent of The Sunday Times, his upcoming book 'The Secret History of the Five Eyes' states that Canadian intelligence recruited a human trafficker named Mohammed Al-Rashed when he applied for asylum at the Canadian embassy in Jordan.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 31 (APP): The United Nations has stepped up its efforts to provide relief to the affectees of the devastating floods in Pakistan that have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced 33 million, as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres prepares to a pay a “solidarity” visit to the country next week, a UN spokesman said Wednesday.

As part of UN’s emergency response, Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told the regular noon briefing in New York that UNHCR, the UN Refugee agency, is providing tents and other relief items from existing stocks in Quetta and Peshawar.

WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The Biden administration will announce additional security aid for Ukraine shortly, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday.

"There will be announcements of future security assistance in coming days," Kirby said at a news briefing.

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The United States needs a "miracle" to avoid an economic recession, a renowned U.S. economist has said.

In an interview with U.S. business news channel CNBC on Monday, Stephen Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute of Global Affairs, said persistent inflation will lead to a pullback in consumer spending, which will in turn "reverberate through the broader economy and create pain in the labor market."

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistani people are facing "a monsoon on steroids," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday, calling on the international community to take urgent, collective action to help the government and people of Pakistan in their hour of need.

"Pakistan is awash in suffering. The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids -- the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding," the UN chief said in a video message on the launch of flash appeal in support of flood response for Pakistan.