North America

27 August 2022; MEMO: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani announced on Friday that the US military presence in Syria is illegal.

Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that Kanaani expressed: "Condemnation of the recent American aggression against defenders of Syria's independence and territorial integrity."

WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (APP): Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan, has made an impassioned appeal to the Pakistani-American community to step forward and help affectees in Pakistan, who have been hit by unprecedented monsoon rains and floods.

The ambassador, in his letter to compatriots residing in the United States, said the unprecedented rainfall, widespread flooding and landslides had affected most parts of the country.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 26 (NNN-XINHUA) – UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, yesterday called for the revival of a real political process, to address the underlying drivers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The cease-fire independently declared by Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, following three days of military escalation in early Aug remains in effect, and a fragile calm has been restored in Gaza, he told the Security Council in a briefing.

OTTAWA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Russia's capabilities in the North are a strategic challenge for NATO, its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday, welcoming Canada's recently announced investments in North American defense systems after making his first visit to the Canadian arctic.

"The importance of the high North is increasing for NATO and for Canada because we see a significant Russian military buildup," Stoltenberg said, standing alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Cold Lake, Alberta.

MEXICO CITY, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday switched his strategy to put the military in charge of the National Guard to crack down on violence fueled by organized crime.

Noting he did not have the votes for a two-thirds majority in Congress needed for constitutional changes, he said he would on Sept. 1 submit a fast-tracked bill to make the National Guard a branch of the Army. This would require only a simple majority to achieve his goal.

NEW YORK, Aug 26 (Reuters) - An effort by the United Arab Emirates to convince the United States with the help of a wealthy real estate investor to name former congressman Stephen Stockman as U.S. ambassador to that country during Donald Trump's presidency unraveled with the lawmaker's 2017 arrest on fraud charges, prosecutors said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency moved Friday to designate two “forever chemicals” used in cookware, carpets and firefighting foams as hazardous substances, a step that would clear the way for quicker cleanup of the toxic compounds, which have been linked to cancer and other health problems.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and China have reached a tentative agreement to allow U.S. regulators to inspect the audits of Chinese companies whose stocks are traded on U.S. exchanges. In a long-festering dispute, U.S. regulators have threatened to boot a number of Chinese companies off the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq if China doesn’t permit inspections.

The deal announced Friday by market regulators in the U.S. and China is preliminary. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said, “The proof will be in the pudding.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are ending sharply lower after the head of the Federal Reserve dashed Wall Street’s hopes that it may soon ease up on rate hikes in its effort to tame inflation. The S&P 500 lost 3.4% Friday, its biggest drop in two months, after Jerome Powell said the Fed will likely need to keep interest rates high enough to slow the economy for some time in order to beat back the high inflation sweeping the country. Tech stocks led the way lower, pulling the Nasdaq composite down even more. Higher rates help corral inflation, but they also hurt asset prices.

HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) — Two people were killed and two were wounded in a shooting at a homeless shelter for men in western Kentucky, and a suspect has been arrested, authorities said.

Officers responded Thursday evening to a report of an active shooter at the Harbor House Christian Center, the Henderson Police Department said in a statement on social media.

The shooting occurred around 7:40 p.m. when about 15 people were inside the facility, Henderson City Commissioner Robert Pruitt told The Courier & Press in Evansville, Indiana.