USA

NEW YORK, August 9. /TASS/: The US supports the ‘one-China’ policy, the visit to Taiwan was not an attempt to change it, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview with the NBC TV channel on Tuesday.

Pelosi stressed that all she wanted was to show China that the United States supported Taiwan. According to her, the American delegation didn’t go to Taiwan to change the ‘one-China’ policy, to which the US was still committed. Pelosi said she had gone there to recognize the status quo.

She added that there was nothing destabilizing about the trip.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza, with several members raising concerns despite the tenuous truce between Islamic Jihad militants and Israel after three days of deadly conflict.

Speaking via video at the start of the meeting, UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland warned that a resumption of hostilities will have “devastating” consequences.

“The ceasefire is fragile,” he warned.

WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed documents endorsing Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO, the most significant expansion of the military alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Biden signed the U.S. "instrument of ratification" welcoming the two countries, the final step for their endorsement by the United States.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden announced Monday that the United States will provide Ukraine with 1 billion U.S. dollars worth of additional security assistance, the largest one-time weapons package since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Jury selection started Tuesday in the second trial of two men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 over their disgust with restrictions early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prosecutors are putting Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. on trial again after a jury in April couldn’t reach a verdict. Two co-defendants were acquitted and two more pleaded guilty earlier.

Dozens of prospective jurors from western and northern Michigan reported to the federal courthouse in Grand Rapids.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas lawmakers began a special session Tuesday to take up tax cuts and a school safety grant program, spurred by the state’s $1.6 billion surplus.

The House and Senate convened for the session called by Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Hutchinson said the tax cuts are needed because of inflation and the state’s record surplus.

The cuts include accelerating reductions in individual and corporate income taxes that the majority-Republican Legislature approved last year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate marked a dramatic and unprecedented escalation of the law enforcement scrutiny of the former president, but the Florida operation is just one part of one investigation related to Trump and his time in office.

ATLANTA (AP) — A judge said Tuesday that Rudy Giuliani must appear in Atlanta in person next week to testify before a special grand jury that’s investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia.

The former New York mayor and Trump attorney had originally been ordered to appear Tuesday. But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury, excused him after his lawyers filed a motion seeking to delay his appearance.

DETROIT (AP) — A tax credit of up to $7,500 could be used to defray the cost of an electric vehicle under the Inflation Reduction Act now moving toward final approval in Congress.

But the auto industry is warning that the vast majority of EV purchases won’t qualify for a tax credit that large.

That’s mainly because of the bill’s requirement that, to qualify for the credit, an electric vehicle must contain a battery built in North America with minerals mined or recycled on the continent.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the biggest stars of the left, is facing a centrist challenger in her Minnesota congressional primary on Tuesday, while Vermont Democrats will choose a nominee for an open House seat who will likely make history as the first woman representing the state in Congress.