WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and Qatar have reached an agreement that the Qataris will not act on any request from Tehran for the time being to access $6 billion in Iranian funds that were unblocked as part of a prisoner swap last month, a U.S. official said Thursday.

12 October 2023; MEMO: Israel has cut off electricity and water for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, in an apparent step to prevent them from aiding the conflict between occupation forces and Palestinian resistance fighters on the outside.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court avoided a catastrophic accident last year when a piece of marble at least 2 feet long crashed to the ground in an interior courtyard used by the justices and their aides, according to several court employees.

The incident, which the court still fails to acknowledge publicly, took place in the tense spring of 2022, as the court already was dealing with death threats and other security concerns and the justices were putting the final touches on their stunning decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A judge on Thursday scolded federal prosecutors in the classified documents case against Donald Trump as she postponed a hearing to determine if the lawyer for one of the former president’s co-defendants had a conflict of interest.

U.S District Judge Aileen Cannon admonished prosecutors for “wasting the court’s time,” telling them they had presented arguments during Thursday’s hearing that had not been properly raised in earlier court filings.

13 October 2023; MEMO: Israel has told the United Nations that the northern Gaza Strip must be evacuated within 24 hours.

The Israeli occupation army informed the UN “that the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours,” UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement late yesterday.

New York(AP) — Microsoft has completed its acquisition of video game-maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, closing one of the most expensive tech acquisitions in history that could have repercussions across the video game industry.

The notice that the deal has gone through came seven hours after Microsoft got final approval from Britain’s competition watchdog, which reversed its earlier decision to block the merger, removing the last obstacle for the transaction.

13 October 2023; MEMO: Jordanian security forces have shot tear gas and grenades at Jordanians marching towards the Western border with the occupied Palestinian territories.

It is unclear if anyone has been injured as a result.

Resistance factions had called for people to head towards Palestine today, in what has been called the ‘Day of Rage’ in support of Al-Aqsa and the people of Gaza.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is returning to Pennsylvania to use the critical battleground state again as a backdrop for some of his favorite political themes, championing steep increases in public works spending and detailing how bolstering green energy can spur U.S. manufacturing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Clean-energy projects in seven states from Pennsylvania to California have been selected by the Biden administration for a $7 billion program to kickstart development and production of hydrogen fuel, a key component of President Joe Biden’s agenda to slow climate change.

His goal is to establish seven regional hydrogen hubs to help replace fossil fuels such as coal and oil with cleaner-burning hydrogen as an energy source for vehicles, manufacturing and generating electricity.

RIYADH, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is putting U.S.-backed plans to normalise ties with Israel on ice, two sources familiar with Riyadh's thinking said, signalling a rapid rethinking of its foreign policy priorities as war escalates between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas.

The conflict has also pushed the kingdom to engage with Iran. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took his first phone call from Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as Riyadh tries to prevent a broader surge in violence across the region.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea lashed out Friday at the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in South Korea, calling it a provocation and again raising the specter of using nuclear weapons to defend itself.

Emboldened by its advancing nuclear arsenal, North Korea has increasingly issued threats to use such weapons preemptively. But the North is still outgunned by U.S. and South Korean forces, and experts say it is unlikely to use its nukes first, though it will continue to upgrade those arms without returning to diplomacy for the time being.

ARRAS, France (AP) — A man of Chechen origin who was under surveillance by the French security services stabbed a teacher to death at his former high school and critically wounded two other people in northern France on Friday, authorities said.

The attack was being investigated as potential terrorism amid soaring global tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas. But it also happened almost three years after another teacher, Samuel Paty. was beheaded by a radicalized Chechen near a Paris area school.