HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican David McCormick is expected to announce Thursday that he will enter Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race and make his second bid for the office, this time to take on Democratic Sen. Bob Casey after losing in last year’s crowded Republican primary.

McCormick’s aides have sent invites to a “special announcement” by McCormick at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh at 5 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press previously has reported on McCormick’s plans, citing three people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss his intentions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Gen. CQ Brown as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, putting him in place to succeed Gen. Mark Milley when he retires at the end of the month.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of 25 state governors that make up the U.S. Climate Alliance and the Biden administration announced a pledge Thursday to quadruple the number of heat pumps in U.S. homes by 2030, from 4.7 million to 20 million.

Heat pumps use little electricity, yet are able to heat and cool buildings. Since they often replace oil or gas furnaces that add greenhouse gases to the air, they can meaningfully address climate change.

Buildings account for more than 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/: Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev has accused the Anglo-Saxons of unleashing genocide against the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine.

"Having brought a neo-Nazi terrorist regime to power in Ukraine as a result of a bloody coup, the Anglo-Saxons have unleashed genocide against the Russian population. Thus, since 2014, the population of Donbass, which is mostly Russian, has been subjected to violence and physical destruction," he said, answering the reporters’ questions.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Nine Memphis jail deputies have been indicted in the death of a Black man who was having a psychotic episode and died in custody last fall after jailers punched, kicked and kneeled on his back during a confrontation, a sheriff said Wednesday.

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, who oversees the jail where 33-year-old Gershun Freeman was beaten, disclosed the existence of the indictments during a news conference Wednesday but declined to offer more details, including the names of the county jail deputies and the charges they face.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh did something Thursday he hasn’t done in the two years since his life of privilege and power started to unravel — plead guilty to a crime.

Murdaugh admitted in federal court to 22 counts of financial fraud and money laundering.

ISTANBUL, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The first cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain arrived off Türkiye's Bosphorus Strait on Thursday using a temporary "humanitarian corridor."

The Ihlas news agency said the ship "Resilient Africa" anchored off the Sariyer district at the Black Sea entrance of the Bosphorus Strait.

The vessel will later pass through the strait, heading to Israel, according to the agency.

Ukraine announced in August a "humanitarian corridor" to allow grain shipment after Russia withdrew from a UN-brokered grain agreement.

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma is set to execute an inmate Thursday morning for the 1996 slaying of a University of Oklahoma dance student, a case that went unsolved for years until DNA from the crime scene matched a man serving time for burglary.

PRISTINA, Sept 21 (Reuters) - At a cafe in Kosovo's capital Pristina, staff have given up checking whether the 2-euro coins people use to pay are genuine, as such a high proportion are fake and as the high quality of some counterfeits makes it almost impossible to tell.

"At the beginning everyone was worried and was checking if the 2-euro coins were fake or not," said waiter Endrit.

He and his colleagues would hold coins up to the light to examine them or plunk them down on a table to see how they sounded.

MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Nigel was moving quickly northeastward over the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday as a Category 1 storm, and at the same time a potential tropical cyclone appeared to be forming off the southeastern coast of the United States.

Nigel was centered about 505 miles (815 kilometers) southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland, the National Hurricane Center said. It had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph) and was moving northeast at 30 mph (48 kph).

LONDON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of England (BoE) has voted to maintain its benchmark interest rate at 5.25 percent, the central bank said in a statement on Thursday.

At its meeting ending on Wednesday, the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of five to four in favor of the decision, the statement noted. Four members preferred to increase the interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 5.5 percent.

This is the first time the BoE has kept the interest rates unchanged after 14 consecutive rate hikes since December 2021.

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/: Russia has introduced restrictions on the export of gasoline and diesel fuel from September 21, the press service of the government reported on Thursday.

According to the government decree to that effect, the restrictions are temporary and begin on September 21 "from the date of its official publication," but the document does not specify the expiration date of the restrictions.