UNITED NATIONS, September 20. /TASS/: The US and its allies have openly meddled in Ukrainian affairs since the Soviet breakup and there’s evidence they engineered the crisis in that country, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said at a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats will retain their one-vote majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives after voters in Pittsburgh on Tuesday elected former congressional aide Lindsay Powell.

Powell’s victory gives Democrats a 102-101 majority in the House. Republicans have a 28-22 majority in the Senate, creating a divided Legislature that has kept Democrats from passing priorities such as broadened protections for LGBTQ+ people and gun control measures and Republicans from wins on issues including school vouchers.

LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Rishi Sunak watered down Britain's plans to tackle climate change on Wednesday, saying he would delay a ban on sales of new petrol cars to maintain the consent of the British people in the switch to net zero.

Sunak said he remained committed to the legally-binding target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 but said Britain could afford to make slower progress in getting there because it was "so far ahead of every other country in the world".

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Police body camera video shows an Alabama high school band director being shocked with a stun gun and arrested by officers in front of screaming students, in a chaotic scuffle that broke out after he refused to immediately stop the band as it played in the bleachers following a football game.

State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, who is representing band director Johnny Mims as his attorney, said Tuesday that the incident is an “alarming abuse of power” that instead “should have been should have been deescalated.”

JAKARTA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government has set to explore oil and gas resources in Warim block, Papua province, a minister said on Wednesday.

Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, said that the amount of oil in the Warim block exceeded the reserves in the country's Masela block in Maluku province, which is reported to store nearly 26 billion barrels of potential oil reserves and 47.37 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas.

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/: Russian peacekeepers will not take part in the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh on anyone's side, Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev said.

"Those who expect this [peacekeeping] contingent to take any action outside its peacekeeping mandate will be wrong. Neither Russia nor the Russian peacekeeping contingent has the right to, or is going to take part in the hostilities on anyone's side, or try to resolve the issues of the status, shift the balance in anyone's favor," he said on Telegram.

GENEVA (AP) — Venezuela’s government has intensified efforts to curtail democratic freedoms with use of threats, surveillance and harassment as President Nicolás Maduro faces a re-election contest next year, U.N.-backed human rights experts reported on Wednesday.

AMMAN, Sept 20 (NNN-PETRA) – The 8th Arab Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Congress kicked off here in the Jordanian capital yesterday, with participation of Arab countries and beyond.

Organised by the Arab Renewable Energy Commission, the event offers sessions covering policies, strategies, and prospects of renewable energy in the Arab countries, the Arab green economy and energy funds, and the impact of climate factors on photovoltaic stations, among others.

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Azerbaijan and Armenian forces reached a cease-fire agreement Wednesday to end two days of fighting in the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh region that has been a flashpoint for decades, officials on both sides said.

An hour after the truce was announced, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the intensity of the hostilities in the region “has decreased drastically.” Azerbaijani authorities said they had halted the military operation launched a day earlier once separatist officials said they were laying down arms.

MOSCOW, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- A Russian Su-34 jet crashed in the country's Voronezh region Wednesday during a scheduled training flight, Russia's Tass news agency reported, citing the defense ministry.

The aircraft crashed at around 10:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT). The two crew members onboard were ejected safely, the report said.

The jet fell far from any populated areas, and there was no destruction on the ground. The aircraft was not carrying ammunition. The report said the preliminary cause of the crash could be a technical failure. 

STRELNA, September 20. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he was pleased to accept Xi Jinping’s invitation to visit China in October for the Belt and Road Forum.

NEW DELHI (AP) — India expelled a senior Canadian diplomat Tuesday and accused Canada of interfering in its internal affairs, escalating a breach with Ottawa over its allegations of Indian involvement in the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada.