Iran: Five US citizens detained in Iran 'in full health'; Raisi

12 September 2023; MEMO: Five US citizens detained in Iran, who are expected to be swapped for five Iranians imprisoned in the United States as early as next week, are “in full health”, Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, said in a television interview on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

USA: 15 Democratic senators urge Biden not to accept Israel in the US Visa Waiver Programme

12 September 2023; MEMO: Fifteen Democratic senators are urging the Biden administration to refrain from including Israel in the US Visa Waiver Program due to its failure to provide equal treatment to Palestinian-Americans seeking entry into the nation.

No India-Mideast- EU economic corridor without Turkiye; Erdogan

12 September 2023; MEMO: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that plans announced by India, Saudi Arabia and the EU to create a trade corridor that would link South Asia to Europe and bypass Turkiye “will not work”.

Speaking to reporters upon his return from the G20 summit in India, Erdogan stressed that the most suitable traffic line from east to west is the line crossing from Turkiye.

USA: New Hampshire secretary of state won’t block Trump from ballot in key presidential primary state

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire’s top election official said Wednesday he will not invoke an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to block former President Donald Trump from appearing on ballots in the state, which will hold the first Republican presidential primary next year.

Growing US’ competition with Russia, China, marks end of previous world order — Blinken

WASHINGTON, September 13. /TASS/: The growing US’ geopolitical competition with Russia and China marks the end of the post-Cold War world order, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, speaking at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

"What we are experiencing now is more than a test of the post-Cold War order. It’s the end of it," he noted. "Decades of relative geopolitical stability have given way to an intensifying competition with authoritarian powers, revisionist powers."

Auto workers strike would test Biden’s assertion he’s the ‘most pro-union president in US history’

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The prospect of an auto workers strike could test Joe Biden’s treasured assertion that he’s the most pro-union president in U.S. history.

The United Auto Workers is threatening to strike against the nation’s big three automakers, General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, if tentative contact agreements aren’t reached by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. That could reshape the political landscape in the battleground state of Michigan and potentially unleash economic shockwaves nationwide.

North Korea’s Kim vows full support for Russia at a summit with Putin at a Far East spaceport

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un vowed “full and unconditional support” for Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Wednesday as the two leaders isolated by the West held a summit that the U.S. warned could lead to a deal to supply ammunition for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The meeting, which lasted over four hours at Russia’s spaceport in the Far East, underscores how the two countries’ interests are aligning: Putin is believed to be seeking one of the few things impoverished North Korea has in abundance -– stockpiles of aging ammunition and rockets for Soviet-era weapons.

USA: Suspect in the slayings of 4 Idaho college students wants news cameras out of the courtroom

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Attorneys for a man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death late last year want cameras banned from the courtroom, contending that news coverage of the criminal proceedings has violated a judge’s orders and threatens his right to a fair trial.

Religious hatred ‘totally unacceptable’, UN chief says on return from G20 summit in India

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 13 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, responding to a question about the recent attacks against Muslims and Christians in India, said Wednesday that religious hatred was “totally unacceptable”.

The UN chief, back from his trip to New Delhi for the G20 leaders’ summit, was asked by a Pakistani journalist whether in light of the summit’s declaration, which deplored all acts of religious hatred, he raised with the Indian leadership the recent violence against the minorities by Hindu extremists in India.

The iPhone 12 emits too much radiation and Apple must take it off the market, French agency says

PARIS (AP) — French regulators ordered Apple to stop selling the iPhone 12, saying it emits electromagnetic radiation levels that are above European Union standards for exposure. The company disputed the findings and said the device complies with regulations.

The French government agency that manages wireless communications frequencies issued the order after the iPhone 12 recently failed one of two types of tests for electromagnetic waves capable of being absorbed by the body.

USA: Escaped Pennsylvania prisoner Danelo Cavalcante was located with help from plane’s thermal imaging

POTTSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A murderer who brazenly escaped from a Pennsylvania jail was captured Wednesday in the woods by a team of tactical officers, bringing an end to an intensive search that terrified residents as the fugitive broke into homes for food, changed his appearance, and stole a van and rifle during two weeks on the run.

Law enforcement’s big break came overnight as a plane fitted with a thermal imaging camera picked up Danelo Souza Cavalcante’s heat signal, allowing tactical teams on the ground to secure the area, surround him and move in with search dogs.

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