WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS is showcasing its new capability to aggressively audit high-income tax dodgers as it makes the case for sustained funding and tries to avert budget cuts sought by Republicans who want to gut the agency.

IRS leaders said they collected $38 million in delinquent taxes from more than 175 high-income taxpayers in the past few months.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea’s U.N. ambassador defended his country’s recent long-range missile launch in a rare appearance at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday where he also accused the United States of driving the situation in northeast Asia “to the brink of nuclear war.”

TOKYO, July 14 (Reuters) - Japan called on China to approach the release of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in a "scientific manner" at a meeting held between Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi on Friday.

(AP) --- Russian President Vladimir Putin said he offered the Wagner private military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under their same commander after their short-lived rebellion, while some of the mercenaries were shown Friday in Belarus, possibly heralding the group’s relocation there.

Putin’s comments appeared to reflect his efforts to secure the loyalty of Wagner mercenaries, some of the most capable Russian forces in Ukraine, after the group’s brief revolt last month that posed the most serious threat to his 23-year rule.

ISLAMABAD, July 14 (APP): The European Parliament has strongly urged India to take necessary measures to promptly halt the ongoing ethnic and religious violence, protect all religious minorities such as Manipur’s Christian community, and pre-empt any further escalation.

The joint resolution was adopted on Thursday following recent violent clashes in the state of Manipur, India since May 2023 that left at least 120 people dead, 50 000 displaced, and over 1 700 houses and 250 churches destroyed.

NEW YORK (AP) — A suspect has been taken into custody on New York’s Long Island in connection with a long-unsolved string of killings, known as the Gilgo Beach murders, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Friday.

The case has drawn immense public attention since human remains were found along a New York beach highway more than a decade ago. The mystery attracted national headlines for many years and the unsolved killings were the subject of the 2020 Netflix film “Lost Girls.”

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/: Additional measures to ensure the protection of critically important facilities were the focus of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council on Friday.

"Our agenda today has several issues. The first one is extra measures of protection of critically important facilities," Putin said at the beginning of the meeting.

Sriharikota, (AP), Jul 14 (PTI) The Indian Space Research Organisation launched its third lunar mission--Chandrayaan 3 on-board the heavylift LVM3-M4 rocket here on Friday.

At the end of the 25.30 hour countdown, the LVM3-M4 rocket, the largest and heaviest in its class and dubbed as 'Fat Boy' lifted off majestically at a prefixed time at 2.35 pm from the second launch pad, discharging thick plumes of smoke.

AMMAN, Jul 14 (NNN-PETRA) – The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Jordan, Sheri Ritsema-Anderson, yesterday, expressed her concern about the funding shortfall that may lead to disruption of services, to both Jordanians and refugees in the coming months.

“I am deeply concerned by funding shortfalls that are threatening to interrupt key activities that support both Jordanians and refugees in the next months,” she was quoted as saying, by a press release from the UN office in Jordan.

13 July 2023; MEMO: Democratic US lawmaker, Ilhan Omar, has announced she will not be attending Israeli President Isaac Herzog's address to a joint session of Congress, condemning the state's 2019 decision banning her and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib from entering Israel.

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/: The Kremlin sees measures restricting the ability of foreigners to exit their Russian businesses as part of protecting the domestic economy, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

TRIPOLI, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Thursday expressed concerns over the continued abductions, arbitrary arrests, and disappearances of citizens and public figures by various security actors in Libya.

The country's former Finance Minister Faraj Boumtari was reportedly detained at Mitiga Airport and taken to an undisclosed location on Wednesday, while five members of the High Council of State have been reportedly banned from traveling at the same airport on Thursday.