WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio (AP) — Stubborn drought in Ohio and the shifting weather patterns influenced by climate change appear to be affecting North America’s largest native fruit: the pawpaw.

Avocado-sized with a taste sometimes described as a cross between a mango and banana, the pawpaw is beloved by many but rarely seen in grocery stores in the U.S. due to its short shelf life. The fruit grows in various places in the eastern half of North America, from Ontario to Florida. But in parts of Ohio, which hosts an annual festival dedicated to the fruit, and Kentucky, some growers this year are reporting earlier-than-normal harvests and bitter-tasting fruit, a possible effect of the extreme weather from the spring freezes to drought that has hit the region.

Take Valerie Libbey’s orchard in Washington Court House, about an hour’s drive from Columbus. Libbey grows 100 pawpaw trees and said she was surprised to see the fruit dropping from trees in the first week of August instead of mid-September.

“I had walked into the orchard to do my regular irrigation and the smell of the fruit just hit me,” said Libbey, who added that this year’s harvest period was much shorter than in previous years and the fruits themselves were smaller and more bitter.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Hundreds of LGBTQ+ people and their supporters rallied in Nepal’s capital Tuesday during the annual Pride parade, the first since gay couples were able to register same-sex marriages officially in the Himalayan nation following a Supreme Court order in Nov 2023.

The annual event brings together the sexual minority community and their supporters in Kathmandu during the Gai Jatra festival.

Tuesday’s rally was participated by a government minister, diplomats and officials, which began at the city’s tourist hub and went around its main streets.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — U.S. Peace Corps volunteers returned to El Salvador Friday for the first time since the American force left in 2016 because of violence in the Central American country.

It was the latest sign of a thaw in U.S. relations with El Salvador, whose President Nayib Bukele was once shunned because of his harsh crackdown on street gangs.

It was also a sign of how much Bukele’s widespread arrests of suspected gang members - which also jailed a considerable number of apparently innocent young men - has reduced the country’s once-fearsome homicide rate.

The Peace Corps said the first nine volunteers would work on community economic development, education, and youth initiatives. All nine had previously worked two-year stints in other Central American countries.

“Today is not just a celebration, it’s a commitment to continue building on the decades-long partnership with the people of El Salvador,” said Peace Corps Director Carol Spahn.

More than 2,300 Peace Corps Volunteers had worked in El Salvador since 1962. The Peace Corps volunteers left after El Salvador’s gang-fueled homicide rate reached a high of 106 murders per 100,000 inhabitants on 2015. That year there were 6,658 killings in the country of 6.3 million.

Under a state of emergency originally declared in 2022 and still in effect, Bukele’s government has rounded up about 81,900 suspected gang members in sweeps that rights groups say are often arbitrary, based on a person’s appearance or where they live. The government has had to release about 7,000 people because of a lack of evidence.

Already the longest-lived of the 45 men to serve as U.S. president, Jimmy Carter is about to reach the century mark.

The 39th president, who remains under home hospice care, will turn 100 on Tuesday, Oct. 1, celebrating in the same south Georgia town where he was born in 1924.

Here are some notable markers for Carter, the nation and the world over his long life.

By all accounts, Milagra the “miracle” California condor shouldn’t be alive today.

But now at nearly 17 months old, she is one of four of the giant endangered birds who will get to stretch their wings in the wild as part of a release this weekend near the Grand Canyon.

There is no more appropriate name for a young bird that has managed to survive against all odds. Her mother died from the worst outbreak of avian flu in U.S. history soon after she laid her egg and her father nearly succumbed to the same fate while struggling to incubate the egg alone.

Milagra, which means miracle in Spanish, was rescued from her nest and hatched in captivity thanks to the care of her foster condor parents.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Biden administration officials met Friday with port operators ahead of a possible strike at East and Gulf coast ports, with a union contract expiring after Monday.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, told members of the United States Maritime Alliance that they should be at the table with the union and negotiating ahead of the contract expiring. That’s according to a White House official who insisted on anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

Administration officials have delivered a similar message to the union this week.

Two weeks of testimony suggested the company responsible for an experimental deep-water submersible that imploded, killing five people, either recklessly ignored warning signs in the name of profits or represented the nation’s explorer spirit in taking calculated risks to push humankind’s boundaries.

Those contrasting viewpoints emerged as the Coast Guard panel tasked with determining why the carbon-fiber Titan was lost 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) deep wrapped up testimony Friday with new information that could have changed how rescuers responded and more discussion of the company co-founder’s cavalier attitude.

Capt. Jamie Frederick, commander of the Coast Guard sector based in Boston, appeared surprised to learn that the crew of Titan’s support vessel, in hindsight, felt there was a slight shudder around the time the submersible imploded on its way to the wreckage of the Titanic last year.

Frederick said it was “unconscionable that they wouldn’t share that” and it could have changed the rescue response. “It certainly would’ve changed the equation,” he testified.

Also Friday, an OceanGate employee testified that he resigned after a “tense” conversation in which co-founder Stockton Rush told him the vessel would be flagged in the Bahamas and launched from Canada to avoid U.S. scrutiny — and arrogantly brushed aside U.S. regulatory concerns if it went to a U.S. port.

A TV weather reporter in Atlanta interrupted his live shot about Hurricane Helene Friday to rescue a woman from a vehicle stranded by rising floodwaters.

In video of the rescue, standing in the rain with the submerged vehicle behind him, FOX Weather meteorologist Bob Van Dillen describes how the woman drove into a flooded area.

He says he has called 911, and she can be heard screaming as he tries to assure her that help is on the way. Then he says to the camera: “It’s a situation. We’ll get back to you in a little bit. I’m going to see if I can help this lady out a little bit more you guys.”

Van Dillen is then seen wading through the water with the woman on her back, carrying her to safety.

For months, New York City Mayor Eric Adams — a former cop — refused to criticize the federal authorities investigating his administration.

Not anymore.

The day news of his indictment on corruption charges broke, Adams defiantly suggested, without providing evidence, that U.S. prosecutors had gone after him because he had criticized President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

“Despite our pleas, when the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief, I put the people of New York before party and politics,” he said. “I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you, that I would be a target — and a target I became.”

The accusation from Adams marked a sharp turn for a retired police captain turned politician, whose commitment to law-and-order has been a calling card during his time in office.

The rhetoric was also similar to that of other politicians who have found themselves facing various accusations.

LAJAS BLANCAS, Panama (AP) — Venezuelans trekking across the Darien Gap – a rugged jungle passage between Colombia and Panama – say they’re making the perilous journey because they lost hope for change after a contentious presidential election handed victory to President Nicolás Maduro despite vote tallies released by the opposition showing that his competitor won by a landslide.

“We stayed waiting for the election (results) because if Maduro left (power) then we would stay. But nothing happened,” said Enrique Dordis, 46, a former cab driver from the central state of Carabobo, who left Venezuela last week with his wife, an 8-year-old son, Emanuel, and four other family members.

LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Britain’s wrongful detention and deportation of Caribbean migrants was the result of decades of racist immigration laws designed to reduce the country’s non-white population, a long-withheld official report showed on Thursday.

Known as the Windrush scandal, the revelations of the mistreatment of thousands of Caribbean people damaged the authority of former British prime minister Theresa May, who had led efforts to tackle illegal immigration when she led the interior ministry, or Home Office.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Caribbean came to Britain between 1948 and 1971 on ships such as the Empire Windrush to fill labour shortages in post-war Britain.

In 2018, Britain had to apologise for its treatment of the "Windrush generation", after a tightening of immigration policy meant thousands were denied basic rights despite having lived in Britain for decades and dozens were wrongly deported.

Britain's previous Conservative government in 2022 refused to publish the "The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal" report, rejecting requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

The report, now released by the newly elected Labour government, found that between 1950 and 1981 "every single piece" of immigration or citizenship legislation was designed at least in part to reduce the number of Black people allowed to live and work in Britain.

WILMINGTON, Delaware, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Newsmax Media reached a confidential settlement of a lawsuit by Smartmatic, the voting machine maker that had alleged it was defamed by the news outlet's false claims that its machines were rigged to help steal the 2020 U.S. presidential election from Donald Trump, the companies said on Thursday.

The agreement came on the eve of a four-week jury trial, with opening arguments scheduled to begin in Wilmington, Delaware on Sept. 30.

"Newsmax is pleased to announce it has resolved the litigation brought by Smartmatic through a confidential settlement," the company said in a statement.

Smartmatic also said in a statement it was pleased to have reached a deal. "Lying to the American people has consequences. Smartmatic will not stop until the perpetrators are held accountable."

Smartmatic sued Newsmax in 2021, alleging it broadcast damaging misinformation falsely claiming the company switched votes in the 2020 election, that its machines were hacked and that it was funded by corrupt dictators.

Smartmatic alleged that Newsmax profited from its false reporting. Trump amplified Newsmax's reporting on social media and the broadcaster's audience jumped 10-fold after the election, vaulting it over cable news rivals such as CNBC and Fox Business, according to Nielsen Ratings.

MARFA, Texas, Sept 26 (Reuters) - It looks like any other 3D printer - except it's the size of a crane and is, layer by layer, building a hotel in the Texan desert.

El Cosmico, an existing hotel and campground on the outskirts of the city of Marfa, is expanding. It is building 43 new hotel units and 18 residential homes over 40 acres (16 hectares) - all with a 3D printer.

It is the world's first 3D-printed hotel, says El Cosmico owner Liz Lambert and the partners behind the project - Austin, Texas-based 3D printing company ICON and architects Bjarke Ingels Group.

Lambert said the technology allows for unprecedented creativity.

"Most hotels are contained within four walls and a lot of times you are building the same unit over and over and over again," Lambert said. "I've never been able to build with such little constraint and such fluidity ... just the curves, and the domes, and the parabolas. It's a crazy way to build."

• Army lost most of capital early in the war Rival RSF pushing to take key Darfur city Army chief Burhan to address UN in New York

DUBAI, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Sudan's army launched artillery and air strikes in Sudan's capital on Thursday in its biggest operation to regain ground there since early in its 17-month war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), witnesses and military sources said.

The push by the army, which lost control of most of the capital at the start of the conflict, came ahead of an address by its commander, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York later in the day.

Witnesses reported heavy bombardments and clashes as army troops tried to cross bridges across the Nile connecting the three adjoining cities that make up the greater capital, Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri.

"The army is carrying out heavy artillery strikes and air strikes on Halfaya and Shambat," Ahmed Abdalla, a 48-year-old resident told Reuters by phone, referring to areas of Bahri close to the river. "The sounds of explosions are very loud." Video footage showed black smoke rising above the capital and the booms of the battle could be heard in the background.

BAMAKO/NIAMEY, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Prosecutors in junta-led Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have launched investigations against French journalist and researcher Wassim Nasr, accusing him of being an "apologist for terrorism" over his analysis of jihadist attacks.

Nasr, who works for the broadcaster France 24, is also a security expert who regularly comments on an Islamist insurgency that took root in Mali in 2012 and has since spread across West Africa's Sahel region.

He carried out a detailed analysis of a rare jihadist attack on several strategic sites in Mali's capital Bamako on Sept. 17, and was cited in several media outlets in the aftermath.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20199784

> UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday he is ready to sign a trade agreement between the European Union and South America's Mercosur bloc, but that it is now up to the EU to conclude negotiations. > > Speaking on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Lula said his country was surprising investors and credit rating agencies with stronger than expected growth, and offering new stability now that tax reform has advanced in Congress. > > "If the EU is ready we can sign the trade agreement during the G20 meeting in Brazil," he told reporters, referring to the Group of 20 rich nations summit in Rio de Janeiro in November. > > "I have never been so optimistic about the EU-Mercosur accord," the Brazilian leader added. > > A European diplomatic source said there had been progress towards resolving differences at a face-to-face meeting of negotiators in Brasilia on Sept 5-6.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday he is ready to sign a trade agreement between the European Union and South America's Mercosur bloc, but that it is now up to the EU to conclude negotiations.

Speaking on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Lula said his country was surprising investors and credit rating agencies with stronger than expected growth, and offering new stability now that tax reform has advanced in Congress.

"If the EU is ready we can sign the trade agreement during the G20 meeting in Brazil," he told reporters, referring to the Group of 20 rich nations summit in Rio de Janeiro in November.

"I have never been so optimistic about the EU-Mercosur accord," the Brazilian leader added.

A European diplomatic source said there had been progress towards resolving differences at a face-to-face meeting of negotiators in Brasilia on Sept 5-6.

NICOSIA, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Cyprus' president said on Wednesday he was ready to immediately resume reunification talks over the ethnically divided island, urging regional rival Turkey to also engage in the effort.

"We cannot change geography. It is an opportunity, not a curse. Turkey and Cyprus will always remain neighbours," Nikos Christodoulides said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

"I adamantly believe we can carve a new path, one of peace, cooperation and collaboration," he said.

Cyprus was split decades ago in a Turkish invasion after a brief Greek-inspired coup, and preceded by years of sporadic violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

Reunification talks collapsed in mid-2017 and have been at a stalemate since.

A Turkish Cypriot breakaway state in northern Cyprus, backed only by Turkey, wants a two-state deal where its sovereignty is recognised. Greek Cypriots say the only framework available is that defined by U.N. resolutions calling for reunification under a bizonal, bicommunal federation.

"I am committed and I am ready to sit at the negotiating table today. Not tomorrow. Today," Christodoulides said.

On Tuesday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told the U.N. General Assembly that the federation model "has now completely lost its validity", saying there were "two separate states and two separate peoples" on the island.

"The sovereign equality and equal international status of the Turkish Cypriots, which are their inherent rights, should be reaffirmed, and the isolation should now come to an end," he said.

He later told U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres that a meeting between the sides under the auspices of the U.N. to discuss models other than a federation could help, his office said

• Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares calls tariffs a 'trap' shielding legacy automakers
  • Stellantis' joint venture with Leapmotor gives access to Chinese EV technology
  • U.S. and EU have differing strategies on Chinese EVs and technology

LONDON/DETROIT, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Stellantis wants to adopt the low-cost mindset of Chinese EV makers despite the European and U.S. tariffs CEO Carlos Tavares lambasts as anticompetitive, but the world's No. 4 automaker must navigate trade barriers on both sides of the Atlantic if it wants to succeed.

Tavares calls tariffs a "trap," arguing they will hurt legacy automakers by shielding them from the reality that Chinese rivals make electric vehicles for about a third less.

The best way to compete is instead to "try to be Chinese ourselves," Tavares said at a Reuters Events conference in Munich in May.

That belief led Stellantis to purchase a 21% stake in China EV maker Leapmotor last October, creating a joint venture giving Stellantis access to Leapmotor technology and exclusive rights to produce its EVs outside of China.