The U.S. is playing a World Cup qualifier in the New York metropolitan area for the first time, a critical match against Costa Rica on Friday night at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. The Americans have played plenty of matches in and near the Big Apple, mostly in the CONCACAF Gold Cup and exhibition games. Until now, the closest to New York a qualifier has been played was in 1989, a 2-1 win over Guatemala at Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Connecticut. “This was a pipe dream, this stadium in Harrison,” said goalkeeper Tim Howard, who played for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars when the team was based at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford. “For it to be there and to actually be playing games, you know, there’s no crowd like playing in front of your home crowd for me.” Howard spoke Tuesday during a news conference in …

U.S. sanctions on the finance boss of Venezuela’s oil company PDVSA have led to some exports to the United States being blocked as banks and investment funds refuse to provide letters of credit to potential buyers, three financial sources said. U.S. businesses are barred from dealing with a sanctioned person or company and one of the sources said the sanctions on PDVSA’s Finance Vice President Simon Zerpa were deterring some businesses from investments with the company as so many of its transactions are linked to the finance department he leads. A Venezuelan oil shipment to the United States was blocked this month as lenders refused to provide letters of credit to PDVSA customers, the sources said. Letters of credit, issued by banks, guarantee to a seller that a buyer will pay a specified amount on time when a shipment is accepted. Without a letter of credit, shipments cannot be delivered …

The city of Houston will finally get some relief from historic rain Wednesday as Tropical Storm Harvey pulls away from east Texas and into neighboring Louisiana. Local and state officials in Texas say rescuers had taken more than 13,000 people from flooded homes, and thousands of people were staying in shelters set up at Houston’s convention center, the arena for the Houston Rockets basketball team and the stadium where the Houston Texans football team plays. …

Iran on Tuesday dismissed U.S. demands for the inspection of Iranian military sites by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, shrugging off a request by America’s ambassador to the U.N. as only a “dream.” Iran’s government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht told reporters that the demand by Ambassador Nikki Haley wasn’t worth any attention. Iran will not accept any inspection of its sites and “especially our military sites,” he said. In remarks broadcast by state TV, he said the sites and all information about them were “classified.” Last week, Haley said the United States wants inspections of Iranian military and nonmilitary sites to determine its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. The deal saw Iran cap its nuclear activities in return for lifting of crippling sanctions. In a televised interview later in the day, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also rejected the demands, saying “regulations dictate out relations with …

President Donald Trump on Tuesday inspected the huge cleanup and rescue work in southeastern Texas from Hurricane Harvey and said the storm recovery would probably be one of the most expensive efforts the U.S. has ever undertaken. The storm is already a record-breaking disaster. More than 49 inches (124 centimeters) of rain have poured down on Houston since Friday night — the most rain ever to fall in the continental U.S. in such a short period. Visiting an emergency operations center in the Texas capital of Austin late Tuesday, Trump said his administration and Congress would come up with the “right solution” to help storm victims. WATCH: Texans Talk about Evacuations, Snakes and ‘Too Much Water’ The president and first lady Melania Trump spent the day in Texas to get a firsthand look at the indescribable damage caused by Harvey. No longer a major hurricane, the tropical storm was still …

Mexico sees a serious risk the United States will withdraw from NAFTA and is preparing a plan for that eventuality, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Tuesday, calling talks to renegotiate the deal a “roller coaster.” U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened three times in the past week to abandon the North American Free Trade Agreement, revisiting his view that the United States would probably have to start the process of exiting the accord to reach a fair deal for his country. Trump has vowed to get a better deal for American workers, and the lively rhetoric on both sides precedes a second round of talks starting on Friday in Mexico City to renegotiate the 1994 accord binding the United States, Mexico and Canada. “This is not going to be easy,” Guajardo said at a meeting with senators in Mexico City. “The start of the talks is like a roller coaster.” …

U.S. Air Force pilot Jeremy Renken knew that whatever happened next might escalate the war in Syria. The lieutenant colonel, 40, was flying his F-15E StrikeEagle fighter jet in a “racetrack” pattern around an Iranian-made drone, which had just tried to kill U.S.-backed forces and their advisers on the ground. After the drone’s first shot failed to detonate on impact, it was positioning to strike again. So, on June 8, in what was an unprecedented move in the U.S. air war over Syria to that point, Renken shot it down, even as two Russian fighter jets watched from a distance. “When we saw the drone turn back toward friendly forces, we weren’t waiting around for anybody’s permission. We destroyed it,” Renken said in his first interview about the incident. Renken’s downing of the Iranian drone, a Shaheed 129, was the first in a series of several defensive U.S. air-to-air shoot-downs …

A 22-year-old New York resident has been arrested on charges of attempting to provide material support to Islamic State, the Department of Justice said Tuesday. Authorities also said Parveg Ahmed was due in federal court Tuesday for an initial appearance. News reports say Ahmed had sent messages through social media accounts about his support for IS. “As alleged, Ahmed sought to take up arms with violent terrorists who have killed numerous innocent victims, including Americans,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Bridget M. Rohde. “This Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to work tirelessly to arrest and prosecute extremists before they are able to threaten the United States and its allies.” Ahmed, who is a U.S. citizen, was detained while attempting to travel to Syria, allegedly to join and fight with Islamic State. If convicted, Ahmed faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. …

The United States has raised the issue of religious freedom in talks about easing sanctions on Sudan, the new head of the U.S. Agency for International Development said in Sudan on Tuesday. The head of the agency, Mark Green, held the talks with senior Sudanese officials as the U.S. government weighs whether to ease or extend the 20-year-old sanctions, a decision that must be made by Oct. 12. “We have asked questions and… have received assurances,” Green told reporters after a meeting with Sudanese Prime Minister Bakri Hassan Saleh. While human rights and religious freedom are not conditions for the permanent lifting of some Sudan sanctions, the U.S. government is increasingly raising them as a concern. Religious leaders have complained that churches have been bulldozed by the government and priests arrested, stoking fears among Christians that they will not be able to practice their faith in majority-Muslim Sudan. During his …

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the opioid crisis America’s “top lethal issue” Tuesday, saying that a “comprehensive antidote” was needed to address the crisis. Speaking from the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children national conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Sessions thanked the audience for their work in making the crisis’ effects on children known. “Our country, despite the record deaths, I don’t think has fully recognized the damage this addiction nightmare is doing to us,” he said. “And as you understand this epidemic is taking a heavy toll on the most innocent and vulnerable — our children. And yet, in the national conversation about drug abuse, these children are too often forgotten.” Sessions said that the solution has “three-pillars” — prevention, enforcement, and treatment. Sessions added that the prevention step in particular had been discussed at a meeting with top officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and White …

The Houston megachurch led by televangelist Joel Osteen says it’s opened its doors to people seeking shelter as Harvey swamps the city. Osteen had faced criticism for not using the massive Lakewood Church as a storm shelter. In a statement Monday to ABC News, Osteen said the church “never” closed its doors and was serving as a relief supply distribution center. He said it would “house people once shelters reach capacity.” The church announced on Twitter it was receiving people who needed shelter late Tuesday morning. The 16,000-seat former arena was the longtime home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets. Osteen’s comment stands in contrast to a church Facebook post and a since-deleted Instagram remark by Lakewood associate pastor John Gray, who said flooded highways had made the church inaccessible. …

Kim Kardashian West and her famous siblings are donating $500,000 to help Harvey victims. A spokeswoman for the reality star says she and her mother and sisters have given $250,000 to the Red Cross and $250,000 to the Salvation Army. Kardashian West announced the donation on Twitter on Tuesday, saying, “Houston we are praying for you.” She used the hashtag #HoustonStrong. They are among several stars who’ve said publicly they are helping hurricane victims. Kevin Hart on Monday announced a $25,000 donation to the Red Cross for storm victims and called on other celebrities to do the same. …

In the straight-laced world of the U.S. military, the big room with glossy white paint stands out. Beyond the desks lined with computer screens, the overhead projectors or the digital clock displaying the time in various world cities, the walls demand your attention.     They are covered from floor to ceiling with questions, equations, sketches and ideas — scribbled frantically or in moments of inspiration — all representing the best thinking of some of the U.S. military’s best analysts.   “There are precious few places in this building where you can write on a wall,” said Albert Bolden, not surprisingly given that this is, after all, part of a military base. But according to Bolden, the director of innovation at the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, that’s part of the point for the so-called Innovation Hub, or iHUB.   “People from across the agency can come into this space and …

Waters have continued to rise in the flooded areas of Texas and Louisiana, causing what the National Weather Service calls an “unprecedented” crisis. At least six people have died and an estimated 30,000 have been evacuated. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

Two people were killed and four others were injured when gunfire erupted inside a public library on Monday, throwing an eastern New Mexico community into a panic as officers swarmed the building with their guns drawn. The gunman surrendered and was taken into custody without incident after police entered the downtown building, authorities and elected officials with the city of Clovis said during a news conference.   Warrants for his arrest were being prepared, but it’s wasn’t immediately clear what charges he would face.   Clovis Mayor David Lansford said things could have been much worse had it not been for the quick response, training and courage of police. He called the shooting tragic and senseless.   “This is a big blow to our community,” he said. “Our community is a community that places a high value on life and the sanctity of life. And each life that lives in …

President Donald Trump is unlikely to win congressional support for funds he wants for a proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall before an Oct. 1 deadline, meaning he may have to choose between backing down on a key campaign promise or shutting down the government. The second option was a politically dangerous one before Hurricane Harvey tore through southern Texas over the weekend and it now looks even riskier. At a campaign-style rally in Phoenix last week, Trump doubled down on his earlier demands that Congress fund a Mexican border wall in government spending legislation, adding a clear threat. “If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall,” he told supporters. Since then, lawmakers who were already struggling to hammer out a stop-gap federal spending bill before Oct. 1 to avoid a shutdown have had to factor in Trump’s threat as well. During his election campaign, Trump insisted Mexico …

By the time the rain stops, Harvey will have dumped about 1 million gallons of water for every man, woman and child in southeastern Texas — a soggy, record-breaking glimpse of the wet and wild future that global warming could bring, scientists say. While scientists are quick to say that climate change didn’t cause Harvey and that they haven’t determined yet whether the storm was made worse by global warming, they do note that warmer air and water mean wetter and possibly more intense hurricanes in the future. “This is the kind of thing we are going to get more of,” said Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer. “This storm should serve as warning.” There’s a scientifically accepted method for determining if some wild weather event has the fingerprints of man-made climate change, and it involves intricate calculations. Those could take weeks or months to complete, and then even longer …