NEWS SUMMARY AT THIS HOUR-9/12/2018

                          (UPDATES, EDITING, EXPANSION THROUGH 745 AM)

Powerful Hurricane Florence continues to move towards landfall Friday on the coast of the Carolinas with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour.  The storm is now centered some 530 miles southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina.

Saying the "safety of the American people is my absolute highest priority" President Trump tweeted a message Tuesday urging people in the path of Hurricane Florence to heed the directions of state and local officials.

Russia wants the United States and its allies to reveal their intentions for Syria.  This was the message from Russian UN representative Vasily Nebenzya at the UN Security Council Tuesday.   He said in part:

"Terrorists must not be shielded because they are all one way or another linked to Al-Qaeda-the group we all started to fight after the 9-11 attacks"

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned against "new dangerous steps" in Syria.

And in Syria itself the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation says a fake chemical attack is being recorded on video in the Syrian province of Idlib in the city of Jisr al-Shugur.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the two men wanted by British authorities in connection with the nerve agent incidents earlier this year are not criminals.   He says the pair have been located in Russia and hopes they will appear soon to tell their side of the story.

The White House is warning Iran over threats to the US Consulate in Basra, Iraq and the US Embassy in Iraq's capital, Baghdad.   There's been unrest in Iraq including the torching of Iran's consulate in Basra and a rocket attack on the Basra airport in the last week.  

The White House statement says the US will "respond swiftly and decisively" to any attacks that hurt Americans or damage American facilities by Iranian proxies in Iraq.

Shia Muslim leaders in Iraq have withdrawn support for the US backed Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider Al-Abadi.

The Associated Press reports that Taliban officials want to talk to the United States.  Earlier this year the US representative for Afghanistan met with the Taliban.

The anarchy in Libya continues with an overnight rocket attack on the Tripoli airport.   There was no damage or injuries at Libya's only functioning airport.  The airport was reopened days ago after a weeklong shutdown during clashes between rival militia that killed 50 people.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban told the European Parliament he will not give in to blackmail before the body approved a resolution sanctioning him today.   His resolute opposition to taking migrants entering Europe and his crackdown on groups inside the country financed by foreign interests and billionaire George Soros have led to international hostility towards his government.

Speaking up for Orban Tuesday was Member of European Parliament Nigel Farage who said he was being targeted for "standing up to George Soros" and that the EU was acting like former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

Meanwhile, the European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker says that "extremist" posts must be removed from the internet within an hour with internet providers facing heavy fines if it is not done.   Juncker made his comments in a State of the Union address to the European Parliament.

Almost a million people took to the streets of Barcelona Tuesday to mark Catalonia's National Day and renew the call for independence.   Independence was quashed last fall by Spain's government after a referendum and vote by Catalonia's legislature.