U.S./World category, Page 33
John Bolton, former Trump adviser, charged with sharing classified information
John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, was charged on Thursday in a sweeping indictment that accuses him of sharing sensitive government information with two of his relatives for possible use in a book he was writing. The indictment marked the third time in recent weeks the Justice...
Mitch McConnell trips and falls while being confronted by protester
WASHINGTON – Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, tripped and fell on Thursday, Oct. 16 while being confronted by a protester in the basement of a Senate office building. Videos of the incident show an activist, who identified herself as Stella, challenging the 83-year-old GOP lawmaker over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies....
Roughly 46,000 troops won’t be paid during the government shutdown
Roughly 46,000 full-time U.S. military members are without pay during the federal government shutdown despite President Donald Trump’s push to pay active duty troops. The impacted service members, known as dual-status technicians, are full-time employees of the National Guard and other military reserve units who under federal law must wear...
Day 16 of government shutdown; Senate voting for 10th time on funding bill
It’s now Day 16 of the government shutdown, which officially makes it the third-longest shutdown in history. (It’s tied with the 2014 shutdown, which happened under former President Barack Obama). The Democrats and Republicans are still deadlocked as the Senate failed to muster enough votes for a ninth time on...
Will a paycheck arrive? Shutdown leaves military families in limbo.
NORFOLK, Virginia – As the days ticked down to Oct. 15, military families in Hampton Roads, Virginia, eyed their bank accounts with growing apprehension. That day, active duty military members were due for their mid-monthly paycheck. But amid an ongoing government shutdown, military families grappled with difficult financial decisions and...
Trump diverts anti-terror funds from Democratic strongholds to Republican states
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration plans to shift terrorism prevention funding from Democratic-led states toward those led by Republicans, government records show, as it overhauls a $1 billion program created after the 9/11 attacks. Twelve Democratic-led states are suing to block the cuts, alleging that the Trump administration is trying...
Shutdown could cost U.S. economy $15 billion a week, Treasury says
Washington - The two-week-old federal government shutdown may cost the U.S. economy as much as $15 billion a week in lost output, a Treasury official said late on Wednesday, correcting an earlier statement from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that put the cost at up to $15 billion per day. Bessent...
French PM faces day of reckoning, but likely to survive no-confidence votes
PARIS - French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu appears likely to survive two no-confidence votes in parliament on Thursday after offering to suspend President Emmanuel Macron’s landmark pension reform to win support from the left. Lecornu, already France’s shortest-serving prime minister in modern times before he was re-appointed last week, had...
Dozens still missing days after Mexico’s mass flood
MEXICO CITY - Five days after historic floods that killed at least 66 people and affected 100,000 homes, Mexico is still scrambling to get help to the worst-hit communities and locate 75 missing people amid criticism of the government’s handling of the crisis. After a year of meteoric approval ratings,...
U.S. judge blocks Trump’s plan to lay off thousands of government workers
A federal judge in California on Wednesday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to halt mass layoffs of federal workers during a partial government shutdown while she considers claims by unions that the job cuts are illegal. During a hearing in San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston granted a request...
UN agency says C02 levels hit record high last year, causing more extreme weather
GENEVA — Heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, soaring to a level not seen in human civilization and “turbo-charging” the Earth’s climate and causing more extreme weather, the United Nations weather agency said Wednesday. The World Meteorological Organization said in...
Doctors Without Borders permanently closes its emergency center in Haiti’s capital
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Doctors Without Borders said Wednesday that ongoing violence in the capital of Haiti has forced it to permanently close its Port-au-Prince emergency care center, which had been a key lifeline in a city now 90% controlled by gangs. More than 60% of the capital’s health facilities, including...
News outlets reject Pentagon press access policy
WASHINGTON — At least 30 news organizations declined to sign a new Pentagon access policy for journalists, warning of the potential for less comprehensive coverage of the world’s most powerful military ahead of a Tuesday deadline to accept new restrictions. The policy requires journalists to acknowledge new rules on press...
Aid trucks roll into Gaza as dispute over hostage bodies is paused
JERUSALEM/CAIRO — Aid trucks rolled into Gaza on Wednesday and Israel resumed preparations to open the main Rafah crossing after a dispute over the return of the bodies of dead hostages that had threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire deal with Hamas. Israel had threatened to keep Rafah shut and...
Far-right U.S. influencer Candace Owens loses legal fight to enter Australia
SYDNEY — Far-right U.S. influencer Candace Owens has lost her bid to enter Australia after the country’s highest court on Wednesday backed the government’s decision to deny her a visa over concerns she could “incite discord” in the community. Owens, who has built a large online following for her controversial...
Assad government secretly moved mass grave to cover up killings, Reuters investigation finds
DHUMAIR, Syria — The Assad government carried out a two-year clandestine operation to truck thousands of bodies from one of Syria’s largest known mass graves to a secret location more than an hour away in the remote desert, a Reuters investigation has found. The conspiracy by President Bashar al-Assad’s military...
U.S. air safety at risk with traffic controllers as ‘pawns’ in shutdown, official says
ARLINGTON, Virginia/NEWARK-More than 13,000 U.S. air traffic controllers face rising stress and financial insecurity after Tuesday’s disbursement of what will be their last paycheck during the government shutdown, posing potential risks for air travel, the head of an employee union said. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said last week that staffing...
Marjorie Taylor Greene said she hasn’t changed, despite recent breaks from the GOP
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has been making life uncomfortable for some members of her own party in Congress. Greene, a conservative firebrand who has been a staunch supporter of President Trump, has been critical of how Republicans have dealt with several key issues in recent weeks and months....
Trump says he will unveil list on Friday of ‘Democrat programs’ to be shut
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday at the White House that his administration planned to produce a list on Friday of “Democrat programs” that will be closed as a result of the ongoing federal government shutdown. He did not specify the programs but indicated that the closures would...
Supreme Court rejects Alex Jones’ challenge to $1.4 billion defamation judgment
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear a challenge by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to a $1.4 billion judgment awarded to families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Connecticut over the Infowars website founder’s false statements that the 2012 incident...
Meta tightens teen safeguards on Instagram with PG-13-style content filters
Instagram will limit what users under 18 can see on the platform using filters inspired by the PG-13 movie rating system, in the latest step by its parent Meta to address criticism that it has not done enough to protect teenagers online. Modeled on the Motion Picture Association’s ratings, the...
Fed’s Powell say end of balance sheet drawdown may be nearing
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday the end of the central bank’s long-running effort to shrink the size of its holdings, widely known as quantitative tightening, or QT, may be coming into view. Given the central bank’s long-running goal of leaving enough liquidity in the financial system to...
Government shutdown is impacting Social Security. Details on payments, offices, more
As the government shutdown nears the two-week mark, several federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration (SSA), remain impacted by furloughs and cannot operate as usual. Thousands of SSA employees have been furloughed, in turn limiting the agency’s available services during the shutdown. However, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income...
Education Department layoffs threaten special ed system, advocates warn
WASHINGTON — Families and educators across the country were plunged into a state of uncertainty over the weekend after the federal Education Department laid off practically every staffer in the government’s special education division. Nearly the entire Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, including the Office of Special Education...
New covid guidelines add confusion, complications for Americans seeking shots
NEW YORK — Americans headed to pharmacies for covid-19 vaccines are running into roadblocks and confusion due to new U.S. guidance that abandoned broad support for the shots, contributing to the lowest vaccination rates since they were introduced. For the four-week period ended Oct. 3, covid immunizations were down about...
