USA

WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked President Joe Biden's plan to cancel billions of dollars in college student debt, one day after a judge dismissed a Republican-led lawsuit by six states challenging the loan-forgiveness program.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay barring the discharge of any student debt under the program until the court rules on the states' request for a longer-term injunction while Thursday's decision against them is appealed.

SAN JOSE, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- A small plane with five German nationals on board went missing near the Caribbean coast off Costa Rica on Friday afternoon, Public Security Minister Jorge Torres confirmed Friday night.

The minister said the plane was heading for the airport in Costa Rica's eastern province of Limon when it disappeared from the radar.

"Around 6:00 in the afternoon we received an alert about a private flight from Mexico to the Limon airport, this aircraft was traveling with five passengers of German nationality," Torres said in a video announcement.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced it would adjust many tax rules in a bid to curb skyrocketing inflation.

The measures range from individual income tax brackets to the standard deduction, which are expected to provide some limited degree of savings for taxpayers in 2023.

This comes at a time when the inflation has hit a 40-year high, and taxpayers are in need of relief, as many struggle to pay for food and gasoline.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden wants to tame inflation. He wants Congress to protect access to abortions. He wants to tackle voting rights. And he’s taking on China, promoting construction of new factories, addressing climate change, forgiving student debt, pardoning federal marijuana convictions, cutting the deficit, working to lower prescription drug prices and funneling aid to Ukraine.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A federal judge ruled Friday that relatives of people killed in the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max planes are crime victims under federal law and should have been told about private negotiations over a settlement that spared Boeing from criminal prosecution.

The full impact of the ruling is not yet clear, however. The judge said the next step is to decide what remedies the families should get for not being told of the talks with Boeing.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has asked a Connecticut judge to throw out a nearly $1 billion verdict against him and order a new trial in a lawsuit by Sandy Hook families, who say they were subjected to harassment and threats from Jones’ lies about the 2012 Newtown school shooting.

Jones filed the requests Friday, saying Judge Barbara Bellis’ pretrial rulings resulted in an unfair trial and “a substantial miscarriage of justice.”

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Inside the Minneapolis Police Academy’s sprawling campus on the city’s north side, six people sat soberly and listened to a handful of officers and city officials make their pitch about joining an understaffed department that is synonymous with the murder of George Floyd.

Officers would live in a bustling, vibrant metro area with a high quality of life, they said, working in a large department where they could choose a wide variety of career paths with comprehensive benefits.

ATLANTA (AP) — Republican activists who believe the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump have crafted a plan that, in their telling, will thwart cheating in this year’s midterm elections.

The strategy: Vote in person on Election Day or — for voters who receive a mailed ballot — hold onto it and hand it in at a polling place or election office on Nov. 8.

Washington, Oct 21 (PTI) The US has alleged that Russian military personnel based in Crimea have been piloting Iranian drones and asserted that it will pursue all means to expose, deter and confront Iran's provision of these munitions against the Ukrainian people.

John Kirby, NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications, also claimed that there was clear evidence that Iranian military personnel were on the ground in Crimea.

San Francisco, Oct 21 (AP) Elon Musk plans to lay off most of Twitter's workforce if and when he becomes owner of the social media company, according to a report by The Washington Post.

Musk has told prospective investors in his Twitter purchase that he plans to cut nearly 75 per cent of Twitter's employee base of 7,500 workers, leaving the company with a skeleton crew, according to the report published on Thursday. The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.