North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Secret Service said Friday that it has recovered $286 million in fraudulently obtained pandemic loans and is returning the money to the Small Business Administration.

The Secret Service said an investigation initiated by its Orlando office found that alleged conspirators submitted Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications by using fake or stolen employment and personal information and used an online bank, Green Dot, to conceal and move their criminal proceeds.

(AP) --- The Biden administration said Friday there’s enough monkeypox vaccine available now but health officials say the shots aren’t getting to some of the people who need the protection the most.

JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered a stark message Friday: The Fed is determined to fight inflation with more sharp interest rate hikes, which will likely cause pain for Americans in the form of a weaker economy and job losses.

“These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation,” Powell said in a high-profile speech at the Fed’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole. “But a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fourteen of the 15 boxes recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate early this year contained classified documents, many of them top secret, mixed in with miscellaneous newspapers, magazines and personal correspondence, according to an FBI affidavit released Friday.

No space at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was authorized for the storage of classified material, according to the court papers, which laid out the FBI’s rationale for searching the property this month, including “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found.”

WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - China's aggressive military drills around Taiwan in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit put Washington on edge, but not enough to spur an immediate sharp increase in weapons sales to the island, sources told Reuters.

President Joe Biden's administration and U.S. lawmakers stress their ongoing support for the government in Taipei, and there are items in the approval pipeline for Taiwan that could be announced in the coming weeks or months.

MEXICO CITY, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Family members of 10 miners who have been trapped in a flooded coal mine in northern Mexico for three weeks said on Thursday they rejected a government plan to find the miners that they said officials described as lasting from six to 11 months.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said earlier in the day that officials would run a proposal by the miners' relatives to seek their approval before publicly announcing it.

WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department approved the potential sale of military helicopters and related equipment to Australia for an estimated cost of $1.95 billion, the Pentagon said, as Australia seeks to boost its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Australia had requested to buy 40 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters and the principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin Corp , the Pentagon said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and three others were injured in a shooting in northwest Washington, D.C. Wednesday afternoon.

Police were called to North Capitol and O Street, Northwest, around 12:50 p.m. (1650 GMT) for reports of fired gunshots.

Officers found two people with gunshot wounds who were pronounced deceased on the scene.

Three others had walked into nearby hospitals for treatment, police said. Their conditions are unknown.

All of the victims were said to be adults.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday warned of the dangerous situation in and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

"I remain gravely concerned about the situation in and around Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia. The warning lights are flashing," he told the UN Security Council.

ATLANTA (AP) — The judge presiding over a special grand jury that’s investigating possible illegal attempts to influence the 2020 election in Georgia heard arguments on Thursday as he considers whether Gov. Brian Kemp has to testify, and if so, when.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney did not immediately issue a ruling, and it wasn’t clear when he might do so.