North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — A $13.6 billion emergency package of military and humanitarian aid for besieged Ukraine and its European allies easily won final congressional approval Thursday, hitching a ride on a government-wide spending bill that’s five months late but loaded with political prizes for both parties.

CHICAGO (AP) — A judge sentenced Jussie Smollett to 150 days in jail Thursday, branding the Black and gay actor a narcissistic charlatan for staging a hate crime against himself to grab the limelight while the nation struggled with wrenching issues of racial injustice. Smollett responded by defiantly maintaining his innocence and suggesting he could be killed in jail.

The sentence and Smollett’s post-hearing outburst capped an hourslong hearing and more than three years of legal drama following Smollett’s claim that he had been the target of a racist and homophobic attack.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 10 (APP): The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), a UN-backed body, has called on governments to do more to regulate social media platforms that glamourize drug-related negative behaviour and boost sales of controlled substances.

In its annual report, released on Thursday, the INCB notes increasing evidence of a link between exposure to social media and drug use, which disproportionately affects young people, the main users of social media platforms, and an age group with relatively high rates of drug abuse.

WASHINGTON, March 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Saudi man accused of being the “20th hijacker” in the 9/11 attacks has been released from detention at Guantanamo Bay, the US defence department says.

Mohammed al-Qahtani, 46, was repatriated to Saudi Arabia after a review board determined that he no longer posed a “significant threat”.

The board noted his “significantly compromised mental health condition”.

Qahtani was tortured so badly by US interrogators after his detention in 2001 that he could not be put on trial.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon on Wednesday slammed the door on a Polish proposal for providing Ukraine with MiG fighter jets, saying allied efforts against the Russian invasion should be focused on more useful weaponry and the MiG transfer with a U.S. and NATO connection would run a “high risk” of escalating the war.

DENVER (AP) — A grand jury in Colorado has indicted a county election clerk who sowed doubt about the 2020 presidential election, alleging she was part of a “deceptive scheme” to breach voting system technology that is used across the country, according to the indictment made public Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House overwhelmingly approved legislation Wednesday night that would ban Russian oil imports to the United States, an effort to put into law the restrictions announced by President Joe Biden in response to the escalating war in Ukraine.

Going further than Biden’s import ban on Russian oil, the bill making its way through Congress would also encourage a review of Russia’s status in the World Trade Organization and signal U.S. support for sanctions on Russian officials over human rights violations, as the U.S. works to economically isolate the regime.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House approved a massive spending bill Wednesday night that would rush $13.6 billion in U.S. aid to battered Ukraine and its European allies, after top Democrats were forced to abruptly drop their plan to include fresh funds to battle COVID-19.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given the smaller nation’s embassy in Washington an unexpected role: recruitment center for Americans who want to join the fight.

Diplomats working out of the embassy, in a townhouse in the Georgetown section of the city, are fielding thousands of offers from volunteers seeking to fight for Ukraine, even as they work on the far more pressing matter of securing weapons to defend against an increasingly brutal Russian onslaught.

CHICAGO (AP) — Actor Jussie Smollett is scheduled to return to court on Thursday, where he will learn if a judge will order him locked up for his conviction of lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack that he orchestrated himself or allow him to remain free.

Smollett, who is expected to continue to deny his role in the staged attack in January 2019, faces up to three years in prison for each of the five felony counts of disorderly conduct — the charge filed for lying to police — of which he was convicted. He was acquitted on a sixth count.