North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is scrapping the name of a Trump-era initiative that was intended to crack down on economic espionage by Beijing but has been criticized as unfairly targeting Chinese professors at American colleges because of their ethnicity.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With rare but fragile alignment, the U.S. Congress is largely backing President Joe Biden’s decision to confront Russia with potentially escalating sanctions for the crisis in Ukraine as lawmakers brace for perhaps the most daunting foreign policy crisis the nation has faced in a generation.

But the next steps are highly volatile — even more so after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced early Thursday a military operation in Ukraine and explosions were heard in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and other cities there.

BOSTON (AP) — The websites of Ukraine’s defense, foreign and interior ministries were unreachable or painfully slow to load Thursday morning after a punishing wave of distributed-denial-of-service attacks as Russia struck at its neighbor, explosions shaking the capital of Kyiv and other major cities.

In addition to DDoS attacks on Wednesday, cybersecurity researchers said unidentified attackers had infected hundreds of computers with destructive malware, some in neighboring Latvia and Lithuania.

NEW YORK (AP) — As Russia intensified its aggression toward neighboring Ukraine earlier this week, Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio blasted President Vladimir Putin’s provocations as a “clear violation of international law.”

The co-chair of the Senate’s Ukraine Caucus urged the Biden administration to work with allies to “ensure a coordinated response to this unwarranted continued incursion on sovereign territory of Ukraine.”

But one of the Republicans running to replace the retiring Portman had a very different message.

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (AP) — The parents of a 15-year-old boy charged with killing four other students at his Michigan high school returned to court Thursday to face charges for making the gun used in the shooting available to the teen.

A preliminary examination for Jennifer and James Crumbley resumed in Rochester Hills District Court before a judge who will decide if there’s enough evidence to send the couple to trial for involuntary manslaughter. They are also accused of failing to intervene when their son showed signs of mental distress at home and at school.

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas deputy constable working an off-duty security job at a Houston mall was fatally shot by a man who gained control of the officer’s own gun, police said. The suspect was shot by police and died at a hospital.

Deputy Neil Adams was working a second job Thursday afternoon at PlazAmericas mall in Houston when he was shot by a man in 30s, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said.

DALLAS (AP) — Freezing rain and drizzle is disrupting travel from Central Texas to the Great Lakes, with ice-glazed roads leading to hundreds of traffic accidents, including one in Kentucky that killed a toddler.

Hundreds of flights were canceled Wednesday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas braced for an ice storm.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are starkly divided by race on the importance of President Joe Biden’s promise to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, with white Americans far less likely to be highly enthusiastic about the idea than Black Americans — and especially Black women.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After the threat of sweeping sanctions didn’t deter Russia’s attack on Ukraine, U.S. Treasury Department officials and their counterparts in Europe now face the task of carrying through on their vow to make Russia’s economy and its elites pay a price.

Key questions are whether sanctions will work and how to measure their impact.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks tumbled worldwide on Thursday after Russia’s attack of Ukraine sent fear coursing through markets and upped the pressure on the high inflation already squeezing the global economy.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 sank 1.6% in early trading to continue its dismal start of the year. The benchmark is index is now down 13.5% from its record set early this year. Stocks in Europe sank even more after officials called Russia’s moves a “brutal act of war,” with the German DAX down nearly 5%.