North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is criticizing the Republican National Committee for censuring two House GOP lawmakers investigating the “violent insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2021, saying it’s not the party’s job to police the views of lawmakers.

OTTAWA, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The busiest land crossing from the United States to Canada remained shut on Tuesday, Canada's border agency said, after Canadian truckers blocked lanes on Monday to protest their government's pandemic control measures.

Drivers demanding an end to federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border traffic began blocking the streets of Canada's capital, Ottawa, on Jan. 28. Since Sunday night, police have started slowly taking back control, seizing thousands of liters of fuel and removing an oil tanker truck.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Efforts must be made by the UN Security Council to better mitigate the unintended negative impact of sanctions and curtail unilateral coercive measures that continue to negatively affect the very populations they are meant to protect, said UN officials on Monday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Jury selection in the trial of a former Kentucky police officer involved in the deadly raid that killed Breonna Taylor is scheduled to resume after a week of delays.

The first questioning of prospective jurors in Brett Hankison’s wanton endangerment trial is slated to get underway on Tuesday. It was set to begin last week but was delayed by inclement weather and after Hankison had to have minor surgery.

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (AP) — The parents of a teenager who is accused of killing four students at a Michigan school face a key hearing to determine if they will face trial.

Attorneys for James and Jennifer Crumbley have asked a judge to consider a postponement so they can further prepare. But there was no decision ahead of the hearing Tuesday.

The Crumbleys are charged with involuntary manslaughter. They’re accused of making a gun accessible to Ethan Crumbley and failing to intervene when he showed signs of mental distress.

(AP) --- COVID-19 vaccine sales boosted Pfizer earnings well past expectations in the fourth quarter, but the drugmaker is setting a lower-than-expected bar for 2022.

Pfizer debuted on Tuesday annual forecasts for both earnings and revenue that fell short of analyst expectations even as the drugmaker expects another robust year of sales from its vaccine, Comirnaty, and its new coronavirus treatment, Paxlovid.

Its stock started sliding in early trading.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minneapolis police officer who oversaw medical training for two of the three former officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights was scheduled to resume testifying in their federal trial Tuesday about what they were taught.

Officer Nicole Mackenzie, the department’s medical support coordinator, testified Monday that J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane were in a police academy “emergency medical responder” class that she taught, which covered first aid, ethics in care and how to hand people off to paramedics.

(AP) --- The Biden administration is kicking off an outreach campaign to get millions of families to file their taxes — so they can receive the second half of payments from the expanded child tax credit.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and White House senior adviser Gene Sperling are hosting a virtual event Tuesday to encourage people to send their tax forms to the IRS, including those whose incomes are so low that they might not have traditionally filed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court put on hold a lower court ruling that Alabama must draw new congressional districts before the 2022 elections to increase Black voting power. The high court order boosts Republican chances to hold six of the state’s seven seats in the House of Representatives.

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will underscore their unity in opposing any Russian aggression against Ukraine when they meet at the White House on Monday, amid U.S. warnings that Moscow could invade in days or weeks.

Scholz, under fire at home and abroad for showing insufficient leadership in the crisis, told reporters before the Oval Office meeting that Russia would pay a very high price if it invaded Ukraine.