North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — A committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection issued subpoenas Monday to five more individuals, including former President Donald Trump’s ally Roger Stone and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, as lawmakers deepened their probe of the rallies that preceded the deadly attack.

The subpoenas include demands for documents and testimony from Stone and Jones as well as three people accused of organizing and promoting the two rallies that took place on Jan. 6.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Attorneys on Monday offered their final words to the jury in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, with the prosecution saying that three white men chased him solely “because he was a Black man running down their street” and the defense repeatedly blaming Arbery for his own death.

In closing arguments, a defense attorney for the man who fired the fatal gunshots said the 25-year-old was killed as he violently resisted a legal effort to detain him to answer questions about burglaries in the neighborhood.

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — The SUV driver who plowed into a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee, killing at least five people and injuring 48, was leaving the scene of a domestic dispute that had taken place just minutes earlier, Waukesha’s police chief said Monday.

Police Chief Dan Thompson said that there was no evidence the bloodshed Sunday was a terrorist attack or that the suspect, Darrell Brooks Jr., knew anyone in the parade. Brooks acted alone, the chief said.

WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (APP): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Monday that it has reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on policies and reforms needed to complete the sixth review under the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), providing a major relief to the country’s economy.

MEXICO CITY, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday his meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Washington last week were fruitful and played out without any major differences.

Lopez Obrador was speaking at a regular government news conference.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov 22 (Reuters) - Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is expected to retake the stand on Monday to defend against charges of defrauding investors and patients about the now-defunct blood-testing startup once valued at $9 billion.

More than 50 journalists and spectators gathered on Monday outside the courthouse in San Jose, California, where Holmes is on trial.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two of 17 members of a missionary group who were kidnapped more than a month ago are safe and “in good spirits” after being freed in Haiti, their U.S..-based church organization announced.

Christian Aid Ministries issued a statement Sunday saying it could not give the names of those released, why they were freed or other information.

“While we rejoice at this release, our hearts are with the 15 people who are still being held,” the Ohio-based group said.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Attorneys were scheduled to give closing arguments Monday in the murder trial of three white men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, whose death became part of a broader reckoning on racial injustice in the criminal legal system.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys were expected to spend hours making their final cases to the disproportionately white jury. The jurors heard 10 days of trial testimony that concluded last week, not long after the man who shot Arbery testified he pulled the trigger in self-defense.

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A joyous scene of marching bands and children dancing in Santa hats and waving pompoms turned deadly in an instant, as an SUV sped through barricades and into a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee, killing at least five people and injuring more than 40 others.

One video showed a woman screaming, “Oh my God!” repeatedly as a group of young dancers was struck Sunday. A father talked of going “from one crumpled body to the other” in search of his daughter. Members of a “Dancing Grannies” club were among those hit.

MIZATA, El Salvador, Nov 20 (Reuters) - El Salvador plans to build the world's first "Bitcoin City", funded initially by bitcoin-backed bonds, President Nayib Bukele said on Saturday, doubling down on his bet to harness the crypto currency to fuel investment in the Central American country.

Speaking at an event closing a week-long promotion of bitcoin in El Salvador, Bukele said the city planned in the eastern region of La Union would get geothermal power from a volcano and not levy any taxes except for value added tax (VAT).