North America

BALTIMORE (AP) — With Americans facing the highest annual inflation rate in decades, President Joe Biden is trying to persuade the country his infrastructure economic plans can fix the problem.

The president heads to the Port of Baltimore on Wednesday for the start of what is likely to be a national tour to showcase the $1 trillion legislation that cleared Congress last week. The president intends to emphasize how the spending can strengthen global supply chains to help lower prices, reduce shortages and add union jobs, the White House says.

DETROIT (AP) — A judge on Wednesday approved a $626 million deal to settle lawsuits filed by Flint residents who found their tap water contaminated by lead following disastrous decisions to switch the city’s water source and a failure to swiftly acknowledge the problem.

Most of the money — $600 million — is coming from the state of Michigan, which was accused of repeatedly overlooking the risks of using the Flint River without properly treating the water.

10 Nov 2021; MEMO: The US sharply denounced on Tuesday a visit from the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) top diplomat to Damascus and issued a veiled warning to regional states to carefully consider any effort to normalise relations with the Syrian regime.

UAE Foreign Minister, Abdullah bin Zayed, earlier on Tuesday led an Emirati delegation of senior officials to Damascus, where they were received by Bashar Al-Assad in what marks the first such visit since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — The man who initiated the chase that ended in Ahmaud Arbery’s death quickly changed his story about why he suspected the 25-year-old Black man running in his neighborhood was a criminal, two police officers testified Tuesday.

Glynn County police Officer Jeff Brandeberry told a jury that Greg McMichael — one of three white men on trial for murder in the case — at first told him that Arbery had been recorded by security cameras “breaking in all these houses out here.”

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Mexico’s president warned Tuesday that the world is sliding from “civilization to barbarity” and called for the thousand richest people, the thousand largest private corporations and the 20 major economies to improve life for the 750 million people now existing on less than $2 dollars a day.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador told the U.N. Security Council that this proposal could generate around $1 trillion annually, which should go directly to the world’s poorest people “without any intermediaries, through a card or personalized electronic wallet.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday rejected former President Donald Trump’s request to block the release of documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

In denying a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said Congress had a strong public interest in obtaining records that could shed light on a violent insurrection mounted by the former president’s supporters. She added that President Joe Biden had the authority to waive executive privilege over the documents despite Trump’s assertions otherwise.

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Biden administration is relying on infrastructure dollars to help fix the clogged ports and blanket the nation with internet access — but a series of initiatives rolled out on Tuesday show that the urgent pace might not be fast enough to address the immediate needs of an economy coping with a supply chain squeeze and a shift to remote work.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. says that it’s inviting the global community to visit now that the government has ended the ban on travelers from 33 countries.

In reality, however, it will still be difficult — if not impossible — for much of the globe to enter the country and experts say it will take years for travel to fully recover.

(AP) --- Pfizer asked U.S. regulators Tuesday to allow boosters of its COVID-19 vaccine for anyone 18 or older, a step that comes amid concern about increased spread of the coronavirus with holiday travel and gatherings.

Older Americans and other groups particularly vulnerable to the virus have had access to a third dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine since September. But the Food and Drug Administration has said it would move quickly to expand boosters to younger ages if warranted.

WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - More than 150 U.S.-trained Afghan pilots and other personnel, held in neighboring Tajikistan for nearly three months since escaping with their planes as the Taliban seized their country, were preparing to depart on Tuesday on a flight arranged by the U.S. government, two of the pilots and others close to them said.

The Afghans had spent a full day waiting at the airport in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, for a flight that appeared to have been delayed. They were hoping it would not be canceled and they would depart before the end of the day.