USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set for talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday, welcoming the far-right leader who has won praise from the U.S. administration for her strong backing of the U.S.-led effort to assist Ukraine as it tries to fend off the Russian invasion.

The warm reception comes after initial trepidation in the Biden administration about Meloni, who rose to power last year as the head of Italy’s most far-right government since the end of World War II.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With millions of Americans facing broiling heat across the Southwest, President Joe Biden on Thursday plans to announce new steps to improve weather forecasts and make drinking water more accessible, according to the White House.

He’ll be joined by the leaders of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, described the heat wave as “a difficult time” and said Biden was treating climate change with “the urgency it requires.”

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The plea deal in Hunter Biden’s criminal case unraveled during a court hearing Wednesday after a federal judge raised concerns about the terms of the agreement that has infuriated Republicans who believe the president’s son is getting preferential treatment.

NEW YORK (AP) — The day after Jan. 6, 2021, then-President Donald Trump denounced the rioters who violently stormed the Capitol building, breaking through barricades, battling law enforcement and sending members of Congress — who were set to formally certify his reelection loss — running for their lives.

“Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem,” he said in a video, condemning what he called a “heinous attack.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump wants to see President Joe Biden impeached, and the former president’s allies in Congress and his 2024 GOP presidential rivals are eager to join that fight as his own legal challenges mount.

Trump’s chief opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, this week said the House Republicans “are absolutely within their rights” to consider an impeachment inquiry against Biden. Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, also running for president, said Republicans would be “justified to do it.” And House GOP leaders aligned with Trump are foreshadowing what’s ahead.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service’s own prescribed burn started a sprawling 2022 wildfire that nearly reached Los Alamos, New Mexico, the agency acknowledged Monday in a report published after a lengthy investigation.

The Cerro Pelado fire burned in dry, windy conditions across more than 60 square miles (155 square kilometers) and crept within a few miles of the city of Los Alamos and its companion U.S. national security lab. As the fire approached, schools closed and evacuation bags were packed before the flames tapered off.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA power outage disrupted communication between Mission Control and the International Space Station on Tuesday.

Mission Control couldn’t send commands to the station and talk with the seven astronauts in orbit. The power outage hit as upgrade work was underway in the building at Houston’s Johnson Space Center.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says Republican lawmakers may consider an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden over unproven claims of financial misconduct, responding to enormous GOP pressure to demonstrate support for Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

NEW YORK (AP) — A tall construction crane caught fire in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, and its arm hit a building as it crashed to the street below.

Photos and videos posted on social media show flames bursting from the car of a crane hundreds of feet above 10th Avenue at 41st Street. The crane’s arm scraped the top floors of a skyscraper across the street as it fell.

There were no immediate reports of injuries from the crane fire and collapse, which happened shortly before 8 a.m.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter is expected to appear before a federal judge on Wednesday to plead guilty to two tax crimes and admit possessing a gun as a drug user in a deal with the Justice Department that’s likely to spare him time behind bars.

U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump, will preside over the hearing and must sign off on the deal, in which prosecutors are recommending two years of probation. Hunter Biden is not expected to be sentenced on Wednesday.