USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI offered Friday to show top lawmakers next week a bureau document that purports to relate to President Joe Biden and his family following weeks of demands by congressional Republicans and a contempt threat against Director Christopher Wray.

In a statement, the FBI said it would produce the document in a secure location inside the U.S. Capitol for the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer, and the panel’s top Democrat, Jamie Raskin of Maryland.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Florida men who stormed the U.S. Capitol with other members of the far-right Oath Keepers group were sentenced Friday to three years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges — the latest in a historic string of sentences in the Jan. 6. 2021 attack.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to sign legislation on Saturday to raise the debt ceiling, just two days before the U.S. Treasury warned that the country would struggle to pay its bills.

The bipartisan measure, which was approved this week by the House and Senate, eliminates the potential for an unprecedented government default.

“Passing this budget agreement was critical. The stakes could not have been higher,” Biden said from the Oval Office on Friday evening. “Nothing would have been more catastrophic,” he said, than defaulting on the country’s debt.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Elected officials met a South Carolina community mourning the death of a 14-year-old boy who authorities say was fatally shot in the back by a gas station owner with calls to channel their righteous anger into collective support and political action.

Over 60 people gathered Friday evening for a prayer vigil across the street from the Xpress Mart Shell station in Columbia less than one week after authorities say owner Rick Chow killed Cyrus Carmack-Belton after chasing down the Black teenager, whom he wrongly suspected of stealing four water bottles.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Morgan Robidou posed next to the bright aluminum hull of his prized new vessel, a 30-foot (9-meter) fishing boat that he could use to take friends, family or tourists out after salmon or halibut in the bountiful waters of southeast Alaska.

“Official boat owner,” he wrote when he posted the photo on social media last October, to congratulatory responses from friends.

UNITED NATIONS, June 2 (NNN-XINHUA) — The United Nations on Thursday voiced concern about the slowdown of grain shipments under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allows the export of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products from Black Sea ports.

“We are concerned about the continuous slowdown of the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative observed particularly in the months of April and May,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - Chinese airlines are avoiding flying over Russian airspace in newly approved flights to and from the United States, according to flight tracking website FlightAware and industry officials.

Russia has barred U.S. airlines and other foreign carriers from flying over its airspace, in retaliation for Washington banning Russian flights over the U.S. in March 2022 after the country invaded Ukraine.

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court has delivered the latest in a series of rulings undercutting organized labor, with some legal experts predicting that the decision will make unions that engage in strikes more vulnerable to lawsuits while others see a more modest impact.

LACONIA, New Hampshire, June 2 (Reuters) - When Casey DeSantis took to a New Hampshire stage on Thursday to talk about her advocacy work and share anecdotes about the travails of raising small children, Lisa Teeman was among the women in attendance whose face lit up with a smile.

"She is a very strong woman," said Teeman, a 62-year-old retired IT professional who had come to hear Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' presidential pitch. "I think she can gain votes for him."

01 June 2023; MEMO: Despite the Australian government's diplomatic efforts to secure the release of Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, in the UK, US authorities have launched a new investigation into his case, Anadolu Agency reports.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has sought an interview with acclaimed novelist, Andrew O'Hagan, who remained close to Assange while working as a ghost writer on the whistleblower's autobiography, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.