USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The subpoena to former Vice President Mike Pence is a milestone moment in an ongoing Justice Department special counsel investigation. But it doesn’t guarantee he’s going to be testifying before a grand jury anytime soon.

Pence is the latest official in former President Donald Trump’s administration to be subpoenaed as part of the investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, but the push for Pence’s testimony is unique because he’s the highest-ranking official known to have been summoned.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. military fighter jet shot down an unknown object flying off the remote northern coast of Alaska on Friday on orders from President Joe Biden, White House officials said.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the object was downed because it was flying at about 40,000 feet (13,000 meters) and posed a “reasonable threat” to the safety of civilian flights, not because of any knowledge that it was engaged in surveillance. Asked about the object’s downing, Biden on Friday said only that “It was a success.”

10 Feb 2023; MEMO: The administration of President Joe Biden has warned the Israeli government that it would consider any transfer of civilian authorities in the occupied West Bank to far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as a step toward annexation, Axios has reported citing two Israeli and US officials.

NEW YORK, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Although U.S. President Joe Biden tried to emphasize what his administration had done to tackle climate change, millions of U.S. people are displaced by natural disasters worsened by a changing climate.

A new Census Bureau report found that more than 3 million adults were forced to evacuate their homes in the past year because of hurricanes, floods and other events, said U.S. news website Politico on Monday.

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile has been launched from California to test the defense system, the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command said.

The Minuteman III missile lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11:01 p.m. Thursday and its reentry vehicle traveled about 4,200 miles (6,800 kilometers) over the Pacific Ocean to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, an Air Force statement said.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Senate passed a measure Friday to ban TikTok from state government-issued devices, reflecting bipartisan concerns about the Chinese-owned social media app.

The bill easily cleared the Senate on a 31-0 vote to advance to the House. The action reflects a growing push among American lawmakers to block the social media platform from government devices, based on cybersecurity concerns.

In Kentucky, the measure is a “prudent” step in responding to those security concerns, said Republican state Sen. Robby Mills, the bill’s lead sponsor.

(AP) --- Elon Musk’s brain-implant company Neuralink is being probed over its shipping methods after an animal rights group contacted the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. officials said.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said that public records show untrained Neuralink employees transported “contaminated” devices that were removed from the brains of “infected” monkeys without safely packaging them. The incidents are said to have taken place in 2019 at the University of California, Davis, where experiments on rhesus macaques were performed.

DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge has rejected an effort by families of passengers who died in Boeing 737 Max crashes to reopen an agreement that allowed Boeing to avoid prosecution for fraud in how it won regulatory approval for the plane.

District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth said that he has sympathy for families of the 346 people who died in two Max crashes, but that federal law doesn’t give courts the power to oversee agreements that prosecutors make with defendants.

FALLSTON, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man was taken into custody early Friday, ending a 39-hour manhunt during which he wounded two Baltimore County police officers in separate shootings and holed up in a wooded area behind a suburban shopping center, authorities said.

David Linthicum, 24, was already on the run when he shot the second officer and stole his vehicle Thursday night, police said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting on Friday as stocks head toward the close of their worst week since December.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged after flipping between small gains and losses through the morning. It’s on pace for a 1.3% loss for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 75 points, or 0.2%, at 33,775, as of 11:15 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower.