USA

Feb 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday declared unconstitutional a federal law making it a crime for people under domestic violence restraining orders to own firearms.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest victory for gun rights advocates since a Supreme Court ruling last June granting a broad right for people to carry firearms outside the home.

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Chase Doak was getting ready to leave work when he spotted what he thought might have been a star or even a UFO. It turned out to be a spy balloon floating high over the United States and his images have been seen around the world.

The Pentagon reported on Thursday that a spy balloon it suspected is Chinese had been flying over the country for a couple of days. China says it is "verifying" the situation.

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will postpone his visit to China after a spy balloon was detected flying over the continental United States, according to media reports on Friday.

Blinken did not want the balloon to dominate his meetings with Chinese officials, ABC News reported, citing an unnamed U.S. official. Bloomberg News also reported the trip will be postponed.

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department said Friday it will make more Tesla (TSLA.O), Ford Motor (F.N), General Motors (GM.N) and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) electric vehicles eligible for up to $7,500 tax credits after it revised its vehicle classification definitions.

The reversal by Treasury is a win for Tesla, GM, Ford and other automakers which had pressed the Biden administration to change the vehicle definitions.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — As rising temperatures offered some hope for frustrated Texans shivering in their homes days after losing power in a deadly winter storm, another wave of frigid weather was taking aim Friday at the northern U.S.

An Arctic cold front was expected to move from Canada into the northern Plains and Upper Midwest and sweep into the Northeast. Wind chills in some areas could dive below minus 50 Fahrenheit (minus 45 Celsius).

02 Feb 2023; MEMO: The US has transferred former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Majid Khan, to the small Central American nation of Belize, the Pentagon announced Thursday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Khan pleaded guilty in a military court in 2012 to terrorism offenses related to his role as an Al-Qaeda courier, and was sentenced to more than 10 years of confinement. He was detained by the US in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and imprisoned at the notorious military prison in Cuba.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A week after bitter divisions dominated a national Republican gathering, Democrats holding their own meeting are eager to showcase just how much they agree on.

There will be no party chair fight since Jaime Harrison isn’t up for reelection until 2025. There is no candidate jostling for a White House bid since President Joe Biden is expected to seek a second term. And there is no national reckoning after a surprisingly strong midterm showing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — More U.S. adults disapprove than approve of the way President Joe Biden has handled the discovery of classified documents at his home and former office, a new poll shows, but that seems to have had little impact on his overall approval rating.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The most expansive federal report in over two decades on guns and crime shows a shrinking turnaround between the time a gun was purchased and when it was recovered from a crime scene, indicating firearms bought legally are more quickly being used in crimes around the country.

It also documents a spike in the use of conversion devices that make a semiautomatic gun fire like a machine gun, along with the growing seizure of so-called ghost guns, privately made firearms that are hard to trace.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Vice President Kamala Harris was called to the pulpit at the funeral for Tyre Nichols, she said the White House would settle for nothing less than ambitious federal legislation to crack down on police brutality.

“We should not delay. And we will not be denied,” Harris said to applause in Memphis, Tennessee. “It is non-negotiable.”