USA

SEATTLE, Wash., Feb 1 (Reuters) - The Colorado River, which provides drinking water to 40 million people in seven U.S. states, is drying up, straining a water distribution pact amid the worst drought in 12 centuries, exacerbated by climate change.

California split from the six states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming on Tuesday in the face of a U.S. government deadline to negotiate their own supply cuts or face possible mandatory cutbacks by the federal government.

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday unveiled fresh efforts to slash credit card late fees and drive down the prices that Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) charge on mobile app stores.

The move is part of a larger policy drive to promote competition in consumer markets, officials said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will launch her candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Feb. 15, squaring off against her one-time boss, former President Donald Trump, according to a source familiar with her plans.

Haley is expected to release details about her White House bid in an invitation to supporters later on Wednesday, according to local news outlet The Post and Courier, which first reported the planned announcement.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced plans to block state colleges from having programs on diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory.

The Republican governor debuted the proposal as part of a larger, higher education legislative package that is expected to be taken up by the GOP-controlled statehouse when its regular session begins in March.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation is cooling, and parts of the economy appear to be weakening. But Chair Jerome Powell is likely Wednesday to underscore that the Federal Reserve’s primary focus remains the need to fight surging prices with still-higher interest rates.

31 Jan 2023; MEMO: The United States, on Tuesday, added seven Iranian entities to its trade blacklist for producing drones that Russia has used to attack Ukraine, according a posting by the US Department of Commerce, Reuters reports.

Nearing a year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, allies have scrambled to gather and deploy air defences to defeat cruise missiles and Iranian-built kamikaze drones that have attacked energy infrastructure targets this winter.

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing bids farewell to an icon on Tuesday: It’s delivering its final 747 jumbo jet.

Since its first flight in 1969, the giant yet graceful 747 has served as a cargo plane, a commercial aircraft capable of carrying nearly 500 passengers, a transport for NASA’s space shuttles, and the Air Force One presidential aircraft. It revolutionized travel, connecting international cities that had never before had direct routes and helping democratize passenger flight.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared.

The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies’ normal authorities.

WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A top Republican in the U.S. Congress said on Sunday the odds of conflict with China over Taiwan "are very high" after a U.S. general caused consternation with a memo that warned that the United States would fight China in the next two years.

In a memo dated Feb. 1 but released on Friday, General Mike Minihan, who heads the Air Mobility Command, wrote to the leadership of its roughly 110,000 members, saying, "My gut tells me we will fight in 2025."

ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and his allies have been put on notice by a prosecutor, but the warning didn’t come from anyone at the Justice Department.

It was from a Georgia prosecutor who indicated she was likely to seek criminal charges soon in a two-year election subversion probe. In trying to block the release of a special grand jury’s report, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis argued in court last week that decisions in the case were “imminent” and that the report’s publication could jeopardize the rights of “future defendants.”