USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Such are the fractures in the country, between the political parties and inside the Republican Party itself, that one time-honored specialty of Washington — memorializing and coming together over national trauma — isn’t what it used to be.

Friday’s moment of silence at the Capitol to contemplate the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on it was expected to draw mostly Democrats.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The contours of a deal that could make Republican leader Kevin McCarthy the House speaker have begun to emerge after three grueling days and 11 failed votes in a political spectacle unseen in a century. It has left Republicans in disarray and exposed anew the fragility of American democracy.

05 Jan 2023; MEMO: Israel's illegal settlement expansion has triggered a rare warning from the US, which has issued a red-line over the illegal West Bank outpost of Homesh. The far-right Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for the legalisation of the outpost in defiance of Washington. This could lead to further clashes with the administration of President Joe Biden.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- A heavy winter storm hit the U.S. San Francisco Bay Area with strong winds and downpours throughout Wednesday, killing at least two people and injuring several others, officials said.

A 19-year-old woman died in Fairfield in the early hours of the storm when her car crashed into a utility pole. In the town of Occidental, Sonoma County, a baby died when winds knocked a tree into a mobile home in the afternoon. The other three people in the house were injured.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday the U.S. would immediately begin turning away Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who cross the border from Mexico illegally, his boldest move yet to confront the arrivals of migrants that have spiraled since he took office two years ago.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Officials in California ordered evacuations in a high-risk coastal area where mudslides killed 23 people in 2018 as a huge storm barreled into the state Wednesday, bringing high winds and rain that threatened widespread flooding and knocked out power to more than 100,000 people.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a member of the Democratic leadership, announced Thursday that she will not run for a fifth term in 2024, opening up a seat in the key battleground state.

The news likely comes as a shock to many Democrats in the state because Stabenow had not previously indicated that she would not seek reelection. Stabenow’s impending retirement turns Michigan’s next Senate race into one of the most competitive in the country.

ENOCH, Utah (AP) — A southern Utah community was struggling for answers on Thursday after police found eight people from one family, including five children, shot to death in the small town of Enoch.

Police sent officers to check on them on Wednesday and found the family dead from gunshot wounds. Officials did not immediately say why they went to the home.

“At this time, we do not believe there is a threat to the public or that there are any suspects at large,” officials said in a press release, without providing details

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans pondered next moves at a political crossroads Thursday after leader Kevin McCarthy failed over and over to win enough votes from party colleagues to become House speaker, He kept meeting with conservative holdouts and remained determined to persuade enough of them to end the stalemate.

What started as a political novelty, the first time in 100 years a nominee had not won the gavel on the first vote, has devolved into a bitter Republican Party feud and deepening potential crisis.

04 Jan 2023; MEMO: The UN Security Council is to hold an emergency session to discuss the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The session was called for by the UAE and China on behalf of the Palestinian and Jordanian UN missions, and could take place tomorrow, a diplomat told the Times of Israel.