USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — In his quest to rise to House speaker, Kevin McCarthy is charging straight into history — potentially becoming the first nominee in 100 years unable to win the job on a first-round floor vote.

The increasingly real prospect of a messy floor fight over the speaker’s gavel on Day One of the new Congress on Jan. 3 is worrying House Republicans, who are bracing for the spectacle. They have been meeting endlessly in private at the Capitol trying to resolve the standoff.

New York, Dec 17 (PTI) A 29-year-old Indian-American woman has been charged with first-degree murder for causing the death of her newborn infant by allegedly tossing the baby into a seaside inlet in Florida in 2018 because “she didn’t know what to do with her", according to media reports.

Arya Singh, the mother of the female infant known only as 'Baby June', was arrested on Thursday after she confessed to the crime.

16 Dec 2022; MEMO: United Nation experts yesterday condemned the increasing settler attacks and excessive use of force imposed by the Israeli forces against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

​​This year alone over 150 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including 33 children, which has resulted in 2022 being the deadliest year for Palestinians since 2005, according to the UN.

NEW YORK, Dec 16 (APP): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reaffirmed the full support and cooperation to Pakistan for its post-flood humanitarian relief work as well as for long-term recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.

The UN Secretary-General in a meeting with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the success of the conference and Pakistan’s resilient reconstruction was his “top priority”.

The meeting took place in New York on the margins of the G-77 Ministerial Conference

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 (APP): Pakistan on Friday said that it would not tolerate cross-border terrorism by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or other terrorist groups and that the country reserved the right to take direct action against them.

NEW ORLEANS, Dec 16 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — At least three people have died and more than a dozen were left injured across Louisiana over the past 24 hours as severe weather system moved across the South carving a path of destruction.    

A 56-year-old woman “died after a tornado destroyed her home” in Killona, about 30 miles west of New Orleans, according to a tweet from the Louisiana Department of Health. The identity of the woman was not immediately released, officials in St. Charles Parish said.

NEW YORK, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street had a painful day on Thursday as hawkish messages from the Federal Reserve stoked recession fears, and analysts warned of more market struggles ahead as macro environment remains unfavorable.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 764.13 points, or 2.25 percent, to end at 33,202.22, its worst day since September. The S&P 500 dipped 99.57 points, or 2.49 percent, to 3,895.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 360.36 points, or 3.23 percent, to 10,810.53.

Starbucks workers around the U.S. are planning a three-day strike starting Friday as part of their effort to unionize the coffee chain’s stores.

More than 1,000 baristas at 100 stores are planning to walk out, according to Starbucks Workers United, the labor group organizing the effort. The strike will be the longest in the year-old unionization campaign.

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Biden administration from ending a Trump-era policy requiring asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas stayed the termination until legal challenges by Texas and Missouri are settled but didn’t order the policy reinstated. The impact on the program wasn’t immediately clear.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday he will visit sub-Saharan Africa next year, the first U.S. president to travel there in a decade. He announced the trip — still unscheduled — as he wrapped up a U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit by stressing he’s serious about increasing U.S. attention to the growing continent.

His promise of a personal visit came as Biden declared to the 49 leaders gathered for the summit that “Africa belongs at the table” in every conversation of global consequence.