USA

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Evidence collected in Iraq strengthens preliminary findings that Islamic State extremists committed crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Christian community after it seized about a third of the country in 2014, a U.N. investigative team said in a report circulated Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — To help Democrats win their 51st Senate seat in a Georgia runoff election, President Joe Biden is headed to ... Massachusetts?

Days before polls close on Tuesday, Biden still has no plans to visit Georgia. Instead he’ll aim to help Sen. Raphael Warnock’s reelection campaign from afar with appearances Friday at a Boston phone bank and fundraiser.

They mark the culmination of Biden’s support-from-a-distance strategy that he employed throughout the midterms and that his aides credit with helping his party beat expectations in key races.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s employers kept hiring briskly in November despite high inflation and a slow-growing economy — a sign of resilience in the face of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes.

The economy added 263,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate stayed 3.7%, still near a 53-year low, the Labor Department said Friday. November’s job growth dipped only slightly from October’s 284,000 gain.

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s newest nuclear stealth bomber is making its public debut after years of secret development and as part of the Pentagon’s answer to rising concerns over a future conflict with China.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday that Democrats should give up “restrictive” caucuses and prioritize diversity at the start of their presidential primary calendar — dealing a major blow to Iowa’s decadeslong status as the state that leads off the process.

02 Dec 2022; MEMO: Senior US officials are closer than ever to viewing Israel's occupation as apartheid. A wall-to-wall consensus exists within the international human rights community over Israel's practice of the crime of apartheid.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous federal appeals court on Thursday ended an independent review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, removing a hurdle the Justice Department said had delayed its criminal investigation into the retention of top-secret government information.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 01 (APP):The United Nations Thursday appealed for a record US$51.5 billion in aid funding for next year to help 230 million of the world’s most vulnerable people in nearly 70 countries, including Pakistan.

The size of the appeal – 25 per cent higher than this year’s – reflects the fact that the total number in need is 65 million more than in 2022, the UN and partner organizations noted.

NEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters) - A defense lawyer on Thursday urged jurors in the criminal tax fraud trial of former President Donald Trump's real estate company to blame a greedy former senior executive and not the Trump Organization itself for any wrongdoing.

Susan Necheles, representing one unit of the Trump Organization, pointed the finger at Allen Weisselberg, the company's longtime chief financial officer, in her closing argument to the 12-member jury in a New York state court in Manhattan.

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - As Democrats transitioned smoothly to a new leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans girded themselves for a showdown over Kevin McCarthy's bid for speaker that could leave the chamber adrift in the early days of 2023.

McCarthy, the Republican leader who was nominated for the speakership last month by 188 of his fellow Republicans, could have trouble reaching the 218-vote benchmark when the next Congress convenes on Jan. 3, due to opposition from several hardline conservatives from the House Freedom Caucus.