USA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — State authorities were investigating Monday after a California Highway Patrol officer shot and killed a man over the weekend in the middle of a Los Angeles area freeway during a struggle recorded on video.

Sunday afternoon’s deadly encounter occurred after the highway patrol responded to multiple calls of a male pedestrian walking in westbound lanes of Interstate 105 in south LA County, the agency said in a statement. All traffic in that direction was temporarily blocked.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided federal appeals court on Monday ruled that private individuals and groups such as the NAACP do not have the ability to sue under a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act, a decision that contradicts decades of precedent and could further erode protections under the landmark 1965 law.

DALLAS (AP) — Despite inflation and memories of past holiday travel meltdowns, millions of people are expected to hit airports and highways in record numbers over the Thanksgiving break.

The busiest days to fly will be Tuesday and Wednesday as well as the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 2.6 million passengers on Tuesday and 2.7 million passengers on Wednesday. Sunday will draw the largest crowds with an estimated 2.9 million passengers, which would narrowly eclipse a record set on June 30.

20 November 2023; MEMO: Leading British and French academics have accused US authorities of sending back fake Roman mosaics to Lebanon, according to a report yesterday by the Guardian.

One academic, Djamila Fellague of the University of Grenoble claimed that eight out of nine mosaic panels that authorities in New York repatriated to the country were forgeries.

20 November 2023; MEMO: The UN chief, on Monday, decried events in Gaza since 7 October, calling them a “killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented” since he took office, Anadolu Agency reports.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 19 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva blamed international bodies such as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for their “failure” to find a solution to the ongoing humanitarian crises.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 20 (NNN-XINHUA) – UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, once again called for a humanitarian ceasefire, in response to the increasing number of deaths in Gaza.

“This war is having a staggering and unacceptable number of civilian casualties, including women and children, every day,” the top UN official said in a statement. “This must stop. I reiterate my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans can order more free COVID-19 tests online for home delivery.

The U.S. government is offering to send another round of four at-home virus tests ahead of the typical surge in cases during the winter holiday season.

Anyone who did not order a batch of four COVID-19 tests in September can secure up to eight of them this time around starting Monday at COVIDtests.gov. The U.S. Postal Service will deliver them for free.

EDINBURG, Texas (AP) — Donald Trump picked up the Texas governor’s endorsement Sunday during a visit to a U.S.-Mexico border town and promised that his hard-line immigration policies in a second presidential term would make Greg Abbott’s “job much easier.”

“You’ll be able to focus on other things in Texas,” Trump told Abbott as they each appeared before a crowd of about 150 at an airport hangar in Edinburg.

Abbott, a longtime ally and fellow border hawk, said he was proud to endorse the former president, who is the Republican Party’s front-runner for the 2024 nomination.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An elevated Los Angeles freeway closed for more than a week because of an arson fire reopened ahead of Monday morning’s commute, at least a day earlier than previously announced and weeks ahead of the original estimate.

“Welcome back, Los Angeles!” Mayor Karen Bass posted late Sunday on X, formerly known as Twitter.