USA

NEW YORK (AP) — The first of four women described as key accusers in the indictment against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell testified Tuesday that Maxwell was often in the room when the witness, then just 14, had sexual interactions with the financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Prosecutors went to the heart of their sex trafficking case against Maxwell with their second witness, a woman in her early 40s who was introduced to jurors as “Jane,” a pseudonym she said she prefers, in part to protect a 22-year acting career.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar on Tuesday played a harrowing death threat recently left for her by voicemail, while imploring House Republican leaders to do more to tamp down “anti-Muslim hatred” in their ranks and “hold those who perpetuate it accountable.”

Washington (AP) — The Biden administration is moving to toughen testing requirements for international travelers to the U.S., including both vaccinated and unvaccinated people, amid the spread of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a Tuesday statement that it was working toward requiring that all air travelers to the U.S. be tested for COVID-19 within a day before boarding their flight. Currently those who are fully vaccinated may present a test taken within three days of boarding.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities pursued new leads Tuesday on possible sources of live ammunition involved in actor Alec Baldwin’s fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the New Mexico set of a western movie, as they searched the premises of an Albuquerque-based firearms and ammunition supplier.

The search took place after a provider of firearms and ammunition to the ill fated movie production for “Rust” told investigators that he “may know” where live rounds came from, describing ammunition he received from a friend in the past that had been “reloaded” by assembly from parts.

OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A 15-year-old sophomore opened fire at his Michigan high school on Tuesday, killing three students, including a 16-year-old boy who died in a deputy’s patrol car on the way to a hospital, authorities said. Eight other people were wounded, some critically.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said late Tuesday that investigators were still trying to determine a motive for the shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, a community of about 22,000 people roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Detroit.

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (NNN-TASS) — The United States continues to see additions to the Russian forces near the Russian-Ukrainian border, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs John Kirby told a briefing on
Monday.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- The recent rise in COVID-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant pose downside risks to U.S. employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in a written testimony released Monday afternoon.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An experimental COVID-19 drug that could soon become the first U.S.-authorized pill to treat the coronavirus faces one final hurdle Tuesday: A panel of government experts will scrutinize data on the medication from drugmaker Merck.

The Food and Drug Administration is asking its outside experts whether the agency should authorize the pill, weighing new information that it is less effective than first reported and may cause birth defects. The panel’s recommendations aren’t binding but often guide FDA decisions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers will try to persuade a federal appeals court to stop Congress from receiving call logs, drafts of speeches and other documents related to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol led by his supporters.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear arguments Tuesday from lawyers for Trump and the House committee seeking the records as part of its investigation into the riot.

30 Nov 2021; MEMO: Deputy Secretary-General of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), Hisham Abu Mahfouz, yesterday called for the UN to back down on its decision to partition Palestine, Quds Press reported.

He also called for the UN to put pressure on the Israeli occupation to "implement all the international resolutions related to Palestinians and stop all Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people."