North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed a massive annual defense bill that would deliver a 5.2% pay raise for service members and keep the nation’s military operating, avoiding partisan policy battles with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden plans to sign an executive order while visiting Maine on Friday to encourage companies to manufacture new inventions in the United States.

Biden is going to Maine for the first time of his presidency, packaging his signing of the executive order with a speech at a textile factory and a fundraiser later in the town of Freeport.

NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida woman who drained an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor’s life savings by posing as a love interest and then lived lavishly off the $2.8 million she got was sentenced Thursday to over four years in prison.

Peaches Stergo, 36, of Champions Gate, Florida, was described by U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos as “unspeakably cruel” and motivated by greed as he announced the sentence in Manhattan federal court.

NEW YORK (AP) — Three men convicted in a post-9/11 terrorism sting have been ordered freed from prison by a judge who deemed their lengthy sentences “unduly harsh and unjust” and decried the FBI’s role in radicalizing them in a plot to blow up New York synagogues and shoot down National Guard planes.

Florida  (AP) — New charges — and a new defendant — added to the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump underscore how the Mar-a-Lago investigation is still very much ongoing, even as the focus has been on an expected indictment in a separate case related to the 2020 election.

In an updated indictment handed down Thursday, prosecutors allege that Trump asked a staffer to delete camera footage at his Florida estate in an effort to obstruct the federal investigation into his possession of classified documents.

WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday voided a 2017 court-martial conviction against Bowe Bergdahl, an Army sergeant who walked off his post in 2009 only to be captured by the Taliban and spend five years as their prisoner.

Bergdahl's conviction in 2017 left him with a dishonorable discharge, reduction in rank to the lowest enlisted pay grade and an effective fine of $10,000. Tuesday's ruling, which is subject to appeal, vacates that court-martial conviction.

UNITED NATIONS, July 26 (Xinhua) -- In a short statement released by his spokesperson, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday strongly condemned the coup attempt in Niger.

"The secretary-general is following closely the situation in Niger. He condemns in the strongest terms any effort to seize power by force and to undermine democratic governance, peace and stability in Niger," according to the statement.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The Boeing Company on Wednesday reported revenue of 19.75 billion U.S. dollars for the second quarter of 2023, an 18 percent increase compared to the same period of 2022.

The company reported its GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) loss per share at 0.25 dollars and core loss per share (non-GAAP) at 0.82 dollars, mainly driven by lower defense margins.

NEW YORK, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points to the range of 5.25 to 5.5 percent, the highest level in over two decades, as it continues to ramp up its fight against inflation.

It is the 11th interest rate increase since the Fed began its aggressive rate hiking campaign in March 2022, taking the federal funds rate to its highest level since early 2001.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a rule that allows immigration authorities to deny asylum to migrants who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border without first applying online or seeking protection in a country they passed through. But the judge delayed his ruling from taking effect immediately to give President Joe Biden’s administration time to appeal.