North America

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft on Thursday will try to gain clearance to complete a $69 billion takeover of video game maker Activision Blizzard in a legal showdown with U.S. regulators that will reshape a pastime that’s bigger than the movie and music industries combined.

The battle will pit Microsoft’s ambition to expand its video game imprint beyond its Xbox console against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s bid to block a deal that it contends will stifle competition and innovation to the detriment of consumers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Texas congressman Will Hurd, a onetime CIA officer and fierce critic of Donald Trump, announced Thursday that he’s running for president, hoping to build momentum as a more moderate alternative to the Republican front-runner.

Hurd, 45, served three terms in the House through January 2021, becoming the chamber’s only Black Republican during his final two years in office.

“We need common sense,” said Hurd, who made the announcement on “CBS Mornings,” adding, “I believe the Republican Party can be the party of the future, not the past.”

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Authorities in Honduras began to hand over to relatives the hacked, burned corpses of 46 women killed in the worst riot at a women’s prison in recent memory.

Some of the bodies were so badly burned they need genetic testing or dental studies to identify, said Yuri Mora, the spokesman for Honduras’ national police investigation agency.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Wednesday to censure California Rep. Adam Schiff for comments he made several years ago about investigations into Donald Trump’s ties to Russia, rebuking the Democrat and frequent critic of the former president along party lines.

Schiff becomes the 25th House lawmaker to be censured. He was defiant ahead of the vote, saying he will wear the formal disapproval as a “badge of honor” and charging his GOP colleagues of doing the former president’s bidding.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A surprise effort by hard-right House Republicans to impeach President Joe Biden has been sidelined for now, but the ability of GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert to force the issue to a House vote demonstrates the ever-escalating challenge Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces in controlling his Republican majority.

WASHINGTON (AP) —The search for the missing submersible on an expedition to view the wreckage of the Titanic passed the critical 96-hour mark Thursday when breathable air could have run out, a grim moment in the intense effort to save the five people aboard.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 (APP):The multiple restrictions placed on women and girls by the Taliban authorities are costing them “both domestic and international legitimacy” and are highly unpopular across Afghanistan, the top UN official based there said Wednesday.

UN Special Representative Roza Otunbayeva was briefing the Security Council on the dire situation facing the country and the international aid effort, with UN women workers among those now prevented by Taliban edicts from working.

UNITED NATIONS, June 21. /TASS/: The West has disregarded the tasks of settlement and reconstruction in Afghanistan to focus entirely on struggling with Russia on the Ukrainian field, Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

NEW YORK, June 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar edged higher against a basket of currencies on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank's fight to lower inflation "has a long way to go".

The dollar index , which measures the currency against six rivals, was 0.15% higher on the day at 102.66, after the release of Powell's testimony prepared for delivery to the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT).

June 20 (Reuters) - The Pentagon found it had overestimated the amount of funding for ammunition, missiles and other equipment it sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion due to an accounting error, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, more than double the amount previously disclosed.

The value of the accounting error was revised up from the $3 billion that was first reported by Reuters in May, the result of assigning a higher-than-warranted value on U.S. weaponry shipped to Ukraine.