North America

SELMA, Ala. (AP) — A massive storm system whipping up severe winds and spawning tornadoes cut a path across the U.S. South, killing at least seven people in Georgia and Alabama, where a twister damaged buildings and tossed cars in the streets of historic downtown Selma.

Authorities said a clearer picture of the extent of the damage and a search for additional victims would come Friday, when conditions were expected to clear. After the storm began easing Thursday night, tens of thousands of customers were without power across the two states.

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday he seriously doubted that ramped up Chinese military activities near the Taiwan Strait were a sign of an imminent invasion of the island by Beijing.

"We've seen increased aerial activity in the straits, we've seen increased surface vessel activity around Taiwan," Austin said during a press conference alongside U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their Japanese counterparts.

"But whether or not that means that an invasion is imminent, you know, I seriously doubt that," Austin said.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Congressman George Santos, embattled over lying about his resume, reiterated on Wednesday that he would not step down.

Santos, a 34-year-old Republican elected in last year's midterm elections to represent New York's 3rd congressional district, tweeted earlier in the day, "I will NOT resign!"

A group of Republicans -- including Congressman Anthony D'Esposito, who represents New York's 4th congressional district -- urged Santos to quit on Wednesday.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Brandon Presley, a Democrat in his fourth term as a Mississippi utilities regulator, announced Thursday that he is running for governor this year, saying he believes state government and the current Republican governor are disconnected from the needs of working people.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — In one of his first acts as Nebraska’s governor, Republican Jim Pillen named his predecessor to the state’s vacant U.S. Senate seat on Thursday.

Pillen surprised no one in naming fellow Republican Pete Ricketts to the seat vacated Sunday by Ben Sasse.

The governor said 111 people applied for the vacant seat and nine people — all Republicans — were interviewed. He said he chose Ricketts based on their shared conservatism and Ricketts’ promise that he would later run to be elected to the seat.

(AP) --- Delays and cancellations among flights across the United States were minimal on Thursday, a day after a system that offers safety information to pilots failed, grounding U.S. air traffic and leading to thousands of stranded travelers.

There were 636 delays into, within or out of the U.S. as of Thursday morning, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. There were 82 cancellations.

NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of nurses at two New York City hospitals ended a three-day strike Thursday after reaching a tentative contract agreement that union officials said offers better working conditions, in addition to pay raises.

The tentative deals at Mount Sinai Hospital, in Manhattan, and Montefiore Medical Center, in the Bronx, include raises totaling 19% over three years. Nurses began returning to work at both hospitals Thursday morning, with Gov. Kathy Hochul greeting returning nurses at Mount Sinai just before dawn.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rising U.S. consumer prices moderated again last month, bolstering hopes that inflation’s grip on the economy will continue to ease this year and possibly require less drastic action by the Federal Reserve to control it.

Inflation declined to 6.5% in December compared with a year earlier, the government said Thursday. It was the sixth straight year-over-year slowdown, down from 7.1% in November. On a monthly basis, prices actually slipped 0.1% from November to December, the first such drop since May 2020.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s legal team has discovered additional documents containing classification markings in a second location, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The revelation comes days after an attorney for the president said Biden’s lawyers had discovered a “small number” of classified documents at his former office space in Washington.

11 Jan 2023; MEMO: The US has appointed Elizabeth Frawley Bagley as the new Ambassador to Brazil after she was reprimanded during the confirmation hearing over remarks about the power of the "Jewish lobby" in Washington. Bagley was nominated a year ago by President Joe Biden for the job but her appointment has been dogged by delays and allegations of anti-Semitism.