North America

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (APP):With the World Bank warning that the global economy is “perilously close to falling into recession”, the development lender forecast Pakistan’s growth at 2.0 percent in fiscal year 2022/23 (July-June), in its annual Global Economic Prospects report Tuesday.

The bank said the figure for Pakistan growth was “half the pace that was anticipated last June, and faces challenging economic conditions, including the repercussions of the recent flooding and continued policy and political uncertainty.”

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives Republicans who tried to block Kevin McCarthy's leadership bid last week share more than far-right political views. They also command powerful fundraising machines powered by small-dollar donations.

Their fundraising has a lot in common with the fundraising organizations of the Democratic Party's far-left lawmakers who - like the anti-McCarthy block - rely on small donors more than their party fellows in Congress.

MEXICO CITY, Jan 10 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he was surprised to learn that classified documents were found in a think-tank office he once used and said he and his team are cooperating fully with a review into what happened.

Biden told reporters at a joint news conference with the leaders of Mexico and Canada that he takes classified documents seriously. He said he did not know what was in the documents.

"We are cooperating fully with the review, which I hope will be finished soon," Biden said.

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden has ordered an investigation into an FAA system outage that grounded flights across the country Wednesday morning and said the cause of the failure was unknown.

Biden told reporters at the White House he had spoken to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and they should have a good sense in a couple of hours of what triggered the outage.

"We'll respond at that time," Biden said. Asked if the outage was caused by a cyberattack, he said, "We don't know."

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - A group of senior New York Republicans on Wednesday called on newly elected U.S. Representative George Santos to resign from office, saying that he had repeatedly lied about his history during his campaign.

Even as Republicans in his home district in Nassau County urged Santos to step down, the new congressman rejected their call, telling reporters at the Capitol that he would not resign.

NEW YORK, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed New York to enforce a Democratic-backed gun control law adopted after the justices last year struck down the state's limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home in a landmark ruling that expanded gun rights.

WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he was "surprised" that government records were taken to one of his former private offices.

"I was surprised to learn there were any government records that were taken there to that office," Biden told reporters in Mexico City where he had a trilateral summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada.

Biden said he doesn't know "what's in the documents" that were found in a locked closet when his attorneys were vacating office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top national security officials from the United States and Japan are expected to agree to changes in the joint defense posture this week as the two nations confront rising threats from North Korea and increasing aggressiveness from China.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Storm-ravaged California scrambled to clean up and repair widespread damage on Wednesday as the lashing rain eased in many areas, although the north could see thunderstorms and another powerful weather front was expected to hit the state Friday.

At least 17 people have died in the storms battering the state. The figure is likely to rise, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday during a visit to the scenic town of Capitola on the Santa Cruz coast that was hard hit by high surf and flooding creek waters last week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is on track to max out on its $31.4 trillion borrowing authority as soon as this month, starting the clock on an expected standoff between President Joe Biden and the new House Republican majority that will test both parties’ ability to navigate a divided Washington, with the fragile global economy at stake.