North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is keeping pandemic-era limits on asylum in place for now, dashing hopes of migrants who have been fleeing violence and inequality in Latin America and elsewhere to reach the United States.

Tuesday’s ruling preserves a major Trump-era policy that was scheduled to expire under a judge’s order on Dec. 21. The case will be argued in February and a stay imposed last week by Chief Justice John Roberts will remain in place until the justices make a decision.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will be asking voters for a second term leading one of the nation’s biggest cities. Republicans will try to take full control of the Virginia Legislature. Governors’ mansions are up for election in Louisiana and Mississippi, and a Democratic governor in red-state Kentucky will try to hang on for another term.

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines scrubbed thousands of flights again Tuesday in the aftermath of the massive winter storm that wrecked Christmas travel plans across the U.S., and the federal government said it would investigate why the company lagged so far behind other carriers.

A day after most U.S. airlines had recovered from the storm, Southwest called off about 2,600 more flights on the East Coast by late afternoon. Those flights accounted for more than 80% of the 3,000 trips that got canceled nationwide Tuesday, according to tracking service FlightAware.

UNITED NATIONS, December 27. /TASS/: Russia’s UN mission has responded to a proposal by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba to hold a "peace summit" at the United Nations by late February with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres acting as a mediator.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Ukraine’s top diplomat said Russia must face a tribunal before it could be invited to this event.

Dec 27 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq fell on Tuesday, led by declines in some megacap growth stocks and Tesla, with optimism around China further easing its COVID-19 curbs limiting losses on the indexes.

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) slid 5% after Reuters reported that the electric vehicle maker plans to extend a reduced production schedule at its Shanghai plant into January.

Megacap growth stocks Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) slipped between 1% and 2%, dented by a rise in U.S. Treasury yields.

Dec 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said late on Monday it would examine the large number of Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) cancelled and delayed flights in recent days to determine if they were in the airline's control, calling them "unacceptable."

Southwest canceled 2,886 flights on Monday, or 70% of scheduled flights, after cancelling 48% on Sunday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. It has also already canceled 60%, or more than 2,400, of its planned Tuesday flights.

Dec 26 (Reuters) - Arizona's Democratic Governor-elect Katie Hobbs asked a court on Monday to sanction defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake over her failed effort to overturn the state's election results.

An Arizona judge on Saturday rejected Lake's lawsuit that challenged the counting and certification of the November electoral contest in a bid to be declared the winner despite a lack of evidence of voter fraud.

PIDIE, Indonesia (AP) — At least 26 Rohingya Muslims had died in dire conditions during a month at open sea while making a dangerous voyage that brought scores of others to safety in Indonesia, a U.N. agency said Tuesday, adding there will likely be more.

Exhausted women and children were among 185 people who disembarked from a rickety wooden boat on Monday in a coastal village in Aceh’s Pidie district, authorities said. A distressing video circulated widely on social media showed the Rohingya worn out and emaciated, with many crying for help.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Storm-battered Buffalo braced Tuesday for fresh snow while still striving to recover from an epic blizzard that killed at least 34 people, stranded others in cars for days and shuttered the city’s airport.

The National Weather Service predicted that as much as 2 inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters) of snow could fall Tuesday in Erie County, which includes Buffalo, the second-largest city in New York, with about 275,000 residents.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When he ran for the White House, Joe Biden told voters his presidency would be a bridge to the next generation. His first two years on the job have revealed it to be a much more ambitious venture.

As he nears the halfway mark on his first term, Biden is pointing to legacy-defining achievements on climate change, domestic manufacturing and progress on the COVID-19 pandemic — all accomplished with razor-thin majorities on Capitol Hill and rather dim views from the public.