North America

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — One of the biggest and brightest stars in the night sky will momentarily vanish as an asteroid passes in front of it to produce a one-of-a-kind eclipse.

The rare and fleeting spectacle, late Monday into early Tuesday, should be visible to millions of people along a narrow path stretching from central Asia’s Tajikistan and Armenia, across Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain, to Miami and the Florida Keys and finally, to parts of Mexico.

NEW YORK (AP) — The actor Jonathan Majors begged his former girlfriend not to seek medical attention after an incident that left her with a head injury last year, warning she had “no perspective of what could happen” if the truth got out, according to previously undisclosed text messages read at the actor’s criminal trial on Friday.

“They will ask you questions, and as I don’t think you actually protect us, it could lead to an investigation even if you do lie and they suspect something,” Majors wrote to his girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, on Sept. 22, 2022.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fox News pushed back Friday against a former reporter’s lawsuit saying he was targeted and fired for challenging false claims about the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The network argued that Jason Donner had not shown he faced illegal discrimination. The nation’s capital bans discrimination based on political party membership or endorsement, but Donner hasn’t shown he joined a political party, nor that his bosses knew and fired him for it, Fox lawyers said.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — If you’re a Democrat with money to burn and friends in high places, you can spend thousands on tickets to a fundraiser with President Joe Biden. If not, keep reading to see what you’re missing.

With an election year around the corner, Biden is accelerating his fundraising to prepare for an astronomically expensive campaign. (Think billions, not millions.) In this rarefied world, money equals access, and supporters regularly pay top dollar for a personal glimpse of the world’s most powerful man.

7 December 2023; MEMO: In a surprising turn of events, US Senate Republicans yesterday thwarted a bill aimed at providing aid to Israel and Ukraine, citing concerns over the absence of adequate border provisions within the measure.

WASHINGTON, December 8. /TASS/: In a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden has underscored the importance of creating humanitarian corridors in the Gaza Strip, the White House has said.

"The President emphasized the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities," the White House press service said in a statement.

Las Vegas, Nevada, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The gunman who killed three professors and wounded one at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was a financially struggling academic whose job applications were rejected by several higher-education institutions in Nevada, police said on Thursday.

Anthony James Polito, 67, also had mailed nearly two dozen suspicious letters to faculty at universities across the country and had prepared a "target list" of people at both UNLV and a North Carolina university where he once worked, police said.

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The Biden administration is considering getting behind new restrictions on who can seek asylum and an expanded deportation process to secure new aid for Ukraine and Israel in a supplemental funding bill, a source familiar with discussions said.

The White House and U.S. Congress are racing to strike a deal that would deliver military aid to the two allied nations while discouraging illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border with only a week until lawmakers depart for a Christmas break.

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Nevada charged six Republican fake electors in connection with a scheme to overturn Donald Trump's 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden, while 10 false electors reached a legal settlement in Wisconsin that affirmed the Democrat's victory.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Wednesday's actions marked the latest legal developments in a 2020 plan to persuade Republican-controlled legislatures in election battleground states to name their own Trump-friendly electors.

GAZA/WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his strongest public criticism of Israel's conduct of the war on Hamas in south Gaza, said there was a gap between the government's declared intentions to protect civilians and the casualties.

"As we stand here almost a week into this campaign into the south... it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection," Blinken told a press conference after meeting British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in Washington on Thursday.