North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous federal appeals court on Thursday ended an independent review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, removing a hurdle the Justice Department said had delayed its criminal investigation into the retention of top-secret government information.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 01 (APP):The United Nations Thursday appealed for a record US$51.5 billion in aid funding for next year to help 230 million of the world’s most vulnerable people in nearly 70 countries, including Pakistan.

The size of the appeal – 25 per cent higher than this year’s – reflects the fact that the total number in need is 65 million more than in 2022, the UN and partner organizations noted.

NEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters) - A defense lawyer on Thursday urged jurors in the criminal tax fraud trial of former President Donald Trump's real estate company to blame a greedy former senior executive and not the Trump Organization itself for any wrongdoing.

Susan Necheles, representing one unit of the Trump Organization, pointed the finger at Allen Weisselberg, the company's longtime chief financial officer, in her closing argument to the 12-member jury in a New York state court in Manhattan.

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - As Democrats transitioned smoothly to a new leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans girded themselves for a showdown over Kevin McCarthy's bid for speaker that could leave the chamber adrift in the early days of 2023.

McCarthy, the Republican leader who was nominated for the speakership last month by 188 of his fellow Republicans, could have trouble reaching the 218-vote benchmark when the next Congress convenes on Jan. 3, due to opposition from several hardline conservatives from the House Freedom Caucus.

Nov 30 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to put on hold a Texas judge's ruling that said President Joe Biden's plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt was unlawful.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Biden administration's request to pause a judge's Nov. 10 order vacating the $400 billion student debt relief program in a lawsuit pursued by a conservative advocacy group.

HONOLULU (AP) — Prayer. Bombs. Walls. Over the decades, people have tried all of them to stanch the flow of lava from Hawaii’s volcanoes as it lumbered toward roads, homes and infrastructure.

Now Mauna Loa — the world’s largest active volcano — is erupting again, and lava is slowly approaching a major thoroughfare connecting the Big Island’s east and west sides. And once more, people are asking if anything can be done to stop or divert the flow.

30 Nov 2022; MEMO: Former American diplomats have advised the administration of President Joe Biden to no longer provide offensive weapons or military assistance to Israel's incoming government, arguing that it contains more extremist elements which further threaten the situation in the Occupied West Bank.

01 Dec 2022; MEMO: The United States has reduced the number of partnered patrols in northern Syria with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Pentagon said on Tuesday, after Turkish strikes in the region and ahead of a feared ground invasion by Ankara, Reuters reported.

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told reporters on Tuesday that while operations against Islamic State had not stopped, the patrols had to be reduced because the SDF had reduced the number of their own patrols.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia voters have cast more than 1 million ballots ahead of the Dec. 6 runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, with Warnock looking to juice an apparent Democratic head start in early voting with a visit Thursday from Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron are celebrating the longstanding U.S.-French relationship — but these are friends with differences. The French president is using his visit to Washington to sharply criticize aspects of the U.S. president’s signature climate law as a bad deal for Europe.