North America

(AP) --- A U.S. judge in Texas on Thursday blocked President Joe Biden’s plan to provide millions of borrowers with up to $20,000 apiece in federal student-loan forgiveness — a program that was already on hold as a federal appeals court in St. Louis considers a separate lawsuit by six states challenging it.

District Court Judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of former President Donald Trump based in Fort Worth, said the program usurped Congress’ power to make laws.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden left Washington for a global climate meeting with a giant domestic investment in tow — and likely to face questions about how far the U.S. will go to pull other large greenhouse gas emitters along.

His attendance Friday at the U.N. climate conference, known as COP27, in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, is the first stop on an around-the-world trip that will also take him to a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in Cambodia and a Group of 20 summit meeting for leaders of the world’s largest economies in Bali, Indonesia.

PHOENIX (AP) — Democrats padded their narrow leads in key Arizona contests on Thursday, but the races for U.S. Senate and governor were still too early to call with about a fifth of the total ballots left to be counted.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly led Republican Blake Masters by 5.6 percentage points, while Democrat Katie Hobbs had a much tighter lead of 1.4 points against Republican Kari Lake in the governor’s race. Democrats also led in the races for secretary of state and attorney general.

Washington, Nov 11 (PTI) Young voters, including first-timers, turned out in large numbers at polling booths this Tuesday and voted for the Democrats, which many experts believe is the reason for the better-than-expected performance of the ruling party led by President Joe Biden.

The Republicans, headed by former president Donald Trump, have made some progress in the House of Representatives while the vote for the Senate is on a knife edge.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 10 (APP): Pakistan told the UN General Assembly Thursday that it considers as a “national responsibility” the safety and security of its nuclear power plants and research reactors, which are under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 10 (NNN-SANA) – UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, is greatly concerned by the recent escalation of violence in North-west Syria, including shelling and airstrikes, which has resulted in civilian deaths and casualties, in and around camps for internally displaced persons, in Idlib governorate, said a spokeswoman yesterday.

Guterres called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from escalating the situation, said Stephanie Tremblay, an associate spokesperson for the secretary-general.

WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Control of the U.S. Senate may once again be decided in Georgia, weeks after Election Day as a tight race between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker was headed to a Dec. 6 runoff.

With more than 99% of the vote counted, Warnock is narrowly leading against Walker, a former football star endorsed by former President Donald Trump. But Warnock has not yet reached the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff, according to data from Edison Research.

WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Republicans edged closer on Thursday to securing a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives while control of the Senate hinged on a few tight races, two days after Democrats staved off an anticipated "red wave" of Republican gains in midterm elections.

Republicans have captured at least 210 House seats, Edison Research projected, eight short of the 218 needed to wrest the House away from Democrats and effectively halt President Joe Biden's legislative agenda.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Democratic challenger Gabe Vasquez has won election to Congress in New Mexico’s 2nd District, defeating incumbent Rep. Yvette Herrell in a majority-Hispanic district along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Vasquez highlighted his Latino heritage and an upbringing along the border in a working-class, immigrant family. He advocated for solutions to climate change and conservation of public lands in a district traditionally dominated by the oil and natural gas industry.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A man accused of posting a broad online threat last week that spurred heightened security at Jewish synagogues and schools in New Jersey is now facing charges, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Omar Alkattoul, 18, of Sayreville, is charged with transmitting a threat in interstate and foreign commerce and was scheduled to make his initial court appearance in Newark on Thursday afternoon, where he will be represented by a federal public defender. That office generally does not comment on cases.