North America

5 December 2023; MEMO: Google has removed a mobile app from its store that helps people boycott companies linked to Israel.

The @NoThanks boycott account on social media confirmed that its NoThanks app was temporarily removed because its description contained a sentence about determining if “your hand supports killing children in Palestine or not.”

BOSTON (AP) — President Joe Biden told campaign donors Tuesday that he wasn’t sure he’d be running for reelection if Donald Trump wasn’t also in the race, warning that democracy is “more at risk in 2024” and that the former president and his allies are out to “destroy” democratic institutions.

The president was using a trio of fundraisers to caution against what might happen should his predecessor again claim control of the White House, noting that Trump has described himself as his supporters’ “retribution” and has vowed to root out “vermin” in the country.

WASHINGTON/LONDON/BEIRUT, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Facing a soaring death toll from Israel's renewed offensive in southern Gaza, the Biden administration is trying to pressure its ally to minimize civilian deaths while stopping well short of the kind of measures that might force it to listen, such as threatening to restrict military aid.

Top U.S. officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have urged Israel publicly to conduct a more surgical offensive in the south to avoid the heavy civilian casualties inflicted by its attacks in the north.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) - Resident James Yoo, 56, the suspect inside an Arlington, Virginia, home that went up in flames Monday night while police were executing a search warrant is presumed to be dead, authorities said Tuesday.

"Human remains have been located at the scene. The office of the Chief Medical Examiner will work to positively identify the individual and cause and manner of death," Arlington County Police Chief Andy Penn told reporters at a news conference.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare punitive move against Israel, the State Department said Tuesday it will impose travel bans on extremist Jewish settlers implicated in a rash of recent attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the step after warning Israel last week that President Joe Biden’s administration would be taking action over the attacks. Blinken did not announce individual visa bans, but officials said those would be coming this week and could affect dozens of settlers and their families.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a Belgian involved in procuring electronics for the Russian military, his companies and a group of Belarusian firms and people tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control targeted a network led by Belgium-based Hans De Geetere, which included nine entities and five people across Russia, Belgium, Cyprus, Sweden, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands. They are accused of being involved with procuring military-grade equipment for Russia.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up a case Tuesday over a Washington couple’s $15,000 tax bill that is widely seen as a test of a never-enacted tax on wealth.

A decision in favor of Charles and Kathleen Moore of Redmond, Washington, could strike down a provision of the 2017 tax bill that is expected to bring in $340 billion, threaten other provisions of the tax code and rule out a wealth tax that is favored by some Democrats who argue that the wealthiest Americans don’t pay their fair share of taxes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a case surrounding a Maine hotel that could have made it harder for people with disabilities to learn in advance whether a hotel’s accommodations meet their needs.

Hotels and other business interests had urged the justices to limit the ability of so-called testers to file lawsuits against hotels that fail to disclose accessibility information on their websites and through other reservation services.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, who presided temporarily over the U.S. House for three intense weeks while Republicans struggled to elect a permanent speaker after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, announced Tuesday that he won’t seek reelection to his seat next year.

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Volunteers and city workers on Tuesday removed mementos, signs and other items that accumulated at the sites of the deadliest shootings in Maine history, reflecting a change in season and a new chapter in the area’s recovery.

The handwritten signs, cards, bouquets and other items — more than a 1,000 of them — will be archived, catalogued and prepared for exhibition at a museum in Lewiston.