North America

US Senate aims for quick vote to avoid shutdown, but possible potholes ahead

WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Democratic and Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate said on Wednesday they would try to quickly pass legislation to keep the government funded, preventing a partial shutdown form beginning this weekend.

"No drama, no delay, no government shutdown. That's our goal and we hope to have an agreement very soon," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said on the Senate floor.

US public support for Israel drops; majority backs a ceasefire, Reuters/Ipsos shows

WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - U.S. public support for Israel's war against Hamas militants in Gaza is eroding and most Americans think Israel should call a ceasefire to a conflict that has ballooned into a humanitarian crisis, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Some 32% of respondents in the two-day opinion poll, which closed on Tuesday, said "the U.S. should support Israel" when asked what role the United States should take in the fighting. That was down from 41% who said the U.S. should back Israel in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Oct. 12-13.

USA: Ohio interstate crash involving busload of high school students leaves 6 dead, 18 injured

ETNA, Ohio (AP) — A charter bus filled with high school students was rear-ended by a semitruck on an Ohio highway Tuesday morning, leaving six people dead and 18 injured, officials said.

Five vehicles were involved in the crash, including a Pioneer Trails charter bus carrying students and chaperones from the Tuscarawas Valley Local School District in eastern Ohio, said Licking County Emergency Management Agency Director Sean Grady.

USA: Colorado supermarket shooting suspect pleads not guilty by reason of insanity

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A man accused of a mass shooting at a Colorado supermarket in 2021 pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Tuesday as a judge ruled the case can move to a trial following testimony giving new details of how he killed most of the 10 victims in just over a minute using a gun with a high-capacity magazine.

USA: California program to lease land under freeways faces scrutiny after major Los Angeles fire

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The area under an elevated Los Angeles freeway that burned last weekend was a kind of open-air warehouse with businesses storing everything from wood pallets to cardboard boxes to hand sanitizer on lots leased by the state through a little-known program that now is under scrutiny.

USA: Senate panel takes a step toward ending Sen. Tuberville’s blockade of military nominations

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats pushed ahead Tuesday with a resolution that would allow for the quick confirmation of hundreds of military nominees, an attempt to maneuver around a blockade from Sen. Tommy Tuberville over a Pentagon abortion policy.

Key US spy tool will lapse at year’s end unless Congress and the White House can cut a deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — With just seven weeks until the end of the year, the Biden administration is running out of time to win the reauthorization of a spy program it says is vital to preventing terrorism, catching spies and disrupting cyberattacks.

The tool, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, will expire at the end of December unless the White House and Congress can cut a deal and resolve an unusually vexing debate that has yielded unlikely alliances at the intersection of privacy and national security.

USA: Biden says his goal for Xi meeting is to get US-China communications back to ‘normal’

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping swept into San Francisco on Tuesday as the two leaders made their final preparations for their first engagement in a year at a historic estate outside of the city.

USA: The Georgia district attorney who charged Trump expects his trial to be underway over Election Day

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia district attorney who charged former President Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election said Tuesday that she expects his trial will be underway through Election Day next year and could possibly stretch past the inauguration in 2025.

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