USA

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.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 09 (APP): Denouncing Israel’s relentless attacks on the Palestinian people and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, Pakistan has called for holding the Israeli occupation forces accountable for war crimes in the besieged enclave.

“We strongly and unequivocally condemn the indiscriminate use of force by Israel,” Ambassador Muhammad Usman Iqbal Jadoon, acting permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations told the UN General Assembly on Friday.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 9 (NNN-XINHUA) – UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, yesterday urged the international community to make every possible effort, to bring an end to the suffering of the people in Gaza.

“The people of Gaza are looking into the abyss. The international community must do everything possible to end their ordeal,” the UN chief told the Security Council’s emergency meeting, on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The Biden administration has used an emergency authority to allow the sale of about 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review, the Pentagon said on Saturday.

The State Department on Friday used an Arms Export Control Act emergency declaration for the tank rounds worth $106.5 million for immediate delivery to Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution demanding immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

The resolution, drafted by the United Arab Emirates and backed by more than 100 countries, gained support from 13 of the 15 Security Council members, with Britain abstaining.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter to urge the organization's most powerful body to call for a ceasefire.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden has been hit with new criminal charges in California accusing him of scheming to avoid paying his taxes while spending lavishly on everything from luxury hotels to escorts to exotic cars.

The president’s son is also facing separate firearm charges in Delaware, raising the possibility he could be headed toward trial in two different cases as his father, President Joe Biden, campaigns for re-election.

HOUSTON (AP) — Two of Houston’s most powerful and longest serving political titans are facing off in a mayoral runoff election Saturday to see who will lead the nation’s fourth largest city, a young and diverse metro area facing challenges including crime, crumbling infrastructure and potential budget shortfalls.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and state Sen. John Whitmire, both Democrats, made it to Saturday’s runoff after breezing past a crowded field of nearly 20 candidates in the Nov. 7 general election.

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidates are crossing paths again in Iowa just days after a fractious debate and with the leadoff caucuses about a month away.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy are aiming to make the campaign case Saturday — this time without the others interrupting — in northwest Iowa, a more rural, conservative corner of the state.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A deal to provide further U.S. assistance to Ukraine by year-end appears to be increasingly out of reach for President Joe Biden. The impasse is deepening in Congress despite dire warnings from the White House about the consequences of inaction as Republicans insist on pairing the aid with changes to America’s immigration and border policies.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States vetoed a United Nations resolution Friday backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. Supporters called it a terrible day and warned of more civilian deaths and destruction as the war goes into its third month.