Page 163 - United States

Abortion still consuming US politics, courts 2 years after SC draft leaked

Two years after a leaked draft of a US Supreme Court opinion signalled that the nation's abortion landscape was about to shift dramatically, the issue is still consuming the nation's courts, legislatures and political campaigns and changing the course of lives. On Wednesday, a ban on abortion after the first six weeks of pregnancy, often before women realise they're pregnant, took effect in Florida, echoing laws in two other states. In Arizona, meanwhile, lawmakers voted to repeal a total ban on abortion dating back to 1864, decades before Arizona became a state. Also this week, the Kansas Legislature increased funding for anti-abortion centres, while advocates in South Dakota submitted the required number of signatures for a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The status of abortion in states across the country has changed constantly, with lawmakers passing measures and courts ruling on challenges to them. Currently, 14 states are enforcing bans o

Pregnancy-related deaths have fallen to pre-Covid levels, new US data shows

US pregnancy-related deaths have fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, new government data suggests. About 680 women died last year during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth, according to provisional CDC data. That's down from 817 deaths in 2022 and 1,205 in 2021, when it was the highest level in more than 50 years. COVID-19 seems to be the main explanation for the improvement, said Donna Hoyert, a Centres for Disease Control and Prevention maternal mortality researcher. The coronavirus can be particularly dangerous to pregnant women. And, in the worst days of the pandemic, burned out physicians may have added to the risk by ignoring pregnant women's worries, experts say. Fewer death certificates are mentioning COVID-19 as a contributor to pregnancy-related deaths. The count was over 400 in 2021 but fewer than 10 last year, Hoyert said. The agency on Thursday released a report detailing the final maternal mortality data for 2022. It also recently released provisional data for 202

Russia assets likely to be seized after lawsuits in nation, US: JPMorgan

A Russian court last month ordered the seizure of funds in JPMorgan accounts after Russian state-owned bank VTB sued to regain its funds blocked abroad

Violence, chaos erupts on campuses in US as protesters clash over Gaza war

A brawl erupted at UCLA after a pro-Palestinian encampment was forcefully attacked, the school's chancellor said Wednesday, while activists at the University of Wisconsin in Madison clashed with police officers who destroyed their tents, in a day of escalating violence on some college campuses over the war in Gaza. Fifteen people were injured during the UCLA confrontation, including one person who was hospitalised, according to the president of the University of California system. The chaotic scenes unfolded Wednesday after police burst into a building occupied by anti-war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday night, breaking up a demonstration that had paralysed the school. Chancellor Gene Block at UCLA said in a statement that a group of instigators came on campus Tuesday to forcefully attack the pro-Palestinian encampment, prompting the school to ask for assistance from outside law enforcement. After a couple of hours of scuffles between duelling demonstrators at the ...

Arizona's Democrats get enough votes to repeal 19th century abortion ban

Democrats in the Arizona Legislature made a final push Wednesday to repeal the state's long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions, which a court said can be enforced. Voting wasn't complete but the Senate had the 16 votes it needed to advance the bill. Fourteen Democrats in the Senate were joined by two Republican votes in favour of repealing the bill, which narrowly cleared the Arizona House last week and is expected to be signed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. The near-total ban, which predates Arizona's statehood, permits abortions only to save the patient's life and provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. In a ruling last month, the Arizona Supreme Court suggested doctors could be prosecuted under the 1864 law, which says that anyone who assists in an abortion can be sentenced to two to five years in prison. If the repeal bill is signed, a 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become Arizona's prevailing abortion law. Still, there

Terrorist, Moosewala murder accused: All you need to know about Goldy Brar

Goldy Brar was blamed as the mastermind behind the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala and has been declared as a terrorist by India

Troubled by police actions against protesters at US universities: UN

The UN's top human rights official has voiced concern over heavy-handed steps taken to disperse and dismantle pro-Palestinian protests across university campuses in the US, just hours before the New York Police Department arrested and cleared protesters at the prestigious Columbia University. Hundreds of police officers swept into Columbia University on Tuesday night to end the pro-Palestinian occupation of an administration building and sweep away a protest encampment, acting after the school's president said there was no other way to ensure safety and restore order on campus. The police cleared 30 to 40 people from inside Columbia University's Hamilton Hall late Tuesday after pro-Palestinian protesters occupied the administration building in New York earlier in the day. Freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly are fundamental to society particularly when there is sharp disagreement on major issues, as there are about the conflict in the Occupied Palestinian ...

Harvey Weinstein to return to court after NY rape conviction overturned

Harvey Weinstein is due back in a New York courtroom on Wednesday for his first appearance since an appeals court last week overturned his 2020 rape conviction and ordered a new trial. The preliminary hearing in Manhattan is expected to include discussion of evidence, scheduling and other matters, according to Weinstein's attorney, Arthur Aidala. Aidala said Weinstein will attend the hearing, despite the 72-year-old having been hospitalised since shortly after his return to the city jail system on Friday from an upstate prison. He has said Weinstein, who has cardiac issues and diabetes, was undergoing unspecified tests due to his health issues. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has said it is determined to retry the case against Weinstein. Legal experts say that may be a long road and come down to whether the women he's accused of assaulting are willing to testify again. One of the women, Mimi Haley, said Friday she was still considering whether she would testify at a

US Senate approves legislation to ban imports of Russian uranium

The Senate passed the measure by unanimous consent, meaning that no senators objected to it. The House of Representatives passed the bill in December.

Eight US newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft for copyright infringement

A group of eight U.S. newspapers is suing ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that the technology companies have been purloining millions of copyrighted news articles without permission or payment to train their artificial intelligence chatbots. The New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post and other papers filed the lawsuit Tuesday in a New York federal court. We've spent billions of dollars gathering information and reporting news at our publications, and we can't allow OpenAI and Microsoft to expand the Big Tech playbook of stealing our work to build their own businesses at our expense, said a written statement from Frank Pine, executive editor for the MediaNews Group and Tribune Publishing. The other newspapers that are part of the lawsuit are MediaNews Group's Mercury News, Denver Post, Orange County Register and St. Paul Pioneer-Press, and Tribune Publishing's Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel. All of the newspapers are owned by Alden Global ...

McDonald's misses profit estimates as consumers turn budget-conscious

McDonald's faced backlash from its franchises in some Muslim countries in October following a move by the company's Israeli restaurants to give free meals to the Israeli military

US ships working to build pier for Gaza aid, to cost at least $320 million

A US Navy ship and several Army vessels involved in an American-led effort to bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip are offshore of the enclave and building out a floating platform for the operation that the Pentagon has said will cost at least USD 320 million. Sabrina Singh, Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters the cost is a rough estimate for the project and includes the transportation of the equipment and pier sections from the United States to the coast of Gaza, as well as the construction and aid delivery operations. Satellite photos analysed by The Associated Press on Tuesday show the USNS Roy P. Benavidez about 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from the port on shore, where the base of operations for the project is being built by the Israeli military. The USAV General Frank S. Besson Jr., an Army logistics vessel, and several other Army boats are with the Benavidez and working on the construction of what the military calls the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, ...

Reported Indian role in assassination plots 'serious matter': White House

India's foreign ministry said the Washington Post report made "unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations on a serious matter" while New Delhi is investigating the issue.

Yen holds on to sharp gains after suspected intervention, Fed in focus

Japanese currency was trading a touch lower 0.16% at 156.56 per dollar, but was well off its 34-year low of 160.245 hit on Monday

Donald Trump's hush money trial case: Prosecutors zero in on details

The first week of testimony at Donald Trump's hush money trial was the scene-setter for jurors: Manhattan prosecutors portrayed what they say was an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential campaign by burying negative stories. Now prosecutors are working on filling in the details of how they believe Trump and his allies pulled it off. Court resumes Tuesday with Gary Farro, a banker who helped Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen open accounts, including one that Cohen used to buy the silence of porn performer Stormy Daniels. She alleged a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, which he denies. For his part, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee has been campaigning in his off-hours, but is required to be in court when it is in session, four days a week. Jurors so far have heard from two other witnesses. Trump's former longtime executive assistant, Rhona Graff, recounted that she recalled once seeing Daniels at Trump's office suite in Trump Tower and figured t

Protests escalate in US; students raise Palestinian flag at Harvard

Last week, 275 pro-Palestinian protesters were detained at multiple campuses, including the Indiana University at Bloomington, Northeastern University in Boston, and Arizona State University

Protests over Gaza conflict roils US campuses ahead of graduations

Protests are roiling college campuses across the US as upcoming graduation ceremonies are threatened by disruptive demonstrators, with students and others sparring over Israel's military offensive in Gaza and its mounting death toll. Many campuses were largely quiet over the weekend as demonstrators stayed by tents erected as protest headquarters, although a few colleges saw forced removals and arrests. Many students are demanding their universities cut financial ties with Israel over the large-scale operation in Gaza it says was launched to stamp out the militant Palestinian group Hamas. Protesters on both sides of the rancourous debate shouted and shoved each other during duelling demonstrations Sunday at the University of California, Los Angeles. The university stepped up security after some physical altercations broke out among demonstrators, Mary Osako, vice chancellor for UCLA Strategic Communications, said in a statement. There were no reports of arrests or injuries. About 27

US regulator opens probe into Ford's hands-free driving tech BlueCruise

The investigation will evaluate the system's performance on the dynamic driving task and driver monitoring, the NHTSA said

Gaza war: Can International Criminal Court arrest Israeli PM Netanyahu?

The International Criminal Court could also be considering arrest warrants for Hamas leaders

Philips pays $1.1 billion in US settlement over ventilator recall

The devices were recalled in April 2021 because of concerns that foam used in them could degrade and become toxic, carrying potential cancer risks