USA

The UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report for 2024 said the total number of billionaires had risen to 2,682 from 2,544 a year earlier, and their worth to $14 trillion from $12 trillion

President-elect Donald Trump's lawyers formally asked a judge Monday to throw out his hush money criminal conviction, arguing continuing the case would present unconstitutional disruptions to the institution of the Presidency. In a filing made public Tuesday, Trump's lawyers told Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan that dismissal is warranted because of the extraordinary circumstances of his impending return to the White House. Wrongly continuing proceedings in this failed lawfare case disrupts President Trump's transition efforts, the attorneys continued, before citing the overwhelming national mandate granted to him by the American people on November 5, 2024. Prosecutors will have until Dec. 9 to respond. They have said they will fight any efforts to dismiss the case but have indicated openness to delaying sentencing until after Trump's second term ends in 2029. Following Trump's election victory last month, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed his sentencing, ...

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement can continue using a Seattle airport for chartered deportation flights, a federal appeals court ruled in a decision that rejected a 2019 local order that sought to counter then-President Donald Trump's immigration policies. The agency has long used airports around the country to charter flights deporting hundreds of thousands of noncitizens considered lawfully removable from the US. But in 2019, in keeping with efforts in liberal Seattle and Washington state to resist Trump's priorities, King County Executive Dow Constantine issued an executive order expressing concern that the deportations could constitute human rights abuses. It announced that future leases at the county airport, also known as Boeing Field, would bar operators from servicing deportation flights. The order prompted ICE to begin using an airport in Yakima a much farther drive from ICE's Northwest detention center in Tacoma for the deportation flights. The US sued King County

Johnnie Moore, a former US Commissioner on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), was asked about the US stance amid violence against minorities in Bangladesh

Bessent was not part of Trump's political orbit during his first campaign or term as president, but he has known the Trump family for decades and was close friends with Trump's late brother, Robert

Condensate, an ultra light oil, is typically processed at splitters to produce mainly petrochemical feedstock naphtha or used as a diluent for heavy crude such as those from Venezuela

There are serious concerns in the US over growing extremism in Bangladesh, a former White House official has said, observing that deposed former Prime Minister Sheikh did a good job in controlling it. Lisa Curtis, who served as President-elect Donald Trump's South Asia point-person in his first term, has said there is concern about the future and what it could bring to Bangladesh. We are at a critical juncture in Bangladesh. With the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina and efforts to reform the political system, there is a lot of hope. People are hopeful that the democratic process will get stronger," she said on Thursday. The Awami League regime led by Hasian was toppled on August 5 in the face of a mass upsurge originating from a quota reform campaign by the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement. Three days later Nobel laureate Muhammad assumed office as the chief adviser of the interim government. "But there's also a lot of concern. Some Islamist extremists have been released from jails.

Tropical Storm Sara made landfall in northern Honduras late Thursday and threatened to dump torrential rains across parts of Central America and southern Mexico. Sara hit land about 105 miles (165 kilometers) west-northwest of the Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Honduras-Nicaragua border, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. That is near Brus Laguna, a village of about 13,000 inhabitants. There are few other population centers nearby. Mexican authorities warned it could cause intense rains over the resort-studded Yucatan Peninsula. Sara had winds of about 45 miles per hour (75 kph) and was moving west at about 10 miles per hour (17 kph). It was expected to remain roughly on that path before heading out to sea again and threatening the coast of Belize. The center said that along the way Sara was forecast to drop 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain, even up to 30 inches (75 centimeters) in isolated areas. Such heavy rain could lead to life-threatening floo

Arizona voters have approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion access up to fetal viability, typically after 21 weeks a major win for advocates of the measure in the presidential battleground state who have been seeking to expand access beyond the current 15-week limit. Arizona was one of nine states with abortion on the ballot. Democrats have centered abortion rights in their campaigns since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Abortion-rights supporters prevailed in all seven abortion ballot questions in 2022 and 2023, including in conservative-leaning states. Arizona for Abortion Access, the coalition leading the state campaign, gathered well over the 383,923 signatures required to put it on the ballot, and the secretary of state's office verified that enough were valid. The coalition far outpaced the opposition campaign, It Goes Too Far, in fundraising. The opposing campaign argued the measure was too far-reaching and cited its own polling in sayi

Raphael, the 17th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, is on a track would take it through areas of the Gulf that are heavy with oil and gas platforms

"Amid gradually increasing security cooperation between the three countries, (we) will strengthen coordination to deter and jointly respond to North Korea's threats," it said in the statement cited

Under the deal, EFTA, whose other members are Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, will invest $100 billion in India and will benefit from easier and cheaper access to the Indian market of 1.4 bn people

Yellen was keen to avoid a situation where US - or Ukrainian - taxpayers would be on the hook to pay back the loans if the frozen assets were turned back over to Russia as part of a truce agreement

The FBI said Tuesday that it is investigating the unauthorized release of classified documents on Israel's preparation for a potential retaliatory attack on Iran. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday that the Biden administration is still not certain if the classified information was leaked or hacked but that officials don't have any indication at this point of additional documents like this finding their way into the public domain." At the Pentagon, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken with his counterpart, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, about the release of documents. But Ryder, who is press secretary, said he could provide no details or say when the conversation took place. The Associated Press reported Saturday that US officials were investigating the release. The FBI confirmed the investigation for the first time on Tuesday and said in a statement that it is working closely with our partners in the Department

The US is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel's plans to attack Iran, three US officials told The Associated Press. A fourth US official said the documents appear to be legitimate. The documents are attributed to the US Geospatial Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency and note that Israel continues to move military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran's blistering ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1. They were sharable within the Five Eyes, which are the US, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The documents, which are marked top secret, were posted online to Telegram and first reported by CNN and Axios. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The investigation is also examining how the documents were obtained including whether it was an intentional leak by a member of the US intelligence community or obtained by

The Canadian Air Force aircraft is ferrying 191 stranded passengers of an Air India flight from Iqaluit airport has landed in Chicago. In a statement on Wednesday, Air India said passengers of flight AI127, which was diverted to Iqaluit in Canada on October 15, are on their way to their destination -- Chicago. "Passengers are being ferried on a Canadian Air Force aircraft that has taken off from Iqaluit at 03:54 hrs UTC and is expected to land in Chicago at around 07:48 hrs UTC," the airline said. An official said the aircraft has landed at Chicago. The flight that was diverted on Tuesday had 211 people, including 20 crew members, onboard. Passengers have gone in the Canadian Air Force aircraft with their hand baggage. Their checked-in baggage will be carried in the Air India aircraft when it leaves for Chicago, the official in the know said. Earlier, Canada's Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan said that 211 people of the flight were stranded and despite great effor

The Biden administration has warned Israel that it must increase the amount of humanitarian aid it is allowing into Gaza within the next 30 days or it could risk losing access to US weapons funding. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned their Israeli counterparts in a letter dated Sunday that the changes must occur. The letter, which restates US policy toward humanitarian aid and arms transfers, was sent amid deteriorating conditions in northern Gaza and reports Israel had conducted a strike on a hospital tent site in central Gaza that killed at least four people and ignited a fire that left more than two dozen with severe burns. A senior defence official said Tuesday that Blinken and Austin sent a letter to their Israeli counterparts as they saw a recent decrease in assistance reaching Gaza. The official said a similar letter sent by Blinken in April triggered a constructive response and concrete measures from the Israelis. The official, who ..

US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy has said that mental health is an issue on which his country and India can work together, so that it not only benefits the two countries, but the entire world. He said it is time to prioritise and accelerate the work on mental health, because the consequences have been too high, and they will only get worse unless we make this issue a priority. "I'll just say this (mental health) is an issue where the US and India can work together, where we can learn from each other, where we can collaborate on programmes, where we can support each other, as we have in the past for six decades, on so many health issues," Murthy told reporters here on Friday. He said he was proud of the US-India health partnership for six decades, during which both countries have worked on smallpox, polio, HIV, tuberculosis and Covid-19, and many other health challenges. "This is a time for us to come together as two nations, to work on the issue of mental health, and the work tha

Immigrants who grew up in the United States after being brought here illegally as children will be among demonstrators outside a federal courthouse in New Orleans on Thursday as three appellate judges hear arguments over the Biden administration's policy shielding them from deportation. At stake in the long legal battle playing out at the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals is the future of about 535,000 people who have long-established lives in the US, even though they don't hold citizenship or legal residency status and they live with the possibility of eventual deportation. No matter what is said and done, I choose the US and I have the responsibility to make it a better place for all of us, Greisa Martinez Rosas, said Wednesday. She is a beneficiary of the policy and a leader of the advocacy group United We Dream. She plans to travel from Arizona to attend a rally near the court, where hundreds of the policy's supporters are expected to gather. The panel hearing arguments won't rule