US & Canada

Two lawyers defending Donald Trump quit the case on Friday, one day after the former U.S. president was indicted on federal charges of illegally retaining classified documents, obstruction and other crimes. The Wall Street Journal at the same time reported that Trump’s former military valet, Walt Nauta, had been charged …

US President Joe Biden will hold his first campaign event next week in the swing state of Pennsylvania, according to a statement released by the White House. Biden, 80, will attend a rally with union members in Philadelphia on June 17, the statement said. Biden said in April he would …

Former President Donald Trump was recorded in 2021 acknowledging that he had kept “secret” military documents from his time in office without first declassifying them. The recording of the 76-year-old’s admission has been obtained by federal prosecutors, who secured an indictment of Trump on charges including willful retention of national …

The thick smoke and haze that turned the New York City skyline orange and brought some of the worst air quality levels the Northeast has seen in decades was spawned by a series of wildfires burning in Canada. The fires, which began in early June and have affected Ontario and …

A classified document has revealed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) threatened to impose significant economic costs on Washington after US President Joe Biden warned Riyadh over its decision to slash oil production last fall. Even though the Saudi government publicly defended its actions politely via diplomatic statements, …

A shooting outside a high school graduation venue in Richmond, Virginia has left two Americans dead and five others injured as rampant gun violence continues to traumatize the people across the country. Richmond’s Interim Police Chief Rick Edwards said on Tuesday that a gunman opened fire as hundreds of people …

The eurozone has entered a technical recession in the first three months of 2023, bringing households under increasing pressure from rising living costs across the 20 countries that use the euro as their currency, Eurostat figures show. Figures from the EU’s statistics office showed Thursday that gross domestic product (GDP) fell …

Former US vice-president Mike Pence has formally launched his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, accusing former president Donald Trump of being unfaithful to the US constitution. The former Indiana governor and congressman formally announced his candidacy on Wednesday, saying “different times call for different leadership.” In a speech …

Schools across the US East Coast canceled outdoor activities, commercial airline traffic was slowed and millions of Americans were urged to stay indoors on Wednesday as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south, blanketing cities in a thick yellowish haze. The US National Weather Service issued air quality alerts for virtually …

Canada is on track for its worst-ever year of wildfire destruction as warm and dry conditions are forecast to persist through to the end of the summer after an unprecedented start to the fire season, officials said on Monday. Blazes are burning in nearly all Canadian provinces and territories, and …

After tough negotiations to reach a tentative deal with the White House on the US borrowing limit, the next challenge for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is pushing it through the House, where hardline Republicans are already threatening to sink it. As Democratic and Republican negotiators iron out the final details …

Top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy said on Saturday he was making “progress” in negotiations with Democratic President Joe Biden on raising the federal government’s debt ceiling, as the nation faced the risk of default in little more than a week. Time is tight. The Treasury Department on Friday said the …

The White House and congressional Republicans on Friday aim to put the final touches on a deal to raise the U.S. government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling for two years while capping spending on many government programs, according to a U.S. official. Negotiators for Democratic President Joe Biden and House of …

Asian markets tracked losses in Wall Street on Wednesday as investors grow increasingly concerned about stalled US debt ceiling talks to avert a painful default. The optimism that flowed through trading floors at the start of the week has given way to trepidation, with several Republicans questioning an early June …

The way to reign in the persisting US debt crisis is to “stop America’s wars of choice and slash its military outlays,” a US-based author-academic and former United Nations official has emphasized in an article. “To surmount the debt crisis, America needs to stop feeding the Military-Industrial Complex (MIC), the …

US President Joe Biden on Sunday said he believes he has the legal right to invoke the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to raise the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling but does not have the time to do so. Some fellow Democrats have been urging him to try …

US President Joe Biden has announced a new $375 million package of military aid to Ukraine on Sunday despite warnings from Russia, saying that the United States was making every effort to “bolster Ukraine’s defense” in its war against Russia. “Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine’s back and I …

Firefighters in Alberta are on high alert for a surge in blazes over a long weekend in the oil-rich Canadian province, which is enduring throttled energy production, home evacuations and property damage after an intense start to the wildfire season. Record-high temperatures and lack of rain this year have led …

A second meeting on Friday between White House and Republican congressional negotiators on raising the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling broke up with no progress cited by either side and no additional meeting set. That came at the end of a day of acrimonious talks that were broken off …

ChatGPT creator and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman urges lawmakers to regulate artificial intelligence during a hearing. Sam Altman, the chief executive of ChatGPT’s OpenAI, testified before members of a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday about the need to regulate the increasingly powerful artificial intelligence technology being created inside his company and …