By Dan Whitcomb (Reuters) -A man accused of attacking two congressional staff members with a baseball bat this week and threatening to kill one of them, has been charged with assault on an employee of the U.S. government, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. Xuan-Kha Tran Pham, 49, was taken into custody by Fairfax police following…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Montana Governor Greg Gianforte on Wednesday signed legislation to ban Chinese-owned TikTok from operating in the state to “protect Montanans” from alleged Chinese surveillance, making it the first U.S. state to ban the popular short video app. Here is a detailed list of U.S. allegations against the company and its parent, Bytedance….
By Andrew Chung (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday left in place a Democratic-backed ban on assault-style rifles and large capacity magazines enacted in Illinois after a deadly mass shooting in Chicago’s Highland Park suburb in 2022, handing a setback to gun rights advocates. The court denied a request by the National Association for…
By Daniel Trotta (Reuters) – The writers’ group PEN America, authors and parents on Wednesday sued a Florida school district over its book bans, alleging educators violated the First Amendment right to free speech and their own policies in removing titles from school libraries. The Escambia County School District and School Board have targeted books…
By Nerijus Adomaitis OSLO (Reuters) – A former commander of Russia’s Wagner group who sought asylum in Norway after crossing the Russian-Norwegian border in January said on Wednesday he wanted to return to Russia even though he believed this could pose a risk to his life. Andrei Medvedev, who has previously spoken about his time…
By Humeyra Pamuk and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. State Department on Wednesday said two top members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee can view a redacted version of a classified cable about the chaotic August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan sought by the committee’s Republican chairperson. The chairperson, Representative Michael McCaul, scheduled a…
By Michael S. Derby NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve’s in-house watchdog defended his agency’s independence and ability to conduct investigations in a Senate hearing on Wednesday, while acknowledging some dissatisfaction with the way his agency has looked into financial market trades by top central bankers. “No Board Chair has resisted or objected to…
By Tom Hals, Andrew Goudsward and Brendan Pierson (Reuters) -Federal appeals court judges on Wednesday appeared to express support for opponents of the abortion pill mifepristone to pursue their challenge to its U.S. approval, which has potentially far-reaching consequences for abortion access across the country. From the start of the high-stakes oral arguments before the…
By Pavel Polityuk and Olena Harmash KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s military said it had made new advances on Wednesday in heavy fighting near the eastern city of Bakhmut, and that Russia was continuing to send in new units including paratroopers. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mentioned sustained Russian shelling in several regions, saying in a video address…
By Lisa Baertlein CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. freight railroads agree with most of federal lawmakers’ efforts to make the industry safer following the fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment in February, CSX Corp CEO Joe Hinrichs said on Wednesday. A U.S. Senate panel last week approved rail safety legislation that tightens rules on trains carrying explosive…
