Houston men charged with stealing more than $1.2M in mail theft scheme, activating stolen credit cards
Five Houston men have been taken into federal custody after they were charged in a large-scale mail theft and credit card fraud scheme resulting in more than $1.2 million in losses, the United States Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
In a rare action against Israel, US says extremist West Bank settlers will be barred from America
In a rare punitive move against Israel, the State Department says it will impose travel bans on extremist Jewish settlers implicated in a rash of attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Open Society Foundations commit $50M to women and youth groups' work on democracy
The major philanthropy, Open Society Foundations, said Tuesday it will commit $50 million to increase civic engagement among women and youth over the next three years as part of its strategy to support democracy in the U.S. Alex Soros, chair of the Open Society Foundations and son of its founder billionaire investor George Soros, said in a statement that the advocacy of women and young people is essential to stopping the advancement of authoritarianism.
US agency to watch unrecalled Takata inflators after one blows apart, injuring a driver in Chicago
U.S. auto safety regulators say they are monitoring data from a group of mostly unrecalled Takata air bag inflators after one of them exploded in a BMW and hurled metal fragments that seriously injured a driver in Chicago.
Louisiana granted extra time to draw new congressional map that complies with Voting Rights Act
Louisiana lawmakers now have until the end of January to draw and pass new congressional boundaries to replace the current map that a federal judge says dilutes the power of the state’s Black voters.
US proposes plan to help the snow-dependent Canada lynx before warming shrinks its habitat
U.S. officials are proposing a $31 million recovery plan for Canada lynx to help a snow-dependent wildcat species that scientists say could be wiped out in parts of the contiguous U.S. by the end of the century.
Anthony Fauci will testify before Congress on COVID origins and the US pandemic response
Former chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci is expected to testify before Congress early next year as part of Republicans’ yearslong investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and the U.S. response to the disease.
Taiwan envoy says he's hopeful Biden-Xi meeting will reduce tensions in the Asia-Pacific region
The 92-year-old businessman who represented Taiwan at this week’s summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in San Francisco says he's hopeful that a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping will help reduce tensions between the two superpowers and in the region.
Barefoot workers and cracked floors were found at a factory that made recalled eyedrops, FDA says
U.S. health inspectors found a host of sanitation and manufacturing problems at an Indian plant that recently recalled eyedrops sold in the U.S. The problems include cracked floors, barefoot workers and manipulated testing records.
Federal judge seems wary of Texas ban on TikTok at public universities
Last year, Texas joined more than 30 other states in banning TikTok on government-issued cell phones and computers. A nationwide coalition of professors are suing the state over the ban, arguing it has limited their ability to teach and research the social media app.
Taiwan's participation at APEC forum offers a rare chance to break China's bonds
Taiwan will take part in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco this week, a rare opportunity for the self-governing island democracy of 23 million people and its high-tech economy to break the diplomatic embargo on it imposed by authoritarian China.
UK experts recommend chickenpox shot for kids for the first time, decades after other countries
An expert scientific committee advising the British government recommended for the first time Tuesday that children should be immunized with the chickenpox vaccine — decades after the shots were made widely available in other countries, including the U.S., Canada and Australia.
Beyond Meat revenue falls as rising demand in Europe can't overcome plummeting US sales
Beyond Meat’s revenue fell nearly 9% in the third quarter as higher sales of its plant-based meat in Europe failed to make up for plummeting demand in the U.S. Beyond Meat on Wednesday reported revenue of $75.3 million for the July-September period.