Doctors in California who mail abortion pills to people in other states would be protected from prosecution under a new bill to be unveiled Friday in the state Legislature. The bill would not let California extradite doctors who are facing charges in another state for providing abortion medication. It would...
China’s Xi to Meet Putin as Beijing Seeks Bolder Global Role
Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to visit Russia from Monday to Wednesday, an apparent show of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin amid sharpening East-West tensions over the war in Ukraine and the latest sign of Beijing’s emboldened diplomatic ambitions. Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine is expected to dominate Putin and Xi's...
AP Sources: Another California Bank Seeks Rescue After Run on Deposits
A group of Wall Street banks is planning a rescue package of around $30 billion for First Republic Bank, sources told The Associated Press on Thursday. The rescue package comes as San Francisco-based First Republic has been battered by investors and worries have grown that the midsized bank might be...
UN-Backed Inquiry Accuses Russia of War Crimes in Ukraine
Russian attacks against civilians in Ukraine, including systematic torture and killing in occupied regions, amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity, according to a report from a U.N.-backed inquiry released Thursday. The sweeping human rights report, released a year to the day after a Russian airstrike on a theater in...
US Jobless Aid Claims Fell Last Week as Layoffs Remain Low
Fewer Americans applied for jobless claims last week as the labor market continues to thrive despite the Federal Reserve's efforts to cool the economy and tamp down inflation. Applications for jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending March 11 fell by 20,000 to 192,000 from 212,000 the previous...
Poland Sending Soviet MiG Fighter Jets Help Ukraine Fend off Russia
Poland’s president said Thursday that his country plans to give Ukraine around a dozen MiG-29 fighter jets, which would make it the first NATO member to fulfill the Ukrainian government's increasingly urgent requests for warplanes. President Andrzej Duda said Poland would hand over four of the Soviet-made warplanes “within the...
Sharp Drop in Illegal Border Crossings Continues in February
A sharp drop in illegal border crossings along the Southwest border that started in January after the Biden administration announced stricter immigration measures continued into February, the administration announced Wednesday. The data released by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection paints a picture of who is attempting to enter the country at a time...
New Homelessness Strategy Tops Newsom’s ‘State of the State’ Tour
Gov. Gavin Newsom will announce plans Thursday to build 1,200 small homes across the state as part of an effort to help house the nation's largest homeless population and to address an issue that has persistently plagued the state during his time in office. The announcement, confirmed by the governor's...
Newsom Shifts Gears on Oil Profits Penalty as Legislation Stalls
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he wants state regulators to decide whether to impose the nation's first penalty on oil companies for price gouging, pivoting after months of negotiations with legislative leaders failed to reach an agreement on a bill aimed at reining in the state's notoriously high gas prices....
Texas Stirs Anger With State Takeover of Massive Houston School District
Texas officials on Wednesday announced a state takeover of Houston's nearly 200,000-student public school district, the eighth-largest in the country, acting on years of threats and angering Democrats who assailed the move as political. The announcement, made by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's education commissioner, Mike Morath, amounts to one of the largest...