Washington: Latest News

COVID-19 vaccination may protect pregnant women and their fetuses against virus-related placentitis (inflammation of the placenta) and stillbirth, concludes a review study published today in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The research will also be presented next week at ID Week in Washington, DC.The study, led by a Perinatal Pathology Consulting researcher in Atl

FILE IMAGE - The breakfast cereal aisle is pictured at a grocery store in Florida in an undated file image. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) WASHINGTON - The U.S.

Vials of the COVID-19 vaccine bivalent booster from Pfizer-BioNTech (left) and Moderna. (Photo Courtesy of N.Y.

WASHINGTON (AP) - All but lost in the shadow of major contests for U.S. Senate and governor, voters in some battleground states will be deciding ballot proposals this November that could reshape the way they vote in the next presidential election.In Arizona, scene of the closest presidential contest in 2020, the question is whether to require more identification to vote in the future.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A spacecraft that plowed into a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away succeeded in shifting its orbit, NASA said Tuesday in announcing the results of its save-the-world test.The space agency attempted the first test of its kind two weeks ago to see if in the future a killer rock could be nudged out of Earth’s way."This mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a briefing at NASA headquarters in Washington.The Dart spacecraft carved a crater into the asteroid Dimorphos on Sept. 26, hurling debris out into space and creating a cometlike trail of dust and rubble stretching several thousand miles (kilometers).

Republicans are demanding more information from President Biden's Department of Education amid reports that blue states across the country are using billions of taxpayer dollars from the Democrats' $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package to push core tenets of critical race theory (CRT) in public schools. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, which the Democrats passed in March 2021 without any Republican support, was billed by the Democratic Party as a necessity for reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this image from the video uplink from the detention center to the courtroom, Dylann Roof appears at Centralized Bond Hearing Court June 19, 2015 in North Charleston, South Carolina. (Photo by Grace Beahm-Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Dylann Roof, who challenged his death sentence and conviction in the 2015 racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation.Roof had asked the court to decide how to handle disputes over mental illness-related evidence between capital defendants and their attorneys.

(Reuters) – The annual IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington D.C. from Monday (10) to Saturday will include talks on several emerging markets squeezed by rising inflation and borrowing costs against a backdrop of slowing global growth.The economic hit from Russia's invasion of Ukraine has added to pressures that surfaced during the COVID-19 pandemic and have led many smaller developing economies to turn to the International Monetary Fund in recent months for help.The IMF has approved programs or financing facilities for 10 countries since the start of the Ukraine war on Feb.

FILE - An Illinois farmer walks through a hog pen on his farm on Jan. 25, 2020, in Polo, Illinois.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – Cascading global crises have left 54 countries including Sri Lanka – home to more than half of the world's poorest people — in dire need of debt relief, the UN said Tuesday (11).In a new report, the United Nations Development Programme warned that dozens of developing nations were facing a rapidly deepening debt crisis and that "the risks of inaction are dire".UNDP said without immediate relief, at least 54 countries would see rising poverty levels, and "desperately needed investments in climate adaptation and mitigation will not happen".That was worrisome since the affected countries were "among the most climate-vulnerable in the world".The agency's report, published ahead of meetings of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and also of G20 finance ministers in Washington, highlighted the need for swift action.But despite repeated warnings, "little has happened so far, and the risks have been growing," UNDP chief Achim Steiner told reporters in Geneva."That crisis is intensifying and threatening to spill over into an entrenched development crisis across dozens of countries across the world."The poor, indebted countries are facing converging economic pressures and many find it impossible to pay back their debt or access new financing.'Volatility'"Market conditions are shifting rapidly as a synchronised fiscal and monetary contraction and low growth are fuelling volatility around the globe," UNDP said.The UN agency said debt troubles had been brewing in many of the affected countries long before the Covid-19 pandemic hit."The rapid build-up in debt over the past decade has been consistently underestimated," it said.The freeze on debt repayment during the Covid crisis to lighten their burden

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez called Monday for freezing all U.S. cooperation with Saudi Arabia, delivering one of the strongest expressions yet of U.S.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – The 2022 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) will take place today (10) and will go on to October 16 at the IMF and World Bank Group headquarters, in Washington DC.Sri Lanka decided to send eight representatives for the annual summit of the IMF and the World Bank.Sri Lanka's delegation will be led by State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe.Also, the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the Finance Secretary, and several others will accompany to the State Minister.

Alan William Byerly, photo courtesy United States Justice Department (United States Justice Department)Federal prosecutors on Sunday recommended a prison sentence of approximately four years for a Pennsylvania man who pleaded guilty to assaulting an Associated Press photographer and using a stun gun against police officers during a mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol.U.S.

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - Police in Ohio said three people were wounded in a shooting outside a high school football game that sent people on the field and spectators in the stands running for cover.Police said the shots were fired behind the Whitmer High School stadium in Toledo at about 9:30 p.m. Friday during the game with Central Catholic High School.

File: A "help wanted" sign is displayed in a window in Manhattan on July 28, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images WASHINGTON - America’s employers slowed their hiring in September but still added 263,000 jobs, a solid figure that will likely keep the Federal Reserve on pace to keep raising interest rates aggressively to fight persistently high inflation.Friday’s government report showed that hiring fell from 315,000 in August to the weakest monthly gain since April 2021.

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden said Thursday that the risk of nuclear "Armageddon" is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials speak of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the eight-month invasion of Ukraine.Speaking at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin was "a guy I know fairly well" and the Russian leader was "not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons."Biden added, "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis." He suggested the threat from Putin is real "because his military is — you might say — significantly underperforming."Marine One carrying US President Joe Biden lands at the Wall Street landing zone in New York on Oct. 6, 2022.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged clinicians to consider Ebola and other viral hemorrhagic fever illness in the workup of people who have symptoms of the diseases and to immediately take a travel history with an eye toward identifying those who have been in parts of Uganda affected by the recent Ebola Sudan outbreak.In a Health Alert Network (HAN) notice, the CDC said no suspected, probable, or confirmed

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden announced on Thursday he will issue an executive order pardoning all people convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law, in what amounts to the most extensive White House action taken to date in U.S. drug policy.Biden expanded on his announcement on social media where he laid out a  plan to also call for a review of current federal laws surrounding marijuana. "As I’ve said before, no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is taking up an Alabama redistricting case that could have far-reaching effects on minority voting power across the United States.The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday in the latest high-court showdown over the federal Voting Rights Act, lawsuits seeking to force Alabama to create a second Black majority congressional district. About 27% of Alabamians are Black, but they form a majority in just one of the state’s seven congressional districts.The court’s conservatives, in a 5-4 vote in February, blocked a lower court ruling that would have required a second Black majority district in time for the 2022 midterm elections.A similar ruling to create an additional Black majority district in Louisiana also was put on hold.A law enforcement official stands in front of the U.S.

FILE - The game ball stands on a pedestal that says 10 Years of NWSL on the pitch before the National Women's Soccer League match between NJ/NY Gotham FC and the Houston Dash at Red Bull Arena on July 31, 2022, in Harrison, New Jersey. (Photo by Ira WASHINGTON - An independent investigation into the scandals that erupted in the National Women's Soccer League last season found emotional abuse and sexual misconduct were systemic in the sport, impacting multiple teams, coaches, and players, according to a report released Monday."Abuse in the NWSL is rooted in a deeper culture in women’s soccer, beginning in youth leagues, that normalizes verbally abusive coaching and blurs boundaries between coaches and players," former acting U.S.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is beginning its new term, welcoming the public back to the courtroom and hearing arguments for the first time since issuing a landmark ruling stripping away women’s constitutional protections for abortion.Monday's session also is the first time new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court's first Black female justice, will participate in arguments. And the public is back for the first time since the court closed in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.In this handout provided by the Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States, Members of the Supreme Court (L-R) Associate Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M.

FILE - Kim Kardashian is seen out on Sept. 9, 2022, in New York City.

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden on Monday will survey damage from Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico, where tens of thousands of people are still without power two weeks after the storm hit.The Category 1 hurricane knocked out electrical power to the U.S. territory of 3.2 million people, 44% of whom live below the poverty line.RELATED: President Biden, first lady to visit Florida and Puerto Rico to assess hurricane damagePower has been restored to about 90% of the island’s 1.47 million customers, but more than 137,000 others, mostly in the hardest hit areas of Puerto Rico’s southern and western regions, continue to struggle in the dark.

PHILADELPHIA - J.T. Realmuto's Phillies now need just one more victory — or one more loss by the Milwaukee Brewers — to end Philadelphia's 11-year postseason drought.And the three-time All-Star catcher in his ninth season in the big leagues finally wants a taste of the playoffs himself, too.So of course Realmuto is keeping tabs on what the Brewers do, watching them on a cellphone in the clubhouse after helping Philadelphia beat the Washington Nationals 8-1 Sunday in a game shortened to six innings by a downpour."This is what you play for, obviously.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says the world is “not naïve” about who may be responsible for the apparent bombings that damaged Russia-built natural gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea, calling the acts “sabotage.”

FILE - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a press conference following a Senate Democratic luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Sept.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill September 20, 2022 in Washington, DC. Greene discussed her legislation named the Protect Childrens Innocence Act, which would prohibit gender-affirming healthcare to t ROME, Ga. - Perry Greene, the husband of Rep.

President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, Sept. 28, 2022.

COLOMBO (News 1st) – Sri Lanka has decided to send a delegation for the annual summit of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.The 2022 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) will take place in person from Monday, October 10, through Sunday, October 16 in the IMF and World Bank Group headquarters, in Washington DC.Sri Lanka's delegation will be led by Acting Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe.He said the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the Finance Secretary and several others will accompany him.The Acting Finance Minister said that the 2022 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) will be of paramount importance for Sri Lanka to restrucutre its debt, and also obtain financial assistance from the IMF.

Over 100 firefighters are on scene battling a fire at a car junkyard in North Philadelphia.  PHILADELPHIA - Officials say 120 firefighters are on scene of a three-alarm fire at West Sedgley Avenue and West Venago Street, along with medics, chiefs, and support personnel. There are no known victims at this time and no specific hazardous substances have been identified, officials say.The Health Department says they dispatched inspectors to the area to collect air samples to assess air quality in the area.

WASHINGTON - Arthur "Buddy" Harrison, Jr., a man who was well known in the DMV for his community service and boxing gym, was shot and killed outside of his home in Southeast, D.C. on Saturday morning, according to police. The Metropolitan Police Department confirms that the victim is DMV boxing fixture and founder of Old School Boxing in Prince George's County, 62-year-old Arthur "Buddy" Harrison, Jr., of Southeast.According to MPD officials, the shooting was reported around11:39 a.m.

FILE - A knife scoops up butter in a file image taken on March 2, 2015. (Photo by Martin Gerten/picture alliance via Getty Images) Post-pandemic inflation has driven up the cost of many things in the U.S., including the price of butter as the peak holiday baking season quickly approaches.U.S. grocery prices in August increased 13.5% over the previous 12 months, the largest annual increase since March 1979, according to data shared by the U.S.

LANDOVER, Md. - Brandon Graham wished Carson Wentz well before the longtime Philadelphia Eagles teammates faced off for the first time."I hope you have a great year — just not today," the defensive end told the new Washington Commanders quarterback.Graham was right. Wentz had a terrible day in his first game against the team that drafted him, fumbling twice, losing one of them and getting sacked nine times in a 24-8 Eagles drubbing of the Commanders on Sunday.

Ukraine‘s efforts to take back more Russian-held territory before winter freezes the battlefields, a Washington-based think tank said Sunday.Russia, meanwhile, pressed on with its call-up of hundreds of thousands of men to throw into the seven-month war, seeking to reverse its recent losses. Without control of the skies over Ukraine, Russia is also making increasing use of suicide drones, with more strikes reported Sunday in the Black Sea port city of Odesa.The Russian mobilization — its first such call-up since World War II — is sparking protests in Russia, with fresh demonstrations Sunday.

HOUSTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 08: Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the National Baptist Convention on September 08, 2022 in Houston, Texas. The National Baptist Convention was formed in 1886, and gathers church members and leaders from around the WASHINGTON (AP) - Attending funerals on behalf of the United States is normally a straightforward assignment for a vice president, but Kamala Harris will confront controversy at nearly every turn as she visits Asia for the memorial honoring former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.American allies are seeking clarity after mixed messages over whether President Joe Biden would send troops to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion, a potential conflict that could swiftly engulf the rest of the region.

FILE - Sylvester Stallone (L) and Jennifer Flavin Stallone at the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award on March 11, 2022, in Washington, DC honoring Diane von Furstenberg. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for The Dwight D. Opperman Foundation)"Rocky" star Sylvester Stallone and his wife of 25 years, Jennifer Flavin, have patched up their relationship less than one month after the former model filed for divorce, according to a new report."They decided to meet back up at home, where they talked and were able to work out their differences," Stallone's spokesperson told the New York Post.

File: U.S. Marine Corps Maj.

The risk of a range of neurologic conditions rose significantly in the year after COVID-19 infection among a group of US veterans—regardless of whether they had required hospitalization, according to a study published yesterday in Nature Medicine.Researchers at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Healthcare System a

FILE - (L to R) Pork Chorizo, Al Pastor, and Oxtail Barbacoa tacos in a file image dated Sept. 7, 2022. (Photo by Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post via Getty Images).

Johnny Depp is reportedly dating his lawyer — and no, it’s not Camille Vasquez from the Amber Heard defamation trial earlier this year.

A study has revealed that people who have had Covid-19 infection are at a higher risk of a long-term brain injury, a year later compared to the people who have never been infected with the virus. The year-long study, published in Nature Medicine, assessed brain health across 44 different disorders using medical records without patient identifiers from millions of US veterans. Brain and other neurological disorders occurred in 7 per cent more of those who had been infected with Covid compared with a similar group of veterans who had never been infected.

WASHINGTON - The House pushed ahead Wednesday with legislation that would revamp the rules for certifying the results of a presidential election as lawmakers accelerate their response to the the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Donald Trump’s failed attempt to remain in power.The legislation would overhaul an arcane 1800s-era statute known as the Electoral Count Act that governs, along with the U.S. Constitution, how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential election winners.

PHILADELPHIA - Michelle Obama plans a six-city tour this fall in support of her new book, "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times," beginning mid-November in Washington. D.C.

WASHINGTON - Last month, when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell spoke at an economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, he issued a blunt warning: The Fed’s drive to curb inflation by aggressively raising interest rates, he said, would "bring some pain" for Americans.When the Fed ends its latest meeting Wednesday and Powell holds a news conference, Americans will likely get a better idea of how much pain could be in store.The central bank is expected to raise its key short-term rate by a substantial three-quarters of a point for the third consecutive time. Another hike that large would boost its benchmark rate — which affects many consumer and business loans — to a range of 3% to 3.25%, the highest level in 14 years.FILE - A for sale sign is posted in front of a home in Miami, Florida.

WASHINGTON - A man is in custody after vandalizing the Washington Monument. FOX 5's Katie Barlow took pictures of the damage Tuesday night. There is red paint splashed on the side of the monument with words painted next to it. U.S.

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 29: U.S. Air Force Space Command Gen. John "Jay" Raymond stands next to the flag of the newly established U.S.

migrants flown to the upscale Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his transportation secretary Tuesday for engaging in a "fraudulent and discriminatory scheme" to relocate them.The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Boston, alleges that the migrants were told they were going to Boston or Washington, "which was completely false," and were induced with perks such as $10 McDonald's gift certificates."No human being should be used as a political pawn," said Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights, which is seeking class-action status in the lawsuit filed on behalf of several migrants who were aboard last week's flights and Alianza Americas, a network of advocacy groups.DeSantis' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which also names Secretary of Transportation Jared W.

GEORGETOWN, De. - A small Delaware airport was flooded on Tuesday with state leaders and local non-profit organizations in preparation for a possible plane full of migrants being sent from Texas. Delaware Costal Airport in Georgetown was reportedly the latest destination for migrants being shipped by southern Republican governors to northern Blue states. This comes just days after Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent two buses with about 100 migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris' residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington D.C.Some who were at the airport on Tuesday believe that the sending migrants northbound is part of a political stunt being carried out by Republican leaders ahead of the midterm elections. MORE ON IMMIGRATION"They’re using our people for political stunts, It’s just sad and tragic," Rossana Arteaga-Lopenza from non-profit Casa de Venezuela Delaware told FOX 29. Earlier this year, Abbott announced new directives as part of the state's border security efforts, including an order that directs the Texas Division of Emergency Management to charter buses of migrants to Washington D.C. Philadelphia officials began preparing to receive buses of migrants if Abbott targeted the city, but Delaware, where President Joe Biden grew up and attended college, looks to be the next destination.The normally quiet runway at Delaware Costal Airport was abuzz on Tuesday amid reports of a possible plane full of migrants from Texas.