North America

HOUSTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices hit new peaks on Wednesday with the global Brent benchmark touching its highest since January after a steep drawdown in U.S. fuel stockpiles and tighter supply owing to Saudi and Russian output cuts offset concerns over slow demand from China.

Brent crude was up 44 cents, or 0.51%, at $86.59 a barrel by 12:33 p.m. ET (1633 GMT), having earlier touched $87.65, its highest since Jan. 27.

West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) gained 39 cents, or 0.5%, to $83.34. The U.S. benchmark touched $84.65, its highest level since November 2022.

NEW YORK, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- More than ever, the U.S. public must redouble its efforts to push Congress and the U.S. administration to end the forever "war on terror," World Politics Review has reported.

"Experts have strived for the past two decades to question Washington's assumptions and inform the U.S. strategy to address violent extremism abroad," said the article published Monday.

"Some have looked at how the 'terrorist' label affects analysis and understanding of violent actors and how it can hinder the development of adequate responses to violence," it said.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Two trade groups in the United States have expressed their support for TikTok and its creators in their legal battle to prevent the state of Montana from banning the popular social media platform.

NetChoice, a national trade association that includes major tech platforms, and Chamber of Progress, a tech-industry coalition, filed a friend-of-the-court brief, or Brief of Amici Curiae, in support of TikTok late Monday, said a release by NetChoice on Tuesday.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Already running years behind, Boeing’s first astronaut flight is now off until at least next March.

Problems with the parachute lines and flammable tape surfaced during final reviews in late spring, ahead of what should have been a July launch for the Starliner capsule. Boeing said Monday that it should be done removing the tape in the coming weeks. But a redesigned parachute system won’t be ready until December.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — Declaring it good “not only for Arizona but for the planet,” President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a national monument designation for the greater Grand Canyon, turning the decades-long visions of Native American tribes and environmentalists into reality.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Bringing back factory jobs is one of the most popular of White House promises — regardless of who happens to be the president.

Donald Trump said he’d do it with tariffs. Barack Obama said companies would start “insourcing.” George W. Bush said tax cuts would do the trick. But factory jobs seemed to struggle to fully return after each recession.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The mother of a U.S. Navy sailor charged with providing sensitive military information to China encouraged him to cooperate with a Chinese intelligence officer, telling her son it might help him get a job with the Chinese government someday, the prosecution said Tuesday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Sheppard made the accusation at a hearing in federal court in San Diego in urging the judge not to release Jinchao Wei, who was arrested last week on a rarely used espionage charge.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump and his legal team face long odds in their bid to move his 2020 election conspiracy trial out of Washington, arguing the Republican can’t possibly get a fair trial in the overwhelmingly Democratic nation’s capital.

Criminal defendants routinely try to have their cases moved to increase their chances of getting a favorable jury. Trump and his attorney say they’re eying West Virginia, which Trump easily won in 2020.

WINDHAM, N.H. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday kept up his attacks on special counsel Jack Smith and vowed to continue talking about his criminal cases even as prosecutors sought a protective order to limit the evidence that Trump and his team could share.

In the early voting state of New Hampshire, Trump assailed Smith as a “thug prosecutor” and a “deranged guy” a week after being indicted on felony charges for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

HONOLULU (AP) — Wildfires in Hawaii fanned by strong winds burned multiple structures, forced evacuations and caused power outages in several communities late Tuesday as firefighters struggled to reach some areas that were cut off by downed trees and power lines.

The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which was passing to the south of the island chain at a safe distance of 500 miles (805 kilometers), was partly to blame for gusts above 60 mph (97 kph) that knocked out power as night fell, rattled homes and grounded firefighting helicopters.