North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden hosted top congressional leaders at the White House to underscore Ukraine’s security needs as it continues to fight Russia’s nearly two-year-old invasion, hoping to add momentum to efforts to pass $110 billion in stalled aid to Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies.

Illinois is adding tens of thousands of people to its population total, and California is getting misplaced sailors on an aircraft carrier put in the right location, after successfully asking for a review of their 2020 census figures.

New York City also appears to have gotten an additional 1,090 people added to its population total recently after asking the Census Bureau to double-check the city’s numbers from the head count of every U.S. resident, city officials said.

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson pressed President Joe Biden on Wednesday to recast U.S. immigration policy during a meeting with lawmakers at the White House about funding for Ukraine.

Republicans in Congress have blocked emergency funding that Biden has requested for Ukraine and threaten to force a partial shutdown of the government in an effort to push new security policies along the U.S.-Mexico border. They blame Biden's policies for an influx of immigrants into the United States.

LONDON/WASHINGTON/DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. on Wednesday returned the Yemen-based Houthi rebels to a list of terrorist groups, as the militants attacked their second U.S.-operated vessel in the Red Sea region this week and the U.S. military carried out fresh strikes.

Attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi militia on ships in the region since November have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers in an escalation of the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Wednesday its forces conducted strikes on 14 Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired from Yemen, in the fourth day of U.S. strikes in less than a week.

In a statement on social media platform X, U.S. Central Command said the Houthi missiles presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region.

"These missiles on launch rails ... could have been fired at any time, prompting U.S. forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves," it added.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Supporters of former rebel leader Guy Philippe have launched protests that have paralyzed some cities across Haiti as they demand the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

SEATTLE (AP) — Three Washington state police officers who were cleared of criminal charges in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis — a Black man who was shocked, beaten and restrained facedown on a sidewalk as he pleaded for breath — will each receive $500,000 to leave the Tacoma Police Department, according to documents released Tuesday.

“This says to the public that these are excellent officers, and it’s a shame Tacoma is losing them,” said Anne Bremner, an attorney for one of the officers, Timothy Rankine.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairmen of the top tax policy committees in Congress announced a bipartisan agreement Tuesday to enhance the child tax credit and revive a variety of tax breaks for businesses, a combination designed to attract support from lawmakers of both political parties.

The roughly $78 billion in tax cuts would be paid for by more quickly ending a tax break Congress approved during the COVID-19 pandemic that encouraged businesses to keep employees on their payroll.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday is taking up challenges by commercial fishermen to a fee requirement that could achieve a long-sought goal of business and conservative interests: limiting a wide swath of government regulations.

Billions of dollars are potentially at stake in front of a court that, like the rest of the federal judiciary, was remade during Donald Trump’s presidency by conservative interests that were motivated as much by weakening the regulatory state as social issues including abortion.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Promoters of a secretive Silicon Valley-backed ballot initiative to build a new city on farmland between Sacramento and San Francisco are releasing more details of their plan as they submit paperwork Wednesday to qualify for the November election.

California Forever, the company that stealthily snapped up more than $800 million of Solano County land in recent years, envisions a new community on roughly 30 square miles (75 square kilometers) between Travis Air Force Base and the tiny city of Rio Vista, according to a presentation by the group.