USA

30 Dec 2022; MEMO: Nearly 1,700 journalists have been killed across the world over the past 20 years, an average of more than 80 a year, according to a report published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

The years since 2003 have been described as the "especially deadly decades", with 2022 leading with the highest number of deaths in the past four years.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday finalized regulations that protect hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, repealing a Trump-era rule that federal courts had thrown out and that environmentalists said left waterways vulnerable to pollution.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A suspect in the killings of four University of Idaho students was arrested in eastern Pennsylvania, a law enforcement official said Friday.

Arrest paperwork filed in Monroe County Court said Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was being held for extradition to Idaho on a warrant for first degree murder.

A law enforcement official confirmed the arrest to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the official could not publicly discuss details of the investigation ahead of a formal announcement expected later Friday.

Dec 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday that electric vehicles leased by consumers starting Jan. 1 can qualify for up to $7,500 in commercial clean vehicle tax credits, a decision that makes those assembled outside North America eligible.

The announcement is a win for South Korea and some automakers that earlier this month sought approval to use the commercial electric vehicle tax credit to boost consumer EV access. Automakers said the credit could be used to reduce leasing prices.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The United States is bracing for the end of 2022, a year marked by a deep political divide alongside an array of unresolved problems.

"Our politics has gotten so angry, so mean, so partisan," U.S. President Joe Biden said from the White House as part of his Christmas remarks this year.

"Too often we see each other as enemies, not as neighbors; as Democrats or Republicans, not as fellow Americans," Biden said. "We've become too divided."

PARTISAN DISCORD

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines continued to extract itself from sustained scheduling chaos Thursday, cancelling another 2,350 flights after a winter storm overwhelmed its operations days ago.

The Dallas carrier acknowledged it has inadequate and outdated operations technology that can leave flight crews out of position when adverse weather strikes.

Southwest was the only airline unable to recover from storm-related delays that began over the weekend when snow, ice and high winds raked portions of the country.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Rep.-elect George Santos of New York was under investigation by Long Island prosecutors on Wednesday, after revelations surfaced that the now-embattled Republican lied about his heritage, education and professional pedigree as he campaigned for office.

Despite intensifying doubt about his fitness to hold federal office, Santos has shown no signs of stepping aside — even as he publicly admitted to a long list of lies.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 28 (APP): The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, Tuesday called on the Taliban to revoke immediately a raft of policies that target the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, saying that they cause “terrible, cascading effects” on their lives and risk destabilizing the nation.

“No country can develop – indeed survive – socially and economically with half its population excluded”, he said in a statement.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 27 (NNN-UNNS) — A hundred million people across the world were forced to leave their homes in 2022 and the United Nations is continuing to help those in need in a myriad of ways, UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said.

Filippo Grandi, head of the agency, described the figure as “a record that should never have been set,” UN News Service (UNNS) said.