World

WASHINGTON — Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected House speaker on a historic post-midnight 15th ballot early Saturday, overcoming holdouts from his own ranks and floor tensions that boiled over after a chaotic week that tested the new GOP majority’s ability to govern. “My father always told me, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” McCarthy told cheering fellow Republicans. Eager …

YUMA, Ariz— Migrants who entered the U.S. illegally under moonlit skies and waist-deep cold water Friday were devastated to learn they may be sent back to Mexico under expanded limits on the pursuit of asylum. About 200 migrants who walked in the dark for about an hour to surrender to Border Patrol agents in Yuma, Arizona, included many Cubans — …

WASHINGTON— Such are the fractures in the country, between the political parties and inside the Republican Party itself, that one time-honored specialty of Washington — memorializing and coming together over national trauma — isn’t what it used to be. Friday’s moment of silence at the Capitol to contemplate the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on it was expected to draw mostly Democrats. At …

The aggrieved five governors of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, otherwise known as G5 have arrived at the ancient Mapo Hall in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital for the flag-off of the re-election campaign of one of their members, Seyi Makinde. Other members of the G5 led by Nyesom Wike of Rivers State are Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu; Benue …

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are at a crossroads as leader Kevin McCarthy has failed over and over again to become House speaker, but he remains determined to persuade enough conservative holdouts to vote for him and end the stalemate. What started as a political novelty, the first time in 100 years a nominee has not won the gavel on the first vote, has devolved into a bitter …

WASHINGTON— The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level in more than three months last week, reflecting a still-robust job market despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy and bring down decades-high inflation. Applications for unemployment aid for the week ending Dec. 31 fell by 19,000 to 204,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. …

BOSTON— The mastermind of the nationwide college admissions bribery scandal is set to be sentenced on Wednesday after helping authorities secure the convictions of a slew of wealthy parents involved in his scheme to rig the selection process at top-tier schools. Federal prosecutors are asking for six years behind bars for Rick Singer, who for more than a decade helped deep-pocketed parents get …

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said House Republicans’ inability to unify behind a speaker candidate, which has prevented the chamber from beginning its legislative business, was “embarrassing” and “not a good look” for the country. Speaking at the White House on Wednesday before traveling to Kentucky for an event to highlight last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Biden …

World football bid him farewell The casket bearing the body of the late Brazil football legend, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele, was draped in the Brazilian flag, as the body was moved round major streets before his burial yesterday in Sao Paulo. The casket left Santos’ stadium on a fire engine for the procession with thousands of mourners lining the …

WASHINGTON— House Republicans opened the second day of the new Congress on Wednesday with no apparent off-ramp from the political chaos as GOP leader Kevin McCarthy vowed to become House speaker despite losing in multiple rounds of voting that threw the new majority into tumult. The House gaveled in at noon, and a McCarthy ally quickly re-nominated him for the job with …