Author: chicagoinquirer

by Ope Adetayo ABUJA – Floods that swept through Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state have affected up to 1 million people, the state governor said on Wednesday, as authorities scrambled to rescue residents and put them in temporary shelters. The floods began when a dam overflowed following heavy rains, decimating a state-owned zoo and washing crocodiles and snakes into flooded communities. Local officials said it was the worst flooding in the state in two decades. Authorities have yet to release casualty figures. Borno state governor Babagana Zulum visited Bakassi camp on Wednesday and told reporters that authorities were assessing the damage…

by Simon Lewis WASHINGTON – The Biden administration on Wednesday notified the U.S. Congress that it will provide Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid, a State Department spokesperson said, the first time since 2020 Egypt will receive the total amount of U.S. funding despite human rights conditions. The announcement comes as Washington has relied heavily on Cairo – a longstanding U.S. ally – to mediate so far unsuccessful talks between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza. Of the $1.3 billion in U.S. foreign military financing allocated to Egypt, $320 million is subject…

by Andrea Shalal and Nandita Bose NEW YORK -President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris stood alongside former President Donald Trump and his 2024 running mate, JD Vance, on Wednesday to observe the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the New York City site where hijacked planes crashed and killed nearly 3,000 people. No remarks were scheduled at the ceremony at the ground zero site where planes brought down the World Trade Center’s twin towers. Relatives began reading the names of those who died. Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee and Trump, her Republican rival, appeared together…

by Pete Schroeder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. bank investors, analysts and executives were trying to figure out on Wednesday how lenders would fare under revised hikes in capital requirements, with considerable uncertainty over what specifics will emerge from the Federal Reserve and other regulators, and the presidential election a looming wild card. The Fed’s regulatory chief Michael Barr on Tuesday outlined a plan to raise big bank capital by 9%, easing an earlier proposal to hike capital 19%. It was a major concession to Wall Street banks that had lobbied to water down the “Basel” draft. The central bank is…

by Nandita Bose, Gram Slattery and Joseph Ax PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris put Republican Donald Trump on the defensive at a combative presidential debate on Tuesday with a stream of attacks on abortion limits, his fitness for office and his myriad legal woes, as both candidates sought a campaign-altering moment in their closely fought election. A former prosecutor, Harris, 59, appeared to get under the former president’s skin repeatedly, prompting a visibly angry Trump, 78, to deliver a series of falsehood-filled retorts. At one point, she brought up Trump’s campaign rallies, goading him by saying that…

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday after experiencing symptoms, but is engaged in her duties while working from home, Treasury spokesperson Lily Adams said. Yellen will continue to work from home until she can return to Treasury offices, Adams said in an emailed statement. Yellen, 78, returned to Washington on Saturday from a three-day trip to Raleigh, North Carolina, and Austin, Texas, to promote the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act investments in clean energy and the Internal Revenue Service.

By Danielle Broadway DETROIT – A Michigan inmate who accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting him at a party almost 30 years ago has been awarded a $100 million judgment against the rapper and record producer. Derrick Lee Smith, 51, won the multimillion-dollar judgment by default in Lenawee County Circuit Court during a virtual hearing on Monday after Combs, 54, failed to show up. An attorney for Combs said the rapper would move to have the judgment dismissed. “This man (Smith) is a convicted felon and sexual predator, who has been sentenced on 14 counts of sexual…

CHICAGO – Former Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has been named new coach of the United States men’s team, U.S. Soccer announced on Tuesday. Pochettino, who parted ways with Premier League side Chelsea in May after one season in charge, will take the reins in the U.S. ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States. The Argentine, a former Paris St Germain and Tottenham Hotspur manager, said his decision to join U.S. soccer was not just about football, but about the journey the country was on and he couldn’t pass up the…

by Ahmed Kingimi MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – Floods in north Nigeria have killed more than 80% of animals in a large zoo with an array of wildlife from lions and crocodiles to buffaloes and ostriches, the facility said on Tuesday. “Some deadly animals have been washed away into our communities, like crocodiles and snakes,” Sanda Kyarimi Park Zoo added in a statement on the floods in northern Borno state, urging residents to take precautions. Floods began when a dam overflowed following heavy rains, uprooting thousands of people. The disaster has affected other facilities in the state capital Maiduguri including the post…

by Amina Niasse NEW YORK – The Biden Administration on Monday said it had finalized regulation to help ensure the 175 million Americans with private health insurance have access to affordable mental health services. The 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act already requires insurers and corporate-backed health plans to provide access and payment structures for mental health care services on par with other medical services. In practice, that is often not the case, with less than half of U.S. adults with mental illness able to access care in 2020, while nearly 70 percent of children cannot receive treatment,…