Author: chicagoinquirer

by Laura Unger BOSTON, MA – More women chose to have their tubes tied after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, a new study shows, and the biggest increases were in states that ban abortion. A research letter published Wednesday in JAMA examined insurance claims data from 2021 and 2022 for around 4.8 million women who got tubal ligations, which are surgeries to close the fallopian tubes so the patient can no longer get pregnant. The data came from 36 states and Washington, D.C., and researchers categorized these places as “banned,” “limited” or “protected,” based on their abortion policies.…

By Joseph Ax BOSTON – The percentage of Black students in Harvard University’s freshman class dropped by more than a fifth following a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that barred colleges from using race as a factor in admissions, according to data released by the school on Wednesday. The Class of 2028 is 14% Black, compared with 18% last year, Harvard said, while the share of Hispanic students ticked up slightly from 14% to 16%. Harvard, one of the world’s most elite universities, was one of two defendants in the 2023 Supreme Court case, along with the University of North…

by Helen Coster NEW YORK – The U.S. presidential debate between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump attracted 57.5 million television viewers across seven TV networks, according to preliminary Nielsen data on Wednesday. Tuesday night’s event was the first time the candidates in the Nov. 5 presidential election had met face to face. The viewing figure tops the roughly 51 million people who watched Trump debate then-candidate President Joe Biden in June. It does not capture the full extent of online viewing, which has grown in popularity as traditional TV audiences decline. Nor does it reflect…

by Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON – U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration faced increasing pressure from both Republicans and his fellow Democrats on Wednesday to ease restrictions on how Ukraine can use weapons provided by the United States in its war against Russia. Senator Ben Cardin, the Democratic chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted recent Russian attacks that killed civilians and destroyed infrastructure, calling for quick action. “It’s time to allow Ukraine to be able to defend itself against these air attacks in a more effective way, and the United States needs to be the leader in that regard,” Cardin…

by Kanishka Singh CHICAGO-Pop megastar Taylor Swift drew nearly 9 million “likes” to her Instagram post backing Vice President Kamala Harris for president from celebrities that included Jennifer Aniston, U.S. basketball star Caitlin Clark and Selena Gomez. Soon after Harris, a Democrat, finished debating her Republican rival Donald Trump on Tuesday night, Swift, 34, told her 283 million followers that Harris and running mate Tim Walz would get her vote in the Nov. 5 election. “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them,” Swift posted. She called Harris…

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…