Author: chicagoinquirer

by Aamer Madhani WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden strode into the White House four years ago with a foreign policy agenda that put repairing alliances strained by four years of Republican Donald Trump’s “America First” worldview front and center. The one-term Democrat took office in the throes of the worst global pandemic in a century and his plans were quickly stress-tested by a series of complicated international crises: the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and Hamas’ brutal 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in the Middle East. As Biden prepares to leave…

by Rob Maaddi Lamar Jackson vs. Josh Allen won’t decide the NFL MVP next week. The stakes are higher with a spot in the AFC championship game on the line. Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens (13-5) will visit Allen and the Buffalo Bills (14-4) in the divisional round while Patrick Mahomes and the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs (15-2) will host C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans (11-7). The winners face off on Jan. 26 for a berth in the Super Bowl. The Bills advanced with a 31-7 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday after the…

Uby Jae Hong, Holly Ramer and Michael R. Blood LOS ANGELES (AP) — The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading blazes before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward some of the city’s most famous landmarks. Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said in a statement Saturday evening. The previous number of confirmed fatalities before Saturday was 11, but officials said they expected that figure…

by Noah Trister BALTIMORE — Lamar Jackson handed off to Derrick Henry, then slid out to the left as if he still had the ball. A couple linebackers shifted into Jackson’s path, leaving the middle open for Henry to run through for a 44-yard touchdown. That’s the quandary Jackson and Henry create for defensive players. First, they have to figure out who has the ball — and if enough people are out of position, either Baltimore star can make you pay. Jackson threw for two touchdowns in a flawless first half, Henry scored twice while leading Baltimore’s devastating running game,…

by Will Weissert and Amelia Thomson-Deveaux WASHINGTON (AP) — As Joe Biden prepares to leave office, Americans have a dimmer view of his presidency than they did at the end of Donald Trump’s first term or Barack Obama’s second, a new poll finds. Around one-quarter of U.S. adults said Biden was a “good” or “great” president, with less than 1 in 10 saying he was “great,” according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. It’s a stark illustration of how tarnished Biden’s legacy has become, with many members of his own party seeing his Democratic…

by Linsday Whitehurst WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider reinstating some preventative care coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act that were struck down by a lower court. The federal government appealed to the high court after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with employers who argued they can’t be forced to provide full insurance coverage for things like medication to prevent HIV and some cancer screenings. The lower-court ruling chipped away at the program sometimes referred to as Obamacare. Challengers raised religious and procedural objections to some of the requirements. Not all preventive care…

by Wilson Mcmakin DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The United States announced Friday that it would be returning $52.88 million in seized assets to Nigeria as part of a yearslong corruption probe against former oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke and associates, according to a joint statement by Nigeria’s minister of justice and the United States government. It marks the first repatriation of assets linked to Alison-Madueke, who served as Nigeria’s oil minister from 2010 to 2015. She rose to prominence as a powerful figure under former President Goodluck Jonathan, and became the first female president of the oil alliance OPEC. The seized…

by Steve Megargee GREEN BAY, Wis. — Caleb Williams gained a shot of confidence and Cairo Santos earned a measure of redemption. The Chicago Bears finished a disappointing season on a high note, while the Green Bay Packers limped into the playoffs with plenty of questions. Williams drove Chicago to Santos’ 51-yard field goal as time expired in a 24-22 victory over the Packers, who lost quarterback Jordan Love and wide receiver Christian Watson to injuries on Sunday. The Bears (5-12) beat the Packers for the first time since 2018 and ended an 11-game losing streak in this rivalry. They…

by Annie Risemberg ACCRA, Ghana — Flipping through a family album, Keachia Bowers paused on a photo of her as a baby on her father’s lap as he held the 1978 album “Africa Stand Alone” by the Jamaican reggae band Culture. “When I was 10 years old, I was supposed to come to Ghana with him,” she said. A day earlier, she had marked 10 years since her father’s death. Though he was a Pan-Africanist who dreamed of visiting Ghana, he never made it here. Bowers and her husband, Damon Smith, however, are among the 524 diaspora members, mostly Black…

by Michael R. Sisak and Jennifer Peltz NEW YORK — In an extraordinary turn, a judge Friday set President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case for Jan. 10 — little over a week before he’s due to return to the White House — but indicated he wouldn’t be jailed. The development nevertheless leaves Trump on course to be the first president to take office convicted of felony crimes. Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump’s trial, signaled in a written decision that he’d sentence the former and future president to what’s known as an unconditional discharge, in…