Tag Archives: United States

Bloomberg News reports: PJM Interconnection LLC has declared a level one emergency for the 13-state eastern US grid and called on all power plants to operate at full capacity Thursday during a heat wave. The largest US grid issued an Energy Emergency Alert level one, meaning it is concerned about being able to maintain adequate power reserves on July 27 …

The Associated Press reports: The American-led U.N. Command said Monday it has started a conversation with North Korea about a U.S. soldier who ran into the North last week across one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders. Andrew Harrison, a British lieutenant general who is the deputy commander at the U.N. Command, refused to say when the conversation started, …

The Associated Press reports: North Korea hasn’t responded to U.S. attempts to discuss the American soldier who bolted across the heavily armed border, officials in Washington said, underscoring that the serviceman’s prospects for a quick release are unclear at a time of high tensions and inactive communication channels. Pvt. Travis King, who was supposed to be on his way to …

Reuters reports: The U.S. military was scrambling on Wednesday to determine the fate of an American soldier who made an unauthorised crossing of the inter-Korean border into North Korea, throwing Washington into a new crisis in its dealing with the nuclear-armed state. The U.S. Army identified the soldier as Private Travis T. King who joined in 2021 and was facing …

The Washington Post reports: North Korean officials have detained a U.S. national who crossed into the country through the demarcation zone without authorization, a United Nations body responsible for ensuring security on the inter-Korean border reported Tuesday. The person detained is a U.S. Army soldier, according to two U.S. officials. One of the officials said the soldier was scheduled on …

The Associated Press reports: An American has crossed the heavily fortified border from South Korea into North Korea, the American-led U.N. Command overseeing the area said Tuesday, amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear program. The U.N. Command tweeted that the U.S. citizen was on a tour to the Korean border village of Panmunjom and crossed the border into the …

The Hill reports: Nearly 30 percent of American households comprise a single person, a record high. The U.S. Census shows that “solitaries” made up 8 percent of all households in 1940. The share of solo households doubled to 18 percent in 1970 and more than tripled, to an estimated 29 percent, by 2022. The solo-living movement intersects with several other …

Via press release from the State Department: Reconsider travel to mainland China due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) government arbitrarily enforces local laws, including issuing exit bans on U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries, without fair and transparent process …

Gallup Polling reports: Seventy-one percent of Americans think same-sex marriage should be legal, matching the high Gallup recorded in 2022. Public support for legally recognizing gay marriages has been consistently above 50% since the early 2010s. When Gallup first polled about same-sex marriage in 1996, barely a quarter of the public (27%) supported legalizing such unions. It would take another …

From Ipsos Polling: The Ipsos LGBT+ Pride 2023 survey finds that an average of 9% of adults in 30 countries identify as LGBT+, with sharp generational differences. The survey was conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform in February and March 2023 among more than 22,500 adults under the age of 75. On average, across the 30 countries …

The Hill reports: Only half of Americans now say they are sure God exists. That finding, from the closely watched General Social Survey, stands out among several nuggets of new data about religion in America. Not quite 50 percent of Americans say they have no doubt about the existence of God, according to the 2022 survey, released Wednesday by NORC, …

CTV News reports: Canada’s families minister says the federal government is prepared to offer Americans access to a widely used abortion pill that could be restricted in the United States. Speaking to the host of CTV’s Power Play, Vassy Kapelos, on Thursday, Families Minister Karina Gould said the federal government “would work to provide that for American women” should the …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Patriotism, religious faith, having children and other priorities that helped define the national character for generations are receding in importance to Americans, a new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll finds. Some 38% of respondents said patriotism was very important to them, and 39% said religion was very important. That was down sharply from when the Journal …

The Guardian reports: A Russian fighter has collided with a US Reaper drone, forcing it down into the Black Sea, in what US forces called an an “unsafe and unprofessional” intercept. A US European Command statement said the collision happened just after 7am on Tuesday morning, when two Russian Su-27 fighter jets flew up to the MQ-9 Reaper drone over …

Axios reports: China’s Foreign Ministry claimed on Tuesday that the country has been “open and transparent” about its efforts to trace the origins of COVID-19 and accused the U.S. of politicizing the issue. The U.S. Department of Energy concluded in a “low confidence” assessment that the pandemic most likely started from a laboratory leak. China has repeatedly dismissed the lab …

Politico reports: The White House on Friday announced a slate of new sanctions against Russia to mark the one-year anniversary of the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The Treasury and State departments will implement sweeping additional sanctions aimed at further degrading the Russian economy, the White House said in a news release. The new sanctions will target more than 200 individuals …

ABC News reports: A close-up photo of the Chinese spy balloon, taken mid-air from a U-2 spy plane, has been released by the U.S. military The photo was taken on Friday, Feb. 3 as the balloon flew over the American Midwest at an altitude of 60,000 feet — as the U-2 spy plane trailed it flew across the continental United …

Gallup Polling reports: After showing perceptible increases in 2020 and 2021, U.S. adults’ identification as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual held steady in 2022, at 7.2%. The current percentage is double what it was when Gallup first measured LGBT identification a decade ago. The data are based on aggregated polling data from 2022 Gallup telephone surveys, …

CNN reports: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken today announced $100 million in disaster relief aid for Turkey and Syria as the countries grapple with the aftermath of a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake that has killed at least 46,000 people. The top US diplomat, who took a helicopter tour Sunday of some of the hardest-hit areas alongside Turkish foreign minister …

The New York Times reports: President Biden made a surprise trip to the besieged capital of Ukraine on Monday, traveling under a cloak of secrecy into a war zone to demonstrate what he called America’s “unwavering support” of the effort to beat back Russian forces nearly a year after they invaded the country. Mr. Biden arrived unannounced early Monday morning …