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District of Columbia
Infrastructure plan has 4,300 projects
WASHINGTON -- Six months after the signing of President Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure package, the government said Monday there are 4,300 projects underway with more than $110 billion in funding announced -- milestones the administration is publicly heralding as midterm politics intensify.
White House senior adviser Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans, said the roads, bridges and other projects are laying "a foundation for tremendous growth into the future."
Judges limit audit of some deportations
WASHINGTON -- A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday ruled that federal courts are powerless to review immigration officials' decisions in some deportation cases, even when they have made what a dissenting justice called "egregious factual mistakes."
The court ruled 5-4 against Georgia resident Pankajkumar Patel, who checked a box indicating he was a U.S. citizen when renewing his Georgia driver's license in 2008.
Biden to deploy US troops to Somalia
WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden signed an order Monday to redeploy hundreds of U.S. troops to Somalia to counter the Islamic extremist rebel group al-Shabab, an effort that American military leaders said had been hampered by President Donald Trump's late-term decision to withdraw forces from the country.
U.S. troops will be repositioned from elsewhere in Africa to train and provide other support to Somali forces in their fight against al-Shabab, which is considered the largest and wealthiest affiliate of the al-Qaida extremist organization.
World
Costa Rica
Ransomware gang threatens gov't
SAN JOSE -- A ransomware gang that infiltrated some Costa Rican government computer systems has upped its threat, saying its goal is now to overthrow the government.
The Russian-speaking Conti gang tried to increase the pressure to pay a ransom by raising its demand to $20 million.
Israel
Catholic leader blasts Israeli conduct
JERUSALEM -- The top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land on Monday condemned the police beating of mourners carrying the casket of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, accusing the authorities of violating human rights and disrespecting the Catholic Church.
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told reporters at St. Joseph Hospital in Jerusalem that Friday's incident, broadcast around the world, was a "disproportionate use of force" against a large crowd of people waving Palestinian flags as they proceeded from the hospital to a nearby Catholic church in Jerusalem's Old City.
France
President names new prime minister
PARIS -- Centrist politician Elisabeth Borne was appointed France's new prime minister on Monday, becoming only the second woman in history to hold the post.
Borne, 61, the labor minister in French President Emmanuel Macron's previous government, succeeds Jean Castex, whose resignation on Monday was expected after Macron's reelection last month.