Nation and world news — at a glance — for September 11

Study: Doctors give Black women unneeded c-sections to fill operating rooms

(NYTimes) — Obstetricians are more likely to give Black women unnecessary cesarean sections, a study of nearly 1 million births in 68 hospitals in New Jersey has concluded. Even if a Black mother and a white mother with similar medical histories saw the same doctor at the same hospital, the Black mother was about 20% more likely to have her baby via C-section, the study found. The additional operations on Black patients were more likely to happen when hospitals had no scheduled C-sections, meaning their operating rooms were sitting empty. That suggests racial bias paired with financial incentives played a role in doctors’ decision-making, the researchers said.

Missouri high court restores abortion measure to ballot

(NYTimes) — The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a bid to strike a question on the November ballot that will ask voters whether to establish a right to abortion in the state constitution. The court handed down its one-page ruling less than three hours before the state’s deadline for printing ballots for absentee voters. The ruling capped a furious few days of legal maneuvers, as anti-abortion groups and state Republicans made a last-ditch effort to stop the ballot amendment. The measure, which the secretary of state certified in August, is one of 10 in states across the country that would establish protections for abortion.

Slight cooling aids fight against fires near Los Angeles

(NYTimes) — Slightly cooler temperatures aided intense firefighting efforts around Los Angeles on Tuesday, even as the number of evacuation orders grew and pockets of bad air forced at least 10 school districts to close some classrooms. The fires were among 71 large conflagrations burning across the United States, largely in the West. Forecasters issued a rare red flag warning for parts of Nevada on Wednesday, signaling the potential for dangerous fire conditions in places including Reno and Carson City. Other large blazes were burning in Idaho and Oregon. Significantly cooler temperatures are expected to arrive Wednesday as a brutal heat wave tapers off.

Poverty increased in 2023 as prices rose and pandemic aid programs expired

(NYTimes) — The nation’s poverty rate rose last year even as incomes improved, the government reported Tuesday, reflecting higher prices and the expiration of the last pandemic relief programs. The share of Americans living in poverty as defined by the Census Bureau’s “supplemental” measure, which takes into account a broader range of benefits and expenses than the official poverty rate, rose to 12.9% in 2023, from 12.4% in 2022. The median household income, adjusted for inflation, rose to $80,610, finally regaining its prepandemic level. Poverty levels have risen anew in recent years as a strong labor market collided with the most rapid inflation in a generation.

Google and Apple face billions in penalties after losing EU appeals

(NYTimes) — The European Union’s highest court delivered the bloc a major victory Tuesday in its yearslong campaign to regulate the technology industry, ruling against Apple and Google in two landmark cases. The decisions were seen as an important test of efforts in Europe to clamp down on the world’s largest technology companies. In the Apple case, the court sided with an EU order from 2016 for Ireland to collect 13 billion euros, worth about $14.4 billion today, in unpaid taxes from the company. In the Google case, the court agreed with the commission’s 2017 decision to fine the company 2.4 billion euros for giving preferential treatment in Google search results to its own price-comparison shopping service.

Those Keurig coffee pods? They’re not so recyclable

(NYTimes) — Financial regulators on Tuesday charged Keurig Dr Pepper, the maker of popular K-Cup single-use coffee pods, with making inaccurate claims about the recyclability of the plastic pods. The fine, $1.5 million, is small for one of the world’s largest beverage companies. Still, experts said the action signaled a willingness by financial regulators to challenge recycling claims based on the principle that they could be inflating a company’s shareholder value. “Public companies must ensure that the reports they file with the SEC are complete and accurate,” said John T. Dugan, an associate director at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Harris visited a spice shop. Her critics flooded Yelp with bad reviews

(NYTimes) — Vice President Kamala Harris preached unity when she took a break from debate prep and visited a spice shop in Pittsburgh on Saturday. But the brief campaign stop at Penzeys Spices elicited a bitterly divided reaction that underscored how distant the goal of national harmony remains. Penzeys, which is based in Wisconsin and has shops in more than 20 states, is known for pushing a staunchly liberal viewpoint and openly criticizing Republicans. Yelp temporarily shut down comments on the page for the Penzeys shop in Pittsburgh after it was flooded with comments about Harris’ visit.

US, imposing sanctions, accuses Iran of sending missiles to Russia

(NYTimes) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Iran on Tuesday of shipping short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine and said the Biden administration was imposing more sanctions against Tehran. The penalties include measures against Iran Air, the country’s main airline, he said. Russia is likely to use the missiles “within weeks in Ukraine against Ukrainians,” Blinken said at a news conference in London. He added that dozens of Russian soldiers have been training in Iran to use the missiles, the Fath-360 model with a range of 75 miles, and that the U.S. had shared intelligence in recent days with its allies on Iran’s aid.

Ukraine fires deadly drone barrage at Russia, taking war closer to Moscow

(NYTimes) — Ukraine struck Russia with one of its largest drone attacks of the war Tuesday, killing a woman in the Moscow area, igniting fires in high-rise buildings and forcing the closure of major airports near the capital, Kremlin officials said. The Russian Ministry of Defense said it had shot down 144 Ukrainian drones in multiple regions from the border area near the war zone in southwestern Russia to suburban towns around Moscow, highlighting Ukraine’s growing capability to strike back at Russia with a fleet of domestically made, long-range weapons. Ukraine had no immediate comment Tuesday.

Israeli bombing in Gaza ‘humanitarian zone’ kills at least 19, officials say

(NYTimes) — Israeli airstrikes early Tuesday slammed into a part of the Gaza Strip that Israel had declared a humanitarian zone, killing at least 19 people and wounding 60, according to Gaza officials, in an area where tens of thousands of Palestinians forced from their homes had sought refuge in tents and makeshift shelters. The Israeli military said in a statement that the strikes in Muwasi had targeted three senior Hamas militants who had been involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led assault on Israel. The Israeli military said in a statement it had carried out a “precise strike” and had tried to mitigate the risk to civilians.

Renowned scholar of Islam is convicted of rape in Switzerland

(NYTimes) — ariq Ramadan, a prominent Swiss-born scholar of Islam, was found guilty on appeal of raping and sexually coercing a woman in Geneva in 2008, reversing a previous acquittal, Swiss authorities said Tuesday. The Geneva Court of Justice said in a statement that Ramadan, 62, had been convicted by an appeals court and sentenced to three years in prison, with two of them suspended. The ruling, dated Aug. 28, overturned a lower court’s 2023 decision that had cleared Ramadan of all charges, the statement said. Ramadan, a renowned Muslim philosopher and theologian was accused by several women in 2017 and 2018 of sexual assault. Ramadan has always denied the allegations.

Pakistani police arrest lawmakers allied with former Prime Minister Imran Khan

(NYTimes) — Pakistani police arrested at least 10 lawmakers belonging to imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political party, in an hourslong raid on the parliament building in Islamabad that began Monday night, officials said. The police sweep was the first time in recent memory that Pakistani lawmakers have been arrested while at the parliament, and it intensified the political turmoil gripping the country over the past nearly three years. That crisis has pit Pakistan’s powerful military against the still-strong political force of Khan and his supporters. The party members were arrested on charges related to anti-terrorism laws, according to court documents and leaders of Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, or PTI.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2024 The New York Times Company