The Biden administration is close to tightening rules on some overseas investments by U.S. companies in an effort to limit China’s ability to acquire technologies that could improve its military prowess, according to a U.S. official familiar with the deliberations.

The soon-to-be-issued executive order from President Joe Biden will limit American investment in advanced technologies that have national security applications — such as next-generation military capabilities that could help China improve the speed and accuracy of military decision making, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The expected action is the latest effort by the White House to target China’s military and technology sectors at a time of increasingly fraught relations between the world’s two biggest economies.

In October, the Biden administration imposed export controls to limit China’s ability to access advanced chips, which it says can be used to make weapons, commit human rights abuses and improve the speed and accuracy of its military logistics.

The complicated relationship has become further strained in recent weeks after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon last month that traversed the country. The Biden administration has also publicized U.S. intelligence findings that raise concern Beijing is weighing providing Russia weaponry for its ongoing war on Ukraine.

Cleanup, rescues begin after storm hits U.S.

Cleanup began in battered parts of the South and Midwest after a sprawling storm system produced ferocious winds and heavy snow that caused widespread damage and multiple deaths before racing through the Northeast on Saturday.

More than a foot of snow fell in parts of New York state, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

The storm’s death toll rose with additional fatalities reported in Indiana and Michigan, while Kentucky’s governor said at least five people died in that state as the system spawned straight-line winds, possible tornadoes and powerful thunderstorms in the South on Friday.

The system previously slammed California with as much as 10 feet of snow. Search crews have rescued Californians stranded for days and trapped in their homes. A pair of teen hikers was rescued by helicopter from the snow-plastered San Bernardino mountains. Authorities also rescued a man stuck in a car in Inyo County.

Some residents in the mountains east of Los Angeles will likely remain trapped in their homes for at least another week after the snowfall proved too much to handle for most plows.

GOP censures Uvalde rep for backing gun laws

Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas was censured Saturday in a rare move by his state party over votes that included supporting new gun safety laws after the Uvalde school shooting in his district.

The Republican Party of Texas voted 57-5 with one abstention, underlining how the two-term congressman’s willingness to break with conservatives on key issues during his time in office has caused GOP activists and some colleagues to bristle.

That independent streak includes opposing a sweeping House GOP immigration proposal over the U.S.-Mexico border, which includes a large portion of his South Texas district; voting to defend same-sex marriage and an outright “no” against a House rules package.

Nearly 60 charged in multi-state drug bust

Federal law enforcement officials in Pittsburgh on Friday announced charges against almost 60 people around the country allegedly involved in a large-scale drug operation and the seizure of millions of fentanyl pills.

FBI-Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Mike Nordwall said agents had been able to take 2 million fentanyl pills off the street.

Acting U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti said 57 people have been charged in two related indictments. He said the investigation began in 2018, starting with a violent street gang, and eventually moved to agents using wiretaps.

Those interceptions revealed the drug organization had operations in Indiana, Westmoreland and Armstrong counties, plus Phoenix, Cleveland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Wichita, Kansas, and Mexico.

1 killed in jet during severe turbulence

A business jet was buffeted by severe turbulence over New England, causing a rare passenger death and forcing the aircraft to divert to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut, officials said Saturday.

Five people were aboard the Bombardier executive jet that was shaken by turbulence late Friday afternoon while traveling from Keene, New Hampshire, to Leesburg, Virginia, said Sarah Sulick, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board.

The extent of the damage to the aircraft was unclear, and the NTSB did not provide details including whether the victim was wearing a seatbelt. Connecticut state police confirmed one person was taken to a hospital but didn’t provide further details.

Earlier this week, seven people were hurt badly enough to be taken to hospitals after a Lufthansa Airbus A330 experienced turbulence while flying from Texas to Germany. The plane was diverted to Virginia’s Washington Dulles International Airport.

But deaths are extremely rare. “I can’t remember the last fatality due to turbulence,” said Robert Sumwalt, a former NTSB chair and executive director of the Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Fiery Md. tanker crash kills driver, burns homes

A tanker truck hauling a flammable liquid crashed on a Maryland highway Saturday and caught fire, killing the driver and damaging several homes and vehicles, authorities said.

The truck crashed around noon on U.S. 15 in Frederick, about an hour’s drive west of Baltimore. Photos showed massive flames and billowing smoke.

Fire crews arrived within minutes of receiving several emergency calls and found the truck completely engulfed in a fire that had also spread to three homes and automobiles, Frederick Fire Chief Tom Coe said.

China expands defense budget, still 2nd to U.S.

China announced a 7.2% increase in its defense budget for the coming year, up slightly from last year’s 7.1% rate of increase.

That marks the eighth consecutive year of single-digit percentage point increases in what is now the world’s second-largest military budget. The 2023 figure was given as 1.55 trillion yuan ($224 billion), roughly double the figure from 2013.

China spent 1.7% of GDP on its military in 2021, according to the World Bank, while the U.S., with its massive overseas obligations, spent a relatively high 3.5%.

U.N.: Iran will restore nuclear checks

The head of the U.N.’s nuclear agency said Saturday that Iran pledged to restore cameras and other monitoring equipment at its nuclear sites and to allow more inspections at a facility where particles of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade were recently detected.

But a joint statement issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran’s nuclear body only gave vague assurances that Tehran would address longstanding complaints about the access it gives the watchdog’s inspectors to its disputed nuclear program.

— From news services