Washington DC

Rome, Apr 8 (AP) The United Nations says prices for world food commodities like grains and vegetable oils reached their highest levels ever last month due to fallout from the war in Ukraine.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday its Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices for a basket of commodities, recorded a double-digit percentage-point increase in March from the record level already set the previous month.

08 April 2022; MEMO: The Biden administration has stated in congressional correspondence that the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkiye would serve US interests and bolster NATO unity, according to a report published on Wednesday.

Albuquerque, Apr 7 (AP) A watchdog group is suing the National Nuclear Security Administration over its failure to release public records related to the US government's plans to manufacture key components for the nation's nuclear arsenal.

The complaint filed Wednesday in US District Court in Washington, DC, covers more than a dozen records requests made since 2017 by the Los Alamos Study Group.

The nonprofit group is seeking more transparency about what it calls one the largest warhead-related programs since the end of the Cold War.

Washington, Apr 5 (PTI) The White House has reiterated that it is not in India's interest to "accelerate or increase" imports of Russian energy and other commodities, while offering to work with New Delhi to help it reduce its reliance on imports from Moscow.

01 April 2022; MEMO: Global outrage over the brutal killing of George Floyd by a US police officer in 2020 prompted senior leaders of the pro-Israeli Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to recommend the termination of its controversial practice of sending US police delegations to Israel, according to a draft internal memo obtained by The Guardian and Jewish Currents.

31 March 2022; MEMO: The US Treasury Department said yesterday that it has imposed new sanctions on five individuals and several entities alleged by Washington to be involved in Iran's ballistic missile programme.

The treasury said that the sanctions target the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unit responsible for research and development of ballistic missiles, as well as Iran's Parchin Chemical Industries. This is the intermediary which procures parts for missile propellant systems.

25 March 2022; MEMO: The United States is still pursuing talks on Iran's nuclear program but will work with allies to increase pressure on Iran if diplomacy fails, White House National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Friday.

The talks were close to an agreement until Russia made last-minute demands of the United States, insisting that sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine would not hurt its trade with Iran, Reuters reports.

24 March 2022; MEMO: Thousands of academics who are members of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) have voted to endorse a boycott of Israel. The resolution "endorses the Palestinian call for solidarity in the form of boycotts, divestment and sanctions."

24 March 2022; MEMO: US refiners have begun snapping up fuel oil cargoes from the Middle East this month after US President, Joe Biden, banned Russian oil imports over the country's invasion of Ukraine, shipping data showed, Reuters reports.

The United States, last year, imported about 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) of different types of fuel oil and other feed stocks that mostly went to US Gulf Coast refineries to supplement heavy crude oil, according to market research data.

22 March 2022; MEMO: The US imposed sanctions yesterday on Sudan's Central Reserve Police Force, accusing it of being "excessive" in its response to peaceful protesters after last October's military coup, Reuters has reported. According to the US Treasury, the Central Reserve Police Force has been at the forefront of the "violent response" of Sudanese security forces to peaceful protests in Khartoum.