North America

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Growing suspicion about the security of voting systems has kindled a back-to-the future moment among conservatives in some parts of the U.S.

Republican lawmakers in at least six states have introduced legislation that would require all election ballots to be counted by hand instead of electronic tabulators. Similar proposals have been floated within some local governments, including about a dozen New Hampshire towns and Washoe County in the presidential battleground state of Nevada.

11 March 2022; MEMO: The US Senate approved $1 billion in supplemental funding for Israel's Iron Dome as part of its domestic and national security programmes.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Top Democrats are pleading for President Joe Biden to act alone on some of the party’s core legislative priorities, viewing executive action as their best hope of delivering on their promises and energizing liberal voters they worry are going to sit out the elections in November.

11 March 2022; MEMO: UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on Friday, called for a political solution to the civil war in Syria that began 11 years ago and has devastated the country and its people, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The civil war began when the Bashar Al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters. Hundreds of thousands of people have since been killed and millions more displaced, according to UN estimates.

FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) — Under pressure recently to prove her loyalty to Donald Trump, Rep. Nancy Mace traveled to New York to film a social media video outside Trump Tower reminding her South Carolina constituents that she was one of the former president’s “earliest supporters.”

Facing similar scrutiny, Rep. Tom Rice has taken a different approach, quietly winding through rural stretches of his congressional district to remind voters of his work securing federal relief for frequent — often disastrous — flooding, and of his advocacy for agricultural improvements.

WASHINGTON (AP) — At first, the White House resisted calls from Congress to ban Russian oil imports to the U.S. And then, it did just that.

The administration hit the brakes on legislation that would have revoked Russia’s normal trade status, until President Joe Biden announced the move Friday. The administration persuaded senators to hold off on imposing Russian sanctions, then slapped stiff sanctions itself. It rejected efforts in Congress to stop the Nord Stream 2 energy pipeline, then led allies in halting it.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 11 (APP): As the Syrian civil war passes the 11-year mark, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Friday called on all parties to take concrete actions and accelerate the political process to end the brutal conflict.

“The destruction that Syrians have endured is so extensive and deadly that it has few equals in modern history”, the UN chief said in a statement. “There must be no impunity.”

WASHINGTON, March 11. /TASS/: The US won’t go to war with Russia in Ukraine but will defend NATO territory, if necessary, US President Joe Biden said in a speech about Ukraine at the White House on Friday.

"We will not fight a war against Russia in Ukraine," he said. "Direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is World War III - something we must strive to prevent."

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday said the United States will revoke Russia's "permanent normal trade relations" status to punish Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

The change, which Biden said was being taken in concert with moves by U.S. allies, would pave the way for the United States to impose tariffs on a wide range of Russian goods, heightening pressure on an economy on the brink of deep recession.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Makeshift shelters abut busy roadways, tent cities line sidewalks, tarps cover broken-down cars, and sleeping bags are tucked in storefront doorways. The reality of the homelessness crisis in Oregon’s largest city can’t be denied.

“I would be an idiot to sit here and tell you that things are better today than they were five years ago with regard to homelessness,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said recently. “People in this city aren’t stupid. They can open their eyes.”