North America

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin received no support from members of the U.N. Security Council at an emergency meeting Monday night for his actions to bring separatists in eastern Ukraine under Moscow’s control.

The U.S. called his moves a pretext for a further invasion, many members condemned his violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and even close ally China urged diplomacy and a peaceful solution.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — They chased and killed a running Black man who was unarmed and committed no crimes, leaving a trail of racist text messages and social media posts in the months and years before the shooting.

Whether the three white men sentenced to life in prison in state court for murdering Ahmaud Arbery also are guilty of hate crimes is now in the hands of a federal jury.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Closing arguments were expected Tuesday in the federal trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights, with jurors to get the case after a month of testimony.

Thomas Lane was the final officer to present his defense, testifying Monday he didn’t realize how dire Floyd’s condition was while handcuffed, facedown on the street with Officer Derek Chauvin’s knee pressed to his neck — until paramedics turned Floyd over.

21 Feb 2022; MEMO: Israel is pressing the United States about the terms of an emerging Iranian nuclear deal, Israeli officials said on Monday, raising the prospect of a bilateral day-after agreement with Washington to address their worries, Reuters reports.

While not a party to the nuclear negotiations between Iran and world powers in Vienna, Israel has conferred with the US administration in hope of wielding more clout over any revival of a 2015 deal with Tehran that was reached over its objections.

United Nations, Feb 22 (AP) The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has dismissed as nonsense Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement that he is putting Russian troops in separatist areas of eastern Ukraine as peacekeepers, saying their presence is clearly the basis for Russia's attempt to create a pretext for a further invasion of Ukraine.

Washington, Feb 22 (PTI) Strongly condemning President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognise the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics as independent, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Monday said that this is a clear attack on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Putin signed decrees to recognise the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics as independent.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 21 (APP): Pakistan has called for addressing the root-causes of conflicts, including the use of force, foreign intervention, occupation, xenophobia, Islamophobia and hate speech as well as poverty, inequality, and exploitation, while commenting on United Nations Secretary General’s “New Agenda for Peace” in a UN panel.

OTTAWA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- With 191 people arrested and 79 vehicles towed by Sunday afternoon, Canadian police have reclaimed Ottawa's downtown from its occupiers 24 days after the trucker convoy rolled into the downtown core.

The protesters, including Canadian truckers and their supporters, have gathered in Ottawa and blocked the city center since Jan. 28 to oppose the Canadian government's vaccine requirement for truckers crossing into the United States, prompting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invoke the Emergencies Act.

Washington, Feb 21 (PTI) President Joe Biden has accepted "in principle" a meeting with President Vladimir Putin provided Russia does not invade Ukraine, the White House has said, in a last-ditch diplomatic overture brokered by French President Emmanuel Macron to ease one of the worst security crises in Europe in decades.

The US has repeatedly warned of Russia's plans to invade Ukraine and threatened to impose tough sanctions on Moscow if it goes ahead with its plans. However, Russia has denied that it plans to attack Ukraine.

TORONTO (AP) — The streets around the Canadian Parliament are quiet now. The Ottawa protesters who vowed never to give up are largely gone, chased away by police in riot gear. The relentless blare of truckers’ horns has gone silent.

But the trucker protest, which grew until it closed a handful of Canada-U.S. border posts and shut down key parts of the capital city for weeks, could echo for years in Canadian politics and perhaps south of the border.