North America

25 Jan 2022; MEMO: The US is ready for direct talks with Iran about its nuclear programme, a spokesperson for the State Department said on Monday.

"We are prepared to meet directly," explained the official. "We have long held the position that it would be more productive to engage with Iran directly, on both JCPOA negotiations and other issues." The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed by world powers and Iran in 2015, although Donald Trump pulled the US out in 2018.

United Nations, Jan 25 (PTI) UN member states have failed themselves by continuing to procrastinate on concluding a comprehensive convention against international terrorism, India has said, voicing concern that the global body has neither agreed on a common definition of terrorism nor crafted a well-coordinated policy to tackle the global scourge and dismantle its enabling networks.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 24 (APP): Almost two years into the coronavirus pandemic, school closures continue to disrupt the lives of over 31 million students in mostly developing countries, exacerbating what the United Nations’ Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called

“a global learning crisis.”
“Unless we take action, the share of children leaving school in developing countries who are unable to read could increase from 53 to 70 per cent”, the UN chief warned in a video message marking the International Day of Education on Monday.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric is poised to emerge from five years of criminal probation, despite worries that nation’s largest utility remains too dangerous to trust after years of devastation from wildfires ignited by its outdated equipment and neglectful management.

The probation, set to expire at midnight Tuesday, was supposed to rehabilitate PG&E after its 2016 conviction for six felony crimes from a 2010 explosion triggered by its natural gas lines that blew up a San Bruno neighborhood and killed eight people.

OXFORD, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan high school where four students were fatally shot in late November will reopen Monday for the first time since the attack.

Oxford High School students have been attending classes at other buildings since Jan. 10.

Four students were killed and six students and a teacher were injured during the Nov. 30 shooting. A fellow student, Ethan Crumbley, 15, is charged with murder and other crimes. His parents also are facing charges.

The high school is in Oakland County, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Detroit.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The federal trial for three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights as Derek Chauvin pinned the Black man’s neck to the street is expected to begin Monday with opening statements, after a jury of 18 people was swiftly picked last week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department on Sunday ordered the families of all American personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine to leave the country amid heightened fears of a Russian invasion.

The department told the dependents of staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv that they must leave the country. It also said that non-essential embassy staff could leave Ukraine at government expense.

WASHINGTON, January 23. /TASS/: US President Joe Biden held a meeting with his administration officials responsible for national security at his residence in Camp David, Maryland, the White House’s press service announced on Saturday. They discussed the situation around Ukraine and diplomatic engagement with Russia.

"Today President Biden met with his national security team in person and virtually at Camp David to discuss continued Russian aggressive actions toward Ukraine," according to the statement.

GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Guatemala asked a group of international donors, including the United States and United Kingdom, to avoid meddling in its election for attorney general, a powerful anti-corruption office in the Central American nation.

Guatemala has come under scrutiny by the international community over anti-graft efforts. The United States last month said it was concerned that Guatemala's fight against corruption had not advanced enough. Rampant corruption is considered a major factor driving an uptick in U.S.-bound migration from Central America.

TEGUCIGALPA, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Honduran lawmakers, in rival alliances, backed two different people as congressional president on Sunday amid disputes between President-elect Xiomara Castro and dissident members of her party, warning of a new political crisis in the poverty-stricken Central American nation.