North America

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 26 (APP): The World Health Organization, a Geneva-based UN agency, has urged all countries to adopt a risk-based and scientific approach to travel bans linked to a new coronavirus variant identified in South Africa and Botswana.

The development on Friday came as a World Health Organization (WHO) panel prepared to meet to assess the potential impact of a new coronavirus variant identified as B 1.1.529.

According to WHO’s COVID-19 technical expert, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the information is still limited.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 26 (APP): One in five refugee or internally displaced women have faced sexual violence, and the situation continues to worsen globally, the UN refugee agency, (UNHCR), said Friday.

On the 30th anniversary of the campaign for 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the UN agency said that there’s been a global surge in domestic violence, child marriages, trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse since March.

TAPACHULA (Mexico), Nov 26 NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexican officials have begun dispersing several hundred migrants gathered in the southern city of Tapachula by busing them to other states, heading off the prospect of a new caravan heading north.

The migrants, mostly from Haiti and parts of Latin America, had been in limbo in Tapachula in Chiapas state while enduring lengthy waits for asylum and visa requests to be resolved.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The United States should recommit to engagement with China because engagement has played a crucial role in discouraging confrontation between the two countries, said Javier Solana, former secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In a commentary published Monday on the website of Project Syndicate, the former NATO chief said engagement with China is not popular among U.S. policymakers nowadays, and their tough China stance has a "fatal flaw."

WASHINGTON, Nov 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Pentagon is creating a new office to investigate unidentified flying objects amid concerns that after broad probes it cannot explain mysterious sightings near highly sensitive military areas.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, working with the US director of national intelligence, ordered the new investigatory body to be established in the US Defense Department’s intelligence and security office, the Pentagon said.

Nov 25 (Reuters) - The United States began deporting a record number of Nicaraguan migrants this year data reviewed by Reuters show, as people flee the Central American country to escape a crackdown against dissent by President Daniel Ortega.

Erlinton Ortiz was deported last year, one of over 5,000 Nicaraguans returned from the United States since 2019, into the hands of an administration that Washington has accused of civil rights abuses, corruption and holding sham elections.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden's recent moves to lower energy prices is "undercutting his lofty goals on climate," The Washington Post has analyzed.

In an article published on Tuesday, the U.S. media outlet pointed out some of the contradictory moves of the Biden administration amid a dilemma between the near-term needs of the economy, the pressures of domestic politics and the longer-term emission target.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Racial inequities remain pervasive in the U.S. health system, a new study has found.

"Black, Latinx/Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native populations are less likely to have health insurance, more likely to face cost-related barriers to getting care, and more likely to incur medical debt," said the Commonwealth Fund in a new report.

"It is also less common for individuals from these groups to have a usual source of care or to regularly receive preventive services like vaccinations," it added.

25 Nov 2021; MEMO: The United States called on the UN Security Council on Tuesday to "impose sanctions" on any "Libyan or non-Libyan person" who undermines the elections scheduled for 24 December, Anadolu has reported.

"We remind those who interfere in Libyan elections or fuel violence that the Security Council may impose sanctions on anyone — Libyan or otherwise — who obstructs or undermines the upcoming elections next month," said Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, Deputy US Ambassador to the UN.

25 Nov 2021; MEMO: Iran has the ability to build a nuclear weapon in a very short time, Commander of US Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie has said, adding that his forces are ready with a potential military option should talks fail.

Iranian negotiators are set to meet with their European, Russian and Chinese counterparts in Vienna on Monday to discuss restoring the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).