North America

09 Oct 2021; MEMO: The UN Human Rights Council today recognised access to a clean and healthy environment as a fundamental right, formally adding its weight to the global fight against climate hardship and climate change, Reuters reports.

The vote passed comfortably, despite criticism in the lead-up from some countries, notably the United States and Britain.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A man upset over the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, illegal immigration and the direction he thinks the country is headed is accused of threatening the lives of Alaska’s two Republican U.S. senators in a series of profanity-laced voicemails that included saying he would hire an assassin to kill one.

“Your life is worth $5,000, that’s all it’s worth,” the message left at the office of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said. “And as you let in these terrorists, assassins, guess what? I’m going to use them. I’m going to hire them.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration will try to persuade the Supreme Court this week to reinstate the death penalty for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev by arguing that a jury had no need to examine evidence that the government itself relied on at an earlier phase of the case.

Tsarnaev’s guilt in the deaths of three people in the shocking bombing near the finish line of the marathon in 2013 is not at issue in the case the justices will hear Wednesday — just whether he should be sentenced to life in prison, or death.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Friday that President Joe Biden will not block the handover of documents sought by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, setting up a showdown with former President Donald Trump, who wants to shield those White House records from investigators.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has dodged a U.S. debt disaster, voting to extend the government’s borrowing authority into December and temporarily avert an unprecedented federal default that experts warned would devastate the economy and harm millions of Americans.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 08 (APP): The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council Friday recognized, for the first time, that having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right

In a resolution, the 47-member Council, which is based in Geneva, called on States around the world to work together, and with other partners, to implement this newly recognized right.
The text, proposed by Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia and Switzerland, was passed with 43 votes in favour, with 4 abstentions.

MEXICO CITY, Oct 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a visit to Mexico on Friday held talks with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, with both nations vowing to revitalize fractious relations and improve cooperation through a major new security agreement.

The top U.S. diplomat visits Mexico at a time when the Biden administration is increasingly reliant on its southern neighbor to stem the flow of Latin American migrants heading to the United States.

WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Small numbers of U.S. special operations forces have been rotating into Taiwan on a temporary basis to train with Taiwanese forces, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Pentagon, which historically has not disclosed details about U.S. training or advising of Taiwan forces, did not specifically comment on or confirm the deployment.

08 Oct 2021; MEMO: Israel has been dealt a hammer blow by sports clothing manufacturer Nike. The mega-brand has announced that it will end the sale of its products in stores within the occupation state in a move welcomed by social media users as another victory for the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- A nuclear-powered U.S. Navy fast-attack submarine was damaged after it "struck an object" while submerged in waters in the Indo-Pacific region on Oct. 2, the U.S. Navy said in a statement on Thursday.

The Seawolf-class submarine USS Connecticut (SSN 22) "remains in a safe and stable condition" and its "nuclear propulsion plant and spaces were not affected and remain fully operational," the U.S. Pacific Fleet said in the statement.