North America

MEXICO CITY, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Mexico will work during high-level security talks this week to ensure "reciprocity" from the United States on matters such as arms trafficking and extraditions, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland will be among the delegation of top U.S. officials due to hold meetings in Mexico City on Friday.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai said on Monday that the United States seeks "frank conversations" with the Chinese side on issues including implementation of the phase-one economic and trade agreement, and industrial policies.

Tai made the remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, on the Biden administration's approach to the U.S.-China trade relationship.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Johnson & Johnson asked the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to allow extra shots of its COVID-19 vaccine as the U.S. government moves toward expanding its booster campaign to millions more vaccinated Americans.

J&J said it filed a request with the FDA to authorize boosters for people 18 and older who previously received the company’s one-shot vaccine. While the company said it submitted data on several different booster intervals, ranging from two to six months, it did not formally recommend one to regulators.

05 Oct 2021; MEMO: The United Nations security personnel yesterday prevented Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, from bringing a poster of Adolf Hitler to a General Assembly session dedicated to discussing the financial crisis of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Israeli media outlets said Erdan wanted to highlight a social media post by a UNRWA teacher which glorified Hitler.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Facebook data scientist has stunned lawmakers and the public with revelations of the company’s awareness of apparent harm to some teens from Instagram and her accusations of dishonesty in its fight against hate and misinformation. Now she is coming before Congress.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is shifting strategy to sell his ambitious social spending plans by traveling outside Washington and courting Democrats who have complained they felt left out of the process.

With his agenda in jeopardy on Capitol Hill, Biden on Tuesday will visit the Michigan district of a moderate Democratic lawmaker who has urged him to promote his proposals more aggressively to the public. Back in Washington, negotiations continue on a pair of bills to boost spending on safety net, health and environmental programs and infrastructure projects.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard received the first report of a possible oil spill off the Southern California coast more than 12 hours before a company reported the major leak in its pipeline and a cleanup effort was launched, records show.

Oil spill reports reviewed Monday by The Associated Press raise questions about the Coast Guard’s response to one of the state’s largest recent oil spills as well as how quickly Amplify Energy, the company operating three offshore platforms and the pipeline, recognized it had a problem and notified authorities.

WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (APP): Hindu nationalist groups, reportedly backed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP-led government, have been threatening U.S.-based scholars of South Asia against their efforts to scrutinize New Delhi’s policies that systematically discriminate against minorities, especially Muslims, and stigmatize critics of the government, according to American media reports.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 04 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that the benefits of making cities more environmentally friendly are “enormous”, and include reduced climate risk, more jobs, and better health and well-being.

“City leadership in using green materials and constructing energy-efficient, resilient buildings powered by renewable energy, is essential to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050,” he said in his message for World Habitat Day, marked on Monday.

MANAGUA, Oct 4 (NNN-TELESUR) — Nicaragua’s Vice President Rosario Murillo announced the approval of the emergency use of Cuban-developed vaccines Abdala, Soberana, and Soberana 02 on the child population.

She said that the vaccination day against COVID-19 in children and adolescents from 2 to 17 years old would begin on Oct 20.

The Cuban vaccines Soberana, Soberana 02, and Abdala will be applied to 2,102,366 children voluntarily.