USA

8 Mar 2023; MEMO: A US Senate Committee backed legislation on Wednesday to repeal two authorisations for past wars in Iraq, paving the way for a possible vote in the full Senate before the 20th anniversary of the last invasion by American troops, Reuters reports.

UNITED NATIONS, March 8. /TASS/: The grain deal needs to be extended beyond March 18, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said at a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev on Wednesday, according to a transcript of the meeting released by the UN.

"I want to underscore the critical importance of the rollover of the Black Sea Grain Initiative on 18 March and of working to create the conditions to enable the greatest possible use of export infrastructures through the Black Sea, in line with the objectives of the initiative," he said.

WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - Top White House officials and the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Wednesday will urge states to expand their efforts to crack down on surprise fees consumers are forced to pay on everything from rental housing to cable bills.

HOUSTON, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Voices from the Global South are an integral part of the ongoing global energy forum CERAWeek as speakers from the developing economies gather together with other world industry leaders.

Their opinions have added timely importance as the world is facing harsher twin challenges of energy security and transition amid turbulence, observers say.

The five-day event kicked off on Monday under the theme, "Navigating a Turbulent World: Energy, Climate and Security."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The maker of an unproven drug intended to prevent premature births says it will voluntarily remove the product from the U.S., after regulators signaled plans to follow through on a long-delayed effort to force it from the market.

The announcement late Tuesday from Covis Pharma comes roughly four years after the company’s drug, Makena, failed to show a benefit in helping mothers carry pregnancies to term.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s support of a Republican resolution to block new District of Columbia crime laws has split members of his own party amid rising concerns about crime in the nation’s capital and other cities.

The GOP-led disapproval resolution is expected to easily pass the Senate on Wednesday with ample Democratic support. But most House Democrats voted against it last month, arguing as they have for many years that the District of Columbia should be able to govern itself.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is preparing to relax COVID-19 testing restrictions for travelers from China as soon as Friday, according to two people familiar with the decision.

The people, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the administration has decided to roll back the testing requirements as cases, hospitalizations and deaths are declining in China and the U.S. has gathered better information about the surge.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Handed some 41,000 hours of Jan. 6 security footage, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson has launched an impassioned new effort to explain away the deadly Capitol attack, linking the Republican Party ever more closely to pro-Trump conspiracy theories about the 2021 riot.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three days after federal agents searched former President Donald Trump’s Florida home for classified documents, FBI Director Christopher Wray emailed his workforce urging them to tune out criticism from those who “don’t know what we know and don’t see what we see.”

The work was done by the book, the director wrote in his Aug. 11 email. “We don’t cut corners. We don’t play favorites.”

7 Mar 2023; MEMO: One hundred and thirty-eight American Jewish leaders and pro-Israel lobbyists have issued a joint statement opposing the upcoming visit of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, stating that he should not be given a platform within the US Jewish community.