USA

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- In the wake of devastating earthquakes that struck southern Türkiye and northern Syria early Monday, UN aid agencies have scrambled to help many thousands of reported victims, including those still believed to be buried under the rubble.

"My heart goes out to the people of Türkiye and Syria in this hour of tragedy," said the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement. "The United Nations is fully committed to supporting the response. Our teams are on the ground assessing the needs and providing assistance."

MCKEESPORT, Pa. (AP) — A man having a “mental health crisis” shot and killed a police officer, wounded a second and fired at a third before being wounded in a shootout in a western Pennsylvania city on Monday, authorities said.

Two officers were dispatched shortly after noon to a domestic disturbance call in McKeesport, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County Police Superintendent Christopher Kearns said at a news conference.

06 Feb 2023; MEMO: The UN General Assembly held a minute of silence for the victims of the deadly earthquake in Turkiye and Syria on Monday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

President of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Korosi, extended his deepest condolences to the governments and peoples of Turkiye and Syria for the tragic loss of life and damage.

He invited member states to stand and observe a moment of silence before a session started at the 193-member General Assembly.

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing plans to make staffing cuts in the aerospace company’s finance and human resources departments in 2023, with a loss of around 2,000 jobs, the company said.

“We expect about 2,000 reductions primarily in Finance and HR through a combination of attrition and layoffs,” Boeing said in a statement Monday. “While no one has been notified of job loss, we will continue to share information transparently to allow people to plan.”

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Beyond the beating, kicking, cursing and pepper spraying, the video of Tyre Nichols’ deadly arrest at the hands of young Memphis police officers is just as notable for what’s missing — any experienced supervisors showing up to stop them.

That points to a dangerous confluence of trends that Memphis’ police chief acknowledged have dogged the department as the city became one of the nation’s murder hotspots: a chronic shortage of officers, especially supervisors, increasing numbers of police quitting and a struggle to bring in qualified recruits.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials said Monday that improvements ordered by President Joe Biden to strengthen defenses against Chinese espionage helped to identify last week’s spy balloon — and to determine that similar flights were conducted at multiple points during the Trump administration.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that after Biden took office, the U.S. “enhanced our surveillance of our territorial airspace, we enhanced our capacity to be able to detect things that the Trump administration was unable to detect.”

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) — Crews released toxic chemicals into the air from five derailed tanker cars that were in danger of exploding Monday and began burning it after warning residents near the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line to leave immediately or face the possibility of death.

Flames and black smoke billowed high into the sky from the derailment site late in the afternoon, about an hour after authorities said the controlled release would begin.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, once a White House press secretary for President Donald Trump, is set to return to the national stage when she delivers the GOP response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

Sanders, 40, is giving the speech Tuesday night less than a month after being sworn in as the first female governor of Arkansas. The daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee, she is also the first Arkansan to deliver the response to a president’s State of the Union since Bill Clinton as governor in 1985.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is ready to offer a reassuring assessment of the nation’s condition rather than roll out flashy policy proposals as he delivers his second State of the Union address seeking to overcome pessimism in the country and concerns about his own leadership.

WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Republican U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called on Democratic President Joe Biden to agree to compromises and spending cuts, as the two remain deadlocked over raising the nation's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling.

McCarthy spoke on Monday before Biden is set to give the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, aiming to get ahead of the president and reinforce his role as the leading congressional negotiator.