USA

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Crews in eastern Ohio conducted operations on Monday to drain and burn off an "unstable" toxic chemical cargo from five rail cars of a freight train that derailed in a fiery wreck three days earlier, prompting mass evacuations, authorities said.

The "controlled release" of pressurized vinyl chloride, a highly flammable and carcinogenic gas, began with a scheduled explosion, followed by continuous burning of the substance, said Sandy Mackey, a spokesperson for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.

WASHINGTON/BEIJING, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday imposed a temporary security zone in waters off South Carolina during the military's search and recovery of debris from a suspected Chinese spy balloon that a U.S. fighter jet shot down.

The White House said the balloon's flight over the United States had done nothing to improve already tense relations with China and its national security spokesperson dismissed Beijing's contention that the balloon was for meteorological purposes as straining credulity.

WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday said she saw a path for avoiding a U.S. recession, with inflation coming down significantly and the economy remaining strong, given the strength of the U.S. labor market.

"You don't have a recession when you have 500,000 jobs and the lowest unemployment rate in more than 50 years," Yellen told ABC's Good Morning America program.

"What I see is a path in which inflation is declining significantly and the economy is remaining strong."

WASHINGTON (AP) — If you’ve heard it once in a president’s State of the Union speech, you’ve heard it 100 times: There is nothing the American people can’t do when they pull together.

But you haven’t heard that thought in a State of Union address from William Shakespeare: “Lo,” said the bard. “With kindness, love, and understanding clear, we shall conquer all, and have naught to fear.”

Nor from the noggin-knocking Three Stooges of last century’s fame: “We just put our heads together, come up with a plan, and bam! Problem solved!”

WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of Democrats now think one term is plenty for President Joe Biden, despite his insistence that he plans to seek reelection in 2024.

That’s according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research that shows just 37% of Democrats say they want him to seek a second term, down from 52% in the weeks before last year’s midterm elections.

EAST PALESTINE (Ohio, US), Feb 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A cargo train derailed in the midwestern United States, sparking a massive fire and triggering the release of small amounts of vinyl chloride, a hazardous chemical, officials said Saturday.

No injuries or fatalities were reported after around 50 cars of the 140-car train came off the tracks late Friday near the Ohio-Pennsylvania state border.

The Norfolk Southern train was shipping cargo from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania, when it derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.

Feb 5 (Reuters) - A political advocacy group backed by billionaire businessman Charles Koch is preparing to get involved in the primaries for the 2024 U.S. Presidential elections, saying it wanted to back a candidate who could "lead the country forward", a memo released on Sunday said.

The group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), has not previously supported candidates in presidential elections but said in the memo the best thing for the country would be to have a president in 2025 who "represents a new chapter."

Feb 4 (Reuters) - A federal law prohibiting marijuana users from possessing firearms is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Oklahoma has concluded, citing last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that significantly expanded gun rights.

U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump in Oklahoma City, on Friday dismissed an indictment against a man charged in August with violating that ban, saying it infringed his right to bear arms under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- UN special envoy for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, on Thursday called on Iraq's political class to take advantage of the present climate to end chronic cycles of instability.

Following a year of tensions and political discord, Hennis-Plasschaert expressed hope that the confirmation of the new government will provide a chance to structurally address the country's pressing issues.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Republicans in some heavily conservative states won their campaigns for secretary of state last year after claiming they would make sweeping changes aimed at keeping fraud out of elections.

So far, their efforts to make good on their promises are mixed, in some cases because their rhetoric has bumped up against skepticism from members of their own party.