USA

25 Jan 2023; MEMO: An Israeli group is collecting tax-exempt donations from Americans for Jewish extremists convicted of terrorism, committing hate and racist crimes against Palestinians and Israeli citizens.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 24 (APP):: Fewer victims of people trafficking are being identified, even as the coronavirus pandemic and other crises are increasing their vulnerability, according to a new report released on Tuesday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Globally, the number of victims detected fell by 11 per cent in 2020 from the previous year, driven by fewer detections in low and medium-income countries.

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The United States, in a reversal, appears to be dropping its opposition to sending M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine and an announcement could come as soon as this week, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were not aware of a final U.S. decision to send the Abrams to Ukraine, a move that could encourage Germany to follow.

The Pentagon could not be immediately reached for comment.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was shocked and saddened by the mass shooting in Monterey Park in the U.S. state of California, his spokesman said on Monday.

Five women and five men were killed while another 10 people were injured in the mass shooting Saturday night in the city of Monterey Park, 16 km east of Los Angeles downtown, local authorities said Sunday. The death toll rose to 11 as of Monday.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A shootout at an Oakland gas station killed one person and wounded seven others in the second shooting involving several people on Monday night in the San Francisco Bay Area, police said.

Officers were sent to the scene on Macarthur Boulevard just after 6 p.m. and learned there had been a shooting between several people, a police statement said.

The officers found shell casings at the Valero gas station but no victims. However, dispatchers learned several victims had taken themselves to local hospitals for treatment of gunshot wounds.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two teenage students were killed Monday and a man was seriously injured in what police said was a targeted shooting at an alternative educational program designed to keep at-risk youth away from trouble. The injured man was identified as the program’s founder — a rapper who left a life of gangs and violence and has been dedicated to helping youth in Des Moines.

ATLANTA (AP) — A judge is set to hear arguments Tuesday on whether to release a report by a special grand jury tasked with investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies broke any laws as they sought to overturn his narrow 2020 election loss in Georgia.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney will hear arguments from the district attorney’s office, news outlets and potentially other parties before making a decision on the release of the report. The special grand jury, whose work was overseen by McBurney, recommended that the report be made public.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s decision allowing the FBI to search his home in Delaware last week is laying him open to fresh negative attention and embarrassment following the earlier discoveries of classified documents at that home and a former office. But it’s a legal and political calculation that aides hope will pay off in the long run as he prepares to seek reelection.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The debate around raising the debt ceiling sounds eerily similar: Newly elected House Republicans, eager to confront the Democratic president in the White House, refused to raise the debt limit without cuts to federal spending.

Negotiations over the debt ceiling consumed Washington in 2011, a high-stakes showdown between the Obama White House and the new generation of “tea party” House Republicans.

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — Seven people were killed in two related shootings Monday at agricultural businesses in a Northern California community, marking the state’s third mass killing in eight days, including an attack at a dance hall that killed 11 during Lunar New Year celebrations.

Officers arrested a suspect in Monday’s shootings, 67-year-old Chunli Zhao, after they found him in his car in the parking lot of a sheriff’s substation, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said.