USA

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — In 2020, Black Lives Matter protesters were doused with tear gas, making them gasp for breath, their eyes feeling as if they were on fire. Bystanders, including children and pregnant women, were also exposed.

As police responded to mass protests across the nation two years ago with tear gas and other chemical munitions, more than a dozen U.S. senators asked the congressional watchdog to find out whether federal agencies have assessed how safe they are.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Concerns about inflation and personal finances have surged while COVID has evaporated as a top issue for Americans, a new poll shows, marking an upheaval in priorities just months before critical midterm elections.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone arrived Friday on Capitol Hill for a private interview with the Jan. 6 committee about his role trying to prevent then-President Donald Trump from challenging the 2020 presidential election and joining the violent mob that laid siege to the Capitol.

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers shrugged off high inflation and weakening growth to add 372,000 jobs in June, a surprisingly strong gain that will likely spur the Federal Reserve to keep sharply raising interest rates to cool the economy and slow price increases.

The unemployment rate remained at 3.6% for a fourth straight month, the government said Friday, matching a near-50-year low that was reached before the pandemic struck in early 2020.

WASHINGTON, July 7. /TASS/: US President Joe Biden has notified Congress of his intent to rescind the designation of Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally, according to a corresponding statement published by the press service of the White House on Wednesday.

Biden is "providing notice of the intent to rescind the designation of Afghanistan as a Major Non-NATO Ally," the statement said.

WASHINGTON, July 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States imposed sanctions on a network of Chinese, Emirati and other companies that it accused of helping to deliver and sell Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products to East Asia, pressuring Tehran as it seeks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The US Treasury Department said in a statement the network of people and entities used a web of Gulf-based front companies to facilitate the delivery and sale of hundreds of millions of dollars in products from Iranian firms to China and elsewhere in East Asia.

UNITED NATIONS, July 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — : The United Nations Security Council votes on Thursday on extending its authorisation of aid transfers across Syria’s border without approval from Damascus, with Russia seeking a six-month prolongation while Western nations want a full year.

The UN resolution permitting aid deliveries across the Syrian-Turkish border at Bab al-Hawa has been in effect since 2014, but is set to expire on Sunday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week and while layoffs remain low, it was the fifth consecutive week that claims topped the 230,000 mark and the most in almost six months.

Applications for jobless aid for the week ending July 2 rose to 235,000, up 4,000 from the previous week and the most since mid-January, the Labor Department reported Thursday. First-time applications generally track with the number of layoffs. Until early June, claims hadn’t eclipsed 220,000 since January and have often been below 200,000 this year.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Derek Chauvin will learn his sentence Thursday for violating George Floyd’s civil rights, with a deal in place that would extend the former Minneapolis police officer’s time behind bars while shifting him to possibly more favorable conditions in a federal prison.

Chauvin agreed to a sentence of 20 to 25 years in his December plea to a federal charge in Floyd’s killing. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson will make the final decision, with prosecutors seeking the full 25 on the grounds that Chauvin’s actions were cold-blooded and needless.

CHICAGO (AP) — Two of the victims of a July Fourth parade massacre in a Chicago suburb left behind a 2-year-old son. Another was staying with family in Illinois after he was injured in car wreck.

For some, it was a tradition. They were avid travelers, members of their synagogue and professionals. But in a hail of gunfire they became victims in the nation’s latest horrific mass shooting.

The victims were Kevin McCarthy, 37; Irina McCarthy, 35; Katherine Goldstein, 64; Stephen Straus, 88; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69.