USA

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - Ukraine still has a "significant majority" of its military aircraft available nine days after Russian forces started their invasion of the country, a U.S. defense official said on Friday.

Vastly outmatched by Russia's military, in terms of raw numbers and firepower, the fact that Ukraine's own air force is still flying and its air defenses are still deemed to be viable has surprised military experts.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — American whiskey exports, battered by tariffs and the COVID-19 pandemic, started rebounding in 2021, but distillers have more ground to make up to fully recover, an industry group said.

Exports of bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and rye whiskey reached $975 million in 2021, up 15% from the prior year, according to a report issued by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Last year’s total was still down 18% from the record high exports — about $1.2 billion in 2018.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a robust 678,000 jobs in February, another gain that underscored the economy’s solid health as the omicron wave fades and more Americans venture out to spend at restaurants, shops and hotels despite surging inflation.

The Labor Department’s report Friday also showed that the unemployment rate dropped from 4% to a pandemic low of 3.8%, extending a sharp decline in joblessness as the economy has rebounded from the pandemic recession.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has reinstated the death sentence for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The justices, by a 6-3 vote Friday, agreed with the Biden administration’s arguments that a federal appeals court was wrong to throw out the sentence of death a jury imposed on Tsarnaev for his role in the bombing that killed three people near the finish line of the marathon in 2013.

04 March 2022; MEMO: The US has demanded that Israel should take a clearer position on the Russian war in Ukraine, Israeli media outlets have reported.

According to Walla, Washington is aware of Israel's need to be balanced on the Ukrainian issue between its public reaction and bilateral relations with Russia, as well as the continuation of military coordination between Moscow and Tel Aviv in Syria.

03 March 2022; MEMO: US ties with the United Arab Emirates are being tested, a senior Emirati diplomat said on Thursday, in a rare admission of strains in their strategic partnership, which have been highlighted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.

The wealthy Gulf Arab oil exporter has signalled unease in recent years over what it sees as Washington's declining commitment to the security of US partners in the region, while Abu Dhabi has deepened ties with Moscow and Beijing.

03 March 2022; MEMO: Oil prices climbed to almost $120 a barrel on Thursday, their highest in nearly a decade, as sanctions disrupted Russian oil sales but the rally lost some of its fizz on rising prospects for an Iran nuclear deal that could add extra supplies, Reuters reports.

Geneva, Mar 3 (AP) The UN human rights office says 227 civilians have been killed and another 525 injured in its latest count of the toll in Ukraine in the wake of Russia's military invasion that began a week ago.

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says the tally eclipses the entire civilian casualty count from the war in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in 2014 which left 136 dead and 577 injured.

DENVER (AP) — The partisan divide over how to confront escalating street crime came to the fore Thursday as a Colorado legislative panel advanced a Democrat-sponsored bill designed to let local communities use state grants for neighborhood improvements in high-crime areas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The already-challenging path to bringing home Americans jailed in Russia and Ukraine is likely even more complicated now with a war overwhelming the region and increasingly hostile relations between the United States and the Kremlin.

Marine veteran Trevor Reed and corporate security executive Paul Whelan are each serving lengthy prison sentences in Russia, but their families have long held out hope for some sort of deal — including a possible prisoner exchange — that could get their loved ones home.

Now, though, that seems a much harder ask.