USA

BROWN DEER, Wis. (AP) — A man fatally shot two people at an apartment complex in a Milwaukee suburb and later died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Three people, including the suspect, were killed and one other person was injured in Saturday morning’s shooting, which authorities believe began as a “domestic dispute,” Brown Deer Police Chief Peter Nimmer said.

He said the 26-year-old suspect shot himself and was taken to a hospital, where he died.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has dropped a lawsuit against the Defense Department in which he claimed that material was being improperly withheld from his use as he wrote a memoir about his tenure in the Trump administration.

Esper’s lawyer, Mark S. Zaid, said in a statement on Friday that the Pentagon had reversed its stance on “the overwhelming majority” of material that officials had deemed classified and thus not for publication. What remained in dispute over its classification wasn’t central to Esper’s book, Zaid said.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs including its capability to produce nuclear fissile materials in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, U.N. experts said in a new report.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — In 2016, Donald Trump overtook the Republican National Committee through a shock and awe campaign that stunned party leaders. In 2020, the party was obligated to support him as the sitting Republican president.

Heading into 2024, however, the Republican Party has a choice.

The RNC, which controls the party’s rules and infrastructure, is under no obligation to support Trump again. In fact, the GOP’s bylaws specifically require neutrality should more than one candidate seek the party’s presidential nomination.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia has assembled at least 70 percent of the military firepower it likely intends to have in place by mid-month to give President Vladimir Putin the option of launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials say.

The officials, who discussed internal assessments of the Russian buildup on condition they not be identified, sketched out a series of indicators suggesting Putin intends an invasion in coming weeks, although the size and scale are unclear. They stressed that a diplomatic solution appears to remain possible.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) – UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, yesterday, announced the appointment of Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro Saenz of Spain, as head of mission and force commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), said his press office.

Lazaro Saenz succeeds Maj. Gen. Stefano Del Col of Italy, who will shortly complete his assignment.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday narrowly passed a multibillion U.S. dollar bill aimed at increasing U.S. technological competitiveness amid partisan bickering and strong opposition from the Republican Party.

The "America COMPETES Act of 2022," passed by 222-210, was voted almost entirely along the party line, with only one Republican joining Democrats in voting for the measure and one Democrat voting no.

House Republicans had complained that Democrats had excluded them in drafting the bill.

NEW YORK, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The United States reached the grim milestone of 900,000 coronavirus deaths on Friday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

With the national case count topping 76.2 million, the death toll across the United States rose to 900,528 as of 5:22 p.m. local time (2222 GMT), according to the tally.

California led the country in COVID-19 deaths, with 80,798 fatalities. Texas reported the second-highest fatalities of 80,459, followed by Florida with 65,993 deaths and New York with 65,578 deaths, the data showed.

03 Feb 2022; MEMO: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed yesterday that it had purchased the Pegasus spyware, developed by Israel's military spyware firm the NSO Group in 2019, but denied ever using it.

In a statement to the Guardian, the FBI said it purchased the hacking software in order to "stay abreast of emerging technologies and tradecraft."

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — China’s U.N. ambassador said Friday the U.S. should come up with “more attractive and more practical” policies and actions to reduce tensions with North Korea and avoid a return to a “vicious circle” of confrontation, condemnation and sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile program.

Zhang Jun said that the solution lies in direct dialogue and that if the Biden administration wants to see a breakthrough with Pyongyang “they should show more sincerity and flexibility.”