USA

25 Nov 2021; MEMO: The United States called on the UN Security Council on Tuesday to "impose sanctions" on any "Libyan or non-Libyan person" who undermines the elections scheduled for 24 December, Anadolu has reported.

"We remind those who interfere in Libyan elections or fuel violence that the Security Council may impose sanctions on anyone — Libyan or otherwise — who obstructs or undermines the upcoming elections next month," said Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, Deputy US Ambassador to the UN.

25 Nov 2021; MEMO: Iran has the ability to build a nuclear weapon in a very short time, Commander of US Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie has said, adding that his forces are ready with a potential military option should talks fail.

Iranian negotiators are set to meet with their European, Russian and Chinese counterparts in Vienna on Monday to discuss restoring the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

(AP) --- The trials of Kyle Rittenhouse and three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery had vastly different outcomes. But coming just days apart, they laid bare a dangerous and long-running current in the fight for racial equality: The move by some white Americans to grab guns and take their own stand against perceptions of lawlessness, particularly by Black people.

The two cases, which ended with an acquittal for Rittenhouse last week and guilty verdicts for Arbery’s killers on Wednesday, highlighted polarizing issues about gun and self-defense laws, and racial injustice.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Three men were convicted of murder Wednesday in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, the Black man who was running empty-handed through a Georgia subdivision when the white strangers chased him, trapped him on a quiet street and blasted him with a shotgun.

The February 2020 slaying drew limited attention at first. But when video of the shooting leaked online, Arbery’s death quickly became another example in the nation’s reckoning of racial injustice in the way Black people are treated in their everyday lives.

WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States said it would release 50 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves in a coordinated move with China, India, South Korea, Japan and Britain to cool prices after OPEC+ producers rebuffed calls for more crude.

The White House issued the statement after a source in the US administration said Washington had been hashing out a plan with major Asian energy consumers to drive down prices from near three-year highs. Britain had not previously been mentioned.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – Chinese envoy to the UN yesterday called on all Iraqi factions, to address their disputes over last month’s elections, through legal means and work towards the formation of a new government.

China applauses Iraq’s successful holding of parliamentary elections last month and appreciates the great efforts made by the Iraqi government and people, and fully recognises the electoral support provided by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), said Geng Shuang, China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — NASA launched a spacecraft Tuesday night on a mission to smash into an asteroid and test whether it would be possible to knock a speeding space rock off course if one were to threaten Earth.

The DART spacecraft, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in a $330 million project with echoes of the Bruce Willis movie “Armageddon.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for millions of federal workers seems to be working, with no apparent disruption to law enforcement, intelligence-gathering or holiday travel.

Of Tuesday, one day after the deadline for compliance, 92% of the 3.5 million federal workers covered by Biden’s mandate reported to the government that they are at least partially vaccinated, according to White House officials.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits plummeted last week to the lowest level in more than half a century, another sign that the U.S. job market is rebounding rapidly from last year’s coronavirus recession.

Jobless claims dropped by 71,000 to 199,000, the lowest since mid-November 1969. The drop was much bigger than economists expected.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths out weekly ups and downs, also dropped — by 21,000 to just over 252,000, the lowest since mid-March 2020 when the pandemic slammed the economy.

24 Nov 2021; MEMO: Apple yesterday said it had filed a lawsuit against Israel's NSO and its parent company OSY Technologies, in an effort to stop the spyware company from using any of its devices.

This comes after the US put the company on the trade blacklist after it was accused of supplying technology to foreign governments to maliciously target government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics and embassy workers.