North America

24 Apr 2023; MEMO: The US Treasury Department, on Monday, imposed sanctions on four senior Iranian law enforcement and military officials involved in crushing protests that erupted last year after an Iranian woman died in the custody of the morality police who enforce strict dress codes, Reuters reports.

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - It won't be a campaign from the basement this time.

As U.S. President Joe Biden gears up for a bruising re-election battle, the realities of the 2024 race and differences with 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic create new challenges for him.

Biden, a Democrat, says he is running again and is considering a formal announcement via video as soon as Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The 155 mm howitzer round is one of the most requested artillery munitions of the war in Ukraine. Already the U.S. has shipped more than 1.5 million rounds to Ukraine, but Kyiv is still seeking more.

A look at why this particular munition is so commonly used, and why it’s been so critical to the war in Ukraine.

WHAT IS THE 155 MM?

Essentially, the 155 mm round is a very big bullet, made up of four parts: the detonating fuse, projectile, propellant and primer.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. special operations forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the American embassy in warring Sudan on Sunday, sweeping in and out of the capital, Khartoum, with helicopters on the ground for less than an hour. No shots were fired and no major casualties were reported.

With the last U.S. employee of the embassy out, Washington shuttered the U.S. mission in Khartoum indefinitely. Left behind were thousands of private American citizens remaining in the east African country.

NEW YORK (AP) — The American front door is a place where the welcome mat offers friendly greetings, where affable neighbors knock or ring, where boxes brimming with possibility are delivered. It is where home meets a world full of potentially good things.

The American front door is a place where signs trumpet words of warning, where cameras monitor visitors in high definition, where intruders find an entry point. It is where only a hunk of wood or metal separates the innermost spaces of home from a world full of chaos.

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — One of the most important munitions of the Ukraine war comes from a historic factory in this city built by coal barons, where tons of steel rods are brought in by train to be forged into the artillery shells Kyiv can’t get enough of — and that the U.S. can’t produce fast enough.

The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant is at the vanguard of a multibillion-dollar Pentagon plan to modernize and accelerate its production of ammunition and equipment not only to support Ukraine, but to be ready for a potential conflict with China.

CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — Donald Trump, stinging from a rebuke by the nation’s leading anti-abortion group, used a speech Saturday before influential evangelicals in Iowa to spotlight his actions as president to try to restrict abortion rights.

Chief among the accomplishments Trump listed were his nominations of three conservative judges to the U.S. Supreme Court. The appointments paved the way for the overturning last year of the landmark Roe. v. Wade ruling, which had affirmed a federal right to abortion.

22 Apr 2023; MEMO: The US military is preparing as many options as possible ahead of a possible evacuation from the US Embassy in Sudan, but no decisions have been made, US Defence Secretary, Lloyd Austin, said on Friday, Reuters reports.

22 Apr 2023; MEMO: The US, on Friday, confirmed the death of a US national in Sudan as warring Generals seek to claim control of the East African country in fighting that has drawn international condemnation, Anadolu News Agency reports.

National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, said an "American citizen tragically killed" in the fighting. He did not identify the individual, but voiced condolences to their family.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal grand jury indicted a Houston man Friday for allegedly calling the office of California Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters several times last year and leaving threatening voice mails, including saying he intended to “cut your throat.”

Brian Michael Gaherty, 60, was charged in the indictment with four counts of making threats in interstate communications and four counts of threatening a U.S. official, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles said in a statement.