USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s hopes of channeling billions of dollars into green infrastructure investments to fight climate change are running into the political obstacle of winning over Republican lawmakers who oppose that approach as unnecessary, excessive spending.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has made no secret of his long list of political enemies. It just wasn’t clear until now how far he would go to try to punish them.

Two House Democrats disclosed this week that their smartphone data was secretly obtained by the Trump Justice Department as part of an effort to uncover the source of leaks related to the investigation of Russian-related election interference.

11 June 2021; MEMO: US prosecutors yesterday unveiled criminal charges in Manhattan accusing two Israeli traders of illegal trading in several biotechnology and healthcare companies in connection with a sprawling international insider trading scheme, Reuters reported.

Tomer Feingold and Dov Malnik were accused in a 15-count indictment of securities fraud, wire fraud, tender offer fraud, concealment of a money laundering scheme and conspiracy.

11 June 2021; MEMO: The United States yesterday announced it had removed sanctions on three former Iranian officials and two companies that previously traded Iranian petrochemicals, a step one official called routine but that could show Washington's readiness to ease sanctions when justified, Reuters reported.

11 June 2021; MEMO: Former US President Donald Trump would have "unconditionally" supported Israel in its latest onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

"We, in the previous administration, would have done it differently. We would immediately clarify our support for Israel without reservation," Pompeo said in an interview with Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth.

(Reuters) --- NATO leaders will seek reassurance on Monday from U.S. President Joe Biden that after four years of denigration by his predecessor Donald Trump, the alliance can count on the support of the United States, its most powerful member.

In a more pared-back gathering than past NATO summits in part due to COVID-19 restrictions, without fighter jet fly-pasts, the 30 allies will gather in their glass and steel headquarters to agree reforms for a multipolar, post-Cold War world where China's military rise presents a new challenge.

WASHINGTON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the shelf life of its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine from 3 months to 4.5 months, as millions of unused doses nationwide are set to expire this month.

The announcement came as state officials warned that millions of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine doses in storage would expire before the end of June.

(AP) --- Law enforcement agencies across the country experienced a wave of retirements and departures and are struggling to recruit the next generation of police officers in the year since George Floyd was killed by a cop.

And amid the national reckoning on policing, communities are questioning who should become a police officer today.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of senators is eyeing an infrastructure deal with $579 billion in new spending as negotiators try to strike a nearly $1 trillion deal on President Joe Biden’s top priority, according to those briefed on the plan.

The 10 senators have been huddling behind closed doors, encouraged by Biden to keep working on the effort after he walked away from a Republican-only proposal this week unable to resolve differences. The senators are briefing their colleagues privately and cautioned changes could still be made.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Over the past 18 months, 29 prisoners have escaped from federal lockups across the U.S. — and nearly half still have not been caught. At some of the institutions, doors are left unlocked, security cameras are broken and officials sometimes don’t notice an inmate is missing for hours.

At one Texas lockup, security is so lax that local law enforcement officials privately joke about its seemingly “open-door policy.”