USA

09 June 2021; MEMO: Monitoring of Iran's activities by the UN nuclear watchdog as outlined in an agreement recently extended until 24 June must be allowed to continue or risk undermining talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal, Reuters reported the United States saying yesterday.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 08 (APP): Pakistan has called for a global transition to clean energy, saying it is a lynchpin for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) designed to combat poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy.

“Although we have made progress towards the achievement of SDG-7 in some areas, the overall effort still falls short of what is needed to meet the goals of the 2030 agenda and the Paris agreement on climate change,” Ambassador Munir Akram said at the launch of Global Tracking SDG-7: The Energy Progress Report.

(Reuters) --- U.S. President Joe Biden’s trip to Europe this week will signal that multilateralism has survived the Trump years, and set the stage for transatlantic cooperation on challenges from China and Russia to climate change, the chairman of EU summits said.

"America is back," European Council President Charles Michel said, using the motto Biden has adopted after former President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of several multilateral institutions and at one point threatened to walk out of NATO.

WASHINGTON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that it remains unclear if Tehran is willing to take steps to return to compliance with the Iran nuclear deal.

"We've been engaged in indirect conversations ... for the last couple of months, and it remains unclear whether Iran is willing and prepared to do what it needs to do to come back into compliance," Blinken told a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

UNITED NATIONS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The foreign minister of the Maldives, Abdulla Shahid, was on Monday elected the president of the upcoming 76th session of the UN General Assembly.

He was elected by secret ballot in which he defeated his challenger, former Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul. Shahid won the support of 143 of the 191 UN member states present and voting. Rassoul won 48 votes. A candidate needs at least 96 votes to get elected.

08 June 2021; MEMO: US President Joe Biden is looking forward to reviewing the "full breadth" of US-Turkish ties when he meets his Turkish counterpart later this month, a top official said on Monday.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the meeting, planned to be held on the sidelines of the June 14 NATO summit in Brussels, presents "a business-like opportunity to review" bilateral ties, saying Biden and Erdogan "are both looking forward to the opportunity."

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it has identified more than 3,900 children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border under former President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy on illegal crossings, providing one of the more detailed accounts of a chapter in U.S. immigration history that drew widespread condemnation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Senate investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has uncovered broad government, military and law enforcement missteps surrounding the violent attack, including a breakdown within multiple intelligence agencies and a lack of training and preparation for Capitol Police officers who were quickly overwhelmed by the rioters.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hopes for a big infrastructure investment are teetering. An ambitious elections and voting bill is all but dead. Legislation on police brutality, gun control and immigration has stalled out.

After six months of Democratic control in Washington, the party’s progressive wing is growing increasingly restless as campaign promises go undone — blocked not only by Republican obstruction, but also by Democrats’ own inability to unite fully around priorities.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is more than half done, and U.S. officials say that while it could be completed by July 4, the final exit of equipment and troops more likely will be later in the summer.