USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans revived negotiations over President Joe Biden’s sweeping investment plan, preparing a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal that would be funded with COVID-19 relief money as a counteroffer to the White House ahead of a Memorial Day deadline toward a bipartisan deal.

The Republicans said Tuesday they would disclose details of the new offer by Thursday, sounding upbeat after both sides had panned other offers.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York prosecutors have convened a special grand jury to consider evidence in a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s business dealings, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The development signals that the Manhattan district attorney’s office was moving toward seeking charges as a result of its two-year investigation, which included a lengthy legal battle to obtain Trump’s tax records.

UNITED NATIONS, May 25 (APP): With Pakistan abstaining, the UN General Assembly has voted to include the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity as part of its permanent agenda, after a contentious debate.

The 193-member Assembly did so by adopting a resolution, sponsored by a group of states, with a vote of 115 in favour to 15 against, with 28 abstentions.

(Reuters) --- U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Geneva on June 16, the White House and the Kremlin said on Tuesday amid sharp disputes over election interference, cyberatttacks, human rights and Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that both countries were lowering expectations for big breakthroughs at the superpower summit, with neither in a mood to make concessions on their disagreements. https://reut.rs/3yFgQto

25 May 2021; MEMO: In a major call to hold Israel accountable for its crimes, over 500 former Biden campaign and Democratic Party staffers signed an open letter urging the US president to do more to protect Palestinians and end the impunity enjoyed by the occupation state whose latest aggression has led to the death of over 253 Palestinians, including 66 children, 39 women and 17 elderly people.

25 May 2021; MEMO: Attempts to proscribe the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS) have suffered a major blow after a federal district court ruled that the State of Georgia's 2016 law punishing boycotts of Israel is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment.

Washington/Islamabad, May 25 (PTI) US President Joe Biden has continued his predecessor Donald Trump's policy on suspending security assistance to Pakistan and there is no clarity if the administration will change its stance in the future, the Pentagon has said.

Former US president Trump suspended all security assistance to Pakistan in January 2018, arguing that he was not satisfied with Islamabad's cooperation and role in the fight against terrorism.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Monday that it would appeal a judge’s order directing it to release in its entirety a legal memo on whether President Donald Trump had obstructed justice during the Russia investigation. But it also agreed to make a brief portion of the document public.

ATLANTA (AP) — Six months after Donald Trump’s loss, conspiracy theorists and Trump backers are continuing their push for repeated examinations of ballots and finding limited successes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials and the State Department on Monday warned Americans against travel to Japan because of a surge in coronavirus cases in the country, which is preparing to host the Olympics in just two months.