USA

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress to sharply hike spending on climate change, cancer and underperforming schools, but his first budget wishlist on Friday drew howls of bipartisan concern over military spending.

The $1.5 trillion budget, reflecting an 8% increase in base funding from this year, marks a sharp contrast with the goals of Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.

10 Apr 2021; MEMO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi have shared concerns in a phone call about Hamas's potential victory in the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary election, RT reported on Friday.

Washington, Apr 10 (PTI) The Pentagon has defended its Navy asserting its navigational rights within India's exclusive economic zone without taking New Delhi's permission, calling the move "consistent with international law".

In an unusual move, the US Navy announced that on Wednesday it conducted a freedom of navigation operation in Indian waters without prior consent to challenge India's "excessive maritime claims", triggering a reaction from New Delhi, which on Friday said it has conveyed concerns to Washington through diplomatic channels.

Washington, Apr 10 (PTI) The Biden administration is carrying a review of its policies against Russia over its escalating aggression in eastern Ukraine and there will be "consequences", some seen and some unseen, to Kremlin, the White House has warned.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki during her daily briefing said the US is in close consultation and working with partners and allies in the region over Russia's troop movements on Ukraine's borders.

CHICAGO, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Great potential exists for China and the United States to cooperate in agricultural production, scholars from both countries attending the U.S.-China Agriculture Roundtable said on Thursday.

"We are in the golden age of the biological and information sciences. China and the United States have great capacity in both," said Robert Thompson, professor emeritus in Agricultural Policy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

UNITED NATIONS, April 9 (Xinhua) -- The number of food-insecure people in Niger during the coming months could reach 2.3 million people, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

About 1.6 million of them are likely to face severe food insecurity as soon as May, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. That's a 30 percent increase compared to projections made in November.

The humanitarian office projects the 2.3 million food-insecure people for "the lean season, between June and August."

(AP) --- Airlines pulled dozens of Boeing Max 737s out of service for inspections after the aircraft maker told them about a possible electrical problem, the latest setback for the plane.

Boeing said Friday that the issue affected planes used by 16 airlines. The company did not say how many planes are affected or how long it will take for inspections and, if necessary, repairs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington will rush federal resources to support vaccinations, testing and treatments, but not vaccines, to Michigan in an effort to control the state’s worst-in-the-nation COVID-19 outbreak, the White House said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Once obscure, the Senate filibuster is coming under fresh scrutiny not only because of the enormous power it gives a single senator to halt President Joe Biden’s agenda, but as a tool historically used for racism.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has ordered a study on overhauling the Supreme Court, creating a bipartisan commission Friday that will spend the next six months examining the politically incendiary issues of expanding the court and instituting term limits for justices, among other issues.