USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden put on a modest White House ceremony Thursday to announce a half-dozen executive actions to combat what he called an “epidemic and an international embarrassment” of gun violence in America.

But he said much more is needed. And while Biden had proposed the most ambitious gun-control agenda of any modern presidential candidate, his moves underscored his limited power to act alone on guns with difficult politics impeding legislative action on Capitol Hill.

(AP) --- Ambulances filled with breathless patients lined up in Brazil as nations around the world set new records Thursday for COVID-19 deaths and new coronavirus infections. The disease surged even in some countries that have kept the virus in check.

In the United States, Detroit leaders began making a plan to knock on every door to persuade people to get vaccine shots.

WASHINGTON, April 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States committed to move all remaining combat forces from Iraq, although the two sides did not set a timeline in what would be the second withdrawal since the 2003 invasion.

The first “strategic dialogue” with Iraq under US President Joe Biden’s administration comes as Iranian-linked Shiite paramilitary groups fire rockets nearly daily at bases with foreign troops in hopes of forcing a US exit.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - There is still a lot of uncertainty about Argentina’s economic policy path to make the country’s debt sustainable, an official at the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.

“There’s always at least two legs to any restructuring. One is how you change the terms of your debt contracts, the other one is how you change your policies to make the new debt sustainable. And I think that second leg is where we have a lot of uncertainty,” said Alejandro Werner, the IMF’s head for the Western Hemisphere, in an event hosted by S&P Global.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Disease, the rich-poor gap, climate change and conflicts within and among nations will pose greater challenges in coming decades, with the COVID-19 pandemic already worsening some of those problems, a U.S. intelligence report said on Thursday.

The rivalry between China and a U.S.-led coalition of Western nations likely will intensify, fueled by military power shifts, demographics, technology and “hardening divisions over governance models,” said Global Trends 2040, produced by the U.S. National Intelligence Council (NIC).

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. border agents expelled roughly a third of migrant parents and children traveling together and caught crossing the southwestern border in March, according to U.S. government data, undercutting a claim by President Joe Biden that most families are being sent back to Mexico.

About 17,000 of the nearly 53,000 parents and children caught at the border in March were expelled under a COVID-related public health order known as Title 42, an administration official said during a background briefing with reporters on Wednesday.

(Reuters) - Bank of America said on Thursday it will deploy $1 trillion for its environmental business initiative to push for green finance by 2030, expanding on the $300 billion it had announced for the same project in 2019. The second largest U.S. bank said the latest announcement puts its total commitment to sustainable finance by 2030 at $1.5 trillion.

The initiative will help the bank’s push for a greener economy through lending, capital raising, advisory and investment services to help low-carbon and other sustainable businesses, Bank of America said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled a meeting on April 14 to consider bipartisan legislation to boost the country’s ability to push back against China’s expanding global influence, a Senate aide said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal Reserve officials last month indicated that it would take some time before the Fed starts tapering its asset purchases, according to the minutes of the Fed's recent policy meeting released Wednesday.

"The Federal Reserve's asset purchases since last March had materially eased financial conditions and were providing substantial support to the economy," the Fed said in the minutes of its March 16-17 meeting.

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Xinhua) -- President Joe Biden on Wednesday spoke with Jordan's King Abdullah II to voice U.S. support for his leadership and affirmed the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Biden expressed "strong U.S. support for Jordan and underscore the importance of King Abdullah II's leadership to the United States and the region," the White House said in a statement.

The two leaders also discussed bilateral ties, Jordan's important role in the region, and strengthening cooperation on political, economic, and security issues.