USA

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Senior national security officials of the United States, Japan, and South Korea met on Friday to discuss U.S. policy review on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and other regional issues, the White House said in a statement.

The national security advisors shared their concerns about the DPRK's "nuclear and ballistic missile programs" and "reaffirmed their commitment to address and resolve these issues through concerted trilateral cooperation towards denuclearization," the statement said.

ATLANTA (AP) — Liberal activists are stepping up calls for corporate America to denounce Republican efforts to tighten state voting laws, and businesses accustomed to cozy political relationships now find themselves in the middle of a growing partisan fight over voting rights.

McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — Seven officers involved in the in-custody death of a Black jail inmate in Texas whose family members say may have been suffering a mental health crisis have been fired, a sheriff said.

The detention officers violated sheriff’s office policies and procedures leading up to the death of Marvin Scott III, Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner said in a news release Thursday. An eighth officer resigned. The names and races of the officers haven’t been released.

EPHRATA, Wash. (AP) — A piece of burning rocket debris seen streaking across the Pacific Northwest sky last week crashed on a farm in eastern Washington state, authorities said.

After the March 25 event, a farmer discovered a nearly intact piece of rocket in a private field, The Tri-City Herald reported.

The approximately 5-foot (1.5-meter) composite-overwrapped pressure vessel used for storing helium left a nearly 4-inch (10.16-centimeter) dent in the ground, Grant County sheriff’s spokesman Kyle Foreman said. No one was hurt, he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A deadly breach of the U.S. Capitol’s perimeter could delay the gradual reopening of the building’s grounds to the public just as lawmakers were eyeing a return to more normal security measures following the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Capitol Police officer William “Billy” Evans, an 18 year veteran of the force, was killed Friday when a man rammed his car into a barrier immediately outside the U.S. Senate side of the building. The driver, identified as 25-year-old Noah Green, was shot and killed after he got out of his car and lunged at police with a knife.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — About 25 million Americans will be eligible for more money in food assistance under a new policy adopted by Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.

The change announced late Thursday also came after the United States Department of Agriculture reached a settlement with two California plaintiffs who sued last year after they were blocked from accessing increased benefits approved by Congress because of the coronavirus pandemic. It could mean increased monthly benefits for roughly 1 million Californians.

(AP) --- President Joe Biden on Friday lifted sanctions that Donald Trump had imposed on two top officials of the International Criminal Court, undoing one of the past administration’s more aggressive moves targeting international institutions and officials.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California on Friday cleared the way for people to attend indoor concerts, theater performances and NBA games for the first time in more than a year as the rate of people testing positive for the coronavirus in the state nears a record low.

(AP) --- The United States and Iran said Friday they will begin indirect negotiations with intermediaries next week to try to get both countries back into compliance with an accord limiting Iran’s nuclear program, nearly three years after President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal.

The announcement marks one of the first bits of tangible progress in efforts to return both nations to terms of the 2015 accord, which bound Iran to restrictions in return for relief from U.S. and international sanctions.

NEW YORK (AP) — Add travel to the activities vaccinated Americans can safely enjoy again, according to new U.S. guidance issued Friday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance to say fully vaccinated people can travel within the U.S. without getting tested for the coronavirus or going into quarantine afterward.

Still, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky urged caution and said she would “advocate against general travel overall” given the rising number of infections.

“If you are vaccinated, it is lower risk,” she said.