USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will join the first-ever meeting of the leaders of Japan, India and Australia on Friday as he seeks greater cooperation with U.S. allies to counter China’s strength in the region.

Known as the “Quadrilateral Security Dialogue,” representatives for the four member nations have met periodically since its establishment in 2007. That followed the nations providing relief to Indonesia following the 2004 tsunami there.

But this virtual gathering will mark the first time all four leaders will come together.

CHICAGO (AP) — A Trump-era immigration rule denying green cards to immigrants who use public benefits like food stamps was dealt likely fatal blows Tuesday after the Biden administration dropped legal challenges, including before the Supreme Court.

Continuing to defend the rule “is neither in the public interest nor an efficient use of limited government resources,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-led House on Tuesday approved legislation that would invigorate workers’ unions, following decades of court defeats and legislative setbacks that have kneecapped the labor movement’s once formidable ability to organize.

The measure, which union leaders and labor allies have presented as a cure for decades of working-class wage stagnation, was approved on a mostly party-line 225-206 vote. But it faces an all-but-certain Republican blockade in a narrowly divided Senate and is unlikely to become law.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has formally approved an extension of the National Guard deployment at the U.S. Capitol for about two more months as possible threats of violence remain, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

According to a statement issued by the department, close to 2,300 Guard troops will continue to provide security in Washington until May 23, at the request of the Capitol Police. Officials have been scrambling in recent days to determine if and how to fill the request, as the original March 12 deadline for them to leave Washington loomed.

HONOLULU (AP) — Catastrophic flooding from a stream swollen by heavy rains prompted officials to order evacuations from a town north of Honolulu on Tuesday, just one day after fears of a dam breach resulted in the same on the island of Maui.

The Honolulu Department of Emergency Management directed people to leave Haleiwa town on Oahu’s North Shore, an area famed for big-wave surfing, immediately.

Torrential rains have inundated parts of Hawaii for the past several days.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to give perhaps the most important speech of his political life Tuesday, and he’s spent weeks laying the groundwork for an upbeat address aimed at nearly 40 million people exhausted by a year of coronavirus restrictions.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Because the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death is being held during the coronavirus pandemic, the courtroom has been overhauled for safety.

Gone are the traditional jury box and gallery, replaced with widely spaced seats and desks for a limited contingent of attorneys, jurors and media. Plexiglas barriers and hand sanitizer are everywhere, and the participants – even the judge – wear masks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and the Democrats were on the brink of pushing through sprawling legislation with an eyepopping, $1.9 trillion price tag.

But many Republican politicians and conservative commentators had other priorities in recent days. A passionate defense of Dr. Seuss. Serious questions about the future of Mr. Potato Head. Intense scrutiny of Meghan Markle.

SEATTLE (AP) — When Seattle’s largest health care system got a mandate from Washington state to create a mass COVID-19 vaccination site, organizers knew that gathering enough volunteers would be almost as crucial as the vaccine itself.

“We could not do this without volunteers,” said Renee Rassilyer-Bomers, chief quality officer for Swedish Health Services and head of its vaccination site at Seattle University. “The sheer volume and number of folks that we wanted to be able to serve and bring in requires … 320 individuals each day.”

UNITED NATIONS, March 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — UN chief Antonio Guterres called for the safe release of hundreds of Myanmar protesters “barricaded” inside apartment complexes in Yangon, where security forces are violently cracking down on anti-junta demonstrations, his spokesman said.

The secretary-general “calls for maximum restraint and urges for the safe release of all without violence or arrests,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

“Many of those trapped are women who are peacefully marching in commemoration of International Women’s Day,” he said.