USA

UNITED NATIONS, March 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The new US envoy to the United Nations accused Russia of seeking to stymie efforts to hold the government of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad accountable for its use of chemical weapons during its long civil war.

“We all know the Assad regime has repeatedly used chemical weapons. So why hasn’t the Syrian government been held accountable?” the ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told a Security Council meeting via videoconference.

WASHINGTON, March 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States said it hoped Iran would “engage” in diplomacy after European allies dropped a plan to censure Tehran at the UN nuclear watchdog.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States was “pleased” that the Europeans withdrew the measure at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s meeting in Vienna.

“We will look forward with strong interest for Iran’s willingness to engage in a way that leads to credible, concrete progress,” Price told reporters.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Democrat Representative Eric Swalwell is suing former President Donald Trump, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and others over the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, when violent protesters attempted to stop the counting of electoral ballots.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, alleges that the deadly attack was a “direct and foreseeable consequence” of unlawful actions by Trump, Giuliani, Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr, Republican Congressman Mo Brooks and others.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday rounded out his White House staff with a host of new appointments focused on COVID-19, criminal justice, the economy and other major issues, including a new top adviser on technology and competition issues.

The White House announced six additional staffers to its National Economic Council, including Columbia University professor Tim Wu, who coined the term “net neutrality” and has warned against an economy dominated by a few giant firms.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Ukrainian public official Ihor Kolomoyskyy has been designated as ineligible to enter the United States over alleged corruption, the State Department said on Friday.

“While this designation is based on acts during his time in office, I also want to express concern about Kolomoyskyy’s current and ongoing efforts to undermine Ukraine’s democratic processes and institutions, which pose a serious threat to its future,” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The United States and Britain are undertaking a four-month tariff suspension in an attempt to reach a negotiated solution to the longstanding trade conflict over aircraft subsidies.

The United States will suspend retaliatory tariffs against British goods beginning March 4, according to a joint statement released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers likely stepped up their hiring in February as confirmed viral cases declined, consumers spent big chunks of their government aid checks and the economy appeared to be sustaining a tentative recovery.

Economists have forecast that job growth reached 175,000 last month, according to data provider FactSet. That would mark a sharp improvement over an average of just 29,000 jobs a month from November through January.

NEW YORK (AP) — Top aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo altered a state Health Department report to obscure the true number of people killed by COVID-19 in the state’s nursing homes, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported late Thursday.

(AP) --- Two firefighters loaned to Washington for the day were the only medics on the Capitol steps Jan. 6, trying to triage injured officers as they watched the angry mob swell and attack police working to protect Congress.

Law enforcement agents were “being pulled into the crowd and trampled, assaulted with scaffolding materials, and/or bear maced by protesters,” wrote Arlington County firefighter Taylor Blunt in an after-action memo. Some couldn’t walk, and had to be dragged to safety.

Washington, Mar 5 (PTI) The US has condemned terrorists who seek to infiltrate across the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan, calling on all the parties to reduce tensions along the frontiers by returning to the 2003 ceasefire commitments between the two countries.