USA

(AP) --- This week’s killer freeze in the U.S. was no surprise.

Government and private meteorologists saw it coming, some nearly three weeks in advance. They started sounding warnings two weeks ahead of time. They talked to officials. They issued blunt warnings through social media.

And yet catastrophe happened. At least 20 people have died and 4 million homes at some point lost power, heat or water.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Southern cities slammed by winter storms that left millions without power for days have traded one crisis for another: Busted water pipes ruptured by record-low temperatures created shortages of clean drinking water, shut down the Memphis airport on Friday and left hospitals struggling to maintain sanitary conditions.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 19 (NNN-SABA) – UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affair, Mark Lowcock, warned that, Yemen is speeding towards the worst famine the world has seen in decades.

Malnutrition rates are at record highs. Across Yemen, more than 16 million people are going hungry, including five million who are just one step away from famine, he told the Security Council in a briefing.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In 1995, Merrick Garland was tasked with supervising a sprawling U.S. Justice Department criminal investigation into the bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people.

Former colleagues recall that he maintained his composure as he surveyed the crime scene, coordinated the investigation among numerous law enforcement agencies and put together a trial team to bring bomber Timothy McVeigh and his co-conspirator Terry Nichols to justice.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- A total of 530,000 to 559,000 COVID-19 deaths will be reported in the United States by March 13, according to the latest projections of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The new forecast predicts that 8,400 to 18,500 new deaths will likely be reported in the week ending March 13.

The CDC predicts that the number of newly reported COVID-19 deaths will likely decrease over the next four weeks.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday asked for global action to stop "a senseless and suicidal war on nature" and address climate disruption, biodiversity loss and pollution.

Washington, Feb 18 (PTI) Proposed by President Joe Biden, the US Citizenship Act 2021 - which among other things intends to eliminate the per-country cap for employment-based green cards would be introduced in Congress on Thursday, a move that would benefit hundreds and thousands of Indian IT professionals in America.

Washington, Feb 19 (PTI) The Biden administration has said it is willing to sit down for talks with Iran and world powers to discuss a diplomatic way forward on Tehran's atomic programme, in the first major step aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal that was close to falling apart after the previous Trump regime withdrew from it.

Former president Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal in 2018.

Washington, Feb 19 (PT) Several top US Republican lawmakers have introduced more than a dozen bills in Congress to counter the growing Chinese influence in the country and to protect America's critical infrastructure.

The relations between the US and China are at an all-time low. The two countries are currently engaged in a bitter confrontation over various issues, including trade, the origins of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the communist giant's aggressive military moves in the disputed South China Sea and human rights.

Washington, Feb 19 (PTI) In a major move that will benefit hundreds and thousands of Indian IT professionals in America, the Biden administration has introduced an ambitious immigration bill in Congress which among other things proposes to eliminate the per-country cap for employment-based green cards.

The US Citizenship Act of 2021 proposes a pathway to citizenship to 11 million undocumented workers, elimination of per country quota for employment-based green cards and work authorisation for dependents of H-1B foreign workers.