North America

June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. technology company Extreme Networks Inc said last year it had suspended all business activities in Russia to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine "living under attack."

But Reuters has found that, as the publicly-traded U.S. firm was unwinding its Russia operations, its most senior manager in the region did not stop doing business there.

NEW YORK, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States' addiction to sanctions has gotten out of control and is hurting itself, reported The Washington Post earlier this month.

The Treasury Department estimated in late 2021 that it had sanctions on 9,421 organizations and individuals, a roughly 900 percent increase over the past 20 years. In 2022, the Treasury Department added 2,549 new designations while delisting only 225. That means nearly 12,000 entities were under U.S. sanctions as of the beginning of this year, said the report.

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland (AP) — A ship that had been searching for the ill-fated Titan submersible is back in port in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Wednesday, with debris from the destroyed vessel.

The Canadian-flagged Horizon Arctic carried a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, that searched the ocean floor not far from the wreck of the Titanic, about 700 kilometers (435 miles) south of Newfoundland.

The owners of the ROV, U.S.-based Pelagic Research Services, confirmed that its team has successfully completed offshore operations.

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Marine veteran pleaded not guilty Wednesday to revised charges in the fatal chokehold of a man who was behaving erratically on a New York City subway train.

Daniel Penny, 24, pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the May 1 death of Jordan Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator who was shouting and begging for money when Penny pinned him to the floor of the moving subway car with the help of two other passengers and held him in a chokehold for more than three minutes.

REPRESA, California (AP) — The graduates lined up, brushing off their gowns and adjusting classmates’ tassels and stoles. As the graduation march played, the 85 men appeared to hoots and cheers from their families. They marched to the stage – one surrounded by barbed wire fence and constructed by fellow prisoners.

For these were no ordinary graduates. Their black commencement garb almost hid their aqua and navy-blue prison uniforms as they received college degrees, high school diplomas and vocational certificates earned while they served time.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A crackdown in Honduras on gangs in the nation’s prisons is eerily similar to one carried out last year in neighboring El Salvador by President Nayib Bukele, observers said Tuesday.

Like authorities in El Salvador, police in Honduras who launched a prison sweep Monday have distributed dramatic videos of tattooed inmates being frog-marched around, though their videos have lacked Bukele’s slick production values and media savvy.

WASHINGTON, Jun 27 (APP): The White House has condemned the online harassment of Sabrina Siddiqui, an American journalist of Pakistani origin who asked India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his Hindu nationalist government’s human rights record when he visited the White House last week.

June 26 (Reuters) - Anti-corruption authorities in the United States and Sweden are reviewing a complaint alleging that the Swedish affiliate of a U.S. company pledged to pay tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks if a son of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan helped it secure a dominant market position in the country.

The proposed plan was detailed in communications and business documents seen by Reuters, as well as by a person familiar with the matter. Reuters is reporting this plan and the resulting preliminary probes for the first time.

WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) - A new report detailing intelligence failures leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol said government agencies responsible for anticipating trouble downplayed the threat - even as the building was being stormed in an attempt to stop Congress' certification of Joe Biden as the 46th president.

UNITED NATIONS, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution to extend the authorization for the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) for six months, till Dec. 31, 2023.

Resolution 2687, which won the unanimous support of the 15-member council, requests ATMIS to prioritize three activities: maintaining enabling support for peace and security in Somalia to ensure a sustainable transition, supporting Somali-led operations against Al-Shabaab, and preparing for its smooth drawdown and exit from Somalia as planned.