North America

USA: Tennessee’s House expels 2 of 3 Democrats over guns protest

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest calling for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville. A third Democrat was narrowly spared by a one-vote margin.

U.S. VP Harris takes Biden's jobs message to Marjorie Taylor Greene's district

WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday takes the Biden administration's jobs agenda to a right-wing Georgia congressional district represented by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, an avid supporter of former President Donald Trump.

Harris, a Democrat, is headed to the small northwestern Georgia town of Dalton to talk about the growing solar manufacturing business as part of a nationwide tour by President Joe Biden and his top aides to promote his economic agenda in 20 states over three weeks.

USA: Senators seek probes into report on undisclosed luxury trips by Supreme Court's Thomas

WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has for decades accepted luxury trips from a Dallas businessman without publicly disclosing them despite a federal law requiring disclosure of most gifts, a media report said on Thursday, prompting Senate Democrats to call for an investigation.

USA: GOP’s DeSantis visits Whitmer’s Michigan, the ‘anti-Florida’

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Ahead of a highly anticipated presidential announcement, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will visit Michigan for his first appearance this year in the state transformed by Democratic majorities under high-profile Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The visit will put the contrasting leadership styles of the Republican and Democrat on display after they scored landslide 2022 reelection victories that vaulted them to be their parties’ brightest emerging stars.

USA: GOP lawmakers to vote on expelling Democrats in gun protest

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s GOP-dominated House is preparing to vote Thursday on whether to expel three Democratic members for their demonstration calling for gun control following the Nashville school shooting, an extraordinary move that the chamber has used only a handful of times since the Civil War.

USA: ‘We cannot and will not normalise serious criminal conduct’: Manhattan DA Bragg after Trump's arraignment

New York, Apr 5 (PTI) The New York state will "not normalise" serious criminal conduct, "no matter who you are," Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, has asserted, hours after former US President Donald Trump was arraigned in a courtroom here.

USA: UN chief slams Taliban ban on Afghan women working for UN; calls for revocation

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 05 (APP):United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Wednesday strongly condemned a decision by the Taliban authorities to ban Afghan women from working for the UN, and called for the decision to be immediately revoked, his spokesperson said.

“This is a violation of the inalienable fundamental human rights of women,” spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement issued at UN Headquarters in New York.

USA: Cindy McCain takes charge of UN food agency, warns of funding crunch in fight against hunger

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 05 (APP): Cindy McCain of the United States Wednesday took the helm at the World Food Programme (WFP), a Rome-based UN agency, amid “unprecedented” global hunger fueled by conflict, climate change and soaring fertilizer prices.

The agency estimates that more than 345 million people worldwide face crisis levels of food insecurity this year, an increase of almost 200 million since early 2020. Of these, 43 million are just one step away from famine.

USA: Blinken says he urged Moscow to accept proposal on Whelan’s exchange in call with Lavrov

WASHINGTON, April 5. /TASS/: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that he once again called on Moscow to accept Washington’s proposal on Paul Whelan’s exchange during a recent phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

"When it comes to Paul Whelan, there is a proposal on the table, and it has been on the table for some months. Again, with Foreign Minister Lavrov, I reiterated that Russia should move on that proposal so that we can bring Paul home," he said.

Subscribe to North America