North America

MANAGUA, Feb 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega ardently defended the right of Iran and North Korea to develop nuclear weapons, saying the United States holds no authority to turn them back.

Ortega made the remarks upon receiving Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

“We don’t love atomic bombs… but what authority (do Western powers have) to want to prohibit Iran if it wants to make atomic bombs?” Ortega asked with the Iranian minister by his side.

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co (7267.T) on Friday issued a "Do Not Drive" warning for 8,200 model year Acura and Honda vehicles with unrepaired Takata air bag inflators in the United States.

The urgent warning covers various 2001-2003 model year Honda Accord, Civic CR-V and Odyssey, Pilot and Acura 3.2CL and 3.2 TL vehicles with so-called "Alpha" inflators.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said owners of those vehicles should not drive them until they get repairs, warning "the risk to vehicle occupants is dire."

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns said on Thursday that Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambitions toward Taiwan should not be underestimated, despite him likely being sobered by the performance of Russia's military in Ukraine.

Burns said that the United States knew "as a matter of intelligence" that Xi had ordered his military to be ready to conduct an invasion of self-governed Taiwan by 2027.

Feb 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday declared unconstitutional a federal law making it a crime for people under domestic violence restraining orders to own firearms.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest victory for gun rights advocates since a Supreme Court ruling last June granting a broad right for people to carry firearms outside the home.

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Chase Doak was getting ready to leave work when he spotted what he thought might have been a star or even a UFO. It turned out to be a spy balloon floating high over the United States and his images have been seen around the world.

The Pentagon reported on Thursday that a spy balloon it suspected is Chinese had been flying over the country for a couple of days. China says it is "verifying" the situation.

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will postpone his visit to China after a spy balloon was detected flying over the continental United States, according to media reports on Friday.

Blinken did not want the balloon to dominate his meetings with Chinese officials, ABC News reported, citing an unnamed U.S. official. Bloomberg News also reported the trip will be postponed.

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department said Friday it will make more Tesla (TSLA.O), Ford Motor (F.N), General Motors (GM.N) and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) electric vehicles eligible for up to $7,500 tax credits after it revised its vehicle classification definitions.

The reversal by Treasury is a win for Tesla, GM, Ford and other automakers which had pressed the Biden administration to change the vehicle definitions.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — As rising temperatures offered some hope for frustrated Texans shivering in their homes days after losing power in a deadly winter storm, another wave of frigid weather was taking aim Friday at the northern U.S.

An Arctic cold front was expected to move from Canada into the northern Plains and Upper Midwest and sweep into the Northeast. Wind chills in some areas could dive below minus 50 Fahrenheit (minus 45 Celsius).

02 Feb 2023; MEMO: The US has transferred former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Majid Khan, to the small Central American nation of Belize, the Pentagon announced Thursday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Khan pleaded guilty in a military court in 2012 to terrorism offenses related to his role as an Al-Qaeda courier, and was sentenced to more than 10 years of confinement. He was detained by the US in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and imprisoned at the notorious military prison in Cuba.

KINGSTON, Feb 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Jamaica’s prime minister has said his government is willing to send soldiers and police officers to Haiti as part of a proposed multinational security assistance deployment.

The announcement comes a week after the United Nations special envoy for Haiti, Helen La Lime, said she hoped the UN Security Council would deal “positively” with the pending request from Haiti’s government for international armed forces, despite Canada and the United States showing no interest.