North America

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump kicked off his 2024 White House bid with stops Saturday in New Hampshire and South Carolina, events in early-voting states marking the first campaign appearances since announcing his latest run more than two months ago.

“Together we will complete the unfinished business of making America great again,” Trump said at an evening event in Columbia to introduce his South Carolina leadership team.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Memphis police chief disbanded the city’s so-called Scorpion unit on Saturday, citing a “cloud of dishonor” from newly released video that showed some of its officers beating Tyre Nichols to death after stopping the Black motorist.

Tehran, IRNA – Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani has referred to reports about the fresh discovery of mass graves of indigenous children in Canada as a “big human tragedy” that can only be described as “genocide”.

“The restricted flow of information about the discovery of these mass graves indicates the depth of the human tragedy and is reminiscent of the crimes committed during the oppressive and racist white rule under the British control on this country,” said Kanaani.  

28 Jan 2023; MEMO: The US Treasury Department's senior sanctions official, Brian Nelson, will be warning countries and businesses during a trip to the Middle East next week that they could lose access to the US market if they do business with entities subject to US sanctions and restrictions. This comes in addition to Washington cracking down on attempts by Russia to avoid sanctions imposed on it due to its war in Ukraine.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 28 (APP): Nearly two years on from Myanmar’s brutal military coup against the democratically-elected government, the Southeast Asian country has sunk deeper than ever into crisis, undergoing a wholesale regression in human rights, UN human rights chief Volker Turk has said.

“By nearly every feasible measurement, and in every area of human rights – economic, social and cultural, as much as civil and political – Myanmar has profoundly regressed,” he said in a statement.

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan 27 (Reuters) - Tyre Nichols repeatedly cried, "Mom! Mom!” as the five Memphis police officers now charged with the Black motorist's murder pummeled him with kicks, punches and baton blows after a Jan. 7 traffic stop, video released by the city on Friday showed.

The video from police body-worn cameras and a camera mounted on a utility pole were posted online a day after the officers were charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression in Nichols' death.

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - A four-star U.S. Air Force general said in a memo that his gut told him the United States would fight China in the next two years, comments that Pentagon officials said were not consistent with American military assessments.

"I hope I am wrong," General Mike Minihan, who heads the Air Mobility Command, wrote to the leadership of its roughly 110,000 members. "My gut tells me will fight in 2025."

The letter was dated Feb. 1 but had been sent out on Friday.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday urged the establishment of "guardrails" to prevent hate speech, extremism and misinformation.

"The online world is one of the main reasons that hate speech, extreme ideologies and misinformation are disseminating so fast around the world," said the UN chief, calling on all those involved to do more to stop the spread, and set up enforceable "guardrails."

MIAMI (AP) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration quietly ousted its former top official in Mexico last year over improper contact with lawyers for narcotraffickers, an embarrassing end to a brief tenure marked by deteriorating cooperation between the countries and a record flow of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl across the border.

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Hours before sunrise, migrants at one of Mexico’s largest shelters wake up and go online, hoping to secure an appointment to try to seek asylum in the U.S. The daily ritual resembles a race for concert tickets when online sales begin for a major act, as about 100 people glide their thumbs over phone screens.

New appointments are available each day at 6 a.m., but migrants find themselves stymied by error messages from the U.S. government’s CBPOne mobile app that’s been overloaded since the Biden administration introduced it Jan. 12.