North America

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sixty-nine million children – or more than one in five – live in poverty in the world’s 40 richest countries UNICEF said in a report released on Wednesday, blasting Britain and France for their particularly bad standings.

That’s despite a drop in child poverty rates in the periods from 2012 to 2014 and 2019 to 2021, by around 8 per cent in the 40 European Union and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) wealthy countries assessed.

MEXICO CITY, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that the United States would be "responsible for Ukraine's defeat" if Congress fails to approve the Biden administration's latest multi-billion-dollar funding request for the war-torn country.

Yellen told reporters on a trip to Mexico City that the funding - particularly for Ukraine's general government budget support - was "utterly essential" and a pre-condition to keep International Monetary Fund support flowing to Ukraine.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Wednesday said it has filed war crime charges against four members of the Russian military accused of abducting and torturing an American during the invasion of Ukraine in a case that’s the first of its kind.

The case marks the first prosecution against Russians in connection with atrocities during their war against Ukraine and is the first war crimes case involving the victimization of an American, officials said.

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — The owner of a Virginia house that exploded as police tried to execute a search warrant is believed to have died in the blast, officials said Tuesday, as details emerged about numerous grievances he expressed against neighbors and others on social media and in lawsuits.

James Yoo, 56, was identified by Arlington County Police Chief Andy Penn at a news conference as the person whose actions brought police to the Arlington home after he fired a “flare-type gun” from inside the house into the neighborhood more than 30 times.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson told fellow Republicans on Tuesday that sweeping changes to U.S. border policy would be their “hill to die on” in negotiations that have already grown tense as Congress considers President Joe Biden’s $110 billion package for the wars in Ukraine and Israel and other security needs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate in a single stroke Tuesday approved about 425 military promotions after Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama ended a monthslong blockade of nominations over his opposition to a Pentagon abortion policy.

Tuberville had been under pressure from members of both sides of the political aisle to end his holds as senators complained about the toll it was taking on service members and their families, and on military readiness.

President Joe Biden called the Senate’s action long overdue and said the military confirmations should never have been held up.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday during a tribal nations summit that aims to make it easier for Native Americans to access federal funding and have greater autonomy over how to invest those funds.

“Tribal nations still face unacceptable barriers to fully exercising their inherent sovereignty, and really too often that occurs because of the way we are administering federal funding programs,” said Neera Tanden, White House domestic policy adviser.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was a decade ago that Capitol Hill was consumed by an urgency to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, fueled in no small part by Republicans who felt a political imperative to make inroads with minority voters by embracing more generous policies.

But nothing ever became law and in the time since, Washington’s center of gravity on immigration has shifted demonstrably to the right, with the debate now focused on measures meant to keep migrants out as Republicans sense they have the political upper hand.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The number of candidates on stage is shrinking, but the fundamentals of Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate may be familiar to anyone who has watched the previous three meetings.

5 December 2023; MEMO: A week after US lawmakers expressed frustration in having to vote for yet another pro-Israel resolution, the House is expected to vote again this week to declare anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, in a new bill which critics say will further undermine free speech protected by the US constitution.