North America

 WASHINGTON, June 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US economy is likely to slow in 2022 and 2023 but will “narrowly avoid a recession” as the Federal Reserve implements its rate-tightening plan to curb inflation, the International Monetary Fund said.

“The policy priority now must be to expeditiously slow wage and price growth without precipitating a recession” the IMF said in a statement. “This will be a tricky task,” as global supply constraints and domestic labor shortages are likely to persist, and the war in Ukraine creates additional uncertainties, it said.

June 26 (Reuters) - Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Sunday said Canada still has a path to a "soft landing," where it could stabilize economically after the blow by the COVID-19 pandemic, without facing a severe recession that many fear, CBC News reported.

Freeland in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live said she has to strike a balance between helping people in Canada suffering from the effects of inflation and pursuing a policy of fiscal restraint, or risk making the cost of living problem worse.

WASHINGTON, June 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law what has been described as a gun safety bill as shootings continue to take a toll on the nation.

The legislation, signed on Saturday morning, takes effect a month after a gunman broke into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers in a rampage that has triggered nationwide demonstrations against gun violence and political inaction.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden rarely mentions his predecessor by name. But as he spoke to a nation processing a seismic shift in the rights of women, he couldn’t ignore Donald Trump’s legacy.

25 June 2022; MEMO: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has warned that coastal communities in the Mediterranean are at risk of a tsunami by 2030.

The organisation confirmed that it would train all at-risk coastal communities to deal with the matter.

SAN SALVADOR, June 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Friday asked authorities in El Salvador to "immediately" extradite leaders of the international criminal gang MS-13 to be put on trial in the United States.

The request is the latest chapter in Washington's increasingly complicated relationship with the government of President Nayib Bukele.

WASHINGTON, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief said Friday that there is "a narrowing path" to avoiding a U.S. recession, highlighting "significant downside risks" this year and especially next year.

"Based on the policy path outlined at the June FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting, and an expected reduction in the fiscal deficit, we expected the U.S. economy will slow," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at a virtual press conference on the annual Article IV consultation to review the U.S. economy.

LOS ANGELES, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Vaccine advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted on Thursday to support recommending the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for use in people ages 6 through 17 years old.

The vaccine received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week.

This recommendation reinforces the use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine as an important tool in the pandemic and provides another vaccine option for children and adolescents, said the CDC in a statement.

PHOENIX (AP) — The attorney for the Arizona Senate’s ethics committee submitted a report Friday on his investigation of a Republican lawmaker’s online comments that appeared to blame the federal government for a supermarket massacre in Buffalo, New York.

But the report from attorney Chris Kleminich reached no conclusions on whether Sen. Wendy Rogers’ comment broke the Senate’s rules and said the committee’s role has been completed.

Instead, it will be up to the full Senate to decide whether the Flagstaff lawmaker’s comments merit discipline.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Most California taxpayers would get hundreds of dollars in cash to help offset the high price of fuel and other goods under a tentative budget compromise being discussed by legislative leaders and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The plan would return a portion of California’s record-setting $97 billion budget surplus to taxpayers — but the money would only go to people who made below a certain income level.