Washington DC

Washington, Aug 3 (AP-PTI) The governing body of the International Monetary Fund has approved a USD 650 billion expansion in the agency's resources to support economically vulnerable countries battling the coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn it has caused.

The 190-nation lending institution said Monday that its board of governors approved the expansion of its reserves known as Special Drawing Rights, the largest increase in the institution's history.

03 Aug 2021; MEMO: The United States said yesterday that Palestinian families threatened with having their homes demolished in occupied Jerusalem "should not be evicted".

In a press briefing US Department of State spokesperson, Ned Price, said: "Families should not be evicted from homes in which they have lived for decades."

"We're not going to get into these emerging reports or to comment on various detailed legal discussions, but we're closely following them and will continue to do so."

United Nations, Aug 3 (PTI) Any instability in Myanmar will directly affect India and New Delhi does not want action by the international community that would further destabilise the Southeast Asian country, India's Permanent Representative to the UN and President of UN Security Council for the month of August Ambassador T S Tirumurti has said.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday raised its travel warning level for Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases, Anadolu news agency reported.

The CDC said it was concerned about the rising number of coronavirus cases in Israel, the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza, raising its travel health notice to "Level 3: High".

Washington, Jul 27 (AP-PTI) President Joe Biden said Monday the U.S. combat mission in Iraq will conclude by the end of the year, an announcement that reflects the reality on the ground more than a major shift in U.S. policy.

Even before Biden took office, the main U.S. focus has been assisting Iraqi forces, not fighting on their behalf. And Biden did not say if he planned to reduce the number of troops in Iraq, now about 2,500.

Washington, Jul 24 (PTI) The US has said it is against the use of spying technology on civil society, regime critics and journalists through "extrajudicial means", even as it maintained that it has no particular insight into the Pegasus snooping case in India.

The alleged use of the Pegasus software to spy on politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and others in many countries, including India, has triggered concerns over issues relating to privacy.

Washington, Jul 24 (PTI) Secretary of State Antony Blinken will raise issues of human rights and democracy with Indian officials during his first visit to New Delhi as the two nations have more values in common on those fronts than otherwise, according to a senior US official.

Blinken is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi late on July 27.

Washington, Jul 23 (AP-PTI) Unfazed by Republican threats of a boycott, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared Thursday that a congressional committee investigating the Jan 6 Capitol insurrection will take on its deadly serious work whether Republicans participate or not.

The Republicans' House leader, Kevin McCarthy, called the committee a sham process and suggested that GOP lawmakers who take part could face consequences.

McCarthy said Pelosi's rejection of two of the Republicans he had attempted to appoint was an egregious abuse of power."

20 July 2021; MEMO: US President Joe Biden hosted Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House on Monday in a meeting that spanned a range of issues, including the coronavirus pandemic and the Middle East, reports Anadolu Agency.

Biden "was proud to announce the delivery of over" half a-million coronavirus vaccine doses, "underscoring the US commitment to bringing the same urgency to international vaccination efforts that we have demonstrated at home," the White House said in a statement issued after the meeting concluded.

Washington, Jul 16 (PTI) Seeking to strengthen America's ties with Quad nations -- India, Australia and Japan and countries in Southeast Asia, a key US Congressional committee has passed a legislation aimed at addressing the challenges posed by China.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the Ensuring American Global Leadership and Engagement or EAGLE Act at its meeting here on Thursday.