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Seoul, Mar 26 (AP-PTI) North Korea on Friday confirmed it had tested a new guided missile, as President Joe Biden warned of consequences if Pyongyang escalates tensions amid stalled nuclear negotiations.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the two new-type tactical guided projectiles accurately hit the target off the eastern coast on Thursday. Photos on the website of the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed a missile lifting off from a transport erector launcher amid bright flames.

22 Mar 2021; MEMO: Lawyers for the fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Hatice Cengiz, and advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), successfully served Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) with the complaint they filed in the District of Columbia Federal District Court

Washington, Mar 20 (PTI) Top American lawmakers have welcomed Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin's first visit to the US' "strategic partner" India, as they highlighted the importance of the bilateral ties which are critical for the security and stability in the Indo-Pacific amidst Chinese aggression.

Austin is on a three-nation first overseas tour. He visited Japan and South Korea before visiting India.

19 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Biden administration is crafting a plan aimed at resetting US ties with the Palestinians that all but collapsed under former President Donald Trump, according to an internal draft memo, reported on by Reuters.

Washington, Mar 19 (PTI) The US House of Representatives has passed two key bills that would create a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, some migrant farmworkers and children whose parents immigrated legally to the country, like those under the H-1B visa programme.

The passage of the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021, by the House on Thursday by 228-197 votes, was welcomed by the President Joe Biden, who described it as a critical first step in reforming the country's immigration system.

Washington, Mar 19 (PTI) Five powerful Democratic senators on Thursday urged President Joe Biden to rescind his predecessor Donald Trump's ban on some non-immigrant visas, including the H-1B visa which is popular among Indian IT professionals, saying this creates uncertainties for US employers, their foreign-born professional workers and their families.

In June 2020, Trump instituted Proclamation 10052, halting the processing of non-immigrant H-1B, L-1, H-2B, and J-1 visas, based on the alleged potential risk to the labour market.

13 Mar 2021; MEMO: A sound plan for a Yemen ceasefire is now before the leadership of the Iran-backed Houthi movement, Reuters reported the US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking saying today.

Warning that Yemen "will spiral into greater conflict and instability" without ceasefire progress, Lenderking added that the United States restored humanitarian assistance funding to North Yemen.

13 Mar 2021; MEMO: The United States and Iran have begun indirect diplomacy with Europeans and others conveying messages about how they might resume compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday, reported Reuters.

"Diplomacy with Iran is ongoing, just not in a direct fashion at the moment," he told reporters.

Washington, Mar 12 (PTI) US President Joe Biden has announced that all adult Americans will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination by May 1 with an aim to get the country, worst-hit by the pandemic, closer to normal by July 4th, Independence Day.

In his first prime-time address to the nation on Thursday since assuming office in January, Biden also announced the deployment of more than 4,000 active-duty troops to support vaccination efforts, bringing the total to over 6,000.

Washington, Mar 9 (PTI) There has been inordinate delay in issuing of H-4 work authorisation permits to certain categories of spouses of those possessing H-1B foreign work visas, the most sought after among Indian IT professionals, a group of highly talented Indian women in the US has said.

An H-4 visa is issued by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the H-1B visa holders, most of whom are Indian IT professionals.