USA

29 March 2024; UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A veto Thursday by Russia ended monitoring of U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is seeking to avoid scrutiny as it allegedly violates the sanctions to buy weapons from Pyongyang for its war in Ukraine.

29 March 2024; AP: SAN FRANCISCO — Noriko Kuwabara was excited to try a new recipe she’d seen on social media for crispy shrimp spring rolls, so she and her husband headed to Costco’s frozen foods aisle. But when she grabbed a bag of farm-raised shrimp from the freezer and saw “Product of India,” she wrinkled her nose.

“I actually try to avoid shrimp from India,” said Kuwabara, an artist. “I hear some bad things about how it’s grown there.”

29 March 2024; AP: NEW YORK — Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and some big names from the entertainment world teamed up Thursday night to deliver a rousing New York embrace of President Joe Biden that hauled in a record-setting $26 million-plus for his reelection campaign.

29 March 2024; AP: Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is seeking to outraise President Joe Biden next week, aiming to take in more than $33 million to top a new single-event fundraising record set by Biden on Thursday with $25 million, said a person familiar with the Trump event who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Massive barges carrying cranes streamed toward Baltimore on Thursday to begin the challenging work of removing twisted metal and concrete in an attempt to open a key shipping route blocked by the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore promised that “the best minds in the world” were working on plans to clear the debris, move the cargo ship that rammed into the bridge from the channel, recover the bodies of the four remaining workers presumed dead, and investigate what went wrong.

WASHINGTON, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The Francis Scott Key Bridge in the U.S. city of Baltimore collapsed early Tuesday after a large ship collided with it, leaving six people missing.

The tragic incident occurred at about 1:30 a.m. local time (0530 GMT) on Tuesday. A Dali container vessel experienced a power failure before the collision. The operators of the cargo ship issued a mayday call moments before the vessel crashed.

27 March 2024; MEMO: The UN resolution passed on Monday and which calls for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza is not binding on Israel, the US has claimed.

All UN Security Council resolutions are binding, however White House National Security Council, John Kirby, said: “It’s a non-binding resolution, so there’s no impact at all on Israel’s ability to continue to go after Hamas.”

27 March 2024; MEMO: Americans do not want to see Palestinian children killed in the Gaza Strip, Independent Senator, Bernie Sanders, said Wednesday, Anadolu Agency reports.

“The American people, in my view, no matter what your politics may be, do not want to be complicit in the slaughter of small kids who are bombed to death while they sleep.

28 March 2024; MEMO: A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip must be “substantive, not symbolic” to end the “darkest chapters” of humanity, a UNICEF official said on Tuesday.

“Gaza has shattered humanity’s records for its darkest chapters. Humanity must now urgently write a different chapter,” UNICEF spokesman James Elder said at a UN press briefing in Geneva.

22 March 2024; MEMO: UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, yesterday called on the international community to adhere to the same principles without double standards, whether in Ukraine or Gaza, Anadolu agency reported.