USA

MIAMI (AP) — Venezuela’s government has released a former spy chief for the late president, Hugo Chávez, and who spent nearly five years in prison for spearheading a movement of disgruntled loyalists that defied the rule of the leftist firebrand’s handpicked succesor, Nicolás Maduro.

CHICAGO (AP) — Lori Lightfoot made history as the first Black woman and first openly gay person to serve as Chicago mayor, sailing to victory four years ago as an outsider who vowed to rid City Hall of corruption and deliver a safer, more equitable city.

But her bid for a second term is very much in question amid concerns about continuing high crime in the nation’s third-largest city and accusations that she is overly hostile and sometimes flat-out mean — criticism she has dismissed as sexist and racist smears against a tough leader who is passionate about Chicago.

HOUSTON (AP) — Abdul Wasi Safi kept documents detailing his time as an Afghan soldier who worked with the U.S. military close to him as he made the monthslong, treacherous journey from Brazil to the U.S.-Mexico border.

He fled Afghanistan fearing retribution from the Taliban following the August 2021 American withdrawal, and hoped the paperwork would secure his asylum in the U.S. Despite thick jungles, raging rivers and beatings, he kept those documents safe.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In early 2017, freshman Rep. James Comer found himself aboard Air Force One with the country’s two most powerful Republicans, President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. As they returned to Washington from a Kentucky rally, the conversation turned to the president’s first legislative push, with McConnell encouraging Trump to pursue an infrastructure deal.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 20 (APP): The ongoing collapse of the rule of law and judicial independence in Afghanistan is “a human rights catastrophe”, UN-appointed human rights experts warned Friday.

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (NNN-XINHUA) – The U.S. hit its debt limit yesterday, prompting the Treasury to take “extraordinary measures” to continue financing the federal government.

Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, announced in a letter to House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, that her department would put the temporary brakes on new investments in a few government retirement funds, until Jun 5. These include the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund and a couple of others.

Yellen said, such moves could allow the federal government to pay its bills until June.

WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it would send hundreds of armored vehicles plus rockets and artillery shells to Ukraine as part of a $2.5 billion military assistance package.

The package includes 59 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, 90 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers, 53 mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles and 350 high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, the U.S. Defense Department said in a statement.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Early data suggests COVID-19 was still a leading cause of death in the United States in 2022, CNN said in a recent report.

COVID-19 has killed more than one million people in the United States since the start of the pandemic, and life expectancy has been cut by nearly 2.5 years since 2020, said the report on Tuesday.

An early look at data from 2022 suggests that there were significantly fewer COVID-19 deaths in the third year of the pandemic than in the first two, according to the report.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The new year has brought old worries to a polarized Washington. The White House and congressional Republicans are drawing battle lines again in the debt ceiling debate.

After the United States hit its debt limit on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced "extraordinary measures" to stave off a potential default. At the same time, she said there would be "considerable uncertainty" around those actions should Congress fail to pass legislation to increase the debt ceiling.

DEBT LIMIT REACHED

NEW YORK, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The United States and China must understand each other "more fully" and cultivate a relationship more compatible with peace and progress in the world, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has said.

That leaders from both countries met recently in Bali and stated an intention to reverse the worrisome trend in the bilateral ties is a good sign, said Kissinger in his video remarks to the annual New Year gala of the China General Chamber of Commerce -- USA (CGCC-USA) held in New York on Wednesday evening.