USA

March 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday will create two new national monuments, in Nevada and Texas, and launch an effort to consider expanding protections for all waters around remote Pacific islands southwest of Hawaii.

The moves, which will be announced at a White House summit on conservation, are aimed at delivering on Biden's goal to conserve at least 30% of federal lands and waters by 2030.

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday released proposed rules to prevent $52 billion in semiconductor manufacturing and research funding from being used by China and other countries deemed of concern.

The proposal limits recipients of U.S. funding from investing in the expansion of semiconductor manufacturing in foreign countries of concern such as China and Russia, and limits recipients of incentive funds from engaging in joint research or technology licensing efforts with a foreign entity of concern.

NEW YORK, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Two decades after the United States invaded Iraq, 61 percent of Americans do not believe the country made the right decision by invading Iraq, according to a new Axios/Ipsos poll.

"The chaos and destruction that followed the invasion have made a generation of Americans and their leaders more skeptical of the use of military force overseas, in particular in the Middle East," said an Axios report of the poll published last week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is putting out the word that expected stopovers in the United States by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen would fall in line with recent precedent and should not be used as a pretext by China to step up aggressive activity in the Taiwan Strait.

FLORENCE TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Fire destroyed a large New Jersey church, collapsing its roof as more than 150 firefighters fought to control the blaze.

Video showed the Fountain of Life Center in Florence Township engulfed in flames Monday night.

No injuries were reported in the fire, which started at about 6 p.m. Monday. The cause wasn’t immediately known.

“It’s a devastating loss,” Russell Hodgins, a senior pastor, told Philadelphia’s KYW-TV. He said his grandparents helped build it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It seemed like a good idea at the time: Red-state Democrats facing grim reelection prospects would join forces with Republicans to slash bank regulations — demonstrating a willingness to work with President Donald Trump while bucking many in their party.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tens of thousands of workers in the Los Angeles Unified School District walked off the job Tuesday over stalled contract talks, and they are being joined in solidarity by teachers in a three-day strike that has shut down the nation’s second-largest school system.

Demonstrations began at a bus yard and are expected at schools across the city by members of Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents about 30,000 teachers’ aides, special education assistants, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and other support staff.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — From the moment he rode down the Trump Tower escalator to announce his first presidential campaign, a searing question has hung over the Republican Party: Is this the moment to break from Donald Trump?

March 19 (Reuters) - U.S. drone flights over the Black Sea are a sign of direct U.S. involvement in conflict with Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Last week, a U.S. drone crashed into the sea after being intercepted by Russian Su-27 fighter planes in the first known direct military encounter between the two sides since Russia launched its war in Ukraine last year.

SAN DIEGO, the United States, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Anti-war organizations held rallies in Los Angeles and San Diego on Saturday in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which started on March 20, 2003.

The gathering came amid nationwide anti-war rallies organized by Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER Coalition), a U.S.-based protest umbrella group consisting of many anti-war and civil rights organizations.