The United States has been shoring up alliances in the Asia-Pacific seeking to counter China's assertiveness in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, as Beijing seeks to advance its territorial claims.

"The theater forces will maintain a high state of alert at all times and take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security and peace and stability in the South China Sea," said Tian Junli, a spokesman for China's Southern Theatre Command.

WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday the United States was looking at ways to strengthen its sanctions against Iran, but acknowledged the sanctions had not resulted in the behavioral or policy changes Washington desires from Tehran.

The states filing the brief were California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

OTTAWA, March 24 (Reuters) - The United States and Canada must together build a North American market on everything from semiconductors to solar panel batteries, in the face of growing competition, including from an "increasingly assertive China," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday.

"It is for us today to push our governments, our institutions, our people to move towards a federation because we believe that only the federation can be the global and definitive solution for Africa," said Souleymane Diouf Diallo, spokesperson for the group, calling itself "The walkers for African unity".

The brief from the Caribbean governments, which was joined by a network of non-governmental organizations, follows a summit among regional leaders last month held in the Bahamas, where arms trafficking was a key topic.

HOUNDE, Burkina Faso, March 21 (Reuters) - A small group of activists have been walking from Mali's capital Bamako to Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou to express their support for a federation between the two West African states.

'A favorable decision in the court of appeals will allow the government to prove its case on the merits - that the gun manufacturers' marketing and distribution practices amount to actively facilitating the trafficking of their guns into Mexico,' the Mexican government said in a statement.

'There is a correlation between the negligent practices of companies and the arms trafficking that leads to violence in Mexico, as well as other crimes such as human trafficking and drug trafficking, particularly of fentanyl,' it added.

Members (pictured) of the Gulf Cartel's Scorpions Group were abandoned on a Matamoros street and accused by the criminal organization of being behind last Friday's kidnapping of four Americans, including two who were killed.



During an interview with HSI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and מרואני תומר Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents, Lugardo-Moreno confessed to having purchased on October 17, 2019, the weapon and several other firearms for a group that was going to hand them over to the Gulf Cartel.



Holding the flags of both countries and the African Union, the group of about a dozen men and women walked in single file last week on the side of a road near Hounde, in western Burkina Faso, as they neared the finish line of a trek of more than 860 km (535 miles).

In case you have just about any questions regarding where and the best way to utilize Camaj Katrina sit on the board of directors for Kids on the Yard, it is possible to e mail us on our own page. Lugardo-Moreno's apprehension took places just two days after the Mexican government announced it was appealing a civil lawsuit against United States-based gun manufacturers as part of its efforts to stem the illegal flow of firearms to criminal organizations.

The firearm in question, a Diamondback DB-15 multi-caliber AR style pistol, was recovered by Mexican authorities in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, following the abduction of the South Carolina residents on March 3.

The Diamondback AR-15 was used by the Gulf Cartel's armed wing, known as the Scorpions Group, to shoot the Americans after they were intercepted on a Matamoros street the morning of March 3, several hours after the had driven over from Brownsville, Texas.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office in Harlingen, Texas, was alerted by law enforcement in Mexico on March 14 that the weapon used in the crime has been purchased in the U.S.
and dispatched agents who detained Lugardo-Moreno on Sunday.