<p style="text-align: justify;">Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>U.S. Senate Republicans put Biden on notice over debt ceiling</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Two dozen U.S. Senate Republicans warned Democratic President Joe Biden on Friday that they would not support increasing the federal debt ceiling without at least an equal amount of spending cuts to government programs or structural reform. In a Jan. 27 letter, lawmakers supported legislation to require the U.S. Treasury to prioritize payments for the public debt, Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits and military pay, if the government were to breach the current $31.4 trillion borrowing limit in coming months.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Biden ‘outraged’ and ‘pained’ after watching Memphis police video</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">President Joe Biden said he was "outraged" and "deeply pained" after watching a violent encounter between Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, and the five police officers charged with murder in his beating death after a traffic stop earlier this month. "Like so many, I was outraged and deeply pained to see the horrific video of the beating that resulted in Tyre Nichols’ death," Biden said in a statement.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>U.S. charges three in Iran-backed effort to assassinate journalist</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">U.S. prosecutors have charged three men with attempting to assassinate a prominent critic of Iran’s government who was previously the target of a failed Tehran-backed kidnapping plot, Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday, Rafat Amirov, Polad Omarov and Khalid Mehdiyev were charged with murder-for-hire and money laundering for their role in the thwarted Tehran-backed assassination attempt of the journalist and activist, who is a U.S. citizen and lives in Brooklyn.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Factbox-Sequence of events in Memphis police beating of Tyre Nichols</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">(Note language in entry for 8:34 p.m. that readers may find offensive) Memphis police beat, tased, kicked and batoned Tyre Nichols during a Jan. 7 traffic stop, video released on Friday shows. Nichols died three days later, and five officers were charged with second-degree murder.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Video shows Memphis police officers kicking, beating Tyre Nichols</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Tyre Nichols repeatedly cried, "Mom! Mom!” as the five Memphis police officers now charged with the Black motorist’s murder pummeled him with kicks, punches and baton blows after a Jan. 7 traffic stop, video released by the city on Friday showed. The video from police body-worn cameras and a camera mounted on a utility pole were posted online a day after the officers were charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official misconduct and oppression in Nichols’ death.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Analysis-Why Biden pushes an assault weapons ban despite the political odds</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Flags are lowered, sorrowful statements are issued, pleas to lawmakers are made, again. In the wake of two mass shootings in California this week, President Joe Biden has followed a heartfelt and familiar script of outrage and grief over gun violence in America, coupled with a renewed call for Congress to pass legislation banning assault-style weapons.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Events in the Memphis police beating death of Tyre Nichols</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The city of Memphis on Friday released video of the police traffic stop and beating of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man. Five police officers have been fired and charged with second-degree murder in his death. Here is a timeline of events.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>U.S. House passes bill limiting drawdowns from strategic oil reserve</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday limiting the ability of the energy secretary to tap the strategic oil reserve without developing plans to increase the amount of public lands available for oil and gas drilling. Representatives backed the bill 221 to 205, with support from only one Democrat. President Joe Biden would veto the legislation should it pass Congress, the White House said this week. The bill is expected to face an uphill battle in the Senate, which unlike the House, is controlled by Biden’s fellow Democrats.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Footage from attack on Paul Pelosi released by authorities</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">San Francisco authorities released video footage on Friday of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, being struck by an intruder’s hammer as police rushed into their home to stop the attack. The police body-worn camera footage of the Oct. 28 violence was released alongside a surveillance video showing the alleged attacker, David DePape, 42, smashing through a glass window to get into the couple’s San Francisco home, as well as a 911 call from a distressed Paul Pelosi, who was talking to the dispatcher with DePape apparently beside him.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Trump heads to New Hampshire, South Carolina in bid to jump-start campaign</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Former U.S. President Donald Trump will swing through New Hampshire and South Carolina on Saturday in the first two stops of a presidential campaign that has largely idled since he launched his new White House bid in November. Trump will speak first at the New Hampshire Republican Party’s annual meeting in Salem before heading to Columbia, South Carolina’s capital, where he will unveil his leadership team in the state.</p>
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