WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) – A group of 22 U.S.
state attorneys general on Monday blasted Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp and said they need do more to address problems with millions of U.S. vehicles that are prone to theft.

The U.S.
action targets former director of the Paraguayan Civil Aviation Authority, Edgar Melgarejo, current member of the Paraguayan Panel for the Discipline of Judges and Prosecutors, Jorge Bogarin, and current Court Clerk Vicente Ferreira, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement.

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.

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 attorneys general letter said the automakers had failed to take adequate steps to address the alarming rate of theft and urged them to accelerate the implementation of the software upgrade and provide free alternative protective measures for owners whose cars cannot support the software upgrade.

2011 through 2022 model year vehicles. The free upgrade will be offered for 3.8 million Hyundai and 4.5 million Kia vehicles, the automakers and NHTSA said.
Hyundai said the upgrade applies to various U.S.

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.

“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.

March 23 (Reuters) – The United States has designated one former and two current Paraguayan officials for what Washington said was their involvement in “significant corruption,” making the officials and their families ineligible for entry into the North American country.

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).

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.

“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”.

Earlier this month, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he had launched a civil investigation into Kia and Hyundai´s sale of vehicles to Minnesota consumers that lacked industry-standard, anti-theft technology and sought documents and answer questions under oath.