North America

ANKARA; 7 May 2019; AA: Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) on Monday announced that a do-over election in Istanbul will be held on June 23.

The council members accepted the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party's objection to the local election results in Istanbul with seven votes in favor and four against.

According to the YSK, the decision was taken as some presiding officers and polling staffs, who are supposed to be civil servants as per Turkish law, served during the elections.

7 May 2019; AFP: A former Goldman Sachs banker pleaded not guilty Monday in New York to bribery and other charges in the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal after being extradited from Malaysia.

Malaysian Ng Chong Hwa, 51, a former managing director at the bank charged in both Malaysia and America over the 1MDB fraud, was extradited to the US on Friday, Malaysian attorney-general Tommy Thomas said.

7 May 2019; AFP: Tiger Woods, fresh off his epic comeback victory in the Masters, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.

Presenting the golfing great with the nation's highest honor, Trump praised Woods' "relentless will to win, win, win."

"These qualities embody the American spirit of pushing boundaries, defying limits and always striving for greatness," the president said.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 6 (Xinhua): Facebook announced Monday a series of updates that will change its video ranking system to focus on original content and loyal viewership.

The ranking updates, which will roll out over the next few months, will further prioritize original videos that people seek out, and help both creators and publishers succeed with their videos on Facebook, said David Miller, product management director at Facebook.

MEXICO CITY, May 6 (Xinhua): A private airplane crashed in a remote mountainous area in northern Mexico over the weekend, killing all the 13 people on board, authorities said on Monday.

Authorities located on Monday the remains of the small jet in the northern state of Coahuila and later confirmed the death toll. Local media reported first that there were 14 people on board.

Washington, May 7 (PTI) The Trump administration is proposing a hike in the H-1B visa application fee to increase funding for the expansion of an apprentice programme, which trains American youths in technology related activities, Labour Secretary Alexander Acosta told US lawmakers.

Testifying before a Congressional committee on annual budget of the Department of Labour for the fiscal year 2020 beginning October 1, 2019, Acosta, however, did not give details of the proposed increase in H-1B filing fee and as to which categories of applicants it would be enforced on.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer and fixer has arrived at an upstate New York prison to start a three-year sentence for crimes including campaign finance violations related to hush-money payments made on Trump’s behalf.

A vehicle carrying Michael Cohen arrived at around 11:30 a.m. EDT Monday at the federal prison in Otisville, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of New York City.

HOUSTON (AP) — Residents seeking compensation after their Houston-area homes and businesses were flooded by two federally owned reservoirs during Hurricane Harvey say authorities knew for decades that such an inundation was inevitable but did nothing to prevent it, an attorney for the property owners said in court Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of former federal prosecutors have signed onto a letter saying President Donald Trump would have been charged with obstruction of justice if he were anyone other than the president.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller was expected to step down days after concluding his investigation in March. Yet he remains a Justice Department employee — and the department won’t say why.

That’s just one of the complications at play in the high-stakes, secret negotiations over whether Mueller will testify before Congress.