North America

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Trump administration on Tuesday quietly launched an effort to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts, despite clear reservations and conflicting messages from the Mexican government.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego County elected officials have agreed to provide a government-owned building to shelter asylum seekers.

The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Tuesday to allow an unused courthouse to temporarily house asylum seekers.

Since late October, the U.S. has been releasing asylum seekers from detention without giving them time to make travel arrangements. Many were dropped off at bus stations or on the streets with no money.

EUNICE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico high school was forced to delay classes after authorities say vandals slipped onto campus and pour vegetable oil throughout the hallways.

The Hobbs News-Sun reports the slick attack at Eunice High School in Eunice, New Mexico, reportedly occurred late Sunday and forced custodial staff to race Monday morning to clean up the mess.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A 61-year-old Texas inmate was set to be executed Wednesday for killing a Houston police officer more than three decades ago during a robbery.

Robert Jennings was condemned for the July 1988 slaying of Officer Elston Howard during a robbery at an adult bookstore.

Jennings would be the first inmate put to death this year both in the U.S. and in Texas, which is the nation’s busiest capital punishment state.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The high-stakes gambler responsible for the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history sought notoriety in the attack but left his specific motive a mystery, the FBI said Tuesday as it concluded the investigation of the 2017 massacre that killed 58 country music fans.

While the agency found no “single or clear motivating factor” to explain why Stephen Paddock opened fire from his suite in a high-rise casino hotel, Paddock may have been seeking to follow in his father’s criminal footsteps, the FBI said.

29 Jan 2019; AFP: US President Donald Trump will meet with China's trade envoy this week during talks aimed at resolving the trade dispute with Beijing, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is leading a delegation of 30 officials to Washington for talks Wednesday and Thursday as the pressure mounts on both sides to reach a deal.

30 Jan 2019; AFP: A Canadian landscaper on Tuesday pleaded guilty to the murders of eight men with links to Toronto's gay community and the mutilation of their bodies, most of them chopped up and hidden inside planters.

The plea entered by Bruce McArthur, 67, was a surprise -- he had been scheduled to stand trial next year.

30 Jan 2019; AFP: The extradition hearing for a top Huawei executive at the center of a diplomatic row between Ottawa and Beijing was pushed back to March on Tuesday, after the US unveiled sweeping charges against her and the Chinese tech giant.

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer and the daughter of its founder, was indicted along with Huawei and two affiliates in a US case related to alleged Iran sanctions violations that has inflamed tensions with China.

29 Jan 2019; DW: The charges against Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei and its CFO, Meng Wanzhou, have been unveiled in two unsealed indictments. China has urged the US to "stop the unreasonable crackdown" on its companies.

The US Justice Department unsealed two indictments against China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd., several of its subsidiaries, and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, on Monday.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited President Donald Trump to deliver the State of the Union address on Feb. 5, according to her deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill.

"When I wrote to you on January 23rd, I stated that we should work together to find a mutually agreeable date when government has reopened to schedule this year's State of the Union address," Pelosi wrote in a letter to Trump, a copy of which was shared by Hammill on Twitter Monday afternoon. "In our conversation today, we agreed on February 5th."