USA

UNITED NATIONS, May 21 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Thursday asked parties in Somalia to work together for peaceful elections and to advance the political process.

Somalia is entering a critical stage with the elections on top of its priorities, said Yao Shaojun, China's acting deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.

The Somali president has signed the electoral bill into law. The national electoral security task force adopted its terms of reference and reviewed the draft concept of security for voter registration, he noted.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials are invoking a rarely used provision of American law that would shield companies from antitrust regulations to help the country from again running out of medical supplies in a pandemic.

The government began formal discussions Thursday with private industry representatives on a cooperative five-year agreement to ensure supplies of protective materials, medical equipment, medicine and vaccines.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharply divided Senate confirmed John Ratcliffe as director of national intelligence on Thursday, with Democrats refusing to support the nomination over fears that he will politicize the intelligence community’s work under President Donald Trump.

All Democrats opposed Ratcliffe, making him the first DNI to be installed on a partisan vote since the position was created in 2005. The tally was 49-44.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that Russian violations make it untenable for the U.S. to stay in a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct observation flights over each other’s territory, but he hinted it’s possible the U.S. will reconsider the decision to withdraw.

NEW YORK (AP) — After co-writing the best-selling adult novel of 2018, Bill Clinton and James Patterson have teamed up for another political thriller.

“The President’s Daughter” will be released in June 2021, the book’s publishers announced Thursday. As with the million-selling “The President Is Missing,” the new novel will be a rare joint release by rival companies: Alfred A. Knopf, which has released Clinton’s “My Life” among other works, and Little, Brown and Company, Patterson’s longtime publisher.

(AP) --- A shooting at a Texas naval air station that wounded a sailor and left the gunman dead early Thursday was being investigated as “terrorism-related,” the FBI said, but divulged few details as to why.

The suspect was identified as Adam Alsahli of Corpus Christi, according to three officials familiar with the investigation who were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell huddled Thursday at the White House as Republicans stake out new plans to phase out coronavirus-related unemployment benefits to encourage Americans to go back to work.

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The Georgia man whose cellphone video of Ahmaud Arbery’s fatal shooting helped reignite the case was charged with murder Thursday, making him the third person arrested more than two months after the slaying.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said 50-year-old William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. was arrested on charges of felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. No other details were given. The GBI said in a statement that it would hold a news conference Friday morning.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — For a preview of the future of office work, watch how the biggest tech companies are preparing for a post-pandemic world.

Silicon Valley and Seattle giants — Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Twitter — were the first to send their employees home as the virus spread to the U.S. Now they’re among the last to return them to the office. Some of their employees might never go back.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the U.S. has swelled to nearly 39 million, the government reported Thursday, even as states from coast to coast gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work.

More than 2.4 million people filed for unemployment last week in the latest wave of layoffs from the business shutdowns that have brought the economy to its knees, the Labor Department said.