USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders received a classified briefing on Iran from the White House Thursday following criticism that lawmakers have been kept out of the loop about recent military moves in the Middle East.

Members of the so-called Gang of Eight were tight-lipped as they left the briefing. The ranking member of the Senate intelligence committee, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, refused to comment on the classified information discussed, but said more lawmakers should be informed of the Iran threat.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats pushed legislation buttressing the 2010 health care law and curbing prescription drug prices through the House Thursday, advancing a bill that has no chance of surviving in the Senate or getting President Donald Trump’s signature and seemed engineered with next year’s elections in mind.

The measure forced Republicans into the uncomfortable political position of casting a single vote on legislation that contained popular drug pricing restraints they support, plus language strengthening President Barack Obama’s health care statute that they oppose.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal count shows the number of homeless people increased by double-digit percentages in three San Francisco Bay Area counties over two years as the region struggled to tackle the growing problem, including 17% in San Francisco and 43% in the county that includes Oakland.

More than 25,000 people were counted as homeless during an overnight tally conducted in San Francisco, Alameda and Silicon Valley’s Santa Clara counties in January. Detailed reports are expected later this year.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A year after a high school mass shooting near Houston that remains one of the deadliest in U.S. history, Texas lawmakers are on the brink of going home without passing any new gun restrictions, or even tougher firearm storage laws that Gov. Greg Abbott backed after the tragedy.

A Republican governor pushing even a small restriction on firearms kept at home in gun-friendly Texas was a landmark shift after two decades of loosening weapons regulations.

WASHINGTON, May 17. /TASS/: Russia will take reciprocal measures in response to new US sanctions introduced on the basis of the Magnitsky Act, the Russian Embassy in Washington D.C. said in a statement released on Thursday.

"Washington's new anti-Russian steps are associated with the so-called Magnitsky Act," the embassy said. "They represent an attempt to force unilateral measures of coercion which go against international law and cannot be considered as a civilized way of communication between countries," the embassy added noting that "reciprocal measures will follow."

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — Prison officials say 41-year-old inmate Michael Brandon Samra was pronounced dead at 7:33 p.m. following a lethal injection at the state prison at Atmore.

Samra and a friend, Mark Duke, were convicted of capital murder in the deaths of Duke’s father, the father’s girlfriend and the woman’s two young daughters in 1997. Evidence showed that Duke planned the killings because he was angry his father wouldn’t let him use his pickup.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A warehouse worker said he heard the deafening noise of an F-16 jet moments before it smashed through the roof of the building near a Southern California air base.

“Next thing I know I just hear this explosion and turn around to the back of the building, and I just seen a burst of flames and just the ceiling started falling through every part of the building,” Daniel Gallegos told KABC-TV. “I turned around, and my co-worker just told me to get out, so I just made a run for it.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn told the special counsel’s office that people connected to the Trump administration and Congress sought to influence his cooperation with the Russia investigation, and he provided a voicemail recording of one such communication, prosecutors said in a court filing made public Thursday.

Meanwhile, the judge in the case ordered that portions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report that relate to Flynn be unredacted and made public by the end of the month.

UNITED NATIONS, May 16 (Xinhua): The United Nations on Thursday called for "maximum restraint" from all parties amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States and in the Gulf region.

"We are very concerned about the volatility of the situation. We call on everyone to exercise maximum restraint, prevent any escalation of and heightening of tensions," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters.

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Xinhua): U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a plan on Thursday to reform the nation's immigration system, intended to favor high-skilled immigrants and restrict family-based migration.

Speaking at the White House, Trump said that his plan aims to create a "fair, modern and lawful system of immigration for the United States."