USA

UNITED NATIONS, May 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) – UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, yesterday called for a humanitarian pause in the escalating violence in Israel and Gaza.

“I call on all parties to the hostilities to agree to a humanitarian pause, to allow for emergency humanitarian relief distribution and for civilians to purchase food and water, seek medical care and attend to other emergency needs,” the UN humanitarian chief said, in a statement.

WASHINGTON, May 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Three of the 40 prisoners still at the Guantanamo Bay US military prison have been approved for release, a lawyer for one said Tuesday, the first such approvals under the administration of President Joe Biden.

The three included Pakistani Saifullah Paracha, who at 73 is the oldest of those still held, nearly two decades after the United States detained hundreds of suspects in the wake of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.

WASHINGTON, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to pass a bill aimed at combating the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the country, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden's desk for signature.

The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act passed in a 364-62 vote in the House, with all no votes coming from Republicans. The Senate last month approved the bill on a 94-1 vote, with GOP Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri casting the lone no vote. Biden is expected to sign the bill into law as soon as Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York attorney general’s office said Tuesday that it is conducting a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s business empire, expanding what had previously been a civil probe.

“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the company is no longer purely civil in nature,” Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for Attorney General Letitia James, said in a statement.

“We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA,” Levy said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is poised to vote on a 9/11-style commission on the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a first step toward creating an independent, bipartisan panel that would investigate the siege and try to prevent it from happening again.

While the measure is expected to be approved Wednesday by the House, a commission will likely be a more difficult sell in the Senate. Republicans there are signaling that they will try to block — or at least slow down — the effort.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans trying to drive a wedge between Democrats and chip away at President Joe Biden’s support are zeroing in on the violence in the Middle East, laying blame on his administration and aiming to make his liberal critics the face of the party heading into the midterm elections.

NEW YORK (AP) — More than a year after coronavirus shutdowns sent “the city that never sleeps” into a fitful slumber, New York could be wide awake again this summer.

Starting Wednesday, vaccinated New Yorkers can shed their masks in most situations, and restaurants, stores, gyms and many other businesses can go back to full capacity if they check vaccination cards or apps for proof that all patrons have been inoculated.

NEW YORK, May 18 (APP): Pakistan called on the Nonaligned Movement (NAM) to demand an immediate end to Israel’s deadly offensive in Palestine when the 120-member body’s Coordinating Bureau met here Monday to discuss the “horrendous” situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

At the same time, Ambassador Munir Akram cautioned NAM members against succumbing to the rhetoric of the aggressor by drawing a moral or a military equivalence between a beleaguered and unarmed Palestinian people and one of the strongest militaries in the region.

UNITED NATIONS, May 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A 193-member United Nations General Assembly vote on Tuesday (May 18) on a draft resolution calling “for an immediate suspension of the direct and indirect supply, sale or transfer of all weapons and munitions” to Myanmar has been postponed, diplomats said.

A spokesman for the UN General Assembly president said earlier on Monday that the body was due to vote on Tuesday. It was not immediately known when a vote would be rescheduled. Some diplomats said it had been delayed in a bid to win more support.

UNITED NATIONS, May 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States blocked – for the third time in a week – the adoption of a joint UN Security Council statement calling for a halt to Israeli-Palestinian violence, triggering a new emergency closed-door session set for Tuesday.

The text drafted by China, Tunisia and Norway was submitted late Sunday for approval Monday by the council’s 15 members, as Israeli jets continued to pound the Gaza Strip and the death toll from a week of violence passed 200.