North America

MEXICO CITY, Sept 15 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — A total 350 migrants dehydrated women, men and minors originating from Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras and El Salvador, were rescued from a crowded box of a trailer in the early morning of Thursday in Veracruz, the National Migration Institute (INM) disclosed.

The migrants were discovered at the toll booth of Cosamaloapan between the municipalities of Córdoba and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, where the driver of the cargo transport was stopped and using a device with gamma rays, which detected the presence of people inside the container.

SAN SALVADOR, Sept 15 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — El Salvador invited the European Union (EU) officially to participate as an observer in the February 2024 elections, a source from the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) said.

The ruling body of the upcoming elections asked the Europeans to send an observer mission to the presidential, legislative, municipal and Central American Parliament elections in 2024.

GUATEMALA CITY, Sept 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A politician from the party of Guatemala’s president-elect was shot dead on Thursday near the border with Mexico, the party and local media said.

Anibal Ramirez, a former candidate in the western town of San Pedro Necta for president-elect Bernardo Arevalo’s Semilla (Seed) party, was killed in a roadway attack there, according to local media reports.

Ramirez’s wife Mercy Morales, who was with him in a pick-up truck, was also killed in the attack, party leaders confirmed.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - World leaders meet at the United Nations next week in the shadow of geopolitical tensions - largely fueled by the war in Ukraine - as Russia and China vie with the United States and Europe to win over developing countries.

Russia's war in Ukraine, well into its second year, will again be a focus of the annual gathering in New York, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attending in person for the first time since the conflict started.

SANTO DOMINGO/OUANAMINTHE, Haiti, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Haitians returned from the Dominican Republic on Thursday after the Dominican president announced an imminent total border shutdown amid a conflict over the construction of a water channel from a shared river.

The border is set to close from Friday at 6 a.m. (1000 GMT) and will last "as long as necessary," Dominican authorities said, with backing from their military and police forces, though talks with the Haitian government are set to continue.

NEW YORK, Sept 14 (Reuters) - A New York state appeals court judge on Thursday temporarily halted the scheduled Oct. 2 trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James' fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump and his family business, a spokesman for the court said.

The order came after the former U.S. president sued Justice Arthur Engoron, the trial judge overseeing the case, accusing him and James of defying a court order that could narrow the lawsuit, according to a report in the Daily Beast.

MEXICO CITY, Sept 14 (Reuters) - A UFO hearing in Mexico's congress that featured the presentation of alleged remains of non-human beings faced swift international backlash on Thursday, with critics labeling it a "stunt," and questions from officials in Peru, where the apparent specimens first emerged.

NEW YORK, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The United Auto Workers (UAW) union announced late Thursday to begin a strike against all Big Three U.S. automakers.

"The UAW Stand Up Strike begins at all three of the Big Three," the union said in a post on the social media platform X, adding that workers were striking at plants for General Motors, Stellantis and Ford.

The first ever strike of all three at once in the union's 88-year history came after it failed to clinch a deal on a new contract by a deadline on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is challenging efforts by former President Donald Trump to disqualify the Washington judge presiding over the case charging him with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith’s team wrote in a court filing late Thursday that there was “no valid basis” for U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to recuse herself.

(AP) --- Mitt Romney’s announcement this week that he will not seek another term in the U.S. Senate came with a distant echo of his father’s departure from politics five decades ago.

Mitt and his father, George Romney, at one time were top Republican contenders for the presidency, but fell short of the White House. Both ended their careers in elected office with a sense their party had lost its bearings. And both called for a more humane party, one that prioritizes civility and principle over resentments and score-settling.