North America

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — The U.S. turned the page on pandemic-era immigration restrictions with relative calm at its border with Mexico as migrants adapted to strict new rules aimed at discouraging illegal crossings and awaited the promise of new legal pathways for entering the country.

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (APP):UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has voiced “deep concern” over the violence between Israel and Gaza militant groups, and warns the Jewish state must adhere to international law during the latest round of conflict.

In a statement released by his Spokesperson Farhan Haq , he said he condemned the civilian loss of life that occurred during Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday aimed at the Islamic Jihad group, three of whose leaders were killed.

WASHINGTON, May 12 (APP):A prosperous and strong, democratic Pakistan is critical to U.S. interests, a State Department spokesperson said Thursday, while reiterating that it does not have a position on one candidate or the other or one political party versus another.

“We continue to monitor the situation in Pakistan closely,” Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters at his daily press briefing in response to a series of questions about the latest developments in the South Asian country.

May 11 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Virginia has struck down federal laws that block the sale of handguns to buyers under the age of 21, ruling they violate constitutional rights to possess firearms.

The ruling, which the Justice Department is expected to challenge, will not take effect until judge Robert Payne, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, issues his final order in the coming weeks.

May 12 (Reuters) - A former U.S. Marine who killed a homeless man by putting him in a chokehold on the New York City subway was taken into custody at a police precinct on Friday and was expected to be arraigned on a manslaughter charge.

A viral video showed the former Marine, identified as Daniel Penny, putting 30-year-old Jordan Neely in a chokehold on May 1 while they rode on the F train in Manhattan. Neely died from a compression of the neck, the medical examiner said, but Penny's lawyers said he did not mean to kill him.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans passed a sweeping bill Thursday to build more U.S.-Mexico border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hard-line counter to President Joe Biden’s policies just as migrants are amassing along the border with the end of coronavirus pandemic restrictions.

The bill has virtually no chance of becoming law. Democrats, who have a narrow hold on the Senate, have decried the aggressive measures in the bill as “cruel” and “anti-immigrant,” and Biden has already promised he would veto it.

Miami Gardens, Florida (AP) —Elon Musk said Thursday he has found a new CEO for Twitter, or X Corp. as it’s now called — and it’s a woman. He did not name her but said she will be starting in about six weeks.

Musk, who bought Twitter last fall and has been running it since, has long insisted he is not the company’s permanent CEO. The Tesla billionaire said in a tweet Thursday that his role will transition to being Twitter’s executive chairman and chief technology officer.

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who kept a chokehold around the neck of an agitated fellow passenger on a New York City subway, leading to the other rider’s death, is expected to turn himself in to authorities Friday on a manslaughter charge that could send him to prison for 15 years.

Manhattan prosecutors announced Thursday they would bring the criminal charge against Daniel Penny, 24, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, in the May 1 death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is putting new restrictions into place at its southern border to try to to stop migrants from crossing illegally and encourage them instead to apply for asylum online through a new process.

The changes come with the end of coronavirus restrictions on asylum that have allowed the U.S. to quickly turn back migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border for the past three years. Those restrictions are known as Title 42, because the authority comes from Title 42 of a 1944 public health law allowing curbs on migration in the name of protecting public health.

12 May 2023; MEMO: The United States stands by Israel's right to defend itself, the American ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, announced yesterday.

"Concerned about the continuing rocket launches today," Nides said on Twitter, referring to recent rockets that were fired from the besieged Gaza Strip.

The US envoy added that his country was working to achieve a "quick de-escalation."