North America

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump called a writer’s claims that he raped her at a Manhattan department store “the most ridiculous, disgusting story,” testifying in a deposition shown in court Wednesday that the allegations were “made up” and that the assault never happened.

Lawyers for accuser E. Jean Carroll played about 30 minutes of excerpts from the former president’s deposition, including his emphatic denial of the longtime advice columnist’s accusation that he attacked her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room.

ATLANTA (AP) — Police arrested a man accused of opening fire inside the waiting room of an Atlanta medical practice Wednesday, killing one woman and wounding four. Workers and others in a bustling commercial district took shelter for hours during the manhunt.

Authorities swarmed the city’s midtown neighborhood shortly after noon in search of the shooter. Police said in a statement that the suspect, whom they identified as 24-year-old Deion Patterson, was captured in Cobb County, just northwest of Atlanta.

03 May 2023; MEMO: The US State Department warned, on Wednesday, that deepening ties between Iran and the Syrian government should be of great concern to the world, after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met counterpart, Bashar Al-Assad, in Damascus in the first visit by an Iranian head of state since Syria's war began in 2011, Reuters reports.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations chief warned on the eve of World Press Freedom Day that the media is under attack in every corner of the world and urged all nations to stop the targeting of truth and those who report it.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the 50% increase in the killing of media workers in 2022 “unbelievable,” stressing that freedom of the press “is the foundation of democracy and justice” and it is under threat.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Poised to raise interest rates Wednesday for a 10th time, Federal Reserve officials are facing two competing economic trends that could make their future rate decisions more difficult and treacherous.

On the one hand, turmoil in the banking sector and political battles over the government’s borrowing limit could weaken the economy if banks restrict lending and financial markets tumble on fears of a default on the nation’s debt. Such anxieties would argue against further rate hikes, at least for now.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and Mexican officials have agreed on new immigration policies meant to deter illegal border crossings while also opening up other pathways ahead of an expected increase in migrants following the end of pandemic restrictions next week.

Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall spent Tuesday meeting with Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and other top officials, emerging with a five-point plan, according to statements from both nations.

CLEVELAND, Texas (AP) — A four-day manhunt in Texas for a gunman accused of killing five neighbors ended Tuesday when authorities, acting on a tip, said they found the suspect hiding underneath a pile of laundry in the closet of a house.

Francisco Oropeza, 38, was captured without incident near the community of Conroe, north of Houston and about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from his home in the rural town of Cleveland. That’s where authorities say he went next door and shot his neighbors with an AR-style rifle shortly before midnight Friday.

UNITED NATIONS, May 02 (APP)::A United Nations Security Council committee has accepted a Pakistani request to allow the acting Afghan Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, to travel to Pakistan next week to meet with the foreign Ministers of Pakistan and China, according to Ambassador Munir Akram.

“The Security Council’s Taliban sanction committee approved our request this (Monday) afternoon,” the Pakistani envoy to the UN told APP.

Muttaqi is subjected to a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo under Security Council sanctions.

NEW YORK, May 2. /TASS/: Match Group, the owner of the Tinder online dating service, announced that it would be withdrawing from Russia by June 30, as reported on the website of the company, based in Dallas, Texas.

"Our brands are taking steps to restrict access to their services in Russia and will complete their withdrawal from the Russian market by June 30, 2023," the company announced.

CHICAGO, May 2 (NNN-XINHUA) – At least six people died and more than 30 others were injured, in a dust storm that caused pileups from vehicle crashes on a highway in U.S. Midwest state of Illinois, yesterday.

State police troopers responded to numerous crashes about 11.00 a.m. yesterday, on both directions of I-55 in Montgomery County, south of Springfield, capital of Illinois, the Chicago Tribune quoted the police as saying.

About 20 commercial motor vehicles and 40 to 60 passenger cars were involved in the crashes, including two tractor-trailers that caught fire.