North America

NEW YORK, April 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended lower on Wednesday as concerns over another rate hike in early May and economic recession dampened short-lived optimism from the lower-than-expected inflation in March.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 38.29 points, or 0.11 percent, to 33,646.50. The S&P 500 fell 16.99 points, or 0.41 percent, to 4,091.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 102.54 points, or 0.85 percent, to 11,929.34.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s immigration head will face criminal charges in a fire that killed 40 migrants in a detention center last month, but President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday that he will not dismiss the official known for his hard line on northbound migration.

Obrador’s decision to keep Francisco Garduño as head of the Mexican Immigration Institute appeared to conflict with the federal Attorney General’s Office announcement late Tuesday to charge Garduño in connection with the blaze.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Recuperating U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California asked Wednesday to be temporarily replaced on the Judiciary Committee, shortly after two House Democrats called on her to resign after her extended absence from Washington.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine’s leaders say they don’t see a major U.S. intelligence leak as gravely damaging future offensives. A key reason: They have long held back on sharing their most sensitive operational information, doubting Washington’s ability to keep their secrets safe.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump was expected to visit the offices of New York’s attorney general Thursday for his second deposition in a legal battle over his company’s business practices.

The Republican was scheduled to meet with lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump last year. Her lawsuit claims Trump and his family misled banks and business associates by giving them false information about his net worth and the value of assets such as hotels and golf courses.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Nearly a foot (30 centimeters) of rain fell in a matter of hours in Fort Lauderdale – causing widespread flooding, the closure of the city’s airport and the suspension of high-speed commuter rail service for the Broward County region.

The city of Fort Lauderdale released a statement Wednesday evening urging residents and visitors to stay off the roads until the water has subsided.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The second of two Black Democrats expelled from the Republican-led Tennessee House will follow his colleague in a return to work at the Capitol on Thursday, a week after their banishments for a gun control protest on the House floor that propelled them into the national spotlight.

PANAMA CITY, April 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday urged migrants heading to the United States to use legal routes, during a visit to Panama.

Mayorkas’s comments come as a record number of migrants have passed through the dangerous Darien Gap jungle between Colombia and Panama since the start of the year.

Some 100,000 people have taken the perilous route since Jan 1, six times the number from the same period last year, according to figures given by Panamanian migration services.

WASHINGTON, April 12 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — One man died and three other people were hurt in a shooting Tuesday at a funeral home in Northeast D.C., police say.    

A funeral for a homicide victim had just ended at the Stewart Funeral Home in the 4400 block of Benning Road NE about noon when someone shot people who were standing outside, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee said at a news conference.

Contee said an officer who was nearby heard the gunshots and found four adults were shot.

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump accused Emmanuel Macron of pandering to China leader Xi Jinping during the French president's recent closely watched visit to Beijing.

Trump, who seeks to regain the White House in 2024, forged an adversarial relationship with China during his presidency even as he called Xi his "very good friend."