North America

MEXICO CITY, May 13 (NNN-Xinhua) — Seventeen people were killed after drinking adulterated alcohol in Mexico’s central-eastern state of Puebla, local authorities said.

These people died in the municipality of Chiconcuautla, a town located about 200 km northeast of the capital Mexico City.

The city council declared a health emergency following the incident, saying local authorities have launched an investigation to find out the precise cause of the deaths.

WASHINGTON, May 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Republican senators proposed legislation Tuesday that would empower President Donald Trump to slap sanctions on China if Beijing does not give a “full accounting” for the coronavirus outbreak.

“The Chinese Communist Party must be held accountable for the detrimental role they played in this pandemic,” said Senator Jim Inhofe, one of the sponsors of the “COVID-19 Accountability Act.”

“Their outright deception of the origin and spread of the virus cost the world valuable time and lives as it began to spread,” he said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden would have to do more than select a Latina running mate to win over Hispanics whose support could be crucial to winning the presidency, according to activists who are warning the presumptive Democratic nominee not to take their community for granted.

Biden is viewed with skepticism among some Latinos for his ties to deportation policies during the Obama administration. Hispanics also strongly sided with Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge made clear Tuesday that he would not immediately rule on the Justice Department’s decision to dismiss its criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying he would instead let outside individuals and groups weigh in with their opinions.

The move suggests U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is not inclined to automatically rubber-stamp the department’s plan to dismiss the Flynn prosecution.

(AP) --- The people who call Brunswick, Georgia, home say it’s not the monstrous place it might appear to be in the wake of the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery after a pursuit by two armed white men.

Yes, it is one of Georgia’s poorest cities where much of the black working population has struggled to find opportunities for advancement and where one black resident says he walks on tip toes to avoid racist insults.

12 May 2020; MEMO: In a joint press statement sent to MEMO on Sunday, senior UN officials have called on Israel to release Palestinian children from prison in the light of the spread of Covid-19.

12 May 2020; MEMO: The United States yesterday urged Tehran to send a charter plane to take home 11 Iranian nationals whom Washington wants to deport and accused the Islamic Republic of stalling the repatriation process, Reuters reported.

Washington, May 12 (PTI) President Donald Trump has said he is "not interested" in reopening negotiations on the trade deal with China, days after the US warned Beijing of very significant consequences for not honouring the bilateral agreement early this year to end their bruising trade war.

Trump's remarks came in response to a question on a report in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post which said that China would like to reopen negotiations on the trade deal to make the terms more favourable to Beijing. Is this something you'd be interested in doing? he was asked.

Silver Spring (US), May 12 (AP) American Jews were targets of more anti-Semitic incidents in 2019 than any other year over the past four decades, a surge marked by deadly attacks on a California synagogue, a Jewish grocery store in New Jersey and a rabbi's New York home, the Anti-Defamation League reported Tuesday.

The Jewish civil rights group counted 2,107 anti-Semitic incidents in 2019, finding 61 physical assault cases, 1,127 instances of harassment and 919 acts of vandalism.

12 May 2020; AFP: The US Supreme Court takes up Tuesday the most politically charged case of the year -- President Donald Trump's refusal to turn over his tax returns and financial records to Congress and a New York prosecutor, a case that may define the limits of presidential immunity.

The high court's nine justices, confined at home by the novel coronavirus pandemic, will question lawyers for both sides at 10:00 am (1400 GMT) by telephone in a highly anticipated session to be broadcast live.