North America

NEW YORK, July 16 (Xinhua) -- The New York City police officer who caused the chokehold death of an unarmed black man during an attempted arrest in 2014 will not face criminal charges, federal prosecutors said here on Tuesday.

Richard Donoghue, U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of New York, said there was insufficient evidence that officer Daniel Pantaleo broke the law or violated the civil rights of Eric Garner, who was selling cigarettes illegally outside a convenience store in the borough of Staten Island before his death on July 17 five years ago.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 16 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. civil rights advocacy group Tuesday urged Oakland city in the Bay Area to ban the use of facial recognition technology in public surveillance.

The Northern California affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released an advisory letter to the Oakland City Council earlier Tuesday, the same day when the council unanimously approved an ordinance banning the use of facial recognition technology by the city departments, including the police.

WASHINGTON, July 16 (Xinhua) -- International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board said Tuesday that it will initiate promptly the process of selecting the next managing director, after Christine Lagarde announced her resignation from the IMF position with effect from Sept. 12, 2019.

Lagarde was nominated for the presidency of the European Central Bank (ECB) two weeks ago, as part of the European Union (EU) leaders' agreement on the future leadership of top EU institutions. She then decided to temporarily step down from the IMF leadership during the nomination period.

CHICAGO (AP) — United Airlines glided through the first part of summer, as strong travel demand pushed average fares higher, but the grounding of Boeing 737 Max jets will become a bigger challenge in the months ahead.

United said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit soared 54%, to $1.05 billion. The results beat expectations, and United slightly raised its forecast of full-year profit.

The Chicago-based airline, however, faces uncertainty because of the grounding of Boeing 737 Max jets after two deadly accidents.

NEW YORK (AP) — Will the notorious Mexican drug lord known as “El Chapo” go quietly?

For Joaquin Guzman, that’s the biggest question at his sentencing in New York City on Wednesday. The highly-anticipated hearing could be his last chance to speak publicly before spending the rest of his life behind bars at a maximum security U.S. prison.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration blasted a World Trade Organization decision Tuesday that could let China levy sanctions on the United States.

The 2-1 decision by the WTO’s appellate body was actually a mixed verdict in a case that dates back to 2007 and is unrelated to the tariffs the administration has slapped on $250 billion in Chinese goods. In its final decision, the WTO agreed with the U.S. that China lets state-owned enterprises (SOEs) subsidize Chinese firms by providing components at unfairly low costs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Army Secretary Mark Esper, President Donald Trump’s nominee to become secretary of defense, told his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday he is troubled by Turkey’s decision to defy the United States by acquiring Russian-made air defenses.

WASHINGTON (AP) — No votes have been cast in the Democratic presidential nominating contest, but the winnowing has begun.

A distinct top tier of candidates is breaking away from the pack in early polling and fundraising, building distance between themselves and the rest of the bloated field. Although the first nominating contest in Iowa is still more than six months away, tighter qualifying standards for the fall debates and cash flow problems have prompted questions about how many campaigns will still be operational next year.

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Hundreds of immigrants showed up at border crossings Tuesday in hopes of getting into the U.S. but faced the likelihood of being turned away under a new Trump administration asylum rule that upends long-standing protections for people fleeing violence and oppression in their homelands.

The policy went into effect Tuesday but drew two swift lawsuits from immigrant advocacy groups in federal courts, one in San Francisco and one in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a remarkable political repudiation, the Democratic-led U.S. House voted to condemn President Donald Trump’s “racist comments” against four congresswomen of color, despite protestations by Trump’s Republican congressional allies and his own insistence he hasn’t “a racist bone in my body.”