North America

02 Jan 2019; DW: Alejandro Aparicio had been sworn in as mayor and was walking with supporters on the street when assailants shot him. Mexico has had a recent rise in political violence, with local politicians being targeted the most.

The major of Tlaxiaco, a small municipality of Oaxaca, Mexico, was gunned down on Tuesday straight after he had been sworn in.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Patrick Shanahan officially took over the Pentagon on Tuesday as acting U.S. secretary of defense.

"Under the direction of President Trump, the Department of Defense remains focused on safeguarding our nation," Shanahan said in a statement released on New Year's Day.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Monday that China and the United States need to build their futures together, for themselves and for humanity at large.

Beijing and Washington formally established their diplomatic ties on Jan. 1, 1979. "The 40th anniversary of this relationship is a testament to the ability of countries with different histories, cultures and political systems to work together for the greater good," Carter wrote in an article published in the Washington Post.

NEW YORK, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- After a year of improvement, the U.S. economy may face challenges in 2019 as waning stimulus, less friendly monetary policy coupled with decelerating global growth are among the multiple risks for a slowdown, economists said.

"Real U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 2.7 percent is forecast for 2019, slowing in the second half of the year as the effects of fiscal stimulus begin to fade," analysts from Bank of America (BofA) Merrill Lynch Global Research said in their 2019 outlook report released in December.

01 Jan 2019; DW:The NASA spacecraft that studied Pluto will zip past an icy rock in the outer solar system. Scientists hope Ultima Thule will help them understand how planets were formed.A NASA spacecraft buzzed by an icy space rock in the distant reaches of the solar system on Tuesday on a mission to gather clues about how planets were formed.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- A gun control group in the U.S. western state of Washington is urging state lawmakers to give high priority to a proposed ban on high-capacity magazines in the state, a local radio station reported Monday.

Washington's KUOW Public Radio said the gun control advocacy group, the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility (WAGR), has listed restrictions on high-capacity magazines at the top of their 2019 policy agenda.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — At Granny Shaffer’s restaurant in Joplin, Missouri, owner Mike Wiggins is reprinting the menus to reflect the 5, 10 or 20 cents added to each item.

A two-egg breakfast will cost an extra dime, at $7.39. The price of a three-piece fried chicken dinner will go up 20 cents, to $8.78. The reason: Missouri’s minimum wage is rising.

Wiggins said the price hikes are necessary to help offset an estimated $10,000 to $12,000 in additional annual pay to his staff as a result of a new minimum wage law taking effect Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has ordered a slowdown to the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Syria, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday.

“I think we’re in a pause situation,” the South Carolina Republican said outside the White House after lunch with the president.

Trump announced earlier this month that he was ordering the withdrawal of all the roughly 2,000 troops from war-torn Syria, with aides expecting it to take place swiftly. The president had declared victory over the Islamic State group in Syria, though pockets of fighting remain.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- A 22-year-old worker at a wildlife conservatory in U.S. state of North Carolina was killed Sunday by a lion that escaped a locked space.

The Conservators Center in Burlington said in a statement that the worker was killed during a routine enclosure cleaning.

"One of the lions somehow left a locked space and entered the space the humans were in and quickly killed one person," the statement said.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon is planning to build and expand Whole Foods stores across the country to put more customers within range of its two-hour delivery service, local media reported on Sunday.

The move would bring Whole Foods to more suburbs and other areas where the grocery chain is quickly adding customers since it was acquired by Amazon in 2017, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the plans.