North America

WASHINGTON 05 May 2022; AA: Lawmakers pivotal to Turkiye's purchase of dozens of F-16 fighter jets have indicated they are receptive to the sale, according to a report published on Thursday.

The matter has been complicated by Ankara's purchase of the advanced Russian S-400 anti-air system, which has led to an ongoing row with Washington that resulted in sanctions and Turkiye's expulsion from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.

08 May 2022; MEMO: Russia has been using mercenaries from Libya and Syria in its military campaign in Ukraine, US Defence Department documents have shown earlier this week.

LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) — With the worst of the thick wildfire smoke having blown out of town, residents of this small northern New Mexico city tried to recapture a sense of normalcy Saturday as their rural neighbors hunkered down amid predictions of extreme fire conditions.

Shops and restaurants reopened, the historic center was no longer just populated by firefighters, but there was a widely felt sense of anxiety, loss, and wariness of what lay ahead.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s public defender system has shown cracks for years, but a post-pandemic glut of delayed cases has exposed shocking constitutional landmines impacting defendants and crime victims alike in a state with a national reputation for progressive social justice.

UNITED NATIONS, May 07 (APP): The United Nations Security Council has adopted its first unanimous statement expressing “deep concern” over the raging Ukrainian conflict and backed efforts by the U.N. chief to find a peaceful solution.

Security Council statements must be approved by all 15 of its members, and the one adopted on Friday appeared to have averted Russia’s veto by referring to the conflict as “disputes” rather than “war” — as Moscow insists that its Feb. 24 military offensive against Ukraine constitutes only a “special military operation.”

SAN SALVADOR, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday said the United States should share the burden of tackling mass immigration from Central America.

During his visit to El Salvador, Lopez Obrador stressed that the immigration crisis needed a joint solution.

Lopez Obrador and his Salvadoran counterpart, Nayib Bukele, agreed to implement the Mexican development programs "Sowing Life" and "Youth Building the Future" in El Salvador, which aim to create jobs and curb labor outflow.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. employers added 428,000 jobs in April amid tight labor market, with the unemployment rate unchanged at 3.6 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday.

Job growth was widespread, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, in manufacturing, and in transportation and warehousing, according to the report released by the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

HAVANA (AP) — Relatives of the missing in Cuba’s capital desperately searched Saturday for victims of an explosion at one of Havana’s most luxurious hotels that killed at least 26 people. They checked the morgue, hospitals and if unsuccessful, they returned to the partially collapsed Hotel Saratoga, where rescuers used dogs to hunt for survivors.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Inamullah Niazai sits on the front porch step of his red-brick St. Louis home and smiles at the bustle of activity around him — his mother and father chatting in the front yard, his two young daughters munching chocolate ice cream bars.

“Anything is possible here,” Niazai, 23, said. “We are so lucky that my family can be here, together.”

An aggressive effort in St. Louis is trying to lure Afghan refugees like Niazai. About 600 have arrived so far and another 750 are expected later this year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Is there a new American motto: In nothing we trust?

By lots of measures, most in the U.S. lack much confidence in large institutions and have for years. Congress? Two big thumbs down. The presidency? Ehh. Americans are also distrustful of big business, unions, public schools and organized religion. Indeed, they hold abysmal views of the functioning of democracy itself.