North America

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 07 (APP): Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram Friday expressed satisfaction over the adoption by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) of the resolution expressing solidarity with the flood-hit Pakistani government and people, saying it reflected the “wide support” the country enjoys in the international community.

The resolution was sponsored by 159 countries out of the 193 members of the Assembly.

WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (NNN-XINHUA) – U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, is on track to be 1.7 percent above its 2021 level, and in 2023, the economy will likely enter recession, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)’s semiannual Global Economic Prospects, released yesterday.

PIIE nonresident senior fellow and Harvard professor, Karen Dynan, who led the forecast, projected that U.S. economy will see a 0.5-percent contraction in 2023, with stalled growth giving way to downturn.

WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden took steps to overhaul U.S. policy on marijuana on Thursday by pardoning thousands of people with federal offenses for simple marijuana possession and initiating a review of how the drug is classified.

Biden said thousands of people with prior federal convictions could be denied employment, housing or educational opportunities and his executive action would relieve such "collateral" consequences.

Oct 7 (Reuters) - The school district in Uvalde, Texas, suspended its entire police force on Friday, pending the outcome of a probe following the mass shooting in May that killed 19 students and two teachers, the district said in a statement.

The district said it suspended all activities of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department "for a period of time." The police force consisted of five officers and one security guard, according to its website.

NEW YORK, Oct 7 (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency on Friday in response to the thousands of Latin American migrants bused to the city in recent months from the U.S. southern border, straining the city's homeless shelter system.

The city expects to spend $1 billion to manage the influx of asylum seekers, Adams said in a speech at City Hall. More than 17,000 have come to New York since April; an average of five or six buses have arrived each day since early September, with nine buses pulling into the city on Thursday, said Adams, a Democrat.

Oct 7 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Friday published a sweeping set of export controls, including a measure to cut China off from certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with U.S. tools, vastly expanding its reach in its bid to slow Beijing's technological and military advances.

Oct 7 (Reuters) - Danielle Smith, the incoming premier of Canada's main oil-producing province Alberta, has set the stage for an antagonistic relationship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after winning her leadership race with plans to push back against federal laws.

Smith, 51, was chosen by members to lead Alberta's ruling United Conservative Party (UCP) on Thursday, just seven months ahead of the next provincial election. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the midst of increasingly aggressive North Korean missile launches this week, the U.S. on Friday imposed sanctions on people and firms in Asia accused of helping North Korea procure fuel in violation of U.N. sanctions.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control targeted two people and three firms from Singapore, Taiwan and the Marshall Islands.

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s road safety agency has closed an investigation into fuel leaks in two Volkswagen SUV models without seeking a recall.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened the probe in March after getting complaints about fuel injectors leaking in the 2018 through 2020 Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs. The probe covered more than 196,000 vehicles with 3.6-liter engines.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday he has chosen the head of the country’s tax agency to fill the cabinet-level post of secretary of the economy.

The designation of Raquel Buenrostro for the post comes one day after the emotional resignation of Tatiana Clouthier.