North America

Mexico’s president starts regional tour in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador started a lightning, five-day tour to four Central American countries and Cuba on Thursday, stopping first in neighboring Guatemala.

Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard wrote in his social media accounts that meetings with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and other officials focused on development, migration and strengthening bilateral ties.

USA: Giuliani withdraws from interview with Jan. 6 committee

WASHINGTON (AP) — A spokesman for the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol says Rudy Giuliani, who led Donald Trump’s court efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, has withdrawn from an interview that was scheduled to take place Friday.

US hiring was likely strong again in April despite inflation

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the past year, America’s job market has run like a well-engineered machine, adding an impressive average of 540,000 workers a month despite a punishing inflation rate, Russia’s ruinous war against Ukraine, a still-risky pandemic, jittery financial markets and the prospect of much higher borrowing costs.

Hiring gains have topped 400,000 every month since May 2021.

USA: Jill Biden to meet Ukrainian refugees during border visit

WASHINGTON (AP) — For weeks, first lady Jill Biden has been transfixed by the news coming out of Ukraine, by the bombings and scenes of “parents weeping over their children’s broken bodies in the streets,” as she said in a recent speech.

Now Biden is using her second solo overseas trip to get an up-close look at the Ukrainian refugee crisis by visiting Romania and Slovakia, where she will spend Mother’s Day meeting with displaced families in a small Slovakian village on the border with Ukraine.

USA: Tornadoes strike Texas, Oklahoma, cause widespread damaged

SEMINOLE, Okla. (AP) — A storm system spawned several tornadoes that whipped through areas of Texas and Oklahoma, causing damage to a school, a marijuana farm and other structures.

There were no reports of serious injuries following the Wednesday night tornadoes, but the system caused flooding in parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas, and more stormy weather took place Thursday.

USA: Police boss journal cites early angst in Ronald Greene death

(AP) --- Within days of the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, when body-camera video captured white troopers stunning, beating and dragging the Black motorist, the head of the Louisiana State Police wrote a stark note about the case in his journal: “Realize there is a problem -- must address immediately.”

But well over a year went by — 462 days to be exact — before Col. Kevin Reeves opened an internal investigation into the actions of the troopers involved, including one who was recorded boasting he “beat the ever-living f(asterisk)(asterisk)k out of” Greene.

USA: FDA restricts J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine due to blood clot risk

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Thursday strictly limited who can receive Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine due to the ongoing risk of rare but serious blood clots.

The Food and Drug Administration said the shot should only be given to adults who cannot receive a different vaccine or specifically request J&J’s vaccine. U.S. authorities for months have recommended that Americans get Pfizer or Moderna shots instead of J&J’s vaccine.

USA: It’s Chief Justice Roberts’ Court, but does he still lead?

WASHINGTON (AP) — John Roberts is heading a Supreme Court in crisis.

The chief justice has already ordered an investigation of the leak this week of a draft opinion suggesting the court could be poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case legalizing abortion nationwide. What comes next could further test Roberts’ leadership of a court where his vote already appears less crucial in determining the outcome in contentious cases.

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