North America

MEXICO CITY, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday that his administration will push for a new mining law to reserve lithium exploitation to the state, after lawmakers rejected his proposed electricity reform bill.

During his daily press conference, Lopez Obrador explained that a state company would exploit, extract, process, industrialize and sell lithium, whose price has been soaring lately.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Migrants attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border at the highest level in two decades as the U.S. prepares for even larger numbers with the expected lifting of a pandemic-era order that turned away asylum seekers.

Immigration authorities stopped migrants 221,303 times along the Southwest border in March, a 33% increase from a month earlier, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data released Monday.

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The parents of a Michigan teen who is accused of a fatal school shooting are asking a judge to lower their bond and help release them from jail.

James and Jennifer Crumbley have been locked up since Dec. 4, unable to come up with $500,000 each to leave custody and await trial on involuntary manslaughter charges.

In a court filing, lawyers said the Crumbleys are not a risk to the public and would wear electronic monitoring devices. Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews will hear arguments Tuesday on a request to lower bond to $100,000 each.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during this week’s big meetings of global economic leaders in Washington — but she’ll be trying to avoid most contact with Russian officials who plan to attend some portions of the event virtually.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine — and how world powers should manage the spillover effects on economies, including food insecurity — will take center stage at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge on Monday ruled that a group of Georgia voters can proceed with legal efforts seeking to disqualify U.S Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene from running for reelection to Congress, citing her role in the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) — Between vast almond orchards and dairy pastures in the heart of California’s farm country sits a property being redesigned to look like it did 150 years ago, before levees restricted the flow of rivers that weave across the landscape.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Global finance leaders are putting the growing crisis over food insecurity and skyrocketing food prices at center stage as members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank meet in Washington and grapple with the brutal effects of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge’s decision to strike down a national mask mandate was met with cheers on some airplanes but also concern about whether it’s really time to end one of the most visible vestiges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The major airlines and many of the busiest airports rushed to drop their requirements on Monday after the Transportation Security Administration announced it wouldn’t enforce a January 2021 security directive that applied to airplanes, airports, taxis and other mass transit.

UNITED NATIONS, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Ukraine crisis could plunge more than one fifth of humanity, or up to 1.7 billion people, into poverty and hunger, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

“We all see the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine. But beyond its borders, the war has launched a silent assault on the developing world. The crisis could plunge up to 1.7 billion people, more than a fifth of humanity, into poverty and hunger on a scale not seen in decades,” Guterres said in an interview with the Czech Seznam Zpravy publication.

WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) - A second Global COVID-19 Summit will be held virtually next month for countries to discuss efforts to end the pandemic and prepare for future health threats, according to a joint statement on Monday.

"The emergence and spread of new variants, like Omicron, have reinforced the need for a strategy aimed at controlling COVID-19 worldwide," the White House said in a news release with the Group of Seven and Group of 20 nations.