USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Poised to raise interest rates Wednesday for a 10th time, Federal Reserve officials are facing two competing economic trends that could make their future rate decisions more difficult and treacherous.

On the one hand, turmoil in the banking sector and political battles over the government’s borrowing limit could weaken the economy if banks restrict lending and financial markets tumble on fears of a default on the nation’s debt. Such anxieties would argue against further rate hikes, at least for now.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and Mexican officials have agreed on new immigration policies meant to deter illegal border crossings while also opening up other pathways ahead of an expected increase in migrants following the end of pandemic restrictions next week.

Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall spent Tuesday meeting with Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and other top officials, emerging with a five-point plan, according to statements from both nations.

CLEVELAND, Texas (AP) — A four-day manhunt in Texas for a gunman accused of killing five neighbors ended Tuesday when authorities, acting on a tip, said they found the suspect hiding underneath a pile of laundry in the closet of a house.

Francisco Oropeza, 38, was captured without incident near the community of Conroe, north of Houston and about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from his home in the rural town of Cleveland. That’s where authorities say he went next door and shot his neighbors with an AR-style rifle shortly before midnight Friday.

UNITED NATIONS, May 02 (APP)::A United Nations Security Council committee has accepted a Pakistani request to allow the acting Afghan Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, to travel to Pakistan next week to meet with the foreign Ministers of Pakistan and China, according to Ambassador Munir Akram.

“The Security Council’s Taliban sanction committee approved our request this (Monday) afternoon,” the Pakistani envoy to the UN told APP.

Muttaqi is subjected to a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo under Security Council sanctions.

NEW YORK, May 2. /TASS/: Match Group, the owner of the Tinder online dating service, announced that it would be withdrawing from Russia by June 30, as reported on the website of the company, based in Dallas, Texas.

"Our brands are taking steps to restrict access to their services in Russia and will complete their withdrawal from the Russian market by June 30, 2023," the company announced.

CHICAGO, May 2 (NNN-XINHUA) – At least six people died and more than 30 others were injured, in a dust storm that caused pileups from vehicle crashes on a highway in U.S. Midwest state of Illinois, yesterday.

State police troopers responded to numerous crashes about 11.00 a.m. yesterday, on both directions of I-55 in Montgomery County, south of Springfield, capital of Illinois, the Chicago Tribune quoted the police as saying.

About 20 commercial motor vehicles and 40 to 60 passenger cars were involved in the crashes, including two tractor-trailers that caught fire.

LOS ANGELES, May 2 (NNN-XINHUA) – Three people were killed, after a small plane crashed yesterday afternoon, in the area of Big Bear City in southern California, authorities said.

Firefighters were called to an aircraft down in a vacant lot, at around 2:02 p.m. local time (22:02 GMT), according to the Big Bear Fire Department.

Crews arrived on the scene in about three minutes, said the department in a Facebook post.

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) - For months, the U.S. crisis over the debt limit has been a political abstraction. Not anymore.

The U.S. Treasury's new June 1 estimated deadline for Congress to raise the debt ceiling or risk default has ratcheted up the heat on Washington's lawmakers to avert an economic crisis.

If the U.S. government is set to run out of money to pay some of its bills by then, U.S. President Joe Biden and Republicans may have just seven working days to craft a deal.

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday summoned the four top congressional leaders to the White House next week after the Treasury warned the government could run short of cash to pay its bills by June.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a letter to Congress that the agency will be unlikely to meet all U.S. government payment obligations "potentially as early as June 1" without action by Congress.

LOS ANGELES, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Coal trains and terminal operations add a significant amount of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution to U.S. urban areas, according to a new study by the University of California, Davis.

The study, published in the journal Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, quantifies pollution, with health and environmental justice implications for San Francisco bay area.