USA

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Monday called on the UN Secretariat to strengthen the comprehensive peacekeeping budgetary performance.

"The Secretariat should continue to strengthen the comprehensive budgetary performance and improve internal control, so as to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of peacekeeping operations," Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, told the second part of the resumed session of the Fifth Committee of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.

NEW YORK, May 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. top banking group JPMorgan Chase announced on Monday it has acquired the substantial majority of assets and assumed the deposits and certain other liabilities of First Republic Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

The FDIC was just appointed as the receiver of the San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, which was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation early Monday.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Joe Biden scrapped expedited asylum screenings during his first month in office as part of a gutting of Trump administration border polices that included building a wall with Mexico. Now he is preparing his own version.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When developers in the California city of Elk Grove pitched two new housing projects last year, the proposals appeared to have much in common: Both would build new housing in a quaint section of the city affectionately known as “Old Town” for its attractive stretch of historic buildings.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia couldn’t escape its war against Ukraine during its highly contentious presidency of the U.N. Security Council, and the war will still loom over Switzerland as it takes over the monthlong presidency Monday for the first time since becoming a full member of the United Nations in 2002.

NEW YORK (AP) — Television and movie writers declared late Monday that they will launch a strike for the first time in 15 years, as Hollywood girded for a walkout with potentially widespread ramifications in a fight over fair pay in the streaming era.

HENRYETTA, Okla. (AP) — Authorities searching a rural Oklahoma property for two missing teenagers discovered the bodies of seven people Monday, including the suspected remains of the teens and a convicted sex offender who was sought along with them, the local sheriff said.

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 (APP):UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is set to host a meeting of special envoys from several countries on Afghanistan in Qatar on Monday to discuss the situation in the strife-torn nation.

“The Secretary-General will be in Doha, Qatar, on 1 and 2 May to host a meeting of special envoys on Afghanistan to reach points of commonality on key issues, such as human rights, in particular women’s and girls’ rights, inclusive governance, countering terrorism and drug trafficking,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement on Sunday.

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will agree on Monday to new guidelines for stronger military cooperation, U.S. officials said, underscoring a dramatic turnaround in U.S.-Philippine relations over the past year.

The guidelines focus on military coordination across land, sea, air, space and cyberspace, while the U.S. administration will also transfer three C-130 aircraft and look to send additional patrol vessels to the Philippines.

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - E. Jean Carroll returned to the witness stand in her rape and defamation civil case against Donald Trump, after the judge denied a defense request for a mistrial.

Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina began cross-examining Carroll for a second day, hoping to show jurors inconsistencies or holes in her claims against the former U.S. president.

Carroll, 79, has accused Trump, 76, of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996, and then undermining her credibility and career by lying about it online.