USA

HOUSTON, April 30 (Xinhua) -- On the eve of the annual Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), more than 50 energy companies from China and the United States gathered here at a forum on Sunday to seek more cooperation opportunities as worldwide disturbances are shaking the industry.

Addressing the 9th "China-US Energy Enterprise Cooperation Forum," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner welcomed Chinese energy entrepreneurs to visit the U.S. energy capital and join the OTC, an influential platform on ocean energy technology.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to host President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines for White House talks Monday as concerns grow about the Chinese navy’s harassment of Philippine vessels in the South China Sea.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut Democrat-turned-Independent long known for his centrist views, voted for Joe Biden in 2020. But as Biden’s reelection campaign begins, Lieberman is preparing to recruit a third-party candidate capable of defeating the Democratic president.

“Centrists and moderates feel that he’s governed more from the left than they hoped,” Lieberman, a leader of the group, No Labels, said of Biden in an interview. “He hasn’t been able to be the unifier that he promised to be.”

CLEVELAND, Texas (AP) — Wilson Garcia hadn’t even asked his neighbor to stop shooting his gun.

People in their rural town north of Houston are used to people firing their weapons to blow off steam, but it was late Friday night, and Garcia had a month-old son who was crying.

So, Garcia said, he and two other people went to his neighbor’s house to “respectfully” ask that he shoot farther away from their home.

NEW YORK (AP) — Regulators seized troubled First Republic Bank early Monday and sold all of its deposits and most of its assets to JPMorgan Chase Bank in a bid to head off further banking turmoil in the U.S.

San Francisco-based First Republic is the third midsize bank to fail in two months. It has struggled since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and investors and depositors had grown increasingly worried it might not survive because of its high amount of uninsured deposits and exposure to low interest rate loans.

COLUMBUS (Ohio, US), April 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Fourteen people were injured as a roof at an off-campus house near Ohio State University in Columbus collapsed Saturday night, officials said.

First responders were called to East 13th Avenue, blocks away from the university’s campus, around 7:40 p.m. to reports of a roof collapse during a party.

All victims were transported to several nearby hospitals with unspecified injuries, but are in stable condition, the Columbus Fire Department said.

LOS ANGELES, April 30 (NNN-XINHUA) — One person was killed after a small plane crashed Saturday night in a mountainous area here in Los Angeles, authorities said.

The incident was reported about 8:09 p.m. local time, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).

Air Traffic Control asked the LAFD to check a large swath of mountainous territory in the area after they reportedly lost radar contact with the small single-engine airplane believed to be traveling between two Los Angeles-area airports — Santa Monica Airport and Van Nuys Airport.

WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday was essential in advancing his country's national interest and strengthening the "very important alliance" between Manila and Washington.

Before leaving for his four-day official visit to Washington, Marcos said on Sunday he would convey to Biden his determination to forge "an even stronger relationship" with the United States to "address the concerns of our times," including issues related to the economy.

WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday, in a possible preview of a 2024 presidential campaign theme, attacked news outlets he said used "lies told for profit and power" to stir up hatred, as he coupled his remarks with pointed jokes about Fox News.

Speaking at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, Biden referred to "truth buried by lies," in an apparent reference to false conspiracy theories that his 2020 election win was the result of a massive voter fraud.

WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) - The United States urged China on Saturday to stop harassing Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, pledging to stand with the Philippines after another maritime confrontation between the two Asian countries.

"We call upon Beijing to desist from its provocative and unsafe conduct," the U.S. State Department said in a statement.