USA

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Republican lawmakers took the first steps Monday to expel three Democratic members from the GOP-dominant House for their role in a recent gun control protest at the state Capitol.

The extraordinarily rare move resulted in a chaotic and fiery confrontation between lawmakers and supporters opposing the move and has further fractured an already deep political division inside the Tennessee Legislature.

NEW YORK (AP) — An extraordinary moment in U.S. history will unfold in a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday: Former President Donald Trump, who faces multiple election-related investigations, will surrender and be arraigned on criminal charges stemming from 2016 hush money payments.

The booking and appearance before Judge Juan Merchan should be relatively brief — though hardly routine — as Trump is fingerprinted, learns the charges against him and pleads, as expected, not guilty. Merchan has ruled that TV cameras won’t be allowed in the courtroom.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will send Ukraine about $500 million in ammunition and equipment and will spend more than $2 billion to buy an array of munitions, radar and other weapons in the future, U.S. officials said, as the Ukrainian troops prepare for a spring offensive against Russian forces.

The ammunition rounds, along with grenade launchers and vehicles, will be taken from military stockpiles so they can be in the war zone quickly, the officials said.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 03 (APP):Landmines still lay hidden in nearly 70 countries that continue to kill or maim innocent people, despite the destruction of millions of booby traps globally by UN personnel over the past two decades, the world body said Monday.

Marked annually on April 4, the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, draws awareness to why landmines are one of the most insidious and indiscriminate weapons of war.

UNITED NATIONS, April 3. /TASS/:  Russia is threatening no one with nuclear weapons and allegations otherwise are part of Western propaganda, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Monday.

"On the nuclear war, I sleep well, because I know that, at least us, we're not asking for the nuclear war. We're not threatening with nuclear war. All this narrative that Russia is threatening the world with the nukes is a part of propaganda as well," he stressed.

WASHINGTON, April 3. /TASS/:  The US work insistently to achieve the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich who works in WSJ’s Moscow office and continue to deny all charges against him, US National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said Monday.

WASHINGTON, April 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 26 people have been killed after a series of tornadoes tore through towns and cities in the United States’ South and Midwest.

Homes were destroyed and thousands left without power after storms caused devastation across several states.

According to Washington Post, more than 60 tornado reports have been recorded.

States including Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Alabama and Mississippi have all had fatalities as a result of the weather.

April 3 (Reuters) - NASA on Monday named the first woman and the first African American ever assigned as astronauts to a lunar mission, introducing them as part of the four-member team chosen to fly on what would be the first crewed voyage around the moon in more than 50 years.

Christina Koch, an engineer who already holds the record for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman and was part of NASA's first three all-female spacewalks, was named as a mission specialist for the Artemis II lunar flyby expected as early as next year.

April 3 (Reuters) - A Chinese balloon that flew across the United States was able to gather intelligence from several U.S. military sites and transmit it back to Beijing in real time, despite the Biden administration's efforts to prevent it from doing so, NBC News reported on Monday.

The high-altitude balloon, controlled by Beijing, was able to make multiple passes over some of the sites before it was shot down on Feb. 4, at times flying in a figure-eight formation, NBC said, citing two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official.

HENDERSON, Nevada, April 3 (Reuters) - Larry White, a self-described Republican conservative, was thinking of voting for Ron DeSantis in his party's presidential nominating contest, believing the Florida governor had a better chance of winning back the White House from the Democrats than former President Donald Trump.

Then came news on March 30 that Trump had been indicted in New York on charges related to a hush money payment to a porn star, making him the first former U.S. president to face criminal prosecution.