USA

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Twitter said Friday that its board of directors has unanimously adopted a “poison pill” defense in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s proposal to buy the company for more than $43 billion and take it private.

The move would allow existing Twitter shareholders — except for Musk — to buy additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting Musk’s stake in the company and making it harder for him to corral a majority of shareholder votes in favor of the acquisition.

Twitter’s plan would take effect if Musk’s roughly 9% stake grows to 15% or more.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, earned $610,702 during their first year in the White House and paid $150,439 in federal income taxes. That was a tax rate of 24.6% for 2021, well over the average of around 14% for all Americans.

The totals were similar to the Bidens’ 2020 returns, when they reported earning $607,336 as he ran for president. They reported a federal income tax rate of 25.9% then.

The national median household income was $67,521 in 2020, according to U.S. Census data.

(AP) --- Douglas Siddens’ mother was among those who made it out with just the clothes on her back when a deadly, wind-fueled wildfire ripped through a mountain community in southern New Mexico.

The RV park where she lived was reduced to “metal frame rails and steel wheels,” said Siddens, who managed the site

“I had like 10 people displaced. They lost their homes and everything, including my mom,” he said.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah Sen. Mike Lee worked on early efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, helping push legally dubious schemes to keep then-President Donald Trump in power, before he shifted course and quickly backed away.

His efforts, revealed in text messages obtained by the House panel investigating the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, drew quick condemnation Friday from his reelection challengers.

NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio (AP) — Before digging into his six-egg omelet at a bustling northeast Ohio diner, Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel stopped to bow his head.

“Bless our food, our time, our conversation, in Jesus’ name,” said Pastor J.C. Church, who joined Mandel after a campaign event at a local church. ”Amen.”

15 April 2022; MEMO: The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) at Ohio State University has passed an emergency resolution calling on the University to divest from two companies that contribute to human rights violations against the Palestinian people by providing technology and tools to the Israeli military.

The USG passed the resolution on 7 April, with a majority of 14 votes in favour of the resolution, 8 votes against, and 2 abstentions.

WASHINGTON, Apr 15 (APP): The United States looks forward to working with the new Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his government to promote peace and prosperity in Pakistan and the broader region, State Department spokesperson Ned Price has said.

The spokesperson, who was responding to questions at his daily new briefing on Thursday, also repeated his government’ denial of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s allegations that U.S. played a role in ousting him.

“There is no truth whatsoever to the allegations that have been put forward,” Price said.

NEW YORK, Apr 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The COVID-19 pandemic may have amplified prejudicial attitudes against Asian and Hispanic colleagues in U.S. workplace, a new, U.S.-based survey showed.

The study, conducted by experts from Columbia University and Northwestern University, was released in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on Wednesday.

During the research, participants who had lost jobs due to COVID-19, as well as, those from counties with higher COVID-19 rates and lower concentrations of East Asians, showed greater prejudice towards East Asians in their responses.

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - The United States has approved a nearly $1 billion weapons sale to Nigeria after lawmakers had put a hold on the deal over concerns about possible human rights abuses by the Nigerian government.

In July, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee put a hold on the sale of 12 AH-1Z Cobra attack helicopters made by Bell (TXT.N).

On Thursday, the State Department made the determination that it would approve the sale of the attack helicopters worth $997 million.

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas will travel with a delegation to Panama next week for a ministerial conference on migration with the government of Panama, the State Department said on Friday.

In the trip scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, Blinken will meet with Panama President Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes, multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, international organizations, and NGOs, the State Department said.