USA

NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice task force targeting assets of Russian oligarchs has seen evidence of attempts to evade the sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine or to move assets ahead of possible sanctions, the unit's chief said on Friday.

Andrew Adams, a veteran prosecutor tapped to lead the department's new "KleptoCapture" task force last month, told Reuters in an interview that the level of cooperation between countries on probes into oligarchs' ill-gotten gains had reached an "all-time high" in the wake of Russia's assault on Ukraine.

WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on five entities it accused of providing support to North Korea's development of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, increasing pressure on Pyongyang following a recent series of missile launches.

The Treasury Department in a statement said the action targets the Ministry of Rocket Industry, which it said is a North Korean weapons of mass destruction research and development organization directly linked to the development of new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

DENVER (AP) — The first lawsuit filed in connection with a wildfire that destroyed over 1,000 homes and other buildings in suburban Denver claims that sparks from a power line started December’s blaze.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Dozens of flights along the West Coast were canceled Friday as Alaska Airlines pilots picketed during an impasse in contract negotiations with the airline that have lasted nearly three years.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Yemen’s warring sides have accepted a two-month truce, starting with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the U.N. envoy to Yemen said Friday.

The envoy, Hans Grundberg, announced the agreement from Amman, Jordan, after meeting separately with both sides in the country’s brutal civil war in recent days. He said that he hoped the truce would be renewed after two months.

Washington (AP) — Though Russia is the country that invaded its neighbor Ukraine, the Kremlin’s version relentlessly warns social media users across Latin America that the U.S. is the bigger problem.

“Never forget who is the real threat to the world,” reads a headline, translated here from Spanish. The article, originally posted in late February on Twitter by RT en Español, is intended for an audience half a world away from the fighting in Kyiv and Mariupol.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A prosecutor urged jurors Friday to convict four men in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, saying they were anti-government extremists “filled with rage” and intent on igniting a civil war.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler summed up the evidence on the 15th day of trial in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The case was built with informants, undercover agents, secret recordings and two star witnesses who pleaded guilty and cooperated.

PHOENIX (AP) — The Biden administration’s decision to end sweeping asylum limits at the border this May satisfied demands by prominent Democrats eagerly awaiting the end of a program created by Donald Trump in the name of public health.

But it creates thorny political challenges for border-region Democrats who face the likely prospect of an increase in migrants who have for two years been denied the chance to seek asylum in the United States.

(AP) --- America’s employers extended a streak of robust hiring in March, adding 431,000 jobs in a sign of the economy’s resilience in the face of a still-destructive pandemic, Russia’s war against Ukraine and the highest inflation in 40 years.

The government’s report Friday showed that last month’s job growth helped shrink the unemployment rate to 3.6%. That’s the lowest rate since the pandemic erupted two years ago and just above the half-century low of 3.5% that was reached two years ago.

DETROIT (AP) — New vehicles sold in the U.S. will have to average at least 40 miles per gallon of gasoline in 2026, up from about 28 mpg, under new federal rules unveiled Friday that undo a rollback of standards enacted under President Donald Trump.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said its new fuel economy requirements are the strongest to date and the maximum the industry can achieve over the time period. They will reduce gasoline consumption by more than 220 billion gallons over the life of vehicles, compared with the Trump standards.