New Mexico city authorizes spending on asylum seekers
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The city of Las Cruces is spending $75,000 on humanitarian aid to cope with an influx of international asylum seekers. City spokesman Udell Vigil said Tuesday that more than 500 asylum seekers have been dropped off in the New Mexico community by U.S. Border Patrol since Friday. The City Council authorized spending on food, water, transportation and personal hygiene items. Las Cruces has converted its recreation center into sleeping quarters for immigrants as homeless shelters reach capacity.
WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court has thrown out years of legal proceedings in the already-delayed military commission case against a Saudi charged in the deadly 2000 bombing of a U.S. warship. An appellate panel in Washington said Tuesday that a military judge improperly continued to preside over the case after he sought a job in the Justice Department in 2015. Defendant Abd al-rahim al-nashiri is accused of orchestrating the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 sailors and wounded 37.
WASHINGTON – Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has a new job: a more than $100,000-a-year post with a gold-mining company that’s pursuing project approvals involving the federal agency that Zinke left less than four months ago. Zinke said Tuesday that his work for Nevada-based U.S. Gold Corp., which focuses on mining exploration and development, would not constitute lobbying. But that company’s CEO cited Zinke’s “excellent relationship” with the Bureau of Land Management and the Interior Department.
BENI, Congo – Congo’s president on Tuesday said he wants to see a deadly Ebola virus outbreak contained in less than three months even as some health experts say it could take twice as long. President Felix Tshisekedi spoke as he visited eastern Congo, where this outbreak has become the second-deadliest in history. Congo’s health ministry says nearly 1,200 cases have been confirmed, including 800 deaths. Tshisekedi’s visit came a few days after the World Health Organization decided the outbreak is not yet a global health emergency.