Biden to build more US border wall using Trump-era funds
President Joe Biden’s administration said on Thursday it will add sections to a border wall to stave off record migrant crossings from Mexico, carrying forward a signature policy of former president Donald Trump.
Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican Party nomination to challenge Mr Biden, a Democrat, in the 2024 presidential race. Trump made building border barriers a central tenet of his first campaign for president with the rally chant, “Build That Wall.”
One of Mr Biden’s first actions after taking office in January 2021 was to issue a proclamation pledging that “no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall” as well as a review of all resources that had already been committed.
The administration said Thursday’s action did not deviate from Mr Biden’s proclamation because money that was allocated during Trump’s term in 2019 had to be spent now.
Roger Ng to be returned to Malaysia in 1MDB case
Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng, facing 10 years in prison after being convicted in New York of helping loot billions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, will be returned to that country, where he faces related charges.
Chief US District Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn on Thursday ordered Ng’s surrender to the US Marshals Service by Friday so he could be turned over to Malaysian law enforcement, who would transport him to their country.
Ng would be required upon returning to the United States to begin his prison term, prosecutors said, in an earlier letter to Judge Brodie.
Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover being probed by SEC
Billionaire Elon Musk is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over his US$44 billion (S$60 billion) takeover of social media giant Twitter, according to a Thursday court filing in which the agency sought to compel Mr Musk to testify.
The investigation concerns whether Mr Musk broke federal securities laws in 2022 when he bought stock in Twitter, which Mr Musk renamed X, as well as statements and SEC filings he made in relation to the deal.
The SEC said it subpoenaed Mr Musk in May 2023, requiring him to provide testimony at the SEC’s San Francisco office, and that Mr Musk had agreed to appear last month.
Brooklyn subway shooter gets life in prison
The man who set off smoke bombs on a crowded New York subway train before shooting 10 people in April 2022 was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison over one of the most violent attacks ever seen on the city’s transit system.
Frank James, 64, was sentenced to 10 life terms plus 10 years by US District Court Judge William Kuntz, during a hearing in Brooklyn federal court.
James pleaded guilty in January to 10 counts of terrorism and weapons charges.
Slovenia’s nuclear plant shut down over leak
Slovenia’s only nuclear power plant began a preventive shutdown on Thursday, because of a leak in the site’s containment building, the operator said in a statement.
“An increased leak in the primary system within the containment building was detected,” officials at the Krsko plant, around 100km east of the capital Ljubljana, said in a statement sent to AFP.
It said the leak had no repercussions on employees or surrounding residents and the environment.
