El Salvador Permits Life Sentences for 12 year Olds

SAN SALVADOR (AP) – Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Wednesday signed into law constitutional reforms to permit life prison sentences for people as young as 12, a contentious reform that follows other heavy-handed measures pushed through by the populist leader.

US stocks rally as pressure eases from the bond market

NEW YORK (AP) - The U.S. stock market bounced back after pressure eased on Wall Street from the bond market. The S&P 500 climbed 1.1% Wednesday. The Dow Jones added 1.3%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.5%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell back below 4.60% as the price of Brent crude oil dropped 5.6%.

Appeals court orders judge to end contempt investigation of Trump administration

WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal judge must end his “intrusive” contempt investigation of the Trump administration for failing to comply with an order turn around planes carrying Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador last year, a divided appeals court panel ruled Tuesday.

Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BEIJING (AP) – Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed their strategic ties and growing energy trade as they met in Beijing Wednesday only days after a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to China. Putin and Xi oversaw the signing of more than 40 cooperation agreements.

El Salvador's Bukele pushes through life sentences

SAN SALVADOR (AP) – El Salvador’s Congress approved a constitutional amendment pushed forward by President Nayib Bukele on Tuesday to permit life sentences in a country that has imprisoned more than 1% of its population in its war against gangs.

Britain eases new sanctions on Russian oil as fuel prices surge

LONDON (AP) – The U.K. government has delayed some new sanctions on Russian oil in an effort to shelter Britons from the cost-of-living squeeze triggered by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Iran war. A trade license that came into effect Wednesday permits the import of Russian oil that has been refined into jet fuel and diesel in third countries such as India and Turkey.

El Salvador arbitrarily detained nationals deported from the US

MIAMI (AP) – Salvadoran nationals who were deported from the United States have been arbitrarily detained in El Salvador and have disappeared into the Central American nation’s prison system, according to a Human Rights Watch report released on Monday.

Editorials from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times and others

Editorials from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times and others

Trump encourages Latin American leaders to use military action to help US fight cartels

DORAL, Fla. (AP) – President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States and Latin American countries are banding together to combat violent cartels as his administration looks to demonstrate it remains committed to sharpening U.S. foreign policy focus on the Western Hemisphere even while dealing with five-alarm crises around the globe.