USA

(Reuters) - A trade deal between United States and China was now “stalled because of Hong Kong legislation”, news website Axios reported on Sunday, citing a source close to U.S. President Donald Trump’s negotiating team.

The deal was stalled also because time was needed to allow Chinese President Xi Jinping’s domestic politics to calm, the report added, citing the unnamed source.

China’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that legislation signed by Trump on Wednesday backing protesters in Hong Kong was a serious interference in Chinese affairs.

NEW YORK (AP) — At the end of another long day trying to sign up new clients accusing the Roman Catholic Church of sexual abuse, lawyer Adam Slater gazes out the window of his high-rise Manhattan office at one of the great symbols of the church, St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

“I wonder how much that’s worth?” he muses.

WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Donald Trump leaves on Monday for a NATO summit in London and he is under pressure from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resist the temptation to wade into the British election campaign coming up later in December.

As a presidential candidate in 2016 and then as president since early 2017, Trump has shown no restraint in showing support for Britain’s exit from the European Union and critiquing the politicians involved in the country’s long-running Brexit debate.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House impeachment inquiry enters a new phase this week as the Judiciary Committee takes charge of the investigation of President Donald Trump.

All testimony so far has been heard by the House Intelligence Committee, which is expected to issue a report on its findings early in the week.

Based on that report, the Judiciary panel will hold its own hearings beginning Wednesday on whether Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and his administration’s attempts to block the investigation constitute impeachable offenses.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s defense of his actions with Ukraine collides with the known facts and the testimony of witnesses on multiple fronts as the impeachment inquiry moves into a new phase this week.

In recent days, Trump and his allies, including Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, have cried foul as Democrats set the stage for Judiciary panel hearings beginning Wednesday that are likely to produce articles of impeachment.

A review of rhetoric on this and other matters:

IMPEACHMENT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A group of U.S.-based scientists is rushing to document indigenous sites along Puerto Rico’s coast dating back a couple of thousand years before rising sea levels linked to climate change destroy a large chunk of the island’s heritage that is still being discovered.

Scientists hope to use the 3D images they’ve taken so far to also help identify which historic sites are most vulnerable to hurricanes, erosion and other dangers before it’s too late to save the island’s patrimony.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are narrowing President Donald Trump’s early spending advantage, with two billionaire White House hopefuls joining established party groups to target the president in key battleground states that are likely to determine the outcome of next year’s election.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Ten people were shot and wounded early Sunday near the French Quarter in New Orleans, a popular spot for tourists. Hours later in another part of town, another shooting killed two men and wounded two others.

Police said both shootings remain under investigation, and authorities did not immediately draw any connection between them.

TONTO BASIN, Ariz. (AP) — Nine members of an Arizona family, together for the Thanksgiving holiday, were in an oversized military-style truck when they got stuck in a raging creek swollen by intense runoff from a powerful storm.

Four children and two adults got out and were rescued by helicopter, but three children stayed in the truck and it was later swept away.

Rescuers with helicopters, drones, boats, dogs and an army of volunteers searched frantically Sunday for a 6-year-old girl missing since Friday. Her brother and cousin, both 5, were found dead on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The “three amigos” used to stand for one thing in Washington — the pack of globe-trotting senators led by John McCain who brought American idealism to the world’s trouble spots.

Now it refers to another trio, the Trump envoys who pushed Ukraine to pursue investigations of Democrats and former Vice President Joe Biden.