USA

Trump pushes back on reports US will remove China tariffs

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed a Chinese official’s assertion that his administration has agreed to roll back some of the higher tariffs it’s imposed on Chinese goods.

The Chinese official said Thursday that the two sides had agreed to a phased cancellation of their tariff hikes as part of an emerging agreement.

Trump’s pushback suggested that negotiations haven’t progressed as far as hoped as the world’s two biggest economies struggle to negotiate an end to their trade war, which has hurt both economies.

Trump tried hard to win Ukraine Biden probes, officials say

WASHINGTON (AP) — There was no hinting around, it was a straight-out trade, two key White House officials told impeachment investigators. If Ukraine’s new leader wanted an Oval Office welcome from Donald Trump — and he did — he would have to open a public probe into the president’s Democratic foe Joe Biden and his son.

“There was no ambiguity,” said Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, an Army officer assigned to the National Security Council, recounting an extraordinary day of meetings at the White House last summer.

UN assembly condemns US embargo on Cuba, for 28th time

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN General Assembly condemned the nearly 60-year-old US embargo on Cuba on Thursday for the 28th year in a row, calling for an end to it by a vote of 187 to three.

Only Israel and Brazil voted with the US against the resolution. Two other US allies – Ukraine and Colombia – abstained.

First imposed on Oct 19, 1960 in response to Havana’s nationalisation of US-owned oil refineries, and extended in 1962, the embargo is an enduring legacy of the Cold War hostilities between the two countries.

UN member states votes overwhelmingly to condemn US embargo on Cuba

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 08 (APP): For the 28th consecutive year, the UN General Assembly has adopted, by an overwhelming majority, a resolution calling for an end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba.

The 193-member Assembly voted 187-3, with two abstentions.

US diplomat: Trump pressure on Ukraine harmful to rule of law

8 November 2019; AFP: A senior US diplomat saw President Donald Trump's pressure for Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival as a threat to the rule of law in both countries, testimony released Thursday showed.

As Congress moved towards launching public hearings on impeaching Trump next week, it also upped the pressure on his key aides to appear behind closed doors.

Why are Republicans hell-bent on exposing Trump whistleblower?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An aggressive push by President Donald Trump’s Republican allies to unmask an anonymous whistleblower who ignited the impeachment inquiry could help shore up voter support for Trump, as Congress enters a critical new phase of televised hearings, party officials and strategists say.

Forsaken by Trump, immigrant 'Dreamers' seek U.S. Supreme Court reprieve

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - When Maricruz Abarca learned three years ago that she had been given the legal right under a U.S. government program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals to work in the United States and avoid deportation, she started to cry.

After years of living illegally in the shadows after moving to the United States from Mexico at age 15 to join relatives in New Jersey, she finally could make concrete plans for the future.

Republicans asked to submit witness requests in public impeachment inquiry hearings

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has asked Republicans to submit witness requests by Saturday ahead of next week's open hearings as part of an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

The witness request "must be submitted in writing, and must be accompanied by a detailed written justification of the relevance to the inquiry of the testimony of each requested witness," Schiff said in a statement released on Thursday, citing a recently-passed House resolution formalizing proceedings of the impeachment inquiry.

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