USA

CINCINNATI (AP) — President Donald Trump used a revved-up rally in Cincinnati to tear into the Democrats he has been elevating as his new political foils, attacking four liberal congresswomen of color and their party’s urban leaders, while also training fire on those he could be facing in 2020.

But the president mostly avoided the racial controversy that has dominated recent weeks as he basked in front of the raucous crowd Thursday for nearly 90 minutes, unleashing broadside after broadside on his political foes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States plans to test a new missile in coming weeks that would have been prohibited under a landmark, 32-year-old arms control treaty that the U.S. and Russia ripped up on Friday.

US President Donald Trump has impose an additional 10% of tariffs on $300 billion worth of goods coming from China. New tariff will be starting next month.

Latest negotiations ended early and  US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have returned from trade talks in Shanghai. A new meeting had been set up for September.

01 August 2019; AFP: The US and South Korea will press ahead with joint military exercises, a Pentagon official said, defying demands from a furious Pyongyang for their cancellation as it carries out a series of weapons tests.

North Korea fired what Seoul called two short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday after two similar launches last week, one of which Pyongyang described as a "solemn warning to the South Korean warmongers" over the planned military drills.

01 August 2019; AFP: Osama bin Laden's son Hamza, chosen heir to the leadership of Al-Qaeda, has been killed, US media reported Wednesday citing American officials.

NBC News said three US officials had confirmed they had information of Hamza bin Laden's death, but gave no details of the place or date.

The New York Times subsequently cited two US officials saying they had confirmation that he was killed during the last two years in an operation that involved the United States.

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for not signaling the start of "a lengthy and aggressive rate-cutting cycle," shortly after the Fed announced its first interest rate cut since the 2008 global financial crisis.

"As usual, Powell let us down," the U.S. president said in a tweet. "We are winning anyway, but I am certainly not getting much help from the Federal Reserve!"

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation regarding bilateral trade and the raging wildfires in Russia's Siberia, the White House said Wednesday.

"President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Vladimir Putin today and expressed concern over the vast wildfires afflicting Siberia. The leaders also discussed trade between the two countries," the White House said in a statement.

UNITED NATIONS, July 31 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Security Council will hold a closed-door meeting Thursday to discuss the latest ballistic missile launches by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), diplomatic sources said Wednesday.

According to a media alert issued by UN's Media Accreditation & Liaison Unit (MALU), the meeting will be held in the Security Council's consultations room Thursday morning to discuss "program of work" and "other matters."

MALU did not specify what "other matters" refer to.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed Kelly Craft to become the next U.S. envoy to the United Nations despite Democratic concerns about her inexperience and potential conflicts of interest.

Craft, a longtime GOP activist from Kentucky, is currently U.S. ambassador to Canada. She was confirmed 56-34, ending a more than seven-month vacancy in the key diplomatic position.

New York, Aug 1, IRNA – Former Principal Deputy Coordinator for Sanctions Policy of the United States Richard Nephew wrote in a tweet on Wednesday that sanctioning Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif is one of "the most ridiculous steps" he had ever seen during Donald Trump's administration.

"It won’t meaningfully affect Zarif’s diplomacy, it probably won’t result in much in terms of asset freeze or complications for him," wrote Richard Nephew on Wednesday evening.