USA

Decades needed to dismantle Three Mile Island nuclear reactor

CHICAGO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- It will take decades to fully dismantle the Three Mile Island unit 1 nuclear reactor (TMI-1) after its planned shutdown in September 2019, its owner and operator Exelon Generation said on Friday.

The Chicago-headquartered energy company has filed a federally required post-shutdown decommissioning activities report, detailing plans for TMI-1 after it ceases operation later this year.

U.S. trade organizations urge Trump not to impose auto tariffs

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Eight U.S. trade organizations have urged President Donald Trump not to impose import tariffs on cars and car parts, saying an investigation that could potentially legitimize the duties "poses serious economic threat" to U.S. economy and the wellbeing of its auto industry.

"Any remedy proposing quotas or tariffs should not be implemented," the groups said in a letter dated Thursday, urging that Trump "not impose tariffs on any imported vehicle or motor vehicle parts."

Poverty leaves a mark on human genes

CHICAGO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- A study posted on the website of the Northwestern University (NU) on Friday found that poverty leaves a mark on nearly 10 percent of the genes in human genome.

In the study, NU researchers found evidence that poverty can become embedded across wide swaths of the genome. They discovered that lower socioeconomic status is associated with levels of DNA methylation (DNAm), a key epigenetic mark that has the potential to shape gene expression, at more than 2,500 sites and across more than 1,500 genes.

Trump urges Fed to cut interest rates to boost U.S. economy

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that the Federal Reserve (Fed) should lower interest rates and pursue "quantitative easing" policy in order to boost the U.S. economy.

"I personally think the Fed should drop rates. I think they really slowed us down. There's no inflation," Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for California on Friday.

Congress ends US support for Yemen war, Trump likely to veto

4 Apr 2019; AFP: US lawmakers voted Thursday to end military support for the bloody Saudi-led war in Yemen, dealing a harsh bipartisan rebuke to Donald Trump and taking the historic step of curtailing a president's war-making powers.

The House of Representatives voted 247 to 175, with one congressman voting present, to approve a resolution that directs the president "to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Yemen" within 30 days.

US revokes Inrenation Criminal Court prosecutor's visa

5 Apr 2019; AFP: The United States has revoked the visa for the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, her office said Friday, over a possible investigation of American soldiers' actions in Afghanistan.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda would continue to pursue her duties for the Hague-based court "without fear or favour" despite the ban, her office said in a statement.

Trump threatens tariffs on Mexican cars

5 Apr 2019; DW: US President Donald Trump on Thursday abandoned plans to immediately seal the Mexico border, instead setting a deadline to stop migrants and drugs entering the US.

"We're going to give them a one-year warning, and if the drugs don't stop, or largely stop, we're going to put tariffs on Mexico and products — in particular cars. The whole ballgame is cars," Trump told reporters.

Boeing reveals further software problem in 737 MAX airplane

5 Apr 2019; DW: US planemaker Boeing admitted on Thursday that its 737 MAX passenger jet has another software error in addition to the one implicated in two major crashes in recent months.

Boeing said the problem, which it described as a "relatively minor issue" that was already solved, had become apparent during work on overhauling the controversial anti-stalling system MCAS, but was not directly connected with it.

Trump admits US made mistake not selling Patriots to Turkey

WASHINGTON, April 3. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump admitted that the previous US administration headed by Barack Obama had made a mistake not selling the Patriot surface-to-air missile system to Turkey, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in Washington on Wednesday.

The Turkish top diplomat pointed out that Ankara views as a done deal the agreement with Moscow on acquiring the S-400 long-range air defense missile system.

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