North America

12 Aug 2018; AFP: NASA on Sunday launched a $1.5 billion spacecraft toward the Sun on a historic mission to protect the Earth by unveiling the mysteries of dangerous solar storms.

12 Aug 2018; AFP: US President Donald Trump, often accused of denigrating non-white people, condemned racism Saturday as the nation marked the anniversary of deadly unrest triggered by a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

10 Aug 2018; AFP: US President Donald Trump said Friday he had doubled steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey, adding to pressure on that nation's troubled economy amid a diplomatic row with Washington.

"I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar!" Trump said on Twitter.

"Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!"

11 Aug 2018; AFP: Two police officers were among four people killed Friday in a shooting that sparked panic and a police lockdown in a sleepy eastern Canadian city, as the nation grapples with rising gun violence.

Residents of the Brookside neighborhood of Fredericton, New Brunswick woke to the sounds of multiple gunshots.

11 Aug 2018; AFP: Monsanto's German owners insisted Saturday that the weed killer Roundup was "safe", rejecting a California jury's decision to order the chemical giant to pay nearly $290 million for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that the product might cause cancer.

Seattle (US), Aug 11 (AP) A "suicidal" airline mechanic stole an empty Alaska Airlines plane and took off from Sea-Tac International Airport in Washington state before crashing near a small island, officials said.

Preliminary information suggests that the 29-year-old mechanic stole the Horizon Air Q400 and the crash occurred because the person was "doing stunts in air or lack of flying skills," the Pierce County Sheriff's Department said.

MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. Russia has blocked Washington’s bid to expand sanctions against North Korea at a UN Security Council committee, because the US stance is entirely unconvincing, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

10 Aug 2018; AFP: Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday unveiled details of plans to build a US Space Force that would become the sixth branch of America's massive military, saying the time has come to prepare for "the next battlefield."

President Donald Trump ordered the creation of Space Force in June, arguing the Pentagon needs it to tackle vulnerabilities in space and assert US dominance in orbit.

WASHINGTON, August 9. /TASS/. Washington has not provided any facts and evidence to prove Moscow’s involvement in the Skripal incident, the Russian embassy in the United States said in a statement.

"On August 8, 2018, our Deputy Chief of Mission was informed in the State Department of new "draconian" sanctions against Russia for far-fetched accusations of using the "Novichok" nerve agent against a UK citizen S.Skripal and his daughter by the "Russian Government". We grew accustomed to not hearing any facts or evidence," the statement reads.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Tourism experts warn that the booming U.S. tourism industry may take a hit by the escalating trade tensions between the United States and China.

"There will be impacts on the tourism. The question is how long. We hope it's temporary," Barry Lin, vice general manager of destination marketing services at Chinese online travel agency Tuniu, told Xinhua on Tuesday.