North America

US Supreme Court rejects challenge to regulation of gun silencers

  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is rejecting a challenge to federal regulation of gun silencers, just days after a gunman used one in a shooting rampage that killed 12 people in Virginia. The justices did not comment Monday in turning away appeals from two Kansas men who were convicted of violating federal law regulating silencers. The men argued that the constitutional right “to keep and bear arms” includes silencers. Kansas and seven other […]

Trump raises tariff threat anew over secret provision in Mexico deal

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump said Monday a secret provision of the US immigration deal with Mexico will require the approval of that country’s legislature and warned US tariffs will be reinstated if it is not forthcoming. Trump did not say what the provision entails, only that it would be revealed “in the not too distant future and will need a vote by Mexico’s Legislative body.” “We do not anticipate a […]

Hundreds protest in Vancouver against Hong Kong extradition plans

VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) — Hundreds of people protested outside the Chinese consulate in Vancouver on Sunday against controversial plans to allow extraditions from Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland. “This amendment will affect millions of people, not just Hong Kong people — people around the world,” Mabel Tung, the protest organizer and chair of the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement, told AFP. Tung, who immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong 40 years ago […]

China warns tech giants after US Huawei ban: report

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Chinese government convened top tech companies this week and warned them of consequences if they cut off technology sales to the country, US media reported on Saturday. The meeting followed US President Donald Trump’s move last month to blacklist Chinese tech giant Huawei over national security concerns, threatening the firm’s global ambitions and ramping up the months-long trade battle between the two countries. Earlier this week, the Chinese government […]

Venezuela says closing consulates in Canada

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela has announced it will close its consulates in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, leaving only its embassy in Ottawa to handle its affairs in Canada. The Venezuelan foreign ministry, which announced the decision Saturday, said it was in response to Canada’s temporary closing of its embassy in Caracas. Canada is one of more than 50 countries, led by the United States, that recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s acting president […]

Democrats slam Trump’s use of trade threats against ally Mexico

by Brian KNOWLTON WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Democrats on Sunday slammed Donald Trump’s tactics of threatening punitive tariffs to extract concessions on immigration from Mexico, saying the US president was recklessly endangering ties to a major ally and trade partner. “What the world is tired of, and what I am tired of, is a president who consistently goes to war, verbal war, with our allies,” Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, […]

Trump’s threatened tariffs on hold after deal with Mexico

By JILL COLVIN, MATTHEW LEE and LUIS ALONSO LUGO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has put on hold his plan to begin imposing tariffs on Mexico on Monday, saying the U.S. ally will take “strong measures” to reduce the flow of Central American migrants into the United States. But the deal he announced Friday night, after returning from a trip to Europe, falls short of some of the dramatic overhauls pushed for […]

Special Report: Top US cardinal accused of mishandling aide’s sex abuse case

  By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — When Cardinal Daniel DiNardo first met Laura Pontikes in his wood-paneled conference room in December 2016, the leader of the U.S. Catholic Church’s response to its sex abuse scandal said all the right things. He praised her for coming forward to report that his deputy in the Galveston-Houston archdiocese had manipulated her into a sexual relationship and declared her a “victim” of the priest, Pontikes said. […]

Pelosi told Dems she’d like Trump ‘in prison’: report

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump should be sent to “prison,” US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told fellow Democrats in a closed-door meeting about whether to launch impeachment proceedings against the president, Politico reported Thursday. Pelosi, Trump’s political nemesis in Congress, has long stated she is not ready to proceed with what would be a deeply divisive impeachment action, and that she would prefer to see the president defeated at the ballot box next […]

Huawei executive’s extradition hearings set for 2020 in Vancouver

MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Hearings on whether a top official with Chinese telecoms giant Huawei should be extradited to the United States to face accusations of violating Iran sanctions will begin on January 20, 2020, a Vancouver judge decided Thursday. According to a timeline agreed upon by lawyers and accepted by British Columbia’s provincial supreme court, the five-day hearing in the case of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou will be the first in a series of […]

Number of measles cases in US this year surpasses 1,000

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The number of measles cases in the United States this year has reached 1,001, health officials said Wednesday, as they vowed to stop the spread of misinformation about vaccines. The announcement comes days after authorities declared the US was in danger of losing its “elimination status” on the contagious respiratory disease if the current outbreaks continue. “The 1,000th case of a preventable disease like measles is a troubling reminder […]

US House votes to help ‘Dreamer’ immigrants; move to benefit over 20,000 undocumented Filipinos

  The Democrat-dominated House of Representatives approved a bill Tuesday that would create a path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, including more than 20,000 Filipino illegal migrants in the United States. The bill, however, faces dubious Senate chances. The White House has warned President Donald Trump would veto the legislation if it reaches his desk as is, and the Republicans who control the Senate are unlikely to pass the measure. The […]