North America

DOVER, N.H. (AP) — Pete Buttigieg spent Sunday on defense as his Democratic presidential rivals attacked him on everything from his struggle to connect with black voters to accepting campaign contributions from large donors in an effort to blunt any momentum heading into Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.

NEW YORK, Feb 09 (APP): Braving severe cold weather, a large number of Kashmiris, Pakistanis and Sikhs — some of them holding candles — demonstrated in New York City’s iconic Times Square Saturday night condemning India’s annexation of Jammu and Kashmir and calling on the international community to play its role in the implementation
of U.N. resolutions that pledged to them the right of self-determination.

The demonstration, organized by the Kashmiri-American Council, was part of a number of activities planned for the week in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day.

WASHINGTON, February 9. /TASS/: Russia’s US Ambassador Anatoly Antonov has commented on various aspects of the Russian-US relations, including the current situation regarding the arrest of Russian diplomatic property in the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin's initiative to host a summit of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and the 'hockey diplomacy' announced by his US colleague.

ALEXANDRIA, the United States, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Firefighters have contained a massive building fire in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, eastern U.S. state of Virginia, fire authorities said Saturday.

Fire crews are hitting hotspots and units are expected to remain on scene for an undetermined length of time, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department tweeted Saturday afternoon.

The four-alarm fire broke out in a five-story townhouse complex construction site on Saturday morning, according to authorities.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Amid wide opposition, U.S. administration's decision to increase tariffs on derivative steel and aluminum imports by 25 percent and 10 percent respectively took effect on Saturday.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation two weeks ago to raise tariffs on derivative steel and aluminum imports to cover nails, staples and other downstream products, calling it "necessary and appropriate."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned America’s governors on Saturday to be wary of China, which he said was targeting individual U.S. states in a strategic effort to expand its economic and political influence.

He said a Chinese government-backed think tank has assessed all 50 governors on their attitude toward China and assigned each one a label: “friendly, hard-line or ambiguous.”

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The Latest on 2020 Democratic president race and Tuesday’s primary in New Hampshire (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

Joe Biden is continuing to waffle over whether he needs to do well in New Hampshire even as he promised supporters at a Manchester campaign office “the reports of our death are premature.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Two New York City police officers narrowly escaped with their lives when a gunman fired into their patrol van Saturday night, wounding one of them in an attack officials called an attempted assassination.

The ambush, which Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said “should outrage all New Yorkers,” happened just before 8:30 pm in the South Bronx.

The officer at the wheel of the van was grazed in the chin and neck, but he avoided serious injury, Shea said. He was expected to released from the hospital Sunday.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Scrambling to salvage his presidential campaign, Joe Biden escalated his criticism of Pete Buttigieg on Saturday, mocking Buttigieg’s experience as a small city mayor and cutting down the comparisons Buttigieg has drawn to the last Democratic president, declaring: “This guy’s not a Barack Obama.”

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — For Democrats, this was supposed be a moment to begin easing three years of built-up of anxieties. Instead, the launch of the 2020 presidential primary has left the party deeply unsettled and President Donald Trump gleeful about the chaos.