North America

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 24 (APP): A Pakistani delegate hit back at India on Friday for portraying as “hate speech” the remarks made earlier by Pakistan while highlighting in the UN General Assembly the Indian atrocities in Jammu and Kashmir.

NEW YORK, January 24. /TASS/: The United States is looking closely at the possibility of imposing new sanctions on Russia over Moscow's support for Nicolas Maduro's government in Venezuela, US Secretary of State Pompeo said in an interview with Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald.

"I never get out in front of decisions on sanctions, but we are looking closely," Pompeo said in response to a question on whether the US is ready to impose new sanctions on Russia over supporting Maduro. "We're looking closely at every element, resources," he added.

24 January 2020; AFP: Lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff called dramatically for the Senate to remove President Donald Trump from office Thursday, saying the US leader cannot be trusted to put the country's interests ahead of his own.

"The American people deserve a president they can count on, to put their interest first," said Schiff.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. nonprofit organization moved its Doomsday Clock, designed to give the world an easy way to gauge the likelihood of manmade global catastrophe, the closest ever to midnight.

On Thursday, the Chicago-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which maintained Doomsday Clock since 1947, announced that it moved the Doomsday Clock from two minutes to midnight to 100 seconds to midnight.

JERUSALEM, Jan 24 (NNN-Xinhua) — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence announced Thursday during a visit to Jerusalem that the White House plans to release its plan for peace in the Middle East next week in Washington.

In joint statements with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pence said that U.S. President Donald Trump requested him to extend an invitation to Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz to arrive in Washington “to discuss regional issues and the possibility of peace in the Holy Land.”

Netanyahu and Gantz accepted the invitation, Pence said.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Iowa caucuses are more than a week away, but millions of Americans are already free to vote.

Early voting in the crush of Super Tuesday states that hold primaries on March 3 amounts to a parallel campaign for the Democratic nomination. While much of the focus is on who will come out on top in the traditional first four voting states, early voting will allow a much broader swath of voters to play a key role in picking the nominee.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic House prosecutors made an expansive case Thursday at Donald Trump’s impeachment trial that he abused power like no other president in history, swept up by a “completely bogus” Ukraine theory pushed by attorney Rudy Giuliani.

On Friday, the Democrats will press their final day of arguments before skeptical Republican senators, focusing on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress’ investigation.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada woman who said she shot a gun at spirits who attacked her roommate was sentenced to prison for the man’s fatal shooting.

Kiahna Hawkins, 30, was sentenced to 11 to 28 years in a Nevada prison, KVVU-TV reported Wednesday.

Hawkins was evaluated and found competent to stand trial in June before she pleaded guilty to a charge of murder and entered a plea agreement.

Andre D. Smith, 49, was found dead May 3 in the North Las Vegas apartment he shared with Hawkins.

MIAMI (AP) — President Donald Trump will hold a signing ceremony for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement on Wednesday, according to the White House.

The deal to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement passed on bipartisan votes in Congress, scoring the president a significant political victory amid his Senate impeachment trial.

Mexico has already ratified the agreement. Canada must act next for it to fully enter into force.

FRONTERA HIDALGO, Mexico (AP) — From the roadside stand where his family sells mole, barbecue and chicken stew, Miguel Ángel Vázquez has seen all the caravans of Central American migrants and asylum seekers stream past his front door in recent years, throngs of people driven to flee poverty and violence in hopes of a better life in the United States.