North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will take steps next week to transmit the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, ending a three-week standoff but confronting the Senate with only the third trial in U.S. history to remove a chief executive.

In a letter to her Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said Friday she was proud of their ″courage and patriotism” and warned that senators now have a choice as they consider the charges of abuse and obstruction against the president.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is considering dramatically expanding its much-litigated travel ban to additional countries amid a renewed election-year focus on immigration by President Donald Trump, according to six people familiar with the deliberations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronted by persistent questions about his military action in the Middle East, President Donald Trump and his top officials offered a string of fresh explanations Friday, with Trump now contending Iranian militants had planned major attacks on four U.S. embassies.

QUITO, Jan 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexico granted political asylum to four members of Ecuador’s opposition holed up in its embassy in Quito since widespread social unrest in October, the foreign ministry said.

The four lawmakers, including former Congress speaker Gabriela Rivadeneira, “took a commercial flight to Mexico” early Thursday, the ministry said in a statement.

Mexico also granted asylum to seven other people, including two former officials in exiled ex-president Rafael Correa’s government.

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (NNN-CNA) — The United States will go through with the sale of up to 12 F-35B fighter jets to Singapore, pending approval by Congress, according to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency news.

Singapore’s request to buy four F-35B fighter jets, with the option of buying eight more, for an estimated cost of US$2.75 billion (S$3.71 billion) has been approved by the State Department, said the agency, adding that it had notified Congress of the possible sale on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — With tensions soaring after he ordered the killing of a top Iranian general, US President Donald Trump publicly urged all other powers to abandon a 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran.

Within hours, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, one of Trump’s closest international allies, was on the phone with Iran’s president. His message? That, according to Downing Street, the nuclear deal remains “the best arrangement currently available.”

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 10 (APP): Drawing attention to India’s “aggressive intent” towards Pakistan, a top Pakistani diplomat has urged the UN to act “decisively” to prevent a war between the two countries and to enable the Kashmiri people to exercise their UN-pledged right to self-determination for peace and stability in South Asia.

“Pakistan does not want war with India,” Ambassador Munir Akram told the UN Security Council which held a debate on upholding the U.N. Charter, the organization’s founding treaty, nearly 75 years since its adoption.

WASHINGTON, January 10. /TASS/: US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has held talks with EU High Representative and Vice President Josep Borrell on Thursday, Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co has released hundreds of internal messages that contained harshly critical comments about the development of the 737 MAX, including one that said the plane was “designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys”.

The messages, disclosed on Thursday, show attempts to duck regulatory scrutiny with employees disparaging the plane, the company, the Federal Aviation Administration and foreign aviation regulators.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is holding onto two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, said Thursday that they will probably be sent to the Senate soon for a trial, signaling a possible end to a standoff with Republicans.

"I'm not withholding them indefinitely. I'll send them over when I'm ready," Pelosi told reporters during her weekly press conference at the Capitol. "And that will probably be soon."