North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top U.S. defense and military officials on Saturday reaffirmed America’s continued commitment to and relationship with Saudi Arabia after a Saudi Air Force student’s deadly attack at a Navy base in Florida.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and others attending a security conference in California played down any initial impact on U.S.-Saudi ties. President Donald Trump described a conciliatory conversation with the Saudi king.

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota National Guard says the three soldiers who were killed when their helicopter crashed near St. Cloud this week were part of a unit that returned last May from a nine-month deployment to the Middle East.

The Guard identified the men who were killed in Thursday’s crash as Chief Warrant Officers 2nd Class James A. Rogers Jr., 28, and Charles P. Nord, 30, and Sgt. Kort M. Plantenberg, 28.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — A dozen frail survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor returned Saturday to honor those who perished when Japanese planes pierced a quiet sunny morning 78 years ago and rained bombs on battleships lined up below.

About 30 World War II veterans and some 2,000 members of the public joined the survivors, the youngest of whom are now in their late 90s, to commemorate the anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack that launched the U.S. into World War II.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Previewing potential articles of impeachment, the House Democrats on Saturday issued a lengthy report drawing on history and the Founding Fathers to lay out the legal argument over the case against President Donald Trump’s actions toward Ukraine.

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — The Saudi student who fatally shot three sailors at a U.S. naval base in Florida hosted a dinner party earlier in the week where he and three others watched videos of mass shootings, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Officials investigating the deadly attack were working Saturday to determine whether it was motivated by terrorism, while President Donald Trump indicated he would review policies governing foreign military training in the United States.

07 Dec 2019; MEMO: A Saudi Air Force second lieutenant killed four people and wounded eight others on Friday in an unexplained shooting rampage at a US Navy base in Florida where he was training, US officials told Reuters.

Sheriff’s deputies responding to the early-morning incident shot and killed the gunman, who was armed with a handgun at the US Naval Station in Pensacola, Navy and local law enforcement officials said.

Washington, Dec 7 (AP/PTI) Mexico's top trade negotiator wrapped up an 11-hour meeting with his US counterpart Friday night, saying they had not finalized a new trade agreement for Mexico, United States and Canada.

"We are working on all the issues. It is not easy, but we are working well, Jesus Seade told reporters as he left the office of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

He said they might meet again Saturday.

Washington, Dec 7 (AFP/PTI) US President Donald Trump lashed out at the World Bank on Friday, blaming the international financial institution for lending money to China.

"Why is the World Bank loaning money to China? Can this be possible? China has plenty of money, and if they don't, they create it. STOP!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Washington, Dec 7 (AFP/PTI) US President Donald Trump on Friday pulled back on his stated plans to designate Mexican drug cartels as terror groups, saying he was doing so at the request of his counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Last month, Trump called for a "war" on the cartels after the killings of nine women and children from a US-Mexican Mormon community, but south of the common border, his plans were seen as unwanted meddling.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 07 (APP): Pakistan has underscored the need for realistic mandates for U.N. peacekeeping operations, with adequate resources, to face the difficult challenges in the world’s troubled regions.