North America

7 December 2019; AFP: Washington resumed talks with the Taliban in Qatar Saturday, a US source said, three months after President Donald Trump abruptly halted diplomatic efforts that could end America's longest war.

In September, the United States and the Taliban had appeared on the verge of signing a deal that would have seen Washington begin withdrawing thousands of troops in return for security guarantees.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Negotiators working to close a new North American trade deal have made “good progress” but many elements are not yet resolved, Mexico’s deputy foreign minister said on Friday.

“We’re working hard on all the issues, it’s not easy,” Jesus Seade, Mexico’s top negotiator for USMCA, told reporters in Washington, where he met with U.S. counterparts.

“I’m confident this is going to be resolved, but we’re working on it to get the best deal,” Seade said, adding he had been in touch with Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Swedish mobile telecoms company Ericsson (ERICb.ST) has agreed to pay over $1 billion to resolve probes into corruption, including the bribing of government officials, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday.

The bribery took place over many years in countries including China, Vietnam and Djibouti, the department said. The total charges include a criminal penalty of more than $520 million, plus $540 million to be paid to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a related matter.

WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on three Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary leaders over a deadly crackdown on protests in the country, as it warned Tehran to stay out of its neighbour’s affairs.

The move comes as President Donald Trump’s administration, which considers Iran an arch-enemy, voices alarm at rising attacks on US forces’ bases in Iraq blamed on armed Shiite groups backed by Tehran’s clerical regime.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Friday warned Democrats in the House of their likely adoption of articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

"Adopting articles of impeachment would be a reckless abuse of power by House Democrats," White House counsel Pat Cipollone said in a letter to Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that is leading the Trump impeachment proceedings.

The move "would constitute the most unjust, highly partisan, and unconstitutional attempt at impeachment in our Nation's history," Cipollone said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday in a tweet that he will hold off on designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.

Trump said all the work had been completed and he was statutorily ready to issue a declaration but had decided to delay at the request of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The Mexican government had pushed back against Trump’s plan, saying such a step by the U.S. could lead to violations of its sovereignty.

PHOENIX (AP) — The U.S. government said Friday it had sent nine Venezuelans — including two families — back to Mexico after they tried to make an asylum claim by driving up to a customs officer instead of lingering south of the border on a list waiting to be called up under a Trump administration policy targeting asylum-seekers.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft warned Iran on Friday that the Trump administration will keep up its maximum pressure campaign and use “other tools” if Tehran continues its “malicious behavior.”

Craft also told her first press conference since arriving at the United Nations in September that all 15 members of the U.N. Security Council are united in their concern about any more ballistic missile launches by North Korea, saying there have been 13 launches since May and Pyongyang’s actions are a serious global issue.

MIAMI (AP) — Relatives of a UPS driver killed after robbery suspects took him hostage on a wild police chase across South Florida questioned Friday why officers had to unleash a torrent of gunfire when the truck got stuck in rush-hour traffic.

Both suspects, 41-year-old cousins Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill, were killed along with the driver, Frank Ordonez, and another motorist, 70-year-old Richard Cutshaw, who was waiting at a busy intersection when officers ran up and opened fire from behind the cars of innocent bystanders.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump knows he has fierce Democratic adversaries in Congress. But there is also ample push-back from the Judiciary branch, where black-robed judges who sit in courtrooms just blocks from the Capitol and in New York City have repudiated his view of executive power.

Federal judges in the last two months have accused Trump administration lawyers of “openly stonewalling” and of regarding presidents as kings while also deriding Justice Department legal positions as “extraordinary,” “exactly backwards” and just plain “wrong.”