North America

WASHINGTON, October 19. /TASS/: The Russian Government is looking for a solution on Sberbank dividends that would suit the Central Bank and not violate the interests of the budget, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov said on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

19 October 2019; AFP: US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has attacked President Donald Trump's decision to pull troops from Syria as "a strategic nightmare" as scattered fighting flared in the north of the country despite a ceasefire deal.

Turkey had agreed to suspend its Syria offensive for five days but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Friday he would resume a full-scale operation against Kurdish forces if they do not withdraw from a border "safe zone."

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday said that he supported the decision to back off from an attempt to capture a son of imprisoned kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, to prevent the loss of lives.

The decision was jointly made by the Security Cabinet, which is made up by the ministers of defense, navy and security and civilian protection, said Lopez Obrador at a press conference in the city of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.

MIDWAY ATOLL, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (AP) — Deep-sea explorers scouring the world’s oceans for sunken World War II ships are focusing in on debris fields deep in the Pacific, in an area where one of the most decisive battles of the time took place.

Hundreds of miles off Midway Atoll, nearly halfway between the United States and Japan, a research vessel is launching underwater robots miles into the abyss to look for warships from the famed Battle of Midway.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Lizbeth Garcia tended to her 3-year-old son outside a tent pitched on a sidewalk, their temporary home while they wait for their number to be called to claim asylum in the United States.

The 33-year-old fled Mexico’s western state of Michoacan a few weeks ago with her husband and five children — ages 3 to 12 — when her husband, a truck driver, couldn’t pay fees that criminal gangs demanded for each trailer load. The family decided it was time to go when gangs came to their house to collect.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It wasn’t too long ago that Donald Trump derided presidential executive orders as “power grabs” and a “basic disaster.”

He’s switched sides in a big way: In each year of his presidency, he has issued more executive orders than did former President Barack Obama during the same time span. He surpassed Obama’s third-year total just recently.

Back in 2012, Trump had tweeted: “Why Is @BarackObama constantly issuing executive orders that are major power grabs of authority?”

That criticism continued once he entered the presidential race.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — In the liberal strongholds of Des Moines’ west side and the Iowa State University campus in Ames, not once was South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg asked by voters recently about the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.

It’s not that the investigation into the president’s request for foreign help in his reelection effort is an afterthought for Democrats whose votes in Iowa will start the nominating process. Quite the opposite.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Frayed U.S. relations with Turkey over its incursion in Syria raise a sensitive question rarely discussed in public: Should the United States remove the nuclear bombs it has long stored at a Turkish air base?

It’s a tricky matter for several reasons, including the fact that by longstanding policy, the U.S. government does not publicly acknowledge locations of nuclear weapons overseas. Still, it is almost an open secret that the U.S. has as many as 50 B-61 bombs stored under heavy guard at Incirlik air base in southern Turkey.

CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) — Mexican security forces aborted an attempt to capture a son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman after finding themselves outgunned in a ferocious shootout with cartel henchmen that left at least eight people dead and more than 20 wounded, authorities said Friday.

The gunbattle Thursday paralyzed the capital of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, Culiacan, and left the streets littered with burning vehicles. Residents took cover indoors as automatic gunfire raged outside.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The shifting White House explanation for President Donald Trump’s decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine drew alarm Friday from Republicans as the impeachment inquiry brought a new test of their alliance.