North America

OTTAWA, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The Canadian government on Tuesday unveiled its 2019 budget titled "Investing in the Middle Class" with a total spending of 22.8 billion Canadian dollars (about 17 billion U.S. dollars) in new spending over the next five fiscal years.

The government is projecting a deficit of 19.8 billion Canadian dollars (about 15 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019-2020, which is scheduled to fall to 15 billion Canadian dollars (some 11 billion U.S. dollars) two years later, then to 10 billion (roughly 7.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023-2024.

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- A spacecraft's close-up observation of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu showed particle plumes erupting from its more rugged surface, which may alter the spacecraft's flight and sample collection plans in the coming year, U.S. scientists said at a teleconference on Monday.

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen, Stephen Dickson, a former Air Force pilot and executive for Delta Air Lines, to be the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the White House announced on Tuesday.

Trump is planning to nominate Dickson, who oversaw flight operations at Delta, to be the FAA administrator for a term of five years and to be the chairman of the Air Traffic Services Committee under the Department of Transportation.

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday indicated that he may support Brazil to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as the two nations expected to further their economic cooperation.

Trump said at the White House while meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro that "we're going to look at that very, very strongly in terms of whether it's NATO or it's something having to do with alliance."

19 Mar 2019; DW: Envoys of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Monday took control of several diplomatic properties in the US.

Venezuela's acting president, Nicolas Maduro, has cut ties diplomatic ties with the US, accusing it of attempting to oust him from power. Guaido, who invoked Venezuela's constitution and declared himself interim president, has pushed Western countries to isolate Maduro's regime.

What happened:

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan on Monday met with French Defense Minister Florence Parly amidst Paris' increasing questions over the U.S. commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) were linked to risks of premature death, particularly death from cardiovascular diseases, according to a Harvard study published on Monday in the journal Circulation.

In the study, researchers analyzed data from 80,647 women and 37,716 men who answered questionnaires about lifestyle factors and health status every two years.

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Defense said Monday it had requested 22.95 billion U.S. dollars to fund its military intelligence program (MIP) in fiscal year 2020.

"The total, which includes both the base budget and Overseas Contingency Operations funding, is 22.95 billion and is aligned to support the national defense strategy," the Pentagon said in a statement.

The statement said it will not release any detailed figures regarding this part of the budget for security reasons.

17 Mar 2019; AFP: Democrats led by an Arab-American lawmaker attacked President Donald Trump's "silence" on the rise of white supremacy Sunday as reaction to the New Zealand mosque massacre spilled into a heated US debate over religious and racial bigotry.

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday lashed out at General Motors (GM), pressuring the auto giant to reopen an Ohio plant, whose closure has put 1,700 people out of work.

"Just spoke to Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors about the Lordstown Ohio plant ... I asked her to sell it or do something quickly," Trump tweeted Sunday.

"She blamed the UAW (United Automobile Workers) Union -- I don't care, I just want it open!" the tweet reads.