North America

Washington, Feb 22 (PTI) US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet one-on-one and spend substantial amount of time together next week when the two leaders meet in Hanoi, Vietnam, the White House said Thursday.

Trump and Kim are meeting for their second summit on February 27 and 28. The first one was on June 12 in Singapore, which was part of the president's effort to improve his country's relationship with North Korea and ultimately have a denuclearised state.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The White House said Thursday that the United States would leave a small proportion of troops in Syria after the planned pullout.

"A small peacekeeping group of about 200 will remain in Syria for a period of time," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

The 200 troops would be divided between At-Tanf, an area near the Iraq-Jordan border, and northeast Syria, CNN reported, citing a U.S. official familiar with the planning process.

ANKARA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump discussed the U.S. withdrawal from Syria over phone late on Thursday, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Erdogan and Trump discussed the latest developments in Syria and emphasized the importance of supporting a political resolution to the conflict, Anadolu said.

During the call, the two presidents also reiterated joint commitment to fighting terrorism and raising bilateral trade to 75 billion U.S. dollars.

The Chinese delegation is headed by Vice Premier Liu He, who also came as the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping; while the U.S. team includes Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Liu, Lighthizer and Mnuchin co-chaired the formal opening at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A Muslim civil rights group called for a congressional investigation Wednesday after its lawsuit revealed that the U.S. government has shared access to parts of its terrorist watchlist with more than 1,400 private entities, including hospitals and universities.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Faced with a housing shortage and skyrocketing rents, Oregon is on track to become the first state to impose mandatory rent controls, with a measure establishing tenant protections moving swiftly through the Legislature.

Many residents have testified in favor of the legislation, describing anxiety and hardship as they face higher rents. Some have gone up by as much as almost 100 percent, forcing people to move, stay with friends or even live in their vehicles.

HOUSTON (AP) — Months after the Trump administration announced an end to its widescale separation of migrant parents and children, the policy remains a heated issue in the courts and at the border as critics contend the government is still needlessly breaking up immigrant families.

The Texas Civil Rights Project released a report Thursday that counts 272 separations at a single Texas courthouse since June, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order ending widespread separations amid public outrage.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats will file a resolution Friday aimed at blocking the national emergency declaration that President Donald Trump has issued to help finance his wall along the Southwest border, teeing up a clash over billions of dollars, immigration policy and the Constitution’s separation of powers.

21 Feb 2019; DW: During talks with the US president, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he wanted to prevent an escalation in the trade war between the US and the EU. However, Trump said he isn't taking car tariffs off the table.

21 Feb 2019; DW: US authorities have arrested a Coast Guard lieutenant who compiled a hit list of prominent political targets. Christopher Paul Hasson was allegedly "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth."

Prosecutors said Christopher Paul Hasson was to appear in court on Thursday on gun and drug offenses, but that those charges were "the tip of the iceberg."