North America

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday stressed the economic and trade potential in the Asia-Pacific region, especially China, saying his government aims to bolster trade with countries in the region.

One of his government's strategic projects is to build a bicoastal corridor in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a narrow area of land in southern Mexico, between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, he said.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The United States discussed exchanging liaison officers with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), U.S. media reported on Monday.

Washington and Pyongyang were seriously considering exchanging liaison officers, an incremental step toward building formal diplomatic relations, according to a CNN report citing two high-level diplomatic sources.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Sixteen U.S. states including California Monday jointly sued U.S. President Donald Trump to challenge his bid to declare national emergency over funding a wall between the United States and Mexico.

AURORA, Ill. (AP) — More than 1,500 people braved snow and freezing drizzle to attend a prayer vigil for five slain co-workers Sunday, two days after they were fatally shot at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant by a longtime employee who was fired moments earlier.

The Rev. Dan Haas told those who gathered near five white crosses erected for the shooting victims outside Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora that Friday’s “senseless killings” left their families brokenhearted in the city about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump is prepared to issue the first veto of his term if Congress votes to disapprove his declaration of a national emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border, a top White House adviser said on Sunday.

White House senior adviser Stephen Miller told “Fox News Sunday” that “the president is going to protect his national emergency declaration.” Asked if that meant Trump was ready to veto a resolution of disapproval, Miller added, “He’s going to protect his national emergency declaration, guaranteed.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview that aired Sunday that a “crime may have been committed” when President Donald Trump fired the head of the FBI and tried to publicly undermine an investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia.

McCabe also said in the interview with “60 Minutes” that the FBI had good reason to open a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was in league with Russia, and therefore a possible national security threat, following the May 2017 firing of then-FBI Director James Comey.

WASHINGTON, February 18. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump did not believe a report by the US intelligence officials claiming that North Korea is in possession of missiles able to reach the US territory due to Russian President Vladimir Putin claiming the opposite, former Acting Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe said in an interview with the CBS channel, published on Sunday.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner has been released from a federal prison in Massachusetts and is serving out the rest of his sentence in a reentry center in Brooklyn, New York, local media reported.

Weiner began serving a 21-month prison sentence after being convicted of exchanging lewd texts with a 15-year-old girl in 2017.

Records show that Weiner served about 15 months at the Federal Medical Center Devens in Massachusetts until he was transferred to the Brooklyn facility.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The acting secretary of defense said Saturday he has not yet determined how much money he will redirect to President Donald Trump’s border wall project.

Pat Shanahan, who has been leading the Pentagon since Jim Mattis stepped down Dec. 31, made the comment in an interview with reporters flying with him from Germany to Washington.

Shanahan said he has a great deal of discretion in deciding how to use the authorities granted to him by Trump’s declaration Friday of a national emergency.

CHICAGO (AP) — The victims of a disgruntled employee Gary Martin who opened fire at a suburban Chicago industrial warehouse were co-workers ranging from an intern to the plant manager. A look at the victims:

The 21-year-old Northern Illinois University student was on his first day as an intern in human resources at Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora and attended the fateful meeting where the gunman was fired and then started shooting.