North America

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans Monday to withdraw several hundred National Guard troops from the state’s southern border with Mexico in defiance of the Trump administration’s request for support from border states.

DENVER (AP) — Teachers in Colorado’s capital are planning to strike Monday for the first time in 25 years after failed negotiations with the school district over base pay.

The teachers union and Denver Public Schools met Saturday in an attempt to reach a new contract after more than a year of negotiations, but both sides left disappointed.

The Denver Classroom Teachers Association released a statement after the meeting saying the district’s proposal lacks transparency and “pushes for failed incentives for some over meaningful base salary for all.”

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia lawmakers on Monday will reluctantly face the unprecedented prospect of impeaching the state’s second most powerful leader as they struggle to address revelations of past racist behavior and allegations of sexual assault roiling its highest levels of office.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the White House refused to rule out the possibility that the federal government may shut down again, negotiators clashed over whether to limit the number of migrants authorities can detain, creating a new hurdle for a border security compromise Congress can accept.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. media reported on Sunday that a top commander has said that the United States would likely start to withdraw its troops from Syria in weeks.

General Joseph Votel, the chief commander of U.S. Central Command overseeing troops in the Middle East and Afghanistan, made the remarks while speaking to the media on a military airplane heading to the region.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Senator Amy Klobuchar, a moderate Democrat, on Sunday announced her candidacy for President of the United States.

The senator for state of Minnesota, who easily won a third term last year, made the announcement during a speech in Minneapolis in a frigid and snowy day.

Klobuchar, 58, becomes the fifth U.S. senator and the fourth female member in the chamber announcing a bid for the presidency.

10 Feb 2019; DW: The United States is seeking a United Nations Security Council resolution calling on Venezuela to conduct free, fair and credible presidential elections with international observers.

The US move has prompted Russia to propose a rival resolution, essentially raising concerns over outside interference in Venezuela's internal affairs.

Washington, Feb 10 (AFP) The Trump administration's new rules for a US visa program widely used for technology workers are getting cautious praise from Silicon Valley amid surging demand for high-skill employees.

The H-1B visa programme, which admits some 85,000 foreign nationals each year, will give higher priority to people with post-graduate degrees from US universities, under a final rule published in January by the Department of Homeland Security.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- The United States on Thursday continued its diplomatic maneuver around Venezuela amid mixed international opinions over the legitimacy of Venezuela's self-claimed interim president Juan Guaido, who is the South American country's opposition leader.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren Saturday officially announced that she is running for the president of the United States.

Warren made the announcement at an event in Lawrence in her home state of Massachusetts, where she took a shot at the current administration and the nation's politics.

"We need to take power in Washington away from the wealthy and well-connected and put it back in the hands of the people where it belongs," she said in her speech.