North America

Police in Torrance, California has confirmed shooting at Gable House Bowl. The number of victims and the nature of their injuries are not yet known. Also not known is the identity and motive of the shooter.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers went on a hiring spree in December, adding a surprising 312,000 jobs and providing a dose of reassurance about the economy after a turbulent few months on Wall Street.

The job gains reported Friday by the Labor Department came despite a trade war with China, a global slowdown and a partial government shutdown now entering its third week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday that he will not resign if asked to do so by President Donald Trump, and that he is prepared to be patient in deciding when to raise interest rates again.

Both of those messages cheered stock market investors who had been worried about Trump’s repeated attacks on his hand-picked choice to lead the nation’s central bank and also the Fed’s seemingly inexorable march to higher rates.

SOLANA BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Authorities are holding a man they say tried to rob a San Diego County bank, then told frightened customers to call 911, stripped to his underwear and awaited arrest.

Thirty-five-year-old Clint Gray was arrested Thursday at a Wells Fargo branch in Solana Beach. It’s not known if he has an attorney.

Derek Stevenson tells the San Diego Union-Tribune that he was one of three customers inside the bank when the man entered shortly after the branch opened, shouted that it was a robbery and ordered everyone to the ground.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A decorated Navy SEAL pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of premeditated murder and other crimes in the stabbing death of a teenage Islamic State prisoner in Iraq last year and the shooting of unarmed Iraqi civilians.

Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher will stand trial Feb. 19 before a jury that will be one-third enlisted personnel. Gallagher has been jailed since his arrest on Sept. 11, and a judge said he will determine next week whether the 19-year Navy veteran should be released before trial.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had only been in office for a few hours when a handful of Democrats defied her persistent calls not to begin the new Congress by talking about impeachment.

Just after Pelosi was sworn in Thursday, longtime Democratic Reps. Brad Sherman of California and Al Green of Texas introduced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. That evening, newly elected Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan riled up a supportive crowd by calling the president a profanity and predicting that he will be removed from office.

04 Jan 2019; AFP: President Donald Trump said Friday he was prepared to keep the US government closed for a year or more, as he stood firm on his contentious demand for billions of dollars to fund a border wall with Mexico.

Trump confirmed he said as much in a meeting earlier Friday with top Democrats that failed to produce a deal on ending the two-week shutdown.

"Absolutely I said that," Trump said, adding. "I don't think it will. But I am prepared."

WASHINGTON, January 5. /TASS/. A record-high number of Americans want to permanently move to another country, suggests a Gallup opinion poll whose data was made public on Friday.

04 Jan 2019; AFP: A US government delegation will visit China next week for the first face-to-face talks since President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart agreed on a temporary truce in the trade war, Beijing said Friday.

The US and China have exchanged tit-for-tat tariffs on more than $300 billion worth of goods in total two-way trade, locking them in a conflict that has begun to eat into profits and contributed to stock market plunges.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a spending package late Thursday that would end the partial government shutdown, amid a veto threat from the White House.

The Democrats who control the House passed the bills that would fund the departments of State, Commerce, Agriculture, Labor, Treasury and other agencies through Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year.