North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has picked budget director Mick Mulvaney to be his acting chief of staff, ending a chaotic search in which several top contenders took themselves out of the running for the job.

“Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration,” Trump tweeted Friday. “I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is racing to avoid a partial government shutdown next Friday over President Donald Trump’s border wall. But you wouldn’t know it by the schedule, as lawmakers left town waiting for the White House’s next move.

The House is taking an extended five-day weekend, returning Wednesday night. The Senate returns Monday after a three-day absence.

The ball is in Trump’s court, both sides say, and the president met Friday with top aides to discuss his spending strategy. There’s an expectation on Capitol Hill he’ll reach out soon to offer lawmakers a plan.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shaken and facing a prison term, President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer said Friday that Trump directed him to buy the silence of two women during the 2016 campaign because he was concerned their stories of alleged affairs with him “would affect the election.” He says Trump knew the payments were wrong.

WASHINGTON (AP) — By detaining two Canadians in an apparent act of retaliation, China is looking like the country its harshest critics say it is: one unbound by the laws, rules and procedures that govern other major industrial nations.

Canada’s arrest of a top Chinese technology executive at the request of the United States has set off a diplomatic furor with Beijing.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae, said on Friday that U.S. economic growth would drop to 2.3 percent in 2019 while the housing market would stabilize as economic growth slows.

"We expect full-year 2018 economic growth to come in at 3.1 percent - an expansion high - before slowing markedly to 2.3 percent in 2019 and 1.6 percent in 2020," said Doug Duncan, chief economist of Fannie Mae.

13 Nov 2018: AFP: The United States lashed out Thursday at "predatory" Chinese and Russian involvement in Africa as it announced a leaner footprint on the continent that insists on accountability in trade and peacekeeping.

In a speech billed as unveiling a new US strategy on Africa, national security advisor John Bolton echoed Trump's "America First" philosophy, showing a distrust of international institutions and a sense of stark competition with rival powers.

13 Nov 2018: AFP: Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, flew higher than it ever has before on Thursday, surpassing what the US Air Force considers the boundary of space, and marking the first manned flight to space from US soil since 2011.

The brief, suborbital flight -- with two pilots on board -- was a key milestone for the company headed by British tycoon Richard Branson, who is striving to send tourists to space at a cost of $250,000 per seat.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and Canada began high-stakes talks on Friday amid an escalating dispute with China that threatens to further complicate ties between the North American neighbors.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis were meeting their Canadian counterparts for discussions expected to be dominated by Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of telecommunications giant Huawei.

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — A bomb threat forced the evacuation of the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, a day of memorial services and moments of silence to mark the sixth anniversary of the massacre of 20 first-graders and six educators.

Teachers and students at the school were sent home for the day after the threat was called in around 9 a.m., and police did a sweep of the building. But they said they did not believe the threat was a credible. Authorities said it specifically referenced the anniversary.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In back-to-back votes against Saudi Arabia, the Senate delivered an unusual rebuke of President Donald Trump’s response to the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and signaled new skepticism from Capitol Hill toward the longtime Middle East ally.

Although the resolutions are largely symbolic — because it’s unclear if they will be considered by the House — passage Thursday showed senators seeking to assert oversight of Trump administration foreign policy and the relationship with Saudi Arabia.