USA

07 Aug 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman ordered a hit squad to seek out and kill one of his former top intelligence officials in Canada just 13 days after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a US lawsuit has claimed. The bombshell allegation was made on Wednesday in the suit filed in the US District Court, Washington DC, by Saad Al-Jabri.

Washington, Aug 7 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has signed executive orders banning TikTok and WeChat, terming the popular Chinese apps a threat to the country's national security and economy.

The ban comes into effect in 45 days, Trump said in two separate executive orders signed on Thursday.

India was the first country to ban TikTok and WeChat, citing national security concerns. India has banned as many as 106 Chinese apps, a move welcomed by both the Trump administration and US lawmakers.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 07 (APP): Pakistan’s UN Ambassador, Munir Akram, has underscored the need for the world community to end India’s human rights violations in illegally occupied Kashmir and move to resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions and Kashmiri people’s wishes when he briefed OIC members on the situation in the disputed state.

“We, first and foremost, rely on our muslim brothers and sisters from OIC to uphold the right of self-determination of Kashmiri people,” he told representatives of Islamic nations in a virtual meeting on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The International Monetary Fund urged Lebanese officials to break an “impasse” and move ahead with reforms after a massive Beirut blast devastated the capital and cost the crisis-hit country billions in damages.

“It is essential to overcome the impasse in the discussions on critical reforms,” said the world body, which has been in talks with the Lebanese government since May over the country’s financial crisis.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Trump administration officials have urged the president to delist Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges and fail to meet U.S. auditing requirements by January 2022, Securities and Exchange Commission and Treasury officials said on Thursday.

The remarks came after President Donald Trump tasked a group of key advisers, including Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, with drafting a report with recommendations to protect U.S. investors from Chinese companies whose audit documents have long been kept from U.S. regulators.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The tradition of prioritizing individualism over government restrictions and missteps by the Trump administration contributed to the U.S. "unique failure" to contain the novel coronavirus, said a report by The New York Times on Thursday.

"First, the United States faced longstanding challenges in confronting a major pandemic. It is a large country at the nexus of the global economy, with a tradition of prioritizing individualism over government restrictions," it said.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has determined to re-impose a 10-percent tariff on aluminum from Canada, according to a newly released presidential proclamation.

The 10-percent tariff will take effect on Aug. 16, and "shall continue in effect, unless such actions are expressly reduced, modified, or terminated, " the proclamation read.

Amid strong opposition, the Trump administration slapped tariffs on imported steel and aluminum globally in 2018 citing national security concerns.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has said that the engagement between the United States and China contributed to global peace and prosperity, urging the two countries to cooperate against the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a Wednesday letter to participants of a virtual dialogue on U.S.-China relations, Carter recalled his decision with China's former leader Deng Xiaoping in late 1978 to establish diplomatic ties between Washington and Beijing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has rejected a request from the Trump campaign to either add an additional general election debate or move up the calendar for the contests.

CLEVELAND (AP) — President Donald Trump billed his trip to Ohio Thursday as a chance to promote economic recovery, but he quickly pivoted to a deeply personal attack on Joe Biden, even questioning without foundation the former vice president’s faith in God.

Even for a president known for his blunt criticism, Trump’s remarks stood out and they signaled how contentious the campaign may get over the coming months.