USA

13 Mar 2020; MEMO: The US Congress has passed a resolution limiting President Donald Trump’s power to wage war or take military action against Iran. The House of Representatives joined the Senate in the move by voting 227 to 186 to prevent Trump from taking any military action against Iran without Congressional approval.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump faced one of the gravest threats of his political career as the coronavirus pandemic spread, leaving fellow Republicans to worry that the White House’s response and the hit to the economy would harm his re-election prospects.

U.S. stock market indexes that Trump has touted throughout his term as evidence of his success plunged into bear market territory on Thursday - a day after he tried to calm Americans’ fears with an Oval Office address that promised economic stimulus and a 30-day travel ban for Europeans.

(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is seeking court permission to reconsider certain aspects of its decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft Corp, court filings showed on Thursday.

A U.S. judge last month granted Amazon.com Inc’s request to temporarily halt the DoD and Microsoft from moving forward with the deal, which Amazon had said reflected undue influence by President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Treasury said Thursday that it has imposed sanctions against TNK Trading International S.A. (TTI), a subsidiary of Russian oil producer Rosneft, as the latest move to pressure Venezuela's government led by President Nicolas Maduro.

"TNK Trading International S.A. is another Rosneft subsidiary brokering the sale and transport of Venezuelan crude oil, which is subject to sanctions," said Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin in a statement issued by the department.

WASHINGTON, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The United States will host the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting by video conference, the U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell "are grateful to the city of Philadelphia for its willingness to host the event, assistance in planning, and support in this decision," the department said in a statement. The physical gathering was originally planned to take place next month.

UNITED NATIONS, March 12 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, reacting to the coronavirus crisis, has cancelled all UN system-sponsored side events at headquarters in New York, but not legislative meetings such as for the General Assembly and Security Council, a UN spokesman said on Thursday.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Guterres, also said the UN chief urges all 193 member states to consider cancelling all side events they are sponsoring.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed into law a bill that provides $1 billion to help small telecom providers replace equipment made by China’s Huawei and ZTE.

The U.S. government considers the Chinese companies a security risk and has pushed its allies not to use Huawei equipment in next-generation cellular networks, known as 5G. Both companies have denied that China uses their products for spying.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister demanded Thursday that the United States immediately halt what he called a “campaign of economic terrorism” and lift sanctions, saying they have made it increasingly difficult for the country to export oil and virtually impossible to import medicine and medical equipment, including to identify and treat coronavirus patients.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that she and the Trump administration are close to agreement on a coronavirus aid package to reassure anxious Americans by providing sick pay, free testing and other resources, hoping to calm teetering financial markets amid the mounting crisis.

Final details were being worked out, but the top House Democrat, who held daylong talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, expected an announcement Friday. The House could then swiftly vote.

MIAMI (AP) — Florida has never been known as a place of stability, especially in its politics.

And yet stability is what has been on the minds of many Democrats in the state who say they’ll vote for former Vice President Joe Biden in Tuesday’s presidential primary election instead of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“I like some of Sanders’ ideas, but he’s a little too extreme for me,” said Jeanne Hilburn, a 76-year-old retired teacher who lives in the suburbs of Tampa. “A lot of Democrats are like me — we want stability.”