USA

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been closely following talks between the United States and the Taliban about a ‘significant reduction’ of violence in Afghanistan, aimed at opening the way for intra-Afghan peace negotiations, according to his spokesman.

“During his visit to Islamabad, he (Guterres) expressed his sincere wishes that such talks are successful and lead to an Afghan-led peace process,” Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement issued at UN Headquarters in New York.

18 February 2020; AFP: Jurors will begin deliberating the fate of ex-Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein on Tuesday in his high-profile sex crimes trial that marked a watershed moment in the #MeToo movement.

The disgraced movie mogul, 67, faces life in prison if the jury of seven men and five women convict him of predatory sexual assault charges in New York.

RICHMOND, Calif. (Reuters) - Democratic White House contenders Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg stepped up their attacks on each other on Monday, with Sanders accusing the media mogul of trying to buy the election and Bloomberg saying the senator and his fervent supporters were hurting the party.

Sanders compared the former New York mayor with Republican President Donald Trump, saying both were billionaires trying to use their wealth to bend a corrupt political system.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. private space company SpaceX launched its fifth batch of 60 Starlink satellites into space on Monday, in an effort to build at minimum a 12,000-strong satellite network capable of providing broadband internet services.

The Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the satellites, lifted off at 10:05 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (1505 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force, Florida, according to a live broadcast by SpaceX.

MAGNOLIA, Miss. (AP) — The daughter of a Mississippi man on trial in the shooting deaths of eight people testified Monday that he was abusive and beat her frequently.

My’Khyiah Godbolt took the stand at a courthouse in Magnolia, the Daily Leader newspaper reported, to testify against her father, Willie Cory Godbolt.

Godbolt, 37, is charged with capital murder, accused of fatally shooting eight people, including the deputy who arrived at his in-laws’ home over the Memorial Day in 2017.

EASTHAM, Mass. (AP) — The notorious crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger terrorized Boston from the 1970s into the 1990s with a campaign of murder, extortion, and drug trafficking, then spent 16 years on the lam after he was tipped to his pending arrest.

In 2013, Janet Uhlar was one of 12 jurors who found Bulger guilty in a massive racketeering case, including involvement in 11 murders, even after hearing evidence that the mobster was helped by corrupt agents in the Boston office of the FBI.

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said Monday that he plans to spend $10 billion of his own fortune to help fight climate change.

Bezos, the world’s richest person, said in an Instagram post that he’ll start giving grants this summer to scientists, activists and nonprofits working to protect Earth.

“I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change,” Bezos said in the post.

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple Inc. is warning investors that it won’t meet its second-quarter financial guidance because the viral outbreak in China has cut production of iPhones.

The Cupertino, California-based company said Monday that all of its iPhone manufacturing facilities are outside Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, and all have been reopened. But the company said production is ramping up slowly.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s push to ban the sale of assault weapons failed on Monday after some of his fellow Democrats balked at the proposal.

Senators voted to shelve the bill for the year and ask the state crime commission to study the issue, an outcome that drew cheers from a committee room packed with gun advocates.

17 February 2020; AFP: The United States' ambassador to Germany said Sunday that President Donald Trump had threatened to cut off intelligence-sharing with countries that dealt with Chinese tech firm Huawei.

Washington has been pressing allies to ban Huawei, one of the world's largest tech firms, from next-generation 5G mobile data networks, saying it is a security risk.