USA

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Amid wide opposition, U.S. administration's decision to increase tariffs on derivative steel and aluminum imports by 25 percent and 10 percent respectively took effect on Saturday.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation two weeks ago to raise tariffs on derivative steel and aluminum imports to cover nails, staples and other downstream products, calling it "necessary and appropriate."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned America’s governors on Saturday to be wary of China, which he said was targeting individual U.S. states in a strategic effort to expand its economic and political influence.

He said a Chinese government-backed think tank has assessed all 50 governors on their attitude toward China and assigned each one a label: “friendly, hard-line or ambiguous.”

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — The Latest on 2020 Democratic president race and Tuesday’s primary in New Hampshire (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

Joe Biden is continuing to waffle over whether he needs to do well in New Hampshire even as he promised supporters at a Manchester campaign office “the reports of our death are premature.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Two New York City police officers narrowly escaped with their lives when a gunman fired into their patrol van Saturday night, wounding one of them in an attack officials called an attempted assassination.

The ambush, which Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said “should outrage all New Yorkers,” happened just before 8:30 pm in the South Bronx.

The officer at the wheel of the van was grazed in the chin and neck, but he avoided serious injury, Shea said. He was expected to released from the hospital Sunday.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Scrambling to salvage his presidential campaign, Joe Biden escalated his criticism of Pete Buttigieg on Saturday, mocking Buttigieg’s experience as a small city mayor and cutting down the comparisons Buttigieg has drawn to the last Democratic president, declaring: “This guy’s not a Barack Obama.”

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — For Democrats, this was supposed be a moment to begin easing three years of built-up of anxieties. Instead, the launch of the 2020 presidential primary has left the party deeply unsettled and President Donald Trump gleeful about the chaos.

Washington, Feb 8 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has fired two officials who had testified before the Congressional committee during the impeachment process by the House of Representatives, three days after he was acquitted by the Senate of all charges.

The two officers are the Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine expert on the National Security Council of the White House.

Washington, Feb 08 (PTI) China is doing a good job on its fight against the deadly coronavirus that has taken the lives of large number of people, President Donald Trump has said, adding that the US was helping them out.

"China is working very hard. Late last night, I had a very good talk with President Xi and we talked mostly about the coronavirus," Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. "I think they are doing a very professional job."

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 08 (APP): ISIL/Da’esh “remains at the centre of the transnational terrorism threat”, despite the loss of its last stronghold in Syria and the death of its leader, a senior UN official has told the Security Council.

In presenting the latest UN report on ISIL/Da’esh, Vladimir Voronkov, head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, urged the international community to remain united in fighting the group’s reach, which extends to Africa, Europe and Asia.

NEW YORK, February 08 (APP): More than a hundred Democratic members of the US House of Representatives have expressed strong disapproval at President Donald Trump’s plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

An open letter, initiated by Democratic Congressmen Alan Lowenthal and Andy Levin, warned that Trump’s plan, which he calls “deal of the century'” would pave the way for a “permanent occupation of the West Bank.”