USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ambassador Gordon Sondland, the most anticipated witness in the impeachment inquiry, is likely to be unpredictable when he faces questions about his evolving accounts of the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine and a newly revealed summertime phone call with President Donald Trump.

NEW YORK, Nov 19 (APP): US Democratic presidential candidates including frontrunners — Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg — have strongly criticized an announcement by the Trump administration that the U.S. will no longer view controversial Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as violating international law.

19 Nov 2019; MEMO: Pierre Krahenbuhl, the former commissioner-general for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has blamed the US and Israel for his resignation, Al Jazeera network reported yesterday.

According to the news site, Krahenbuhl said it was clear to him that he would have paid the price for defending UNRWA and refuting the claims of Israel’s ambassador to the UN.

WASHINGTON, November 19. /TASS/: Starting from December 18, the United States would re-introduce its sanctions against Iran’s Fordow uranium enrichment facility, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has told reporters.

"[Iranian] President [Hassan] Rouhani recently announced that Iran will begin uranium enrichment activities at the Fordow facility. Therefore, the United States will terminate the sanctions waiver related to the nuclear facility at Fordow, effective December 15th, 2019," he said on Monday.

19 November 2019; AFP: President Donald Trump faces more potentially damning testimony in the Ukraine scandal as a critical week of public impeachment hearings opens Tuesday in the House of Representatives.

Trump's suggestion that he might himself testify in the investigation which threatens his presidency had no impact on the House Intelligence Committee's plans to interview nine witnesses this week.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A major U.S. labor leader on Monday said there was more work to do on a new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, pushing back against comments from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that a breakthrough was imminent.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressuring Congress to ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement, but House Democrats have been pushing for changes to shore up enforcement of the labor and environmental provisions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Huawei Technologies has dismissed a new 90-day extension by the Trump administration allowing U.S. firms to continue doing business with the Chinese company as making little difference, repeating that it was being unfairly treated.

U.S. regulators are crafting rules on telecommunications firms that pose national security risks. But after adding Huawei to an economic blacklist in May, the U.S. Commerce Department has allowed it to purchase some American-made goods.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts said on Monday that the Supreme Court has issued a temporary stay of a federal appeals court ruling that granted a House committee access to eight years of President Donald Trump's financial records from his accounting firm.

The ruling was set to go into effect on Wednesday. The subpoena from the House Oversight and Reform Committee will be unenforceable while the Supreme Court decides whether to take up the case.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- A senior U.S. State Department official who had reportedly inflated her resume resigned from her position, local media reported on Monday.

Mina Chang, deputy assistant secretary in the State Department's Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, submitted her resignation letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the same day.

"Resigning is the only acceptable moral and ethical option for me at this time," Chang wrote in the letter, according to the U.S. news outlet POLITICO.

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A close-knit Hmong community was in shock after gunmen burst into a California backyard gathering and shot 10 men, killing four.

“We are right now just trying to figure out what to do, what are the next steps. How do we heal, how do we know what’s going on,” said Bobby Bliatout, a community leader.

Sunday evening’s attack killed Xy Lee, a Hmong singer and musician whose videos on YouTube have been viewed millions of times.