USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump punched back Friday at criticism that his Syria withdrawal is damaging U.S. credibility, betraying Kurdish allies and opening the door for a possible resurgence of the Islamic State. He touted a cease-fire agreement that seemed at risk as Turkey and Kurdish fighters differed over what it required and whether combat had halted.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Venezuela won a seat on the UN Human Rights Council despite criticism from advocacy groups and fellow Latin American countries that its own rights record is appalling.

To applause in the chamber, Venezuela got the nod in a vote by the UN General Assembly to choose 14 new members for the 47-member body based in Geneva.

The council works to promote and protect human rights around the world. Its members are elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis.

18 October 2019; AFP: The United States imposed tariffs on a record $7.5-billion worth of European Union goods on Friday, earning a swift threat of retaliation by the EU.

The tariffs, which took effect just after midnight in Washington (0401 GMT), came after talks between European officials and US trade representatives failed to win a last-minute reprieve.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Asian nations face heightening risks to their economic outlooks as the U.S.-China trade war and slumping Chinese demand hurt the world’s fastest-growing region, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.

In its World Economic Outlook report on Tuesday, the IMF cut its economic growth forecast for the Asia-Pacific region to 5.0% for this year and 5.1% for 2020 - the slowest pace of expansion since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago.

18 Oct 2019; MEMO: A report in the Guardian has revealed how “rightwing activists are attempting to spread new laws across Republican-controlled states that would ban criticism on public university campuses of Israel and its occupation of Palestinian territory”.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Friday pointed to next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Chile as the Trump administration seeks to formalize its “phase one” trade pact with China.

“We’re on the glide path to Chile and the meeting of the two presidents mid-November. And the plan there is to have an agreement, so we’ll see what happens,” Navarro said in an interview on Fox Business Network, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Disinformation campaigns helped lead to the assassination of Martin Luther King, the daughter of the U.S. civil rights champion said on Thursday after the head of Facebook said social media should not factcheck political advertisements.

The comments come as Facebook Inc (FB.O) is under fire for its approach to political advertisements and speech, which Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg defended on Thursday in a major speech that twice referenced King, known by his initials MLK.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The world’s first female spacewalking team is making history high above Earth.

NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir exited the International Space Station on Friday, the first time in a half-century of spacewalking that a woman floated out without a male crewmate. Their job is to fix a broken part of the station’s solar power network.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Elijah Cummings said somebody once told him he would see one guy when he sat down with President Donald Trump “and then you might see another guy” the next day.

Washington, Oct 18 (PTI) President Donald Trump has said that America's proposed economic sanctions on Ankara are no longer necessary after the US and Turkey struck a deal for a five-day cease fire in Syria.

As per the deal announced by Vice President Mike Pence in Ankara on Thursday, Turkey will suspend its operations for 120 hours to allow Kurdish fighters to withdraw from a designated safe zone along the Turkish and Syrian border.