USA

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will not ask Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to assume a dual role of being his fourth national security advisor after the ouster of John Bolton.

Trump told reporters at the White House that he discussed the idea with Pompeo and "he (Pompeo) likes the idea of having somebody in there with him and I do too."

Trump added that he has 15 candidates for the job, but did not offer further details.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The universe is looking younger every day, it seems.

New calculations suggest the universe could be a couple billion years younger than scientists now estimate, and even younger than suggested by two other calculations published this year that trimmed hundreds of millions of years from the age of the cosmos.

The huge swings in scientists’ estimates — even this new calculation could be off by billions of years — reflect different approaches to the tricky problem of figuring the universe’s real age.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s budget deficit increased by $169 billion to $1.07 trillion in the first 11 months of this budget year as spending grew faster than tax collections.

The Treasury Department reported Thursday that the deficit with just one month left in the budget year is up 18.8% over the same period a year ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s wrath, faces the prospect of criminal charges after his lawyers failed to persuade senior Justice Department officials that he didn’t intentionally lie to internal investigators.

Two people familiar with the matter said Thursday that Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen declined an appeal from McCabe’s lawyers aimed at preventing a prosecution. The people weren’t authorized to discuss the issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bristling over the “I″ word, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stopped short Thursday of saying the House is ready to launch an impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump , even as Judiciary Committee Democrats set the stage to do just that.

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A man accused of gunning down people at a busy Walmart in El Paso last month was indicted Thursday for capital murder, prosecutors announced.

Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas, was indicted on one count in connection with the Aug. 3 mass shooting that left 22 dead in the border city, District Attorney Jaime Esparza said. El Paso prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Crusius, who remains jailed without bond.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and China traded conciliatory gestures, raising hopes they can deescalate a standoff over trade that has shaken financial markets and cast gloom over the global economy.

In Beijing, China’s Commerce Ministry said Thursday that Chinese importers are asking U.S. suppliers for prices of soybeans, pork and other farm goods. It’s a sign they might step up purchases of American agricultural products, a possible goodwill gesture ahead of talks next month aimed at ending the tariff war.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal investigators identified a violation of Coast Guard regulations that could trigger criminal charges in the California dive boat disaster that killed 34 people.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that all crew members on the boat Conception were asleep when the pre-dawn fire broke out Sept. 2 off the coast of Santa Barbara. The boat was required to have a crew member on lookout duty, according to Coast Guard rules.

BALTIMORE (AP) — President Donald Trump sought to boost the spirits of Republican lawmakers Thursday, mocking Democrats and promising a new tax cut package, as he returned to the city he recently disparaged as a “rat and rodent infested mess.”

Trump spoke to House Republicans attending an annual retreat in a hotel on Baltimore’s waterfront. Protesters gathered nearby. But inside, the president found a friendly audience of legislators whose political futures are closely tied to how well he performs in next year’s election. They greeted him with a chant of “four more years.”

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday revoked an Obama-era regulation that shielded many U.S. wetlands and streams from pollution but was opposed by developers and farmers who said it hurt economic development and infringed on property rights.

Environmental groups criticized the administration’s action, the latest in a series of moves to roll back environmental protections put into place under President Barack Obama.