USA

HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. government on Friday expanded its requirement that asylum seekers wait outside the country to a part of the Texas Rio Grande Valley across from one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities.

The Department of Homeland Security said that it would implement its Migrant Protection Protocols in Brownsville, Texas, across the border from Matamoros, Mexico. DHS says it anticipates the first asylum seekers will be sent back to Mexico starting Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday reversed his previous criticisms of a North Carolina campaign crowd that chanted “send her back” about a Somali-born congresswoman.

Trump defended the rally-goers as “patriots” while again questioning the loyalty of four Democratic lawmakers of color. His comments marked a return to a pattern that has become familiar during controversies of his own making: Ignite a firestorm, backtrack from it, but then double down on his original, inflammatory position.

UNITED NATIONS, July 19 (APP): A beautifully illustrated book featuring recipes of authentic Pakistani cuisine was launched at a glittering reception, with Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi, permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, saying that she helped to commission this for the benefit of the global community at the UN.

19 July 2019; DW: A US scientific agency has reported record-breaking temperatures in several regions across the globe, including Europe. Scientists have warned of the destabilizing effect of carbon emissions on Earth's climate.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said June 2019 was the hottest June in nearly 140 years.

The data confirms earlier reports from the EU's satellite agency that Europe's average temperature this year was 2 degrees Celsius hotter than normal.

19 July 2019; DW: US aircraft giant Boeing has warned that it faces spiraling costs and plummeting revenue after the global grounding of its 737 Max passenger jets. The airline is keen to return the aircraft to service in the autumn.

19 July 2019; DW: Washington, which usually refrains from criticizing human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, has called for the release of blogger Raif Badawi. The writer was whipped and sentenced to prison for "insulting Islam."

UNITED NATIONS, July 18 (Xinhua) -- The leadership of the UN on Thursday called for actions on hate speech on the occasion of the Nelson Mandela International Day.

To honor his legacy, the UN held a meeting on the observance of the annual Nelson Mandela International Day.

In her opening remarks, UN General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces called on the international community to increase efforts to combat racism and hate speech.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some are moving factories out of China. Others are strategically redesigning products. Some are seeking loopholes in trade law or even mislabeling where their goods originate — all with the goal of evading President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on goods from China.

But most of the companies that stand to be hurt by Trump’s tariffs are hunkering down and waiting — waiting because they don’t know when, whether or how his yearlong trade war with China will end or which other countries the president might target next.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump once saw a country that had lost its greatness — its cities wracked with crime, its borders a pathetic sieve, its leadership corrupt, its standing in the world a joke. “The American dream,” he said, “is dead.”

In contrast he praised the fruits of communist leadership. “China, you go there now, roads, bridges, schools, you never saw anything like it,” he marveled. “I love China,” he went on. The U.S.A.? “We’re dying. We’re dying. ... We’ve got nothing.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats approved legislation Thursday to raise the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade, to $15 an hour, transforming an issue that once splintered the party into a benchmark for the 2020 election.

Even though the bill has little chance of passing the Republican-led Senate, or being signed into law by President Donald Trump, the outcome pushes the phased-in rate to the forefront as the new standard, one already in place at some leading U.S. corporations.