USA

NEW YORK, May 17 (APP): US President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to avoid a military confrontation with Iran, the New York Times reported Friday.

The Times said that Trump, during a Wednesday morning meeting in the White House Situation Room, sent a message to his hawkish aides that he does not want the US pressure campaign against Iran to explode into an open conflict.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bogged down in a sprawling trade dispute with U.S. rival China, President Donald Trump took steps Friday to ease tensions with America’s allies — lifting import taxes on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum and delaying auto tariffs that would have hurt Japan and Europe.

By removing the metals tariffs on Canada and Mexico, Trump cleared a key roadblock to a North American trade pact his team negotiated last year. As part of Friday’s arrangement, the Canadians and Mexicans agreed to scrap retaliatory tariffs they had imposed on U.S. goods.

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Xinhua): U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday that he will not comply with a congressional subpoena to turn over President Donald Trump's federal tax returns in six years, likely to trigger a court battle with Congress.

In a letter sent to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, Mnuchin said that the request "lacks a legitimate legislative purpose" and that he would not authorize the release of Trump's personal and business tax returns to Congress.

UNITED NATIONS, May 17 (Xinhua): The United Nations on Friday called for an immediate de-escalation of violence in greater Idlib, Syria.

"Let us unite today for the first step - to support an immediate de-escalation of the violence in greater Idlib and work towards a political solution that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told a Security Council meeting on Syria.

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Xinhua): U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday delayed slapping additional tariffs on imported autos and auto parts for 180 days, saying in a proclamation carried by the White House's website that he has ordered further negotiations to "address the national security threat."

"President Trump today issued a proclamation directing the United States Trade Representative to negotiate agreements to address the national security threat, which is causing harm to the American automobile industry," the White House statement said.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was ordered back to jail Thursday for refusing to testify to a grand jury, even after telling a judge she’d rather “starve to death” than cooperate with prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga ordered her to remain incarcerated at the Alexandria jail either until she agrees to testify or until the grand jury’s term expires in 18 months. He also imposed fines that will kick in at $500 a day after 30 days and $1,000 a day after 60 days.

Washington, May 16; AFP/GANASHAKTI: US police on Thursday evicted the last of a group of protestors who have been occupying the Venezuelan embassy in Washington in support of President Nicolas Maduro, ending a weeks-long standoff.

"The liberation of our embassy came about thanks to the struggle of the Venezuelan diaspora," said Carlos Vecchio, envoy for opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president earlier this year in a power play against Maduro.

"With sacrifice they held the grounds against all adversity," said Vecchio on Twitter.

Washington, May 17 (PTI) US President Donald Trump in a proclamation Thursday terminated the designation of Turkey as a beneficiary nation under its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) while the suspense on India continued.

GSP is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.

17 May 2019 (AP) - Boeing says it has finished with its updates to the flight-control software implicated in two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max, moving a step closer to getting the plane back in the sky.

Aviation regulators still have more questions about how pilots interact with the plane’s controls under different circumstances, and Boeing says it is providing that information.

The Federal Aviation Administration, foreign regulators and airlines are reviewing Boeing’s plans for additional pilot training, the company said Thursday.

17 May 2019 (AP) - The Trump administration’s decision to restrict all U.S. technology sales to Chinese telecommunications powerhouse Huawei for national security reasons doesn’t just up the ante in the China trade war.

It’s also bound to hurt U.S. suppliers and accelerate Beijing’s drive toward greater technological independence.