USA

04 Mar 2019; AFP: The United States and China are close to reaching a major trade deal that would see both sides lower some of the tariffs imposed during an often-bitter trade war, a report said Sunday.

Negotiators for the two sides have made substantial progress and a final accord is close to being hammered out, according to the Wall Street Journal, which quoted anonymous sources on both sides.

04 Mar 2019; AFP: The United States said Monday it has restored the EU's mission in Washington to its former status, calling the bloc one of "its most valuable partners" as their troubled trade talks are set to resume.

The US State Department lowered the European Union mission's diplomatic status from member state to international organisation late last year, in what was seen as a further blow to transatlantic ties.

04 Mar 2019; DW: A spacecraft built by Elon Musk's spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX successfully docked at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, in the second stage of a critical test of the private company's technology.

The capsule, named Dragon, gradually climbed toward the ISS, which is orbiting the Earth at a distance of around 400 kilometers (248 miles) and a speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour.

04 Mar 2019; DW: The United States announced that it will be merging its consulate and embassy in Jerusalem into a single diplomatic mission on Monday.

"This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.

"It does not signal a change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip," he added.

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate is likely to garner enough bipartisan votes to pass a resolution against President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration aimed to fund the U.S.-Mexico border wall, local media reported Sunday.

"I can't vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn't been appropriated by Congress," Republican Senator Rand Paul said at a dinner in Western Kentucky University late Saturday night.

Beauregard, Mar 4 (AP) A tornado roared into southeast Alabama and killed at least 22 people and injured several others Sunday, part of a severe storm system that caused catastrophic damage and unleashed other tornadoes around the Southeast.

"We are at 22 right now. Unfortunately, I feel like that number may rise yet again," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said of the death toll.

Washington, Mar 4 (AFP) President Donald Trump said Sunday that the congressional questioning last week of his former lawyer may have contributed to the failure of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- even as his national security advisor claimed the Hanoi meeting was a success.

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — Actor Johnny Depp is suing his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, in a $50 million defamation lawsuit, citing a piece she wrote for The Washington Post about domestic abuse.

The complaint, filed Friday in the Circuit Court of Fairfax, Virginia, said that, while Depp was not named in the Post article, it was clear Heard was talking about him. The lawsuit called her ongoing allegations of domestic abuse “categorically and demonstrably false.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Two Sacramento police officers won’t face criminal charges for the fatal shooting of a black man following a chase that ended in his grandparents’ yard and started a series of angry protests that roiled California’s capital city, the county’s top prosecutor announced Saturday following a nearly yearlong investigation.

03 Mar 2019; AFP: Long out of favor in the United States, the idea of taxing rich individuals and corporations to pay for healthcare or to combat inequality is gaining ground among Democratic politicians.

While the United States reveres free enterprise and is home to the world's largest number of billionaires, such tax proposals have been gaining traction in political circles in recent weeks.