USA

03 Mar 2019; AFP: US President Donald Trump's administration is brandishing the threat of sanctions against foreign companies "trafficking" with Cuba, a move hitherto mothballed by Washington so as not to offend allies.

The White House has broken with two decades of precedent in threatening to activate Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which extended the US embargo to apply to foreign companies trading with Cuba.

The US jobs engine has continued to deliver for nearly a decade, putting more Americans back to work and sending unemployment to a historic lows.

But, just over a year after Congress enacted sweeping corporate tax cuts meant to jolt the economy, a shadow has crept into the picture: Layoffs are also on the rise.

While claims for unemployment benefits remain low, major companies have begun to swing the axe even as many enjoy the tax windfall and solid profits, and are spending record amounts of cash to buy back their own stock from investors.

03 Mar 2019; DW:  In a two-hour speech, Trump took aim at the Democrats, the Green New Deal and the Russia probe. His remarks came after a week of setbacks, which saw him come home empty-handed from a nuclear summit with Kim Jong Un.

In a speech laced with sarcasm and his characteristic "off script" style, US President Donald Trump targeted special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and Democratic lawmakers at a conservative conference on Saturday.

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon announced on Saturday that the United States and South Korea have decided to "conclude" the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of military exercises, which the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has viewed as provocative.

The announcement came after a phone call between U.S. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and his South Korean counterpart Jeong Kyeong-doo earlier on Saturday, the Pentagon said in a statement.

HOUSTON, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Laredo, a major inland port on the U.S. border with Mexico, continues to be in the spotlight of trading activity between China and the United States as plans move forward to build a multi-million dollar free trade center near the city's downtown.

Local company Laredo Lomas Properties and a Houston-based investor of Chinese origin recently signed a joint development agreement that will convert an abandoned seven-floor hospital building that's fallen into disrepair and been fenced off for nearly 20 years into the World Free Trade Plaza of America Inc.

NEW YORK, March 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders kicked off his 2020 presidential campaign as a second-time runner on Saturday in his hometown borough of Brooklyn, New York, reiterating his Democratic socialist views that have been reshaping the Democratic Party.

On the snow-covered campus of Brooklyn College, Sanders, 77, expressed his determination to fight for a "Medicare-for-all" healthcare system and a 15-U.S.-dollar hourly minimum wage, and vowed to address climate change and other priority issues that altogether form a progressive agenda.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — There is insufficient evidence to pursue federal civil rights charges against a white former Tulsa police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man, the Department of Justice said Friday.

U.S. Attorney Trent Shores announced the closure of the investigation into whether Betty Shelby willfully used unreasonable force against Terence Crutcher when she shot and killed him in September 2016.

01 Mar 2019; AP: NASA’s newest Mars lander has started digging into the red planet, but hit a few snags, scientists said Friday.

The German drilling instrument on the InSight lander struck what appeared to be a couple of stones. It only managed to burrow between half a foot (18 centimeters) and about 1 ½ feet (50 centimeters), far short of the first dig’s goal, said the German Aerospace Center.

The hammering device in the “mole” was developed by the Astronika engineering company in Poland.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Striking teachers in Oakland, California, celebrated after reaching a contract deal Friday with school administrators to end a seven-day walkout.

To cheers and applause, union leaders from the Oakland Education Association announced that teachers had won everything they demanded — higher pay, smaller classes and more school resources — in a week of marathon negotiating sessions with the district.

“This is a historic contract with a win in every major proposal we made,” the Oakland Education Association said in a statement.

02 Mar 2019; AFP: US President Donald Trump on Friday urged China to abolish tariffs on agricultural products imported from the United States - adding that trade talks between the rival powers were going well.

"I have asked China to immediately remove all Tariffs on our agricultural products" the president wrote on Twitter.

He said his request was based on the fact that negotiations with China were "moving along nicely" - and his delay last week of a planned tariff increase on Chinese exports.