USA

BOGOTA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Monday announced new economic and diplomatic sanctions against Venezuelan officials loyal to President Nicolas Maduro.

During a meeting in Bogota of the Lima Group, a Latin American bloc aligned with Washington and its push to unseat Maduro, Pence said the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on four Venezuelan governors for their pro-government stance.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Embattled Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax compared himself to Jim Crow-era lynching victims in a surprise speech Sunday, as he resists widespread calls to resign prompted by allegations of sexual assault.

Fairfax strongly defended himself and lashed out at his critics from his rostrum in the state Senate as the 2019 legislative session was coming to a close.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Roughly half the nation’s business economists say they think the U.S. economy will slip into recession by the end of next year, and three-fourths envision such a downturn beginning by the end of 2021.

The finding comes from the latest survey by the National Association for Business Economics of its member economists. Just 10 percent of them say they foresee a recession beginning this year. At the other extreme, only 11 percent expect the economy to avoid a recession through 2021.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly two years after the Chinese government began to detain members of Muslim minority groups in western China, a growing number of family members abroad are refusing to remain silent.

On Sunday, about three dozen relatives of some of the 1 million Uighurs, Kazakhs and others being held without charge spoke out about the mass detentions at an event in Washington, D.C., hoping to raise awareness of what many are calling a human rights travesty but which Beijing defends as necessary to counter violent religious extremism.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mahershala Ali triumphantly wrapped up this year’s award season by winning the best supporting actor trophy at the Oscars on Sunday, adding an Academy Award to the trophies he’s collected for his role as a concert pianist in the interracial road-trip movie “Green Book.”

This was Ali’s second win in this category, coming two years after his win for “Moonlight.”

He dedicated his award to his grandmother, who he said has pushed him his entire life to keep trying time and time again and to remain positive.

24 Feb 2019; DW: Hollywood's biggest stars converged on the red carpet Sunday for the 91st Academy Awards, with the 7,900-odd voting Academy members faced with a broad array of choices. In a night where no single movie was favored to win, the civil rights drama Green Book came out on top. 

WASHINGTON, February 24. /TASS/. Venezuelan servicemen who refuse to allow a humanitarian convoy into the republic will face tougher US sanctions, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said in a Twitter post on Saturday.

"Venezuela’s military has a choice: Embrace democracy, protect civilians, and allow in humanitarian aid; or face even more sanctions and isolation," he said, attaching to his message a Reuters news report about US plans to toughen its sanctions on Venezuela.

WASHINGTON, February 25. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he had decided to postpone increasing customs tariffs on Chinese products due to productive American-Chinese negotiations to resolve bilateral trade disputes, he wrote on his Twitter page.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo said Sunday in an interview that the United States would impose more sanctions against Venezuela.

"There'll be a meeting of the Lima Group on Monday, where further action will be contemplated. There are more sanctions to be had," Pompeo said in the interview with CNN.

Vice President Mike Pence would travel to Colombia on Feb. 25 to attend a Lima Group meeting on behalf of President Donald Trump, the White House said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States have achieved substantial progress on specific issues following their latest round of high-level economic and trade talks in Washington, the Chinese delegation said Sunday.

During the Feb. 21-24 talks, the seventh round since February last year, Chinese and U.S. negotiators further implemented the important consensus reached by the presidents of the two countries during their December meeting in Argentina, and focused their talks on the text of an agreement.