USA

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Faced with a housing shortage and skyrocketing rents, Oregon is on track to become the first state to impose mandatory rent controls, with a measure establishing tenant protections moving swiftly through the Legislature.

Many residents have testified in favor of the legislation, describing anxiety and hardship as they face higher rents. Some have gone up by as much as almost 100 percent, forcing people to move, stay with friends or even live in their vehicles.

HOUSTON (AP) — Months after the Trump administration announced an end to its widescale separation of migrant parents and children, the policy remains a heated issue in the courts and at the border as critics contend the government is still needlessly breaking up immigrant families.

The Texas Civil Rights Project released a report Thursday that counts 272 separations at a single Texas courthouse since June, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order ending widespread separations amid public outrage.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats will file a resolution Friday aimed at blocking the national emergency declaration that President Donald Trump has issued to help finance his wall along the Southwest border, teeing up a clash over billions of dollars, immigration policy and the Constitution’s separation of powers.

21 Feb 2019; DW: During talks with the US president, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he wanted to prevent an escalation in the trade war between the US and the EU. However, Trump said he isn't taking car tariffs off the table.

21 Feb 2019; DW: US authorities have arrested a Coast Guard lieutenant who compiled a hit list of prominent political targets. Christopher Paul Hasson was allegedly "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth."

Prosecutors said Christopher Paul Hasson was to appear in court on Thursday on gun and drug offenses, but that those charges were "the tip of the iceberg."

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A recent study showed that TV remained the most used media device of young children in the United States other than smart devices nowadays.

"Our findings were surprising as it feels like mobile devices are omnipresent, but televisions are still the most common way for young children to consume media," said Weiwei Chen, one of the authors of the study.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, on Wednesday was granted a two-month delay to surrender himself to federal prison.

Federal Judge William Pauley has approved Cohen's request to adjourn his surrender to prison from March 6 to May 6, a court document revealed.

Cohen recently had "a serious surgical procedure" and needs more time for recovery, according to his lawyer Michael Monico.

Hyderabad, Feb 20 (PTI) A 48-year-old man from here was allegedly shot dead in the US by an unidentified man, his family members claimed on Wednesday.

K Govardhan Reddy, a resident of Uppal area here, was attacked by the assailant at a fuel-filling station-cum supermarket in Florida on Tuesday, according to one of Reddy's friends Ramesh.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — And now for the weather on Mars: NASA’s newest lander is offering daily reports on the red planet’s frigid winter.

Starting Tuesday, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is posting the highs and lows online , along with wind speed and atmospheric pressure from the InSight lander.

On Sunday, InSight recorded a high of 2 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 17 Celsius) and a low of minus 138 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 95 Celsius). Compare that with Sunday’s coldest U.S. temperature: minus 27 degrees (minus 3 Celsius) in Taylor Park, Colorado.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday directed the Pentagon to develop plans to create a new Space Force within the Air Force, accepting less than the full-fledged department he’d wanted.

Before signing a document instructing the defense secretary to draft proposed legislation, Trump said space is the “future” and the “next step.”

“We have to be prepared,” he said in the Oval Office, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and other top officials.