USA

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A gas explosion in San Francisco shot a tower of flames into the sky and burned five buildings including one of the city’s popular restaurants before firefighters brought the blaze under control. There were no injuries.

Wednesday’s explosion and fire sent panicked residents and workers in the city’s Inner Richmond neighborhood fleeing into the streets as flames shot above the rooftops of nearby three-story buildings.

06 Feb 2019; DW: Between the late bedtimes and early morning tweets the leader of the free world is renowned for needing just four hours' sleep but his young State of the Union guest Joshua Trump hardly lived up to the name -- nodding off mid-speech.

The 11-year-old -- who is not related to Donald Trump but has been bullied at school because of his surname -- had been invited as a special guest of the first family to the prestigious annual address.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he has chosen David Malpass, undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, as the U.S. candidate for the next president of the World Bank.

Calling Malpass a "very extraordinary man," Trump said in a statement at the White House that he launched a "broad search for replacement" for Jim Yong Kim, the former World Bank chief who abruptly resigned in early January and stepped down Friday.

WASHINGTON; 06 Feb 2019; AA: The Turkey-U.S. Joint Working Group held its final meeting in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, chaired by Turkey's Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal and U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale. 

A diplomatic source who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the meeting was held at the State Department. It tackled bilateral relations between Ankara and Washington and regional affairs.

WASHINGTON, February 5. /TASS/. The Senate of the US Congress on Tuesday approved a bill imposing sanctions on Syria and its allies, including Russia and Iran, according to a live broadcast of the session by the C-SPAN TV channel.

WASHINGTON, February 6. /TASS/. The United States is ready to consider the possibility of signing an agreement to replace the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with a greater number of participants, US President Donald Trump has said.

In his State of the Union Address, Trump said that Russia has "repeatedly violated" the terms of the deal. "That is why I announced that the United States is officially withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF Treaty," he said.

MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. The Russian nanotechnology company Rusnano may become minority stockholder in the US-based electrical vehicles and batteries producer Tesla controlled by Elon Musk. This may take place after Tesla completes acquisition of Maxwell Technologies from California, a source on the market told TASS on Wednesday.

"Rusnano holds a very small stake in Maxwell and if Tesla acquires it, then the Russian company can become the minority shareholder in the Elon Musk’s company," the source said.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The governor of New Mexico ordered the withdrawal of the majority of the state’s National Guard troops from the U.S. border with Mexico on Tuesday, in a move that challenges President Trump’s description of a security crisis.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the partial withdrawal shortly before Trump’s State of the Union address. Her Republican predecessor deployed National Guard troops to the border in April 2018 at Trump’s suggestion, and 118 remained there before Tuesday’s reversal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate’s top Republican on Tuesday pushed congressional bargainers to reach a border security deal without first getting President Donald Trump’s approval, a month after the impulsive president scuttled an apparent bipartisan deal and triggered a historically long federal shutdown.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the panel’s first act since Democrats took the majority, the House Intelligence Committee is expected to vote to send more than 50 interview transcripts to special counsel Robert Mueller.

The panel is meeting Wednesday for the first time since California Rep. Adam Schiff became chairman. Schiff has long said that sending Mueller the transcripts from the panel’s now-closed investigation into Russian election interference would be one of his top priorities.