Washington DC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States intensified its economic pressure on China’s Xinjiang province on Friday, imposing sanctions on a powerful Chinese company and two officials for what it said were human rights abuses against Uighurs and other ethnic minorities.

The move, the latest blow to U.S.-China relations, came a week after U.S. President Donald Trump closed the Chinese consulate in Houston, prompting Beijing to shutter the U.S. consulate in Chengdu.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two U.S. astronauts about to make the first splashdown return in 45 years said Friday they’ll have seasick bags ready to use if needed.

SpaceX and NASA plan to bring Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken back Sunday afternoon in the company’s Dragon capsule, aiming for the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida Panhandle. Flight controllers are keeping close watch on Hurricane Isaias, expected to stick to Florida’s east coast.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump said he will take action as soon as Saturday to ban TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video app that has been a source of national security and censorship concerns.

Trump’s comments came after published reports that the administration is planning to order China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok. There were also reports Friday that software giant Microsoft is in talks to buy the app.

“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump told reporters Friday on Air Force One as he returned from Florida.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Should former Vice President Joe Biden win the White House in November, America will likely be in for a foreign policy about-face as Biden reverses, dismantles or severely curtails many of President Donald Trump’s most significant and boldest actions.

From the Middle East to Asia, Latin America to Africa and, particularly, Europe, and on issues including trade, terrorism, arms control and immigration, the presumptive Democratic nominee and his advisers have vowed to unleash a tsunami of change in how the U.S. handles itself in the international arena.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House and its GOP allies appear to be retreating from their opposition to a $600-per-week supplemental unemployment benefit that has propped up the economy and family budgets but expired Friday.

President Donald Trump is eager to extend the benefit, undercutting his GOP allies on Capitol Hill who have spent considerable effort devising an alternative that could unite Republicans.

WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) – U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has been widely denounced by domestic media for his egregious performance in office, with The New York Times calling him “the worst secretary of state in American history, without a single diplomatic achievement.”

WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Former U.S. President, Barack Obama, delivered an eulogy for the late U.S. congressman, John Lewis’ funeral on Thursday, warning that the voting rights, the late civil rights icon championed, are threatened, heading into the 2020 election.

Washington, Aug 1 (AP/PTI) The Trump administration took new aim at China on Friday by imposing sanctions on a major paramilitary organization in the country's western Xinjiang region and its commander for alleged human rights abuses against ethnic and religious minorities.

The State and Treasury departments announced the penalties as the White House denounced authorities in Hong Kong for postponing local government elections ostensibly because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Washington, Jul 30 (AP/PTI) President Donald Trump is for the first time floating a delay to November's presidential election, as he makes unsubstantiated allegations that increased mail-in voting will result in fraud.

The dates of federal elections the Tuesday after the first Monday in November are enshrined in federal law and would require an act of Congress to change. The Constitution makes no provisions for a delay to the Jan. 20, 2021 presidential inauguration.

30 July 2020; MEMO: US President Donald Trump has announced plans to extend the national emergency order for Lebanon “beyond August 1, 2020” citing concerns over the strength of Hezbollah in a statement released yesterday.

The extension, according to the statement, is because of “certain ongoing activities”, including Iranian arms transfers to Hezbollah, which “constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”.