North America

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday met with visiting Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud here discussing bilateral ties and Iran, said the U.S. State Department.

Pompeo talked about the U.S.-Saudi partnership to confront Iran's threats, said the department in a statement.

The two sides also discussed recent violence in Yemen and the need to return to de-escalation, the statement added.

Texas, USA (AP) --- Details that have emerged more than two months after a Texas police officer killed an unarmed man during a traffic stop still leave the unanswered question: Why did he pull the trigger?

Temple Officer Carmen DeCruz, 52, was charged with manslaughter Monday in the fatal shooting of Michael Dean, a black 28-year-old, in the city of 76,000 people about 70 miles (112 kilometers) northeast of Austin. Before then, Temple police had released little information about the Dec. 2 shooting.

BALTIMORE (AP) — A shooting at a Baltimore apartment complex Wednesday ended with the death of a former state corrections official who had been under investigation and the wounding of two fugitive task force officers, authorities said.

The officers, one a Baltimore county detective and the other a detective in the city of Baltimore, were both assigned to the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force and were trying to serve a warrant out of Pennsylvania for attempted murder, said U.S. Marshals Service spokesman David Lutz.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next month, appearing for the first time before the panel as questions swirl about whether he intervened in the case of a longtime ally of President Donald Trump.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., released a letter Wednesday to Barr “to confirm your agreement to testify” on March 31. In the letter, Nadler and committee Democrats write that they have concerns that Barr has misused the criminal justice system for political purposes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party announced his resignation Wednesday after a disastrous caucus process beset by technical glitches led to a dayslong delay in reporting the results, inconsistencies in the numbers and no clear winner.

The embarrassing episode also threatened Iowa’s cherished status as the first voting contest of the presidential primary season and led both front-runners to request a partial recanvass of the results.

WASHINGTON (AP) — At the height of the 2008 economic collapse, then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the elimination of a discriminatory housing practice known as “redlining” was responsible for instigating the meltdown.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidates plotted their paths Wednesday into state primaries now expanding to include voters of color, while the party’s establishment braced for a long and increasingly uncertain nomination fight ahead.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some of President Donald Trump’s top foreign policy priorities stand at pivotal moments as two high-level national security officials head to an annual security forum in Germany. Strains in the trans-Atlantic relationship have cast doubt on whether they can count on much help from European leaders in advancing Trump’s agenda.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan measure limiting President Donald Trump’s authority to launch military operations against Iran is moving toward approval in the Senate.

The resolution, authored by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, asserts that Trump must win approval from Congress before engaging in further military action against Iran. Eight Republicans sided with Democrats Wednesday on a procedural motion to force a vote on the issue as soon as Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the week since his acquittal on impeachment charges, a fully emboldened President Donald Trump is demonstrating his determination to assert an iron grip on government, pushing his Justice Department to ease up on a longtime friend while using the levers of presidential powers to exact payback on real and perceived foes.