North America

WASHINGTON (AP) — The room features a couple of couches, an extremely old desk and a pair of classic wing chairs by the fireplace. But the location conveys power and instantly elevates the stature of any guest.

Through weeks of impeachment hearings and investigation, the Oval Office has emerged as such a sought-after destination that Ukraine’s new president was hell-bent on getting there and the White House unafraid to dangle it as leverage.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and his supporters insisted on Wednesday that no course correction is needed despite stinging Republican defeats in battleground suburbs and a Democrat on the verge of victory in the governor’s race in deep-red Kentucky.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Saudi government, frustrated by growing criticism of its leaders and policies on social media, recruited two Twitter employees to gather confidential personal information on thousands of accounts that included prominent opponents, prosecutors alleged Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions will announce that he is entering the race for his old U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, two Republicans with direct knowledge of his plans said Wednesday.

Sessions, 72, will be making a return to the political stage a year after stepping down as President Donald Trump’s first attorney general when their relationship soured over his recusal from the Russia investigation.

COLONIA LEBARON, Mexico (AP) — When drug cartel gunmen opened fire on American women and children in northern Mexico, the Mexican Army, the National Guard and Sonora state police were not there to protect them. It took them about eight hours just to arrive.

To villagers and others, the bloodshed seemed to demonstrate once more that the government has lost control over vast areas of the country to the drug traffickers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats announced Wednesday they will launch public impeachment hearings next week, intending to bring to life weeks of closed-door testimony and lay out a convincing narrative of presidential misconduct by Donald Trump.

First to testify will be William Taylor, the top diplomat in Ukraine, who has relayed in private his understanding that there was a blatant quid pro quo with Trump holding up military aid to a U.S. ally facing threats from its giant neighbor Russia.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 06 (APP): The top UN official in Yemen has welcomed an agreement to end infighting between the Government and separatist allies in the south of the country, known as the Southern Transitional Council, signed on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia.

Special Envoy Martin Griffiths described the Riyadh Agreement as “an important step for our collective efforts to advance a peaceful settlement to the conflict in Yemen.”

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 06 (APP): The trade tariff spat between the United States and China has been a “lose-lose” situation for both countries and the wider world and it is likely to deteriorate unless a deal is reached, UN economists have warned.

According to data from the first six months of the year, most of the cost of higher US tariffs on China has been passed down to US consumers and firms.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) – While winter preparations are underway, for about 900,000 Syrians, displaced from their homes by war, there is a gap of 32 million U.S. dollars in funding for it, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.

“Some 900,000 people in northwest Syria are expected to benefit from the winter assistance this year,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres. “However, there is a 40 percent funding gap of about 32 million U.S. dollars.”

6 November 2019; AFP: A top ally of President Donald Trump admitted he told a Ukraine official that military aid was contingent on Kiev investigating Trump's Democratic rival Joe Biden, testimony released Tuesday showed.