North America

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump Saturday announced that White House lawyer Emmet Flood, who helped Trump during Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 22-month Russia probe, will leave his position.

"Emmet Flood, who came to the White House to help me with the Mueller Report, will be leaving service on June 14th," Trump wrote in a tweet.

"He has done an outstanding job," Trump said. "Emmet is my friend and I thank him for the GREAT JOB he has done."

MEXICO CITY, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Saturday he was optimistic about reaching an agreement with Washington over the proposed punitive tariffs on imported goods coming from Mexico.

"There is a willingness on the part of U.S. officials to establish a dialogue and reach agreements," Lopez Obrador told reporters at a press conference in Veracruz, a major port city on the Gulf of Mexico.

WASHINGTON, June 2. /TASS/: The Russian Embassy in the US offered condolences to the families of the people killed in the shooting on Friday evening at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, Virginia. The embassy made the corresponding statement on Twitter.

"Our thoughts and prayers go to victims of Virginia Beach shooting, as well as to everyone affected by it," the statement says.

The embassy also offered condolences to the family of Alexei Gusev, an immigrant from Belarus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is distorting the findings of the Russia investigation, claiming exoneration and a possible case against him “closed” based on remarks from a special counsel who did not make either statement.

“Robert Mueller would have brought charges, if he had ANYTHING, but there were no charges to bring!” Trump tweeted Thursday.

“CASE CLOSED,” he said in another tweet.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite pushback from U.S. business, Mexico and Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump is doubling down on his threat to slap a 5% tariff on Mexican imports unless America’s southern neighbor cracks down on Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.

U.S. manufacturers said the tariff, set to take effect June 10, would have devastating consequences on them and American consumers. U.S. stocks tumbled on Wall Street in response to Trump’s planned action.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The momentum that supporters have tried to build for a new North American trade deal has run into some Trump turbulence.

The Trump administration had taken steps in recent weeks to work with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to address concerns about the proposed United States-Mexico-Canada agreement.

Then President Donald Trump made his threat this past week of a 5% tariff on Mexican imports unless America’s southern neighbor cracked down on Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Google, the tech giant known universally for its search engine, also has fingers in a number of other pies, like online advertising, email messaging and video. That gives U.S. antitrust enforcers, who have reportedly evinced a new interest in pursuing competition charges against Google, lots to look at.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Latest on the Democratic presidential candidates (all times local):

4:15 p.m.

Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro says he’s hoping his campaign for president will prove Latinos aren’t scared by President Donald Trump’s racism.

URUAPAN, Mexico (AP) — The baby avocados in Enrique Bautista’s vast orchard in western Mexico will grow to maturity, eventually, and be shipped out of Mexico.

What remains to be seen is how many of those green gems will reach consumers in the United States if President Donald Trump makes good on his promise to slap duties on Mexican exports should the country fail to stem the tide of immigrants trying to reach the U.S.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden declared Saturday that the Equality Act would be his top legislative priority, an effort to enshrine LGBTQ protections into the nation’s labor and civil rights laws.