USA

Washington, Jan 20 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has launched a new plan to end a government shutdown, which has been ongoing for nearly a month, by offering protection from deportations for some undocumented immigrants in exchange for USD 5.7 billion for constructing a wall on the US-Mexico border.

The Democrats, however, rejected the deal as a "non-starter" and called on Trump to open the government before negotiations on immigration could start.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks in the U.S. and Europe jumped Friday as renewed hopes for progress in trade talks between the U.S. and China helped the markets finish the week with another strong gain.

Indexes jumped after Bloomberg News reported that China’s government offered to buy more goods and services from the U.S., potentially eliminating its trade deficit by 2024. For investors, the encouraging news on trade builds on recent positive signs for the U.S. economy and indications from the Federal Reserve that it will be patient when considering future interest rate hikes.

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal government employees affected by the government shutdown can get some free entertainment in New York.

The Metropolitan Opera says it is offering free tickets to people with government IDs from Saturday through the end of the month. A pair of tickets per performance can be reserved in advance by telephone or in person at the Met box office.

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah said Friday he supports President Donald Trump’s push for a border wall that has led to a government shutdown and questioned why Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won’t agree to “another few miles” of barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Romney also said he plans to keep working with other senators to find interim solutions, such as legislation that would make sure essential government employees still working get paid now.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are adding hundreds of millions of dollars to improve ports of entry from Mexico and hire more immigration judges to a batch of spending bills the House will consider next week.

The move represents the party’s first steps in detailing how it would bolster border security as it battles President Donald Trump over his demand for building Southwest border wall. Trump’s refusal to sign spending bills that lack $5.7 billion to start constructing that wall has prompted the partial government shutdown that enters its 29th day Saturday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The third annual Women’s March is returning to Washington this week amid inclement weather, ideological schisms and the longest government shutdown in American history.

CHICAGO (AP) — The explosive video of a white Chicago officer shooting a black teenager 16 times shocked consciences around the world with footage of Laquan McDonald getting gunned down as he walked away from police.

The graphic images of McDonald crumpling to the street while bullets kept striking him stirred expectations that the officer might be convicted in the killing and pay a heavy price in prison time.

19 Jan 2019; DW: A US court order has confirmed that a journalist working for Iran's Press TV was arrested in connection with a probe into "violations of US criminal law." But Marzieh Hashemi has not been accused of committing any crime.

A US-born journalist working for Iran's state-owned international broadcaster has been arrested in the United States but has not been accused of any crime, a US court has confirmed.

19 Jan 2019; AFP: Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office took the rare step Friday of disputing a news report on his Russia investigation, saying a BuzzFeed article alleging that US President Donald Trump directed his former lawyer to lie to Congress is "not accurate."

Trump's lieutenants had already strongly pushed back against the report, which said that the president ordered Michael Cohen to lie about a Russian skyscraper project they pursued during the 2016 election.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Friday condemned "in the strongest possible terms" Thursday's car bombing at a police academy in the Colombian capital of Bogota, which caused heavy casualties.

The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the people and government of Colombia, and wished a speedy recovery to those injured, said the council in a press statement.