23 May 2019; DW: The Pentagon is considering a request to send thousands more troops to the Middle East as relations worsen, unnamed officials say. Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader said he foresaw the demise of American civilization.

The US Department of Defense was expected to present plans to the White House on Thursday for thousands of troops to be deployed as reinforcements in the Middle East.

23 May 2019; DW: Four days of voting in European Parliament elections are underway in a poll that will decide the EU's future course: a return to nationalism or more integration to increase its global strength? Bernd Riegert reports.

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-China tariff disputes are having a negative impact on businesses of American companies in China, according to a survey jointly conducted by AmCham China and AmCham Shanghai.

The United States increased additional tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent earlier this month, and has threatened to raise tariffs on some 300 billion dollars' worth of Chinese imports yet to be hit.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump dropped the pretense of working with congressional Democrats on Wednesday and sent a clear message that his re-election campaign will be centered on condemning overzealous investigations rather than advancing a robust domestic policy agenda.

OUISTREHAM, France (AP) — There were countless times on D-Day and in the fighting in Normandy that followed when Leon Gautier could have been killed or grievously wounded.

He and his comrades in an elite French unit were among the first waves of Allied troops to storm the heavily defended beaches of Nazi-occupied northern France, beginning the liberation of western Europe. The commandos spent 78 days straight on the front lines, their numbers dwindling from one firefight to the next.

23 May 2019; DW: The German government is to send a high-level diplomat to Tehran as tensions between the US and Iran intensify, threatening a prolonged conflict.

The policy director of Germany's Foreign Ministry, Jens Plötner, is heading to Iran on Thursday, according to report in German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ).

23 May 2019; MEMO: Informed sources said that Turkey has two weeks to decide whether to complete S-400 deal with Russia or risk US penalties, which would include cancelling deal of 100 F-35 jets, US media reported on Wednesday.

By the end of the first week of June, the CNBC reported, Turkey must cancel a multibillion-dollar deal with Russia and instead buy US-made Patriot missile defence system.

BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- "Fair trade" has been a frequently invoked theory by the United States in pressuring its trade partners including China for concessions, and a most deceptive one.

In a word, the U.S. version of "fair trade" is just a thin, frail layer of paint to whitewash over the headstrong pursuit of its "America First" policy.

The core of U.S. "fair trade" is its so-called "reciprocal" opening, which demands that all countries apply identical tariff levels and offer identical market access with that provided by the United States.

23 May 2019; AFP: Donald Trump erupted in fury Wednesday at unrelenting probes into his links to Russia, as the top Democrat in Congress accused the president of a "cover-up" that could be an impeachable offense.

A livid Trump abruptly shut down a White House meeting with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, announcing he could not deal with them on policy until "phony investigations" are brought to a close.

GENEVA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela will run out of vaccines in four months if current blockade led by the United States continues, the country's health minister said on Wednesday.

During the ongoing World Health Assembly in Geneva, Venezuela's Health Minister Carlos Alvarado cited rotavirus vaccines as an example, saying they could run out in four months if the United States insists on its blockade.

He said that since the United States started to impose sanctions against Venezuela in 2014, half of the operating pharmaceutical companies in the country have left.

BEIJING (AP) — Looking for ways to hit back at Washington as a tariff fight escalates, President Xi Jinping and his economy czar visited a Chinese factory that processes rare earths — exotic minerals used in electric cars, mobile phones and other technology.

Rare earths are “an important strategic resource,” the official Xinhua News Agency cited Xi as saying.

INNOPOLIS /Tatarstan/, May 23. /TASS/: The Bruk Institute of Electronic Control Computers within Avtomatika Group (part of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec) has developed jointly with RSC Conglomerate the first super-computer based on the Russian Elbrus-8S eight-core processor. Avtomatika Group unveiled its super-computer at the ‘Digital Industry of Industrial Russia’ conference on Thursday.