WASHINGTON (AP) — Mexico’s National Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry is congratulating the country’s officials on the agreement reached with the United States on ending steel and aluminum tariffs.

The chamber says in a statement posted online that it considers the deal “a strong and very positive step for industry in the entire region.”

It also calls it “a great advance” toward ratifying the new trade deal between Mexico, the United States and Canada.

CHICAGO (AP) — A spokeswoman for the family a 19-year-old who was killed and whose baby was cut from her womb says what they’re going through is “a nightmare, a horror film.”

Julie Contreras is a spokeswoman for relatives of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, whose body was found in a garbage can this week. She spoke Friday before a court hearing for three people charged in the killing.

Contreras said the family wanted to see justice for Ochoa-Lopez, and for the defendants to be held without bail.

UNITED NATIONS, May 17 (Xinhua): The United Nations on Friday called for an immediate de-escalation of violence in greater Idlib, Syria.

"Let us unite today for the first step - to support an immediate de-escalation of the violence in greater Idlib and work towards a political solution that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told a Security Council meeting on Syria.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s governor plans to fight any federal plans to fly hundreds of immigrants weekly from the Mexican border to South Florida, saying Friday he’ll take his case to President Donald Trump.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis made his remarks a day after being caught off guard when Broward and Palm Beach county officials said they had been notified by U.S. Border Patrol that about 1,000 migrants per month would be sent to the two counties starting in about two weeks.

LUGANSK, May 18. /TASS/: The Ukrainian army has shelled the positions of people’s militia in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) six times over the past 24 hours, the LPR defense ministry said on Saturday.

"The shelling targeted the areas of Pervomaisk, the urban-type settlement of Frunze, the villages of Zhelobok and Smeloye," the LuganskInformCenter news agency quoted a spokesman for the LPR people’s militia as saying.

According to the spokesman, the fire was conducted from mortars.

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Xinhua): U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday that he will not comply with a congressional subpoena to turn over President Donald Trump's federal tax returns in six years, likely to trigger a court battle with Congress.

In a letter sent to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, Mnuchin said that the request "lacks a legitimate legislative purpose" and that he would not authorize the release of Trump's personal and business tax returns to Congress.

ISLAMABAD, May 18 (Xinhua): The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has delivered benefits to both China and Pakistan, a Pakistani official said, questioning the double standards of certain countries on investment and rebutting the "debt trap" allegations.

The unfounded charges hurled at China's investment in foreign countries are designed to create ill feelings among people by attempting to cast aspersions on motives of Chinese investment, said Asad Umar, chairman of Pakistan's National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance.

LAHORE, May 17 (APP): The upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 will see the winners of the 10-team tournament earn a purse of $4 million, the highest prize money to date, along with the trophy that they will lift at Lord’s on 16 July.

The total prize pot of $10 million will see the runners-up assured of $2 million and the losing semifinalists $800,000 each at the end of the 46-day tournament, being played across 11 venues from May 30, said the information made available here by the International Cricket Council here on Friday.

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Xinhua): U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday delayed slapping additional tariffs on imported autos and auto parts for 180 days, saying in a proclamation carried by the White House's website that he has ordered further negotiations to "address the national security threat."

"President Trump today issued a proclamation directing the United States Trade Representative to negotiate agreements to address the national security threat, which is causing harm to the American automobile industry," the White House statement said.

Mumbai, May 17 (PTI) A special court here conducting trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, Friday directed all the seven accused, including BJP's Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, to appear before it once a week.

Upset over the frequent absence of the accused during the trial, NIA court judge Vinod Padalkar gave this direction.

He also directed that exemption sought without cogent reasons will be rejected.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Votes were being counted in Australia’s general election on Saturday, with senior opposition lawmakers gaining confidence that they will form a center-left government with a focus on slashing greenhouse gas emissions.

A Galaxy exit poll found that the opposition Labor Party could win as many as 82 seats in the 151-seat House of Representatives, where parties need a majority to form government.

New Delhi, May 17; GANASHAKTI: Among  hundreds academicians, intellectuals, cultural activists  etc jointly issued the following statement: 

We are deeply shocked by the statement of Ms. Pragya Thakur, the BJP candidate for the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, lauding Nathuram Godse the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi as a “deshbhakt”.