A top Russian diplomat says he and his American counterpart are set to meet Tuesday to discuss the dispute over a Cold War-era arms control treaty that Washington has threatened to abandon.
Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying he would sit down with Undersecretary of State Andrea Thompson in Geneva.
The meeting concerns the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The 1987 pact between the United States and the Soviet Union bans production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range between 500 and 5500 kilometres.
President Donald Trump declared his intention in October to withdraw from the treaty over alleged Russian violations.
The US gave Russia a February deadline to address its objections and come into compliance.

Russian, US diplomats to meet on endangered missile treaty

PTI Automatic

Trump administration rules that allow more employers to opt out of providing women with no-cost birth control cannot be enforced anywhere in the nation, a federal judge wrote Monday in a decision blocking the rules from taking effect.
U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia agreed with a lawsuit filed by Pennsylvania, citing the potential harm to states should the rules be enforced.
Numerous citizens could lose contraceptive coverage, Beetlestone wrote, resulting in the increased use of state-funded contraceptive services, as well as increased costs associated with unintended pregnancies.
The rules would have allowed more employers, including publicly traded companies, to opt out of providing no-cost contraceptive coverage to women by claiming religious objections. Some private employers could also object on moral grounds.
The rules had been scheduled to take effect Monday. Pennsylvania's attorney general, Josh Shapiro, called the ruling a "victory for the health and ...

Trump birth control coverage rules blocked nationwide

The United Nations says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and stressed again that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the only path to peace.
Guterres' strong backing for an independent Palestinian state came ahead of the release of a long-awaited U.S. plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace and Israeli elections in April.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric says Guterres also congratulated Abbas during Monday's meeting on the election of the Palestinians to preside over the Group of 77, a bloc of 134 mainly developing nations and China that promotes their collective interests at the United Nations. Abbas will take over the chairmanship from Egypt on Tuesday.
As Abbas and his entourage left U.N. headquarters, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters: "It was a good meeting.

UN chief backs 2-state solution in talks with Palestinians

Chinese auto maker GAC will delay its entry into the US market until 2020 because of the trade war between Beijing and Washington, a company executive said Monday at the Detroit auto show.
"We originally had the plan to launch our first vehicle in the US at the end of 2019," GAC President Yu Jun said through a company interpreter. "However we have postponed our plans due to the recent development on trade. We're making steady progress towards it."
GAC now planned to launch its first product in the US in the first half of 2020, Yu said.
Beijing and Washington remained locked in a trade war that could escalate as soon as next month, when the Commerce Department is expected to deliver a report on possible new auto tariffs.
Analysts predict rapid contraction in the auto industry should more tariffs take effect.
"Tariffs would be devastating to the entire industry," said Robert Carter, chief of Toyota's North American sales, adding that vehicle prices would increase and suppress sales.
Cox 

Trade war delays Chinese automaker GAC's entry into US

More than 30,000 public school teachers in Los Angeles walked off the job on Monday to press their demands for better pay, smaller class sizes and more educators.
The strike -- the first in 30 years -- is affecting some 500,000 students in the nation's second largest school district, with intense negotiations in past weeks failing to lead to a breakthrough.
The action is being watched closely by teaching unions across the country that are engaged in labour negotiations and also considering strikes.
"Here we are on a rainy day in the richest country in the world, in the richest state in the country, in a state that's blue (Democrat) as it can be -- and in a city rife with millionaires -- where teachers have to go on strike to get the basics for our students," Alex Caputo-Pearl, the head of the United Teachers Los Angeles union, told a news conference.
"Here we are in a fight for the soul of public education," Caputo-Pearl added.
"The question is: do we starve our public neighbourhood ..

Massive US teachers' strike affects half million pupils

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo faced a tough balancing act Monday as he pressed Saudi Arabia's crown prince over critic Jamal Khashoggi's murder while shoring up strategic ties with Riyadh.
The top US diplomat, on an extensive Middle East tour, held talks with King Salman and his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which also focused on the conflict in Yemen and countering threats from Iran.
Pompeo walked a diplomatic tightrope on his second politically sensitive visit to Saudi Arabia since Khashoggi's murder as he demanded that all those involved in the crime be held accountable.
The king and crown prince "both acknowledge that this accountability needs to take place", Pompeo said in Riyadh following talks with them.
"They reiterated their commitment," he added.
Relations between Riyadh and Washington have remained strained after journalist Khashoggi was murdered on October 2 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Riyadh said the murder was carried out by "rogue" Saudi agents, .

Pompeo on diplomatic tightrope in Saudi talks over Khashoggi murder

Leftist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday branded far-right Brazil counterpart Jair Bolsonaro a "modern day Hitler" supported by evangelical Christians.
Maduro was delivering his annual address to the Constituent Assembly, four days after he was sworn in for a highly-controversial second term.
He and Bolsonaro have been exchanging barbs since the Brazilian won elections at the end of last year.
"Bolsonaro is a modern day Hitler. He is. What he doesn't have is courage and his own decisions because he's the puppet of a sect," said Maduro, referring to Bolsonaro's conservative evangelical Christian support base.
Bolsonaro has accused Maduro of being a "dictator" and described him as illegitimate when the Venezuelan leader was sworn in on Thursday.
Maduro won an election in May that was boycotted by the opposition and dismissed as a fraud by the United States, European Union and many Latin American countries.
He was sworn in by the Supreme Court, made up of regime loyalists, ..

Venezuela's Maduro brands Brazil's Bolsonaro a 'modern Hitler'

Antarctica is melting more than six times faster than it did in the 1980s, a new study shows.
Scientists used aerial photographs, satellite measurements and computer models to track how fast the southern-most continent has been melting since 1979 in 176 individual basins.
They found the ice loss to be accelerating dramatically  a key indicator of human-caused climate change.
Since 2009, Antarctica has lost almost 278 billion tons (252 billion metric tons) of ice per year, the new study found.
In the 1980s, it was losing 44 billion tons (40 billion metric tons) a year. The recent melting rate is 15 per cent higher than what a study found last year.
Eric Rignot, a University of California, Irvine, ice scientist, was the lead author on the new study in Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
He said the big difference is that his satellite-based study found East Antarctica, which used to be considered stable, is losing 56 billion tons (51 billion metric tons) of ice a ..

Antarctica is losing ice 6 times faster today than in 1980s

Stormy Daniels is suing the police department in Ohio's capital for USD 2 million over her arrest at a strip club last summer.
The federal defamation lawsuit filed Monday alleges that Columbus officers conspired to retaliate against the porn actress over her sex allegations concerning Donald Trump before he became president.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, was arrested in July on suspicion of inappropriately touching a female undercover officer. Two other club employees also were arrested.
Prosecutors dropped charges against Daniels hours later, saying the law cited in her arrest applied only to those who regularly performed at the club.
The city prosecutor later said the law was "glaringly inequitable" and should no longer be enforced.
Messages were left for the police department and for the city prosecutor Monday.

Stormy Daniels sues police over her arrest at strip club

Pacific Gas and Electric, the utility company that has been tied to deadly wildfires in California, said Monday it plans to file for bankruptcy at the end of the month.
The San Francisco-based company said its decision to reorganise under Chapter 11 is tied to more than USD 30 billion in claims it is facing over the so-called 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California -- the deadliest in the state's recent history -- that left 86 people dead.
The utility is also under scrutiny for blazes in 2017 that devastated the wine region in Northern California and left more than 40 people dead.
"The company today provided the 15-day advance notice required by recently enacted California law that it and its wholly owned subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric Company currently intend to file petitions to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code on or about January 29," a statement said.
It said the bankruptcy filing, which saw shares plunge 48 per cent on Monday, should not affect electric or 

PG&E, utility tied to California wildfires, to file for bankruptcy

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US counterpart Donald Trump mooted Monday the creation of a "security zone" in north Syria as tensions rose over the fate of Kurdish fighters in that country.
In a telephone conversation, the leaders "discussed the idea of creating a security zone cleared of terrorism in the north of the country," the Turkish presidency said in a statement.
This came after Turkey vowed it "will not be intimidated" by Trump's threats of economic devastation if Ankara attacked Kurdish forces as US troops withdraw from Syria.
Trump on Sunday warned the US would "devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds".
Ankara has repeatedly threatened to carry out a cross-border operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which have been working closely with the United States in the war on Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
US support for the YPG has been a major source of friction between the NATO allies.
The While House said in a statement that Trump ...

Erdogan, Trump consider creating security zone in Syria

France will start culling thousands of wild boar near the Belgian border to prevent the African swine fever virus from spreading, the agriculture ministry said Monday.
It said the operation would be held in the coming weeks and involve large number of hunters and forest officials.
The virus was first reported in Belgium on September 13 near the borders with Luxembourg and France.
"The spread of the illness into France would be a catastrophe for pig farmers and hunters," Thierry Coste, who works for the national hunting federation (FNC), told AFP.
The virus was first spotted in Poland in 2014 when infected wild boar entered from neighbouring Belarus.
Last week, Polish authorities denied any plans to wipe out nearly all wild boar as petitions against a mass cull drew hundreds of thousands of signatures.
"No order was given to eliminate wild boar," Environment Minister Henryk Kowalczyk told the commercial broadcaster TVN, adding that hunting quotas for boar were set as has been done ...

France to cull wild boar after swine virus cases in Belgium

A British lawmaker has postponed giving birth in order to vote on Britain's divorce deal with the EU on Tuesday.
Tulip Siddiq, 36, was due to have a Caesarian section on Tuesday but medics have agreed to delay the operation until Thursday so that she can vote on the withdrawal agreement struck between London and Brussels.
She plans to be pushed through the division lobby in parliament in a wheelchair.
Colleagues in the main opposition Labour Party asked John Bercow, the speaker of the lower House of Commons, if Siddiq could have a proxy vote.
Bercow said he would like the procedure known as "nodding through" -- where an MP who is on the parliamentary estate but physically unable to cast their ballot has their vote counted -- extended to Siddiq's hospital bed.  But he said while he was happy for her to be nodded through, it was not in his gift to extend a proxy vote.
Siddiq said she asked medics at the Royal Free Hospital in her north London constituency if she could change the ...

British MP delays giving birth for Brexit vote

US President Donald Trump's attorney general nominee Bill Barr said Monday he supports letting Russia collusion investigator Robert Mueller finish his probe and his final report being made public.
With Trump himself thought to be a possible target of Special Counsel Mueller, Barr sought to allay concerns that as head of the Department of Justice he might stifle the investigation to protect the president.
"I believe it is vitally important that the special counsel be allowed to complete his investigation," Barr said in prepared testimony for his confirmation hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee beginning Tuesday.
"I also believe it is very important that the public and Congress be informed of the results of the special counsel's work. For that reason, my goal will be to provide as much transparency as I can consistent with the law."
Barr, who was attorney general under president George H W Bush from 1991 to 1993 and then a corporate lawyer for 25 years, has been critical of the ...

Trump Justice nominee supports Mueller Russia probe

Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday published further assurances from the EU on the eve of a crucial parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal and warned MPs that rejecting it would lead to "paralysis" that could see Britain stay in the bloc.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk repeated in a letter that they would not reopen the divorce deal, but offered clarifications with "legal value" on a controversial clause.
May admitted their offer fell short of what she wanted, but said MPs now had the clearest assurances they were going to get -- and should support the deal.
"Whatever you may have previously concluded, over these next 24 hours, give this deal a second look," May told MPs in parliament.
"No, it is not perfect. And yes, it is a compromise." May had promised assurances on the so-called Irish backstop arrangement when she postponed a vote on the agreement in December, facing certain defeat in the House of Commons.
As MPs ...

EU intervenes on Brexit deal on eve of historic UK vote

Latvian police on Monday seized more than two tonnes of Ecuadoran cocaine in the central town of Koknese, a record haul for the Baltic state.
"This coke shipment was most certainly destined for some other country, presumably to drug dealers in Scandinavia," Latvian criminal police chief Andrejs Grisins told reporters.
"We confiscated 2,195 bricks of 80 percent pure cocaine that were packed into 42 banana boxes." He added that the confiscated drugs had a potential street value of up to a billion euros.
Five Latvians were arrested and face up to 15 years in prison as part of the operation, which is the largest drug bust in Latvian history.
The operation was a joint effort between Latvian and Ecuadoran police, as well as the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, Latvian police chief Ints Kuzis said.

Two tonnes of cocaine seized in Latvia's biggest-ever drug bust

Spanish police said Monday they had arrested 182 people who took part in a "national" cockfighting competition, an ancient sport that continues in some regions despite being banned.
Officers seized around 300,000 euros during Saturday's raid in the southern town of Sangonera La Verde, police said in a statement.
In 2011, police arrested around 100 people at a cockfight held in the same spot.
Cockfighting sets two roosters -- trained to be aggressive and often pumped with steroids -- against each other in a ring, often fighting to the death.
Sharp knives are often added to the birds' natural spurs while spectators gamble on the outcome.
Police seized 97 live roosters and six dead ones as well as 87 marijuana plants. The 182 people who were detained were charged with animal abuse.
Under Spanish law, a person found guilty of animal abuse can face up to a year in jail and up to a year and a half if the animal is killed.
Cockfighting, which dates to before the Roman era, was popular ...

Spanish police arrest 182 people at illegal cockfight

Myanmar has postponed a planned visit by the UN refugee chief to Rakhine state following renewed fighting between security forces and insurgents, a spokesman said Monday.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi was due to visit last week but Myanmar authorities scrapped the trip to Rakhine, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims were driven out in a military crackdown that started in 2017.
Fighting has flared after 13 police officers were killed on January 4 in an attack by Rohingya militants on border posts near the frontier with Bangladesh.
"Based on assessment of Myanmar authorities of the security situation in Rakhine, the visit has been postponed," said UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic.
Britain is expected to raise the issue at the UN Security Council later this week, according to diplomats. The decision to delay Grandi's trip and uncertainty surrounding a separate planned visit by the UN envoy Christine Schraner Burgener to Myanmar is fueling concerns that ...

Myanmar delays UN refugee chief's visit

A display of sculptures is being pulled from the World Trade Center after critics objected to the presence of one that represents Saudi Arabia at the site of the 9/11 attacks.
The two-meter polyester resin artwork depicting a giant candy wrapped in the green Saudi flag is part of an exhibit entitled "Candy Nations," representing the G20 nations.
Put together in 2011, the installation has already been shown in several countries, as well as elsewhere in New York.
But some observers have been critical of the Saudi flag's presence in the WTC, home to a memorial for the 3,000 Americans killed in the 9/11 strikes.
Of the 19 hijackers who commandeered four jetliners and crashed into the twin towers in New York, a Pennsylvania field and the Pentagon in Virginia -- 15 were Saudi nationals.
A US congressional report on the September 11 attacks  laid some blame with the US ally, but those passages were never made public, according to Bob Graham, the former senator who co-chaired the commission ..

Sculpture alluding to Saudi Arabia pulled from World Trade Center

Thousands of people marched in rallies across Poland to pay tribute to the centrist mayor of Gdansk who died Monday, a day after being stabbed in the heart at a charity event.
Pawel Adamowicz died in hospital after a day-long fight by doctors to save him.
"Despite all our efforts, we failed to save him," Doctor Tomasz Stefaniak, director of Gdansk University hospital, told Polish media.
Thousands marched in Gdansk, the Baltic city he ran for two decades, and thousands more turned out in the capital Warsaw. There were rallies in a dozen cities around Poland, the PAP news agency reported.
Sunday's attack on Adamowicz, known for his liberal views and opposition to Poland's governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, shocked the country.
Polish President Andrzej Duda honoured the "great politician" and announced a day of national mourning to coincide with Adamowicz's funeral, the date of which has yet to be decided.
The European Parliament held a minute of silence on Monday. And ...

Poland in shock after mayor dies from knife attack

India suffered a heartbreak as they conceded an injury time goal through a penalty to lose 0-1 to Bahrain and crash out of the showpiece Asian Cup under dramatic circumstances here Monday.
India were on the verge of booking their maiden knock-out round berth in the continent's biggest stage as the scoreline remained 0-0 till the 90th minute when captain Pranoy Halder brought down a Bahrain attacker for the referee to point to the dreaded spot.
Jamal Rashed stepped up and cooly sent the ball past goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu into the net to the dismay of the Indians who had surprised everyone with their impressive performance in the tournament.
A draw would have been enough for India to go through to the Round of 16 at second place in Group A while Bahrain would have been knocked out of the tournament. But it was not to be as India succumbed to incessant pressure in the last few minutes after waves of attack from their opponents.
India ended at the bottom of four-team Group A on ...

Page 3610 - PTI Stories National