North America

Washington, Jul 25 (PTI); President Donald Trump has said the US is ready to make a "real deal" with Iran over its nuclear programme, days after he warned Tehran of historic consequences for threatening America.

Trump in May pulled the US out of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement struck by the Obama administration by calling it the "the worst" deal ever negotiated.

Addressing the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Trump said his administration stands ready for Iran to come back to the negotiating table.

By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jul 24 (PTI); The US will never trust Russia or its President Vladimir Putin, America's envoy to the UN Nikki Haley has said amidst an uproar over President Donald Trump's alleged bonhomie with his Russian counterpart.

Trump, who met with Putin in Helsinki last week, has been slammed by the US media and political opponents for failing to defend the American intelligence community during a much-talked about Press conference with Putin in Helsinki after their first summit.

24 July 2018; AFP; The 29-year-old man who opened fire on restaurant goers and pedestrians on a Toronto street overnight, killing two people and wounding 13, had "severe" mental health issues, his family said Monday.

Police identified the gunman as Faisal Hussain of Toronto. He was found dead near the scene of the shooting after an exchange of gunfire with police.

Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said an 18-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl were killed in the shooting rampage and 13 people -- aged 10 to 59 -- wounded, some seriously.

July 19, 2018; Middle East Monitor; Six Palestinian officials who were scheduled to give a presentation at the UN office in New York have been denied visas by the US without any explanation. The officials were due to attend a high-level meeting on development yesterday to present a report on Palestinian implementation of UN goals for 2030.

In their absence, Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour had to step in and make the presentation on behalf of Palestine, which has non-member observer status at the United Nations.

Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, declared by Forbes magazine in 2014 as “The richest doctor in the history of the world,” has bought the LA Times.

A surgeon Soon-Shiong, born in South Africa to Chinese parents and California’s most successful but enigmatic billionaires, made a fortune in trying to cure cancer said not only fake news is the “cancer of our time” – but also short-attention spans and hyper-partisan discourse.

Aspen (US), Jul 21 (AP); China is waging a "quiet kind of cold war" against the United States, using all its resources to try to replace America as the leading power in the world, a top CIA expert on Asia has said.

Beijing doesn't want to go to war, he said, but the current communist government, under President Xi Jingping, is subtly working on multiple fronts to undermine the US in ways that are different than the more well-publicized activities being employed by Russia.

20 July 2018; AFP - President Donald Trump on Friday launched a fresh attack on American trading partners, saying the EU and China were manipulating their currencies, and he threatened to hit all imports from China with high tariffs.

The comments also signaled an undiminished appetite for battle on multiple fronts after a week dominated by coverage of the fallout from his dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

UNITED NATIONS, July 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Friday expressed concern over the newly passed "nation-state" law by the Israeli Knesset, which critics say institutionalizes discrimination against the country's Arab minority.

Virginia Beach, Jul 20 (AP); Google says it will string a trans-Atlantic cable from France to Virginia.

The web giant said in a statement this week that the undersea cable will land stateside in Virginia Beach. It's expected to become operational in 2020.

Google said the project will better serve customers with an expanded network. Internet traffic across the Atlantic is among the busiest.

The cable will also support growth of Google Cloud. And it will land in relative proximity to Google's planned data center in northern Virginia.

WASHINGTON, July 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. White House on Thursday rejected the request of Russia President Vladimir Putin to interrogate several U.S. citizens, including a former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.

In a statement, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said that the request "is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin" in his earlier meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on July 16 in Finland, "but President Trump disagrees with it."