USA

US government has expelled Palestinian Ambassador to the United States, Husam Zomlot, from the country, and frozen all the bank accounts of the family. New step followed closer of the PLO embassy in Washington

All American bank accounts affiliated with the PLO have also been frozen.

WASHINGTON, September 18. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump announced the introduction of 10 % duties on imports goods from China worth $ 200 bln from September 24, as well as the intention to introduce additional duties worth $267 bln, if Beijing takes retaliatory measures. This is according to a press release of the White House published on Monday.

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — With Wilmington cut off from the rest of North Carolina by still-rising floodwaters from Florence, officials plan to airlift food and water to the city of nearly 120,000 people as rescuers elsewhere pull inland residents from homes threatened by swollen rivers.

The spreading disaster claimed additional lives Sunday, with at least 17 people confirmed dead, and the nation’s top emergency official said other states were in the path this week.

HOUSTON; 16 Sep2018; (AP) — Texas authorities charged a U.S. Border Patrol supervisor with murder following what they called a two-week serial killing spree that left four female sex workers dead and ended when a fifth woman escaped at a gas station and found help.

Juan David Ortiz, 35, an intel supervisor for the Border Patrol, was charged with four counts of murder as well as aggravated assault and unlawful restraint, Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said in a tweet.

CAPE CANAVERAL, 15 Sep2018; (AP) — A Japanese supply run to the International Space Station has been delayed again.

The countdown was halted Saturday local time in Japan, with only a few hours remaining before liftoff. Earlier in the week, a typhoon delayed the launch.

The Japanese space agency said there was an issue with the propulsion system. No new launch date has been set.

The cargo ship — the seventh to be launched by Japan — contains new batteries needed for a pair of NASA spacewalks.

DALLAS; 15 Sep2018; (AP): Dozens of demonstrators marched through the streets of downtown Dallas and briefly blocked the westbound lanes of Interstate 30 to protest a white police officer’s fatal shooting of a black man in his own apartment.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- At least five people have been killed so far in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence which was downgraded Friday afternoon to a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph (110 km/h) along the U.S. East Coast.

Hurricane Florence blew ashore in the U.S. state of North Carolina with howling 90 mph (144 km/h) winds and terrifying storm surge early Friday, felling trees, splintering buildings, trapping hundreds of people and swamping entire communities along the coast.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore on Friday cited the frequent occurrence of many of natural disasters in the world this year as a justifying reason for the U.S. return to the Paris Agreement on climate change.

US House of Representatives have passed a measure on Wednesday, which will become law, to provide $38 billion defence aid to Israel.

Called U.S.-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018, the law cannot be repealed by future US Presidents.

WASHINGTON, September 13. /TASS/. The US Department of Treasury blacklisted Russia’s Volasys Silver Star company located in Vladivostok in terms of sanctions against North Korea, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) reports on Tuesday.

An individual from North Korea and a Chinese company are also hit by sanctions.