USA

WASHINGTON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pleaded not guilty in an indictment against him, in which he faces 37 federal charges for mishandling classified documents.

The indictment alleges that Trump was involved in unlawfully retaining government secrets as he left the White House in 2021 and conspired to obstruct justice.

NEW YORK, June 14 (Xinhua) -- All of the immense benefits from free trade would be at risk if the United States chose to elevate short-term political considerations, reported Foreign Policy on Monday.

(AP) --- Some 110 million people have had to flee their homes because of conflict, persecution, or human rights violations, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says. The war in Sudan, which has displaced nearly 2 million people since April, is but the latest in a long list of crises that has led to the record-breaking figure.

“It’s quite an indictment on the state of our world,” Filippo Grandi, who leads the U.N. refugee agency, told reporters in Geneva ahead of the publication Wednesday of UNHCR’s Global Trends Report for 2022.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China this weekend as part of the Biden administration’s push to repair deteriorating ties between Washington and Beijing and keep lines of communication open, the State Department said Wednesday.

Blinken will be the most senior U.S. official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office. His visit had initially been planned for earlier this year but was postponed indefinitely after the discovery and shootdown of what the U.S. said was a Chinese spy balloon over the United States.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican state lawmakers on Tuesday suspended a vote on funding for University of Wisconsin campuses, just hours after a top GOP leader promised to slash the college system’s budget as part of an ongoing fight over diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, the state’s top Republican, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he expected the GOP-controlled Legislature’s budget-writing committee to cut all funding that the university system would use for diversity initiatives. He estimated the cuts would total $32 million.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Since taking on the role of White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre has become known for frequently dodging questions by citing the Hatch Act. The law bars civil servants from politicking during their day jobs, and Jean-Pierre uses it to deflect reporters’ questions involving campaigns.

But apparently she wasn’t careful enough. The Office of Special Counsel, a government agency that enforces the Hatch Act, said in a recent letter that Jean-Pierre violated the law before last year’s midterm elections.

NEW YORK (AP) — After three years, the pandemic-era freeze on student loan payments will end in late August.

It might seem tempting to just keep not making payments, but the consequences can be severe, including a hit to your credit score and exclusion from future aid and benefits.

More than 40 million Americans will have to start making federal student loan payments again at the end of the summer under the terms of a debt ceiling deal approved by Congress.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s four years in the White House, even on some of the most consequential days of his presidency, were punctuated by the spectacle and attempts at showmanship he cultivated from years as a tabloid fixture and reality star.

The former president’s history-making appearance Tuesday as a criminal defendant in a Florida federal court was no different.

13 June 2023; MEMO: The United States and Iran are not discussing an interim nuclear deal, a US official said on Monday, but Washington has told Tehran of steps that might trigger a crisis and also those that may create a better climate between the long-time antagonists, Reuters reports.

"There are no talks about an interim deal," said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

14 June 2023; MEMO: The US is losing influence in the Middle East to China, the Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday. According to the analysis originally published on the Media Line, the US "has always had a complicated relationship" with the region.