North America

New York, Jul 11 (AFP/PTI) The head of Boeing's embattled 737 MAX program plans to retire, the company said, just as it gears up to persuade regulators to return the plane to the skies after two deadly crashes.

It was the most high profile departure of a senior executive since the aircraft was grounded in mid-March following two crashes that claimed 346 lives.

Washington, Jul 12 (PTI) Reiterating that President Donald Trump and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are frustrated with the lack of balance and reciprocity from India when it comes to trade and tariff, a top Administration official has said that the new round of discussion between the two countries is not open-ended and the US wants things to move quickly.

Washington, Jul 12 (AFP/PTI) Donald Trump expressed his mistrust of cryptocurrency Thursday, saying it was "not money" and warning that those wishing to join the trade would have to abide by banking regulations.

"I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air," Trump tweeted.

He added that cryptocurrency, whose electronic nature makes it nearly untraceable, could facilitate illegal activity.

UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (APP): Pakistan has called for “proactive and robust” triangular cooperation among the UN Security Council, the troop contributing countries (TCCs) and the UN Secretariat for effective and result-oriented peacekeeping in trouble spots around the world, as a two-day Chiefs of Defence Conference opened on Thursday.

“Troop-contributing countries are the United Nations eyes and ears on the ground, Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said, while participating in the Security Council’s debate on ‘Strengthening Triangular Cooperation”.

WASHINGTON, July 12. /TASS/: The House of Representatives of the US Congress has passed an amendment to the 2020 fiscal year, envisaging sanctions against Russia’s sovereign debt over alleged election meddling.

The session was broadcast live by the C-SPAN channel.

12 July 2019; AFP: US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused China of backsliding on promises to increase purchases of American farm exports.

The president's latest salvo on Twitter comes the same week that US and Chinese trade officials had their first contact in months in an effort to revive negotiations that nearly collapsed in May.

12 July 2019; AFP: The Pentagon said Thursday it was discussing military escorts for vessels in the Gulf one day after armed Iranian boats threatened a British oil tanker.

The White House's nominee to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said Washington was attempting to put together a coalition "in terms of providing military escort, naval escort to commercial shipping."

12 July 2019; DW: The UN Human Rights Council will investigate extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. At least 6,000 people have been killed by police in the war on drugs, and rights groups think the number is much higher.

The UN Human Rights Council voted on Thursday to initiate a probe into the Philippines controversial war on drugs led by President Rodrigo Duterte.

12 July 2019; DW: UN agencies have appealed to European countries to restart government rescue operations for migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. More needs to be done to improve inhumane conditions for displaced people in Libya as well.

WASHINGTON, July 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. trade authorities have initiated an investigation against France's decision to tax digital giants, which are mostly U.S.-based.

The French Parliament passed a new law to tax digital giants on Thursday, making France one of the first countries to tax "GAFA" companies, namely Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. In response, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it has initiated an investigation against the French law and its impact on U.S. businesses.