USA

July 29, 2018; Two gunmen opened fire, killing 3 and wounding 7, on a crowd outside a bar in New Orleans. One of the wounded is in critical condition.

Two males and a female victim "were pronounced dead at the scene," police spokesman Aaron Looney said a statement.

LOS ANGELES, July 29 (NNN-Xinhua) -- At least five people have been killed, more than 500 structures have been destroyed, tens of thousands of people were evacuated and more than 80,000 acres have been burned by a destructive wildfire in the Shasta County in the western U.S. state of California.

Two young children and their 70-year-old great-grandmother died in the wildfire that swept into the city of Redding with devastating speed, their family said Saturday.

By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jul 27 (PTI); A key Congressional committee has unanimously passed a crucial bill on Tibet under which Chinese officials responsible for discriminating against Americans who try to enter Tibet would be banned from entering the US.

The bill titled 'The Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act', seeking unhindered access to Tibetan areas to US officials, journalists and common citizens, something which is routinely denied by the Chinese government, now moves to the House of Representatives.

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.

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.