December 15, 2019 8:21 am
MEXICO CITY (AP) – Mexico is objecting to legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress as part of an eventual ratification of the recently agreed trade deal to replace NAFTA. Just days after the Dec. 10 signing ceremony, Mexico is unhappy with language designating up to five U.S. labor attaches in Mexico “tasked with monitoring the implementation” of a labor reform. A top Foreign Relations Department official says Mexico considers that “unnecessary and redundant” and is not in agreement. Jesús Seade says he sent a letter to that effect to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and will travel to Washington on Sunday to convey the message in person.
December 15, 2019 8:20 am
BEIJING (AP) – China is postponing punitive tariffs on U.S.-made automobiles and other goods following an interim trade deal with Washington. Sunday’s announcement came after Washington agreed to postpone a planned tariff hike on $160 billion of Chinese goods and to cut in half penalties that already were imposed. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said China committed to buy $40 billion of American farm products. He said Beijing also promised to end its long-standing practice of pressuring companies to hand over technology. Duties that had been due to take effect Sunday included 25% on autos and 10% or 5% on other goods.
December 15, 2019 8:18 am
BEIRUT (AP) – Lebanon’s official news agency says attackers in the country’s north set fire to the offices of two major political parties. The assaults come just hours after a violent government crackdown on protesters rocked the capital, Beirut, throughout the night. It was the worst crackdown by the government since nationwide demonstrations began two months ago. The National News Agency said the local offices for resigned Prime Minister Saad Hariri were ransacked and burned Sunday morning. A separate attack also torched a local office of current President Michel Aoun. Lebanon’s protest movement is accusing the ruling political class of mismanagement and corruption. They’re calling for a government unaffiliated with established political parties.
December 15, 2019 8:18 am
UNDATED (AP) – Several thousand people have turned out in Hong Kong in an unusual display of support for the police force, criticized as abusive by the city’s protest movement. People shouted words of thanks at officers, with some calling them heroes for policing six months of pro-democracy demonstrations. The rally in a waterfront park attracted a bigger crowd than a protest against the government a few hundred meters away. It brought together a few hundred people in a square. There were also scattered small protests in shopping malls. Tensions flared in one mall after police arrested about eight protesters. Police used pepper spray when people threw bottles of water at them.
December 15, 2019 8:17 am
LONDON (AP) – Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has apologized to supporters for the crushing defeat in the British general election. But he has defended his campaign – which failed to resonate with the party’s working-class base – as “one of hope rather than fear.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party won 365 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons in Thursday’s landslide election. Labour took 203 seats, its worst total since 1935. Corbyn writes in a letter in a left-leaning British newspaper on Sunday that, “I’m sorry that we came up short and I take my responsibility for it.”
December 15, 2019 8:16 am
DAVAO, Philippines (AP) – A strong earthquake has jolted the southern Philippines, leaving at least one person dead and causing a three-story building to collapse. Searchers were looking for an unspecified number of people who were feared to have been trapped inside the building. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the magnitude 6.9 quake struck an area about 6 kilometers northwest of Padada town in Davao del Sur province. It hit a region that has been battered by a series of powerful quakes in recent months. Officials said a child died in a village in Davao del Sur’s Matanao town when a wall of her house tumbled down as the ground shook on Sunday and hit her in the head.
December 15, 2019 8:12 am
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WPXI) — Nearly every major presidential candidate on the Democratic side was in Pittsburgh on Saturday at the convention center talking about an issue some feel has been overlooked: education. Seven of the Democratic presidential candidates spoke directly to more than 1,000 educators and students about public education as part of a forum hosted by MSNBC at the convention center downtown. Organizers say they chose Pittsburgh to host the forum for convenience for the candidates and because Pennsylvania is a critical battleground state. But National Education Association President Lily Eskesen Garcia says the forum was about more than just welcoming the candidates. For some of these candidates, it was their first time in Western Pennsylvania, but it likely won’t be their last. Pennsylvania is a critical battleground state, which means they will be making plenty of visits here before the April 2020 primary. The Republican National Committee released a statement about Saturday’s education forum saying: “While Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg campaign on socialist policies that will harm hardworking Pennsylvanians, President Trump continues to fight for Americans with policies that have delivered a stronger economy and a better trader deal to the state.”
December 15, 2019 4:30 am
PETERS TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Officials in Peters Township have entered into a purchase agreement for land located on Bebout Road for the construction of a new fire station. According to Township Manager Paul Lauer, new home construction on the eastern side of the township has caused the need for a new fire station. Design is in the very early stages and cost estimates are not available. No timeline has been set for the completion of the project.
December 15, 2019 4:26 am
Another member of the Pagan Motorcycle Club has reached a plea agreement in a brutal beating earlier this year in Charleroi. Jason Huff, 40 of Plum pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. Washington County Judge John F. DiSalle sentenced Huff to 8-16 years in prison according to online court records. Huff and six others were initially charged with attempted homicide in the assault of Troy Harris at the Charleroi Slovak Club. Twelve people have been charged in the case. Two club members, Matthew James Vasquez of Monessen and Joseph Olinsky III of McKeesport have rejected plea deals and await trial in front of DiSalle on February 3, 2020
December 14, 2019 7:24 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea says it successfully performed another “crucial test” at its long-range rocket launch site that will further strengthen its “reliable strategic nuclear deterrent.” The announcement on Saturday comes as North Korea continues to pressure the Trump administration over an end-of-year deadline set by leader Kim Jong Un to salvage faltering nuclear negotiations. North Korea’s Academy of Defense Science did not specify what was tested on Friday. Just days earlier, the North said it conducted a “very important test” at the site, prompting speculation that it involved a new engine for either a space launch vehicle or an intercontinental ballistic missile.
