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Mexico continues to lobby the United States to scrap steep new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, before the trade partners sign an updated free trade agreement later this month, an official source said on Wednesday. "We are working to find a solution. We have the arguments, we have presented alternatives in terms of how we can solve this, and we hope to resolve it before Nov. 30," Kenneth Smith, Mexico's head negotiator to the trade agreement, told reporters. The agreement – an updated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico and the United States that is now called the United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA) – is expected to be signed by the three parties on the sidelines of the upcoming G20 leaders' summit, which begins on Nov. 30 in Argentina. In June, the United States imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum imported from Mexico and other countries. "There's a ...

The leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico on Friday signed the  United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) , a renegotiated version of the North American free-trade agreement. U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto attended the signing ceremony on the sidelines of the upcoming G20 leaders' summit, which begins on Friday local time in Argentina. The pact will "ensure (a) future of prosperity and innovation" for the three countries involved, said President Trump. The newly signed USMCA replaces the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA, which essentially lifted tariffs on most goods traded among the three countries. Several months after the U.S. hit Mexico and Canada with tariffs on steel and aluminum products, which caused retaliatory tariffs and intense negotiations on forging a new trade deal, the new deal emerged in early October. The tension has not...

Zhang Zhongsheng, former vice mayor of Lyuliang City in north China's Shanxi Province, was sentenced to death on Wednesday for taking bribes, the Intermediate People's Court of Linfen in Shanxi Province said. According to the court, Zhang received bribes in cash and property worth a total of 1.04 billion yuan (165 million US dollars) from 1997 to 2013. Apart from being sentenced to death, Zhang has also been deprived of all his political rights for life and all of his properties are forfeited. 

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced on Friday through social media platforms that the country would restrict the entry of Russian males aged 16-60. "These are measures to block the Russian Federation to form detachments of private armies here, which in fact are representatives of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation," Poroshenko said. "And not allow them to carry out the operations that they tried to conduct in 2014," he added. The move came after Poroshenko declared martial law in several Ukrainian regions near the Russian border after Russia fired on and captured three Ukrainian naval ships off Crimea last weekend. Russia: No plans to ban entry to Ukrainian men Russia does not plan to ban Ukrainian men from entering the country in a tit-for-tat response, RIA news agency cited a Russian lawmaker as saying on Friday. Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for last Sunday's clash at the Kerch Strait through which ships have ...

In his recent post, David Barrett, the owner of the Tweeter account “Manhattan Bird Alert”, announced that a mandarin duck has been spotted in Central Park's pond, stirring up discussions in New York City. Previous Male mandarin ducks have stunning pluamge. /VCG Photo A beautiful mandarin duck is paddling in the water. /VCG Photo Male mandarin ducks have stunning pluamge. /VCG Photo A beautiful mandarin duck is paddling in the water. /VCG Photo Next This glamorously colored duck is native to eastern Asia, and it remains unknown how it manages to make its surprising appearance in the Central Park's pond.   Mandarin ducks are very common in China and Japan, and they are known for the males' vibrantly colored plumage. However, while the males' stunning plumage becomes a long-lasting inspiration for Asian artists throughout the history, the female mandarin ducks are surprisingly plain in their appearances. The mandarin ducks appear in pairs ...

For the first time in 2019, over hundreds of middle school students in Russia will take Mandarin as a subject on the Unified State Exam, a national college entrance exam that 11th graders must pass to get enrolled into college, announced Anzul Muzaev, deputy director of Russia's The Federal Service for the Supervision of Education and Science. Soon, 9th graders in Russia will be given the option of taking Chinese as an elective language test on their final exam, which helps them to prepare for the Unified State Exam, said the deputy. In addition to English, German, French and Spanish, Mandarin will become the fifth elective language test for Russian college entrance exam. "We have not gotten the exact number of how many students will choose Mandarin until now. But based on my experience, there will be hundreds of student attending the Mandarin test," he added. The number of Mandarin learners in Russia has grown from 17,000 to 56,000 from 2007 to 2017. To offi...

The Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is now the second biggest in history, with 426 confirmed and probable cases, the health ministry said late on Thursday. The epidemic in a volatile part of the DRC is now only surpassed by the 2013-2016 outbreak in West Africa, where more than 28,000 cases where confirmed, and is bigger than an outbreak in 2000 in Uganda involving 425 cases. Ebola is believed to have killed 245 people in North Kivu and Ituri provinces where attacks by armed groups and community resistance to health officials have hampered the response. The DRC has suffered ten Ebola outbreaks since the virus was discovered there in 1976. It spreads through contact with bodily fluids and causes hemorrhagic fever with severe vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding, and in many flare-ups, more than half of cases are fatal. "This tragic milestone clearly demonstrates the complexity and severity of the outbreak," Michelle Gayer, Senior Dire...

A train carrying the Republic of Korea's (ROK) engineers and officials crossed into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday to begin a landmark joint survey to reconnect railway tracks between the two countries. The train, which has six cars and is carrying a number of ROK officials and experts, left Dorasan Station, just south of the inter-Korean border, at about 9:05 a.m. for Panmun Station, near DPRK's border city of Kaesong. Linking up the railway systems was one of the agreements reached earlier this year in a key meeting between the DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and the ROK President Moon Jae-in. The train will cover the 400 km western Gyeongui Line railway around six days to the city of Sinuiju near DPRK's border with China. It is the first time since 2007 a train from the ROK has entered the DPRK. TV footage on Friday showed a red, white and blue train – displaying a banner reading "Iron Horse is now running toward the era of peace...

The United States and Britain pledged their support for Ukraine amid its tensions with Russia around the Kerch Strait, local media reported on Thursday. According to the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency, the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch called for the de-escalation of the tensions and urged Russia to release captured Ukrainian sailors. "The U.S. supports the right of Ukraine to defend its rights and we will continue to stand next to the Ukrainian people... And our support is not only verbal," Yovanovitch was quoted as saying during the 2nd International Maritime Security Conference in Kiev. The British Ambassador to Ukraine Judith Gough, who also participated in the conference, said Britain condemns Russia's actions in the Kerch Strait and stands ready to assist Ukraine in boosting the capabilities of its navy. "We will work for the development of the Ukrainian Navy," Gough told the conference. On Sunday, three Ukrainia...

The recent tension between Russia and Ukraine has once again drawn attention from the international community. On November 25, three Ukrainian navy vessels were attacked and then detained by Russia around the Crimean Peninsula. Some of the Ukrainian crew was wounded during the conflict. The Security Council of the United Nations, upon the request of Russia, convened an emergency meeting the following day and discussed the appropriate response to the event. On November 27, Ukraine's Parliament approved a 30-day period of martial law, which will take effect from November 28. Russia accused the Ukrainian navy ships of entering Russian waters and approaching the Kerch Strait without its permission. In Russia's eyes, this is considered a provocation and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Facebook that the strategy Ukraine used was to “provoke, pressure and then allege Russian invasion.” By contrast, Ukraine accused Russia of dishonoring its p...

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of seeking to annex his entire country on Thursday, and warned that Ukraine's conflict with Russia could quickly spiral into a full-scale confrontation.  The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has sent a note to Russia urging it to release the Ukrainian sailors who were detained during the confrontation in the Sea of Azov. Poroshenko asked NATO members including Germany on Thursday to send naval vessels to the Sea of Azov to back his country in the standoff with Russia.  On Wednesday, Putin accused the Ukrainian president of orchestrating the crisis to make the situation more tense.  The sea-clash cast a shadow over the planned meeting between the U.S. and Russia presidents in the upcoming G20 summit in Argentina. The between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart may be canceled after this confrontation. Donald Trump said on Tuesday, however, that he was still awaiting...

Members of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, a body overseeing peace efforts, met Taliban officials at a conference in Moscow on Friday and repeated President Ashraf Ghani's offer of peace talks without pre-conditions. For the first time, the meeting of regional officials on ways to end the war included a Taliban delegation, as moves towards achieving a political settlement pick up. "We discussed the subject of direct talks with the Taliban and asked them to choose the place and the starting time," said Ehsan Tahiri, High Peace Council spokesman, according to Russia's RIA news agency. The meeting took place as US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad prepared for a fresh round of talks with Taliban officials in Qatar. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that "we reaffirm our position on the lack of alternatives to a political settlement in Afghanistan and the need for active coordinated efforts by Afghanistan's neighboring countries and regional partner...

At least 30 civilians were killed in a U.S. air strike in southeastern Afghanistan, officials and local residents said Wednesday, as NATO forces accused the Taliban of using women and children as protection. The strike reportedly occurred during a firefight between Afghan special forces working with U.S. advisors and Taliban insurgents late Tuesday in restive Helmand province. NATO said air support was requested by security forces on the ground as the militants deployed heavy weapons and retreated into a nearby compound. "At the time of the strike, the ground force was unaware of any civilians in or around the compound; they only knew that the Taliban was using the building as a fighting position," NATO said in a statement. "The Taliban continue to use civilians, especially children, as a protective measure," it added. Residents of the area said women and 16 children were among the dead. Helmand provincial governor Mohammad Yasin Khan said the air str...

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted to advance a resolution that could halt U.S. support for the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen. The bipartisan resolution aims to push forward legislation that would end U.S. support for the military operation of the Saudi-led multinational coalition in Yemen, a rebuke to Saudi Arabia and the U.S. administration, which had argued that Saudi Arabia is key to containing Iran in the Middle East, buying U.S. weapons and keeping the global oil price stable. The 63-37 vote, setting up the start of a floor debate on the resolution next week, was widely considered a strong signal of the Senate's rage over Saudi Arabia's alleged role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Secretaries of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, briefed the Senate to lobby against the resolution. However, their efforts seemed to have little sway on senators of the two parties that have been enraged over Saud...