San Francisco – Pacific Gas & Electric and a group of insurers announced Friday they reached an $11 billion settlement to cover most of the claims from wildfires in California in 2017 and 2018. The utility said in a statement the tentative agreement covers 85% of the insurance claims from fires that included the one […]

Beijing – China will lift punitive tariffs imposed on U.S. soybeans and pork in a trade war with Washington, a state news agency said Friday, adding to conciliatory gestures by the two sides ahead of negotiations. China will suspend tariff hikes on soybeans, pork and some other farm goods, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing […]

Houston – Democratic debate night No. 3: Attacks and counter-attacks. Love for one former president, loathing for the current one. A 76-year-old front-runner essentially got called old, and he turned around and called another rival a “socialist.” But will it change the fundamentals of a nominating fight that remains remarkably stable at the top with […]

Baltimore – President Donald Trump sought to boost the spirits of Republican lawmakers, mocking Democrats and promising a new tax cut package, as he returned to the city he recently disparaged as a “rat and rodent infested mess.” Trump spoke on Thursday to House Republicans attending an annual retreat in a hotel on Baltimore’s waterfront. […]

Washington – The U.S. State Department announced on Thursday that Cherrie Daniels has been tapped to be its Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues. Founded in 1999, the Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues “develops and implements U.S. policy to return Holocaust-era assets to their rightful owners, secure compensation for Nazi-era wrongs, and ensure […]

Washington – President Donald Trump does not believe reports that Israel is spaying on the United States, he said. Trump’s remark Thursday was about a report that Israel was likely behind the placement of devices in the vicinity of the White House that can capture cellphone calls. “I don’t believe that. No, I don’t believe […]

Washington – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler tried to clear up confusion within his caucus about impeachment on Thursday as the committee approved guidelines for impeachment hearings on President Donald Trump . Nadler says there’s no uncertainty about what his committee is doing: It’s an impeachment investigation, no matter how you want to phrase […]

Washington – The Trump administration assured on Thursday that its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran will continue, said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin amid mixed signals that U.S. President Donald Trump could meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani without preconditions and could even relax some sanctions in exchange for negotiations—both possibilities the secretary rejected. In […]

Washington – Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s wrath, faces the prospect of an indictment after his attorneys were unable to persuade senior Justice Department officials not to pursue charges that he lied to internal investigators. Two people familiar with the matter said Thursday that the deputy attorney […]

Miami – A Florida health care executive was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for orchestrating what prosecutors described as a massive $1 billion Medicare fraud scheme. U.S. District Judge Robert Scola imposed the sentence on Philip Esformes, 50, in one of the biggest such cases in U.S. history. Scola called the case one […]