U.S. to host Chinese for talks on trade
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The U.S. will host a delegation from China led by Vice Premier Liu He early next month, after a trip by U.S. officials to China in an effort to improve trade relations, the White House said Saturday.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump is sending U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to Beijing starting this week, joined by deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish and other senior Trump administration officials.
Liu and other Chinese officials will meet with officials in Washington starting April 3, Sanders said.
The trade dispute began last year after the U.S. made several complaints, including that China was stealing U.S. trade secrets and was forcing companies to give them technology to access its market. Trump imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports, about half what the United States buys from that country. China retaliated with tariffs on about $110 billion of U.S. items.
China's commerce ministry had previously said Lighthizer and Mnuchin would be in China on Thursday and Friday for the eighth round of trade negotiations.
Suspect in NYC subway attack arrested
NEW YORK -- A man has been taken into police custody in connection with an attack on a 78-year-old woman on the subway this month, New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said in a tweet Saturday.
The man, Marc Gomez, 36, of Yonkers, N.Y., was arrested Saturday morning, police said. Gomez was identified last week by an anonymous tipster who said he often hung around areas of lower Manhattan. Gomez was charged with felony assault.
The attack, which took place about 3 a.m. March 10, surfaced last week when a video of the assault was posted to the Internet. The recording of the attack had received more than 10 million views as of Saturday afternoon.
A tall man could be seen forcefully kicking the woman at least six times as she sat on a northbound No. 2 train that was pulling into the Nereid Avenue station. Bystanders recorded the encounter and shouted but did not intervene. It was not clear what preceded the attack.
As the attacker left the train, he turned to the passengers recording and said, "WorldStar that" -- a reference to a popular website that often showcases clips of violent altercations -- followed by a racial slur.
The woman was met by an ambulance at the next train station, and treated for swelling and cuts on her face, police said.
Leader of Southern law center resigning
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The head of the Southern Poverty Law Center on Friday announced that he is stepping down, the latest high-profile departure from the watchdog organization best known for its work monitoring extremist groups.
Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen sent an email to staff saying that he would be stepping down from his leadership role at the organization. The organization earlier this month fired founder and prominent civil-rights attorney Morris Dees for unspecified reasons.
"Whatever problems exist at the [Southern Poverty Law Center] happened on my watch, so I take responsibility for them," Cohen wrote.
Cohen in October had approached the organization's board about finding a "new generation" of leadership. He wrote Friday that he was stepping up that time frame in light of recent events, and asked the organization's board to immediately begin the search for an interim president "in order to give the organization the best chance to heal."
He also asked his staff for patience as they bring in an outside party to review the organization's workplace environment.
The law center did not elaborate on the reasons behind Dees' termination.
Florida city moving rebel soldier statue
LAKELAND, Fla. -- A statue of a Confederate soldier is being removed from a Florida park.
The statue had stood at the center of Lakeland's Munn Park for 109 years. City officials began dismantling the monument Friday.
City commissioners voted in December 2017 to start the process to move the statue after receiving complaints from residents. In November, commissioners approved funding the $150,000 cost of moving the statue with citations issued as part of the city's red-light camera program.
The Ledger reports the statue is being relocated to a different park where the city honors soldiers and first responders. Veterans Park is adjacent to a city-owned convention and entertainment complex.
A Section on 03/24/2019