Japan says tariffs on U.S. imports of frozen beef will rise to 50 percent next month, from the current 38.5 percent. “The tariff will take effect automatically as the volume of the imported U.S. frozen beef exceeded the quota set by law,” Finance Minister Taro Aso said Friday. Under World Trade Organization rules, Japan can impose safeguard tariffs when imports rise more than 17 percent, year-on-year in any given quarter. Japan, known for its world-famous Kobe beef, prized by chefs around the world for its tenderness, flavor and marbled fat, uses tariffs and other measures to protect its farmers from competition. Peter Seng, chief executive of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, said in a statement the 50 percent tariff has implications for U.S. beef exports that are “significant.” Australia, however, which exports almost as much beef to Japan as the U.S., is not facing the emergency tariffs because it has …

Suffolk County on Long Island, New York, has seen safer days. With 17 reported murders of gang-related violence since January 2016, one afflicted community of mostly Hispanic residents has altered the way it goes about regular activities; among them, high school students like Natalia Osorio, who heeds her parents advice whenever she sees members of the royal-blue-clad gang known as La Mara Salvatrucha — MS-13. “I walk to school, so they just always tell me to be careful and not talk to anybody,” she says, “Or maybe if somebody comes in a car, they will ask, ‘Oh, you want a ride,’ and you’ll be like ‘No, I don’t want a ride. I’m fine.’” The threat of MS-13 is why President Donald Trump planned to visit here Friday with the message that lawmakers must do more to combat illegal immigration. While MS-13 originated in Los Angeles, most of its members are …

Russia’s foreign ministry said Friday it is imposing counter measures on the U.S. in response to new sanctions approved Thursday by Congress. The ministry said the sanctions confirm the “extreme aggression of U.S. in international affairs.” “We propose to the U.S. side,” the ministry said, “to bring the number of diplomatic and technical staff working in the U.S. embassy in Moscow and the consulates general  . . . in exact accordance with the number of Russian diplomats and technical staff in the U.S.”  Russia said the reduction in force would bring the number of U.S. diplomats and staff to 455, and would need to be completed by the end of August. In addition to the reduction in U.S. diplomatic personnel, Russia also said it would block the U.S. embassy in Russia from accessing its warehouses in Moscow and a vacation compound in Serebryany Bor. “We also reserve the right to …

Using the site of last week’s mass arrests of notorious MS-13 gang members as a backdrop, President Donald Trump’s visit to the city of Brentwood, New York, underscores the severity of transnational violence that has plagued a heavily Hispanic community. As federal authorities ramp up efforts to eradicate the gang, residents are wary and divided over its intended or unintended consequences. …

A U.S. jury on Thursday found Macau billionaire Ng Lap Seng guilty on charges he bribed two United Nations ambassadors to help him build a multibillion-dollar conference center. Ng, 69, was convicted on all six counts he faced, including bribery, money laundering and corruption, in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Jurors needed less than a day to reach a verdict, following a four-week trial. “In his unbridled pursuit of even greater personal fortune, billionaire Ng Lap Seng corrupted the highest levels of the United Nations,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said after the verdict. “Through bribes and no-show jobs, Ng turned leaders of the league of nations into his private band of profiteers.” Tai Park, a lawyer for Ng, said in court that his client had “substantial” legal issues to raise on appeal. Park later declined to comment to reporters. The United Nations also had no comment. Prosecutors accused …

U.S. lawmakers said on Thursday that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told them he will defer to President Donald Trump on the timing of a decision on new steel import curbs, likely meaning further delays and deliberations on the issue. Members of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee attending a briefing with Ross said he did not specify a timetable for releasing a long-awaited report that will lay out options for shielding the steel industry from imports on national security grounds. Ross had originally hoped to release the steel “Section 232” report at the end of June but the timing has slipped amid disagreements among White House aides over the merits of restricting imports that could hurt steel consuming industries. A House Democratic aide who attended the briefing said Ross repeated President Donald Trump’s comments in a Wall Street Journal interview this week that the decision on potential steel …

While President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking a reason to keep American troops in Afghanistan after 16 years of war, U.S. officials are also examining options to stabilize conflicts in the region, including a dialogue that would move forward a peace process.  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is not advocating for military options, but looking to facilitate a dialogue between Kabul and the Taliban, according to the State Department. “I think one of the things that the secretary feels very strongly about is trying to develop — get to a place where we can have some sort of a peace process. And that means actually sitting down and talking with members of the Taliban and starting to facilitate that kind of dialogue,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said earlier this week. “Ultimately, like in many situations in many other countries, military options or our military strategy is not necessarily going …

President Donald Trump has awarded the U.S. Medal of Valor to five police officers for their heroism at the scene of a gun attack last month against  members of Congress. The five first responders stopped the shootout, which took place at a baseball field in Washington’s suburbs. Republican lawmakers and some of their staff and aides were practicing at the time for an annual baseball game between Republican and Democratic members of Congress. WATCH: President Trump honors first responders Three members of the Alexandria, Virginia, police department and two U.S. Capitol Police special agents received the nation’s highest honor for public safety officers during a White House ceremony Thursday. All suffered injuries in the process; one of the two women in the group is still walking with the aid of crutches. “When our human instincts tell us to run [away] — there’s danger! — our police and first responders run …

A proposed border tax in the House of Representatives was killed on Thursday, bringing relief to retailers and other large importers whose profits faced threats and removing a hurdle that had kept negotiations on the long-promised Republican overhaul of the U.S. tax code from advancing. The border adjustment tax was part of a broad reform of the tax code being pushed by House Republican leaders. It was meant to discourage companies from manufacturing products overseas and then importing them into the United States for sale instead of producing goods in the U.S. The tax would have generated roughly $1 trillion in revenue, allowing tax-code writers to slash the corporate tax rate without increasing the nation’s deficit. Removing the controversial provision could make it easier to pass tax legislation, but likely narrows the scope of what could become law. It suggests Republicans are more likely to implement simple rate cuts and …

U.S. lawmakers have approved a bill imposing new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, which will now be sent to President Donald Trump for approval. Senators overwhelmingly approved the bill Thursday with a vote of 98-2, a day after the House and Senate agreed on the terms. Republican Sen. Bob Corker announced the deal in a statement late Wednesday, saying it came after discussions with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The House has already passed the bill with a vote of 419-3. Corker had earlier objected to including the North Korean sanctions, initially favoring to address that issue in a separate bill. But he dropped those objections and said the House of Representatives would work on enhancing the North Korea language. Lawmakers pushed for more Russia sanctions in response to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Russian President Vladimir Putin denies the charges and objects to the …

The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State is cutting ties with a local Syrian partner force who “engaged in activities not focused on fighting ISIS,” a coalition spokesman said Thursday. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon told reporters that American forces were “in the process of ceasing our support and receiving the equipment” provided to the group Shohada al-Qartyan (ShQ) to fight Islamic State militants in southern Syria. “We have made it very clear time and again that our goal in Syria and in Iraq is to fight ISIS and to fight ISIS only,” Dillon said, using the common acronym for Islamic State. “Our partner forces, we’ve asked them to be committed to that same mission.” Two U.S. officials confirmed to VOA that the group targeted pro-Syrian regime forces located outside southern Syria’s so-called deconfliction zone, which for months has been established as the area within a 55-kilometer radius of the al-Tanf garrison, …

Simmering White House tensions are breaking into the open as President Donald Trump’s newly named communications chief, Anthony Scaramucci, wages a campaign to root out damaging leaks of embarrassing and sometimes classified information that have undercut the administration’s credibility. One of Scaramucci’s immediate targets appears to be White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, a politically well-connected former Republican Party chief who, by virtue of his position, is one of the most powerful officials in the administration. Scaramucci, a wealthy former Wall Street banker and frequent Trump defender on television news programs, was brought in to head the White House communications department last week, prompting the resignation of press secretary and Priebus ally Sean Spicer. Another communications team member has since resigned amid allegations that he was the source of press leaks. Showdown likely Scaramucci set the stage for a showdown with Priebus the day he was hired, telling a …

The first meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Border Mayors Association since Donald Trump became U.S. president began Thursday, as the stakes of debate in Washington could hardly be higher for the region of 12 million people stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Trump is moving ahead with plans to build a “big, beautiful wall” separating the two countries and add 5,000 Border Patrol agents, despite uncertainty about how much Congress will agree to pay. The U.S., Mexico and Canada are preparing to overhaul the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, one of Trump’s favorite punching bags. As with other border gatherings of mayors and governors, one challenge was getting enough elected officials to attend. This year’s hosts, Mayor Kevin Faulconer of San Diego and Juan Manuel Gastelum of Tijuana, Mexico, ensured that two of the region’s largest cities were represented. Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El …

U.S. General Mark Milley, chief of staff of the Army, says North Korean missile technology may be advancing faster than expected. Milley spoke Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington, as North Koreans concluded a day of remembrance to mark the anniversary of the end of the Korean War. Milley told his audience, “North Korea is extremely dangerous, and more dangerous as the weeks go by.” ‘Never seen before’ Earlier this month Pyongyang announced it had completed its first successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, one expert said could travel far enough to reach the westernmost U.S. states of Alaska or Hawaii. The launch took U.S. defense experts by surprise. Pentagon officials said it was something they had “never seen before.” There was speculation that North Korea might use Thursday’s anniversary to test-launch a new missile, but late in the day, those fears appeared to have been …

Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a bill that would give undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country as children a chance to earn permanent residency. Democratic Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard and Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced Wednesday the legislation that would protect the group of people known as DREAMers by also giving them a path to U.S. citizenship. The bill mirrors the bipartisan effort introduced in the Senate last week by Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican Lindsey Graham. “This bicameral DREAM Act is the most progressive yet, and moves the ball forward for protecting DREAMers, individuals who have built their lives here and call no other country their home,” Roybal-Allard said. Ros-Lehtinen said the focus of the bill is to “keep the best and brightest in our country and improve our shared home,” and that the people it would help have for too long lived …

Attorneys for a condemned killer of a San Antonio woman argue that deficient legal help during earlier stages of his appeals tainted his case and that he should be spared from being executed Thursday so his appeals can be reviewed more fairly. TaiChin Preyor, 46, is set for lethal injection for fatally slashing 24-year-old Jami Tackett in 2004. She’s identified in court documents as his drug supplier. If executed, Preyor would be the fifth inmate put to death in Texas this year and the 16th nationally. Preyor’s lawyers, who were rejected by Texas courts and a federal judge in San Antonio, were at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pursuing arguments that an inexperienced California attorney who handled federal appeals in his case from 2011 to 2014 was “utterly unqualified.” They said she employed a disbarred lawyer for guidance, perpetrating a fraud on the courts. The appeals court should …

In a chaotic and perhaps crucial week in Washington, President Donald Trump held a campaign-style rally Tuesday in Ohio before thousands of enthusiastic supporters and a smattering of protesters. Trump is hoping to turn around his low poll numbers and get his agenda back on track with a health care victory in the Senate, a key campaign promise from last year’s election. VOA national correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington. …

U.S. lawmakers have reached an agreement that clears the way for a bill imposing new sanctions in Russia, Iran and North Korea to be sent to President Donald Trump for approval. Sen. Bob Corker announced the deal in a statement late Wednesday, saying it came after discussions with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Corker had earlier objected to including the North Korean sanctions, instead favoring to address that issue in a separate bill. But he said the House of Representatives agreed to soon work on further strengthening the measures against North Korea. The legislation also includes a provision giving Congress a fast-track procedure to disapprove of any moves the president makes to end the sanctions. During weeks of negotiations, the Trump administration pushed back at what it saw as an attempt to limit the executive branch’s ability to unilaterally ease sanctions, making the case that it limits U.S. leverage in …