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Washington, Sep 26 (AFP/PTI) A homemade submarine carrying more than five tons of cocaine was intercepted in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America, the US Coast Guard said.

The 39-foot-long (12 metre) vessel had previously been detected by maritime surveillance, according to a statement published Tuesday.

NEW YORK, Sept 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Honduras signed a deal with the U.S. government on Wednesday that could push migrants who cross the country on the way to the United States back to seek asylum, in the latest bilateral deal with Central American countries aimed at curbing migration.

Wednesday’s “safe third country”-type deal is similar to agreements signed by El Salvador on Sept 20 and Guatemala on July 26. The countries have released few details about how the agreements would be implemented.

Acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire has threatened to resign over concerns that the White House may force him to stonewall Congress when testifying on Thursday about a whistleblower complaint on president Trump.

According to Washington Post, this revelation reflects the extraordinary tensions between the White House and the nation’s highest-ranking intelligence official over a matter that has triggered impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and an intelligence official’s whistleblower complaint (all times local):

6:50 p.m.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is decrying reports that President Donald Trump urged the president of Ukraine to look into his son’s business dealings there.

Biden says in a statement that if the reports are true, “Then there is truly no bottom to President Trump’s willingness to abuse his power and abase our country.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. manufacturing sector “already appears in recession” and overall economic growth is expected to slow “in the near horizon,” St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said on Friday, explaining why he dissented at a recent Fed meeting and wanted a deeper, half percentage point rate cut.

The Fed reduced its target overnight policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, to a level of between 1.75% and 2.0%, to offset slowing global growth and risks associated in part with President Donald Trump’s trade battles with China.

WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — U.S. and Chinese deputy trade negotiators resumed face-to-face talks for the first time in nearly two months, as the world’s two largest economies try to bridge deep policy differences and find a way out of their protracted trade war.

The negotiations, which extended into Friday, are aimed at laying the groundwork for high-level talks in early October that will determine whether the two countries are working toward a solution or headed for new and higher tariffs on each other’s goods.

Washington, Sep 19 (AFP/PTI) Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved last weekend's attack on Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure, CBS News reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed US official.

The report came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, flying to the kingdom, called Saturday's strikes which knocked out half of Saudi crude output an "act of war."

CBS, without giving specifics about the US official or how they obtained the information, said Khamenei approved the attack only on condition that it be carried out in a way to deny Iranian involvement.

WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 125 migrant mothers and children have sued the U.S. government, claiming the Trump administration has violated the rights of asylum-seekers through the arbitrary and capricious implementation of a virtual asylum ban at the southern border.

The lawsuit, filed late on Monday, was the first to challenge President Donald Trump over asylum since the U.S. Supreme Court decided last week that an anti-asylum rule will be allowed to take effect while a separate lawsuit on its underlying legality is heard.

17 Sep 2019; MEMO: US President Donald Trump said on Monday said it looked like Iran was behind attacks on oil plants in Saudi Arabia but stressed he did not want to go to war, as the attacks sent oil prices soaring and raised fears of a new Middle East conflict.

Iran has rejected US charges it was behind the strikes on Saturday that damaged the world’s biggest crude-processing plant and triggered the largest jump in crude prices in decades.

17 Sep 2019; MEMO: US President Donald Trump said yesterday that America has become such a big oil producer that it no longer needs petrol from the Middle East.

Writing on Twitter, Trump said: “Because we have done so well with Energy over the last few years (thank you, Mr. President!), we are a net Energy Exporter, & now the Number One Energy Producer in the World.