IN BRIEF (Page 7)

UNITED STATES

White House spurns impeachment probe

The White House declared on Tuesday it will halt any and all cooperation with what it termed the "illegitimate" impeachment probe by Democrats in the House of Representatives, sharpening the constitutional clash between US President Donald Trump and Congress. Trump's attorneys sent a lengthy letter to House leaders bluntly stating the White House's refusal to participate in the inquiry that was given a boost by last week's release of a whistleblower's complaint that the president sought political favors from Ukraine. A senior White House official said that means no additional witnesses under the administration's purview will be permitted to appear in front of Congress or comply with document requests.

1m migrants stopped at border last year

Border agents arrested or stopped nearly 1 million undocumented migrants at the United States' southern border with Mexico in the past 12 months, an administration official said on Tuesday. Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, told a news conference at the White House that his agency's enforcement actions at the border in the 2019 fiscal year, which involved 977,509 undocumented migrants, are "a staggering 88 percent higher" than those in the previous year. "These numbers are numbers that no immigration system in the world is designed to handle," Morgan said.

SOUTH KOREA

Protesters call for minister's ouster

Thousands of protesters rallied on Wednesday in South Korea's capital for the second consecutive week to call for the ouster of President Moon Jae-in's hand-picked justice minister, whose family is at the center of an investigation into allegations of financial crimes and academic favors. The protest near the presidential palace in Seoul followed a weekend demonstration in which a large crowd of pro-government supporters occupied streets in front of the state prosecutors' offices to show their support for the beleaguered minister, Cho Kuk, whose appointment last month has deepened the nation's political divide. The city's streets are now divided between pro-Cho and anti-Cho protesters.

AFGHANISTAN

Al-Qaida chief in South Asia killed

The leader of al-Qaida's South Asian branch was killed in a US-Afghan joint raid in southern Afghanistan last month, Afghan officials confirmed on Tuesday. Asim Umar, who led al-Qaida on the subcontinent from its inception in 2014, was killed during a raid on Sept 23 on a Taliban compound in the Musa Qala district of Helmand Province. The Afghan Taliban denied that Umar had died, calling the report "enemy-fabricated propaganda" meant to hide having hit a wedding party that had "only caused heavy civilian losses".

Xinhua - Agencies

(China Daily Global 10/10/2019 page7)