Briefly

UNITED STATES

Democrats announce charges against Trump

House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment on Tuesday against US President Donald Trump－abuse of power and obstruction of Congress－pushing toward historic votes over charges he corrupted the US election process and endangered national security. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, flanked by chairmen of the impeachment inquiry committees, stood at the Capitol in what she called a "solemn act'.' Voting is expected in a matter of days in the Judiciary Committee and by Christmas in the full House. Trump had said earlier that impeaching a president with a record like his would be "sheer Political Madness".

CZECH REPUBLIC

6 shot dead in hospital attack

Six people were killed and three more wounded in a shooting in a hospital in the eastern Czech Republic on Tuesday, the prime minister and officials said. The apparent suspect later shot himself dead as police approached his car. Prime Minister Andrej Babis told Czech public television the shooting took place around 7 am in a waiting room. The attacker opened fire at people's heads from close range, Babis said. Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said police found the suspect's car and he shot himself in the head as they approached and died from his injuries about half an hour later.

MEXICO

Progress sought on 3-way trade deal

Officials from the United States, Canada and Mexico were scheduled to meet in Mexico on Tuesday for talks on a new continent-wide trade deal after US President Donald Trump hinted that efforts to push the pact through the US Congress were close to success. The talks will follow a report that US and Mexican trade negotiators reached a deal on making changes to labor enforcement under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, signed last year. That would remove a principal hurdle to ratification of the deal, the fate of which had seemed precarious in recent weeks. On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the chances of a deal were looking up. The USMCA will replace the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement.

SOUTH KOREA

Founder of Daewoo group dies at 83

Kim Woo-choong, founder of the collapsed Daewoo group whose rise symbolized South Korea's turbulent rapid economic growth in the 1970s, has died. He was 83. Kim died of pneumonia on Monday at a hospital. Born in 1936, when the Korean Peninsula was under Japan's colonial rule, Kim started as a textile salesman and founded Daewoo Corp in 1967. The company later grew into South Korea's second-largest business empire, producing everything from cars, ships, televisions, refrigerators and other electronics to clothes.