agreement

1 of 6 | White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday as he he explained how China had violated a trade agreement with the United States. Photo by Francis Chung/UPI | License Photo

May 30 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday accused China of violating a trade agreement with the United States.

“I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation, and I didn’t want to see that happen. Because of this deal, everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual. Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!”

The president did not specify which trade agreement China was violating.

Just over two weeks ago, the United States and China reached a deal to pause tariffs between the countries for 90 days. China also reduced tariffs on American goods to 10%, down from 125%, while American officials cut tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30% as part of the deal.

Trump in early April announced he would enact tariffs on several countries worldwide. He later upped the number to 145% on China after that country responded to the initial levy with duties of its own on U.S. goods.

China later said it could punish other countries that side with the United States in the trade war.

Earlier this week a federal appeals court blocked the Trump administration from enacting the tariffs on most American trading partners.

“President Trump is carrying out the long-overdue work of rebalancing the global economy to the benefit of the American people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X Thursday.

“I am confident that the Chinese, and the rest of our trading partners, will come to the table thanks to his leadership.”

Bessent also called trade talks in general with China “a bit stalled.”

At the time the agreement was reached in Geneva, Switzerland, Bessent said the two sides engaged in “very robust discussions.”

Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer led the American delegation during discussions.

The “United States did exactly what it was supposed to do, and the Chinese are slow rolling their compliance,” Greer told CNBC in an interview Friday.

Shawn Kemp’s name has long been synonymous with prodigious talent, a ton of trouble and wasted opportunity.

Now he’ll likely also be known for a jail sentence.

Kemp, 55, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault Tuesday for shooting at two men inside a vehicle in a Tacoma, Wash., mall parking lot. The plea was part of an agreement in Pierce County Superior Court in which prosecutors will recommend nine months of confinement in the county jail when Kemp is sentenced in August.

Kemp was initially charged with one count of first-degree assault with a firearm enhancement after the March 2003 shooting, and prosecutors last week added another count of assault as well as a drive-by shooting charge. No one was hurt, but the Toyota 4Runner the men were inside and another vehicle were damaged.

Kemp contended in a court filing that he fired in self-defense after one of the men shot at him. The 4Runner drove off before Tacoma police arrived, and and an empty holster was found inside the vehicle when it was discovered abandoned days later.

“Shawn is committed to moving forward in a positive direction,” Kemp’s attorney Tim Leary told the Seattle Times. “He was presented with an offer from the state that allows him to take responsibility, but I think also recognizes the self-defense nature of how this transpired.”

Kemp famously battled cocaine addiction and fathered at least seven children with six different women during a 15-year NBA career that began when he was 19 years old in 1989.

Kemp was arrested in 2006 for drug possession in Washington after he was found with cocaine, marijuana, and a pistol.

Growth has been halting, however, even for someone who sprouted 13 inches between the ninth and 11th grades, topping out at 6-foot-10. His weight ballooned during his career from 230 pounds to more than 300, yet he remained capable of dominating on the court.

That was long ago, though. And on Tuesday in court, his attorney explained that Kemp’s truck was broken into on March 8, 2023, when he and other employees who worked at his marijuana dispensary, Kemp’s Cannabis, were attending a concert in Seattle.

According to court documents, Kemp’s cellphone and game-worn Kemp and Gary Payton jerseys were among the items stolen. Kemp used a phone tracking app to look for the thieves, and confronted the driver of the 4Runner in a Tacoma mall parking lot.

A man in the back seat shot at Kemp with a handgun, according to the filing, and Kemp returned fire. The 4Runner fled, and when the vehicle was found abandoned days later, an empty holster was found inside but there was no gun, documents said.

As part of his plea, Kemp cannot possess a firearm. In addition to the proposed nine-month sentence, Kemp will spend one year in community custody and pay restitution.

“His plan is to tell the community about the dangers of gun violence, really to be a positive influence on youth,” Aaron Kiviat, another of Kemp’s attorneys, told the Seattle Times.

In a statement outlining the plea agreement, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Howe said that the case should be resolved ahead of trial because the two alleged victims were illegally in possession of Kemp’s belongings.

Both alleged victims are currently serving prison sentences in other cases. One is serving a seven-year sentence, in part for a July 2023 shooting in which he mistook the victim for Kemp. The same man recently filed a civil suit against Kemp stemming from the mall shooting.

Nicknamed the “Reign Man,” Kemp made $91,572,963 during his 15-year NBA career that ended in 2004. He was a six-time All-Star and helped the Seattle SuperSonics to the NBA finals in 1996 when he averaged a career-high 21.2 points a game. Kemp also played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers and Orlando Magic.

Kemp reflected on the ups and downs of his career on the All the Smoke podcast with former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, saying, “Going through some problems and stuff that I went through in my career also hurts you at the end. But I think when you look at the good side of it, and you compare the numbers and stuff, I’m right there with some of the best ones.”

In the last several years, YouTube has become an increasingly formidable competitor to streaming services and entertainment studios, providing videos from amateur and professional creators, as well as livestreaming major events and NFL games.

Now its growing threat to studios is playing out in the courts.

The Google-owned platform recently poached Justin Connolly, president of platform distribution from Walt Disney Co.

On Wednesday, Disney sued YouTube and Connolly for breach of contract, alleging that Connolly violated an employment agreement that did not expire until March 2027 at the earliest.

Connolly oversaw Disney’s distribution strategy and third-party media sales for its streaming services like Disney+ and its television networks. He also was responsible for film and TV programming distribution through broadcasting and digital platforms, subscription video services and pay networks.

As part of his role, Connolly led Disney’s negotiations for a licensing deal renewal with YouTube, Disney said in its lawsuit.

“It would be extremely prejudicial to Disney for Connolly to breach the contract which he negotiated just a few months ago and switch teams when Disney is working on a new licensing deal with the company that is trying to poach him,” Disney said in its lawsuit.

Disney is seeking a preliminary injunction against Connolly and YouTube to enforce its employment contract.

YouTube did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At YouTube, Connolly will be become the company’s head of media and sports, where he will be in charge of YouTube’s relationships with media companies and its live sports portfolio, according to Bloomberg.

YouTube accounted for 12% of U.S. TV viewing in in March, more than other streaming services like Netflix, according to Nielsen. YouTube’s revenue last year was estimated to be $54.2 billion, making it the second-largest media company behind Walt Disney Co., according to research firm MoffettNathanson.

Unlike many other major streaming platforms, YouTube has a mix of content made by users as well as professional studios, giving it a diverse and large video library. More than 20 billion videos have been uploaded to its platform, the company recently said. There are over 20 million videos uploaded daily on average.

Streaming services such as Netflix have brought some YouTube content to their platforms, including episodes of preschool program “Ms. Rachel.”On a recent earnings call, Netflix co-Chief Executive Greg Peters named YouTube as one of its “strong competitors.”

Connolly entered into an employment agreement with Disney on Nov. 6, Disney said in its lawsuit. That contract ran from Jan. 1, 2025 to Dec. 31, 2027, with Connolly having the option of terminating the agreement earlier on March 1, 2027, the lawsuit said.

As part of the agreement, Connolly agreed not to engage in business or become associated with any entity that is in business with Disney or its affiliates, the lawsuit said. Disney said YouTube was aware of Connolly’s employment deal with Disney but still made an offer to him.

Entertainment companies have brought lawsuits in the past to stop executive talent poaching by rivals.

In 2020, Activision Blizzard sued Netflix for poaching its chief financial officer, Spencer Neumann. That case was later closed, after Activision asked to dismiss the lawsuit in 2022.

Netflix years ago also faced litigation from Fox and Viacom alleging executives broke their contract agreements to work for the Los Gatos-based streaming service. In 2019, a judge issued an injunction barring Netflix from poaching rival Fox executives under contract or inducing them to breach their fixed-term agreements.

Editorial library director Cary Schneider contributed to this report.

McALLEN, Texas — The Trump administration is seeking to end an immigration policy cornerstone that since the 1990s has offered protections to child migrants in federal custody, a move that will be challenged by advocates, according to a court filing Thursday.

The protections in place, known as the Flores Settlement, largely limit to 72 hours the amount of time that child migrants traveling alone or with family are detained by the U.S. Border Patrol. They also ensure the children are kept in safe and sanitary conditions.

President Trump tried to end the protections during his first term and his allies have long railed against it. The court filing, submitted jointly by the administration and advocates, says the government plans to detail its arguments later Thursday and propose a hearing on July 18 before U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee.

The settlement is named for a Salvadoran girl, Jenny Flores, whose lawsuit alleging widespread mistreatment of children in custody in the 1980s prompted special oversight.

In August 2019, the first Trump administration asked a judge to dissolve the agreement. Its motion eventually was struck down in December 2020 by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Under the Biden administration, oversight protections for child migrants were lifted for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after new guidelines were put in place last year.

The Department of Homeland Security is still beholden to the agreement, including Customs and Border Protection, which detains and processes children after their arrival in the U.S. with or without their parents. Children then are usually released with their families or sent to a shelter operated by Health and Human Services, though processing times often go up when the number of people entering increases in a short period.

Even with the agreement in place, there have been instances where the federal government failed to provide adequate conditions for children, as in a case in Texas where nearly 300 children had to be moved from a Border Patrol facility following reports they were receiving inadequate food, water and sanitation.

Court-appointed monitors provide oversight of the agreement and report noncompliant facilities to Gee. Customs and Border Protection was set to resume its own oversight, but in January a federal judge ruled it was not ready and extended the use of court-appointed monitors for another 18 months.

Gonzalez writes for the Associated Press.

Accord aims to prevent repeat of disjointed response and international disarray that surrounded COVID-19 pandemic.

Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) have adopted an agreement intended to improve preparedness for future pandemics, but the absence of the United States casts doubt on the treaty’s effectiveness.

After three years of negotiations, the legally binding pact was adopted by the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday. WHO member countries welcomed its passing with applause.

The accord aims to prevent a repeat of the disjointed response and international disarray that surrounded the COVID-19 pandemic by improving coordination, surveillance and access to medicines during any future pandemics.

“It’s an historic day,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said after the vote.

The agreement’s text was finalised last month after multiple rounds of tense negotiations.

“The world is safer today thanks to the leadership, collaboration and commitment of our member states to adopt the historic WHO Pandemic Agreement,” Tedros said in a statement.

“The agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action. It will ensure we, collectively, can better protect the world from future pandemic threats. It is also a recognition by the international community that our citizens, societies and economies must not be left vulnerable to again suffer losses like those endured during COVID-19,” he added.

The agreement aims to better detect and combat pandemics by focusing on greater international coordination and surveillance and more equitable access to vaccines and treatments.

The negotiations grew tense amid disagreements between wealthy and developing countries with the latter feeling cut off from access to vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Esperance Luvindao, Namibia’s health minister and chairwoman of a committee that paved the way for the agreement’s adoption, said COVID-19 inflicted huge costs “on lives, livelihoods and economies”.

“We, as sovereign states, have resolved to join hands as one world together, so we can protect our children, elders, front-line health workers and all others from the next pandemic,” Luvindao added. “It is our duty and responsibility to humanity.”

Effective without US support?

The US, traditionally the WHO’s top donor, was not part of the final stages of the agreement process after the Trump administration announced the US pullout from the WHO and funding for the agency in January.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr slammed the WHO as “moribund” during the annual assembly.

“I urge the world’s health ministers and the WHO to take our withdrawal from the organisation as a wake-up call,” he said in a video shown at the meeting in Geneva. “We’ve already been in contact with like-minded countries, and we encourage others to consider joining us.”

Kennedy accused the WHO of failing to learn from the lessons of the pandemic.

“It has doubled down with the pandemic agreement, which will lock in all of the dysfunction of the WHO pandemic response. … We’re not going to participate in that,” he said.

The treaty’s effectiveness will face doubts without the US, which poured billions into ensuring pharmaceutical companies develop COVID-19 vaccines quickly. Countries face no penalties if they ignore it, a common issue in international law.

Countries have until May 2026 to thrash out the details of the agreement’s pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS) mechanism.

The PABS mechanism deals with sharing access to pathogens with pandemic potential and then sharing the benefits derived from them, such as vaccines, tests and treatments.

Once the PABS system is finalised, countries can then ratify the agreement. Once 60 do so, the treaty will then enter into force.

Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen went on strike early Friday in demand of better pay from New Jersey Transit. On Sunday, both sides announced a tentative deal had been reached, ending the three-day strike. Photo by Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen/X

May 18 (UPI) — Negotiators from the state of New Jersey and the union representing hundreds of locomotive engineers announced they reached a tentative agreement on Sunday, ending the first statewide transit strike in four decades.

Terms of the agreement were not made public, but the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union had sought a pay raise for its 450 members. BLET said in a statement that the agreement will be sent to its members and its specifics will be publicized after they’ve had a chance to review it.

“While I won’t get into the exact details of the deal reached, I will say that the only real issue was wages, and we were able to reach an agreement that boosts hourly pay beyond the proposal rejected by our members last month and beyond where we were when NJ Transit’s managers walked away from the table Thursday evening,” said Tom Haas, BLET’s general chairman at NJ Transit.

The union went on strike Friday at 12:01 a.m. after negotiations abruptly ended hours earlier. An agreement to prevent a strike had been reached by the union and NJ Transit in late March but members voted 87% against it in mid-April.

It was the first statewide transit strike in 42 years.

The office of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy confirmed in a statement that rail transit will resume in the state, with regular weekday train service to start Tuesday, as inspections and other maintenance work following the work stoppage will take about 24 hours to complete.

“This agreement reflects the commitment of both the BLET and NJ Transit to remain at the table engaging in productive conversations, and I commend them both,” Murphy said. “Most importantly, it ensures the resumption of rail service for the 100,000 people who depend on our rail system on a daily basis.”

The tentative agreement must next be ratified by BLET members and approved by the NJ Transit Board of Directors.

The main issue that held up negotiators was pay. BLET had said that its members were the lowest paid of all locomotive engineers working for a major commuter railroad in the nation and that it was seeking a comparable wage for its 450 members.

Ahead of the strike, NJ Transit estimated that more than 350,000 daily riders would be negatively affected by the work stoppage.

The Partnership for New York City has estimated that every hour commuters are delayed getting to work due to NJ Transit rail being out of service costs New York City employers nearly $6 million.