A divided Senate nears OK of Trump health secretary

A divided Senate nears OK of Trump health secretary

WASHINGTON

Republicans pushed President Donald Trump’s choice for health secretary toward confirmation Thursday in the testy Senate’s fourth consecutive brawl over Cabinet picks.

Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., seemed certain to win confirmation to head the Health and Human Services Department by a mostly party-line vote, testament to each side’s divergent views of him and the raw feelings that have enveloped Washington.

Republicans see the conservative seven-term House member and orthopedic surgeon as a knowledgeable leader who will help scuttle President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Democrats describe an ideologue who has a shady history of trading health care stocks and whose policies will snatch insurance coverage from Americans.

Palestinian gunman wounds 6 Israelis in attack near market

JERUSALEM

A Palestinian opened fire and stabbed shoppers with a screwdriver near a busy open-air market in central Israel on Thursday, wounding at least six people, police said.

Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police confirmed it was a “terror attack” and that the 18-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank was arrested soon after the shooting in Petah Tikva.

Israeli media reported that the Palestinian attacker fired at a bus and toward shoppers buying groceries at the market ahead of the Jewish Sabbath, before running down the street. He continued shooting as civilians gave chase.

The Ynet news site said he fled into a repair shop for sewing machines, where passers-by tackled him. They threw a sewing machine and chairs at the attacker and subdued him before police detained him.

Trump reaffirms ‘one China policy’ in call with China’s Xi

BEIJING

President Donald Trump has reaffirmed America’s long-standing “one China policy” in a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, potentially alleviating concerns about a major shift in Washington’s relations with Beijing.

The White House and China’s state broadcaster CCTV said the two spoke by phone on Thursday evening.

The White House said they discussed numerous topics and that Trump agreed at Xi’s request to honor the one China that requires Washington to maintain only unofficial ties with China’s rival Taiwan.

The White House described the call as “extremely cordial” and that the two leaders had invited each other to visit.

Trump has accused Beijing of unfair trade practices, criticized China’s military buildup in the South China Sea and accused Beijing of doing too little to pressure North Korea.

Syria war seethes despite cease-fire

BEIRUT

Syria’s fronts are on fire despite a cease-fire reached in December between the rebels and the government.

Though the two sides sat face-to-face in the Kazakh capital of Astana a month later, the government has pressed offensives against rebels around the capital, Damascus, and recently escalated its air campaigns in Homs and Idlib.

The war’s January toll – some 2,000 dead, about a third of them civilians, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group– is the lowest it has been in four years. But that may be because the government wrapped up operations for Aleppo.

Associated Press