The White House says that President Donald Trump's criticisms of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election is not obstruction.
AP's Warren Levinson reports that press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders hit back in the press briefing.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says an early morning tweet saying Attorney General Jeff Sessions should end the Mueller probe is not an order, it's an opinion.
"Look, the president is not obstructing, he's fighting back. The president is stating his opinion, he's stating it clearly."
Sanders called the investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 election corrupt, claiming incorrectly it is based on a discredited dossier. She also says Trump is following the bank fraud and tax evasion trial of his former campaign chairman and that he believes Paul Manafort is being treated unfairly.
I'm Warren Levinson.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is proposing a tariff rate increase on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods as the two countries continue conversations to determine whether trade talks can be resumed.
As VOA's White House bureau chief Steve Herman reports, the Trump administration is calling for tariffs to increase from 10 to 25 percent.
The president has directed the USTR to consider increasing the proposed level of additional duty from 10 percent to 25 percent and that would be applied to a proposed list of products that had been previously announced.
So what we have is not just a tit for tat but I think even as the officials here admit that China just continues double down and double down and double down on unfair trading practices one official put it in his call. And I don't think there will be many people who would dispute that if we see this additional round, you can call it all-out trade war.
This is VOA news.
Three people are dead in Zimbabwe's capital after security forces clashed with protesters demanding the release of presidential election results.
As Anita Powell reports, Zimbabweans are anxiously waiting for tallies from Monday's presidential election, the first in 38 years without longtime leader Robert Mugabe on the ballot.
Opposition protesters and security forces clashed in central Harare Wednesday, with riot police answered with firing tear gas, rubber bullets, live rounds and cater cannon.
The demonstrators protesting outside the offices of the Electoral Commission want the immediate release of the results from Monday's presidential election.
Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa is claiming victory over current President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Inside the Electoral Commission headquarters, international observers aired their concerns, with the EU and American observer missions voicing concern over "subtle intimidation" ahead of the vote and noting that the longer the results take, the more tense this wounded nation will be.
Anita Powell, VOA news, Harare.
Late Wednesday, Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa issued a statement blaming the opposition for the violence.
The country's Interior Ministry said the government was invoking a law that allows the military to continue to keep order.
The toll from one of the worst fires in California history rose Wednesday to more than 1,000 homes destroyed and another 200 damaged.
As fire crews battled the blaze near the city of Redding, Governor Jerry Brown told journalists he will send "whatever resources are needed" to help.
"There's money in this year's budget. We are enjoying the ninth year of recovery. So this is a period when money accumulates to its highest degree."
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said another 440 buildings, including barns, warehouses and other structures, have also been destroyed by the fire.
The United States imposed sanctions on two top officials in Turkey's government Wednesday in a news attempt to get Ankara to turn over an American pastor accused of backing a coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The U.S. Treasury Department said it acted against Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül and Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu over the country's imprisonment of Pastor Andrew Brunson.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry called Washington's act a "hostile stance" and said that it would retaliate.
Brunson, who has been detained for nearly two years, is expected in court October 12th to defend against charges of helping a network led by U.S. Muslim preacher Fethullah Gülen.
Turkey blames Gülen for a failed 2016 coup attempt against President Erdoğan.
Brunson is also charged with supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
For more, visit our website voanews.com. I'm David Byrd, VOA news.
