Bloomberg Three Democratic senators joined President Donald Trump for a White House dinner aimed at winning their support for an as-yet unreleased tax overhaul bill that would be written by Republican leaders. Trump’s guests — Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana — are the only three Democratic senators who haven’t signed …

Bloomberg ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ North Korea rejected the latest round of United Nations sanctions on the isolated state, and vowed to accelerate its plans to acquire a nuclear weapon that can strike the US homeland. In its first official response to the new resolution, North Korea’s foreign ministry released a statement on state-run media saying the sanctions justified its nuclear push and …

BAGHDAD / ERBIL / Reuters Iraq’s Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani vowed to press ahead with a referendum on Kurdish independence on Sept. 25 despite a vote by Iraq’s parliament to reject the move. Earlier the parliament in Baghdad authorised the prime minister to “take all measures” to preserve Iraq’s unity. Kurdish lawmakers walked out of the session before the vote …