WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump announced Friday he is nominating State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to succeed Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The former Fox News reporter became acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs earlier this year after first joining the State Department under the Trump administration in April 2017.

WASHINGTON—After years of delays, persecuted religious minorities victimized by Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 in Iraq and Syria are set to get some relief from the U.S. government.

Congress last week unanimously passed The Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act, designed to provide aid to Christians, Yazidis, Shia Muslims, and other religious minorities that underwent displacement and genocide at the hands of ISIS.

After suffering a sharp defeat in the 2018 midterm elections, Republican state lawmakers in Wisconsin are working to limit the powers of incoming Democrats. Legislators passed a package of bills to limit gubernatorial authority Tuesday, and outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker is expected to sign off on the move Thursday.

WASHINGTON—Members of the general public lined up before sunrise Tuesday to pay their respects to former President George H.W. Bush, whose body lies in state in the U.S. Capitol rotunda with an honor guard standing watch. On Monday, congressional leaders gathered in the rotunda for a memorial ceremony for the former 41st president, who died Friday night at age 94. His casket will remain at the Capitol until his state funeral, set for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Washington National Cathedral.

U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed the United States–Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade Friday in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The deal replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the 1990s pact that Trump vowed to dismantle. The Trump administration is celebrating the signing as a win for all three countries, but the deal still needs ratification from Congress to take effect.

WASHINGTON—The triple punch of a new filing, a news report, and a guilty plea has thrust special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation back into the spotlight, raising questions about whether the probe is accelerating toward the finish line.

Since May 2017, Mueller has led an investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election and whether the president obstructed the probe. The inquiry has led to charges against 33 people, most notably 26 Russians.

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, pleaded guilty Thursday to lying to Congress in 2017 about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential election. Cohen admitted to misleading the Senate Intelligence Committee to believe that work on the project ended before the Iowa caucuses and first Republican presidential primary in 2016. It actually continued until the end of June that year, well into the campaign season.