North America

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Killings, rapes and other barbaric violence committed by an ethnic armed group in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo against a rival group may amount to crimes against humanity and possibly even genocide, the United Nations said.

The attacks in Ituri province have mostly targeted Hema herders, who have long been in conflict with Lendu farmers over grazing rights and political representation.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responding to Iran’s statement that a missile shot down a Ukrainian airliner this week, said on Saturday that his government sought a full investigation and full cooperation from the Iranian authorities.

All 176 people on board, including 57 Canadians, were killed in Wednesday’s crash after take-off from Tehran. Canada had said for several days it believed the plane was downed by an Iranian missile, but until Saturday Iran had denied this.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co has released hundreds of internal messages that contained harshly critical comments about the development of the 737 MAX, including one that said the plane was “designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys”.

The messages, disclosed on Thursday, show attempts to duck regulatory scrutiny with employees disparaging the plane, the company, the Federal Aviation Administration and foreign aviation regulators.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Hau Do Suan said Friday that the world needs a stronger UN more than ever.

"At this critical time, the world needs a stronger UN more than ever to harmonize our collective efforts to strengthening multilateralism and maintenance of international peace and security," the Myanmar UN ambassador told a Security Council open debate on upholding the UN Charter.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- A 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit Puerto Rico on Friday afternoon, as the Caribbean island is recovering from temblors that occurred earlier this week.

The earthquake happened at 5:26 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (2226 GMT), with its epicenter around 4 km south of Indios on the island's southern coast, according to the U.S. Geological Service (USGS).

There are no immediate reports of damages or casualties as local media said aftershocks continue to be felt across most of the island.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government said Friday that it has imposed fresh sanctions on Iran, days after Iran's missile attacks targeting U.S. forces in Iraq.

The latest move included sanctions on metal manufacturing and other sectors of the Iranian economy, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin told reporters at a White House press briefing, noting that the sanctions are both primary and secondary.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg chased California votes on Friday in dueling events, looking to sway Democrats in the state that delivers the largest haul of delegates in the presidential contest.

Appearing at a short-term housing complex for the homeless, Buttigieg promised a new era of help for people living on the streets, while Biden sought to upstage the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor with a formal endorsement from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti attended by firefighters. The endorsement was initially announced Thursday.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia scored a victory for its close ally Syria on Friday, using its veto threat to force the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution significantly reducing the delivery of cross-border humanitarian aid and cutting off critical medical assistance to over one million Syrians in the northeast.

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce accused Russia of playing politics with humanitarian aid for the first time in the nearly nine-year Syrian conflict, and “playing dice with the lives of Syrian people in the northeast.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military tried, but failed, to take out another senior Iranian commander on the same day that an American airstrike killed the Revolutionary Guard’s top general, U.S. officials said Friday.

The officials said a military airstrike by special operations forces targeted Abdul Reza Shahlai, a high-ranking commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps but the mission was not successful. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss a classified mission.

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas will no longer accept the resettlement of new refugees, becoming the first state known to do so under a recent Trump administration order, Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday.

Abbott’s announcement could have major implications for refugees coming to the United States. Texas has large refugee populations in several of its cities and has long been a leader in settling refugees, taking in more than any other state during the 2018 governmental fiscal year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.