USA

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 10 (APP): Pakistan on Thursday hit back at India’s terror accusations, branding that country, which is ruled by Hindu nationalists, as the “largest and most pervasive purveyor of terrorism” in the South Asian region. “It (India) has used terrorism as an instrument of its coercive policies against every one of its neighbours and against its own Muslim population,” Ambassador Munir Akram told delegates taking part in a virtual United Nations-sponsored webinar on ‘the Global Scourge of Terrorism’.

UNITED NATIONS, July 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Syrian pro-government forces and their opponents flagrantly violated the laws of war during the battle for Idlib province last year, UN investigators say.

Civilians endured “unfathomable suffering” when the Syrian military launched a campaign late last year to retake the area, according to a report.

They were subjected to indiscriminate air strikes and ground shelling, as well as arrests, torture and pillaging.

Hundreds of civilians were killed before a ceasefire was agreed in March.

Washington, Jul 10 (PTI) A group of 136 US Democratic congressmen and 30 senators, including Indian-origin Kamala Harris, has urged the Trump administration to reverse its "cruel" order that bars international students from staying in the country if they do not have in-person classes to attend.

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Xinhua) -- A top U.S. infectious diseases expert said on Thursday that U.S. partisanship has made the fight against COVID-19 harder and the country is not doing well in anti-epidemic fight compared to others.

"You have to be having blindfolders on and covering your ears to think that we don't live in a very divisive society now," said Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in an interview with the FiveThirtyEight podcast.

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's official withdrawal of the country from the World Health Organization (WHO) is "an act of true senselessness," U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Twitter.

Trump made the decision at a time when "the WHO coordinates the global fight against COVID-19," Pelosi wrote on Wednesday. "With millions of lives at risk, the President is crippling the international effort to defeat the virus."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on three senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party, including a member of the ruling Politburo, for alleged human rights abuses targeting ethnic and religious minorities that China has detained in the western part of the country.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The ousted U.S. attorney who was leading investigations into President Donald Trump’s allies told the House Judiciary panel on Thursday that Attorney General William Barr “repeatedly urged” him to resign during a hastily arranged meeting that sheds light on the extraordinary standoff surrounding his departure.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Pentagon leaders told Congress on Thursday that reports of Russia offering Taliban militants bounties for killing Americans were not corroborated by defense intelligence agencies, but said they are looking into it and the U.S. will respond if necessary.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said his military commanders heard initial reports on the the bounty issue in January and he first saw an intelligence paper about it in February. While the threats were taken seriously, he said they have not yet been found credible.

ATLANTA (AP) — Federal health officials won’t revise their coronavirus guidelines for reopening schools despite criticism from President Donald Trump, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. What they will do, he said, is provide additional information to help states, communities and parents decide what to do and when.

“Our guidelines are our guidelines,” Dr. Robert Redfield declared.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Federal officials were so worried Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell might take her own life after her arrest that they took away her clothes and bedsheets and made her wear paper attire while in custody, an official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

The steps to ensure Maxwell’s safety while she’s locked up at a federal jail in New York City extend far beyond the measures federal officials took when they first arrested her in New Hampshire last week.