USA

NEW YORK (AP) — As anyone who has ever heard him speak knows, President Donald Trump loves to relive 2016.

He recycles old attack lines once aimed at Hillary Clinton. He recounts the drama of election night, complete with impersonations of stunned news anchors putting state after state (Pennsylvania! Wisconsin!) in the Republican’s column.

(AP) --- The Trump administration appears to be retreating from its commitment to quickly remove most of a new fence blocking demonstrators and other members of the public from in front of the White House.

Instead, National Park Service spokeswoman Katie Liming says only that her agency is in “continuing discussions” with the Secret Service about what Liming called the temporary security fencing at the front of the White House.

NEW YORK, Jun 09 (APP): An American military commentator has called for pressuring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end his aggressive actions along the Line-of-Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir as also against Muslims in India that have escalated tensions with Pakistan.

“Indian patrols have become more aggressive, as if pushing for a hostile exchange of gunfire,” Colonel (retired) Wes Martin of the U.S. Army Military Police, said in an article released Monday by United Press International (UPI), an international news service.

TRIPOLI, June 9 (NNN-Xinhua) — The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) welcomed the reopening of two major oilfields which were closed by tribal leaders in January to protest against the UN-backed government.

The UNSMIL said in a statement that it “welcomes the opening of the Sharara and El Feel oil fields this weekend. The oil blockade has needlessly cost the Libyan people over $5 billion due to lost oil sales as well as millions of dollars of indirect losses due to the shutdown of domestic refineries and damage caused by the oil infrastructure remaining idle.”

NEW YORK, June 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Exactly 100 days after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in New York City, some workers began returning to jobs on Monday at the start of reopening from a citywide shutdown to battle the epidemic that killed nearly 22,000 of its residents.

People who had been staying home for months boarded subways and buses as the most populous US city began Phase One of its hopeful journey toward economic recovery.

WASHINGTON, June 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States warned that it would punish any country that deals with Iran’s top shipping company, accusing it of contributing to Tehran’s contested weapons programs.

The Treasury Department said sanctions came into effect Monday against the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, known by its acronym IRISL, as well as its Shanghai-based subsidiary E-Sail.

UNITED NATIONS, June 8 (Xinhua) -- President of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Tijjani Muhammad-Bande said Monday that some 100 diplomats are likely to attend the UN General Debate this September due to the uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We want to have the General Debate as scheduled...(but) the number of people that can be allowed into the hall (General Assembly Hall) maybe a hundred or so, but not a whole lot of people coming to the General Assembly," Muhammad-Bande said at a press briefing.

WASHINGTON, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The global economy is on track to shrink by 5.2 percent this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the deepest recession since the Second World War, the World Bank Group said in its latest Global Economic Prospects released Monday.

Economic activity in advanced economies is anticipated to contract 7 percent in 2020 as domestic demand and supply, trade, and finance have been severely disrupted, the report said. The U.S. economy is projected to shrink by 6.1 percent this year, while Euro Area could see a 9.1-percent contraction.

ATLANTA (AP) — Tweet: In the two weeks since George Floyd’s killing, cities around the nation have begun implementing changes such as banning chokeholds. But advocates and demonstrators say they are pushing for long-term reform, not quick concessions.

In the two weeks since George Floyd’s killing, police departments have banned chokeholds, Confederate monuments have fallen and officers have been arrested and charged amid large global protests against violence by police and racism.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister is accusing the Trump administration of unleashing a politically motivated campaign against Iran and is calling for “universal condemnation” of the U.S. attempt to get the U.N. Security Council to impose a permanent arms embargo against the Islamic Republic.