USA

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — People in a southern Puerto Rico city discovered a warehouse filled with water, cots and other unused emergency supplies, then set off a social media uproar Saturday when they broke in to retrieve goods as the area struggles to recover from a strong earthquake.

With anger spreading in the U.S. territory after video of the event in Ponce appeared on Facebook, Gov. Wanda Vázquez quickly fired the director of the island’s emergency management agency.

WASHINGTON (AP) — New documents released by House Democrats suggest that Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, was more deeply involved than was previously known in efforts by allies of President Donald Trump to dig up dirt in Ukraine on former Vice President Joe Biden.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s legal team issued a fiery response Saturday ahead of opening arguments in his impeachment trial, while House Democrats laid out their case in forceful fashion, saying the president betrayed public trust with behavior that was the “worst nightmare” of the founding fathers.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 18 (APP): Pakistan’s Ambassador to the U.N., Munir Akram, has said the flagship, multibillion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project is an `outstanding example’ of South-South cooperation, which is aimed at achievement of shared economic and development goals.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon announced on Friday new restrictions on international military students’ access to guns on U.S. bases, as well as other measures, after a Saudi officer killed three U.S. sailors at a Florida naval base last month.

“Getting back to work does not mean getting back to business as usual. Going forward we will put several new policies and security procedures in place,” Garry Reid, a senior Pentagon intelligence official, said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department will do everything necessary to determine whether former U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was under threat in Ukraine, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday.

Documents released this week indicated Lev Parnas, a Ukraine-born U.S. citizen, helped U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani investigate U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

(Reuters) - President Donald Trump took aim at Virginia Democrats and their push to stiffen the state’s gun laws, saying that the U.S. Constitution was under attack just as thousands of armed militia members began arriving in Richmond for a Monday gun rally.

Trump doubled down with his support of gun enthusiasts in the state, which Hilary Clinton won in 2016 and where Democrats took full control of the state legislature for the first time in a generation in November, as candidates made passing stronger gun control laws a central campaign theme.

WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (NNN-XINHUA) – U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, met with Pakistani Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, here, on Friday, discussing Afghanistan and bilateral ties, according to a statement released by the U.S. State Department.

The two sides talked about a range of issues, including Iran, U.S.-Pakistan cooperation, on the Afghan peace process, and building bilateral economic ties, the statement said.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 18 (NNN-Xinhua) — The UN Security Council urged Malian parties to show political will to urgently accelerate the implementation of their 2015 Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation.

In a press statement, the council members noted some progress in the implementation of the agreement but expressed serious concern about delays over many of its substantive provisions.

They were encouraged by the start of the redeployment to the north of the first units of the reconstituted and reformed Malian armed forces.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi here on Friday, discussing Afghanistan and bilateral ties, according to a statement released by the U.S. State Department.

The two sides talked about a range of issues, including Iran, U.S.-Pakistan cooperation on the Afghan peace process and building bilateral economic ties, the statement said.

Qureshi embarked on a three-day visit to the United States on Wednesday for talks on the tension in the Middle East that poses danger to regional security.