USA

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.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will take steps next week to transmit the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, ending a three-week standoff but confronting the Senate with only the third trial in U.S. history to remove a chief executive.

In a letter to her Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said Friday she was proud of their ″courage and patriotism” and warned that senators now have a choice as they consider the charges of abuse and obstruction against the president.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is considering dramatically expanding its much-litigated travel ban to additional countries amid a renewed election-year focus on immigration by President Donald Trump, according to six people familiar with the deliberations.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronted by persistent questions about his military action in the Middle East, President Donald Trump and his top officials offered a string of fresh explanations Friday, with Trump now contending Iranian militants had planned major attacks on four U.S. embassies.

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (NNN-CNA) — The United States will go through with the sale of up to 12 F-35B fighter jets to Singapore, pending approval by Congress, according to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency news.

Singapore’s request to buy four F-35B fighter jets, with the option of buying eight more, for an estimated cost of US$2.75 billion (S$3.71 billion) has been approved by the State Department, said the agency, adding that it had notified Congress of the possible sale on Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — With tensions soaring after he ordered the killing of a top Iranian general, US President Donald Trump publicly urged all other powers to abandon a 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran.

Within hours, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, one of Trump’s closest international allies, was on the phone with Iran’s president. His message? That, according to Downing Street, the nuclear deal remains “the best arrangement currently available.”

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 10 (APP): Drawing attention to India’s “aggressive intent” towards Pakistan, a top Pakistani diplomat has urged the UN to act “decisively” to prevent a war between the two countries and to enable the Kashmiri people to exercise their UN-pledged right to self-determination for peace and stability in South Asia.

“Pakistan does not want war with India,” Ambassador Munir Akram told the UN Security Council which held a debate on upholding the U.N. Charter, the organization’s founding treaty, nearly 75 years since its adoption.

WASHINGTON, January 10. /TASS/: US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has held talks with EU High Representative and Vice President Josep Borrell on Thursday, Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.