USA

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council has called for maximum restraint and urged all to refrain from violence or the destruction of critical infrastructure in demonstrations in Iraq.

The Security Council members expressed "grave concern" at the loss of life of those demonstrating and at the killing, maiming, and arbitrary arrests of unarmed demonstrators, a press statement said on Friday.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Officials announced Saturday that no data was held for ransom and that a recovery operation is getting underway after a cyberattack a day earlier triggered a shutdown of city government computers in New Orleans.

Chief Information Officer Kim LaGrue, speaking at a news conference with Mayor LaToya Cantrell and others, said the city hadn’t heard from any hackers or received any demands.

NOLA.com reported that LaGrue described the cyberattack as “minimal” and that officials expect to move quickly to bring computers fully back online.

ATLANTA (AP) — A shooting that wounded one man in a mall food court sent suburban Atlanta shoppers fleeing in panic Saturday.

The Cobb County Police Department said in a statement that the man was wounded at Cumberland Mall around 1 p.m. following an argument and that the shooting suspect ran away. The victim was taken to a hospital, where Cobb County Police spokeswoman Ofc. Sarah O’Hara said he was in surgery and “expected to survive his injuries.”

Police said they have identified a suspect and are looking for him, but O’Hara provided no further details.

NEW YORK, December 14. /TASS/: The United States has not yet entered the state of cold war with China, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told a New York-based think tank, Council on Foreign Relations, on Friday.

"I think it’s premature to call it a cold war," he said when asked whether the United States has entered the Cold War with China.

Commenting on the recent trade agreement with China, Esper said that trade was "an important component of our relationship with China."

WASHINGTON, December 14. /TASS/: The implementation of an agreement that US and China had signed during the first stage of bilateral negotiations will help to de-escalate trade tensions worldwide, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday.

"We welcome today's announcement by China and the United States on "Phase One" trade discussions. When implemented, this will help to de-escalate trade tensions and begin to reverse some of the tariffs imposed by both countries since 2018," Georgieva said in a Twitter post.

NEW YORK, December 14. /TASS/: The United States views Russia and China as its main rivals and is particularly concerned by their growing capabilities in the space and cyber domains, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told a New York-based think tank, Council on Foreign Relations, on Friday.

(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is preparing to take legal action against Live Nation Entertainment (LYV.N) on allegations the concert promoter has sought to strong-arm concert venues into using its dominant Ticketmaster subsidiary, a source familiar with the planned legal action said on Friday.

The department believes the concert promoter’s conduct has violated the merger settlement Live Nation and Ticketmaster reached with the government in 2010 and plans to file a decree enforcement action, the source said.

NEW YORK, Dec 14 (NNN-SANA) – The United Nations General Assembly reiterated its demand for Israel to comply with resolutions on the occupied Syrian Golan, particularly resolution No. 497 for 1981, which considers Israel’s decision to impose its law and legal jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan to be null, void, and without international legal effect.

14 Dec 2019; MEMO: Iran’s proxies have carried out a series of attacks on bases where US forces are collocated with their Iraqi partners, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged Friday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Pompeo cited a rocket attack on a facility at Baghdad International Airport that he said wounded five Iraqi soldiers, including two who died of their injuries on 9 December.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Kim Motl doesn’t work in the health insurance industry. But her friends and neighbors do. So when she saw Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Motl pressed the Democratic presidential candidate about her “Medicare for All” plan, which would replace private insurance with a government-run system.

“What about the little guys that work in the insurance business, that support our communities? The secretary that works for them, but maybe supports their family, what happens to them?” the 64-year-old housing advocate asked the senator.