North America

Dighton, Mass (AP) — Federal prosecutors will urge a judge Thursday to keep behind bars a Massachusetts Air National guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents, arguing he may still have access to secret national defense information he could expose.

Washington, Apr 27 (PTI) America needs to show some strategic patience with India on its ties with Russia, a former US defence secretary has said, asserting that New Delhi does not support Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Former Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the defence ties between India and the US have strengthened and grown significantly.

“We need to show some patience. They (Indians) are moving in the right direction,” he said on Wednesday.

United Nations, Apr 27 (PTI) India has emphasised that the exercise of veto in the UN Security Council is driven by political considerations and not by moral obligations, saying that only five permanent members being given the privilege of using the veto goes against the very concept of sovereign equality of states.

Washington, Apr 27 (PTI) The Indian-American community is small but powerful enough to be instrumental in changing America's foreign policy, said an Indian-American leader, who played a key role in shaping some of the key moments in bilateral ties.

Swadesh Chatterjee, a Padma Bhushan awardee in 2001, said the US-India relationship has just scratched the surface and there are immense opportunities in several key areas, including clean energy, global health and innovation.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 26 (APP): Pakistan has called on Israel to comply with its international obligation to respect the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, saying there will be no peace in the Middle East until the establishment of an independent State of Palestine.

“The international community cannot accept the fait accompli Israel is seeking to impose to destroy Palestinian nationhood,” Ambassador Munir Akram told the UN Security Council, which met under Russia’s presidency.

NEW YORK, April 26. /TASS/: The Pentagon has learned valuable lessons from the conflict in Ukraine in case of a possible confrontation with China, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said on Wednesday.

"There are many advantages we've gained for a potential Pacific challenge from the Ukraine conflict," Hicks told Bloomberg in an interview. "We're learning now to grow our industrial base and to study that industrial base, which has been for the last 60 years in a bit of a feast and famine cycle."

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives could as early as Wednesday vote on a bill to sharply cut spending for a decade in exchange for a short-term hike in the debt ceiling, though it was unclear if it had enough support in the Republican majority to pass.

In the early morning hours on Wednesday, the House Rules Committee approved terms of debate for the bill on a partisan vote, a last step before sending it to the full House chamber, which could debate it either later in the day or later this week.

UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Fighting in Sudan is quickly turning an already dire humanitarian crisis into a catastrophe, said UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya on Tuesday.

What has been unfolding in Sudan since April 15, when clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces broke out, is a nightmare for ordinary citizens and aid workers alike, she told the Security Council in a briefing.

UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Despite a cease-fire, shortages of essentials are becoming acute in Sudan, sending prices soaring while evacuees head for the borders, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Authorities reported that a 72-hour cessation of hostilities went into effect midnight Monday and appeared to be mostly holding Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A British tobacco company has agreed to pay more than $629 million to settle allegations that it did illegal business with North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

British American Tobacco, one of the largest tobacco companies in the world, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department, while the company’s Singapore subsidiary pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud and violate sanctions.