North America

UNITED NATIONS, May 13 (Xinhua): The United Nations (UN) called for a rapid, sustained break in the clashes in the Libyan capital Tripoli to allow unimpeded evacuation of the wounded and sick, and the relocation of migrants and refugees, a UN spokesman said on Monday.

"The UN continues to be extremely concerned about the mounting impact of the fighting on civilians in and around Tripoli," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

13 May 2019; AFP: US President Donald Trump on Sunday defended his tariff policy, insisting again that China will pay billions in duties to the US, after Trump's economic advisor raised eyebrows by saying both sides will suffer.

"We are right where we want to be with China," Trump said on Twitter.

"Remember, they broke the deal with us & tried to renegotiate. We will be taking in Tens of Billions of Dollars in Tariffs from China."

13 May 2019; DW: In the first case of its kind, an indigenous group is accusing the Australian government of violating their human rights by not taking action on climate change. They say their culture and homeland are at risk.

A group of indigenous Australians plans to submit a complaint to the UN on Monday that accuses Australia of failing to act on climate change.

UNITED NATIONS, May 12 (APP): The United Nations Sunday condemned the terrorists attack targeting a five-star hotel in the port city of Gwadar.

“We deplore all such attacks and reiterate that there can be no justification for terrorist acts,” Farhan Haq, UN deputy spokesman, said in a statement.

Three heavily-armed militants on Saturday stormed the Pearl Continental (PC) Hotel in Gwadar and opened random firing, killing a guard, before all the attackers were killed by the security forces.

OTTAWA, May 12 (Xinhua): Two Canadian women who were jailed in self-declared republic Somaliland for two months after being accused of drinking alcohol arrived in Toronto on Sunday morning, according to CBC.

The two women were arrested in the city of Hargeisa after being accused of consuming alcohol, which is illegal in Somaliland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia.

According to their lawyer, the pair signed confessions "under duress," hoping to avoid being detained. They were sentenced to two and a half months in jail and 40 lashes.

DERBY LINE, Vt. (AP) — Hundreds of border agents from across the U.S. are being temporarily transferred south ahead of the busy summer tourism season, worrying those along the northern border who rely on cross-border commerce — including U.S. innkeepers, shop owners and restaurateurs who fear their Canadian customers could be caught in backups at border crossings.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning says she’ll refuse to testify on Thursday before a second grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.

But if a judge finds her in contempt of court again, she could wind up back in jail.

Manning spent seven years in prison for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks. She walked free in May 2017 after President Barack Obama commuted her 35-year sentence.

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) — A North Korean cargo ship seized by the U.S. because of suspicion it was used to violate international sanctions arrived at the capital of this American territory, where it will undergo inspections.

The Wise Honest was slowly towed to the port of Pago Pago during a cloudy Saturday morning and docked at the main docking section of the port that afternoon.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House’s top economic adviser acknowledged Sunday that U.S. consumers and businesses pay the tariffs that the Trump administration has imposed on billions of dollars of Chinese goods, even as President Trump himself insisted in a tweet, incorrectly, that China pays.

“Yes, I don’t disagree with that,” said Larry Kudlow, the head of the president’s National Economic Council, when Chris Wallace, host of “Fox News Sunday,” asked him, “It’s U.S. businesses and U.S. consumers who pay, correct?”

12 May 2019; MEMO: Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki yesterday revealed that US officials have sent messages that they want to resume contacts with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

However, Al-Maliki said that there has been no contact with the US Administration, stressing that any contact must by proceeded by US recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, Al-Wattan Voice reported yesterday.