LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s military on Friday suspended the activities of UNICEF in the extremist-threatened northeast, accusing the U.N. agency of “training selected persons for clandestine activities.”

The statement said UNICEF’s activities are on hold until further notice because it has “abdicated its primary duty of catering for the wellbeing of children and the vulnerable.”

Military spokesman Onyema Nwachukwu alleged that UNICEF carried out the training this week in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital and birthplace of the Boko Haram extremist group.

14 Nov 2018: AFP: Australia on Friday warned citizens to take care while travelling in neighbouring Muslim-majority Indonesia, ahead of an expected but contentious move to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to announce -- as soon as Saturday -- that his government will follow US President Donald Trump's lead and recognise the contested city as Israel's capital.

14 Nov 2018: AFP: Yemen's warring parties on Thursday agreed to a ceasefire on a vital port in a series of breakthroughs in UN-brokered peace talks that could mark a major turning point after four years of devastating conflict.

If implemented, the deal on the Hodeida port, a key gateway for aid and food imports, could bring relief to a country where 14 million people stand on the brink of famine.

BEIJING (AP) — China announced a 90-day suspension on Friday of tariff hikes on $126 billion of U.S. cars, trucks and auto parts following its cease-fire in a trade battle with Washington that threatens global economic growth.

The suspension is China’s first step in response to President Donald Trump’s Dec. 1 agreement to suspend U.S. tariff hikes for a similar 90-day period while the two sides negotiate over American complaints about Beijing’s technology policy and trade surplus.

Beijing, Dec 14 (PTI) China has lodged a "stern" diplomatic protest with the US over the Senate passing a bipartisan legislation that seeks to impose a visa ban on Chinese officials who deny American citizens, officials and journalists access to Tibet, even as Bejing asked Washington not to make it a law.

Reacting to the US move, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said here that the American action disregarded facts and amounted to interfering in China's internal affairs and was a violation of international rules.

Ahmedabad, Dec 14 (PTI) As many as 83 Hindus hailing from Pakistan, who had migrated to the city years ago, were awarded Indian citizenship by the district authorities here Friday.

At a camp organised at the District Collectorate, Collector Vikrant Pandey and local MLA Balram Thawani handed over the certificates of Indian citizenship, issued in accordance with the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955, to these 83 applicants.

Most of the applicants were either Sindhis or from Maheshwari community.

New Delhi, Dec 14 (PTI) The Congress on Friday named Ashok Gehlot as Rajasthan's next chief minister and Sachin Pilot his deputy after party president Rahul Gandhi successfully brokered peace between the veteran leader and his younger colleague following several rounds of discussions

After Congress' observer to the state K C Venugopal made the announcement at a media briefing here, Gehlot thanked Gandhi for giving him an opportunity to serve the people of the state for the third time and promised that he and Pilot will give "good governance"

BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Friday refuted a U.S. official's smearing remarks on China-Africa cooperation.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton rolled out the Trump administration's new Africa strategy on Thursday, using a hostile and competitive tone against countries like Russia and China.

JAKARTA, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian soldiers will take over construction in Nduga district of Papua province in eastern Indonesia in the wake of brutal assassination of 16 construction workers by an armed group earlier this month, a military officer said.

Indonesian armed force will resume works of PT Istaka Karya construction firm in building the 4,000 km trans-Papua highway and bridges, Indonesian military commander in the district Jonathan B. Parluhutan revealed.

New Delhi, Dec 14 (PTI) The Supreme Court Friday gave the Narendra Modi government a clean chit on the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France and dismissed all the petitions seeking a direction to the CBI to register an FIR for alleged irregularities in the deal.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process in the multi-billion dollar deal.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae, said on Friday that U.S. economic growth would drop to 2.3 percent in 2019 while the housing market would stabilize as economic growth slows.

"We expect full-year 2018 economic growth to come in at 3.1 percent - an expansion high - before slowing markedly to 2.3 percent in 2019 and 1.6 percent in 2020," said Doug Duncan, chief economist of Fannie Mae.

13 Nov 2018: AFP: Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, flew higher than it ever has before on Thursday, surpassing what the US Air Force considers the boundary of space, and marking the first manned flight to space from US soil since 2011.

The brief, suborbital flight -- with two pilots on board -- was a key milestone for the company headed by British tycoon Richard Branson, who is striving to send tourists to space at a cost of $250,000 per seat.