USA

02 Dec 2021; MEMO: Palestinian Authority (PA)'s permanent envoy to the UN, Riyadh Mansour, yesterday warned of a religious war in the Middle East due to the "continuous Israeli crimes against the Palestinians."

During a meeting held in the headquarters of the UN General Assembly, Mansour said: "The time has come to put an end to the sufferings of the Palestinian people and end the Israeli occupation."

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 01 (APP): Pakistani military engineers serving the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have deployed heavy equipment and water pumps to help hundreds of thousands of people in Unity state whose lives have been disrupted by the worst flooding in 60 years, according to a report received in New York.

Homes, health facilities, water sources, schools and markets have been submerged, preventing people from accessing essential services and exacerbating the existing vulnerability of communities.

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States revoked its designation of the Colombian group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia as a “foreign terrorist organization”, allowing US officials to work with members of the group as they shift into political life.

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Wednesday laid out a new strategy for responsible civil, commercial and national security-related use of space amid growing commercial interests and concerns about Chinese and Russian competition.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, set to convene the inaugural meeting of the National Space Council, planned to ask members of the government body "to accelerate, expand, and develop rules and norms for responsible behavior in space," the White House said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection will vote on pursuing contempt charges against a former Justice Department official Wednesday as the committee aggressively seeks to gain answers about the violent attack by former President Donald Trump’s supporters.

(AP) --- Tourism businesses that were just finding their footing after nearly two years of devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic are being rattled again as countries throw up new barriers to travel in an effort to contain the omicron variant.

From shopping districts in Japan and tour guides in the Holy Land to ski resorts in the Alps and airlines the world over, a familiar dread is rising about the renewed restrictions.

Meanwhile, travelers eager to get out there have been thrown back into the old routine of reading up on new requirements and postponing trips.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by two of its judges and upheld California’s ban on high-capacity magazines Tuesday in a split decision that may be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The statute outlaws no weapon, but only limits the size of the magazine that may be used with firearms,” the court said in the 7-4 ruling.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday directed the Justice Department to disclose certain redacted passages from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation report that relate to individuals who were investigated by prosecutors but not ultimately charged.

The ruling came in a public records complaint from the news organization BuzzFeed, which sued for an unredacted version of Mueller’s report examining Russian election interference and possible ties to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

NEW YORK (AP) — The first of four women described as key accusers in the indictment against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell testified Tuesday that Maxwell was often in the room when the witness, then just 14, had sexual interactions with the financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Prosecutors went to the heart of their sex trafficking case against Maxwell with their second witness, a woman in her early 40s who was introduced to jurors as “Jane,” a pseudonym she said she prefers, in part to protect a 22-year acting career.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar on Tuesday played a harrowing death threat recently left for her by voicemail, while imploring House Republican leaders to do more to tamp down “anti-Muslim hatred” in their ranks and “hold those who perpetuate it accountable.”