USA

NEW YORK, June 4. /TASS/: Russia's new radar surveillance satellites will allow Moscow to change the course of the conflict in Ukraine, former US intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector to Iraq Scott Ritter said.

Ritter pointed out that the Russian Federation recently launched "the first of several radar surveillance satellites that have a resolution of up to one meter, which means it can see everything." "It can see through clouds, it can see through rain. It can see through everything. High resolution radar, and they are seeing everything right now," he said.

WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) - A Chinese warship came within 150 yards (137 meters) of a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait in "an unsafe manner," U.S. military officials said, as China blamed the United States for "deliberately provoking risk" in the region.

U.S. and Canadian navies on Saturday were conducting a joint exercise in the strait, which separates the island of Taiwan and China, when the Chinese ship cut in front of the U.S. guided-missile destroyer Chung-Hoon forcing it to slow down to avoid a collision, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.

NEW YORK (AP) — In his first week on the campaign trail as a presidential candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis repeatedly hit his chief rival, Donald Trump, from the right.

“This is a different guy than 2015, 2016,” DeSantis told a conservative radio host before slamming the bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation Trump championed as “basically a jailbreak bill” that allowed dangerous people out of prison.

ATLANTA (AP) — The voice of Martin Luther King Sr., a melodic tenor like his slain son, carried across Madison Square Garden, calming the raucous Democrats who had nominated his friend and fellow Georgian for the presidency.

“Surely, the Lord sent Jimmy Carter to come on out and bring America back where she belongs,” the venerated Black pastor said as the nominee smiled behind him. “I’m with him. You are, too. Let me tell you, we must close ranks now.”

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 3 (NNN-XINHUA) – The UN yesterday appealed for sustainable funding for UNRWA, its agency supporting Palestine refugees, which is on the brink of financial collapse.

“As I address you today (yesterday), I do not have the funds to keep our schools, health centres and other services running, as of Sept,” UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, told a pledging conference at the UN headquarters in New York.

WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. State Department official will travel to China next week, the department said on Saturday, as Washington seeks to boost communication with Beijing at a time of tense relations between the two countries.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink will discuss "key issues in the bilateral relationship" during his visit to China, the State Department said in a statement. He will be joined by White House National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs Sarah Beran.

GILBERT, South Carolina, June 3 (Reuters) - In the first full week of his 2024 presidential campaign, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis worked hard to define himself as a candidate to voters — and just as hard to define the man who stands in his way for the Republican nomination.

As he toured 12 cities in three early-voting states, DeSantis, 44, made his case that he is the more conservative and consistent alternative to Donald Trump, the former president and current front runner in the race.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and its allies clashed with Russia and China on Friday over North Korea’s failed launch of a military spy satellite this week in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, which Moscow and Beijing refused to condemn.

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) — Citizens of the Cherokee Nation — the largest Native American tribe in the U.S. — are set to decide whether Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. should lead the tribe for another four years as it enters a golden era after courts recognized its sprawling reservation and an operating budget of more than $3 billion.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Despite a dire warning from the U.N. chief that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees “is on the verge of financial collapse,” donors at a pledging conference on Friday provided just $107 million in new funds — significantly less than the $300 million it needs to keep helping millions of people.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the agency known as UNRWA, said he was grateful for the new pledges but they are below the funds needed to keep over 700 schools and 140 clinics open from September through December.