USA

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations made a rare compassionate public gesture toward her Iranian counterpart in the Security Council chamber on Thursday, expressing condolences over the death of an Iranian toddler.

Since Washington pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, tensions between the United States and Tehran have risen.

CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida, US), Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Boeing Co’s new astronaut capsule failed after liftoff on Friday to climb high enough in orbit to reach the International Space Station, cutting short a critical unmanned test mission in the embattled aerospace giant’s race to send humans to the orbital outpost.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The second session of the Syrian constitutional committee failed to get off the ground due to lack of consensus over the agenda, the UN envoy for Syria told the Security Council Friday.

Geir Pedersen, the secretary-general's special representative for Syria, assured the council, however, that there are lessons to be learned from the meeting of the "small body" of the committee, held in Geneva in late November.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law a 738-billion-U.S.-dollar defense bill which includes controversial provisions calling for sanctions against Russia and Turkey.

Trump approved the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which will increase the U.S. defense spending by about 20 billion dollars, or about 2.8 percent, on Friday night at a signing ceremony held at the Joint Base Andrews near Washington.

CENTERVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar has argued for weeks that Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of a small Indiana city, doesn’t have enough experience to be a serious contender for the Democratic nomination for president. As she heads into a 27-county tour of Iowa, the lead-off caucus state, s he’s seeing some payoff for bringing those frustrations fully into public view.

NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter has identified and removed nearly 6,000 accounts that it said were part of a coordinated effort by Saudi government agencies and individuals to advance the country’s geopolitical interests.

Separately, Facebook said it removed hundreds of Facebook accounts, groups and pages linked to inauthentic behavior from two separate groups, one originating in the country of Georgia and one in Vietnam, which targeted people both in Vietnam and in the U.S.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — A deadly shooting at a city building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina was an act of “workplace violence” by one city employee who targeted a co-worker he’d disliked for a long time, police said Friday.

Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson told news reporters the gunman at a city building was killed during a gunfight with police officers who responded to the scene. One officer was wounded. She said 61-year-old Steven Dewayne Haizlip shot and killed another employee, Terry Lee Cobb Jr., whom he had targeted.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog found no wrongdoing or misconduct by immigration officials in the deaths of two migrant children last December.

The Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security released two brief statements Friday evening on the deaths of Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin, who died Dec. 8, and Felipe Gómez Alonzo, who died Dec. 24.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — One of President Donald Trump’s top reelection advisers told influential Republicans in swing state Wisconsin that the party has “traditionally” relied on voter suppression to compete in battleground states, according to an audio recording of a private event obtained by The Associated Press. The adviser said later that his remarks referred to frequent and false accusations that Republicans employ such tactics.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man convicted of kidnapping a Wisconsin girl and killing her parents told police after his arrest that he never thought Jayme Closs would escape because she was petrified, and that after holding her captive for two weeks, he believed he’d get away with his crimes, according to a transcript of a police interview.

“I know that she was just (expletive) terrified of me,” Jake Patterson said following his arrest in January.