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UNITED NATIONS, May 2 (NNN-XINHUA) – UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, yesterday condemned Friday’s suicide attack in Pul-e-Alam, capital of Afghanistan’s eastern Logar province, which killed and injured many civilians and caused significant damage to civilian premises, including a hospital, said his spokesman.

The secretary-general expressed his deep condolences to the bereaved families, and to the government and people of Afghanistan.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Kingdom said Thursday it is temporarily reducing its international aid from 14.5 billion pounds (about $20 billion) last year to 10 billion pounds this year ($14 billion) because of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and two U.N. agencies announced huge funding cuts of more than 80 percent.

NEW YORK (AP) — Rudy Giuliani sought to discredit the federal investigation into his dealings in Ukraine on Thursday, a day after agents raided his home and office.

Giuliani said the 6 a.m. search, which he said involved seven FBI agents, was unnecessary because he offered for two years to provide federal prosecutors his electronic devices and to “talk it over with them.”

“They won’t explain to me what they’re looking into for two years,” Giuliani said in an evening appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

(Reuters) --- The United Nations failed on Thursday to bridge disagreements over restarting peace talks on ethnically-split Cyprus, with the rival sides standing their ground in a conflict that spans half a century.

Diplomats had been trying to break a jogjam in talks between rival Greek and Turkish Cypriots, which collapsed in acrimony in 2017. Cyprus's split is a constant source of tension between NATO allies Greece and Turkey, and has taken on sharper focus since the discovery of natural gas in the region.

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- There is no change of phase in lockdown at UN Headquarters in New York despite the New York State's recent loosening of restrictions, said a spokesman on Wednesday.

"There's no official change of phase to announce at this point. So, we will continue to evaluate those circumstances," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on Wednesday called for more international diplomacy to unlock progress in Syria.

"If this highly internationalized conflict is to move toward resolution, we need a more constructive and comprehensive international diplomacy on Syria to try to unlock progress step-for-step," he told the Security Council in a briefing.

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal agents raided Rudy Giuliani’s Manhattan home and office Wednesday, seizing computers and cellphones in a major escalation of the Justice Department’s investigation into the business dealings of former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.

Giuliani, the 76-year-old former New York City mayor once celebrated for his leadership after 9/11, has been under federal scrutiny for several years over his ties to Ukraine. The dual searches sent the strongest signal yet that he could eventually face federal charges.

NEW YORK, April 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A New York City man was arrested and charged on Tuesday with attempted murder in what police have classified as a hate crime against a Chinese immigrant, authorities said.

The victim, identified by police as 61-year-old Yao Pan Ma, was attacked in the East Harlem neighbourhood of Manhattan on Apr 23. The assault is the latest in a spate of attacks targeting Asian Americans in US.Advertisement

UNITED NATIONS, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The president of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, on Tuesday called for international aid to India in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, said his spokesman.

Bozkir was worried about the COVID-19 situation in India, a country that has done so much to ensure the distribution of vaccines to vulnerable countries, said Brenden Varma, the spokesman.

Now it is time for the world to extend aid and support to India. No one is safe until everyone is safe, said Bozkir.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its guidelines Tuesday on the wearing of masks outdoors, saying fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to cover their faces anymore unless they are in a big crowd of strangers.

And those who are unvaccinated can go outside without masks in some situations, too.