New York

NEW YORK (AP) — A woman accused of slapping three people in one of a series of apparently anti-Semitic attacks reported throughout New York during Hanukkah was charged Saturday with attempted assault as a hate crime, court records show.

Tiffany Harris, 30, was released without bail after her arraignment on the attempted assault charge and misdemeanor and lower-level charges , according to the records.

Her lawyer, Iris Ying, declined to comment, and the New York Post reported that Harris rebuffed questions as she left a Brooklyn court.

MONSEY, N.Y. (AP) — A man attacked a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi’s home north of New York City late Saturday, stabbing and wounding five people before fleeing in a vehicle, police said.

The attack appeared to be the latest in a string targeting Jews in the region, including a massacre at a kosher grocery store in New Jersey earlier this month.

Police said the stabbings happened at around 10 p.m. in Monsey, one of several Hudson Valley towns that have seen an influx in large numbers of Hasidic Jews in recent years.

28 December 2019; AFP: The United Nations General Assembly on Friday approved a resolution extending the investigation into the mysterious 1961 death of secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold.

The Swedish diplomat had been traveling in southern Africa for a mission when his plane crashed.

The text, initiated by Sweden and co-sponsored by more than 100 countries, was adopted by consensus without a vote.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The General Assembly on Friday approved an annual regular budget for the United Nations, in its first annual planning and budgeting in 45 years.

The budget for 2020 is 3.074 billion U.S. dollars, compared with 2.849 billion dollars for 2019.

Since 1974, the UN budget had been prepared every two years.

The regular budget covers UN activities across a range of areas, including political affairs, international justice and law, regional cooperation for development, human rights and humanitarian affairs, and public information.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Friday that will start the process of drafting a new international treaty to combat cybercrime over objections from the European Union, the United States and other countries.

The Russian-drafted resolution was approved by the 193-member world body by a vote of 79-60 with 33 abstentions.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City is increasing its police presence in some Brooklyn neighborhoods with large Jewish populations after a string of possibly anti-Semitic attacks during the Hanukkah holiday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said after the latest episode happened Friday.

Besides making officers more visible in Borough Park, Crown Heights and Williamsburg, police will boost visits to houses of worship and some other places, the mayor tweeted.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Friday strongly condemning human rights abuses against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, including arbitrary arrests, torture, rape and deaths in detention.

The 193-member world body voted 134-9 with 28 abstentions in favor of the resolution which also calls on Myanmar’s government to take urgent measures to combat incitement of hatred against the Rohingya and other minorities in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan states.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply concerned about the military escalation in northwest Syria and calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities, said his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Monday.

Guterres is alarmed by the scale of the military operation and reported attacks on evacuation routes as civilians try to flee north to safety, said Dujarric in a statement.

The secretary-general reminds all parties of their obligations to protect civilians and ensure freedom of movement, said the statement.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 (APP): The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has voiced its concern over India’s controversial citizenship law affecting the country’s Muslims, and called for ensuring their safety as the Indian security forces use strong-arm methods to quell protests.

NEW YORK, Dec 21 (APP): Two publications that are read worldwide — The Washington Post and The Diplomat — Saturday denounced India’s frequent resort to shuts downs of internet services on various pretexts, especially the communications blockade in the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir since August 5 that has compounded the difficulties of an already distressed people.

“India has earned itself a dubious distinction: It has imposed the longest-ever Internet shutdown by a democracy,” The Washington Post said in an editorial: India marks a new low for a democracy.