The United States supported by China has introduced a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council designed to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea following its latest nuclear test on missile launch. America's ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said North Korea must be held accountable for its actions. These measures again, in addition to over time changing the calculus of people in the regime，are going themselves to impede the ability of the North Korean regime to get access to funds, to get access to technology, to get access to nuclear know-how.
President Obama has said the planned cessation of hostilities in Syria is critical, warning all parties to the conflict that the world will be watching whether they kept their commitments. The truce is due to come into effect at midnight local time on Friday. Mr. Obama said it was a potential step in bringing an end to the chaos. All parties that are a part of this cessation of activities need to end attacks including air bombardment. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach areas under siege. And a lot of that is gonna depend on whether the Syrian regime, Russia and their allies live up to their commitments. The coming days will be critical and the world will be watching. More broadly, this is gonna be a test of whether the parties are truly committed to negotiations. President Obama also said an end to the fighting in Syria was key to defeating the Islamic State group. He said IS has been hit hard by coalition air strikes and ground offensive by Iraqi forces and Kurdish groups and not mounted a single major offensive operation for months. The president also claimed its oil revenues have been reduced.
The technology company Apple has asked a federal court in the United States to dismiss an earlier ruling to help the FBI unlock the iPhone of the Islamist gunman Syed Rizwan Farook. Apple said the move violated its constitutional rights. The Department of Justice insisted all it was asking was for Apple to help enforce a search warrant. Aleem Maqbool reports. First came a court ruling that sided with the American government telling Apple it had to hack into a phone used by one of the extremists who carried out an attack in California last year in which 14 people were killed. Now, Apple's response that it won't comply with the ruling because it thinks the court was behaving unconstitutionally. The company says accessing data on the phone would mean creating new software to bypass encryption technology. That Apple says would ultimately weaken the security on iPhones all over the world.
A former Afghan provincial governor has been released two weeks after he was kidnapped in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi had been handed over to Afghan embassy officials on Friday. Mr. Wahidi was close to the former Afghan president Hamid Karzai. BBC news.
The latest televised debate between the Republican presidential hopefuls is under way in Huston, Texas. It's the last such event before what's known as'Super Tuesday'when contests for the party nominations will take place in 11 US states. The businessman Donald Trump continues to lead the field by wide margin after victories over his main rivals at Texas and Florida senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio in the last three primaries.
Police in the American state of Kansas say as many as three people have been killed and up to 20 others wounded in a shooting at an industrial site. The suspected gunman has been shot dead. Police said he was an employee at the company Excel Industries, a mower manufacturer.
A former Colombian paramilitary has been sentenced to more than 11 years in jail for the kidnap, rape and torture of an award-winning female journalist 16 years ago. Candace Piette reports. Jineth Bedoya was 26 when she was abducted outside a prison in 2000 May while investigating the involvement of state officials and paramilitaries in arms trafficking. Her quest for justice has taken years, but she said she'd fought for all the women in Colombia and those of her colleagues who were unable to speak out against sexual violence. She still works as an investigative journalist but because she still receives threats, she now has three body guards. Candace Piette reporting.
The Red Cross in El Salvador has boosted its supplies in its blood bank thanks to heavy metal fans. The organization offered VIP tickets to see the British band Iron Maiden's concert next month to those who gave blood. Hundreds of fans turned up on the queue around the block. A spokesman said blood had been taken from 150 fans even though there have been only 60 free tickets on offer. The Red Cross said a local telephone company had suggested the idea. BBC news.