(UNITED NATIONS) — The United States said Tuesday that it opposes a draft resolution proposed by China and Russia that would terminate U.N. sanctions on key North Korean exports, calling the measure “premature” at a time when Pyongyang is threatening to conduct “an escalated provocation” and is refusing to meet with U.S. officials to discuss denuclearization.

The U.S. State Department said President Donald Trump “remains committed to making progress toward commitments” he made with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their first summit in Singapore in June 2018 on transforming relations between the two countries, building lasting peace and ensuring complete denuclearization.

A State Department statement said the U.S. remains committed to diplomacy to make progress toward these goals, but it “cannot do this alone.”

The draft resolution circulated to U.N. Security Council members Monday night would terminate sanctions on North Korean exports including textiles, seafood and statues with..

(ATHENS, Greece) — American archaeologists have discovered two monumental royal tombs dating from about 3,500 years ago near a major Mycenaean-era palace in Greece’s southern Peloponnese region, the Greek culture ministry said Tuesday.

A ministry statement said the dome-shaped roofs of both tombs near the Bronze Age palace of Pylos collapsed during antiquity, and the chambers became filled with so much earth and rubble that grave robbers couldn’t get in to plunder them.

Nevertheless, the tombs were disturbed during the period of their use over several generations — unlike another Mycenaean grave found nearby in 2015 that yielded a stunning hoard of gold and silver treasure, jewelry and bronze arms buried with a man presumed to have been an early ruler of Pylos.

Recovered grave goods from the two tombs included a golden seal ring and a golden amulet of an ancient Egyptian goddess, highlighting Bronze Age trade and cultural links. The ministry said the discovery was particularly impor..

Hong Kong’s famed New Year’s Eve fireworks show has been canceled by officials who cited public safety concerns. It is the latest major event in the territory to be halted amid six months of protests.

Hong Kong’s tourism board confirmed Wednesday that the showpiece event had been called off, adding that a laser light show along the skyline would be held instead.

“Public safety is our top priority as the fireworks can attract huge crowds gathering around the harbor,” chairman of the tourism board Pang Yiu-kai said, according to South China Morning Post.

This is the second time a fireworks display has been canceled over protest fears. In October, fireworks meant to mark the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China were also called off.

Since Hong Kong’s time zone is hours ahead of cities in the west, its pyrotechnic display against the backdrop of the territory’s skyline is often featured in highlight montages of New Year’s fireworks displays around the world.

Last year’s ..

(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Francis abolished the use of the Vatican’s highest level of secrecy in clergy sexual abuse cases Tuesday, responding to mounting criticism that the rule of “pontifical secrecy” has been used to protect pedophiles, silence victims and prevent police from investigating crimes.

“The carnival of obscurity is over,” declared Juan Carlos Cruz, a prominent Chilean survivor of clergy abuse and advocate for victims.

In a new law, Francis decreed that information in abuse cases must be protected by church leaders to ensure its “security, integrity and confidentiality.” But he said the rule of “pontifical secrecy” no longer applies to abuse-related accusations, trials and decisions under the Catholic Church’s canon law.

The Vatican’s leading sex crimes investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, said the reform was an “epochal decision” that will facilitate coordination with civil law enforcement and open up lines of communication with victims.

While documentation from th..

(PARIS) — French union activists cut electricity to nearly 100,000 homes or offices. Eiffel Tower staff walked off the job. Even Paris opera workers joined in Tuesday’s nationwide protests across France, singing an aria of anger as workers rallied against the government’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64.

Despite 13 days of crippling train and subway strikes, French President Emmanuel Macron and his government stayed firm. The prime minister declared his “total” determination to reshape a pension system that unions celebrate as a model for the rest of the world but that he calls unfair and destined to collapse into debt.

Lighting red flares and marching beneath a blanket of multi-colored union flags, thousands of workers snaked through French cities from Brittany on the Atlantic to the Pyrenees in the south.

Hospital workers in scrubs, Air France staff in uniforms, lawyers wearing long black robes — people from across the French workforce joined in the strikes and protests in ..

(HELSINKI) — Estonia’s nationalist interior minister narrowly survived a no-confidence vote Tuesday that was triggered by his mocking of neighboring Finland’s young new prime minister and her party.

Members of the 101-seat Riigikogu voted 44-42 to remove Estonian Conservative People’s Party Chairman Mart Helme from his Cabinet post. However, the motion needed an absolute majority of 51 votes to pass.

The move was initiated by the opposition Reform Party.

During a radio interview on Sunday, Helme, 70, took a swipe at Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, 34. He quipped that “a cashier” was now leading Estonia’s close neighbor — an apparent reference to Marin’s past stint working at a department store.

Helme, a former Estonian ambassador to Russia, also called Marin’s Social Democratic Party “red” and alleged it was out to “liquidate” Finland with its policies.

Marin last week became the world’s youngest sitting prime minister and the third woman to lead Finland’s government.

Heikki ..