Trump administration

35 countries abstained from voting on Thursday in New York.

Those who voted against the resolution included the United States, Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Togo.

Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina were among those who abstained.

The United States has given China a draft resolution for tougher U.N. sanctions on North Korea and is hoping for a quick vote on it by the U.N. Security Council, a Western diplomat said on Tuesday, Reuters reports. 

Islamic State threatened attacks on U.S. soil in retaliation for the Trump administration's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, one of the group's social media accounts reported on Thursday without giving any details.

US President Donald Trump has directed Nasa to plan a crewed mission to the Moon for the first time since 1972, reported BBC.

It will focus on long-term explorations and use of the Moon's surface, in partnership with the private sector.

Mr Trump also said the program would lay the foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, although he did not give a date for this.

The European Union's chief diplomat said on Dec. 4 that Europe sometimes finds it difficult to communicate effectively with the Trump administration.       

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Pakistan on Dec. 4 to meet with top leaders and seek common ground on the counterterrorism fight, amid Trump administration calls for Islamabad to more aggressively go after the insurgents moving back and forth across the border with Afghanistan.

The United States has informed the United Nations that it will no longer participate in the Global Compact on Migration.

The United States warned North Korea's leadership it would be "utterly destroyed" if war were to break out after Pyongyang test fired its most advanced missile, putting the U.S. mainland within range, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, Reuters.

The United States, Mexico and Canada failed to resolve any major differences in a fifth round of talks to rework the NAFTA trade deal, drawing a swift complaint from the Trump administration on Nov. 21 that the lack of progress could doom the process.

The US is to terminate a programme that gives more than 50,000 immigrants from Haiti protection against deportation, reported BBC.

Immigrants from the Caribbean nation received protected status in 2010 after a devastating earthquake.

But the Trump administration says conditions there have now improved and its nationals can return safely.