WASHINGTON (Xinhua) - Twenty U.S. states -- most of them led by Democrats -- have sued the administration of President Donald Trump  for pulling funding for disaster relief. The group filed a suit that aimed to block the Trump administration from halting billions of U.S. dollars in grants, destined for paying upgrades to infrastructure projects meant to defend against natural disasters. The lawsuit was filed in the federal court in Boston. It alleges that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had no authority to terminate the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program in April, after the program was given the green light by Congress.

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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Friday to protest against the proposed appointment of Nick Adams, a self-styled “alpha male” influencer, as the United States’ envoy to Malaysia. President Donald Trump last week named outspoken author and political commentator Adams as the White House’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Malaysia. Adams, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Australia, has cultivated a brash social media persona, using a macho, “alpha male” branding to weigh in on cultural issues and appeal to an audience of mainly young men. But it is his posts harshly criticizing Islam and showing support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza that has angered Muslims in Malaysia, triggering a rare protest against a foreign diplomatic appointment in the Southeast Asian country.  

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GENEVA (AFP) - Massive cuts to humanitarian budgets risk leaving more than 11 million refugees without desperately needed aid, the United Nations warned Friday. That corresponds to a full third of the number reached last year by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. In a new report, the agency highlighted a deadly confluence of factors pummeling millions of refugees and displaced people globally: “rising displacement, shrinking funding and political apathy.” “We are right now facing a deadly cocktail,” UNHCR’s head of external relations, Dominique Hyde, told reporters in Geneva. UNHCR has said it needs $10.6 billion to assist the world’s refugees this year, but so far it has received just 23 percent of that amount. As a result, the agency said it was seeing $1.4 billion of essential programs being cut or put on hold.

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SEOUL (Reuters) - Heavy rains pounded South Korea for a third day on Friday in a deluge that has killed at least four people, forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and destroyed property and infrastructure. Warnings of torrential rain remained in effect for most of the country’s western and southern regions and the weather service advised extreme caution with landslides and flooding possible through Saturday. More than 5,000 people were evacuated at one time, but the number of people in shelters had fallen to 3,297 as of 11 a.m. (0200 GMT), the Interior and Safety Ministry said. 

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BEIJING (Reuters) - China has lodged “stern representations” to the Philippines over recent “negative moves” concerning Taiwan, as well as maritime and security issues, a Chinese foreign ministry statement said on Friday. Department of Asian Affairs Director-General Liu Jinsong conveyed the “stern representations” and “strong dissatisfaction” to Philippine Ambassador to China, Jaime FlorCruz, on Friday, the statement added. The Philippine embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.