Trump defends Pelosi in her fight with freshmen Democrats

WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is getting support from an unlikely source – Republican Donald Trump in her fight with freshmen Democrats. He said Friday that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-cortez of New York should treat Pelosi “with respect” – in Trump’s words. Ocasio-cortez has accused Pelosi of “singling out” her and fellow freshmen – all women of color – for criticism. Tensions between Pelosi and younger, more progressive first-term House Democrats have become public recently and are threatening party unity.

DENVER – A Colorado email account created to report child abuse and neglect went unchecked for over four years, and five possible cases undiscovered until May are now being investigated. The state set up its child abuse and neglect telephone hotline in 2015, and created an email account to support it. Soon after, a new email account for the hotline was established. But after the switch, the original account wasn’t deleted or monitored. When the account was discovered in May, there were 321 emails, with the five cases, in the inbox.

GENEVA – More than three dozen countries have defended China’s “remarkable achievements” in human rights, challenging Western countries raising concerns about Beijing’s treatment of Uighur Muslims. The countries, which included Russia, Saudi Arabia and others, mostly from southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East, expressed their opposition to “politicizing human rights” in a letter Friday to the Human Rights Council office. It came two days after 22 Western countries urged China to end mass detentions.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Sweden said Friday that it will refrain from signing a United Nations convention on nuclear weapons, with the foreign minister arguing that the treaty “in its current form is not ready.” Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said the text has “no clear definition of nuclear weapons.” The government of the nation, which is not a NATO member, has been divided over the issue, with some saying it could find its cooperative relationship with the NATO alliance weakened if it endorses the U.N. convention.