Trump's bid to bar most refugees rejected

NEW YORK • A US appeals court has rejected the Trump administration's effort to temporarily bar most refugees from entering the country, ruling that those who have relationships with a resettlement agency should be exempt from an executive order banning refugees.

A three-judge Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins of legal US residents should be exempted from President Donald Trump's order, which bans travellers from six Muslim- majority countries.

REUTERS

Aussie amnesty nets 26,000 weapons

SYDNEY • A battery of explosives, gunpowder and detonators have been handed to police under an amnesty in Australia, along with 26,000 firearms as the authorities work to remove illicit weapons from the streets.

An amnesty was introduced by New South Wales state in March, allowing people to turn over commercial explosives with no questions asked.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

US Senate okays funds for UN climate body

WASHINGTON • The US Senate Appropriations Committee has passed a spending Bill that includes US$10 million (S$13.5 million) to help fund the United Nations' climate change body that oversees the Paris Climate Agreement, despite President Donald Trump's decision to stop funding it.

It approved a US$51 billion appropriations Bill for the State Department and foreign operations, which included an amendment to continue funding the body.

REUTERS