Nikki Haley

The U.S.'s strike on Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack was a "very measured step", Washington's envoy to the UN said April 7. 

"We took a very measured step last night. We are prepared to do more.

We hope that it will not be necessary," Ambassador Nikki Haley told the Security
Council. 

The United Nations failed on April 6 to produce a resolution for the second time in two days regarding the Syrian gas attack on April 4, which killed at least 86, many of them children, in the town of Khan Sheikhoun near Idlib, in the northwest of the country, because of objections by Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

US President Donald Trump condemned the explosion in the St. Petersburg Metro in which 10 people died and dozens were injured, calling the incident a “terrible thing.” “Terrible. Terrible thing. Happening all over the world. Absolutely, a terrible thing,” Trump said when asked by journalists to comment on the St. Petersburg blast.

The United States authorities have said current President Bashar al-Assad's departure is no longer a priority to end the conflict, netting reaction from the opposition in the war-thorn country.

However, on March 30, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in New York said the new administration of President Donald Trump is no longer focused on ousting Assad.

Nikki Haley, the new Washington envoy to the UN, has slammed Russia and spoken out in favor of President Trump's travel ban in her first interview in the new role.

"Take it seriously. We cannot trust Russia. We should never trust Russia," she told NBC News' Matt Lauer.

The U.N. Security Council denounced North Korea's weekend missile launch, urging members to "redouble efforts" to enforce sanctions against the reclusive state, but gave no indications of any action it might take. 

Donald Trump began to broaden the base of his future cabinet on Nov. 23, nominating two conservative women including a critic, after his earlier picks rewarded campaign loyalists.

Trump's nomination of South Carolina's 44-year-old governor, Nikki Haley, as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations will be seen as a sign he is ready to forgive some foes to raise a bigger tent.

Walmart and Amazon will no longer stock merchandise bearing the Confederate flag after the Charleston church massacre, in a growing movement against what critics say is a symbol of racism in the American South.