From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Anne Ball reporting.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley spoke with VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren on Wednesday in New York.

Haley discussed several topics, including North and South Korea, warning that the U.S. will never be comfortable with North Korea being a nuclear nation.

She said just because the North and South are holding hands quote unquote doesn't mean the threat has gone away.

"Just because North Korea and South Korea are holding hands today, doesn't mean that threat has gone away. The United States and the international community is going to keep up the pressure on North Korea to totally disband. Until that time, we are going to wait and make sure there is no activity and no testing."

Haley added if North Korea does not do the right thing, the U.S. has got options on the table.

At least 12 people were killed Wednesday in twin suicide bomb attacks in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri. At least one of the attackers was female, according to witnesses.

Borno State Commissioner of Police Damian Chukwu says they entered the market, detonated their bombs killing themselves and ten others.

Also Wednesday, two Americans and two Canadians reportedly were kidnapped in central Nigeria while traveling to the capital city of Abuja.

The Reuters reported the foreigners were ambushed by unknown gunmen and two police officers were killed in the exchange.

This is VOA news.

Two Republican U.S. senators assailed President Donald Trump for his constant attacks on critical stories about his presidency, saying they undermine a basic tenet of democratic societies, a free and open news media.

Senator Jeff Flake, a frequent Trump critic from the western state of Arizona, said in 2017 "It was a year which saw the White House enshrine 'alternative facts' into the American lexicon, as justification for what used to be simply called old-fashioned falsehoods."

Flake said that Trump's disparagement of the media is similar to that of former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. He said Trump's "assault" on the media is "unprecedented" and "unwarranted."

But White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders hit back, saying Flake is just trying to get attention.

"Certainly, I think our position here at the White House is that we welcome access to the media every day. I'm standing right here taking questions. The president does so regularly. And to act as if we're anything but open to that back-and-forth exchange is utterly ridiculous."

And in California, authorities continue investigating a couple, David Allen Turpin and his wife Louise, who were arrested earlier this week after police found 13 of their children malnourished and emaciated and being held captive in their home.

VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo has the latest.

... California couple say they could never have imagined what was happening in the house where 13 children were held and allegedly tortured.

Their ages range from 2 to 29.

The family just seemed very quiet, according to a neighbor.

The Spanish style stucco house where the victims were allegedly held is located in the middle class neighborhood of Perris, about 110 kilometers southeast of Los Angeles.

Inside, authorities described filthy conditions.

"There was a very foul smell inside the residence. It was extremely dirty and as we reported previously many of the children were malnourished."

In addition, some of the kids were shackled to furniture.

The parents were booked on suspicion of torture and child endangerment, with bail set up $9 million each.

Mariama Diallo, VOA news.

For more on this story and other stories, find us on voanews.com. From Washington, I'm Anne Ball.

That's the latest world news from VOA.