Month: December 2019

White House: Lots of ‘Tools’ to Respond to Potential North Korea Missile Test

White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said Sunday he did not want to speculate about North Korea and its threat of “Christmas gift,” but added the U.S. would be “very disappointed” if Pyongyang tested a long-range or nuclear missile.

During an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” O’Brien said the country would take appropriate action as a leading military and economic power if North Korea went ahead with such a test.

O’Brien added Washington has many “tools in its tool kit” to respond.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during the 5th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in this undated photo released on Dec. 28, 2019 by North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“We’ll reserve judgment but the United States will take action as we do in these situations,” he said. “If Kim Jong Un takes that approach we’ll be extraordinarily disappointed and we’ll demonstrate that disappointment.”

North Korea had warned of a “Christmas gift” if the U.S. didn’t meet an end of year deadline to soften its stance on nuclear talks that have been stalled since February

U.S.  officials  have been on alert for a potential long-range missile test since the North Korean warning.  

Though Christmas holiday has passed and North Korea did not deliver the so-called “Christmas gift” to the United States,  U.S.-North Korea tensions appear far from resolved.

North Korea’s nuclear program was the “most difficult challenge in the world” when President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, O’Brien told ABC News.

He also suggested that Trump’s strategy of “face-to-face” diplomacy may have forced North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to reconsider.

Talks about North Korea’s denuclearization have been largely deadlocked since a second summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi collapsed at the start of this year.

 

 

 

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Kremlin: Putin Thanks Trump for Help Thwarting Terrorist Act

The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a telephone conversation initiated by the Russian side, has thanked U.S. President Donald Trump “for information transmitted via the special services that helped prevent the commission of terrorist acts in Russia.”

There was no immediate confirmation from the U.S. side.

The call also reportedly included discussion of “a set of issues of mutual interest,” according to the official Kremlin website.

Both leaders, Putin’s office said, agreed “to continue bilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism.”

No other details were provided.

 

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Monitoring Agency: DRC Ebola Death Toll 2,231 to Date

A total of 2,231 people have died out of 3,373 declared cases of Ebola in the current epidemic in the DR Congo, according to the agency overseeing the response, health officials said Sunday.

Deadly unrest in the fragile state has hampered the fight against the disease during the latest epidemic, which broke out on August 1, 2018, with the eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri particularly badly hit.

Both areas, beset by violence for two decades, have seen repeated attacks on Ebola health workers by dozens of armed groups as well as on health sites set up to treat victims.

More than 200 civilians have been killed in the troubled east since November in clashes blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia group of Ugandan origin which officials blame for a string of massacres in recent weeks.

Health authorities meanwhile said Sunday that 341 suspected Ebola cases were being investigated, a day after the Multisectoral Committee for Epidemic Response (CMRE) monitoring the disease unveiled its latest batch of data Saturday.

The current epidemic is the tenth overall and the second deadliest on record since a 2014-16 outbreak struck west Africa, killing more than 11,300.

 

 

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French Coastguards Rescue 31 Migrants Attempting Channel Crossing

French coastguards rescued 31 migrants trying to cross the English Channel overnight after the engine of one small boat cut out and the other dinghy began to take in water, local authorities in France said on Sunday.

Border and coast guards in Britain and France have recently intercepted several attempted crossings, including on Dec. 26 when 49 suspected migrants were escorted to British shores after a rescue and search operation.

In the early hours of Sunday, French coast guards picked up 11 migrants, including two young children, in one boat off the coast near the port city of Calais.

Another 20, including a pregnant woman, were later rescued by the same patrol boat further along the French coast near Dunkirk, the local authorities said in a statement.

Some of the people rescued suffered from hypothermia, they added.
 

 

 

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Australian PM Announces Compensation for Volunteer Firefighters 

The Australian government announced Sunday that it would compensate volunteer firefighters in the state of New South Wales (NSW), as the country’s intense bushfire season rages on. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said payments of up to A$6,000 would be available for eligible firefighters who had spent more than 10 days in the field this fire season. 

“I know that our volunteer firefighters in NSW are doing it tough, especially in rural and regional areas,” Morrison said in a statement. “The early and prolonged nature of this fire season has made a call beyond what is typically made on our volunteer firefighters.” 

The conservative leader has previously said compensation for volunteers was not a priority, but he has faced increasing political pressure as widespread fires continue to burn. 

On Tuesday, he announced government workers could receive additional paid leave for volunteering. 

While there are different rules across Australia’s states, volunteers tend to negotiate time off directly with their employers. 

Eight fatalities

Bushfires have destroyed more than 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) in five states since September, and eight deaths have been linked to the blazes. 

Cooler conditions in many areas during Christmas week helped contain some blazes, but the fire risk has increased in parts of the country in the final few days of 2019. 

On Sunday, organizers of a major music festival in the state of Victoria canceled the event, citing extreme weather conditions expected Monday. 

“After consultation with local and regional fire authorities and other emergency stakeholders, it is clear that we have no other option,” the organizers wrote on Facebook. 

The event was meant to run until New Year’s Eve, and 9,000 people were already camping at the site when the announcement was made. 

A total fire ban is in place for all of Victoria on Monday because of forecast high temperatures and strong winds creating an “extreme” fire risk across most of the state. 

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Austria’s Greens Call for Party Meeting as Coalition Deal Nears 

Austria’s Greens, who are in coalition talks with conservatives led by Sebastian Kurz, on Saturday summoned a meeting of their party’s top decision-making body next week to sign off on a deal, indicating an agreement is close. 

The Greens’ Federal Congress, comprising various groups within the party, including its national, local and European lawmakers, must sign off on any coalition deal, and it requires a week’s notice to meet. 

The meeting has been called for January 4 and invitations were sent shortly before midnight, a Greens spokeswoman said. Although a deal has not yet been struck between the Greens and Kurz’s People’s Party (OVP), which won the last parliamentary election on September 29, calling the meeting indicates the Greens believe an agreement will be reached before then. 

Kurz said on Friday as talks resumed after a short Christmas break that he aimed to have a government sworn in by “early to mid-January.” In contrast to the Greens, Kurz can sign off on the deal himself on behalf of his party. 

Given the difficulty in keeping the deal confidential once it is put to the more than 250 members of the Federal Congress, the details are likely to be announced before it meets. Media reports said presentation was likely to happen on January 2 or January 3. 

Few details have emerged so far, but Greens leader Werner Kogler has said he wants an investment package in environmental measures, and Kurz has said his priorities include continuing his hard line on illegal immigration and keeping a balanced budget. 

There have also been reports the deal includes large investments in expanding Austria’s rail network. 

A deal would bring Kurz back to power as chancellor after his coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) collapsed in May over a video sting that felled FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache. A provisional government of civil servants is in place for the time being until a coalition is formed. 

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Ivory Coast Presidential Candidate Soro Rejects Coup Allegations

Former Ivory Coast rebel leader Guillaume Soro dismissed an arrest warrant issued against him as baseless and said he would pursue his campaign as a presidential candidate from overseas, according to comments published Sunday in a French newspaper. 

Ivory Coast’s public prosecutor issued the warrant for Soro on Monday as part of an investigation into an alleged coup plot, forcing him to call off a planned homecoming ahead of the October 2020 election. 

Soro — who gave the interview Thursday to the Journal du Dimanche in Paris and has been based in France for the past six months, according to the newspaper — said the warrant was politically motivated. 

This warrant is not based on the law, but has simply been issued to stop a candidate from trying to win office,” Soro said. 

He added that an audio recording being cited by prosecutors in their allegations was a manipulation and the result of a setup.  

The warrant was issued for breaches of state security, receiving stolen public resources and money laundering. 

Still has allies

The case involving Soro, who retains the loyalty of many former rebel commanders who now hold senior positions in the army, could significantly increase tensions ahead of the election, which is seen as a test of Ivory Coast’s stability. 

On Saturday, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said Soro was not above the law and would face justice for allegedly seeking to destabilize the country. 

That came after a group of Ivory Coast opposition parties accused state authorities on Friday of trying to intimidate them before the presidential election, and denounced the warrant against Soro. 

Soro said he had not had any contact with French President Emmanuel Macron’s office during his time in France and had not sought protection. Macron visited Ivory Coast in late December, before the warrant emerged. 

Soro said he would work on a form of political resistance from overseas for now. 

“I am and remain a candidate for the presidency,” he said. 

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Death Toll in Chile Protests Since October Rises to 27

Chile’s human rights watchdog is calling for an investigation into the electrocution of a man during anti-government protests. 
 
The death during clashes between police and protesters on Friday raised the number of those killed during protests that started in October to at least 27. 
 
The man who died was 40 years old and was electrocuted after falling into a pit with cables during chaotic street scenes, according to police and local media. 
 
The exact circumstances of the man’s death should be clarified as soon as possible, Chile’s National Institute of Human Rights said. 
 
The death happened during a protest in Plaza Italia, a focal point of unrest in  Santiago. The demonstrations started over an increase in subway fares and eventually encompassed grievances about pensions, education, health care and other issues. 
 
Demonstrations are frequently held on Fridays, and a movie theater burned in the latest clashes. 
 
Demonstrators made way for firetrucks arriving to fight the blaze at the Alameda Cultural Center, which also has been a staging ground for volunteer medics who treat injured demonstrators. 
 
Firefighters said the building was badly damaged and the cause would be investigated. 

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Northwest Syria at ‘Breaking Point,’ Aid Group Says

An international aid group said Saturday that conditions in northwest Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province were at a “breaking point.” 
 
The International Rescue Committee warned that continued violence could displace as many as 400,000 in the coming weeks. 
 
After weeks of intense bombardment, Syrian government forces launched a ground offensive on the southern and eastern parts of Idlib in the northwest last week, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes. 
 
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that as a result of hostilities more than 235,000 people had been displaced between Dec. 12 and Wednesday. Many of those fled from the town of Maaret al-Numan, toward which Syrian troops have been advancing since Thursday. 
 
On Saturday, activists and the war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported limited clashes on the southeastern edge of the enclave as well as an airstrike that destroyed a bakery in Maasran. 
 
Rehana Zawar, the IRC’s country director for northwest Syria, said the enclave was already in the midst of a major humanitarian crisis. Zawar warned that if violence escalated, 400,000 could be forced to leave their homes, pushing the number of the displaced inside Idlib to over 1 million. The province is home to over 3 million people. 
 
The enclave is already home to many displaced from previous rounds of violence in the nine-year war. “Conditions in Idlib are already at a breaking point,” Zawar said, calling for an immediate cease-fire. 

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Car Bomb in Somalia’s Capital Kills Dozens, Police Say

Somali officials say dozens of people were killed and wounded when a huge car bomb exploded at a busy junction on the southwestern side of Mogadishu.

Witnesses say the blast occurred at a security checkpoint at an intersection used by vehicles leaving and entering Mogadishu from Afgoye town. An officer said it was a truck bomb.

Early reports indicated the vehicle filled with explosives was targeting a busy taxation office at the junction where vehicles stop to pay their road taxes.

A witness who went to the scene told VOA Somali that he saw blood and pieces of bodies scattered throughout the scene.

“It’s hard to quantify, but many people died,” he said.

A senior government official said he was told a significant number of people were killed. Pictures taken show at least 15 dead bodies lying on the ground.

 SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB    Civilians assist a woman injured in a car bomb explosion at a security…
Civilians help a woman injured in a car bombing at a security checkpoint as she arrives to a hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia, Dec. 28, 2019.

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US Military Base Blares False Alarm Amid North Korea Tensions

A U.S. military base in South Korea accidentally blared an alert siren instead of a bugle call, causing a brief scare as the U.S. and its allies are monitoring for signs of provocation from North Korea, which has warned it could send a “Christmas gift” over deadlocked nuclear negotiations.

The siren at Camp Casey, which is near the border with North Korea, went off by “human error” around 10 p.m. Thursday, said Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton, a public affairs officer for the 2nd Infantry Division. 

The operator immediately identified the mistake and alerted all units at the base of the false alarm, which did not interfere with any operations, Crighton said in an email Saturday. 

False alarm in Japan

The incident came a day before Japanese broadcaster NHK caused panic by mistakenly sending a news alert saying North Korea fired a missile over Japan that landed in the sea off the country’s northeastern island of Hokkaido early Friday. The broadcaster apologized, saying the alert was for media training purposes.

North Korea has been dialing up pressure on Washington ahead of an end-of-year deadline issued by leader Kim Jong Un for the Trump administration to offer mutually acceptable terms for a nuclear deal. There are concerns that Pyongyang could do something provocative if Washington doesn’t back down and relieve sanctions imposed on the North’s broken economy.

The North fired two missiles over Japan during a provocative run in weapons tests in 2017, which also included three flight tests of developmental intercontinental ballistic missiles that demonstrated potential capabilities to reach the U.S. mainland. 

Tensions eased briefly

Tensions eased after Kim initiated diplomacy with Washington and Seoul in 2018 while looking to leverage his nukes for economic and security benefits. 

But negotiations have faltered since a February summit between Kim and President Donald Trump broke down after the U.S. side rejected North Korean demands for broad sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

In a statement issued earlier this month, North Korean senior diplomat Ri Thae Song asserted that the Trump administration was running out of time to salvage faltering nuclear negotiations, and said it’s entirely up to the United States to choose what “Christmas gift” it gets from the North.

The North also in recent weeks said it conducted two “crucial” tests at a long-range rocket facility it said would strengthen its nuclear deterrent, prompting speculation that it’s developing a new ICBM or preparing a satellite launch.

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Thai SEAL Dies of Infection from Cave Rescue a Year Ago

A Thai navy SEAL who was part of the dramatic rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave has died of a blood infection contracted during the risky operation, the Royal Thai Navy said.

Petty Officer 1st Class Bayroot Pakbara was receiving treatment, but his condition worsened after the infection spread into his blood, according to an announcement on the Thai navy SEAL’s Facebook page.

He is the second navy diver who lost his life in the high-profile operation that saw the boys and the coach extracted from deep inside the northern cave complex, where they were trapped for two weeks in June-July last year.

Lt. Cmdr. Saman Gunan died while resupplying oxygen tanks July 6, 2019.

According to the Bangkok Post, Pakbara was buried Friday at the Talosai mosque in southern Satun province. Local media quoted his mother as saying her son had been in and out of the hospital since the cave rescue.

The boys and their coach entered the Tham Luang cave complex after soccer practice and were quickly trapped inside by rising floodwater. Despite a massive search, the boys spent nine nights lost in the cave before they were spotted by an expert diver. It would take another eight days before they were all safely removed from the cave.

A team of expert divers guided each of the boys out of the cave on special stretchers. The operation required placing oxygen canisters along the path where the divers maneuvered dark, tight and twisting passageways filled with muddy water and strong currents.

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UN Increases 2020 Budget, Adds Funds for War Crimes Inquiries

The United Nations General Assembly Friday adopted a $3.07 billion operating budget that for the first time includes funding for the investigation of war crimes in Syria and Myanmar.

The budget represents a slight increase from 2019’s figure of $2.9 billion.

The increase was the result of additional missions assigned to the U.N. Secretariat, inflation and exchange rate adjustments, according to diplomats.

These include the observer mission in Yemen, a political mission established in Haiti, the investigation of crimes committed in Syria since the outbreak of civil war in 2011, and in Myanmar after the 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Syria, Myanmar inquiries

For the first time, the budgets for the Syria and Myanmar investigations, which were previously financed by voluntary contributions, will in 2020 be transferred to the U.N. secretariat’s budget and will receive compulsory contributions from the 193 member states.

Russia proposed multiple amendments during negotiations in the Committee on Budgetary Questions meeting and in the General Assembly plenary session.

Dissenters

At each vote, Russia, Syria, Myanmar and their supporters, including North Korea, Iran, Nicaragua and Venezuela, were outvoted. They all stated that they dissociated themselves from references to investigative mechanisms in the adopted resolutions.

Russia said it would examine its future obligatory payments in light of the vote outcome and predicted an increase in the arrears that currently plague the U.N.’s treasury because of countries not paying enough.

Moscow argued Friday the investigative mechanism was illegitimate, while Damascus stressed that it had no mandate from the Security Council.

The U.N.’s operating budget is separate from the annual budget for peacekeeping operations of some $6 billion that is adopted in June.

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UN Official Decries Human Rights ‘Backlash’ in Last Decade

The past decade has seen a backlash against human rights on every front, especially the rights of women and LGBT communities, according to a top U.N. human rights official. 
 
Andrew Gilmour, the outgoing assistant secretary-general for human rights, said the regression of the past 10 years hasn’t equaled the advances that began in the late 1970s — but it is serious, widespread and regrettable. 
 
He pointed to “populist authoritarian nationalists” in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, who he said are taking aim at the most vulnerable groups of society, including Rohingya Muslims, Roma and Mexican migrants, as well as gays and women. He cited leaders who justify torture, the arrests and killing of journalists, the brutal repressions of demonstrations and “a whole closing of civil society space.” 
 
“I never thought that we would start hearing the terms `concentration camps’ again,” Gilmour told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview. “And yet, in two countries of the world there’s a real question.” 

A Chinese police officer takes his position by the road near what is officially called a vocational education centre in Yining…
FILE – A Chinese police officer takes his position by the road near what is officially called a vocational education center in Yining in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, Sept. 4, 2018.

He didn’t name them but appeared to be referring to China’s internment camps in western Xinjiang province, where an estimated 1 million members of the country’s predominantly Muslim Uighur minority are being held; and detention centers on the United States’ southern border, where mostly Central American migrants are being held while waiting to apply for asylum. Both countries strongly deny that concentration camp-like conditions exist. 
 
Gilmour is leaving the United Nations on December 31 after a 30-year career that has included posts in hot spots such as Iraq, South Sudan, Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories and West Africa. Before taking up his current post in 2016, he served for four years as director of political, peacekeeping, humanitarian and human rights affairs in former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s office. 
 
Despite his dim view of the past decade, Gilmour — a Briton who previously worked in politics and journalism — said he didn’t want to appear “relentlessly negative.” 

Not a straight line
 
“The progress of human rights is certainly not a linear progression, and we have seen that,” he said. “There was definite progression from the late ’70s until the early years of this century. And we’ve now seen very much the countertendency of the last few years.” 
 
Gilmour said human rights were worse during the Cold War between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, “but there wasn’t a pushback as there is now.” 
 
He pointed to the fact that in the past eight years or so, many countries have adopted laws designed to restrict the funding and activities of nongovernmental organizations, especially human rights NGOs. 
 
And he alleged that powerful U.N. member states stop human rights officials from speaking in the Security Council, while China and some other members “go to extraordinary lengths to prevent human rights defenders [from] entering the [U.N.] building even, let alone participate in the meetings.” 
 

FILE - Jordan's Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, gestures after a news conference at the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, October 2014.
FILE – Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, then the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, is pictured after a news conference at the U.N.’s European headquarters in Geneva, October 2014.

In March 2018, for example, Russia used a procedural maneuver to block then-U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein from addressing a formal meeting of the Security Council, the U.N.’s most powerful body, Gilmour said. 
 
Zeid was able to deliver his hard-hitting speech soon afterward, but only at a hurriedly organized informal council meeting where he decried “mind-numbing crimes“ committed by all parties in Syria. 
 
Gilmour also cited the United States’ refusal to authorize the council to hold a meeting on the human rights situation in North Korea, a move that effectively killed the idea. 

Rights of women, gays
 
The rights of women and gays are also at stake, Gilmour said. He said nationalist authoritarian populist leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have made “derogatory comments” about both groups. 
 
He said the U.S. is “aggressively pushing” back against women’s reproductive rights both at home and abroad. The result, he said, is that countries fearful of losing U.S. aid are cutting back their work on women’s rights. 
 
Gilmour also pointed out a report issued in September that cited 48 countries for punishing human rights defenders who have cooperated with the U.N. 
 
“I feel that we really need to do more — everybody … to defend those courageous defenders,” he said. 
 
Gilmour said the U.N. should also stand up when it comes to major violations of international law and major violations of human rights, but “I have found it extremely difficult to do so in all circumstances.” 

U.S. United Nations Ambassador Kelly Craft address the U.N. Security Council after a failed vote on a humanitarian draft…
FILE – United States U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft addresses the Security Council after a failed vote on a humanitarian draft resolution for Syria, Sept. 19, 2019, at U.N. headquarters.

He said he was happy to hear that the new U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Kelly Craft, feels strongly about ensuring human rights. 
 
“And I do hope that she will be gently and firmly held to that high standard,“ he said. 
 
Gilmour said that after his departure from the U.N, he will take a fellowship at Oxford’s All Souls College, where he will focus on the importance of uniting human rights and environmental rights groups. 
 
“The human rights impact of climate change — it’s going to be so monumental,” he said. 
 
As he relinquishes his post, Gilmour said he is counting on younger generations to take up the mantle of human rights and fight for other causes aimed at improving the world. 
 
“What gives me hope as we start a new decade is that there will be a surge in youth activism that will help people to get courage, and to stand up for what they believe in,” he said. 

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Border Crossings: Jon Bon Jovi

Singer-songwriter, record producer, philanthropist, and actor, Jon Bon Jovi the founder and front man of the Grammy Award-winning rock band Bon Jovi, which was formed in 1983. Bon Jovi has released 14 studio albums and has sold over 130 million albums worldwide and he has released two solo albums. Earlier this month Bon Jovi released their latest song, “Unbroken” which will be featured in the forthcoming documentary “To Be of Service.” The song is a compelling anthem that shines a spotlight on the thousands of veterans living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

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