allworldsnews

Category: WORLDS

  • North Korean media silent on Mike Pompeo meeting in New York

    Domestic political pressure on Kim Jong-un to move slowly in denuclearization talks with the U.S. is so intense that North Korean state media is avoiding any mention of the high-level meeting the nati

    Domestic political pressure on Kim Jong-un to move slowly in denuclearization talks with the U.S. is so intense that North Korean state media is avoiding any mention of the high-level meeting the nation’s foreign minister had with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week in New York.

    Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of Mr. Kim’s ruling Workers’ Party, ran a report Tuesday featuring a long list of meetings Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho had with others on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly — including with Chinese, Russian, Swiss, Kazakh, Venezuelan and other officials.

    But, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, the Rodong report neglected to point out Mr. Ri’s direct talks with Mr. Pompeo on Sept. 26, after which the secretary of state revealed that he had accepted an invitation to personally visit to Pyongyang in the weeks ahead to plan for a second summit between President Trump and Mr. Kim.

    The North Korean state newspaper also avoided any mention of talks that Mr. Ri had in New York with Taro Kono, the foreign minister of Japan, a close ally in the Trump administration’s ongoing push to get the Kim regime to abandon its nuclear weapons.

    Analysts say the denuclearization issue is sensitive for the regime because Mr. Kim’s father and grandfather spent decades staking their own legacies on developing the North Korean nuclear program.

    That Mr. Kim might now destroy the program — even if he did so in exchange for sanctions relief — is apparently deemed so risky by the 35-year-old dictator’s advisers that they’re downplaying progress the ongoing denuclearization talks.

    After stalling during the late summer, the talks have appeared to gain fresh momentum in recent weeks, following a three-day, mid-September summit in Pyongyang between Mr. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

    Mr. Pompeo wrote on Twitter last week that he’d had a “very positive” subsequent meeting with Mr. Ri in New York.

  • U.S. slaps sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s wife for corruption

    The Trump administration on Tuesday announced new sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s wife and other Venezuelans from his inner circle in Washington’s latest move to further punish his regime for corruption and anti-democratic practices.

    Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro is the first lady, a former attorney general and head of the National Assembly. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which announced the designation, also named Delcy Eloina Rodriguez Gomez, Jorge Jesus Rodriguez Gomez, Vladimir Padrino Lopez.

    “President Maduro relies on his inner circle to maintain his grip on power, as his regime systematically plunders what remains of Venezuela’s wealth,” Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “We are continuing to designate loyalists who enable Maduro to solidify his hold on the military and the government while the Venezuelan people suffer.”

    Mr. Mnuchin added: “Treasury will continue to impose a financial toll on those responsible for Venezuela’s tragic decline, and the networks and front-men they use to mask their illicit wealth.”

    The Trump administration has increased pressure on Mr. Maduro as the South American country continues to spiral into a historic political and economic crisis that has many Venezuelans struggling to afford scarce food and medicine. Masses are fleeing into neighboring countries, threatening to destabilize the region.

    Widely unpopular, Mr. Maduro has nevertheless clung to power through what Washington diplomats insist was a rigged recent election, in addition to massive corruption.

    “Today’s action shows that the United States will continue to take concrete and forceful action against those who are involved in the destruction of democracy in Venezuela as well as those who are enriching themselves at the expense of the Venezuelan people,” the State Department added in a statement.

    Later on Tuesday, President Trump is scheduled to meet with Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez at the United Nations General Assembly. The two leaders are expected to discuss Venezuela’s refugee crisis which has exploded during Mr. Maduro’s reign.

  • WHO: Ebola metrics improving, but ‘perfect storm’ threatens DRC response

    The World Health Organization warned Tuesday that armed conflict, public distrust of global aid workers and political maneuvering may combine into a “perfect storm” that undermines the massive respons

    The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday that armed conflict, public distrust of global aid workers and political maneuvering may combine into a “perfect storm” that undermines the massive response to Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

    WHO’s emergencies director, Peter Salama, said the response is showing progress overall, with 10 cases per week in the affected region compared to 40 per week at the start of the outbreak in August.

    However, a rebel attack on the WHO’s base town of Beni suspended critical response operations through Friday.

    “That means this entire week we may have cases that become more symptomatic and become more infectious that we’re unable to respond to,” Dr. Salama said, noting they were unable to reach three suspected cases around Beni on Monday.

    Typically, they can reach a potentially infected patient within 24 hours.

    So far, the outbreak in North Kivu province has been linked to 150 cases and 100 deaths.

    The outbreak is unfolding in a region marked by armed conflict between insurgent groups and the government.

    Dr. Salama said politicians eyeing an upcoming DRC election are making things worse, as opposition parties accuse the army and central government of failing to repel the attacks.

    By extension, locals begin to look askance at the governmental Ebola response, and allies like WHO feel that skepticism, too.

    Any response to Ebola is marked by suspicion vaccines and outsiders, and those fears have been exacerbated at times by social media posts, Dr. Salama said.

    Meanwhile, the rebel attack on Beni killed 14 civilians over the weekend, forcing multiple groups to suspend operations during a week of mourning and protest.

    “As the days go on, if we do see unsafe burials that we can’t be responded to if we do see symptomatic people that can’t be accessed, we can see this situation deteriorating very quickly, which is why there is the real potentiation for a perfect storm in the coming days and weeks,” Dr. Salama said.

  • Suspension of U.S. military drills with South Korea hurt readiness, says top general

    The Trump White House’s decision to suspend several, large-scale military exercises with South Korea earlier this year harmed U.S. readiness to respond to potential conflicts on the peninsula.

    The Trump White House’s decision to suspend several, large-scale military exercises with South Korea earlier this year harmed U.S. readiness to respond to potential conflicts on the peninsula.

    Army Gen. Robert Abrams, the administration’s pick to become the new top U.S. commander in South Korea, told lawmakers Tuesday the decision had degraded the ability for American forces to coordinate with their counterparts in Seoul, should hostilities break out between North Korea and the South.

    Gen. Abrams, who is slated to replace current U.S. Forces-Korea Commander Gen. Vincent Brooks, made his comments on the effect of the suspended military drills during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Associated Press reports.

    U.S. military leaders on the peninsula are in the midst of setting up several, smaller bilateral drills with South Korean forces, in an attempt to rebuild the lost readiness capabilities due to the suspended exercises, he told panel members alongside Navy Vice Adm. Craig Faller. Adm. Faller has been nominated to take over U.S. Southern Command.

    Planning for next year’s iteration of the South Korean drills suspended this year is also ongoing, Gen. Abrams said, noting that no decision has been made by the White House or the Defense Department on whether those exercises would go forward.

    Commanders are planning a number of smaller staff exercises to rebuild the ability of U.S. and allied forces to work together. He says planning is ongoing for large exercises next year, but alliance leaders will decide if they are canceled or not.

    The move to indefinitely suspend large-scale war games between the U.S. and Seoul was ordered by the Trump White House shortly after the landmark deunclearization summit with the North in June. The decision was intended as an olive branch to Pyongyang, in an attempt to coerce the North Korean regime to embrace efforts to eliminate their nuclear capabilities.

    But the State Department and Pentagon had been seemingly caught unaware of Mr. Trump’s cancellation of U.S. military drills on the peninsula, until the White House’s announcement. It came just as U.S. defense officials were in the midst of planning for one of those major exercise, dubbed Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which had been slated to begin in July.

    Mr. Trump characterized the drills as “provocative” and a costly byproduct of the Cold War-era strategy being imparted by U.S. military leaders on the peninsula. Mr. Kim and others in the North Korean regime have repeatedly cited the provocative nature of the exercises, in its criticism of U.S. military operations in the region.

  • Worlds Apart

    …Aisling and Danielle struggle with the new normality of being apart. Aisling’s had her soul sucked out of her by the small town of Mallow for an entire summer. In Vancouver, Danielle’s wish of a life in Canada with more art and less…

  • Wolfblood

    …Fantasy drama following teenagers Rhydian and Maddy and their secret lives as wolfbloods. They have razor-sharp senses, are incredibly fast and superstrong but change into wolves every full moon. Ceri unexpectedly turns up at the caravan…

  • Trump Supreme Court pick: Why is the US top court so important?

    Nine Supreme Court Justices Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The nine justices before Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement

    The US is currently undergoing the process to appoint a replacement to Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement earlier this year. So why is this a big deal?

    Given the immense impact the US Supreme Court has on US political life, nominees always face tough questions from the Senate during any confirmation hearing.

    President Donald Trump’s nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, is no exception.

    So how might his pick change the nation’s high court?

    Who are the current justices? Meet the Supremes

    What does the Supreme Court do?

    The highest court in the US is often the final word on highly contentious laws, disputes between states and the federal government, and final appeals to stay executions.

    Does the court matter globally?

    US research suggests that the influence of the Supreme Court abroad has diminished over the past two decades, as court systems elsewhere in the world develop and US influence in general wanes.

    Fewer courts internationally cite US Supreme Court opinions, increasingly citing the European Court of Human Rights and other national supreme courts.

    In 2016 a Supreme Court decision on emissions from coal-fired power plants on US soil threatened the Paris Climate Agreement, but enough other countries ratified the treaty for it to come into force.

    Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban, which affects Middle East countries designated as terror-prone, was cemented this week by the Supreme Court, with the outcome affecting millions internationally.

    And back in 2000, the Supreme Court decided the outcome of the presidential election between George W Bush and Al Gore – a decision which more recent history shows still has a significant impact around the world.

    The court could in theory be asked to rule on legal challenges to international trade agreements, such as the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, although TPP was revoked by Mr Trump using an executive order.

  • Students made to look black in French art school photo

    Undoctored École Émile-Cohl image Image copyright École Émile-Cohl Image caption The original, undoctored image as posted on the college’s website

    A French private art college has apologised after one of its promotional images was doctored to include more black students.

    The photo of a class trip to an art gallery was posted on a US promotional website for Lyon’s Émile-Cohl art school.

    Students noticed it was altered to darken the skin of white students, with black students digitally inserted.

    The school has apologised, and blamed the doctored image on a US PR company.

    Social media users posted comparisons of the original image and the altered version on Twitter.

    On its website, a statement by Émile-Cohl college says the school was first alerted to the image by students. They say it was “retouched to change the physical appearance” of some students.

    It removed the doctored image from the website and apologised to those concerned, “because it goes without saying that we disapprove of this process”.

    The photo was intended to be used as promotional material for a new college subsidiary in Los Angeles.

    The college director Antoine Rivière said in an interview with French news magazine L’Express the college sent several photos to a US communications firm “to enhance the reputation of our school there”.

    The image was changed without their knowledge, he says.

    “This is the antithesis of what represents Émile-Cohl,” he told the magazine.

    You may also be interested in:

    French ads to warn when thinness is faked Company admits faking Putin shirt photo AP removes ‘altered’ Fidel photos

  • David Keyes: Netanyahu aide steps aside amid sexual misconduct claims

    David Keyes (r) speaks to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, June 24, 2018 Image copyright Reuters Image caption David Keyes (R) was appointed Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign media spokesman in 2016

    A senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is taking a leave of absence following a series of sexual misconduct allegations.

    David Keyes said he wanted to clear his name from “false and misleading accusations”.

    The Times of Israel says that 12 women have accused him of inappropriate behaviour.

    One of them, New York State Senate candidate Julia Salazar, accused him publicly of sexual assault on Tuesday.

    Wall Street Journal reporter Shayndi Raice later wrote on Twitter that she, too, had had “a terrible encounter” with Mr Keyes.

    The other 10 women have asked to remain anonymous, the Israeli newspaper reported.

    How can businesses tackle sexual harassment? What has #MeToo actually changed?

    In a statement on Thursday, Mr Keyes, 34, said he was “fully confident that the truth will come out”.

    “In light of the false and misleading accusations against me and in order not to distract from the important work of the prime minister, I have asked to take time off to clear my name,” he said.

    The Times of Israel says the allegations took place before Mr Keyes was appointed Mr Netanyahu’s foreign media spokesman in 2016.

    It quotes sources as saying that Mr Keyes had been asked to stay away from certain offices in New York because of his behaviour.

    The prime minister’s office said it had accepted Mr Keyes’ request to take time off, the newspaper added.

    Responding on Twitter to Ms Salazar’s accusation, Ms Raice said: “I also had a terrible encounter with David Keyes once and 100% believe her. I knew this would come out about him at some point.”

    She accused Mr Keyes of having “absolutely no conception of the word ‘no’” and described him as a “predator”.

    On Thursday, several Israeli politicians called on Mr Netanyahu to suspend Mr Keyes until the reports could be clarified.

  • Hurricane Florence edges toward Carolinas

    Live Hurricane Florence edges toward Carolinas