Tag: InternationalNews

{North Korea publicly executed around 80 people earlier this month, many for watching smuggled South Korean TV shows, a South Korean newspaper says.}

The conservative JoongAng Ilbo cited a single, unidentified source, but at least one North Korean defector group said it had heard rumours that lent credibility to the front-page report on Monday.

The source, said to be “familiar” with the North’s internal affairs and recently returned from the country, said the executions were carried out in seven cities on November 3.

In the eastern port of Wonsan, the authorities gathered 10,000 people in a sports stadium to watch the execution of eight people by firing squad, the source quoted one eyewitness as saying.

Most were charged with watching illicit South Korean TV dramas, and some with prostitution.

Several of the cities, including Wonsan and Pyongsong in the west, have been designated as special economic zones aimed at attracting foreign investment to boost the North’s moribund economy.

The Seoul-based news website, Daily NK, which is run by North Korean defectors and has a wide network of sources, said it had no information on the executions.

But another defector-run website, North Korea Intellectual Solidarity, said its sources had reported several months ago on plans for a wave of public executions.

“The regime is obviously afraid of potential changes in people’s mindsets and is pre-emptively trying to scare people off,” said one website official.

Watching unsanctioned foreign films or TV — especially those from the capitalist South — is a serious offence in North Korea.

However, efforts to control their distribution have been circumvented by technology, with an increasing number being smuggled in on DVDs, flash drives and mp3 players.

As well as South Korean soap operas, US shows like Desperate Housewives are believed to have a small but avid following.

{A pair of testy public exchanges this week appear to have undone whatever good will was created between the Israeli and U.S. governments during a high-profile visit by President Barack Obama early this year}.

Tensions burst into the open during a swing through the region by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. In an interview broadcast on both Israeli and Palestinian TV, Kerry questioned Israel’s seriousness about peace with the Palestinians. Hours later Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired back, vowing not to cave into concessions to the Palestinians — and also saying he “utterly rejects” an emerging nuclear deal between world powers and Iran.

The rancor signals a tough road ahead for the twin American goals of finding a diplomatic solution for Iran’s nuclear program and forging peace between Israel and the Palestinians. And it raises the specter of a return to the uncomfortable relationship that has often characterized dealings between Obama and Netanyahu.

Israeli news reports describe Netanyahu as being in “shock” over the possible Iranian compromise. Netanyahu, who sees Iran as an arch-enemy, has vowed to do anything, including a military strike, to prevent Iran from reaching weapons capability.

“If there were a synoptic map for diplomatic storms, the National Weather Service would be putting out a hurricane warning right now,” diplomatic correspondent Chemi Shalev wrote on the website of the newspaper Haaretz. “And given that the turbulence is being caused by an issue long deemed to be critical to Israel’s very existence, we may actually be facing a rare Category 5 flare up, a ‘superstorm’ of U.S.-Israeli relations.”

Obama and Netanyahu took office just months apart in 2009, but seemed to share little in common. At joint appearances they appeared uncomfortable and even occasionally sparred. In one famous instance, Netanyahu lectured Obama on the pitfalls of Mideast peacemaking in front of the TV cameras at a White House meeting.

The lack of chemistry seems rooted in vastly different world views. Obama is a proponent of diplomacy and consensus, while Netanyahu believes Israel can trust no one and must protect itself.

Netanyahu also enjoys strong ties with U.S. Republicans. In 2012, he was widely perceived to have backed challenger Mitt Romney.

And there has been constant friction over Netanyahu’s insistence on continuing to settle Jews on occupied land even as he negotiates with the Palestinians.

Last March, Obama traveled to Israel for a visit widely seen as an attempt to reboot relations. The two leaders appeared together at a series of events, smiling and sharing jokes. But even then there were signs of trouble. Obama urged an audience of university students to pressure Israeli leaders to change their ways and take bold new steps to reach peace with the Palestinians.

Since then, officials on both sides have stressed the countries are close allies regardless of politics. But the atmosphere gradually soured again as Obama pressed forward with his two major diplomatic initiatives.

Over the summer, Kerry persuaded Israel and the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table for the first time in nearly five years. The sides agreed to talk for nine months, with an April target date for reaching a peace deal.

To get talks going, Palestinians dropped a longstanding demand for an Israeli freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, captured territories that the Palestinians claim for a future state. To get Palestinians back to talks, Israel committed to releasing 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners. The U.S. also apparently gave vague assurances settlement construction would be restrained.

With negotiations making no visible progress, Israel’s release of a second round of Palestinian prisoners two weeks ago — all jailed for killing Israelis — set off an uproar. Netanyahu followed the release by announcing plans to build thousands of settler homes, infuriating the Palestinians, the Americans and also the moderate camp in Israel itself.

In surprisingly blunt comments, Kerry told Israel’s Channel 2 TV on Thursday that Israel faced the possibility of international isolation and renewed violence with the Palestinians if peace efforts failed. He also said the continued settlement construction raised questions about Israel’s commitment to peace.

“How can you say, ‘We’re planning to build in the place that will eventually be Palestine?’” Kerry said. “It sends a message that somehow perhaps you’re not really serious.”

Netanyahu responded the next morning ahead of a meeting with Kerry. “No amount of pressure will make me or the government of Israel compromise on the basic security and national interests of the State of Israel,” the visibly agitated premier said.

Netanyahu also slammed the emerging agreement with Iran. “Iran got the deal of the century, and the international community got a bad deal,” he said. “This is a very bad deal and Israel utterly rejects it.”

He warned that Israel is “not obliged” to honor the agreement and would do “everything it needs to do to defend itself.” Following a tense meeting stretching more than two hours, a planned joint appearance with Kerry and Netanyahu to the media was canceled.

While negotiators in Geneva hammered out details Saturday, the discussed deal appeared to include some relief from painful economic sanctions in exchange for limits on Iranian nuclear activity. However, chances of a deal being struck looked slim late Saturday.

White House spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said Saturday the Obama administration was “in full agreement with Israel on the need to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon” and that the negotiations had that goal in mind.

But Netanyahu has said international pressure should be increased, not eased, until Iran dismantles all suspicious nuclear activities. That position puts him at odds with the U.S. as the White House urges Congress to hold off on new sanctions while negotiations are under way.

For now, Netanyahu’s options appear limited. Despite longstanding threats to carry out a military attack on Iran if necessary, it would be all but impossible to do so in the current diplomatic environment. On the Palestinian front, Netanyahu holds most of the leverage and is showing little inclination to change.

Nicholas Burns, a former senior State Department official, said that Netanyahu made an error by airing his grievances publicly.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s public outburst was unfortunate and ill-advised,” Burns, who now teaches at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, wrote in an email. “It has gone down very badly in the U.S.”

{{AP}}

{Behind a veil of secrecy, at least 30 journalists have been kidnapped or have disappeared in Syria — held and threatened with death by extremists or taken captive by gangs seeking ransom.}

The widespread seizure of journalists is unprecedented, and has been largely unreported by news organizations in the hope that keeping the kidnappings out of public view may help to negotiate the captives’ release.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 30 journalists are being held and 52 have been killed since Syria’s civil war began in early 2011. The group also has documented at least 24 other journalists who disappeared earlier this year but are now safe. In a report this week, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders cited higher figures, saying at least 60 “news providers” are detained and more than 110 have been killed.

The discrepancy stems from varying definitions of what constitutes a journalist because much of the reporting and news imagery coming out of Syria is not from traditional professional journalists. Some of those taken have been activists affiliated with the local “media offices” that have sprouted up across opposition-held territory.

Only 10 of the international journalists currently held have been identified publicly by their families or news organizations: four French citizens, two Americans, one Jordanian, one Lebanese, one Spaniard and one Mauritanian. The remaining missing are a combination of foreign and Syrian journalists, some of whose names have not been publicly disclosed due to security concerns.

Groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists are alarmed by the kidnappings.

While withholding news of abductions is understandable in many cases, especially with lives at stake, the organization says, this has also served to mask the extent of the problem.

“Every time a journalist enters Syria, they are effectively rolling the dice on whether they’re going to be abducted or not,” said Jason Stern, a researcher at CPJ.

Jihadi groups are believed responsible for most kidnappings since the summer, but government-backed militias, criminal gangs and rebels affiliated with the Western-backed Free Syrian Army also have been involved with various motives.

By discouraging even experienced journalists from traveling to Syria, the kidnappings are diminishing the media’s ability to provide unbiased on-the-ground insights into one of the world’s most brutal and combustible conflicts.

{{AP}}

{The death toll from one of the strongest storms on record that ravaged the central Philippine city of Tacloban could reach 10,000 people, officials said Sunday after the extent of massive devastation became apparent and horrified survivors spoke of storm surges as high as trees and winds sounding like the roar of a jumbo jet.}

Regional police chief Elmer Soria said he was briefed by Leyte provincial Gov. Dominic Petilla late Saturday and told there were about 10,000 deaths in the province, mostly by drowning and from collapsed buildings. The governor’s figure was based on reports from village officials in areas where Typhoon Haiyan slammed Friday.

Tacloban city administrator Tecson Lim said that the death toll in the city alone “could go up to 10,000.” Tacloban is the Leyte provincial capital of 200,000 people and the biggest city on Leyte Island.

About 300-400 bodies have already been recovered and “still a lot under the debris,” Lim said. A mass burial was planned Sunday in Palo town near Tacloban.

The typhoon barreled through six central Philippine islands on Friday, wiping away buildings and leveling seaside homes with ferocious winds of 235 kilometers per hour (147 miles per hour) and gusts of 275 kph (170 mph). By those measurements, Haiyan would be comparable to a strong Category 4 hurricane in the U.S., and nearly in the top category, a 5.

It weakened Sunday to 163 kph (101 mph) with stronger gusts as it approached central and northern Vietnam where authorities evacuated more than 500,000 people. It was forecast to make landfall Monday morning.

“The rescue operation is ongoing. We expect a very high number of fatalities as well as injured,” Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said after visiting Tacloban on Saturday. “All systems, all vestiges of modern living — communications, power, water — all are down. Media is down, so there is no way to communicate with the people in a mass sort of way.”

President Benigno Aquino III said the casualties “will be substantially more” than the official count of 151 — but gave no figure or estimate. He said the government’s priority was to restore power and communications in isolated areas to allow for the delivery of relief and medical assistance to victims.

The U.S. and other governments and agencies were mounting a major relief effort “because of the magnitude of the disaster,” said Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon.

{{AP}}

{Typhoon Haiyan is battering the central Philippines with sustained winds of 235 km/h (146mph).}

Meteorologists say that if initial estimates based on satellite images are borne out, it could be the most powerful storm ever to make landfall.

The storm has forced millions in storm-prone areas to seek shelter across 20 provinces, officials say.

The region was already struggling to recover from a powerful earthquake last month.

The authorities have warned that more than 12 million people are at risk from the category-five storm, including in Cebu, the country’s second largest city with a population of 2.5m.

The storm – known locally as Yolanda – was not expected to directly hit the capital Manila, further north. Mai Zamora, from the charity World Vision, in Cebu, told the BBC: “The wind here is whistling. It’s so strong and the heavy downpours are continuing.”

“We’ve been hearing from my colleagues in [the city of] Tacloban that they’ve seen galvanised iron sheets flying just like kites.”

Schools and offices closed, while ferry services and local flights were suspended. Hospitals and soldiers are on stand-by for rescue and relief operations.

The extent of the damage remains unclear, with authorities saying phone-lines are down in many areas.

The governor of the Southern Leyte province, Roger Mercado, tweeted on Friday morning that fallen trees were blocking roads, hampering the emergency effort.

Roxane Sombise, a resident of Tacloban, in Leyte, told the BBC: “I think our house is actually shaking… I just want it to stop.”

A teacher in Southern Leyte province told a local radio station that her school was “now packed with evacuees”.

Jeff Masters, meteorology director at the private firm Weather Underground, said in a blog post that the damage from Haiyan’s winds must have been “perhaps the greatest wind damage any city on Earth has endured from a tropical cyclone in the past century”.

{Relief packages}

State meteorologist Romeo Cajulis told AFP news agency Typhoon Haiyan had made landfall over Guiuan at 04:40.

The typhoon arrived with gusts of up to 275 km/h (170 mph), the Philippines’ weather service said in its bulletin, issued at 05:00 local time (21:00 GMT).

The US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Centre, which typically gives higher readings as they are based on a shorter period of time, said shortly before Haiyan’s landfall that its maximum sustained winds were 314 km/h (195 mph), with gusts up to 379 km/h (235 mph).

Waves as high as 5m (15ft) could be seen from the islands of Leyte and Samar, Reuters news agency reported.

The storm is forecast to move over to the South China Sea north of Palawan Island on Saturday, meteorologists say.

In its path are areas already struggling to recover from a 7.3-magnitude earthquake last month, including the worst-hit island of Bohol.

About 5,000 people are still living in tents in Bohol after losing their homes in the quake, which killed more than 200 people.

Earlier, President Benigno Aquino warned people to leave storm-prone areas and urged seafarers to stay in port.

“No typhoon can bring Filipinos to their knees if we’ll be united,” he said in a televised address.

Meteorologists in the Philippines warned that Haiyan could be as devastating as Typhoon Bopha in 2012.

Bopha devastated parts of the southern Philippines, leaving at least 1,000 people dead and causing more than $1bn (£620m) in damage.

It is the 25th typhoon to enter Philippine territory this year.

Source: BBC

{The olympic torch successfully blasted off Thursday from earth ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games}.

NASA Live TV showed the rocket, emblazoned with the pale blue Sochi 2014 logo, launching from the Russian-operated Baikonur cosmodrome on a clear morning in Kazakhstan.

The torch will make its way to the International Space Station before being taken into space itself — making it the Olympic flame’s first spacewalk in history.

Russia’s Mikhail Tyurin, NASA’s Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata of Japan beamed at the crowd as they carried the lit torch aboard the Soyuz rocket.

For safety reasons, the torch will not burn when it’s onboard the space outpost.

Lighting it would consume precious oxygen and pose a threat to the crew. The crew will carry the unlit torch around the station’s numerous modules before taking it out on a spacewalk.

The Olympic torch has flown into space once before — in 1996 aboard the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis for the Atlanta Summer Olympics — but will be taken outside the spacecraft for the first time in history.

“It’s a great pleasure and responsibility getting to work with this symbol of peace,” Tyurin told journalists on Wednesday ahead of the launch.

The torch will remain in space for five days. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazanskiy, who are currently manning the International Space Station, will take the flame for a spacewalk on Saturday, before it is returned to earth by three astronauts on Monday.

The four-month Sochi torch relay, which started in Moscow on Oct. 7, is the longest in the history of the Olympics. For most of the 65,000-kilometre (39,000-mile) route, the flame will travel by plane, train, car and even reindeer sleigh, but 14,000 torch bearers are taking part in the relay that stops at more than 130 cities and towns.

Last month, the Olympic flame travelled to the North Pole on a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker. Later this month it will sink to the bottom of the world’s deepest lake, Lake Baikal, and in February it will reach the peak of Mount Elbrus, at 5,642 metres (18,510 feet) the highest mountain in Russia and Europe.

The torch will be used to light the Olympic flame at Sochi’s stadium on Feb. 7, marking the start of the 2014 Winter Games that run until Feb. 23.

Source: The Associated Press

{John Kerry, the US secretary of state, will hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to try to keep the peace process from collapsing, urging them to reach a long-elusive deal.
}

Kerry is expected to hold talks on Wednesday with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, and Shimon Peres, Israeli president, in Jerusalem, and with Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president, in Bethlehem.

After months of shuttle diplomacy, Kerry persuaded Israel and the Palestinians to reopen peace talks in late July after a nearly five-year break.

The sides have committed to hold nine months of talks in hopes of reaching a peace deal that would end decades of conflict.

But a senior Palestinian official, who asked to remain anonymous, told the AFP news agency that the Palestinians would refuse to continue the talks as long as Jewish settlement on the West Bank proliferates.

“The Israeli side is determined to continue its settlement and we cannot continue negotiations under these unprecedented settlement attacks,” he said after a stormy meeting of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. “The Palestinian-Israeli negotiations broke down during the session on Tuesday night.”

The parties have largely honoured Kerry’s request to keep the content of the negotiations secret

Aljazeera

{Thirteen killed in border city of Matamoros as gunmen clash with Mexican armed forces in region ravaged by drug gangs}

Thirteen people have been killed in shootouts around the north-east Mexican city of Matamoros in one of the worst recent outbreaks of violence in an area ravaged by drug gangs.

Three gunfights took place around the city, close to Brownsville, Texas, two of which were exchanges between gunmen and Mexico’s armed forces, according to a statement from the state government of Tamaulipas.

Eight men died in the fighting with Mexican marines after four men and one woman were killed in an earlier clash between unidentified armed groups, the state government said.

None of the dead has been identified.

Drug cartels seeking control of smuggling routes into the US have in the past few years been responsible for a series of massacres, gunfights and kidnappings in Tamaulipas, giving the state the reputation as one of the most lawless in Mexico.

President Enrique Peña Nieto took office in December pledging to eradicate the gang violence that has claimed about 80,000 lives since the start of 2007, but parts of Mexico are still regularly racked by shootings and executions.

The Guardian