* Defence ministry hits out as Taipei conducts its annual military exercise in preparation for possible strike by PLA * Beijing says it 'resolutely opposes any countries selling weapons to Taiwan'
Beijing has accused Washington of violating the one-China principle with its recent sale of a US$500 million military package to Taiwan, saying the act seriously hurt relations between the two countries and jeopardised stability in the Taiwan Strait.
"The Chinese side resolutely opposes any countries selling weapons to Taiwan," the defence ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, while repeating its position that it regards the self-ruled island as an inalienable part of the mainland and its need to uphold its territorial integrity.
WNU Editor: Here is an easy prediction. I do not see U.S. - Chinese relations improving any time soon. I see it getting worse, and the dispute over Taiwan is just one of many differences where both sides have no common ground for reconciliation.
A Venezuelan military deserter of the National Guard, who doesn't want to be identified, is seen in the border city of Pacaraima, Brazil April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares
PACARAIMA, Brazil (Reuters) - Venezuelan military personnel are deserting to Colombia and Brazil in growing numbers, refusing to follow orders to repress protests against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, six of them told Reuters.
A lieutenant and five sergeants of the National Guard, the main force used by the Maduro government to suppress widespread demonstrations, said the bulk were going to Colombia, the most accessible border, but others like themselves had left for Brazil.
Colombian immigration authorities said some 1,400 Venezuelan military had deserted for Colombia this year, while the Brazilian Army said over 60 members of Venezuela's armed forces had emigrated to Brazil since Maduro closed the border on Feb. 23 to block an opposition effort to get humanitarian aid into the country.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif does not believe U.S. President Donald Trump wants war with Iran, but he told Reuters on Wednesday that Trump could be lured into a conflict.
"I don't think he wants war," Zarif said in an interview at the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York. "But that doesn't exclude him being basically lured into one."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Zarif's remarks.
Zarif said a so-called "B-team," including Trump's national security adviser John Bolton, an ardent Iran hawk, and conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could goad Trump into a conflict with Tehran.
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Details began to emerge in Sri Lanka on Wednesday of a band of nine, well-educated Islamist suicide bombers, including a woman, from well-to-do families who slaughtered 359 people in Easter Sunday bomb attacks.
The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks on three churches and four hotels. If that connection is confirmed, the attacks looks likely to be the deadliest ever linked to the group.
Both the Sri Lankan government and the United States said the scale and sophistication of the coordinated bombings suggested the involvement of an external group such as Islamic State.
The Islamist group released a video late on Tuesday through its AMAQ news agency, showing eight men, all but one with their faces covered, standing under a black Islamic State flag, declaring loyalty to its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
In the wake of stalled nuclear talks with the US, Kim is seeking diplomatic assistance from the Kremlin. Russia wants stability on its far-eastern border — but President Putin may have a bigger picture in mind.
Even the driveway leading out of Vladivostok train station in Russia's Far East was prepared for Kim Jong Un's arrival. According to Russian media reports, city authorities made the driveway leading out of the train station less steep so North Korean leader's limousine could get out without getting stuck.
Two Air Force B-1B Lancers fly a 10-hour mission from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, through the South China Sea, operating with the Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Sterett on June 8, 2017. The first B-1Bs have resumed flying after a nearly month-long grounding due to problems with the bomber's drogue chute system. (Tech. Sgt. Richard Ebensberger/Air Force)
The first B-1B Lancer bombers are back in the air after concerns over its ejection seats grounded the entire fleet nearly a month ago, Air Force Global Strike Command said Tuesday.
The B-1B fleet was grounded by Gen. Timothy Ray, commander of Global Strike Command, March 28 over concerns with the drogue chute system, which corrects the seat's angle to allow an airman to safely eject from the bomber. It was the second time in a year the Air Force grounded the Lancer over an ejection seat issue.
President Vladimir Putin may look beyond Russia for a mechanism to keep power after his current term ends. That's making Moscow's closest ally nervous amid spiraling tensions over Kremlin threats to slash economic subsidies.
After years of spending billions of dollars to support Belarus's state-dominated economy, Russia is intensifying pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko to demonstrate his loyalty by accepting deeper integration in return for continued aid. That's fueling fears in Belarus that Russia's turning the screw as a prelude to possible absorption of its former Soviet satellite.
Those concerns may not be unfounded, according to three people close to the Kremlin, who said Putin may lay plans to head a unified state with neighboring Belarus to sidestep a constitutional ban on remaining president after 2024.
WNU Editor: Almost three quarters of Belarus speaks Russian. The rest speak either Belarusian or Polish. But the vast majority of the country see themselves as Belarusian first, and definitely not Russian. I have been to Minsk numerous times. I love the city, and I definitely love the countryside. But will Belarus be incorporated one day in a greater Russia? Hmmmm .... maybe one day, but not today. As to reports that President Putin's cronies are looking for a way to circumvent constitutional restrictions that will permit him to run again .... including using the excuse of taking over Belarus to change the constitution that will permit Putin to run again ..... I have been hearing about these stories since the end of last year. All that I can say is that if such a stunt is pulled off, there will be a lot of powerful and angry people in Russia who will not go along, and they will make their opposition known.
Foreign minister says US should 'prepare for consequences' if it tries to stop Iranian oil sales
The Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has said Tehran will continue to defy US sanctions by finding buyers for its oil and warned that Washington should "be prepared for the consequences" if it tries to stop it.
The US announced the sanctions in November but some countries got temporary waivers that allowed them to import Iranian oil. Washington now says those waivers, which mainly affect China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey, will expire on 2 May.
Zarif, seen as the moderate face of Iran and speaking in New York, said Tehran would also keep the Strait of Hormuz open for oil exports.
NAIROBI, (Reuters) - Billions of dollars' worth of gold is being smuggled out of Africa every year through the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East – a gateway to markets in Europe, the United States and beyond – a Reuters analysis has found.
Customs data shows that the UAE imported $15.1 billion worth of gold from Africa in 2016, more than any other country and up from $1.3 billion in 2006. The total weight was 446 tonnes, in varying degrees of purity – up from 67 tonnes in 2006.
Much of the gold was not recorded in the exports of African states. Five trade economists interviewed by Reuters said this indicates large amounts of gold are leaving Africa with no taxes being paid to the states that produce them.
Previous reports and studies have highlighted the black-market trade in gold mined by people, including children, who have no ties to big business, and dig or pan for it with little official oversight. No-one can put an exact figure on the total value that is leaving Africa. But the Reuters analysis gives an estimate of the scale.
Russia looks set to expand its presence on Syria's west coast, with rumors of an imminent signing of a near-quarter-century lease on a lucrative seaport, but other major players were also moving in on the war-torn Mediterranean country.
Russia's air and sea assets are already based in two leased military facilities in the coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia, which have played a crucial role in helping the Syrian government retake large parts of the country seized by a 2011 rebel and jihadi uprising. Over the weekend, senior Moscow diplomats and defense officials traveled to Damascus to hold talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in hopes of advancing the formation of a constitutional committee that may end his country's eight-year civil war and kickstart economic cooperation intended to capitalize on its reconstruction.
WNU Editor: This is a huge problem in my mother's home town of Vyazma, 60 kilometers west of Moscow. This is where the German Army was stopped in their drive to Moscow, and the leftover ordinances still pose a huge problem for construction and development projects. In one project that I know of the construction crew uncovered a cache of hundreds of artillery shells that were left behind and forgotten until they were accidentally uncovered by an excavator. Bottom line. This is going to be a persistent problem until the next century.
Afghan government, US and international forces have been responsible for more civilian deaths in Afghanistan in the first three months of 2019 than the Taliban and ISIS, according to a United Nations report out Wednesday. This marks the first time since 2009, when the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan began documenting civilian deaths and injuries, that the number of deaths caused by pro-government forces during the first quarter of 2019 surpassed those the UN attributed to insurgent groups. According to the UN report, the Taliban, ISIS and other insurgents were responsible for the majority of civilian casualties, which include deaths and injuries. Overall, the number of casualties saw a 23% decrease from the first quarter of 2018, the UN found.
Trump and Kim Yong Chol pose in the Oval Office after Trump accepted the letter. Trump told reporters afterwards that it was a 'nice letter' but then said he hadn't yet read it
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has replaced Kim Jong Un's right-hand man who steered nuclear talks with the United States, apparently blaming him for a failed summit between the two countries, a South Korean lawmaker said on Wednesday.
Kim Yong Chol was removed as head of the United Front Department, the North Korean Workers' Party apparatus that traditionally oversees ties with South Korea and increasingly with the United States, Yonhap news agency reported.
He appears to have been "censured" after the second Trump-Kim summit in February failed to reach a deal on the sanctions relief Pyongyang would get in exchange for dismantling its nuclear program, Lee Hye-hoon, head of the parliamentary intelligence committee, told Reuters.
The National Intelligence Service and Unification Ministry, in charge of affairs with the North, declined to comment. Read more ....
Vladivostok, Russia (CNN)North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived in the Russian city of Vladivostok ahead of his planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian state television showed Kim stepping out of his green private train at a railway station in the eastern port city, Wednesday afternoon under a leaden sky.
Wearing a black homburg and overcoat, he was greeted at the station by officials and a brass band. Putin was not part of the welcoming committee.
Moscow has overtaken Britain and become the number two weapons producer and trader in the world.
In a high-profile spat, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has acknowledged he is buying S-400 missile defense systems, a deal that has put Ankara on a collision course with Nato and Washington and complicated the country's deal to buy F35 stealth jets from the United States.
This Ankara-Washington stand-off over the sale of Russian missiles and Erdogan's obvious commitment to go ahead with the deal make clear how Moscow's aggressive arms trade is offering the Kremlin new opportunities to strengthen its position, influence and foothold the world over.
Turkey is only one of the markets for Moscow's arms traders. According to the latest annual report by The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) for 2018, Russia has surpassed Britain as the number two arms producer and trader in the world, behind perennial number one, the US.
WNU editor: The past few years has seen a decline in Russian arms exports (see above graph), but 2019 is shaping up to a banner year starting with Turkey buying Russia's S-400 anti-missile system.
Riyadh finds it outrageous that American lawmakers are trying to meddle in Saudi Arabia's succession, writes Giorgio Cafiero.
Since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, some American lawmakers have assumed the right and moral authority to dictate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's succession line-up. In November, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham accused Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) of being "crazy" and asserted that "he needs to go." Such rhetoric is significant given that the U.S. has not meddled in the Al Saud family's internal power struggles since the 1960s. But regardless of the preferences that some politicians in Washington may have regarding Saudi Arabia's succession, the U.S. will likely have to accept dealing with a King Mohammed.
Russia has launched a special-purpose, nuclear-powered submarine that is believed capable of carrying nuclear-tipped underwater drones that when fully developed could threaten U.S. coastal cities.
The submarine Belgorod was launched on April 23 in the northwestern city of Severodvinsk. Russian President Vladimir Putin watched the proceedings via video link from the Severnaya Shipyard in St. Petersburg.
State-run TASS news agency said development work on the Belgorod will continue and that tests will begin next year with a goal of deploying the vessel by the end of 2020 or early 2021.
Top U.S. and Japanese defense officials are downplaying the possibility that the Chinese military could recover the wreckage of a Japanese F-35A that crashed on April 9 in the Pacific Ocean.
The Joint Strike Fighter disappeared from radar about 85 miles east of Honshu, Japan's main island. Although ships and aircraft have spotted some debris in the area where the plane is believed to have crashed, both the wreckage and pilot remain missing.
From left: Japan's Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya, Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Kono, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting US secretary of defence Patrick Shanahan arrive for a press conference after a meeting at the US Department of State on April 19, 2019 in Washington. Photo: AFP
WASHINGTON--Japan and the United States agreed April 19 that a concerted cyber-attack on Japan could be considered an armed attack covered by their security treaty.
Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya met here with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Patrick Shanahan, the acting defense secretary, in a session of the Japan-U.S. Joint Security Consultative Committee.
In a joint statement issued afterward, the two sides agreed that "a cyber-attack could, in certain circumstances, constitute an armed attack for the purposes of Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty."
Anyone who can offer information that would help the US disrupt Hezbollah's finances could get a $10 million reward. The US wants information on donors, as well as businesses controlled by the Shiite militant movement.
The United States on Monday offered a reward of up to $10 million (€8.9 million) for information that would allow the US to disrupt the finances of Lebanon's Shiite militant movement Hezbollah.
The State Department said it would give money to anyone who could provide intelligence that allows the United States to disrupt Hezbollah in key ways, including information on Hezbollah's donors, on financial institutions that assist its transactions and on businesses controlled by the movement.
FEARS returned to the beleaguered nation of Sri Lanka this morning after an explosion to the east of the capital city, Colombo - days after a series of terror attacks killed more than 350 people on Easter Sunday.
SPAIN-UK tensions have escalated over Gibraltar after a Spanish Navy ship sailed into British territorial waters next to the peninsula, only to be chased off by a Royal Navy ship.
NORTH KOREA executed four officials by firing squad for allegedly leaking information of Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un's failed summit in Vietnam before it took place.
ANZAC DAY is a day of remembrance for Australian and New Zealand servicemen who have lost their lives. Anzac Day 2019 is today, this is how Australia, New Zealand, and the UK commemorated the fallen heroes.
CHINA is "very anxious and very concerned" by the historic first-ever summit between the leaders of North Korea and Russia, an expert on the Korean Peninsula has warned.
Two Saudi sisters who fled their country called Wednesday for U.S. tech giants to remove an app which allows men in the Gulf state to monitor their female relatives.
The sisters say Apple and Google should pull the app, called Absher, because it supports the country’s harsh male guardianship system, Reuters reports.
Maha and Wafa al-Subaei are seeking asylum in the country of Georgia after fleeing what they described as an oppressive society in Saudi Arabia.
The sisters said the app is helping to trap Saudi girls in abusive families.
“It gives men control over women,” Wafa said of the controversial app. “They have to remove it.”
Absher is a free, government-developed mobile app. Saudis can use it to perform a variety of administrative tasks, like registering vehicles and booking government appointments. But the e-service also allows Saudi men to approve or deny female relatives’ travel plans and to get text messages when the women’s passports are used.
Under the kingdom’s draconian male guardianship system, adult women are required to obtain permission from a male family member, usually a father, brother or son, for activities like traveling abroad, applying for a passport, working or marrying.
The sisters said they stole their father’s phone to grant themselves approval to escape, according to Reuters.
Wafa said that action by Apple and Google could help prompt change in Saudi Arabia, especially if the tech companies modified the app to allow women to independently plan their own travel.
The sisters’ plea joins a growing chorus urging Apple and Google to take action. U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said she recently met with Silicon Valley companies to discuss the threat posed by technology like Absher.
U.S. lawmakers have also called for the removal of the app. “The ingenuity of American technology companies should not be perverted to violate the human rights of Saudi women,” Representative Jackie Speier wrote in a letter to Apple and Google, according to the Associated Press.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in February that although he was unfamiliar with the app, he would “take a look,” according to Reuters.
Last month, Google reportedly decided to continue hosting Absher in its store after a review concluded that the controversial app did not violate any terms of service.
Iran’s foreign minister publicly proposed a prisoner swap that would involve the U.S. agreeing to release Iranians awaiting extradition in exchange for Tehran freeing detainees like a British-Iranian dual national held on espionage charges.
Speaking at the Asia Society in New York Wednesday, Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced he is ready to negotiate.
“Let’s have an exchange. I’m ready to do it,” he said.
Zarif said he is aware of an Iranian national with heart trouble who is imprisoned in Germany while awaiting extradition on charges of trying to purchase parts for civilian airplanes, as well as an Iranian woman jailed Australia who gave birth behind bars.
“Nobody talks about this lady,” Zarif said, referring to the case of Negar Ghodskani who is also awaiting U.S. extradition.
“All these people who are in prison… on extradition requests from the U.S.,” Zarif said. “I put this offer on the table now: Exchange them.”
Several American citizens have been detained in recent years in Iran, although Zarif did not explicitly mention them when discussing the possibility of an exchange.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who worked as a project manager for the Thompson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in April 2016 at the Tehran airport on her way back to the U.K. after a family visit. She was sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly plotting to overthrow Iran’s clerical establishment.
Last month, Zaghari-Ratcliffe was given diplomatic protection by the U.K. government in an attempt to pressure Iran into releasing her.
Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, said he was unsure if the minister’s offer was a “serious proposal”, according to the Guardian, and that the possibility of a prisoner swap has only been mentioned to him once by Iranian authorities two years ago.
The minister claimed that Tehran presented plans to the U.S. for a swap six months ago, but has not yet received a response.
Human Rights Watch has raised concerns about Tehran increasingly targeting Iranian dual citizens and foreign nationals in a “pattern of politically motivated arrests” since 2014. Amnesty International reported that more than 7,000 people, including journalists, human rights defenders and lawyers were arrested in Iran last year.
If a prisoner swap occurs, it could follow the 2016 example, which saw four dual-nationality detainees, including the Washington Post‘s Iran bureau chief Jason Rezaian, released as part of an exchange with several nations including the U.S., which agreed to free seven Iranians held on sanctions-related charges.
(WARSAW, Poland) — The chairman of Poland’s conservative ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has called the LGBT rights movement a foreign import that threatens the Polish nation.
Kaczynski, Poland’s most important politician, also said “everyone must accept Christianity” and that questioning the powerful Roman Catholic in Poland is unpatriotic.
The positions that Kaczynski took Wednesday in a lecture on patriotism in the central city of Wroclawek come before European Parliament voting next month and a general election in Poland in the fall.
They also come as the church in Poland comes under scrutiny over pedophilia, with victims increasingly breaking the taboo to speak out about their abuse. A movie that deals with the problem, “Kler” (Clergy) was a blockbuster hit and opinion surveys show that support is falling for having nuns and priests teach religion in public schools, as is now the case.
Meanwhile, the LGBT rights movement has become more visible in recent years, with more and more cities and towns, even places known as bastions of the church and conservative values, holding LGBT pride parades. These are often met by counter-protests organized by far-right groups.
Kaczynski seems to be tapping into the feelings of those Poles who feel that liberal values are being forced on them against their will as an unwanted side effect of having joined the European Union 15 years ago. The Catholic Church has long been revered in Poland as the institution that kept the language and spirit alive during a long period of foreign rule, while also supporting the democracy movement under communism.
Kaczynski and his party, Law and Justice, won a 2015 election — at the height of the migration crisis into Europe — after a campaign that portrayed Muslim refugees as a threat to the nation.
In recent weeks, the party has portrayed LGBT rights as a risk to families and children.
Kaczynski called the film “Kler” an “attack on the church,” adding: “We are dealing with a direct attack on the family and children — the sexualization of children, that entire LBGT movement, gender. This is imported, but they today actually threaten our identity, our nation, its continuation and therefore the Polish state.”
(VLADIVOSTOK, Russia) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Thursday they had good talks about their joint efforts to resolve a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear program, amid stalled negotiations with the United States.
Speaking at the start of the discussions at a university on the Russky Island across a bridge from Vladivostok, Putin voiced confidence that Kim’s visit will “help better understand what should be done to settle the situation on the Korean Peninsula, what we can do together, what Russia can do to support the positive processes going on now.”
Kim’s first trip to Russia comes about two months after his second summit with President Donald Trump failed because of disputes over U.S.-led sanctions on the North. Putin meanwhile wants to expand Russia’s clout in the region and get more leverage with Washington.
“We welcome your efforts to develop an inter-Korean dialogue and normalize North Korea’s relations with the United States,” Putin told Kim.
Following their one-on-one meeting at the start of broader talks involving officials from both sides, Putin and Kim said they had a good discussion.
“We discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula and exchanged opinions about what should be done to improve the situation and how to do it,” Putin said. Kim noted that they had a “very meaningful exchange.”
“The reason we visited Russia this time is to meet and share opinions with your excellency, President Putin, and also share views on the Korean Peninsula and regional political situation, which has garnered the urgent attention of the world, and also hold deep discussions on strategic ways to pursue stability in the regional political situation and on the matters of jointly managing the situation,” Kim said.
He also congratulated the Russian leader on his re-election to another six-year term last year.
In February, Trump-Kim talks ended without any agreement because of disputes over U.S.-led sanctions. There have since been no publicly known high-level contacts between the U.S. and North Korea, although both sides say they are still open to a third summit.
Kim wants the U.S. to ease the sanctions to reciprocate for some partial disarmament steps he took last year. But the U.S. maintains the sanctions will stay in place until North Korea makes more significant denuclearization moves.
North Korea has increasingly expressed frustration at the deadlocked negotiations. Last week, it tested a new weapon and demanded that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo be removed from the nuclear talks.
Kim arrived in Vladivostok Wednesday aboard an armored train, telling Russian state television that he was hoping that his first visit to Russia would “successful and useful.” He evoked his father’s “great love for Russia” and said that he intends to strengthen ties between the two countries. The late Kim Jong Il made three trips to Russia, last time in 2011.
Like the U.S., Russia has strongly opposed Pyongyang’s nuclear bid. Putin has welcomed Trump’s meetings with Kim, but urged the U.S. to do more to assuage Pyongyang’s security concerns.
Ahead of the talks, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Russia will seek to “consolidate the positive trends” stemming from Trump-Kim meetings. He noted that the Kremlin would try to help “create preconditions and a favorable atmosphere for reaching solid agreements on the problem of the Korean Peninsula.”
Dmitri Trenin, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, said that Putin will likely encourage Kim to continue constructive talks with the U.S., reflecting Russia’s own worry about the North nuclear and missile programs. “Russia can’t be expected to side with North Korea and, let’s say, support the North Koreans all the way in the Security Council where Russia is a veto wielding member and where all sanctions imposed on North Korea require Russia’s approval,” he said.
Trenin emphasized that Moscow is skeptical that the North could be persuaded to fully abandon its nuclear weapons, considering it a “mission impossible.”
“North Korea will not give up the only guarantee of the survival of the North Korean state and its regime,” Trenin said.
Russia would also like to gain broader access to North Korea’s mineral resources, including rare metals. Pyongyang, for its part, covets Russia’s electricity supplies and investment to modernize its dilapidated Soviet-built industrial plants, railways and other infrastructure.
Vladivostok, a city of more than half a million on the Sea of Japan, faced gridlock on its roads as traffic was blocked in the city center due to Kim’s visit. The authorities have temporarily closed the waters around Russky Island to all maritime traffic.
Prime Minister Theresa May was urged to investigate which member of her senior team leaked the conclusions of a meeting of her National Security Council on the role of China’s Huawei Technologies Co. in the U.K.’s telecommunications network.
At least five ministers, and a dozen former ministers, have written to the prime minister demanding to know whether the Official Secrets Act has been breached, and who by, according to one of those involved, who asked not to be named because the letters are private.
Leaks of Cabinet meetings have become the new normal in May’s government, as splits over Brexit and the question of who will succeed the prime minister have seen ministers trying to advance themselves and do down rivals.
But the U.K.’s spies were outraged by the report on the front page of Wednesday’s Telegraph of the NSC’s decision to allow Huawei to work on parts of Britain’s so-called 5G network.
The Tuesday afternoon meeting of the NSC should have been confidential. On the table was whether to impose a full ban on the Chinese telecoms giant over security concerns — just as the U.S. has done — or to compromise by allowing Huawei to be involved in non-sensitive elements of 5G technology.
The leaks, within hours, forced May’s de facto deputy David Lidington to answer questions on Huawei in Parliament on Wednesday.
Stepping down
By conceding that she will leave office once Brexit has been delivered, May has accelerated a leadership competition in the Conservative Party. That means policy choices are playing out against the backdrop of trying to appeal to rank-and-file members who have the final say.
Among the attendees at the NSC meeting were several of the candidates widely tipped to want the job: Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.
The media coverage left intelligence officials rolling their eyes at the behavior of ministers. One senior agent, speaking on condition of anonymity, lamented the invasion of politics into a highly technical debate. A person familiar with the thinking of Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright, another attendee at the NSC meeting, described the incident as disappointing and embarrassing.
An inquiry that identified the culprit of the leak could see them fired or face calls to resign.
One of the ministers calling for a probe said discipline has completely broken down in the government. Cabinet discussions are now routinely leaked to journalists within minutes of the meetings breaking up. Ministers compete to give their version of events so they can better appeal to colleagues and Tory members.
The situation has become so bad that ahead of an expected Cabinet showdown this month, May demanded ministers hand over their mobile phones in an attempt to stop the leaks.
NEW YORK (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat said Wednesday President Donald Trump’s aim “is to bring us to our knees to talk” — but national security adviser John Bolton and key U.S. allies in the Mideast want “regime change at the very least” and the “disintegration of Iran.”
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he doubts Trump wants conflict because the president ran on a campaign promise “not to waste another $7 trillion in our region in order to make the situation only worse.”
But Zarif said what he called “the B team” — Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed — is trying “to push Iran to take action” as a pretext for “crazy” and “adventurous” U.S. actions.
“President Trump has a plan, but he’s being lured into not a plan but a trap,” Zarif warned in a question-and-answer session at the Asia Society. “It will cost another $7 trillion and even a greater disaster.”
Zarif said “it’s not a crisis yet, but it’s a dangerous situation,” adding that “accidents, plotted accidents are possible.”
The Trump administration re-imposed sanctions on Iran, including on its energy sector, last November, after pulling America out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.
The U.S. designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group earlier this month — the first ever for an entire division of another government — added another layer of sanctions to the powerful paramilitary force, making it a crime under U.S. jurisdiction to provide the guard with material support.
On Monday, Trump announced the U.S. will no longer exempt any countries from U.S. sanctions if they continue to buy Iranian oil, a decision that primarily affects the five remaining major importers: China and India and U.S. treaty allies Japan, South Korea, Turkey.
The move is part of the administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that aims to eliminate all of its revenue from oil exports which the U.S. says funds destabilizing activity throughout the Mideast and beyond.
Hours before Trump’s announcement, Iran reiterated its long-running threat to close the Strait of Hormuz if it’s prevented from using the crucial waterway in the Persian Gulf through which about a third of all oil traded at sea passes. The U.S. Navy has in the past accused Iranian patrol boats of harassing American warships in the waterway.
“We believe that Iran will continue to sell its oil,” Zarif said when asked about the waivers and keeping the Strait of Hormuz open.
“We will continue to find buyers for our oil and we will continue to use the Straits of Hormuz as a safe transit passage for the sale of our oil. That is our intention and that is what we believe will happen,” he said.
“But if the United States takes the crazy measure of trying to prevent us from doing that, then it would be prepared for the consequences,” Zarif said.
What does “prevent” mean?
“The B team wants the United States to take crazy measures. And it won’t be the first time that the United States has taken adventurous measures,” Zarif replied.
The Iranian minister said he thinks Trump wants a deal “but I think he’s doing the wrong thing” by maximizing pressure, stressing that “Iranians are allergic to pressure.”
Addressing Trump, he said: “Try the language of respect. … It won’t kill you, believe me.”
Zarif said he came back to the Foreign Ministry after resigning because “we diplomats never give up hope.”
“I don’t think anybody would envy my position, particularly when I have to deal with the B team,” he said, adding to laughter, “I wish it was the A team at least.”
“I have to do whatever I can to prevent conflict, to see if we can resolve conflict peacefully, diplomatically,” Zarif said. “And I have a lot of hope.”
Zarif also commented on other world issues:
— MULTILATERALISM vs UNILATERALISM: “The rest of the world is not very happy with unilateralist policies of the United States. … We are part of the regional scenario. We are part of the global scenario.”
—REGIONAL RELATIONS: Iran has suggested a regional dialogue within the Persian Gulf that could even reach “a non-aggression pact if our neighbors are ready for a non-aggression pact with Iran. We are ready for a non-aggression pact including Saudi Arabia, including the United Arab Emirates. We have no problem.”
— IRAN’S FOREIGN RELATIONS: In the past 40 years, Iran has never had “such good relations” with Turkey and Pakistan. “We’ve never had such good relations with Azerbaijan, with Russia, with Iraq. Our relations with Afghanistan are excellent.”
— CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE: “It’s a strategic initiative for China and we consider that to be positive. They’re investing a great deal in the region. They have a number of projects in Iran.” It connects the Sea of Oman to Europe and is not only for economic development “but to fight terrorism.”
—THE ISLAMIC STATE EXTREMIST GROUP ALSO KNOWN AS ISIS: “ISIS has been airlifted from Iraq and Syria into Afghanistan. You see one example of it unfortunately in the barbaric attack on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka. But unfortunately, the people of Afghanistan are seeing incident after incident, terrorist attack after terrorist attack by ISIS … in order to create the sectarian war that ISIS has been looking for … since 2002.”
— AFGHANISTAN: “Seriously wrong policies by the United States, wrong approaches, an attempt to exclude everybody and just talk to the Taliban has alienated the government, has alienated the region, has alienated everybody else, and it achieved nothing. … You cannot negotiate the future of Afghanistan with the Taliban. The Taliban represents only a segment of Afghan society, not all of it. You cannot exclude the government, you cannot exclude the other groups in Afghanistan.”
— THE U.S. ELECTIONS IN 2020: “Believe me, we have not invested in a 2020 Democratic victory. Some people believe that we are looking for a Democratic victory. Democratic governments have been as hostile to Iran as Republican governments. … It’s just waiting for the White House to become rational, with a Republican or a Democrat.”
Calls for peace in Northern Ireland have begun anew after a journalist was killed during rioting in Derry on April 18 amid a recent rise of violence in the region.
Lyra McKee, 29, was shot dead in Derry, Northern Ireland (also called Londonderry) during rioting in the city. She was likely struck by a bullet aimed at officers by a masked gunman, police say. A group named the New IRA admitted responsibility for her death. The same group is also thought to have been responsible for a car bomb in the city in January.
McKee’s killing is a reminder of the unease that remains in the region since the conflict over Northern Ireland’s constitutional status and other issues, known as the Troubles, came to an end with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. About 3,700 people died in the three decades of violent sectarian conflict during the Troubles which was fueled by and exacerbated tensions between Northern Ireland’s Catholic and Protestant communities. Derry, where the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre — during which British soldiers shot dead 13 people — was a hotbed for fighting.
“Lyra was only a kid when [the agreement] was signed, and was one of that generation that didn’t have direct experience of the political violence and militarization,” says Conor Patterson, the director of the chamber of commerce and trade in Newry, Northern Ireland. “The awful event of her murder exposes the random, chaotic nature of this.”
The Good Friday Agreement brought a sense of equilibrium to Northern Ireland, according to Patterson. A dissolution of the hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, once heavily militarized, allowed the region’s economy to thrive, while people were freed to move as they pleased. Both the open border and a motorway that connects Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland have become symbols of the region’s hard-won peace.
Still, despite the peace deal, tensions have long simmered between Northern Ireland’s political and religious communities, making the area volatile and ripe for the re-emergence of conflict. The leftover animosity stems in part from a lack of any real reconciliation between Protestants and Catholics beyond the official agreement, according to Roger Mac Ginty, a professor at Durham University focused on peace and conflict. He says local political parties that stoke identity-based conflicts are to blame for the situation.
“Identity-based political parties would put themselves out of business if they took reconciliation seriously. So they have worked to thwart any reconciliation initiatives,” he tells TIME via email. “In this atmosphere, violent actors are left with space to operate.”
In the aftermath of McKee’s death, police in Northern Ireland said they suspected the dissident republican New IRA group is responsible. The organization, formed between 2011 and 2012, is a collection of various armed groups that oppose the Good Friday Agreement peace deal.
“We believe this to be a terrorist act. We believe it has been carried out by violent dissident republicans. Our assessment at this time is that the New IRA are most likely to be the ones behind this and that forms our primary line of inquiry,” Mark Hamilton, assistant chief constable for the police service of Northern Ireland, told reporters on April 19.
The New IRA claimed responsibility for McKee’s death in a statement to The Irish News on Monday. “In the course of attacking the enemy, Lyra McKee was killed while standing beside enemy forces,” the statement read. “The IRA offer our full and sincere apologies to the partner, family and friends of Lyra McKee for her death.”
Leaders from both sides of the border and across the political divides joined together to condemn the attack and call for peace. “We cannot allow those who want to propagate violence, fear and hate to drag us back to the past,” said Republic of Ireland Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
While violence has not reached the levels experienced during the Troubles, a number of recent incidents has led to concerns about the region’s stability. “I said in January, the threat level in Northern Ireland has been severe for a number of years,” Hamilton said. “That remains extant. It is still severe.” Indeed, four men were arrested in connection with a car bombing in January in Derry. Police said the men were suspected to be a part of the New IRA dissident group, which has also carried out other random bombings and been linked to four murders, including McKee’s death, The Irish Times reports. In 2016, the group took responsibility for the murder of a prison officer who died after being injured in a car bomb attack in Belfast.
Still, Mac Ginty says the all-out violence experienced during the decades-long Troubles is not likely to return. Neither of Northern Ireland’s divided communities has a strong enough support base to carry out widespread attacks. “But isolated incidents can take place,” he says.
Complicating matters amid — and perhaps fueling — this resurgence of violence comes as both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland face uncertainty over the effects of Brexit. The looming deal could bring back a hard border, which could further inflame tensions and, police say, become a target for violent militants. Patterson says Brexit has forced people in Northern Ireland — which voted by a majority of 56% to 44% to remain in the European Union — to reconsider their own identities.
Patterson says Brexit has distracted the British government from other forms of policymaking, including the pertinent issues of housing and transportation. Rising violence among such disaffected communities has become a concern. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland has been without a power-sharing government since January 2017 when the two governing parties, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein, failed to reach an agreement.
“The violence is an added complication in a very complicated situation,” Patterson says. “To deal with any challenge in any society, you need a functioning government. And we don’t have one.”
(BERLIN) — The controlled detonation of an American World War II bomb in the southern German city of Regensburg has still caused widespread damage to nearby houses.
Some 4,500 residents had to be evacuated from the area before experts performed the detonation. A spokeswoman for the Bavarian city, Dagmar Obermeier-Kundel, said the 250-kilogram (550-pound) bomb still shattered windows in several surrounding buildings early Wednesday. Photos also showed damaged roofs.
Munitions expert Andreas Heil told The Associated Press that the bomb couldn’t be safely defused because the type of detonator it contained was tamper-proof, very sensitive and could have triggered an explosion at any moment.
Thousands of unexploded relics of World War II’s extensive aerial bombardment are found in Germany every year, even 74 years after the end of the war.
Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg has called the United Kingdom’s response to climate change “beyond absurd” in a speech to members of parliament.
Thunberg, 16, appeared on the 2019 TIME 100, for her work in sparking a number of youth-led protests calling for action on climate change. While addressing the U.K. parliament on Tuesday, Thunberg called out the government for not acting quickly enough to stop the effects of climate change.
“We probably don’t even have a future anymore,” she said. “That future was sold so that a small number of people could make unimaginable amounts of money. It was stolen from us every time you said that the sky was the limit, and that you only live once.”
Thunberg was in the U.K. to join protestors with the activist group Extinction Rebellion, who have demonstrated in London this week to raise awareness of the climate crisis. A 2018 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that greenhouse gas emissions would have to be lowered to net zero by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5ºC (35ºF), an international goal under the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Thunberg noted the urgency of cutting emissions in her speech, and criticized the U.K. for its use of fossil fuels. and support for the expansion .
“The fact that we are speaking of “lowering” instead of “stopping” emissions is perhaps the greatest force behind the continuing business as usual,” she said. Thunberg cited the U.K’s shale gas fracking industry, its expansion of oil and gas fields in the North Sea and the expansion of its airports as examples of its “ongoing irresponsible behavior.”
Parents and educators have been worrying about the “dying art” of handwriting for years, as smartphones and laptops have lead some classrooms to spend less and less time on teaching the fine art of writing in cursive.
Sara Hinesley, a third-grade student in Frederick, Md., though, finds writing cursive “kind of easy”, using her cursive skills to win a national handwriting competition. It’s an impressive feat made even more impressive due to the fact that the 10-year old was born without hands.
Hinesley, who writes by holding her pencil between the ends of her arms, was trained in the fine art of penmanship by her teacher and quickly learned to love writing. “She can do just about anything — oftentimes better than me or my husband,” her mother, Cathryn Hinesley, told CNN.
Hinesley entered the 2019 Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest, and the judges were so impressed with her perfect penmanship that she won the Nicholas Maxim Award, which is given to an entrant with a physical, developmental, or intellectual disability. The award comes with a trophy and $500 in prize money as well as $500 in educational materials for her school.
While Hinesley reportedly hasn’t decided what she wants to do with her $500 in prize money, she does hope to inspire other children “who have challenges,” reminding them that in her experience, “if you try your hardest you can do it.”
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The arc of Technology and its role in modern society Stressing on how the simple science of technology has made commendable changes in our lives in the most recent decades, Rakesh Jain- CEO of Reliance General Insurance strongly believes that the infusion of technology and insurance is yet another milestone.
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