Saturday, January 21, 2017

Six In The Morning Saturday January 21

Donald Trump begins overhaul as first executive orders signed

Donald Trump has taken his first steps as president, signing an executive order which targets the signature health care reforms of his predecessor.
His proclamation ordered agencies to ease the economic burden of the laws known as Obamacare.
In Friday's inaugural address he pledged to put "America first" and to end the "American carnage" of abandoned factories and rampant crime.
Later, about 200,000 people are due to join a Women's March in Washington.
Organisers say they want to highlight racial and gender equality and other issues perceived to be under threat from Mr Trump's administration.








Fresh turmoil in South Korea as minister arrested over 'arts blacklist'

Cho Yoon-sun accused of helping target artists, writers and entertainers critical of President Park Geun-hye, who has since been impeached

South Korean prosecutors have arrested the culture minister for suspected involvement in drawing up a blacklist of artists, writers and entertainers critical of President Park Geun-hye amid a graft scandal that led to Park’s impeachment.
Cho Yoon-sun became the first sitting minister ever to be arrested, said the special prosecutor’s team investigating the scandal.
Cho had offered to quit, the Yonhap news agency reported, adding that the prime minister, Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is acting president while the constitutional court decides what happens to Park, would accept her resignation quickly.

Gambian Yahya Jammeh finally agrees to give up power and go into exile

'I can assure you that he has agreed to leave', says advisor to new President Adama Barrow


Gambia's defeated leader Yahya Jammeh announced early Saturday he has decided to relinquish power, after hours of last-ditch talks with regional leaders and the threat by a regional military force to make him leave. 
"I believe it is not necessary that a single drop of blood be shed," Mr Jammeh said in a brief statement on state television. He promised that "all the issues we currently face will be resolved peacefully." 
Regional armies, who entered The Gambia late on Thursday, were poised to remove him by force if required, as even his army chief, who had stood beside the former coup leader, recognised election winner Adama Barrow as the new commander-in-chief.


From Damascus to Hollywood, a Syrian actor living the American Dream


After fleeing his native Syria in 2011, actor Jay Abdo took refuge in the United States. In the space of three years, he found success in Hollywood and is soon to co-star in a new film alongside Nicole Kidman.

In November 2015, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation devoted a television report to a Syrian actor who had settled in America three years prior. Unknown in America, his name was Jay Abdo. Through the first moments of the short documentary, available on YouTube (see below), the viewer discovers a jovial man, fiftyish, with a winning smile, star-struck on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “Johnny Depp! He’s awesome. Love the guy.” Suddenly, a young Algerian man bounds up before the camera.
“So you know [Abdo]?” the journalist asks, amused by the interloper admiring his interviewee. “A big fan! Of course, of course!,” the Algerian replies, awestruck, snapping a selfie with the Syrian star. What do you know him from? “Bab al-Hara, the most famous TV show [in the Arab world],” he replies.

People flock to 'sister' Women's March in Tokyo, call for protection of women's rights

 (Mainichi Japan)

At a Women's March in Tokyo on the evening of Jan. 20, held in solidarity with the Women's March on Washington set to take place on Jan. 21, local time, women, men, and children called for the protection of women's rights.

The event, organized primarily by American women living or visiting Japan, was the first international "sister" Women's March to take place across the globe, according to event organizer Erica Summers, who flew in from Los Angeles on the previous day. Summers said she knew she was going to be in Japan on the date of the march in Washington, and organized the Tokyo march so that she could walk in solidarity with her compatriots back home.

Recaptured by ISIS, ancient Palmyra loses two more monuments to antiquities destruction


After re-capturing the Syrian city in December, Islamic State militants have destroyed the Tetrapylon and part of the Roman theater, local authorities confirmed Friday, what archaeologists say is a priceless loss for history.


The ancient "pearl of the desert," Palmyra, has witnessed another destruction of its heritage, according to Syrian officials. 
After re-capturing the Syrian city in December, militants from the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have destroyed the Tetrapylon, one of Palmyra's most famous ancient monuments, and part of its Roman theater, local authorities confirmed Friday, threatening millennia-old roots of the Middle East's history.
“This is a horror film and we will see more of it, as long as the city is under their control it will remain a hostage,” Maamoun Abdulkarim, the country’s director of antiquities, told The Guardian. 






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