US and South Korea to stage huge military exercise despite North Korea crisis
Tens of thousands of troops to take part in joint drill this month, while war of words between Kim and Trump remains dangerously unpredictable
US and South Korean militaries will go ahead with massive sea, land and air exercises later this month, despite a spiralling situation in which North Korea has threatened to fire missiles towards a US Pacific territory.
The annual joint exercises, named Ulchi-Freedom Guardian, have long been planned for 21-31 August, but now come at a time when both Washington and Pyongyang are on heightened alert, raising the spectre of a mishap or overreaction.
The timing is doubly concerning as it is within a timeframe in which Pyongyang says it will be ready to fire four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missiles toward the US-run island of Guam, an unusually specific threat against the US.If you're wondering why Saudi Arabia and Israel have united against Al-Jazeera, here's the answer
There are still honourable Israelis who demand a state for the Palestinians; there are well-educated Saudis who object to the crazed Wahabism upon which their kingdom is founded; there are millions of Americans, from sea to shining sea, who do not believe that Iran is their enemy nor Saudi Arabia their friend. But the problem today in both East and West is that our governments are not our friends
When Qatar’s Al Jazeera satellite channel has both the Saudis and the Israelis demanding its closure, it must be doing something right. To bring Saudi head-choppers and Israeli occupiers into alliance is, after all, something of an achievement.
But don’t get too romantic about this. When the wealthiest Saudis fall ill, they have been known to fly into Tel Aviv on their private jets for treatment in Israel’s finest hospitals. And when Saudi and Israeli fighter-bombers take to the air, you can be sure they’re going to bomb Shiites – in Yemen or Syria respectively – rather than Sunnis.
And when King Salman – or rather Saudi Arabia’s whizz-kid Crown Prince Mohammad – points the finger at Iran as the greatest threat to Gulf security, you can be sure that Bibi Netanyahu will be doing exactly and precisely the same thing, replacing “Gulf security”, of course, with “Israeli security”. But it’s an odd business when the Saudis set the pace of media suppression only to be supported by that beacon of freedom, democracy, human rights and liberty known in song and legend as Israel, or the State of Israel or, as Bibi and his cabinet chums would have it, the Jewish State of Israel.Masoud's list: From IS victim to terrorist hunter
Masoud Aqil was an 'Islamic State' prisoner in Syria. After fleeing to Germany, the Kurdish journalist realized that IS terrorists were also in Europe and he began to track them. Frank Hofmann has this exclusive for DW.
His fingers fly across the keyboard, and his hard drive is full of information on possible "Islamic State" (IS) terrorists. Masoud Aqil is looking for screenshots he took off Facebook profiles after a suspected IS supporter wrote very openly to him about his radical views after arriving in Europe.
The man, whom Masoud remembered from Syria, no longer has a Facebook profile. "It is hard to believe how open many of them there were in the beginning," the 24-year-old told DW. It was in early 2016, when Masoud, a Kurd who fled to Germany via the Balkan route, suddenly realized that IS – his cruel torturer – was also in Europe.
As tensions soar, S. Korean media urge nuclear arms
SEOUL (AFP) -
As nuclear-armed North Korea's missile stand-off with the US escalates, calls are mounting in the South for Seoul to build nuclear weapons of its own to defend itself -- which would complicate the situation even further.
The South, which hosts US 28,500 troops on its soil to defend it from the North, is banned from building its own nuclear weapons under an atomic energy deal it signed in 1974 with the US -- its security guarantor that instead offers Seoul a "nuclear umbrella" against potential attacks.
But with Pyongyang regularly threatening to turn Seoul into a "sea of flames" -- and nagging questions over Washington's willingness to defend it if doing so put its own cities in danger of retaliatory attacks -- the South's media are leading calls for a change of tack.
Over 150 refugees 'thrown' into Yemen sea, 13 missing
At least six dead and 13 missing after at least 160 refugees forced off boat – the second such incident in 24 hours.
More refugees and migrants have been "deliberately drowned" by human smugglers for the second time in 24 hours off the coast of Yemen, according to the United Nations migration agency.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement late on Thursday that its staff found six bodies on the beach - two male and four female - and 13 people are still missing.
It said 84 migrants left the beach before IOM staff arrived while it provided emergency medical assistance as well as food and water to 57 surviving migrants.
GULF GOVERNMENT GAVE SECRET $20 MILLION GIFT TO D.C. THINK TANK
Ryan Grim
THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES is on pace to contribute $20 million over the course of 2016 and 2017 to the Middle East Institute, one of Washington’s leading think tanks, according to a document obtained by The Intercept. The outsized contribution, which the UAE hoped to conceal, would allow the institute, according to the agreement, to “augment its scholar roster with world class experts in order to counter the more egregious misperceptions about the region, inform U.S. government policy makers, and convene regional leaders for discreet dialogue on pressing issues.”
The Emirates, according to the Associated Press, operate a network of torture pens in Yemen where detainees are grilled alive.
MEI was founded in 1946 and has long been an influential player in Washington foreign policy circles. It serves as a platform for many of the U.S.’s most influential figures, allowing them to regularly appear on cable news, author papers, host private briefings and appear on panels in between stints in government.
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