Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Six In The Morning Tuesday August 15

N Korea leader 'briefed' on Guam plan but opts to wait


North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reviewed plans to fire missiles towards the US Pacific territory of Guam but will hold off, state media said.
Although prepared for "the enveloping fire at Guam", the North said it would watch what "the foolish Yankees" do before taking a decision.
Last week's threat against Guam escalated the sharp rhetoric being exchanged between the two sides.
This latest report points to a pause in the increasingly bitter war of words.
South Korea's President Moon Jae-in meanwhile has urged the US not to launch an attack on the Korean peninsula without its consent, saying "no one may decide to take military action without the consent" of the South.





Saudi Arabia: new details of dissident princes' abductions emerge

Documentary broadcasting this week asserts three princes were victims of government scheme to kidnap defectors

New details have emerged about the abductions of three dissident Saudi princes in what appears to be a systematic state-run Saudi government programme to kidnap defectors and dissidents.
The three, all members of the Saudi regime before they became involved in peaceful political activities against the government in Riyadh, were kidnapped and taken against their will to Saudi Arabia between September 2015 and February 2016.
Their story, which was originally reported by the Guardian in March 2016, is the subject of a BBC Arabic documentary to be broadcast this week called Kidnapped! Saudi Arabia’s Missing Princes.

'Worrying trend' of freedom of the press in the UK as country ranks 40 in latest Reporters Without Borders index

'We have reached the age of post-truth, propaganda, suppression of freedoms - especially in democracies'

A "heavy handed approach" often in the name of national security has seen the UK slip in the rankings of countries with the world's freest pressaccording to a new report by Reporters Without Borders. 
Scandinavian countries have the freest press in the world, the non governmental organisation said in its World Press Freedom Index 2017, while the UK is slipping onto "a worrying trend", it said.
It added that only 16 countries in the world were rated as "good" this year. 
At the top of the list, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark lead the way followed by the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Jamaica, Belgium and Iceland. 


Iran threatens to quit nuclear deal

Iran President Hassan Rouhani has threatened to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal if the US continues to impose new sanctions. Rouhani told the parliament that his US counterpart, Donald Trump, was "not a good partner."
Iran's Hassan Rouhani cast doubt over the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement, threatening to walk away from the deal and restart the country nuclear program if the US continued to impose new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Rouhani warned that Iran could go nuclear again "in an hour and a day" if the US refused to cease its "threats and sanctions."
"Those who try to return to the language of threats and sanctions are prisoners of their past delusions," Rouhani said in the televised parliamentary address. "If they want to go back to that experience, definitely in a short time - not weeks or months, but in the scale of hours and days - we will return to our previous situation very much more stronger."


Kenyans return to work despite Odinga’s call to strike


Kenyans largely ignored an opposition call to go on strike on Monday, re-opening shops and returning to work as they shrugged off demands for demonstrations against President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election and against the killing of protesters.

Cars, buses and motorcycles returned to the streets of the capital, Nairobi, and the western town of Kisumu after days of quiet due to fears of violence after last Tuesday's vote. Kenyatta beat rival Raila Odinga by securing more than 54 percent of the vote, official results show.
A Kenyan human rights group said on Saturday that 24 people had been shot dead by police since election day. The government put the number of dead at 10, and said they died "in the course of quelling riots and unlawful assembly". All deaths would be investigated, it added.
Allegations by Odinga of widespread electoral fraud have raised tensions in the East African country, where some 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced in widespread ethnic violence after he lost a deeply flawed 2007 election.


U.S. World War II vet returns Japanese flag to fallen soldier's family


By Mari Yamaguchi

The former U.S. Marine knew the calligraphy-covered flag he took from a fallen Japanese soldier 73 years ago was more than a keepsake of World War II. When Marvin Strombo finally handed the flag back to Sadao Yasue's younger brother and sisters Tuesday, he understood what it really meant to them.
Tatsuya Yasue buried his face into the flag and smelled it, then he held Strombo's hands and kissed them. His elder sister Sayoko Furuta, 93, sitting in her wheelchair, covered her face with both hands and wept silently as Tatsuya placed the flag on her lap.
Strombo said their reaction struck him. He reached out to Yasue's elder sister and gently rubbed her shoulder.








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