Month: November 2016

UN Set More Sanctions on North Korea


Time: 6:44 p.m. CEST

The White House commented on November 30 the decision by the United Nations to impose more sanctions on North Korea. Press secretary Josh Earnests expressed the expectations that the sanctions would make change in behavior. Earlier, the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday unanimously passed a tough, loophole-closing resolution, written by the U.S. and China, that severely tightens sanctions on North Korea and takes aim at its coal exports – the principal source of revenue for the cash-starved regime of Kim Jong Un, cbsnews.com reports.

The 17-page resolution refers to the “gravest concern” caused by the nuclear test conducted by North Korea on Sept. 9, a test that was the country’s most powerful detonation to date. The goal of Wednesday’s resolution was to convince Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table in order to agree to verifiable denuclearization.

According to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, China produced 3.7 billion metric tons of coal in 2015 and is on track to produce the same or more in 2016, so the loss of North Korean imports will be less than one-half of 1 percent of what China produces.

The resolution has several provisions that Security Council members hope will bring North Korea to talks:

  • Imposes a binding cap, cutting coal exports by 62 percent
  • Bans the export of metals such as copper, nickel, silver and zinc
  • Imposes restrictions on access to the international financial system
  • Designates 11 government officials and 10 entities for targeted sanctions
  • Restricts diplomats from smuggling illicit items
  • Prohibits the sale of new vessels and helicopters to North Korea
  • Clarifies cargo inspection obligations

CBSnews.com says, “U.N. diplomats are hoping that the new resolution will bring Pyongyang to the bargaining table. U.K. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said last week that the Security Council has been negotiating since the September test.”

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President-elect Trump Says on Twitter Will Hold Businesses and Presidency Separated


Time: 2:15 p.m. CEST

President-elect Donald Trump posted a message on his official Twitter account @realDonaldTrump that he would leave his businesses aside and would commit the time on the presidency. In a twitter post, Trump said that he would hold a news conference on December 15, together with his children to discus the fact. The news conference will be in New York City.

“I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses,” real-estate mogul, who was elected as 45th American president, said on Twitter.

Meanwhile, President-elect Trump continues consultations with potential candidates of his cabinet. The latest in the nominations is the name of Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin, who was picked as treasury secretary. Mnuchin was Trump’s campaign finance director.

Trump would take the office on January 20 after the traditional inauguration ceremony.

Here are Twitter posts of President-elect Trump on his latest decisions after the elections.

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Is Assad Seizing Aleppo?


Time: 10:45 p.m. CEST

Syria and its allies aim to drive rebels from Aleppo before Donald Trump takes office as the United States president, Reuters reports, citing a senior official in the pro-Damascus military alliance. Rebels face one of their gravest moments of the war. Rebel fighters fought fiercely to stop government forces advancing inside the opposition-held enclave on November 29. Agence France-Presse reports that the International Red Cross warned on Tuesday that “up to 20,000 people have fled a Syrian government offensive in rebel-held eastern Aleppo.” AFP says, “spokeswoman for the Geneva-based ICRC, Krista Armstrong, told AFP that the 20,000 figure was an estimate and that the situation remained fluid, stressing that ‘people are fleeing in different directions’, desperately seeking refuge from the brutal fighting.” Some media announced that eastern and western part of Aleppo united on Tuesday.

 

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Police Killed Attacker, Somali Refugee at Ohio State University


Time: 18:04 p.m. CEST Update: 1o:14 p.m. CEST

A person who injured nine people in an attack at Ohio State University was of Somali descent, U.S. officials said, as bbc.com reports. Eighteen years-old Abdul Razak Ali Artan entered with his car at the building inside the Ohio State University and started to stab people before police killed him. He was in the United States as a legal permanent resident, an official said to the Associated Press. Police investigate if that was a terrorist attack. NBC News explained that the attacker left Somalia with his family in 2007. He was in Pakistan before settling in the United States in 2014.

Monica Moll, the university’s public safety director explained the identity of the attacker, who was a student at the school. After the attack, a police officer Alan Horujko, 28 who has been on the university force, killed the attacker.

“We prepare for situations like this, but we hope we never have one,” school President Michael Drake said.

Several of the injured victims are graduate, undergraduate students at Ohio State University,  and university staff. Ohio Governor John Kasich thanked to the response by the university police officers and said the university would open tomorrow.

Ohio State University was on lockdown on Monday morning while police killed at least one suspect, cbsnews.com reports. Police advised people on campus to stay inside, as the situation was not clear if there is another shooter in the campus area.

In the latest incident on U.S. campuses, at least nine people are injured cbsnews.com reports. The incident started while firefighters responded to a chlorine leak. Moments after the incident someone breached with the car into the building. And after that someone began to attack people with a knife. Ohio State University sent alert about the situation in the campus cbsnews.com reports with the content, Hide. Run. Fight.

People and students could register under Facebook safety check, entitled “The Violent Incident in Columbus, Ohio,” with the options “safe,” “unsafe” or “outside the affected area.”

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VMRO-DPMNE And Coalition Partners Campaigned in Skopje, Gruevski Blames Opposition From Podium


Time: 11:30 p.m. CEST Update: Nov.28 2:16 a.m. CEST

Photography, videography and story by Aleksandra Dukovska

Final moments of the rally of VMRO-DPMNE party and their coalition partners during political campaign for the early elections on December 11, 2016.

election2016VMRO-DPMNE and other political parties gathered under the coalition “For Better Macedonia” held the political rally in Skopje after one week of the beginning of the election campaign in Macedonia for the early elections on December 11, 2016. In the recognizable iconography and patriotic songs and guests of the European right parties, this coalition made the representation of their candidates for seven electoral units in Macedonia.

Video highlights of the rally of VMRO-DPMNE and their coalition partners in Skopje on November 27, 2016

From the heavily branded stage in Skopje, in front of many supporters and mixed audience, former Prime minister Nikola Gruevski, who runs against opposition president Zoran Zaev in the Electoral Unit 4, addressed the issues, as he stated, “Selling of the national interests,” by some leaders and members of the opposition.

President of VMRO-DPMNE party Nikola Gruevski arrives at the rally with his wife Borkica Gruevska.
Former director of the Department of Security and Counterintelligence Sasho Mijalkov greets Strasho Angelоvski, president of one of the first small political parties in Macedonia after independence in 1991.
Ljupco Dimovski of Socialist Party holds the flag of Republic of Macedonia during the rally in which Orthodox placards with saints appeared as part of the rally iconography.
Mayor of Skopje, Koce Trajanovski greets Nikola Poposki before the beginning of the rally on November 27, 2016. Sebastian Kurz was a guest to the meeting (M). Current Minister of Culture, Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska will run together with Poposki in the Electoral Unit 1 for the early elections on December 11.

Gruevski addressed the possible bilingualism and said that the opposition “offers bilingualism on the whole territory, and offers suggestions, which someone did not dream on he can get even with the war.” Gruevski pointed out that opposition “gambles with the foreign position” of the state. Gruevski talked to the undecided voters, and to the voters of the opposition, asking of them to think before they give the vote on the Election Day.

VMRO-DPMNE_Coalition_Campaign868.JPG
Nikola Poposki and Sebastian Kurz talk after arriving to the campaign meeting of VMRO-DPMNE and its coalition partners.

Foreign Minister of Austria and member of the European People’s Party, which is European center and center-right group, addressed the rally and thanked to the government of Macedonia for its help during the migration crisis and closing of the so-called Balkan Route for migrants and refugees. Sebastian Kurz appeared in the company of the Republic of Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki, who is also first on the list for Skopje, facing the candidates of opposition and non-governmental coalition. Kurz addressed people and political officials from the stage and behind the podium with main campaign slogan “You know what is better, for you, for Macedonia.”

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Fidel Castro Dies at 90 in Cuba


Time:9:20 a.m. CEST

Fidel Castro, Cuba’s maximum leader who briefly pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war, died on Friday aged 90, the New York Times writes. Cuban state television announced his death. Castro was on the position president until 2006, when he stepped aside due to serious illness. He gave much of the power to his brother Raul, and formally resigned as president in 2008. Castro thought, the Times writes, he would “orchestrated” the continuation of the ruling of his Communist revolution.

The Times says that, even when he fell ill and it was hospitalized with “diverticulitis in the summer of 2006, Mr. Castro tried to dictate the details of his own medical care and orchestrate the continuation of his Communist revolution, engaging a plan as old as the revolution itself.” United States then officially condemned the transition, but in December 2014, President Obama used his executive powers to dial down the decades of antagonism between United States and Cuba.

The process opened with exchange of prisoners and normalizing of the diplomatic relations between the two countries. Pope Francis helped in making the deal after 18 months of secret talks between representatives of both governments.

Related readings:

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