WASHINGTON: An American college student who has been in a coma, according to his parents, while serving a 15-year prison term in North Korea, was released and evacuated Tuesday as the Trump administration revealed a rare exchange with the reclusive country.
The release of Otto Warmbier came during a visit to North Korea by former NBA star Dennis Rodman, one of few people to have met both North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump. But State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Rodman had nothing to do with Warmbier’s release. Rodman had told reporters before arriving in Pyongyang that the issue of Americans detained by North Korea is “not my purpose right now.”
Instead, the administration credited the release to its diplomatic intervention. It said its special envoy on North Korean policy met with North Korean foreign ministry representatives in Norway last month. The North Koreans agreed to allow consular visits to four Americans held in the North. Such meetings are unusual because the two governments do not have diplomatic relations.
While North Korea’s move to free Warmbier could potentially provide an opening for talks on security issues, the prospects still appear bleak. International negotiations on the dispute over North Korea’s nuclear program have been in limbo for years, as the US cranks up economic sanctions and North Korea won’t give up weapons it considers a guarantee against invasion.
The detention of Americans, often sentenced to draconian prison sentences for seemingly small offenses in the totalitarian nation, has compounded tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. Three Americans remain in custody.
Warmbier, 22, a University of Virginia undergraduate, was convicted and sentenced in a one-hour trial in North Korea’s Supreme Court in March 2016. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor for subversion after he tearfully confessed that he had tried to steal a propaganda banner.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced that the State Department had secured Warmbier’s release at the direction of the president. He said Warmbier, of Cincinnati, was en route to the US
Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement to The Associated Press that their son is in a coma and flying home. They said they were told their son has been in a coma since his trial — when he was last seen in public — and they had learned of this only one week ago. US officials did not confirm those details. The State Department would not comment on Warmbier’s condition, citing privacy concerns. Nauert said the last consular visit to Warmbier, by Swedish diplomats, was March 2.
“We want the world to know how we and our son have been brutalized and terrorized by the pariah regime” in North Korea, Warmbier’s parents said. “We are so grateful that he will finally be with people who love him.”
A White House official said Trump had instructed Tillerson to take all appropriate measures to secure the release of Americans held in North Korea. The official referred to them as “hostages.”
The US government accuses North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.
Following the May meeting in Oslo, North Korea urgently requested another meeting, which took place last week between the US envoy on North Korea, Joseph Yun, and the North’s ambassador at the UN in New York. There, Yun learned about Warmbier’s “condition,” the White House official said.
The official, who was not authorized to speak on the record about the sequence of events and requested anonymity, said that after Tillerson consulted with Trump, Yun was dispatched to North Korea. He visited Warmbier with two doctors on Monday, and demanded his release on humanitarian grounds. Warmbier was evacuated Tuesday.
A North Korean foreign ministry official, requesting anonymity because no formal North Korean statement had been released, said only that Warmbier was released and left the country Tuesday.
It’s not clear if Warmbier’s release during Rodman’s visit was purely coincidental. Rodman has traveled to the isolated nation four times since 2013, attracting a lot of publicity, much of it unfavorable. In 2014, Rodman arranged a basketball game with other former NBA players and North Koreans and regaled leader Kim with a rendition of “Happy Birthday.”
Rodman’s current trip is his first since Trump, his former “Celebrity Apprentice” boss, became president. He told reporters in Beijing, as he departed for Pyongyang, that he hopes his trip will “open a door” for Trump.
North Korea poses one of the greatest national security challenges for Trump as it tries to develop a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike America. He is looking to increase economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea, with help from China, but has said he’s open to meeting Kim.
In the past, North Korea has held out until senior US officials or statesmen came to personally bail out detainees. A 2009 visit by former President Bill Clinton secured the freedom of American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling.
Tillerson said the State Department is continuing “to have discussions” with North Korea about the release of other three American citizens imprisoned there. They are:
— Kim Hak Song, who was detained in early May to be investigated for committing unspecified hostile acts, North Korea has said. He worked at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.
— Tony Kim, who also goes by his Korean name Kim Sang-duk, was detained April 22 at the Pyongyang airport. He had also taught at the university. He was accused of committing unspecified criminal acts intended to overthrow the government.
— South Korean-born US citizen Kim Dong Chul, who was sentenced in April 2016 to 10 years in prison with hard labor after being convicted of espionage.
High-level U.S. visit leads North Korea to free student in coma
High-level U.S. visit leads North Korea to free student in coma
Trump defense nominee’s thin CV, tattoos under scrutiny
- Hegseth boasts degrees from elite US universities, including an undergraduate from Princeton and a master’s from Harvard
WASHINGTON: Facing questions about an alleged sexual assault and medieval-themed tattoos linked to extremist groups, Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth would struggle to be confirmed for the job under normal circumstances.
But these are not normal times in Washington.
Hegseth, a Fox News host, was picked by Trump on Tuesday in one of several nominations that wrong-footed even some in his remodeled Republican Party and threw down a challenge to the Senate.
To take up the position as head of the Pentagon to oversee 3.4 million employees, Hegseth will require confirmation from the upper house — and Trump is publicly pressuring lawmakers to show loyalty to his agenda.
Revelations in recent days about the 44-year-old have made his path to power more difficult, including that the thrice-married former soldier was investigated for sexual assault in California in 2017.
No charges were filed over an encounter in a Monterey hotel that saw an unnamed accuser lodge a police report, but the claim has led to questions about the vetting process for the former soldier.
“He was cleared,” his lawyer Timothy Parlatore told NBC News on Friday. “There’s not much more that I can say. It didn’t happen.”
His tattoos have also raised questions, leading to him being stood down by his Army National Guard unit when it was called up for the inauguration of President Joe Biden in 2020.
Speaking on a podcast with fellow veteran Shawn Ryan earlier this month, he revealed that one of his fellow soldiers had flagged him as a possible white nationalist because of his body art.
He claimed it was because of the medieval Jerusalem Cross on his chest, but he also has the words “Deus Vult” on his bicep — a phrase meaning “God wills it” that was used by anti-Muslim crusaders in the Middle Ages.
European medieval imagery and slogans have been widely adopted by white supremacists and neo-Nazis in recent years, but Hegseth says his tattoos simply reflect his faith.
“It’s a Christian symbol,” the author of a 2020 book entitled “American Crusade” said of the Jerusalem Cross.
His handling of medieval weaponry has gone viral in recent days after a video re-emerged of him taking part in a televised axe-throwing contest which saw him miss the target and strike a bystander, who narrowly escaped serious injury.
His CV includes combat experience in Afghanistan and Iraq and he rose to the rank of major in the National Guard — a lowly status compared to the generals and admirals he would oversee at the Pentagon.
Hegseth boasts degrees from elite US universities, including an undergraduate from Princeton and a master’s from Harvard.
Square-jawed and outspoken, he came to Trump’s attention on the “Fox & Friends Weekend” show that he co-hosts.
“You know the military better than anyone,” Trump told him during an appearance in early June, adding that he often thought about putting him in charge of the Pentagon.
A former Republican operative who vetted Hegseth when Trump was considering him for the more junior veterans affairs secretary in 2016 wrote this week that he remained unqualified and an “empty vessel.”
Lacking major experience in foreign affairs or congressional politics, his only civilian management credential included being CEO of a small non-profit, Justin Higgins, who has since switched to the Democrats, wrote for MSNBC.
“It’s not hard to imagine that he would do and say whatever Trump wants,” he added.
Hegseth’s main policy focus in his books and media appearances is tackling what he calls “woke shit” in the armed forces — and he has expressed support for purging the top brass.
He told Ryan on his podcast that his experiences taught him that “the bigotry we saw on the outside (of the army) should not be tolerated inside the military” but that progressive efforts to tackle racism and sexism had gone too far.
“The army that I enlisted in, that I swore an oath to in 2001 and was commissioned in in 2003 looks a lot different than the army of today because we’re focused on a lot of the wrong things,” he said.
India’s Modi launches diplomatic tour in Nigeria
- Aside from power politics, Modi’s visit will also seek to enhance economic cooperation, with a number of technical agreements to be signed
ABUJA: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Nigeria on Saturday as the giants of Asia and of Africa press for a greater role in world affairs.
Nigeria’s capital Abuja was the first stop in a tour that will take the Indian premier on to the G20 summit in Brazil, and to Guyana.
The visit was billed by New Delhi as a meeting of the largest democracy in the world and the largest in Africa, or “natural partners.”
“May this visit deepen the bilateral relationship between our nations,” Modi posted on social media on arrival.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu posted that the visit would expand “the strategic partnership between both countries.”
Modi will talk with Tinubu at his official residence in Abuja on Sunday.
Photos posted on Modi’s account showed him welcomed by Nigerian officials and a cheering crowd from the country’s 60,000-strong Indian community.
The visit comes amid a revived push by both India and Nigeria for permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council.
The five permanent members of the top UN body — the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain — hold a powerful veto.
In recent years, supporters of a more “multipolar” world have pushed for more African, Asian and Latin American countries to be added to the group.
Nigeria’s 220-million-strong population is comfortably the largest in Africa, but in diplomatic strength it is rivalled by South Africa.
If UN members bow to the pressure to give increased representation to an African country, Abuja and Pretoria could end up competing for the place.
India is the world’s most populous nation, its 1.4 billion people representing a sixth of humanity, and a nuclear-armed power.
It has long sought a permanent UN Security Council seat.
India is also a member of the nine-strong BRICs group with Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
Nigeria is a BRICs “partner country” but has not been given full membership, with some observers accusing South Africa of holding them up.
Aside from power politics, Modi’s visit will also seek to enhance economic cooperation, with a number of technical agreements to be signed.
Africa has become a theater of competition between the United States, former colonial powers in Europe, Russia, Turkiye and especially China.
India too has made inroads, and ahead of the trip Modi’s office boasted that more than 200 Indian companies had invested $27 billion in Nigerian manufacturing, becoming major employers.
Nigeria is also a destination for Indian development funds, with $100 million in loans and training programs for local workers.
US health officials report 1st case of new form of mpox in a traveler
- Mpox is a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that’s in the same family as the one that causes smallpox
NEW YORK: Health officials said Saturday they have confirmed the first US case of a new form of mpox that was first seen in eastern Congo.
The person had traveled to eastern Africa and was treated in Northern California upon return, according to the California Department of Public Health. Symptoms are improving and the risk to the public is low.
The individual was isolating at home and health workers are reaching out to close contacts as a precaution, the state health department said.
Mpox is a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that’s in the same family as the one that causes smallpox. It is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals. Milder symptoms can include fever, chills and body aches. In more serious cases, people can develop lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.
Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of mpox in Africa that was spread through close contact including through sex. It was widely transmitted in eastern and central Africa. But in cases that were identified in travelers outside of the continent, spread has been very limited, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 3,100 confirmed cases have been reported just since late September, according to the World Health Organization. The vast majority of them have been in three African countries — Burundi, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Since then, cases of travelers with the new mpox form have been reported in Germany, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, Zimbabwe, and the United Kingdom.
Health officials earlier this month said the situation in Congo appears to be stabilizing. The Africa CDC has estimated Congo needs at least 3 million mpox vaccines to stop the spread, and another 7 million vaccines for the rest of Africa. The spread is mostly through sexual transmission as well as through close contact among children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.
The current outbreak is different from the 2022 global outbreak of mpox where gay and bisexual men made up the vast majority of cases.
Migration agreement violates medical ethics, aid groups say
- Asylum-seekers should be considered at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, humanitarian organizations say
ROME: More than a dozen humanitarian organizations that provide healthcare to migrants criticized Italy’s migration deal with Albania as violating the code of medical ethics and urged health workers not to cooperate with it.
The deal, the centerpiece of Premier Giorgia Meloni’s crackdown on human trafficking, calls for some male migrants rescued at sea to have their asylum cases processed while they are detained at two holding centers in Albania, a non-EU nation.
Italy, which has long demanded Europe shoulder more of the continent’s migration problem, has held up the deal with Albania as a model for the continent and a strong deterrent to would-be refugees setting out on smugglers’ boats from North Africa for a better life.
However, the five-year deal, budgeted to cost Italy €670 million ($730 million), has run into a series of obstacles and legal challenges that have prevented even a single migrant from being processed in Albania.
FASTFACT
The five-year deal, budgeted to cost Italy $730 million, has run into a series of obstacles and legal challenges that have prevented even a single migrant from being processed in Albania.
First, construction delays prevented the opening of the centers for several months. Then, after the first two batches of 20 men were brought to Albania this month, Italian courts issued rulings that resulted in them being taken to Italy anyway.
The matter is before the EU’s Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which has been asked to rule on whether the men come from countries deemed safe for return. All 20 hail from Bangladesh and Egypt.
On Friday, the nongovernmental organizations released a detailed analysis of the procedures to screen migrants first on Italian naval ships and then in the Albanian centers to determine if they are “vulnerable.” Only men deemed to be not “vulnerable” are to be sent to Albania.
The aid groups said there were no proper facilities or instruments to make such a determination. And regardless, practically everyone who has set off on the dangerous Mediterranean crossing has endured the physical, psychological, or sexual abuse that should disqualify them from Albanian detention, they said.
The migrants should be considered at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder or other severe physical and mental health consequences, they said.
“The Italy-Albania Protocol violates the code of medical ethics and human rights and puts the physical and psychological health of migrants at risk,” the statement said.
The groups criticized the international organizations cooperating with the project, identifying the International Organization of Migration and the Knights of Malta’s Italian rescue corps as being “complicit” in human rights violations.
The Knights of Malta strongly rejected the claim, denying their doctors and nurses were in any way taking part in the “selection” of migrants or where they disembark, and said none had participated in the transfer of migrants to Albania.
In a statement, the Knights said their medical teams had worked on Italian naval vessels rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean since 2008, providing necessary first aid.
They said that work continues today unchanged.
The Knights “are proud of what has been accomplished in more than 15 years with the coast guard saving human lives at sea and has no intention of stopping this activity which often is the difference between life and death,” the group said.
There was no immediate reply to an email sent to the IOM seeking comment.
The Italian government has said the rights of the migrants would be fully guaranteed in the Albanian centers.
The deal has been blessed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an example of “out-of-box thinking” to tackle the migration issue.
However, human rights groups say it sets a dangerous precedent and violates Italy’s obligations under international law.
The UN refugee agency has agreed to supervise the first three months of the agreement, and one of its teams is conducting an “independent mission” on board the transfer ship to monitor the screening process.
The legal challenges have come despite the small number of people impacted.
Even though the centers were built to house as many as 3,000 migrants a month, just 20 were transferred in the first two separate ship passages, only to be sent to Italy after the Rome courts intervened.
The statement was signed by Doctors Without Borders, Emergency, Sea-Watch, SOS Mediterranee, and other aid groups.
Gabon votes on new constitution hailed by junta as ‘turning point’
- The junta on Saturday extended a night curfew by two hours, bringing it forward to midnight “during the whole electoral process,” according to a decree read on state television
LIBREVILLE: Gabon extended a night curfew as it held a referendum on a new constitution the ruling junta says will mark a new chapter after 55 years of dynastic rule in the African nation.
The estimated 860,000 registered voters have faced an onslaught of calls by authorities on TV, radio, and social media to make their ballot count — whether they choose a green one, meaning “yes,” or a red one for “no.”
With the campaign dominated by official propaganda by the junta that took power in August last year in a coup, local media say voter turnout will be a crucial factor.
Voting began late at several polling stations in the capital, Libreville, with papers still being handed out when the polls opened at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT).
The 2,835 polling stations nationwide are due to remain open until 6 p.m.
The junta on Saturday extended a night curfew by two hours, bringing it forward to midnight “during the whole electoral process,” according to a decree read on state television.
It did not specify when the extended curfew ending at 5 a.m. would remain.
The proposed constitution sets out a vision of a presidency with a maximum of two seven-year terms, no prime minister, and no dynastic transfer of power.
It would also require presidential candidates to be exclusively Gabonese — with at least one Gabon-born parent — and have a Gabonese spouse.
This would eliminate toppled ruler Ali Bongo Ondimba, married to a Frenchwoman, and his children.
His replacement, transitional President Brice Oligui Nguema, declared the referendum a “great step forward” as he cast his vote at a Libreville school.
“All Gabonese are coming to vote in a transparent fashion,” the junta chief told the press, having ditched his general’s uniform for a brown civilian jacket over light-wash jeans.
Oligui has vowed to hand power back to civilians after a two-year transition but has made no secret of his desire to win the presidential election scheduled for August 2025.
Billboards adorned with an image of the general and urging a “yes” vote are everywhere, the Union newspaper commented on Friday, prompting it to ask: “Referendum or presidential campaign?“
Queues of dozens of voters formed in front of the classrooms housing the polling stations at the Lycee Leon M’Ba in Libreville, under the watchful eye of the soldiers charged with ensuring the ballot’s security.
Nathalie Badzoko, a 33-year-old civil servant, said she voted “yes” and had faith in the junta but admitted she had “not read the whole text” and its 173 articles.
Louembe Tchizinga, a 45-year-old taxi driver casting his ballot, echoed her.
Opponents of the proposed text dismiss it as tailor-made for the strongman to remain in power.
“We are creating a dictator who designs the constitution for himself,” lawyer Marlene Fabienne Essola Efountame said.
Bongo ruled for 14 years until he was overthrown moments after being proclaimed the winner in a presidential election, which the army and opposition declared fraudulent.
He took office on the death of his father, Omar, who had ruled with an iron fist for more than 41 years.
The opposition and the military coup leaders accused Ali Bongo’s regime of widespread corruption, bad governance, and embezzlement.
The Interior Ministry says it has done all it can to ensure Saturday’s referendum is transparent, including by inviting international observers — who were not present in the August 2023 presidential election.
“We trust them, and this is a test,” said Mathurin Bengone, a 45-year-old civil servant at the Ministry of Health.
“If our vote isn’t respected, we won’t vote again.”
The ministry said provisional results will be released as soon as possible, with the final ones announced by the constitutional court.
Polls on the outcome have not been released.
However, nearly 87 percent of those asked said they think the country is “heading in the right direction,” according to an Afrobarometer survey among 1,200 respondents published mid-October.
The survey also suggested that unemployment topped the list of concerns, followed by health, roads, insecurity, and a rising cost of living.
More than 46 percent have “great confidence” in Oligui, who would be the favorite if a presidential election were to take place now.
