UN chief says planned US-NKorea summit shows vision

South Korea says the two leaders will meet before May. (AP)
Updated 10 March 2018
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UN chief says planned US-NKorea summit shows vision

NEWYORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday welcomed the announcement of a planned summit between the United States and North Korea, saying the breakthrough showed “leadership and vision.”
Guterres has repeatedly called for talks to address the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, which the UN chief has described as the most pressing global security threat.
President Donald Trump agreed on Thursday to a first face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which could take place by the end of May.
Guterres “is encouraged by the announcement of an agreement” to hold a summit meeting, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
“He commends the leadership and vision of all concerned,” he added. 
The decision by trump came after months of trading insults and threats of nuclear annihilation. President Donald Trump agreed to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un by the end of May to negotiate an end to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program, South Korean and US officials said Thursday. No sitting American president has ever met with a North Korea leader.
The meeting would be unprecedented during seven decades of animosity between the US and North Korea. The countries remain in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty.
“Great progress being made,” Trump tweeted after the South Korean national security director, Chung Eui-yong, announced the plans to reporters in a hastily called appearance on a White House driveway.
Trump added that sanctions will remain in place until there’s a deal.
Trump took office vowing to stop North Korea from attaining a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the US mainland, a goal that Pyongyang is on the cusp of reaching. He’s oscillated between threats and insults directed at Kim that have fueled fears of war, and more conciliatory rhetoric.
The historic announcement comes during a period of unparalleled tumult in the West Wing, with the president’s policy agenda stalled and morale sinking as staff departures proliferate and disrupt efforts to instill more discipline and order.
Trump clearly relished the news of the planned summit. He had made a surprise visit to the White House press briefing room on Thursday afternoon to alert reporters of a “major statement” on North Korea by South Korea. When asked by an ABC reporter if it was about talks with North Korea, he replied: “It’s almost beyond that. Hopefully, you will give me credit.”
Earlier Thursday, Chung had briefed Trump and other top US officials about a rare meeting with Kim in the North Korean capital. During that meeting, the rival Koreas agreed to hold a leadership summit in late April, the first in a decade.

Kim “expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible,” Chung told reporters. “President Trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet Kim Jong Un by May to achieve permanent denuclearization.”
The White House said Trump’s meeting with Kim would take place “at a place and time to be determined.”
“Kim Jong Un talked about denuclearization with the South Korean Representatives, not just a freeze,” Trump said in a tweet. “Also, no missile testing by North Korea during this period of time.”
It marks a dramatic shift in Trump’s stance toward North Korea. He has threatened the pariah nation with “fire and fury” if its threats against the US and its allies continued. He has derided Kim by referring to him as “Little Rocket Man.” Kim has pilloried Trump as “senile” and a “dotard.”
After Kim repeated threats against the US in a New Year’s address and mentioned the “nuclear button” on his office desk, Trump responded by tweeting that he has a nuclear button, too, “but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!“
North Korea appeared to confirm the summit plans. A senior North Korean diplomat at the United Nations in New York, Pak Song Il, told The Washington Post in an email that the invitation was the result of Kim’s “broad minded and resolute decision” to contribute to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula.
By the “great courageous decision of our Supreme Leader, we can take the new aspect to secure the peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and the East Asia region,” Pak wrote.
On Tuesday after leaving Pyongyang, Chung had publicized that North Korea was offering talks with the United States on denuclearization and normalizing ties. But the proposal for a summit still came as a surprise, and will raise questions about whether the two sides are ready for such a high-level meeting.
Just a few hours earlier, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is traveling in Africa, had said the adversaries were still a long way from holding negotiations.
Chung, who credited Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign for the diplomatic opening on the nuclear issue, said Kim understands that routine US-South Korea military drills “must continue.”
The drills were suspended during the Winter Olympics recently hosted by South Korea, which provided impetus for the inter-Korea rapprochement. The drills are expected to resume next month and had widely been seen as an obstacle to talks. North Korea has long protested the military maneuvers south of the divided Korean Peninsula as a rehearsal for invading the North.
When the South Korean delegation briefed Trump in the Oval Office, he was joined by a number of top advisers, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, chief of staff John Kelly and the director of national intelligence, among others, according to a senior Trump administration official who briefed reporters after the announcement. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the sensitive diplomatic issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity, said there was no letter from Kim to Trump, just an oral briefing from the South Korean officials.
The planned summit was welcomed by arms control advocates, but got varying responses from Republican lawmakers.
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce said the invitation was a sign that sanction pressure was working but he was skeptical of North Korea’s motives. Sen. Lindsey Graham warned Kim that “the worst possible thing you can do is meet with President Trump in person and try to play him. If you do that, it will be the end of you — and your regime.”
Darryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said it was too much to expect a single Trump-Kim summit could immediately resolve the nuclear issue that has bedeviled US administrations since the early 1990s, when the North first began producing fissile material for bombs.
“But if the US works closely and intensively with our South Korean allies in its approach to North Korea, a summit offers the potential for starting a serious process that could move us decisively away from the current crisis,” Kimball said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday welcomed the announcement of a planned summit between the United States and North Korea, saying the breakthrough showed "leadership and vision."
Guterres has repeatedly called for talks to address the crisis over North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, which the UN chief has described as the most pressing global security threat.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that Guterres "is encouraged by the announcement of an agreement" to hold a summit meeting, and added that "he commends the leadership and vision of all concerned."
 


Zelensky says Ukraine used 117 drones in attacks on Russian air bases

Updated 6 sec ago
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Zelensky says Ukraine used 117 drones in attacks on Russian air bases

KYIV: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday it deployed 117 drones in a massive attack against Russian air bases that he called “our most long-range operation” in more than three years of war.
“A total of 117 drones were used in the operation. And a corresponding number of drone operators worked,” Zelensky said in a statement, adding that “34 percent of the strategic cruise missile carriers at the airfields were hit.”


Bangladesh opens trial of deposed ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

Updated 38 min 55 sec ago
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Bangladesh opens trial of deposed ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

  • The investigators brought charges of crimes against humanity against Hasina over killing of hundreds of students in a mass uprising last year
  • Hasina has been in exile in India since Aug. 5, 2023, while former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan is missing and possibly also is in India

DHAKA: A special tribunal set up to try Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina began proceedings Sunday by accepting the charges of crimes against humanity filed against her in connection with a mass uprising in which hundreds of students were killed last year.

The Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal directed investigators to produce Hasina, a former home minister and a former police chief before the court on June 16.

Hasina has been in exile in India since Aug. 5, 2023, while former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan is missing and possibly also is in India. Former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun has been arrested. Bangladesh sent a formal request to India to extradite Hasina in December.

State-run Bangladesh Television broadcast the court proceedings live.

In an investigation report submitted on May 12, the tribunal’s investigators brought five allegations of crimes against humanity against Hasina and the two others during the mass uprising in July-August last year.

According to the charges, Hasina was directly responsible for ordering all state forces, her Awami League party and its associates to carry out actions that led to mass killings, injuries, targeted violence against women and children, the incineration of bodies and denial of medical treatment to the wounded.

Three days after Hasina’s ouster, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over as the nation’s interim leader.

In February, the UN human rights office estimated that up to 1,400 people may have been killed in Bangladesh over three weeks in the crackdown on the student-led protests against Hasina, who ruled the country for 15 years.

The tribunal was established by Hasina in 2009 to investigate and try crimes involving Bangladesh’s independence war in 1971. The tribunal under Hasina tried politicians, mostly from the Jamaat-e-Islami party, for their actions during the nine-month war against Pakistan. Aided by India, Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s father and the country’s first leader.


Macron condemns ‘unacceptable’ violence during football celebrations

Updated 36 min 55 sec ago
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Macron condemns ‘unacceptable’ violence during football celebrations

  • Two people died and police made nearly 600 arrests across France overnight as football fans celebrated PSG’s 5-0 triumph over Inter Milan in Munich
  • Macron hosted Coach Luis Enrique and his team after their victory parade on the famed Champs Elysee

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday condemned the “unacceptable” violence during celebrations following Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League final victory, as he welcomed the triumphant team to the Elysee palace.
“Nothing can justify what has happened in the last few hours, the violent clashes are unacceptable,” the French leader said.
“We will pursue, we will punish, we will be relentless,” he added before congratulating the players on their win.
Two people died and police made nearly 600 arrests across France overnight as football fans celebrated PSG’s 5-0 triumph over Inter Milan in Munich.
“The violent clashes that took place are unacceptable and have come at a heavy cost: two people are dead, around 30 police officers and several firefighters have been injured,” Macron said.
“My thoughts are also with the police officer in Coutances who is currently in a coma,” he added.
Macron hosted Coach Luis Enrique and his team after their victory parade on the famed Champs Elysee, thanking the players for their quick condemnation of the previous night’s chaos.
“These isolated acts are contrary to the club’s values and in no way represent the vast majority of our supporters, whose exemplary behavior throughout the season deserves to be commended,” the club said on Sunday.


British FM says Morocco’s autonomy plan for W. Sahara ‘most credible’ solution

Updated 48 min 58 sec ago
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British FM says Morocco’s autonomy plan for W. Sahara ‘most credible’ solution

  • Britain previously backed self-determination for the disputed Western Sahara, which Morocco claims as an integral part of its kingdom
  • Spain and Germany now officially back the Moroccan autonomy plan, while France last summer recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory

RABAT: British Foreign Minister David Lammy said on Sunday that Morocco’s autonomy plan for the territory of Western Sahara was the “most credible” solution to the decades-long dispute, reversing London’s long-standing position.
Western Sahara, a mineral-rich former Spanish colony, is largely controlled by Morocco but has been claimed in its entirety for decades by the pro-independence Polisario Front, which is backed by Algeria.
Morocco has been campaigning for broad support for its autonomy plan after obtaining US recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory in 2020, in exchange for the normalization of diplomatic relations with Israel.
“The United Kingdom considers Morocco’s autonomy proposal submitted in 2007 as the most credible, viable and pragmatic basis for a lasting resolution of the dispute,” Lammy told reporters in Rabat.
Britain previously backed self-determination for the disputed territory, which Morocco claims as an integral part of its kingdom.

The United Kingdom considers Morocco’s autonomy proposal submitted in 2007 as the most credible, viable and pragmatic basis for a lasting resolution of the dispute

UK Foreign Minister David Lammy

Moroccan foreign minister Nasser Bourita welcomed the shift, saying the new British position contributed “greatly to advancing this momentum and promoting the UN path toward a definitive and mutually acceptable solution based on the autonomy initiative.”
Rabat’s push for support for its autonomy plan has seen success.
Spain and Germany now officially back the Moroccan autonomy plan, while France last summer recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory.
“This year is a vital window of opportunity to secure a resolution before we reach 50 years of the dispute in November,” said Lammy.
The foreign minister also said it encouraged “relevant parties to engage urgently and positively with the United Nations-led political process.”
The United Nations considers Western Sahara a “non-self-governing territory” and has had a peacekeeping mission there since 1991, whose stated aim is to organize a referendum on the territory’s future.
But Rabat has repeatedly ruled out any vote where independence is an option, instead proposing an autonomy plan.
The ceasefire collapsed in mid-November 2020 after Moroccan troops were deployed to the far south of the territory to remove separatists blocking the only route to Mauritania — a route they claimed was illegal, as it did not exist in 1991.
The UN Security Council is calling for negotiations without preconditions, while Morocco insists they focus solely on its autonomy plan.
“The only viable and durable solution will be one that is mutually acceptable to the relevant parties and is arrived at through compromise,” added Lammy.
In a joint statement, the United Kingdom noted that its export credit agency, UK Export Finance, may consider supporting projects in the Sahara as part of its commitment to mobilize 5 billion British pounds (approximately 5.9 billion euros) for new economic initiatives in Morocco.


Bangladesh opens trial of ex-PM Hasina for crimes against humanity

Updated 01 June 2025
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Bangladesh opens trial of ex-PM Hasina for crimes against humanity

  • Hearing broadcast live for first in special tribunal’s history
  • Former home minister, ex-police chief ordered to be in court for second hearing on June 16

DHAKA: Bangladeshi prosecutors on Sunday opened the trial of fugitive former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is charged with orchestrating last year’s deadly crackdown on student-led protests.

Peaceful demonstrations, triggered by the reinstatement of a quota system for the allocation of civil service positions, began in early July 2024 but two weeks later they were met with a communications blackout and a violent crackdown by security forces.

In early August, as protesters defied a nationwide curfew, Hasina resigned and fled the country, ending 15 years in power of her Awami League party-led government.

“She unleashed various law enforcement and intelligence agencies against them (the protesting students) … They slaughtered the agitating students, injured them and committed crimes against humanity,” Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor at Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal, told the court in his opening speech.

He charged the 77-year-old with “incitement, aiding and abetting, involvement in the commission of the crimes of murder, attempted murder, torture and other inhumane acts as part of the widespread and systematic attacks on innocent unarmed students and the public.”

The UN’s human rights office concluded in February that between July 15 and Aug. 5, 2024, the former government and its security and intelligence apparatus, together with “violent elements” linked to the Awami League, “engaged systematically in serious human rights violations and abuses in a coordinated effort to suppress the protest movement.”

It estimated that at least 1,400 people were killed during the protests, the majority by bullets from military rifles.

ICT investigators have collected video footage, audio clips, records of helicopter and drone movements, as well as statements from victims of the crackdown as part of the probe.

They also “seized records of telephonic conversations of Sheikh Hasina, in which she repeatedly confirmed that she ordered all the state agencies to eliminate innocent civilians peacefully protesting for a fair demand, using helicopters, drones and APCs (armored personnel carriers),” Islam said.

Sunday’s hearing was broadcast live for the first in the ICT’s history.

“The court accepted the charges against Sheikh Hasina, former Home Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. There are five charges against them and the court accepted all five charges. We presented the charges through live broadcast before the nation,” Islam told reporters after the hearing.

Al-Mamun is the only accused who has been detained while the ex-home minister is in hiding and Hasina remains in self-imposed exile in neighboring India.

The next hearing is scheduled to take place on June 16. The tribunal ordered all three accused to be presented before the court.

The International Crimes Tribunal was established by Hasina in 2010 to investigate crimes committed by the Pakistani army and its loyalists during Bangladesh’s independence war in 1971.

Over the years, it grew to be widely seen as the Hasina government’s tool for eliminating political rivals.