TOKYO: Japan has decided for the first time in years not to submit to the United Nations a joint resolution condemning North Korea’s human rights abuses, given US efforts to end North Korea’s weapons program and other factors, Japan said on Wednesday.
Japan and the European Union have submitted a motion condemning North Korea’s rights record to the United Nations every year since 2008. North Korea has repeatedly rejected accusations of rights abuses.
“The decision was made taking into consideration various factors comprehensively, such as results of the summit meeting between the United States and North Korea and the situation of Japan’s abduction issue,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.
US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held their second summit last month on US demands that North Korea dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and the lifting of sanctions.
But the talks in Vietnam broke down without agreement.
Staunch US ally Japan is keeping a wary eye on the dialogue between the United States and North Korea amid concern a deal between those old foes could lead to a scaling back of US commitments in East Asia.
Japan also worries that its crucial issue of the fate of its citizens abducted by North Korean agents will take a back seat to nuclear and missile issues in US-North Korean talks.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Trump had raised the issue of kidnapped Japanese citizens in his summit with Kim.
Abe has said Japan was committed to normalizing diplomatic relations with North Korea but several issues, including North Korea’s kidnapping of its citizens, must be resolved first.
North Korea admitted in 2002 it had kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s to train as spies, and five of them returned to Japan. Japan suspects that hundreds more may have been taken.
Japan won’t submit UN resolution condemning North Korean rights abuses
Japan won’t submit UN resolution condemning North Korean rights abuses
- North Korea has repeatedly rejected accusations of rights abuses
- Staunch US ally Japan is keeping a wary eye on the dialogue between the United States and North Korea
Appeals court to hear cases of 2 university students, one detained, the other recently released
The appeals court paused that order last week in order to consider the government’s motion
NEW YORK: A federal appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday in the cases of a Turkish Tufts University student who has been detained by immigration authorities for six weeks and a Palestinian student at Columbia University who was recently released from detention.
A three-judge panel of the US 2nd Circurt Court of Appeals, based in New York, is expected to hear motions filed by the US Justice Department regarding Rumeysa Ozturk and Mohsen Mahdawi. The department is appealing decisions made by two federal judges in Vermont. It also wants to consolidate the students’ cases, saying they present similar legal questions.
Immigration court proceedings for Ozturk and Mahdawi are being conducted separately.
A district court judge in Vermont had ordered that Ozturk, a 30-year-old doctoral student, be brought to the state from a Louisiana immigration detention center by May 1 for hearings to determine whether she was illegally detained. Ozturk’s lawyers say her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process.
The appeals court paused that order last week in order to consider the government’s motion.
Congress limited federal-court jurisdiction over immigration matters, the Justice Department said. It said an immigration court in Louisiana has jurisdiction over Ozturk’s case.
Immigration officials surrounded Ozturk as she walked along a street in a Boston suburb March 25 and drove her to New Hampshire and Vermont before putting her on a plane to the detention center in Basile, Louisiana.
Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in March, without providing evidence, that investigations found that Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group.
The government is also challenging another judge’s decision to release Mahdawi from detention in Vermont on April 30. Mahdawi led protests at Columbia University against Israel’s war in Gaza. He was arrested by immigration officials during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship.
Mahdawi, 34, has been a legal permanent resident for 10 years. He was in a Vermont state prison since April 14. In his release order, US District Judge Geoffrey Crawford said Mahdawi has raised a “substantial claim that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees.”
Mahdawi’s release allows him to travel outside his home state of Vermont and attend graduation next month in New York. He recently completed coursework at Columbia and planned to begin a master’s degree program there in the fall.
PM Carney tells Trump Canada is ‘not for sale’
- Carney, speaking in front of reporters alongside Trump at the White House, said Canada was ‘not for sale, won’t be ever’
WASHINGTON: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday told his US counterpart Donald Trump that Canada was not for sale and would not become the 51st state of the United States.
Carney, speaking in front of reporters alongside Trump at the White House, said Canada was “not for sale, won’t be ever.”
Ukraine’s Zelensky says Russian artillery fire has not subsided
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that, according to his top commander, Russian artillery fire had not subsided despite the Kremlin’s proclamation of an Easter ceasefire.
“As of now, according to the Commander-in-Chief reports, Russian assault operations continue on several frontline sectors, and Russian artillery fire has not subsided,” Zelensky wrote on the social media platform X.
“Therefore, there is no trust in words coming from Moscow.”
He recalled that Russia had last month rejected a US-proposed full 30-day ceasefire and said that if Moscow agreed to “truly engage in a format of full and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act accordingly — mirroring Russia’s actions.”
“If a complete ceasefire truly takes hold, Ukraine proposes extending it beyond the Easter day of April 20,” Zelensky wrote.
Kyiv calls on foreign troops not to take part in Russia’s May 9 parade
- “The Russian army has committed and continues to commit atrocities in Ukraine,” Kyiv’s foreign ministry said
- “These people are not liberators of Europe, they are occupiers and war criminals“
KYIV: Ukraine warned Tuesday against any foreign troop participation in Russia’s May 9 parade to mark 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany, saying it would be “unacceptable” and seen as helping Moscow “whitewash its war crimes.”
A handful of countries have in recent years sent their militaries to take part in Russia’s traditional May 9 parade — a showpiece event that has become the country’s most important public holiday under President Vladimir Putin’s quarter-century in power.
“The Russian army has committed and continues to commit atrocities in Ukraine on a scale that Europe has not seen since World War II,” Kyiv’s foreign ministry said.
“It is this army that will march on Red Square in Moscow on May 9. These people are not liberators of Europe, they are occupiers and war criminals.”
Kyiv said marching with Russian soldiers would be considered as “sharing responsibility” for Moscow’s actions during its three-year Ukraine invasion.
“To march side by side with them is to share responsibility for the blood of murdered Ukrainian children, civilians and military, not to honor the victory over Nazism.”
Ukraine was one of the most devastated countries during World War II, with Kyiv saying it “touched every Ukrainian family.”
The foreign ministry also said that six million Ukrainians fought in the Red Army — with five million Ukrainian civilians killed and three million Ukrainian troops.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin attributed the victory over Nazism in Europe as a feat primarily achieved by the Russian nation.
Central Asian troops have often taken part in the Moscow parade.
The Kremlin has this year not ruled out that North Korean soldiers could take part for the first time, after Pyongyang’s troops helped Moscow oust Ukrainian soldiers from Russia’s Kursk region.
UN chief: India, Pakistan must ‘step back from the brink’
- Countries should exercise ‘maximum restraint’ amid soaring tensions, says Antonio Guterres
- UN Security Council holds closed-door session to discuss dispute
NEW YORK CITY: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on India and Pakistan to exercise “maximum restraint” amid soaring tensions between the two countries.
It follows last month’s terror attack in the Pahalgam area of Jammu and Kashmir.
Both countries administer parts of the territory but claim it in full.
The attack on April 22 killed at least 26 civilians and injured many more.
Guterres, speaking outside the Security Council at UN Headquarters in New York City on Monday, warned that tensions between India and Pakistan “are at their highest in years.”
He added: “I deeply respect and am profoundly grateful to the government and people of both countries — and their significant contributions to the work of the UN, not least UN peacekeeping.
“And so it pains me to see relations reaching a boiling point.”
The Indian government today will carry out a nationwide civil defense drill to simulate an attack on its territory.
Pakistan on Saturday test-fired a ballistic missile with a range of 450 km.
Guterres called on the two countries to “step back from the brink,” and warned that a “military solution is no solution.”
He said: “I understand the raw feelings following the awful terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22.
“I once again strongly condemn that attack and extend my condolences to the families of the victims.
“Targeting civilians is unacceptable — and those responsible must be brought to justice through credible and lawful means.
“It is also essential — especially at this critical hour — to avoid a military confrontation that could easily spin out of control.
“Now is the time for maximum restraint and stepping back from the brink.
The UN Security Council met on Monday in a closed-door session to discuss the tensions.
Guterres pledged to support “any initiative that promotes de-escalation, diplomacy and a renewed commitment to peace.”
