The United States has issued a ban prohibiting its citizens traveling to North Korea, following the death of an American national who was imprisoned in the Asian country over espionage charges.

The measure was introduced on Wednesday after American officials said the risk of arrest by North Korean officials presented an “imminent danger to the physical safety” of US citizens. The ban will come into effect on September 1.

“All United States passports are declared invalid for travel to, in, or through the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] unless specially validated for such travel,” read the restriction in the US government’s Federal Register.

Strict warnings against traveling to North Korea were already in place before the ban was first revealed last month following the death of university student Otto Frederick Warmbier who died after falling into a coma in a North Korean prison.

Warmbier, 22, spent 17 months in a North Korean jail over spying charges and was released to his family back in the US after falling into a coma due to a “severe neurological injury.” He died on June 19.

North Korea has detained at least 17 American citizens over the past decade and three of them remain imprisoned there, according to official reports.

The US says it is concerned by the North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests. Pyongyang, in response, accuses Washington of plotting with regional allies to topple its government.

North Korea has so far conducted a total of five nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009, 2013 and twice in 2016, and numerous missile test-launches.

Pyongyang has defied sanctions and international pressure, saying it will continue to strengthen its military capability to protect itself from the threat posed by the presence of US forces in the region.

North Korea says it will not give up on its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and dissolves the US-led UN command in South Korea.

Source: Presstv

North Korea’s missiles are capable of hitting targets across most of the United States, American intelligence officials claim, citing evidence from Pyongyang’s latest missile test. North Korea test-launched a Hwasong-14 ballistic missile on Saturday, calling it a “stern warning” to the US that it would not be safe if it resorts to military action.

The consensus in Washington is that the Hwasong-14 in many ways resembled an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and proved the North’s ability to hit targets on American soil, Reuters reported Monday, citing two US intelligence officials.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said the missile’s 47-minute flight time was indicative of a greater range compared to another missile that was tested on July 4^th, which flew 39 minutes.

The Hwasong-14 also made use of force stabilizing engines that gave it greater height, range and power by deflecting the effects of winds and other forces that could knock it off course while ascending. The Pentagon says the missile’s trajectory, although not direct enough to reach the US, showed that it had the potential.

In a press briefing, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis refused to reveal the US military’s assessment but confirmed that the missile could fly at least 5,500 km (3,420 miles), the minimum range for what the Pentagon classifies as an ICBM.

“You could have the debate back and forth of whether the capability is proven or not, the fact of the matter is we take it seriously and we are prepared to defend against (it),” he noted. Last month, the United Nations Security Council imposed a fresh array of sanctions on Pyongyang in response to a number of missile tests carried out this year.

Source: Presstv

The United States is fuming over Iran’s successful test of a satellite-launch rocket, saying it appeared to be a violation of UN Security Council resolutions. “We consider that to be continued ballistic missile development,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters on Thursday. “We consider this to be provocative action.”

On Thursday, Iran launched its domestically-manufactured Simorgh carrier, whose mission is to put Iranian satellites into the orbit. According to Tasnim News Agency, the launch was carried out from the Imam Khomeini Space Center. Simorgh, named after a bird in Iranian mythology, is capable of placing a satellite weighing up to 250 kilograms in an orbit of 500 kilometers.

The State Department spokeswoman suggested that the launch could be a “violation of UN Security Council resolutions.” Simorgh rocket is launched and tested at the Imam Khomeini Space Centre, Iran, in this handout photo released by Tasnim News Agency on July 27, 2017. The United States claims that Iran’s missile tests and rocket launches violate UN Resolution 2231, which was adopted in July 2015 to endorse the nuclear agreement.

Resolution 2231 calls on Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.” Tehran insists its missile tests and rocket launches do not breach any UN resolution because they are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads.

Since his inauguration on January 20, US President Donald Trump has adopted a hostile policy towards Iran. He has repeatedly vowed to cancel the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, including the US, and his administration has imposed new sanctions on multiple Iranian individuals and entities.

Source: Presstv

Russian President Vladimir Putin has deplored a new round of US sanctions on his country, saying Moscow will definitively respond to the embargos if they are implemented.

“It’s impossible to endlessly tolerate this kind of insolence towards our country,” Putin said on Thursday, referring to a recent vote in the US House of Representatives, where lawmakers endorsed an anti-Russia sanctions bill.

Putin, who was speaking at a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto in Savonlinna, said Russia’s patience with the US was waning as Washington was continuing to impose back-to-back sanctions on Moscow.

He said Moscow would definitively respond to the new US measures, adding that the size and scale of a possible response would depend on how Washington would decide to go on with the sanctions, which should be ratified in the Senate and signed by US President Donald Trump before it becomes law.
“We are behaving in a very restrained and patient way, but at some moment we will need to respond,” Putin said, adding, “When the response will be and what it will be — that we will see.”

Russia has been under a series of US sanctions since a crisis began in Ukraine in 2014. The new measures, however, come after Russia was accused of interfering in the US presidential election last year. Moscow denies any involvement in both cases. Officials in Moscow say new US bans on Russia would harm the interests of both nations.

In his remarks, Putin said investigations into alleged collusion between Russian officials and Trump’s campaign aides in last year’s elections were a sign of “a rise in anti-Russian hysteria” in the US. He called the case all but a “battle between President Trump and his political opponents,” adding that “Russian-US relations are being sacrificed to resolve questions of domestic politics.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Putin said warmer ties between Washington and Moscow would help the two sides achieve better results in the “fight with terrorism,” adding that if the two act in agreement, they “could solve very acute problems much more effectively.”

Source: Presstv

The regime in Yaounde has accused Amnesty International of supporting the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram and of hostility towards the Cameroonian nation. The Cameroon government has also revealed that military experts were studying Amnesty’s latest report, with a view to considering either prosecution or banning the NGO on Cameroonian territory.

In its latest report, “Chambers of Secret Torture in Cameroon: Human Rights Violations and War Crimes in the Fight against Boko Haram,” the NGO published satellite images and observed that war crimes were being committed by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime. “Cameroon security forces continued to arbitrarily arrest individuals accused of supporting Boko Haram, often with little or no evidence, and detained them in inhumane, often life-threatening conditions. Hundreds of suspects were held in unofficial detention centres, such as military bases or premises belonging to the national intelligence agencies, without access to a lawyer or their families. The security forces continued to use “cordon and search” operations, leading to mass arrests,” noted the Amnesty report.

The much respected NGO further pointed out that, “Dozens of men, women and children accused of supporting Boko Haram were tortured by members of the Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR), an elite army unit, at the military base known as Salak, near Maroua, and by officers of the General Directorate of External Research (DGRE), an intelligence service, in premises in the capital, Yaoundé. Some of them died as a result of torture; others disappeared.”

A frustrated minister of communication and so-called government spokesman, Issa Tchiroma reacted during a recent press briefing in Yaounde that “Amnesty International is continuing its logic of protecting terrorist interests and is trying to discourage the support and cooperation that armies of friendly countries bring to Cameroon.” Amnesty has also made public satellite images of Cameroon military’s operational bases with GPS wartime data.

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News

As top female presenters at the state-funded BBC decry gender pay gap at the corporation, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says the broadcaster must “look very hard at itself.” Forty female presenters signed an open letter to the director general, Tony Hall, on Sunday, complaining about inequality in men’s and women’s pay. The women included Newsnight presenters Emily Maitlis and Kirsty Wark, presenters Clare Balding and Angela Rippon and One Show host Alex Jones.

Coordinated by Woman’s Hour host Jane Garvey, the effort seeks to fix the pay gap. According to an unprecedented list of top earners published by the corporation on Wednesday, the BBC’s best-paid employee, Chris Evans, collected at least £2.2 million in the last financial year, while Claudia Winkleman (pictured below), the best-paid female employee, was paid between £450,000 and £500,000, a fifth of that.

“The pay details released in the annual report showed what many of us have suspected for many years … that women at the BBC are being paid less than men for the same work,” read the letter. “Compared to many women and men, we are very well compensated and fortunate. However, this is an age of equality and the BBC is an organization that prides itself on its values. You have said that you will ‘sort’ the gender pay gap by 2020, but the BBC has known about the pay disparity for years. We all want to go on the record to call upon you to act now.”

At least 400 BBC employees earn less than one hundredth of what Evans makes there, according to figures revealed by broadcasting union Bectu last week, as cited by The Guardian. The revelations have also triggered reaction from the leader of the Labour party, who said he would add his name to the letter. “We’d also look at a 20:1 ratio between the chief executive and the lowest-paid staff in every public sector organization,” Corbyn said, calling for a pay audit of organizations.

Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening also reacted to the reports, noting on Sky News that it is “impossible not to be shocked.” “I think it has already kicked off a debate for the BBC about these differentials and the steps they will now need to look at taking to close them, but it is very hard to justify some of the big gaps that we saw,” said Greening . A BBC spokesperson vowed of “significant progress,” in the figures next year, arguing that paying men and women equally “is complex and cannot be done overnight.”

The BBC said it was confident that rapid changes would be made. “The BBC’s workforce has been hired over generations and this is complex and cannot be done overnight,” the spokesperson said. “We are, however, confident that when these figures are published again next year, they will show significant progress towards that goal. Tony Hall meets staff all the time and will of course meet individuals to hear their thoughts as we work to accelerate change.”

Appearing on his show Sunday, BBC presenter Andrew Mar defended his salary of up to £499,999, asserting that women are less likely to have long careers at the corporation and that is evident from “a real lack of older women on the screen.” “I’m a bit grizzled, going a bit weird around the edges,” he said. “But if I had been born Audrey Marr rather than Andrew Marr, I would have been out 10 years ago. There’s a real lack of older women on the screen.”

Source: Presstv

President Donald Trump has replace Michael Stephen Hoza as US ambassador to Cameroon. The decision nominating Peter Henry Barlerin as the new US ambassador was made public on July the 18th 2017.

Trump’s decision comes at a time when the US diplomatic mission in Cameroon is badly in need of a decent man to run its affair. The new American ambassador is a senior Foreign Service officer and deputy secretary in the African Affairs Bureau in the US State Department.

Peter Henry Barlerin served as Director of Economic and Regional Affairs in the Africa Bureau of the US State Department and in that capacity participated in the 14th International Forum of the African Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa) in Libreville, Gabon.

The new US diplomat in Yaoundé knows Africa very well. He had worked in Bamako, Mali, as part of the Kimberley process, whose mission was to prevent the illicit exploitation of diamonds.

By Chi Prudence Asong
Cameroon Concord News

Suspected Boko Haram fighters have been “brutally tortured” by security forces in Cameroon, a rights group says. Amnesty International said in a report that the suspects, including women and children, were beaten, water-boarded and forced into stress positions.

The cases allegedly happened between 2013 and 2017, and dozens of detainees died as a result, it added. Cameroon’s government has not commented. Boko Haram frequently carries out attacks in the country.

The Islamist group, based in neighbouring Nigeria, has killed more than 1,500 civilians in Cameroon since 2014, and abducted many others, Amnesty said. Victims described a least 24 methods of torture at more than 20 different sites, the report said.

In one of those places, it said, there was the presence of US and French military personnel. There was no evidence that foreign forces were involved, but Amnesty urged both countries to investigate the allegations. The report added that people suspected of supporting the militants were often being detained without evidence.

Source: BBC

The Syrian defense minister has lauded the support provided by Iran, Russia and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement in battling terrorism inside Syria. Major General Fahd Jassem al-Freij made the remarks during a Thursday field visit to units of the Syrian army in Damascus south-eastern Countryside.

“Our battle against terrorism is continuous and the terrorist scheme against Syria is collapsing and retreating thanks to the steadfastness of the Syrian people who rallied around their army and leadership as well as the support provided by the friendly countries, particularly Russia, Iran and the Lebanese Resistance,” the official SANA news agency quoted Freij as saying.

Syria has been fighting different foreign-sponsored militant and terrorist groups since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimated last August that more than 400,000 people had been killed in the crisis until then. Russia and Iran are the main international backers of the Syrian government in its battle against foreign-backed terrorists. At Damascus’ request, Iran has been providing military advisory support to the Syrian military in its counterterrorism operations.

Russia has been also carrying out an aerial campaign in Syria in coordination with Damascus since September 2015 to further boost the Syrian military’s anti-terror fight. Moreover, Iran and Russia along with Turkey have brokered several rounds of peace talks between Syria’s warring parties in the Kazakh capital, Astana. The Astana discussions produced a memorandum of understanding on de-escalation zones in Syria that sharply reduced fighting in the Arab country. The negotiations are aimed at bringing an end to the foreign-backed militancy in Syria, which began in March 2011.

Earlier this week, UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said that opposition groups had achieved significant progress in coming closer together on the issues of Syri’’s future and constitutional reform, noting that “the opposition’s stance is now not that far even from Damascus.” Last month, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Syria’s opposition groups, which are being sponsored by foreign countries, were progressively losing their power.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government forces continue to make advances against foreign-backed terrorists groups in several fronts. Earlier this week, Syrian Air Force fighter jets had carried out a string of aerial assaults against Daesh positions in al-Hussainia, al-Bogheilia, Panorama, Hattla, Marat and Mazloum districts in the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, killing scores of the militants and destroying large amounts of their munitions.
Separately, Syrian army soldiers have regained control over al-Heil oil fields northeast of the ancient city of Palmyra, inflicting heavy losses on Daesh terrorists. Elsewhere in the southwestern province of Sweida, Syrian army troops established complete control over Tal Shihab mountainous region.

Source: Presstv

Another 38 probable mass graves have been discovered in DR Congo in the country’s troubled central region of Kasai, the United Nations said Wednesday. At least 80 mass graves have now been identified in the region that has seen a major spike in violence between security forces and a tribal militia since September.

The international community has voiced alarm over the violence, which has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people, according to statistics compiled by the Roman Catholic Church. The UN’s MONUSCO peacekeeping mission had previously spoken of “more than 400 dead” while about 1.3 million people are estimated to have fled their homes in the Kasai provinces.

The investigative mission this month found the latest mass graves in the Diboko and Sumbula areas of the Kamonia territory, the UN said. The violence began last year when Kamwina Nsapu, a tribal chieftain in territory near the southern border with Angola, openly challenged the authority of President Joseph Kabila’s government, provoking a crackdown by security forces.

Nsapu was killed in a police operation in August 2016, but his armed followers fight on in the belief he is still alive, because he was buried by the regime without respect for traditional rites accorded leaders of his stature which would have opened the way to a rightful succession.

Last February, MONUSCO accused the Kamwina Nsapu militia of “atrocities… including the recruiting and use of child soldiers,” but also condemned “a disproportionate use of force” by government troops. Two western experts sent to investigate the conflict by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres went missing in March and their bodies were found in a shallow grave by peacekeepers a fortnight later. The government blamed the tribal militia for their murders.

(Source: AFP)