Head of the UN World Food Programme, David Beasley, has announced that he had been tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
“I want you to be among the first to know that in the past few hours I have received confirmation, after testing, that I have the Covid-19 virus,’’ he said in a statement.

“I began feeling unwell this past weekend after returning to my home in the United States from an official visit to Canada and I took an early decision to go into self-quarantine, five days ago,’’ he added.
Beasley, 63, was the Republican governor of the U.S state of South Carolina from 1995 to 1999.
He has led the Rome-based WFP, the UN’s food aid agency, since 2017.
In his statement, he said he was in good spirits with relatively light symptoms, and plans to continue working throughout the period of self-isolation which he said must now strictly observe.
Beasley also said he was working with his team at WFP to trace back anyone who he might had close contact with at a time when he was unaware of his infection.
(dpa/NAN)

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Kim Jong Un has agreed to hold a second summit with US President Donald Trump as soon as possible, Seoul said Sunday, after Washington's top diplomat held "productive" talks on denuclearisation with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kim on Sunday morning for around two hours of talks followed by a lunch in the North's capital, before flying to Seoul on a whirlwind diplomatic visit to the region.

Pompeo said "he agreed with Chairman Kim to hold the second US-North Korea summit at the earliest date possible", South Korea's presidential office said in a statement, although no specific time or location has yet been agreed.

Pompeo and Kim also discussed "denuclearisation steps that will be taken by North Korea and the issue of attendance by the US government," as well as "corresponding measures" to be taken by the United States, the statement said.

The visit was Pompeo's fourth to North Korea.

Trump met Kim in Singapore in June for the first-ever summit between the two countries, resulting in what critics say was only a vague commitment by Kim towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

"We continue to make progress on agreements made at Singapore Summit. Thanks for hosting me and my team," Pompeo tweeted.

Kim also praised their "nice meeting", telling Pompeo via an interpreter following the morning's talks that it was "a very nice day that promises a good future... for both countries".

The North Korean leader also invited inspectors to visit the Punggye-ri nuclear test facility, which Pyongyang took apart in May, "to confirm that it has been irreversibly dismantled", according to a State Department readout of the meeting.

- 'Gangster-like demands' -

Since the Singapore summit, the road towards warmer ties has been bumpy.

Washington and Pyongyang have sparred over the exact terms of the vaguely-worded agreement in Singapore, with the US pushing to maintain sanctions and pressure against the North until its "final, fully verified denuclearisation".

Last month, the North's foreign minister told the United Nations there was "no way" his country would disarm first as long as tough US sanctions remain against his country.

After a previous visit to Pyongyang in July, Pompeo had said the two foes made progress on key issues -- but within hours of his departure the North condemned "gangster-like" demands from the US, raising questions over how much the two sides really saw eye to eye.

Another planned trip by Pompeo to Pyongyang was scrapped after what Trump said was insufficient progress towards implementing the terms of the Singapore declaration.

An official on Sunday's latest visit to Pyongyang with Pompeo said the trip was "better than the last time", but added: "It's going to be a long haul."

Following his arrival in Seoul from Pyongyang on Sunday, Pompeo said at a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in that he had "a good productive conversation" with Kim, in talks which represented "another step forward".

The dovish Moon, who held three summits with Kim this year and also brokered the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore, said Sunday the "whole world" was watching with keen interest the outcomes of Pompeo's trip.

"I hope your trip to North Korea and the upcoming second US-North Korea summit will provide a good opportunity for achieving irreversible, decisive progress in terms of denuclearisation and the peace process on the Korean peninsula."

- Grand bargain -

Analysts say Washington may now consider new options as China, Russia and South Korea seek to relax sanctions.

"North Korea took some steps towards denuclearisation and the US will face criticism from the international community if it continues to demand complete denuclearisation without any lifting of sanctions," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

"We can't rule out the possibility that Washington... may move in the direction of partial easing of sanctions based on progress in denuclearisation," he said.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha has given a hint of what a grand bargain between the two countries could look like.

In an interview with the Washington Post, she said the North could agree to dismantle Yongbyon, its signature nuclear site.

In exchange, the United States would declare a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War -- which concluded with an armistice rather than a peace treaty -- but North Korea would stop short of delivering an exhaustive list of its nuclear facilities, she said.

After Seoul, Pompeo ends his trip Monday in China, North Korea's political and economic lifeline.

The Beijing stop could be tense as it comes days after Vice President Mike Pence delivered a blistering speech accusing China of military aggression, commercial theft, rising human rights violations and electoral intervention against Trump.
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Governments must provide "major" investment in flood risk reduction to save coastal cities around the world, a charity said Friday, as rising seas and sinking urban areas pose unprecedented threats to millions of homes.

Cities such as Jakarta -- which is sinking 25 centimetres (0.8 feet) each year -- Bangkok, Houston and Shanghai risk being inundated within decades as a mixture of poor planning, megastorms and higher tides wreaks havoc.

London-based charity Christian Aid studied eight coastal cities around the world that are sinking, potentially compounding the misery that rising sea levels will inflict on inhabitants.

"The impacts of climate change will be seen across the world and as you saw this summer we had a very warm northern hemisphere, very abnormally so," Kat Kramer, global climate lead at Christian Aid, told AFP.

"Many of the big cities in the developing world are extraordinarily vulnerable to climate change which is why it's very important that they are given support to adapt and build resilience.

"Lives are already being lost through extreme weather events," Kramer added.

The call coincides with the release next week of a major United Nations report expected to urge governments to drastically increase their efforts to limit global temperature rises.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will examine the effect of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.

That is the most ambitious target that nations signed up to in the 2015 Paris treaty on climate change, which aims to limit temperature increases to "well below 2C" by the end of the century.

- 'Natural measures' -

But even keeping the world within that temperature range will have a catastrophic impact on coastal cities, with some studies showing a 2C increase could raise global sea levels by up to half a metre.

Thursday's paper picked out Jakarta, Bangkok, Lagos, Manila, Dhaka, Shanghai, Houston and London -- home to a combined 100 million people -- as particularly at risk.

The charity highlighted a host of local factors that contribute to sinkage, the majority manmade.

In Jakarta, a city of 10 million people that sits on a confluence of 13 rivers, half the population lacks access to piped water, so many dig illegal wells to extract groundwater.

This puts greater pressure on the soil, which doesn't get replenished as it should by rainfall as nearly all of the city is covered in asphalt and concrete.

In Houston, efforts to provide a growing population with drinking water have also caused land to sink -- an effect made worse by sea level rises and storm surges.

Kramer said large infrastructure such as sea walls or London's Thames Barrier could help mitigate the damage, but also urged governments to preserve nature's own defences.

"Something noticeable with the Asian tsunami (2004) of was that areas that had their mangroves intact had greater resilience to that kind of storm surge," she said.

"There are many ways that natural measures can help if they are left intact."
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A meeting on a global tobacco control treaty opened in Geneva Monday, with organisers scrambling to keep cigarette companies at bay, even as the industry demanded a seat at the table.

Two dramatically different views on the best way forward in reining in smoking were on display, with organisers and activists maintaining the tobacco companies had nothing to offer, and the industry insisting its new products are key to halting a smoking epidemic that causes some seven million deaths each year.

"This is not a time to be complacent," Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva, who heads the secretariat of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), said as delegates from 137 countries gathered to discuss the treaty.

"With astronomical budgets, the tobacco industry continues its furious efforts to undermine the implementation of our treaty"

The eighth meeting of the parties to the convention since it took effect in 2005 is expected this week to focus heavily on efforts to limit influence by Big Tobacco on the proceedings.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the convention Monday as "one of the greatest public health achievements in the past 20 years".

And the FCTC hailed "significant progress" in many of its 181 country parties in implementing the requirements of the treaty, including in creating smoke-free areas and banning advertising for tobacco products.

- 'Industry interference' -

But, it cautioned, "tobacco industry interference, combined with the emergence of new and novel tobacco products, continues to be considered the most serious barrier to the implementation of the Convention."

In a bid to limit their influence, tobacco company representatives are barred from the conference, while delegates, observers and the media are asked to sign forms disclosing any connections to the tobacco industry.

Yet AFP spoke with several tobacco company executives who said they accessed the public gallery Monday to observe the proceedings.

The companies insist they should at least be allowed in the room.

"This is not about influencing, this is about presenting our view," said Michiel Reerink, the vice president of regulatory strategy at Japan Tobacco International (JTI), and one of the industry executives who observed the public opening of Monday's meeting.

"It is our industry and our products that are the subject of the debate."

"We believe we should be part of the conversation," Moira Gilchrist, Philip Morris International (PMI)'s vice president of scientific and public communications, told reporters Monday.

She was speaking at a Geneva hotel not far from the convention centre, where PMI has set up a stand to show off its portfolio of so-called harm-reduction products, including e-cigarettes and heated tobacco sticks, to delegates.

PMI and other companies say such products are far less dangerous than traditional cigarettes, and insist they are key to helping move smokers unable to quit completely over to "safer" alternatives.

They would like the FCTC and policymakers to embrace the new products, and are calling for less taxation and the right to promote them as less harmful than combustible cigarettes.

Da Costa e Silva of the FCTC told AFP last month that, in light of the tobacco industry's history of lying about the health impact of their products, she did not trust their claims.

"They said the same thing when they released filters for tobacco products, that this would be healthier products," she said.

"You can't trust what the tobacco industry says."

- 'Cynicism' -

Activists also balk at the industry claims.

"They're saying: we created this gigantic problem... and when you're hooked, we will sell you the solution," Francis Thompson, who heads the Framework Convention Alliance, told AFP.

"There is a certain cynicism involved in that."

John Stewart of Corporate Accountability also questioned the science behind the claims, stressing that "I haven't seen any evidence that was not funded by the tobacco industry."

On the other side of the aisle, a group of 72 scientists and policy experts signed an open letter to Tedros Monday asking that WHO and FCTC "embrace tobacco harm reduction", insisting the new products "offer the prospect of significant and rapid public health gains."

PMI chief executive Andre Calantzopoulos meanwhile likened the debate on nicotine to the one that raged decades ago around how to combat HIV.

"At that time, one side argued for complete abstinence, while others took the more pragmatic approach that condoms were a more realistic and effective approach for the real world," he said in an email.

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 A dual citizen of Israel and the United States, Fuld, 45, lived in nearby Efrat and had been shopping in the mall at the time of the attack.
By Tovah Lazaroff
The United States and European Union envoys condemned Sunday’s terrorist attack in the Gush Etzion junction, which claimed the life of well-known pro-Israel advocate Ari Fuld.

A father of four, Fuld stood between the junction’s mall and the Rami Levi supermarket when he was stabbed in the back by Khalil Yusef Ali Jabarin, 17, from the city of Yatta in the South Hebron Hills.
Mortally wounded, Fuld chased his Palestinian attacker, jumping over a short stone wall and shooting him, before collapsing. Evacuated to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, he succumbed there to his wounds.

A dual citizen of Israel and the United States, Fuld, 45, lived in nearby Efrat and had been shopping in the mall at the time of the attack.

US Ambassador David Friedman tweeted a condolence message: “America grieves as one of its citizens was brutally murdered by a Palestinian terrorist.”
Fuld, Friedman wrote, “was a passionate defender of Israel and an American patriot. He represented the best of both countries, and will be deeply missed. May his family be comforted and his memory be blessed.”

French ambassador to Israel Hélène Le Gal tweeted, "All my condolences to the family of Ari Fuld."
European Union envoy Emanuele Giaufret also sent condolences stating on Twitter: “There can be no justification for violence and terror.”

President Reuven Rivlin said Fuld “displayed exceptional courage and fought until the last moment. We, too, will pursue by any means the perpetrators of this attack.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likewise praised Fuld’s heroism.

“With his last strength, Ari fought heroically against the terrorist and prevented a graver tragedy,” Netanyahu said. “He was an outstanding father to four children who fought for the truth on the side of Israeli hasbara [advocacy].”
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 Tropical Storm Helene became a post-tropical cycclone as it moved from the Azores, and approached Ireland and United Kingdom, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday.

Helene was downgraded from a Category 2 hurricane to a tropical storm Thursday. The center of Helene was about 405 miles north of the Azores, the NHC said in its latest and last advisory. Meteo France will issue additional forecasts.

Helene had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving northeast at 29 mph. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 230 miles from the center.

Some weakening is expected by Monday and Helene is forecast to be absorbed by another low pressure area by early Tuesday.

The storm is projected to continue to increase in forward speed during the next couple of days. On the forecast track, the post-tropical cyclone will approach Ireland and the United Kingdom on Monday.

"Interests in Ireland and the United Kingdom should consult products from their local meteorological service for information about potential impacts from Helene in those locations," the NHC said.

Swells along portions of the Azores, which will likely continue for a couple of days, could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, the NHC said.

The two other tropical storms in the Atlantic, Florence and Joyce, became depressions Sunday.

Both storms' maximum sustainedwind speeds were 35 mph.

Joyce was moving east-northeast 18 mph and it was 465 miles west-southwest of the Azores in the latest advisory. Florence was 40 miles west of Columbia, S.C., and 215 miles southwest of Raleigh, N.C. in the latest advisory.
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This weekend, NASA is launching a new high-tech satellite to monitor the planet’s glacier and sea ice levels — with space lasers, naturally. ICESat-2 will be a huge boon for climatologists, and it’s also a bittersweet occasion: it will be the final launch aboard the trusty Delta II rocket, which has been putting birds in the air for nearly 30 years.

Takeoff is set for 5:46 AM Pacific Time Saturday morning, so you’ll have to get up early if you want to catch it. You can watch the launch live here, with NASA coverage starting about half an hour before.

Keeping track of the Earth’s ice levels is more important than ever; with climate change causing widespread havoc, precise monitoring of major features like the Antarctic ice sheet could help climatologists predict and understand global weather patterns.

Like Aeolus, which launched in July, ICESat-2 is a spacecraft with a single major instrument, not a “Christmas tree” of sensors and antennas. And like Aeolus, ICESat-2 carries a giant laser. But while the first was launched to watch the movement of the air in-between it and the ground, the second must monitor the ground through that moving air.

It does so by using an industrial-size, hyper-precise altimeter: a single, powerful green laser split into six beams — three pairs of two, really, arranged to pass over the landscape in a predictable way.

But the real magic is how those lasers are detected. Next to the laser is a special telescope that watches for the beams’ reflections. Incredibly, it only collects “about a dozen” photons from each laser pulse, and times their arrival down to a billionth of a second. And it does this 10,000 times per second, which at its speed means a pulse is bouncing off the Earth every 2.3 feet or so.

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, its altitude readings are accurate down to the inch. And with multiple readings over time, it should be able to tell whether an ice sheet has risen or fallen on the order of millimeters.

So if you’re traveling in the Antarctic and you drop a pencil, be sure to pick it up or it might throw things off.

Of course, it’s not just for ice; the same space laser will also return the exact heights of buildings, tree canopies and other features. It’s a pity there aren’t more of these satellites — they sound rather useful.

Although ICESat-2 itself is notable and interesting, this launch is significant for a second reason: this will be the final launch atop a Delta II rocket. Rocketry standby United Launch Alliance is in charge of this one, as it has been for so many others.

Introduced in 1989, the Delta II has launched everything from communication satellites to Mars orbiters and landers; Spirit and Opportunity both left the Earth on Delta IIs. All told, more than 150 launches have been made on these rockets, and if Saturday’s launch goes as planned, it will be the 100th successful Delta II launch in a row. That’s a hell of a record. (To be clear, that doesn’t mean 50 failed; but a handful of failures over the decades have marred the launch vehicle’s streak.)

A Delta II launching for the Aquarius mission in 2011

One charming yet perhaps daunting idiosyncrasy of the system is that someone somewhere has to literally click a button to initiate takeoff — no automation for this thing; it’s someone’s job to hit the gas, so they better look sharp.

The ULA’s Bill Cullen told Jason Davis of the Planetary Society, for his epitaph on the rocket:

Yes, the Delta II engine start command is initiated by a console operator. The launch control system is 25 years old, and at the time this used a ‘person in the loop’ control which was preferred compared to the complexities of a fault-tolerant computer system.

So why are we leaving this tried and true rocket behind? It’s expensive and not particularly big. With a payload capacity of 4 tons and a cost (for this mission anyway) approaching a hundred million dollars, it’s just not a good value any more. Not only that, but Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Base is the only place left on Earth with the infrastructure to launch it, which significantly limits the orbits and opportunities for prospective missions. After ICESat-2’s launch, even that will be torn down — though hopefully they’ll keep the pieces somewhere, for posterity.

Although this is the last Delta II to launch, there is one more rocket left without a mission, the last, as it were, on the lot. Plans are not solid yet, but it’s a good bet this classic rocket will end up in a museum somewhere — perhaps standing upright with others at Kennedy Space Center.
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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has provoked a biting senatorial response from California after calling the “nanny state’s” new net neutrality legislation “radical,” “anti-consumer,” “illegal” and “burdensome.” Senator Scott Wiener (D-CA), in response, said Pai has “abdicated his responsibility to ensure an open internet” and that the FCC lacks the authority to intervene.

The political flame war was kicked off this morning in Pai’s remarks at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a free market think tank. You can read them in full here, but I’ve quoted the relevant part below:

Of course, those who demand greater government control of the Internet haven’t given up. Their latest tactic is pushing state governments to regulate the Internet. The most egregious example of this comes from California. Last month, the California state legislature passed a radical, anti-consumer Internet regulation bill that would impose restrictions even more burdensome than those adopted by the FCC in 2015.

If this law is signed by the Governor, what would it do? Among other things, it would prevent Californian consumers from buying many free-data plans. These plans allow consumers to stream video, music, and the like exempt from any data limits. They have proven enormously popular in the marketplace, especially among lower-income Americans. But nanny-state California legislators apparently want to ban their constituents from having this choice. They have met the enemy, and it is free data.

The broader problem is that California’s micromanagement poses a risk to the rest of the country. After all, broadband is an interstate service; Internet traffic doesn’t recognize state lines. It follows that only the federal government can set regulatory policy in this area. For if individual states like California regulate the Internet, this will directly impact citizens in other states.

Among other reasons, this is why efforts like California’s are illegal.

The bogeyman of banning zero rating plans has been raised again and again, but everyone should understand now that the whole thing is a sham — just another ploy by telecoms to parcel out data the way they choose.

The legal question is far from decided, but Pai has been crowing about a recent court ruling for a week or so now, despite the fact that it has very little to do with net neutrality. Ars Technica went into detail on this ruling; the takeaway is that while it is possible that the FCC could preempt state law on information services in some cases, it’s not clear at all that it has any authority whatsoever to do so with broadband services. Ironically, that’s because Pai’s FCC drastically reduced the FCC’s jurisdiction with its reclassification of broadband in Restoring Internet Freedom.

At any rate, more consequential legal challenges and questions are still in the works, so Pai’s jubilation is somewhat premature.

“The Internet should be run by engineers, entrepreneurs, and technologists, not lawyers, bureaucrats, and politicians,” he concluded. Odd then that those very engineers, entrepreneurs and technologists almost unanimously oppose his policy, while he — literally seconds earlier — justified that policy via the world of lawyers, bureaucrats and politicians.

Senator Wiener was quick to issue a correction to the Chairman’s remarks. In an official statement, he explained that “Unlike Pai’s FCC, California isn’t run by the big telecom and cable companies.” The statement continued:

SB 822 is necessary and legal because Chairman Pai abdicated his responsibility to ensure an open internet. Since the FCC says it no longer has any authority to protect an open internet, it’s also the case that the FCC lacks the legal power to preempt states from protecting their residents and economy.

When Verizon was caught throttling the data connection of a wildfire fighting crew in California, Chairman Pai said nothing and did nothing. That silence says far more than his words today.

SB 822 is supported by a broad coalition of consumer groups, groups advocating for low income people, small and mid-size technology companies, labor unions, and President Obama’s FCC chairman, Tom Wheeler. I’ll take that support over Ajit Pai any day of the week.

The law in question has been approved by the state legislature, but has yet to be signed by Governor Jerry Brown, who has another two weeks to consider it.
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Rescuers trying to free 12 boys and their soccer coach in a flooded Thailand cave are racing to get the water pumped and the children freed before more rain arrives.

Two British volunteer divers found the missing boys Monday after a nine-day search. Seven members of Thailand's navy, including two medics, are working with the pair to free the boys.

Torrential rains expected Sunday could force more water into the pocket where they're stranded, on a rock shelf about 2.5 miles from the cave entrance. Rescuers are trying to lower the level enough and get the children out before then.

"What we worry about most is the weather," Chiang Rai provincial Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn told reporters. "We can't risk having the flood back into the cave."

Osotthanakorn said officials are calculating how much time is left if it rains, "how many hours and days."

The cave complex regularly floods until September or October, meaning it's possible the boys could be trapped for months.

The water had been reduced by 40 percent the last few days, clearing part of the chamber. Officials hope they can get enough water out so the boys can walk out wearing life jackets, said an official with Thailand's interior ministry.

Officials say most, if not all, the boys don't know how to swim. At a news conference Wednesday, Osatanakorn said they've been practicing diving procedures and breathing.

Diving out would be risky. It takes experienced divers about 3 hours from the cave entrance to reach the team, the British Cave Rescue Council said.

"There's air pockets along the way," said Gary Mitchell, the group's assistant vice chairman. "It's confined spaces. It's almost zero visibility. There's currents to battle against in places as well. So it's a really quite a strenuous environment to be in."

The boys have received medical care and foil warming blankets, and were able to send messages to their families to let them know they're in "good health."

A medic who's evaluated their conditions said Thursday the boys and their coach are malnourished and exhausted -- not well enough for an immediate extraction.

Mario Sepulveda, one of the Chilean miners trapped underground for more than two months in 2010, sent a message of encouragement to the boys and their coach.

"We are praying for each of you," he said.

Sepulveda was one of 33 miners rescued after spending 69 days trapped more than 2,000 feet underground.

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Israeli agents taking part in a special operation recovered a wristwatch that belonged to an Israeli spy known for his 1960s espionage work in Syria, officials said Thursday.

Israeli intelligence agency Mossad recently retrieved the watch belonging to spy Eli Cohen, Ynetnews.com reported. Syrians caught and hanged Cohen in Damascus in 1965.

"After Eli Cohen's execution on May 18, 1965, the wristwatch was held by an enemy state," the Israeli government said in a news release. "Upon the watch's return to Israel, special research and intelligence operations were carried out which culminated in the unequivocal determination that this was indeed Eli Cohen's watch."

Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen presented the watch to Cohen's family at a recent ceremony, held annually to honor the famed spy. He developed undercover relationships with top entities in the Syrian government and used those ties to relay secrets to Israel from 1961 to 1965. His intelligence is credited with helping Israel prepare for 1967's Six-Day War.

The watch is currently on display at Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv and will be given to Cohen's family after the Jewish New Year holiday, Rosh Hashana, in September.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement he was thankful to Mossad for its efforts "to bring back to Israel a memory of a great fighter who contributed greatly to the State of Israel."

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The six-metre high Trump Babyballoon.
 
The six-metre high balloon. Photo credit: Getty

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan will allow protesters to fly a blimp over parliament portraying Donald Trump as an orange, snarling baby during the US President's upcoming visit, Mr Khan's office says.

Mr Trump, who arrives in a week's time, will meet the Queen and Prime Minister Theresa May, who was the first foreign leader to visit him after his inauguration last year.

Britain regards its close ties with the US, which it calls the special relationship, as a pillar of its foreign policy as it prepares to leave the European Union.
Trump Baby
The protesters would also need permission from the police and air traffic services to fly the six-metre balloon. Photo credit: Getty

But some Britons see Mr Trump as crude, volatile and opposed to their values on a range of issues. Mr Trump's comments on militant attacks in Britain have sparked anger and he has often exchanged barbs on social media with the London Mayor.

"The Mayor supports the right to peaceful protest and understands that this can take many different forms," a spokesman for Mr Khan said on Thursday.

"His city operations team have met with the organisers and have given them permission to use Parliament Square Garden as a grounding point for the blimp."

The spokesman added, however, that the protesters would also need permission from the police and air traffic services to fly the six-metre balloon.

The protesters, who describe themselves as a group of anti-fascist art activists, said at first the Mayor's office did not recognise 'Trump Baby' as a legitimate protest.

"But following a huge groundswell of public support for our plan, it looks like City Hall has rediscovered its sense of humour," activist Leo Murray said in a statement.

"Trump Baby will fly!"

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/29302

Senior IDF officer says there is no increase in cases but an increase of reporting
By Anna Ahronheim


There were 40 reports of rape recorded by the IDF in the past year and an overall 43% increase of complaints regarding sexual assault over the past five years, The Jerusalem Post has learnt.

According to the numbers provided to The Jerusalem Post by the IDF there were 13 cases of abuse of authority, 165 cases of obscene acts, 263 cases of physical harassment, another 349 cases of verbal harassment and another 63 cases of unwanted peeking or photography.

A senior IDF officer told The Jerusalem Post that 49% of the complaints reported to the military were from conscripts while another 29% were reported by career soldiers.

“The IDF takes complaints by both female and male soldiers,” the senior officer said, adding that while there has been a rise in the number of soldiers reporting sexual assaults there has not been an actual rise in the number of rape cases within the army.

In accordance with army regulations even if rape or sexual assaults occur in “civilian circumstances,” the incident is tried in an IDF military court.

"The IDF views every case of sexual harassment or harassment within its ranks as intolerable,” the army said.“The IDF will continue to act to eradicate sexual harassment within its ranks and to fully prosecute all those who harm or sexually harass soldiers.”

In July 2017 an IDF soldier was charged in the Jaffa Military Court with raping and sexually assaulting a female soldier who served with him in a combat battalion while the two were out in Tel Aviv with a group of soldiers from the unit.



Two months earlier another IDF soldier from the co-ed ‘Bardalas’ (Cheetah) battalion was arrested for allegedly raping a female soldier from his unit on the base where the two soldiers are stationed. The soldier was taken into custody by military police after the victim filed a complaint with authorities.

In April 2017 two soldiers who served in supporting roles as drivers in IDF's elite naval commando unit, Shayetet 13, were arrested following a complaint filed by by a female soldier serving with them on the Atlit base near Haifa. According to the complaint, the two were drinking alcohol in a vehicle on base and then sexually assaulted her.

There are regular educational sessions for female soldiers regarding sexual harassment in the military and according to the senior IDF officer, if a female soldier becomes pregnant by rape, the IDF will help her get an abortion within days of her reporting it.

“We have a clear mechanism to take of those soldiers who were injured,” she said. “For us, there is no difference between physical assaults and verbal assaults. The perpetrator will be treated the same way.”

“The army does not need to be embarrassed by these sort of incidents but should be proud of how it responds and take care of those who were hurt,” the senior officer told the Post on Thursday. “The army takes care of it’s people.”

Last year an internal IDF survey found that one in six female soldiers declared that she had been sexually harassed during her service, with the vast majority of the female soldiers said that they had been harassed more than once during their service, with 6% saying they had been harassed two or three times and another 3% responded that they had been harassed four times or more.

The survey was conducted by the Chief of Staff's Gender Advisor, who sent thousands of female soldiers and officers anonymous questionnaires.

According to the survey the vast majority of the female soldiers said that they had been harassed more than once during their service, with 6% saying they had been harassed two or three times and another 3% responded that they had been harassed four times or more.

The data of survey, which is conducted every two years, relates to 2016 and questions were asked regarding cases of sexual harassment in the IDF as well as the awareness, reporting culture, and treatment provided to victims.

According to a statement by the IDF spokesperson’s unit, the survey did not indicate an increase in the number of female soldiers and officers who reported experiencing sexual harassment but the amount of respondents stating that they experienced sexual harassment four or more times is the highest level since 2004.

The survey also found that while there was still a significantly high feeling among female soldiers that there is an atmosphere of sexual harassment at 60%, the number has gone down from 65% in the last survey two years earlier.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/29293

LONDON - Europe's package of economic measures to offset the US pullout from the nuclear deal is "disappointing", President Hassan Rouhani told German Chancellor Angela Merkel by telephone on Thursday.

"Unfortunately the proposed package lacked an action plan or a clear roadmap for continuation of cooperation. It only included some general promises like previous EU statements," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Iran's Tasnim news agency.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/29339

A former Navy Seal working to rescue a dozen boys and their coach trapped in a cave in Thailand has died from a lack of oxygen, authorities have said.

Samarn Poonan, a former member of Thailand's elite navy SEAL unit who was part of the rescue team in Chiang Rai, died on Thursday

SEAL commander Arpakorn Yookongkaew told a news conference that the victim fell unconscious during part of an operation to lay oxygen tanks along a potential exit route.

Authorities are racing to pump out water from a flooded cave where a dozen boys and their football coach have been trapped since June 23.

The tragic news came as the youngsters faced the agonising decision to leave their pals behind as they swim for their lives to safety.

Chiang Rai provincial governor Narongsak Osatanakor, who is heading rescue efforts , says the boys may be removed in stages, saying "all 13 may not come out at the same time."

Footage shows how the 12 boys and their 25-year-old team coach are in good spirits despite their harrowing ordeal that has left them trapped underground for 11 days.

The boys, aged 11 to 16, are seen laughing and joking with Thai Navy SEAL divers in a minute-long clip released to the public on Tuesday.

Wrapped in foil blankets, the schoolboys appear gaunt and underweight as their faces are illuminated by the divers' flashlight.

Nearly 125 million litres of water have been pumped from the cave in a bid to keep the boys safe.

Rick Stanton and John Volanthen were the first divers to reach the boys who disappeared in Luang Nang Non Cave, in Chiang Rai province, on June 23.

Two elite British cave divers have revealed they are willing to once again navigate the challenging 2.5 mile journey to the boys, which three hours each way.

Mr Stanton, a fireman in his fifties from Coventry, and Mr Volanthen, an IT consultant in his forties based in Bristol, have broken diving world records together and both received medals for a complex 10-day rescue attempt in France in 2010.

But rescuers are now grappling with the challenge of safely extracting the group through nearly a mile of tunnels, large portions of which are underwater, with heavy rainfall forecast.

Mr Grass said he thinks the British divers would be happier diving with another "four or five Brits who they know, who they've shared danger and experiences with", rather than people they do not know.

"We have other divers that are ready to go out, and with other equipment," he said, adding: "There are various things that we have in the UK that are fairly unique to caving in as much as we have a radio system that will work underground."

Somboon Sompiangjai, 38, said his son Peerapat, 16, was able to swim, adding that he was confident the SEALS' experience and professionalism would let them get the boys home safely.

He told Reuters: "I am not worried if the kids have to swim and dive. I felt much better after seeing the clips with the children in good spirits, even though they were in there for 10 days."
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/29340

"His words touched the very soul of the Jewish people."
By Eytan Halon

A memorial plaque dedicated to Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel was unveiled Monday at Jerusalem's Chamber of the Holocaust museum on Mount Zion, marking two years since the venerated novelist's death.

The plaque in memory of Wiesel, who died aged 87 in New York on July 2, 2016, was unveiled next to a 70-year-old "Tree of Life" dedicated to the Nobel Peace Prize winner at Israel's first Holocaust museum, established in 1948.

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The event was attended by dignitaries including Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze'ev Elkin; Deputy President of the Claims Conference in Israel Shlomo Gur; Chaim Chesler, founder of Limmud FSU (Former Soviet Union); and chairman of the Chamber of Holocaust Rabbi Yitzhak Goldstein.

"His words touched the very soul of the Jewish people," said Elkin at the memorial ceremony.

"There is, therefore, nothing more symbolic than a plaque here in the first museum in Israel dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust, in a place that was for the Jews during many decades, the nearest place to the Western Wall." Born in Romania, Wiesel authored 57 books discussing his experiences during the Holocaust.

His memoir Night has been translated into 30 languages and sold approximately 10 million copies in the US alone.

The memorial plaque in memory of Wiesel was a joint initiative by Limmud FSU, the Conference for Material Claims against Germany and the March of the Living organization.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/29164

A bill proposal to deduct terrorists' salaries from tax money Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority was passed into law on Monday evening.

In a bipartisan vote, 87 MKs supported the legislation, while 15 opposed it. Under the new law, which was sponsored by MKs Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) and Avi Dichter (Likud), money that would otherwise go to pay stipends to roughly 35,000 families of Palestinian terrorists and their families will be automatically frozen in accordance with the Paris Protocol—without the need for a special approval from the Cabinet.


According to the law's sponsors, the PA paid terrorists over NIS 4 billion over the past four years from its so-called "martyrs' fund," with NIS 1.2 billion (roughly $330 million) being paid in the last year alone. "May your house come to ruin," Dichter wished Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Arabic, echoing Abbas' own ill-wish to US President Donald Trump. "Mahmoud Abbas, instead of your Authority investing money in health and education, you invest seven percent of your budget into terrorism?!"

"The PA has turned itself into a factory that employs murderers of people—Jews, mostly, but also Muslims, Christians, Druze, Circassians and others, including tourists," Dichter continued. "It's very easy to be accepted to (work in) this factory. All you have to do is murder Israelis, be arrested or killed, and you're hired. Mahmoud Abbas and his aides—if you don't change the entry criteria to this factory, you will go to sleep one day and wake up (with your funds) cut."

According to Dichter, the legislation "is meant primarily to send a values- and principles-based message that the State of Israel will not lend a hand to the transfer of money to terrorists. In addition, we believe the law would force the PA to rethink the financing of terrorists and incentivizing any kind of terrorism."

Stern, meanwhile, argued that "this historic law will significantly weaken the encouragement of terrorism by the PA. It is our duty to stop the economic incentive the PA gives terrorists, an incentive that encourages others to commit terror attacks. That way, any Palestinian youth will realize it's not worth it for him to choose the path of terrorism. No more encouraging terrorism at our expense."

Stern said the withheld money would be put aside, giving the Israeli government discretion on whether to return it to the Palestinians at some point.

A previous draft version of the bill stipulated the money would go to Israeli victims of Palestinian attacks, but it was scrapped due to potential legal complications. Stern claimed that the martyrs' fund pays higher benefits to those involved in more serious attacks.

"It's not only that they encourage their people to take terror actions. They even encourage them to cause more casualties of innocent people," Stern said.

During the stormy session that preceded the vote, Joint List MK Jamal Zahalka accused Stern and Dichter of being "shameless, uncultured. They support the murder of Palestinian children. You all supported the bombing of Gaza. You murdered Palestinian children. Who among you came out against it?"


Dichter, the former director of the Shin Bet, is "responsible for the murder of thousands of people," Zahalka charged. "You're hypocrites and thieves, stealing from the Palestinian people the money they deserve. You're the occupiers, the oppressors, the murderers, the thieves."

As he took the podium, Joint MK Ahmad Tibi shot a snide remark at Likud MK Nava Boker, telling her "if you don't like what I'm going to say, get out. (With your) IQ, you won't understand what I'm saying anyway. Anyone who doesn't like it, get out."

Tibi then accused the Israeli government of "holding every year a memorial service for murderers and terrorists right here in the Knesset and calling them national heroes, even though one of them (Meir Har-Zion) slaughtered an entire Bedouin family with his own hands. It's double standards to call the Palestinians terrorists and the murderers of Palestinians heroes."

Outraged by the proposed legislation, Tibi charged that "This is Palestinian money and anyone who deducts it is committing armed robbery by the state. This is the money of the Palestinian workers in Israel."

Joint List MK Hanin Zoabi joined the chorus of accusations, charging, "What haven't you done? Occupation, siege, not allowing in food. What war crimes haven't you committed against the Palestinian people, these brave people? You put 2 million people in the largest prison in the world, in a siege. Keep being stupid. Stupidity is good. You're a camp (the right wing) that managed to demonize a nation—even the Palestinians are not considered as human beings. I don't understand the psychology of Israeli politics."

She also attacked the left-wing parties, saying, "They need to ask themselves what mistakes they've made to cause the bad ones to get stronger, cause the fascists to get stronger."

Zionist Union MK Itzik Shmuli responded, accusing her that she "wants me in the sea."

Zoabi continued unabated, "You took the resources, the water, the land—but you won't take the spirit. Not with a siege and not with the occupation. This camp (the left wing) has no values, and that is why the bad people's camp grew stronger."

Dichter shot back at the Arab MKs, accusing that "You've been brainwashed by the Palestinian Authority."

After the bill's approval, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman wrote on Twitter: "We promised to stop the party of terrorists' salaries, and we delivered. Now it's final. Every shekel Abbas pays terrorists and murderers will be automatically deducted from the Palestinian Authority's budget. Effective fight against terrorism also goes through the pocket—of the terrorists, of their families and of Abbas."

The Palestinians say the number of people involved in deadly attacks is a small percentage of those aided by the "martyrs' fund." They say the tax revenues, collected by Israel for them under past peace agreements, are their money, and that the Palestinian Authority has a responsibility to all of its citizens like any other government.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, accused Israel of "theft and piracy."

"The Palestinian Authority is responsible for all Palestinians, and is responsible for the families of prisoners and martyrs within the program of social assistance," he said.

The Israeli law passed the same day that Australia said it ended direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, claiming Australian donations could increase its capacity to pay Palestinians convicted of politically motivated violence.

A few months earlier, the US Congress approved the Taylor Force Act, a bill to halt US funding to the Palestinian Authority until it stops paying stipends to Palestinian attackers and their families.

The United States is now reviewing some $200 million in assistance for the Palestinians. It has also cut some $300 million to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, known as UNRWA, further straining the Palestinian budget.

Stuart Force, the father of Taylor Force, an American student who was killed in a 2016 attack in Israel, attended Monday's Knesset vote. He said he was "really heartened" by Israeli lawmakers' support for the Taylor Force Act as it passed through Congress.

"When there was a possibility to come out and show my support, I jumped at it," Force said. He said the vote "will bring awareness" to the issue and hoped other countries would follow suit.

The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, which relies heavily on the Israeli tax funds and international aid, has suffered from chronic budget problems.

Issa Qarakeh, the PA's minister of prisoner affairs, said that even if Israel halts the transfer of funds, the Palestinian government will still pay the stipends.

"When we signed Oslo Agreement, it was clear to Israel that the Palestinian Authority pays these families, and they never objected. Now they are creating a problem just to avoid addressing the real problems, which stems from the Israeli military occupation and building the settlements on our land, not the social welfare money that goes to the families who lost their source of living," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/28952

Reports that North Korea intends to secretly maintain some of its nuclear stockpile and production facilities raised questions Sunday about President Donald Trump's insistence that the North was "no longer a nuclear threat," after his historic summit in Singapore.

The Washington Post cited four unnamed US officials who, it said, had seen or been briefed on new intelligence findings that point to preparations for deceiving the United States.

The Post's report came after NBC News said the North has been increasing nuclear weapons fuel production.

The reports followed Trump's boast that the summmit denuclearization pledge made by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had effectively ended the North's nuclear threat, after months of inflammatory language from both sides.

The Post said the evidence of North Korean cheating had emerged since the June 12 summit, where Kim and Trump signed a pledge "to work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

The stock phrase failed to clearly define denuclearization or produce a specific timeline towards dismantling the North's atomic weapons arsenal.

It also stopped short of longstanding US demands for North Korea to give up its atomic arsenal in a "verifiable" and "irreversible" way.

On Sunday Trump stuck by his confidence in the North's efforts.

"I think they're very serious about it," Trump said during during an interview on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."

Asked how he could trust Kim's vow to denuclearize, Trump replied: "We had great chemistry. I made a deal with him. I shook hands with him. I really believe he means it."

The interview was broadcast Sunday but taped late in the week, before the reports of North Korean cheating emerged publicly.

"We gave nothing. What we are going to give is good things in the future," the president said.

His National Security Advisor, John Bolton, insisted on Sunday that the administration was fully aware of North Korea's history of deception and was not entering the denuclearization talks naively.

"There's not any starry-eyed feeling among the group doing this," Bolton said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Separately, he told "Fox News Sunday" that "we are using the full range of our capabilities to understand what North Korea is doing."

- 'Unequivocal evidence'-

NBC News quoted intelligence officials as saying Pyongyang has in fact been increasing fuel production for nuclear weapons at several hidden sites. It said the North was working to "extract every concession" from the White House rather than give up an atomic arsenal it has spent years developing.

"There's no evidence that they are decreasing stockpiles, or that they have stopped their production," NBC quoted one US official as saying.

While Pyongyang has suspended its missile and nuclear tests, the official said, "there is absolutely unequivocal evidence that they are trying to deceive the US."

The only uranium enrichment spot North Korea has acknowledged publicly is in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, but reports of secret facilities have surfaced.

Last week, the respected 38 North website said recent satellite imagery showed that not only were operations continuing at Yongbyon, the North was also carrying out infrastructure works.

US officials have been vague or dismissive when asked whether Pyongyang has provided a full and detailed accounting of its nuclear program and arsenal -- a requirement if monitors are to reliably monitor its destruction.

Experts say they fear Washington may accept a lukewarm deal centered exclusively on Yongbyon but disregarding known underground sites.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said he plans to meet with Kim to "flesh out" details of the disarmament promise, but has insisted North Korea is serious.

"There's a lot of work between here and there. My team is already doing it. I'll likely travel back before too terribly long," the top US diplomat said in June.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis has reassured East Asian allies that the US commitment to Seoul is "ironclad" -- despite Trump's unilateral suspension of military exercises with South Korea and his warm words for a North Korean leader widely viewed as a brutal dictator.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/28794