World News
World News November 2018:
The Trump administration on Thursday imposed sanctions targeting 17 Saudi Arabian officials — but not the powerful crown prince — over the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi more than a month after the Saudi critic went missing. The Treasury Department designated the officials for sanctions over what it called "serious human rights abuse," freezing any U.S. assets and barring American citizens from engaging in business with them. The announcement named royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani and said he led the team that flew into Istanbul just hours before Khashoggi entered the consulate there for paperwork relating to his planned marriage. Al-Qahtani was fired from his post in late October.The Russian military jammed GPS signals during a major NATO military exercise in Norway that involved thousands of US and NATO troops, the alliance said Wednesday, citing the Norwegian government. The NATO exercise, Trident Juncture, concluded Sunday and involved some 50,000 personnel. It was labeled the alliance's largest exercise since the Cold War. Non-NATO members Finland and Sweden also participated in the exercise. A spokesperson for the Norwegian ministry of defense acknowledged the jamming to CNN, which it said took place between October 16 and November 7, and said it would defer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on further questions to Russian authorities. Norway has determined that Russia was responsible for jamming GPS signals in the Kola Peninsula during Exercise Trident Juncture. Finland has expressed concern over possible jamming in Lapland," NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu told CNN Wednesday. "In view of the civilian usage of GPS, jamming of this sort is dangerous, disruptive and irresponsible," she added.Marking the breakout of peace after World War I, President Donald Trump on Sunday heard a dire warning from his host: the forces that led to the slaughter are resurgent. Trump and dozens of his global counterparts gathered at the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris to mark 100 years since the nightmares of World War I ended, a conclusion brought about partly by the entry of the United States into the bitter, nationalism-fueled conflict. But decades later, as living memories fade of the trenches and the poison gas, nationalism is on the rise. It's been fueled by Trump himself, who has proudly identified himself as a nationalist as he advances an "America First" agenda. In his address, French President Emmanuel Macron -- who has emerged as Europe's most vocal sentry against a global tide of nationalism -- repeated his warnings. "Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism," he said through a translator. "Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By saying our interests first, who cares about the others, we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what makes it great and what is essential: its moral values." "I know there are old demons which are coming back to the surface. They are ready to wreak chaos and death," he said. "History sometimes threatens to take its sinister course once again." It was impossible to view his remarks as anything less than a rebuke of Trump, who has proudly espoused an "America First" foreign policy. Speaking later at an American cemetery in Paris, Trump did not directly respond, choosing instead to stick to a brief speech honoring the war dead. - Nationalism is the name racist people use to hide their racist propaganda. The Alt-Right (All White) is the KKK without the white sheets. Donald J. Trump is a white nationalist he has shown he has a dislike for people who are not white. America deserves better than the likes of Donald J. Trump, the KKK, the Alt-Right (All White) and their hatred for people who are not white. America was not built by white people it was built on the backs of immigrants of all races.An audio recording tracking the dying moments of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul has been shared with Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and Germany in addition to the United States, the Turkish president said Saturday. “We gave it to Saudi Arabia,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke at Ankara airport before departing for Paris for commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. “We gave it to America. To the Germans, French, English, we gave it to all of them.” It was the first time that Erdogan has publicly acknowledged the existence of audio recording that Turkish officials say backs the assertion that Khashoggi, a contributor to The Washington Post World Opinions section, was killed by a 15-member Saudi hit team after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2.Sitting between Afghan envoys and their fierce rivals from the Taliban movement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov promised Friday to work for a united and peaceful Afghanistan, showcasing his country’s return to the diplomatic forefront as the Afghan war grinds on. Russia is hosting the unprecedented peace conference almost 30 years after it pulled out of Afghanistan in disgrace, ending a decade-long occupation. The United States and other nations have repeatedly failed to stem the fighting that has wracked the country almost continuously for four decades.Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev — who bought President Trump’s Palm Beach estate for $95 million in 2008 — has been detained for questioning in Monaco for influence peddling in a corruption scandal that already cost the posh gambling mecca’s top justice official his job. Law enforcement agents Tuesday morning also raided Rybolovlev’s Monaco home — a $300 million penthouse known as La Belle Epoque, which Prince Albert used to visit in less controversial days. Rybolovlev, estimated by Forbes to be worth $6.8 billion, is accused of using his wealth and elite access to his popular Monaco FC soccer club to influence local officials before and after they arrested Swiss businessman Yves Bouvier. Rybolovlev has filed fraud allegations against Bouvier, whom he had hired as an art adviser. He claims Bouvier secretly owned 38 works of art that he sold to Rybolovlev for $2 billion — earning himself a hefty $1 billion profit.The reinstatement of the sanctions is the most tangible effect to date of the Trump administration's withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic. In addition to hundreds of Obama-era sanctions being reinstated, the measures kicking in on Monday also expand the range of targets for US punishment. Iran's normally moderate President Hassan Rouhani told a group of state employees on Sunday that it was time to Iran is facing a "war situation" under the new and renewed U.S. sanctions, but as CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reported from Tehran on Monday, he is also vowing that Iran will continue to sell its oil abroad. Iranian officials say they will be able to run the country even if oil exports drop by more than half their 2017 peak, to a million barrels a day.Mexico's Supreme Court issued two more rulings Wednesday ordering that complainants in individual cases be allowed to use marijuana for recreational purposes, establishing a precedent that a blanket prohibition on pot is unconstitutional. The court found that adults have a fundamental right to personal development which lets them decide their recreational activities without interference from the state. "That right is not absolute, and the consumption of certain substances may be regulated, but the effects provoked by marijuana do not justify an absolute prohibition of its consumption," the ruling said.Kurdish intelligence has documented scores of attacks around former ISIS strongholds. ISIS militants set up a checkpoint on a highway in northern Iraq and kidnapped a man from his car. They blew up an electric tower, cutting power to Hawija, a former ISIS stronghold. They kidnapped two people from a health center. They injured six with a car bomb. They killed a municipal worker. They killed a police officer. They beheaded a Kurdish soldier and attacked an Iraqi base. They kidnapped a security officer from his home. All these attacks and dozens more came in the last two months. They provide a small window into the hundreds of incidents tracked over the last year by an intelligence service in Iraq that show a rise in ISIS attacks in the country — undercutting the Trump White House’s claims that the group has been defeated. The data shows that ISIS routinely launches attacks around its former strongholds in northern Iraq — and it aligns with an increase in attacks that analysts have tracked across the country.A Turkish prosecutor publicly confirmed Wednesday for the first time that journalist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he stepped into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and his body was dismembered. A statement from the Turkish prosecutor, Irfan Fidan, said Khashoggi's killing this month was premeditated. Fidan said Turkish authorities have asked the Saudis where they disposed of Khashoggi's body but have gotten no response. Khashoggi, a Saudi-born journalist who was living in self-exile in the United States and writing for The Washington Post, disappeared on Oct. 2 after going into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to fill out paperwork to get married. His fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, waited for hours outside the consulate for him to emerge. When he failed to return, consulate officials told her he went out a back door.Staff walkouts have so far taken place at offices in Asia and Europe, with more expected. Groups of Google employees are staging walkouts at offices across the world in protest at how sexual misconduct allegations are handled by the company. Photographs showed staff protesting at offices in Singapore, Japan, Israel, Switzerland, Germany, the UK, and Ireland, with more offices expected to follow. All the walkouts were timed to begin at 11:10 a.m. local time.The kingdom is feeling the pressure abroad while Mohammed bin Salman keeps control at home for now. The fallout from the murder of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi is mounting for the kingdom’s young leader abroad, if not so far at home. After some of the investors who courted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stayed away from his glitzy gathering in Riyadh last week, the U.S. is now signaling its position on the man feted by President Donald Trump is shifting.On Wednesday, nearly a month after journalist Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and vanished, Turkish authorities made their strongest statement yet about what happened to the dissident writer. Khashoggi was “strangled as soon as he entered the consulate," said Irfan Fidan, Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, calling the act part of a Saudi team’s “premeditated plans.” Khashoggi’s body, “after being strangled, was subsequently destroyed by being dismembered, once again confirming the planning of the murder,” Fidan added.The troop numbers have been changing at a dizzying pace, with Trump drawing a hard line on immigration in the lead-up to the midterm elections. Later Wednesday, Trump told ABC News, "We have to have a wall of people." President Donald Trump says the number of military troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexican border could reach 15,000 — roughly double the number the Pentagon said it currently plans for a mission whose dimensions are shifting daily. The Pentagon says "more than 7,000" troops were being sent to the southwest border to support the Customs and Border Protection agents. Officials said that number could reach a maximum of about 8,000 under present plans. The troop numbers have been changing at a dizzying pace, with Trump drawing a hard line on immigration in the lead-up to the midterm elections.As people worldwide flee war, hunger and a lack of jobs, global migration has soared to record highs. One by one, five to a grave, the coffins are buried in the red earth of this corner of a South African cemetery. The scrawl on the cheap wood attests to their anonymity: "Unknown B/Male." These men were migrants from elsewhere in Africa with next to nothing who sought a living in the thriving underground economy of Gauteng province, a name that roughly translates to "land of gold." Instead of fortune, many found death, their bodies unnamed and unclaimed — more than 4,300 in Gauteng between 2014 and 2017 alone.The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have announced a pause in their campaign against ISIS following clashes between the SDF and Turkish forces, according to two US military officials and a statement from the SDF. The US-led coalition fighting ISIS has conducted scores of air and artillery strikes in recent weeks as it has sought to drive ISIS from its last stronghold east of the Euphrates River in Syria. ISIS has been driven to just a few towns in the area and the US and its coalition allies conducted 184 air and artillery strikes last week targeting the terror group's last remaining territory, striking command and control centers, weapons caches and vehicles. The halting of the operation is a major setback for the US and its allies and comes after Turkey threatened a new military operation targeting the Kurdish-led SDF.Russia imposed financial sanctions on Ukraine’s political elite on Thursday, freezing the Russian assets of hundreds of politicians and officials along with dozens of businesses owned by Ukrainian businessmen. The sanctions were set out in a decree signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and were described as counter-sanctions drawn up in response to similar Ukrainian measures against Russian citizens and companies. The decree said 322 individuals and 68 businesses were targeted, including President Petro Poroshenko’s son Olexiy, presidential contender Yulia Tymoshenko, the head of Ukraine’s SBU security service Vasil Hrytsak, interior minister Arsen Avakov, and billionaire tycoon Victor Pinchuk. The sanctions also targeted several listed companies, including iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo (FXPO.L), poultry producer MHP (MHPCq.L), and Ukraine’s biggest sunflower oil exporter Kernel (KER.WA).It will now be up to lawmakers to formally legalize the drug. Mexico’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that an absolute ban on recreational use of marijuana was unconstitutional, effectively leaving it to lawmakers to regulate consumption of the drug. Announcing it had found in favor of two legal challenges filed against prohibition of recreational marijuana use, Mexico’s top court crossed the threshold needed to create jurisprudence: five similar rulings on the matter. That creates a precedent other Mexican courts will have to follow. “This is a historic day,” Fernando Belaunzaran, an advocate of drug reform and member of the opposition leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), said. The Supreme Court made its first ruling to allow a group of people to grow marijuana for personal use in November 2015.Looking for Older World Headline News:
Past World Headline News
