White House considering new immigration order…Read full details

The White House confirmed Sunday it is considering issuing a new order on immigration now that President Donald Trump's travel ban has been halted as it makes its way through the courts.

The White House confirmed Sunday it is considering issuing a new order on immigration now that President Donald Trump’s travel ban has been halted as it makes its way through the courts.

“Right now we are considering and pursuing all options,” presidential aide Stephen Miller told Fox television.

He said the next step would be either filing an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, defending the merits of the order in lower courts or issuing a new one.

“The president’s powers here are beyond question,” said Miller, who is considered one of the driving forces behind Trump’s first actions on immigration. Miller insisted the president has the power to keep some people from entering the United States.

“We are contemplating new and additional actions to ensure that immigration is not a vehicle for admitting people into our country that are hostile to its nation and its values,” Miller said.

The order that Trump issued abruptly on January 27 halts resettlement of all refugees for 120 days and that of Syrian refugees indefinitely.

It also bars for 90 days the entry of nationals from seven mainly Muslim countries.

A federal judge in Seattle issued a stay against the order on February 3. Then a three judge appeals panel in San Francisco voted unanimously last week against reinstating Trump’s ban. Among other things, it rejected the argument that the president’s actions in the area of immigration cannot be reviewed by the courts.

The Trump ban was supposed to be in place while the government comes up with a new system of so-called “extreme vetting” of people seeking entry visas. This could include checks on their social media accounts, according to John Kelly, the secretary of homeland security.

“Our immigration system should not be a vehicle for admitting people who have anything but love in their hearts for this nation and this constitution,” said Miller, who is 31.

“It is a message that I want the world to hear today. This country will protect its borders. It will protect its people,” Miller said.

The idea of the White House issuing a modified immigration order that would survive scrutiny in the courts does not convince Democrats, who from the outset have charged that Trump’s order is simply anti-Muslim and plays into the hands of extremists.

“It will be used as a recruitment for terrorist organizations. It will put Americans at greater risk traveling abroad,” said Democratic Senator Ben Cardin.

‘Islamophobia’ fuelling terrorism, says UN chief…Read full details

This handout photo released by the Turkish Prime Ministery Press office on February 10, 2017 shows UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (2nd R) taking part in a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim (Unseen) in Istanbul.<br />TURKISH PRIME MINISTER PRESS OFFICE / AFP

“Islamophobia” in parts of the world is fuelling terrorism, the head of the United Nations said on a visit to Saudi Arabia Sunday, as anti-immigrant sentiment rises in some countries.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made the comment to reporters after talks with Saudi King Salman, Crown Prince and Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“One of the things that fuel terrorism is the expression in some parts of the world of Islamophobic feelings and Islamophobic policies and Islamophobic hate speeches,” Guterres said at a joint news conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.

“This is the best support that Daesh can have to make its own propaganda,” Guterres said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group of Sunni extremists in Syria and Iraq.

The jihadist group has also claimed deadly attacks in Saudi Arabia and in Europe.

Anti-immigration politicians including France’s Marine Le Pen have seen their popularity rise after an influx to Europe of migrants, many of them Muslims fleeing wars in Syria and elsewhere.

US President Donald Trump issued an order in late January that denied entry to all refugees for 120 days.

It also blocked travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Refugees from Syria were blocked indefinitely.

But the order has faced obstacles and on Thursday an appellate court decided unanimously to maintain a block on Trump’s order.

Syria’s conflict has created 4.8 million refugees and killed more than 310,000 people since it began with anti-government protests in March 2011.

Guterres said “we will never be successful in fighting terrorism in Syria if an inclusive political solution is not found for the Syrian people.”

A new round of UN-sponsored peace talks is scheduled for February 20 in Geneva.

Guterres arrived in Saudi Arabia from Turkey and is to be in Dubai on Monday for the World Government Summit during his regional tour.

Dozens arrested in French clashes over alleged police rape…Read full details

Anti riot police officers stand guard during a protest in Bobigny, a district of northeast Paris, to denounce police brutality after a black man was allegedly sodomised with a baton during an arrest while in their custody in Paris on February 11, 2017. A 22-year-old black youth worker named as Theo, a talented footballer with no criminal record, required surgery after his arrest on February 2, 2017 when he claims a police officer sodomized him with his baton. One officer has been charged with rape and three others with assault over the incident in the tough northeastern suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois which has revived past controversies over alleged police brutality.<br />GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP

Thirty-seven people were arrested in the Paris suburbs when clashes erupted after a protest over the assault of a young black man allegedly sodomised with a police truncheon, a police source said Sunday.

Around 2,000 people demonstrated Saturday outside a courthouse to demand justice for Theo, a 22-year-old youth worker who required surgery after his arrest last week in the gritty suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois.

The protest in the northern suburb of Bobigny near Aulnay-sous-Bois was peaceful at the start but groups of demonstrators later clashed with police and went on the rampage, attacking cars, shops and public property.

Several vehicles were torched and bus shelters and shopfronts smashed in Bobigny and neighbouring areas.

A little girl trapped in a burning car was rescued by a 16-year-old demonstrator, who was heralded as a hero on social media. The police accused “several hundred” individuals of various “acts of violence and damage.”

The rioting capped a week of nightly clashes in the northern Paris suburb over the treatment of Theo, who claims a police officer sodomised him with his baton after a stop-and-search check in a housing estate.

Around 50 people have been detained since the protests began. One officer has been charged with rape over the affair, and three others with assault. All four have been suspended from their duties.

Theo’s case has revived long-simmering frustrations over policing in immigrant communities, where young men accuse the police of repeatedly targeting them in aggressive stop-and-search operations and using excessive force during arrests.

The police for their part complain of being drawn into a cat-and-mouse game with delinquents and drug dealers operating out of housing estates.

In 2005, the death of two teenagers who were electrocuted while hiding from police in an electricity substation sparked weeks of riots in France. Some of the demonstrators in Bobigny on Saturday carried placards reading “Police rape” and “Police kill innocent people”.

Small rallies took place in other French cities, including Rouen in the north, Nantes in the west and Toulouse in the south-west. Theo is still in hospital where he was operated for severe injuries to the anus and rectal area. He was declared unfit to work for two months.

An internal police investigation found insufficient evidence to support allegations that he was raped and said the injuries were not inflicted intentionally. The criminal probe is, however, ongoing.

Netanyahu hails US veto of Palestinian as Libya envoy…Read full details

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on February 12, 2017.<br />GALI TIBBON / AFP

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday hailed the US veto of a Palestinian to be named UN envoy to Libya, saying the world body failed to give equal consideration to Israelis.

“I was informed of the possibility of the appointment of Salaam Fayyad to a UN position,” he said at Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting.

“I said that the time has come for reciprocity in the UN’s relations with Israel and free gifts cannot be constantly given to the Palestinian side,” Netanyahu said, welcoming the US veto.

“The time has come for positions and appointments to be made to the Israeli side as well,” he said, quoted in a statement issued by the prime minister’s office.

According to Israeli media reports, the Jewish state could accept the appointment of Fayyad, a former Palestinian premier, if Tzipi Livni, a former foreign minister of Israel, were offered the post of a UN deputy secretary of state.

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday defended his choice of Fayyad to be the UN peace envoy to Libya, a day after the United States blocked the appointment.

The choice “was solely based on Mr Fayyad’s recognised personal qualities and his competence for that position”, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

“United Nations staff serve strictly in their personal capacity. They do not represent any government or country.”

Guterres had informed the Security Council on Wednesday of his intention to appoint Fayyad.

But the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said Washington did not “support the signal this appointment would send within the United Nations”, where the state of Palestine does not have full membership.

“For too long, the UN has been unfairly biased in favour of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel,” she said in a statement.

The UN secretary general seeks the unanimous backing of all 15 Security Council members for appointments of his special representatives to conflict areas.

Fayyad had been tapped to replace Germany’s Martin Kobler, who has served since November 2015 as envoy to Libya, which has been in turmoil on the security and political fronts since a 2011 revolution that overthrew Moamer Kadhafi.

Erdogan says Turkish troops inside Syria’s Al-Bab…Read full details

Turkey-backed-opposition fighters advance in an armoured personnel carrier on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of al-Bab in a bid to enter the city and retake control of it from the Islamic State (IS) group on February 9, 2017.<br />Saleh ABO GHALOUN / AFP

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said Turkish troops and their Syrian rebel allies have entered the centre of the Islamic State-held bastion Al-Bab, saying its capture was just a “matter of time”.

“Al-Bab is now besieged from all fronts … Our forces entered the centre” with Syrian rebels, Erdogan told journalists in Istanbul before leaving for a tour of Gulf countries.

Erdogan said it was “only a matter of time” before the allied forces took full control of the flashpoint town.

“Daesh forces have begun leaving Al-Bab completely,” he said, using Arabic acronym for IS group.

Turkish forces and allied rebels on Saturday entered Al-Bab to drive IS jihadists from the flashpoint northern town, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Turkish army launched an ambitious campaign inside Syria on August 24 codenamed Euphrates Shield to clean its border from IS jihadists and stop the advance of Kurdish militia.

But the clashes in Al-Bab have proved the toughest in the campaign, with Turkish military fatalities surging.

One Turkish soldier was killed and three others wounded in clashes with jihadists on Sunday, the private Dogan news agency reported, citing military sources.

The latest casualty raised the number of Turkish troops killed in the Syria offensive to 67.

The three injured troops were evacuated from Al-Bab and taken to hospitals in Turkey’s Kilis and Gaziantep provinces near the Syrian border, Dogan reported.

Al-Bab is the jihadist group’s last stronghold in the northern province of Aleppo and is also being targeted by regime forces.

Syria opposition picks delegation for new peace talks…Read full details

(FILES) This file photo taken on September 7, 2014 shows Secretary-General of the Syrian National Coalition Nasr al-Hariri (C) leaving a meeting with veteran Syrian opposition figure and prominent Syrian human rights activist Haitham al-Maleh and the Arab League's Secretary-General, Nabil al-Arabi, on September 6, 2014 at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. Syria's opposition on Sunday announced its 21-member delegation, including 10 rebel representatives, for a new round of UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva scheduled for February 20.<br />The delegation will be headed by Nasr al-Hariri, a member of the opposition National Coalition, replacing Assad al-Zoabi, who led the opposition at several previous rounds of talks in Geneva last year.<br />Mohamed el-Shahed / AFP

Syria’s opposition on Sunday announced its 21-member delegation, including 10 rebel representatives, for a new round of UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva scheduled for February 20.

The delegation will be headed by Nasr al-Hariri, a member of the National Coalition, replacing Assad al-Zoabi, who led the opposition at several previous rounds of talks in Geneva last year.

The delegation’s chief negotiator was named as Mohamed Sabra, a lawyer who was part of the opposition’s technical team during negotiations in Geneva in 2014.

He replaces Mohamad Alloush, a rebel from the powerful Army of Islam faction.

Alloush served as negotiator during three rounds of peace talks in Geneva as well as negotiations in the Kazakh capital Astana in January organised by Turkey and Russia.

Neither Alloush nor the Army of Islam were listed as members of the delegation to Geneva, though it was unclear if the group was boycotting the talks or would be represented by other delegates.

No reason was given for the decision to replace either Zoabi or Alloush.

The delegation includes representatives from several rebel groups, including Faylaq al-Sham, an Islamist faction active around Damascus, and Liwa Sultan Murad, a battalion close to Turkey.

The umbrella High Negotiations Committee (HNC) opposition group said the delegation to the talks would for the first time include representatives from two additional opposition groupings, known informally as the Moscow group and the Cairo group.

But representatives from both groups denied they were included in the delegation.

In the past, the HNC has opposed including the two rival opposition groupings in its delegation, accusing members of the coalitions of being too flexible with regard to the Syrian government.

The Moscow grouping includes former minister Qadri Jamil, and is close to the Russian leadership, while the Cairo grouping includes former foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi.

Invitations to the talks in Geneva have yet to go out, having been delayed in part to allow the opposition to decide on the composition of their delegation.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura warned last week that he would pick the opposition delegates to the talks if they could not decide on time.

But he later appeared to backtrack and said he would delay dispatching invites.

Ahead of the talks, Kazakhstan has invited Syrian rebels and government officials back to Astana on February 15-16, but neither party has said officially yet if they will attend.

De Mistura will not attend the Astana meeting, but will send a “technical team,” his spokeswoman said.

Donald Trump tells Shinzo Abe US ‘100% behind Japan’ after North Korea missile test

President Donald Trump has reassured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the United States is “100 percent” behind Japan following reports of North Korea conducting a fresh missile launch.

“The United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent,” Trump said in brief remarks during a joint press conference with Abe in Florida late on Saturday.

The Japanese leader denounced the new launch as “intolerable.”

“North Korea’s most recent missile launch is absolutely intolerable. North Korea must fully comply with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” Abe said through a translator.

The remarks came a day after the two leaders held a joint press conference at the White House before heading to Trump’s private mansion in Palm Beach for the weekend.

US Strategic Command systems tracked a test launch over North Korea and into the Sea of Japan, and determined it was a medium- or intermediate-range ballistic missile, the Pentagon said on Saturday.

The missile test is the first conducted by North Korea since Trump took office on January 20.

An official with the South Korean Ministry of Defense also confirmed the test to CNN and said it was a ballistic missile.

The test of an intercontinental-range system would be especially provocative because the White House views it as an attempt by the North to develop the capability to strike the United States.

Trump has pledged to get tough on North Korea that tested several nuclear devices and ballistic missiles last year.

“Our assessment is that it is part of a show of force in response to the new US administration’s hardline position against the North,” the office of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, according to Reuters.

A White House spokesman said Trump was briefed on the new launch. However, the US president declined to comment when asked by reporters about the missile test as he posed for pictures with the Japanese leader ahead of a dinner in Florida.

Trump told Abe on Friday that defending against Pyongyang’s “nuclear and missile threat” was a “very, very high priority.”

Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, spoke to his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan Jin after the latest launch. They both condemned the test and agreed “to seek all possible options” to deter North Korea.

The US maintains 47,000 military service members in Japan, mostly on the southern island of Okinawa.

Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump frequently criticized Washington’s commitment to its defense agreement with Japan.

Source: PressTV

Colombia’s Santos asks Trump to support peace process…Read full details

Handout picture released by the Colombian presidency showing Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (L) inspecting the new equipment for the National Police in Bogota, Colombia, on February 7, 2017. Colombia's Attorney General's Office said it was investigating whether money from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht was earmarked for the campaign for the re-election of President Juan Manuel Santos in 2014, which the government flatly rejected.<br />CESAR CARRION / PRESIDENCIA COLOMBIA / AFP

President Juan Manuel Santos spoke with US President Donald Trump on the phone Saturday and asked him to support Colombia’s peace plan with FARC rebels, the Latin American leader said on Twitter.

Santos, in a series of posts, described their conversation as “productive.” “@POTUS expressed his support for peace and desire to maintain the best relations with Colombia,” Santos said, referring to Trump by his Twitter handle.

He said he asked Trump to support approval of the Colombia peace plan in the US Congress.

“(Trump) said he was very interested and would take charge of it personally,” said Santos, who added that Trump extended an invitation for him to visit the White House.

The call lasted about 25 minutes, Santos’s office said.

The United States has pledged $450 million to support implementation of the peace agreement signed in November between Bogota and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), bringing an end to a 52-year conflict.

Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in negotiating an end to the conflict that grew out of a crushed uprising over land rights in the 1960s.

It killed more than 260,000 people and left 60,000 missing, according to authorities. As of early Sunday, the White House Press Office had yet to release a read-out of the call.

Turkmenistan votes in one-sided presidential poll…Read full details

(FILES) This file photo taken on May 05, 2016 shows Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov (C) waving to the media during the starting ceremony of a 500-day nationwide horse race at the historical site of Nisa just outside Ashgabat in preparation for the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. Some nine candidates will be on the ballot for a presidential poll in reclusive Turkmenistan on February 12, but only one of them — incumbent autocrat Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov — stands a chance of winning.<br />Igor SASIN / AFP

Citizens of Turkmenistan went to the polls Sunday for a presidential vote expected to further tighten strongman Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s hold over the gas-rich Central Asian country.

The turnout in the country of over 5 million people exceeded 74 percent in the first six hours of voting, the Central Election Commission said.

Berdymukhamedov, 59, faces eight other candidates including low-level regional officials, the director of a government-owned oil refinery and a representative of a state agribusiness complex.

But these candidates are viewed as token opponents for the former dentist and health minister who took power following the death of predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov in 2006.

Casting his vote at a school in the capital Ashgabat on Sunday morning, the president said the vote would decide “the fate of the people for the coming seven years”.

The autocrat was accompanied by family members including his son, who was elected as an MP last year.

“If I am elected then our policies aimed at improving the welfare of the people will continue, Berdymukhamedov said.

Last year Berdymukhamedov signed off on constitutional changes that paved the way for his lifelong rule by stripping away upper age limits for presidential candidates.

Another change lengthened presidential terms from five to seven years.

Voters in Ashgabat overwhelmingly said they were backing Berdymukhamedov.

“I voted for the first time, and chose our president,” said Zokhra, an 18-year old student decked out in bright red national dress who was voting at her university.

“We are deciding our future,” said Zokhra, who was presented with one of Berdymukhamedov’s books and a bunch of flowers by officials after she cast her vote.

One-sided votes are typical in Central Asia, a Muslim-majority ex-Soviet region politically close to Russia and China, where reigning presidents are usually expected to die in power.

“These regimes have a logic of their own and they very much follow that logic,” said Annette Bohr, an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia programme at the Chatham House think tank.

Turkmenistan’s regime is “even more repressive and personalist” than those found in neighbouring Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Bohr said.

“Berdymukhamedov is predictable in that he will do what he has to do in order to perpetuate that regime.”

– Leadership cult –
Like Turkmenistan’s first president Niyazov, who renamed months after family members and wrote a “book of the soul” that was compulsory in schools, Berdymukhamedov has presided over a flowering leadership cult.

Both men are honoured by golden statues in Ashgabat, where natural gas wealth is flaunted in lavish, grandiose white marble architecture, even as other parts of the country suffer poverty.

Berdymukhamedov is officially known as the country’s “Protector” and has written poetry and books on topics from tea to horses.

He is a keen equestrian but fell off his horse after winning a race in 2013 in a incident captured by spectators on video but hushed up by state media.

New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said ahead of the polls that Berdymukhamedov has taken “a few modest steps to reverse some of Niyazov’s damaging policies” but has continued some of his “most serious abuses.”

Ahead of the vote, “voters cannot express their views about all candidates in an open manner and without fear,” the group said.

Turkmenistan is set to host the Asian Indoor Games in September and Reporters Without Borders warned Friday that the handful of independent journalists in the country are “being subjected to an unprecedented crackdown” ahead of the showpiece event.

Although Turkmenistan sits on the world’s fourth largest natural gas reserves, it has failed to diversify its economy and remains heavily reliant on exports to China.

At the beginning of 2015 the government devalued the manat currency by 19 percent, while Berdymukhamedov has warned of the need to raise tariffs for water, gas and electricity, which were all free under Niyazov.

Japan killjoys wage war on Valentine’s ‘conspiracy’…Read full details

A group of Japanese protesters stage an anti-Valentine's Day demonstration march in Tokyo on February 12, 2017. As Japan prepares to celebrate Valentine's Day, a curmudgeonly group of protesters have called for an end to public displays of love, claiming it hurts their feelings.<br />KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP

As Japan prepares to celebrate Valentine’s Day, a cranky group of marxist protesters have called for an end to public displays of love, claiming it hurts their feelings.

Members of ‘Kakuhido’, or the Revolutionary Alliance of Men that Women find Unattractive, unfurled a giant “Smash Valentine’s Day” banner as the party-poopers set off to try and overthrow the annual celebration of romance.

The grumpy comrades elicited curious looks from passers-by in the trendy Shibuya district where they rallied against commercialism and chanted other buzz-kill slogans such as “public smooching is terrorism!”

“Our aim is to crush this love capitalism,” the group’s public relations chief Takayuki Akimoto told AFP.

“People like us who don’t seek value in love are being oppressed by society,” he added. “It’s a conspiracy by people who think unattractive guys are inferior, or losers — like cuddling in public, it makes us feel bad. It’s unforgivable.”

Previously, the killjoy group has also protested against “housewives who control Japan’s future” as their hapless husbands work all hours at the office.

Valentine’s Day in Japan is a huge money-spinner for the confectionery business as women are traditionally expected to buy chocolates for the men in their lives — from lovers to work colleagues.

Men reciprocate a month later on White Day, a Japanese marketing brainwave dreamt up by confectioners in the 1980s to keep the cash tills ringing.

“The tradition of giving chocolates means you’re always competing,” said Akimoto, 33, blasting what his group calls the “passion-based capitalism” of Valentine’s Day.

“You’re judged by how many sweets you get. It’s a business strategy by the chocolate capitalists, it’s ridiculous.”

Valentine’s Day originated as an ancient Christian and Roman tradition and Akimoto fumed: “Religious overtones have been twisted and turned into a vehicle to make money.”

Japan is experiencing a loss of mojo with couples apparently too stressed or busy to have sex, frustrating government efforts to raise the birthrate as policymakers struggle to cope with a shrinking population.

Akimoto claims the group’s message has begun to hit home after 10 years of protests.

“Recently you hear of more people spending Christmas alone or women growing tired of Valentine’s Day,” he said. “We believe that through our fight, we’ve helped contribute to that social shift.”

Kakuhido was founded in 2006 by Katsuhiro Furusawa, who began reading the Communist Manifesto after being dumped by his girlfriend and came to the conclusion that being unpopular with the opposite sex was a class issue, fuelling his anti-Valentine message.

Akimoto offered some advice for would-be disciples of the spoil-sport group, which also protests White Day and Christmas.

“We’re saying you don’t have to enjoy Christmas or Valentine’s Day,” he said joylessly, adding that Kakuhido is also taking aim at Halloween.

“Just spend the day doing normal things. Our enemy is formidable, but we are ready for a long, drawn-out war.”

‘Catastrophic’ fire conditions scorch Australia…Read full details

This screen-grab from video footage taken from a New South Wales (NSW) Rural Fire Service aircraft and released by the NSW Rural Fire Service on February 12, 2017 shows a bushfire near Leadville in New South Wales. Eastern Australia was bracing for severe "off the scale" fire conditions on February 12 as it baked in a heatwave that has broken temperature records and sparked dire warnings from authorities.<br />Handout / New South Wales Rural Fire Service / AFP

Eastern Australia endured severe “off the scale” fire conditions Sunday amid a record-breaking heatwave that sparked dire warnings from authorities.

While bushfires are common in Australia’s arid summer, climate change has pushed up land and sea temperatures and led to more extremely hot days and severe fire seasons.

“The conditions for Sunday are the worst possible conditions when it comes to fire danger ratings,” New South Wales (NSW) state Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters Friday.

“They are catastrophic, they are labelled catastrophic for a reason, they are rare, they are infrequent, and to put it simply, they are off the old conventional scale.

“It’s not another summer’s day. It’s not another bad fire weather day. This is as bad as it gets in these circumstances.” Fitzsimmons said Sunday afternoon several homes may have been lost in bushfires across the state.

Some 2,500 firefighters were battling more than 80 blazes in NSW, with 32 “not contained”, the Rural Fire Service said.

The organisation added that a person from a fire at Boggabri, a small town in northwestern NSW some 470 kilometres (292 miles) from Sydney, was flown to the harbour city after suffering burns.

Further north in Queensland, the Bureau of Meteorology said Sunday numerous February temperature records were being broken across the state as the mercury soared above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Temperature records were also breached across NSW on Saturday, the weather bureau said. Cooler conditions were forecast to come through later Sunday.

Australia has warmed by approximately 1.0 C since 1910, according to the biannual State of the Climate report from the Bureau of Meteorology and national science body CSIRO released in October.

The number of days each year that post temperatures of more than 35C was increasing in recent decades except in northern Australia, the report said. Meanwhile, rainfall has reduced by 19 percent between May to July in southwestern Australia since 1970.

“Black Saturday”, the worst firestorm in recent years, devastated the southern state of Victoria in 2009, razing thousands of homes and killing 173 people.

North Korea conducts ballistic missile test

North Korea has fired a ballistic missile in the first such test since Donald Trump took office as US president.

Mr Trump assured Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that “America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100%”.

The missile flew east towards the Sea of Japan for about 500km (300 miles), South Korean officials say.

Mr Abe said the test was “absolutely intolerable”. Japanese officials say the missile did not reach its waters.

Speaking at a joint conference during a visit to the US, Mr Abe added that Mr Trump had also assured him that he was committed to “further enforcing our alliance”.

During his election campaign, Mr Trump said US defence commitments to Japan and South Korea were unfair and also called for Japan to pay the full cost of stationing US troops on its soil.

North Korea has conducted a number of nuclear tests in the past year that continue to alarm and anger the region.

Sunday’s launch took place at 07:55 local time (22:55 GMT Saturday) from the Banghyon air base in North Pyongan province on the west side of the Korean peninsula.

The missile reached an altitude of about 550km (350 miles), according to a South Korean official quoted by Reuters news agency, and appeared to be a Rodong medium-range missile.

In January, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned that his military was close to testing long-range missiles capable of reaching the United States and carrying nuclear warheads.

Mr Trump derided the claim in a tweet, saying: “It won’t happen.”

South Korea’s foreign ministry said that “North Korea’s repeated provocations show the Kim Jong-un regime’s nature of irrationality, maniacally obsessed in its nuclear and missile development”.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga confirmed the missile had not reached Japanese territorial waters, adding that Tokyo would make a “strong protest” to North Korea over the incident.

There has so far been no comment from North Korea.

On a visit to South Korea last week, US Defence Secretary James Mattis said that any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea would be met with an “effective and overwhelming” response.

He also reconfirmed plans to deploy a US missile defence system in South Korea later this year.

North Korea conducted its fifth test of a nuclear device last year, and claims it is capable of carrying out a nuclear attack on the US, though experts are still unconvinced that its technology has progressed that far.

Source: BBC

Cambodian opposition to meet after leader’s shock resignation…Read full details

Sam Rainsy, who has been at the forefront of the kingdom's opposition scene for two decades, announced his resignation from the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in a letter posted on social media late Saturday.<br />PHOTO:AFP

Cambodia’s opposition party was set to meet Sunday after the shock resignation of its founder and leader, an official said, with the movement increasingly boxed in by the country’s strongman premier.

Sam Rainsy, who has been at the forefront of the kingdom’s opposition scene for two decades, announced his resignation from the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in a letter posted on social media late Saturday.

His departure casts doubt over the prospects of a party that poses the only genuine challenge to PM Hun Sen’s 32-year rule in 2018 elections.

Rainsy, who has been living in self-imposed exile since 2015 to avoid convictions and lawsuits he says are politically motivated, did not elaborate on the reasons for his resignation.

But analysts say it was likely an attempt to dodge new legislation proposed by Hun Sen’s government that would bar convicts from serving as party leaders and could lead to the CNRP’s dissolution if Rainsy stayed on.

Party officials have been tight-lipped on the development, but Rainsy’s deputy released a brief statement Sunday saying the exit was “an honourable decision made in consultation with the leaders of the party”.

The CNRP’s deputy public affairs chief said an urgent meeting would be held in the afternoon to chart the party’s future.

“#CNRP is holding a Permanent Committee meeting at 2PM today, followed by Steering Committee meeting, in light of #SamRainsy resignation,” Monovithya Kem wrote on Twitter.

Political analyst Ou Virak called the development a “new low” for a party that has been floundering under mounting pressure from Hun Sen’s government as polls approach.

Rights groups accuse the authoritarian premier of a sweeping crackdown on critics and rivals ever since he nearly lost his office to the CNRP in 2013.

“The ruling party has been tightening its grip slowly but surely,” Ou Virak told AFP, adding that local commune elections set for June would be “an uphill battle” for the CNRP.

North Korea fires ballistic missile, drawing tough response from Donald Trump

A man watches the news showing file footage of North Korea's missile launch at a railway station in Seoul on February 12, 2017. North Korea fired a ballistic missile on February 12 in an apparent provocation to test the response from new US President Donald Trump, the South Korean defence ministry said.<br />JUNG Yeon-Je / AFP

North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Sunday, drawing a strong response from US President Donald Trump who vowed “100 percent” support for key ally Japan at a press conference with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The missile, the first test since Trump became president, was launched around 7:55 am (2255 GMT Saturday) from Banghyon air base in the western province of North Pyongan, and flew east towards the Sea of Japan (East Sea), the South Korean defence ministry said.

It flew about 500 kilometres (310 miles) before falling into the sea, a ministry spokesman said, adding the exact type of missile had yet to be identified.

“Today’s missile launch… is aimed at drawing global attention to the North by boasting its nuclear and missile capabilities”, the ministry said in a statement.

“It is also believed that it was an armed provocation to test the response from the new US administration under President Trump,” it added.

Trump responded with an assurance to the visiting Abe that Washington was committed to the security of its key Asian ally.

“I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100 percent,” Trump said, without elaborating.

Abe denounced the launch as “absolutely intolerable” while top government spokesman Yoshihide Suge told reporters in Tokyo it was “clearly a provocation to Japan and the region”.

North Korea is barred under UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology but six sets of UN sanctions since Pyongyang’s first nuclear test in 2006 have failed to halt its drive for what it insists are defensive weapons.

– ‘Clear provocation’ –
Last year the country conducted numerous tests and launches in its quest to develop a nuclear weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland.

A South Korean army official quoted by Yonhap news agency ruled out the possibility of a long-range missile test, describing the device as an upgraded version of the North’s short-range Rodong missile.

Seoul-based academic Yang Moo-Jin said the latest test was “a celebratory launch” to mark the February 16 birthday of Kim Jong-Il, late ruler and father of current leader Kim Jong-Un.

Pyongyang often celebrates key anniversaries involving current and former leaders with missile launches, Yang, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told AFP.

South Korea’s acting president Hwang Gyo-Ahn vowed a “corresponding punishment” in response to the launch, which came on the heels of a visit to Seoul by new US Defense Secretary James Mattis earlier this month.

Mattis had warned Pyongyang that any nuclear attack would be met with an “effective and overwhelming” response.

Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, spoke to his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-Jin on the phone and agreed to “seek all possible options” to curb future provocations by the North, Seoul’s presidential office said in a statement.

In January leader Kim Jong-Un boasted that Pyongyang was in the “final stages” of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in an apparent attempt to pressure the incoming US president. Trump shot back on Twitter, saying “It won’t happen.”

James Char, senior analyst at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said the launch was Pyongyang’s “way of showing characteristic defiance against… Trump”.

– Test for Trump –
Washington has repeatedly vowed that it will never accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed nation and the latest launch poses a test for Trump, who will need the help of Beijing, Pyongyang’s closest ally, to deal with the reclusive state.

Relations between the two superpowers have thawed in recent days after Trump reaffirmed Washington’s “One China” policy in what he described as a “very warm” telephone conversation with President Xi Jinping.

“The recent Trump-Xi phone call would be considered an important platform from which the two powers will move forward,” Char said.

Analysts are divided over how close Pyongyang is to realising its full nuclear ambitions, especially as it has never successfully test-fired an ICBM.

But all agree it has made enormous strides in that direction since Kim took over after the death of his father in December 2011.

Samsung heir to be quizzed again over corruption scandal…Read full details

Samsung Group's heir-apparent Lee Jae-Yong,<br />AFP PHOTO / JUNG Yeon-Je

South Korean prosecutors said Sunday they would question the Samsung heir again as part of a probe into a corruption and influence-peddling scandal that caused President Park Geun-Hye to be impeached.

Lee Jae-Yong, Samsung Electronics vice chairman and the son of the Samsung group boss Lee Kun-Hee, has been quizzed several times over his alleged role in the scandal that has rocked the nation.

The 48-year-old will be summoned again Monday morning, said a spokesman for the special team of prosecutors probing the affair.

Lee, described as a key suspect in the scandal, narrowly avoided being formally arrested last month when the prosecutors accused him of bribery involving nearly $40 million.

A Seoul court rejected the arrest warrant on grounds of insufficient evidence.

Lee has effectively taken the helm of the group since his father suffered a heart attack in 2014.

“We need to question Lee…over other things we have discovered (after the arrest warrant was rejected),” said Lee Kyu-Chul, spokesman for the prosecutors’ team.

The scandal centres on Park’s secret confidante Choi Soon-Sil, who is accused of using her presidential ties to force local firms to “donate” tens of millions of dollars to two non-profit foundations which Choi allegedly used for personal gain.

Samsung was the biggest donor to the foundations and is accused of separately giving millions of euros to Choi and her daughter in a bid to receive policy favours from Park in return.

Park has been named as an accomplice with Choi, and also stands accused of letting Choi handle a wide range of state affairs including senior nominations even though she held no official post.

Two other senior Samsung executives would also be questioned Monday as criminal suspects, the spokesman said.

Prosecutors may try again to formally arrest Lee based on the outcome of the questioning, he added.

Samsung is South Korea’s largest group with revenue equivalent to about a fifth of the country’s GDP. Its key unit Samsung Electronics is the world’s largest smartphone maker.

But it suffered a major blow to its reputation after its de facto leader was accused of bribing Choi in a bid to ensure a smooth transition of power within the founding Lee family.

Prosecutors are probing whether Samsung’s payments to Choi were aimed at securing official approval for the controversial merger of two Samsung units in 2015, seen as smoothing the way for a transition.

The merger was opposed by many investors who said it wilfully unvalued the shares of one of the firms. But it went through after the state pension fund — a major Samsung shareholder — approved it.

Jean-Marie Le Pen charged over apparent anti-Semitic pun…Read full details

Marine Le Pen, head of the French far-right party Front National (FN) and candidate for the presidential elections, arrives to visit the police station of Juvisy-sur-Orge on February 7, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ALAIN JOCARD

The founder of France’s far-right National Front party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has been charged with inciting hatred for alleged anti-Semitic remarks in 2014, his lawyer said Saturday.

Frederic Joachim said the remarks by his client had been misinterpreted and his comments cut short.

The situation goes back to June 2014 when Le Pen in a video clip posted on the FN website railed against a number of critics including pop star Madonna and Yannick Noah, the French singer and former tennis champion.

When asked about another critic — French singer Patrick Bruel, who is Jewish — Le Pen said then that he would be part of “a batch we will get next time,” using the word “fournee” for “batch”, evoking the word “four”, which means “oven”.

SOS Racisme called it “the most anti-Semitic filth”, a pledge by the FN founder to put his critics in their place using a pun suggesting Nazi gas chambers.

The remarks were also denounced by the FN and his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who took over the party leadership and is now the FN presidential candidate in this year’s election.

“The word ‘fournee’ that I used has no anti-Semitic connotation, except for political enemies or imbeciles,” Jean-Marie Le Pen responded.

The now 88-year-old former paratrooper, who has had multiple convictions for inciting racial hatred and denying crimes against humanity, once described Nazi gas chambers as a “detail” of history.

The European Parliament, of which the elder Le Pen is a member, in late October lifted his parliamentary immunity in the case.

In 2015 Le Pen was booted out of the party he founded for his views on the Nazi gas chambers and for defending France’s collaborationist wartime Vichy regime.

Last November a French court upheld the FN’s decision to strip him of his membership but in a small victory for the elder Le Pen it ruled he should be allowed to remain as the party’s honorary president.

Spanish PM Rajoy re-elected head of his party…Read full details

Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy smiles during the XVIII Popular Party three day congress in Madrid on February 11, 2017 that will renew Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as party leader. Rajoy's re-election, in a single candidate ballot, coincides with the announcement of high prison terms for corruption for entrepreneurs and former politicians linked to the ruling formation by the case 'Gurtel'.<br />CURTO DE LA TORRE / AFP

Spain’s ruling conservatives on Saturday voted to keep Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as their leader, after a wave of high-profile corruption scandals threatened to push the party out of power.

Rajoy, who has led the Popular Party (PP) since 2004, was re-elected at the party’s congress, just as far-left upstart Podemos held its own gathering.

No candidate challenged Rajoy’s bid to remain at the PP’s helm. Defence Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal meanwhile held on to her position as party deputy.

“We don’t want any revolutions or sudden jolts,” Rajoy said, as he put forward his candidacy. “We want to govern with prudence… and reliability.”

Rajoy’s popularity sank in 2015 and 2016, as his party was hit by a string of corruption scandals.

At the end of 2015, the PP lost its parliamentary super majority, with the number of MPs falling from 186 to 123 out of 350.

In May 2015, the party also lost a string of important regions, including Valencia in the east, and cities including Madrid.

The PP’s losses helped centre-right upstart Ciudadanos make gains, as it condemned the scandals tainting the ruling party.

Ciudadanos has consistently called for Rajoy to step down, refusing to forge any alliance with the PP until he does — even though there is no evidence of Rajoy’s involvement in any of the corruption files.

After a months-long political standstill, the PP in June 2016 won a parliamentary election and swept back into power.

Rajoy has been a PP member since 1977, rising through the party ranks until he became prime minister in 2011.

The PP, once named the Popular Alliance, was founded by ministers of former dictator Francisco Franco.

It has since adopted a pro-EU, conservative programme.