Month: February 2019

No Sign of Progress in 3 Days of Talks to Prepare 2nd US-North Korea Summit

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 The U.S. special representative for North Korea held three days of talks in Pyongyang to prepare a second summit to be held this month between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the State Department said on Friday, while giving no indication of any progress in the meetings.

The State Department said Stephen Biegun had agreed with his counterpart Kim Hyok Chol to meet again ahead of the summit, which Washington has said will take place from Feb. 27-28 in Vietnam.

In their talks in Pyongyang from Wednesday until Friday Biegun and Kim Hyok Chol “discussed advancing President Trump and Chairman Kim’s Singapore summit commitments of complete denuclearization, transforming U.S.-DPRK relations, and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.” the State Department said.

Its statement, which referred to North Korea by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, gave no indication of any progress in the talks.

Just weeks ahead of the planned summit to follow on from an unprecedented first meeting between the leaders in Singapore last June, the two sides have appeared far from narrowing differences over U.S. demands for North Korea to give up a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States.

Biegun said last week his Pyongyang talks would be aimed at seeking progress on commitments made in Singapore and mapping out “a set of concrete deliverables” for the second summit.

He said Washington was willing to discuss “many actions” to improve ties and entice Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and that Trump was ready to end the 1950-53 Korean War, which concluded with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Biegun said Kim Jong Un committed during an October visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the dismantling and destruction of plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities and that “corresponding measures” demanded by North Korea would be the subject of his talks.

At the same time, he set out an extensive list of demands that North Korea would have to meet eventually, including full disclosure of its nuclear and missile programs, something Pyongyang has rejected for decades.

Trump, eager for a foreign policy win to distract from domestic troubles, has been keen for a second summit despite a lack of significant moves by North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. He and Biegun have stressed the economic benefits to North Korea if it does so.

Trump announced the plan for his second meeting with Kim in his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, but the exact location for the meeting in Vietnam has yet to be revealed.

Trump said much work remained to be done in the push for peace with North Korea, but cited the halt in its nuclear testing and no new missile launches in 15 months as proof of progress.

The Singapore summit yielded a vague commitment by Kim to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, where U.S. troops have been stationed since the Korean War.

While in the U.S. view North Korea has yet to take concrete steps to give up its nuclear weapons, Pyongyang complains that Washington has done little to reciprocate for its freezing of nuclear and missile testing and dismantling of some facilities.

Pyongyang has repeatedly urged a lifting of punishing U.S.-led sanctions, a formal end to the war, and security guarantees.

South Korea’s Yonhap News agency quoted that country’s foreign ministry as saying that Biegun arrived back in Seoul from Pyongyang on Friday evening, Seoul time, and would meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Saturday morning to provide a briefing on the results of his talks.
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US Vows to Remain ‘Relentless’ to Deter Iran Missile Program

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The United States on Thursday vowed to remain “relentless” in pressuring Iran to deter its missile program after the Islamic Republic unveiled a new ballistic weapon days after testing a cruise missile.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards unveiled a new ballistic missile with a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), their official news agency Sepah News reported.

The move was the latest show of military might by the country as it celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.

“Iran’s blatant disregard for international norms must be addressed,” State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.

“We must bring back tougher international restrictions to deter Iran’s missile program,” he added.

“The United States will continue to be relentless in building support around the world to confront the Iranian regime’s reckless ballistic missile activity, and we will continue to impose sufficient pressure on the regime so that it changes its malign behavior – including by fully implementing all of our sanctions.”

Tehran reined in most of its nuclear program under a landmark 2015 deal with major powers but has kept up development of its ballistic missile technology.

President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the nuclear accord in May and reimposed sanctions on Iran, citing the program among its reasons.

“Iran’s latest missile launch again proves the Iran deal is doing nothing to stop Iran’s missile program,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted late Thursday.

Iran and the other signatories have stuck by the 2015 agreement, although some European governments have demanded an addition to address Tehran’s ballistic missile program and its intervention in regional conflicts.

Meanwhile, UN Security Council Resolution 2231 — adopted just after the nuclear deal — calls on Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons”.

Tehran insists that its missile development program is “purely defensive” and compliant with the resolution.
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Trump Adviser Stone to Judge: I Don’t Need Gag Order

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Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone on Friday urged a federal judge not to ban him from talking about his criminal case in the Russia probe, saying that unlike Kim Kardashian he was little known to the public and that he did not need a gag order.

In a court filing, Stone and his lawyers told U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who was mulling a gag order, that his First Amendment right to free speech entitled him to “speak as he wishes” unless it posed a “clear and present danger” to finding an impartial jury. 

Stone, 66, faces charges of making false statements to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election and whether Trump’s campaign conspired with Moscow.

The self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” has made several media appearances since charges were announced last month, and in a Reuters interview downplayed the charges as “process crimes” that did not involve intentional lies. 

‘Hardly ubiquitous’

In Friday’s filing in the Washington, D.C., federal court, Stone also downplayed the risks of his speaking publicly. 

He said people who closely follow American politics might know who he was, but he was “hardly ubiquitous in the larger landscape of popular consciousness.” 

Stone then contrasted his limited social media presence to that of Kardashian, the actress, entrepreneur and socialite. 

“An example of how limited and narrow his public presence is, is that Kim Kardashian has 59.5 million followers on Twitter. By contrast, Roger Stone has no Twitter account at all and, thus has no Twitter followers,” Stone said. “On Instagram, Kim Kardashian has 126 million followers. Roger Stone’s 

Instagram following amounts to 39,000 subscribers.”

In a separate filing Friday, the Department of Justice said it would not oppose a narrow order restricting all parties and lawyers from speaking publicly in the case.

It was unclear when the judge would rule. 
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Villagers Describe Horror in South Sudan’s Yei River State

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An unknown number of villagers were killed and hundreds of others displaced during fighting in South Sudan’s Yei River State this week. 

In this latest round of fighting, government forces teamed up with SPLA-IO (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition) forces to battle National Salvation Front rebels led by General Thomas Cirillo. Residents say the clashes continue in several Otogo County villages in Yei River state, which is in the southern part of the country. Villagers accuse both sides of looting property and setting houses on fire. 

Since the September peace agreement, this is one of the first clashes in which a rebel group has teamed up with government forces against another rebel group, in this case the National Salvation Front. The NAS is the biggest militia faction that refused to sign the deal.

Fighting continues in the troubled area, according to several villagers fleeing violence in Ondukori, Morsak, Goja and Ombaci villages of Otogo County. 

Ondukori resident Esther Siama, who fled her village Thursday night and walked in the bush all night before reaching Yei town Friday morning, said several soldiers sexually assaulted women and abused other villagers.

“Once the soldiers reached a certain area they beat up civilians. The soldiers raped women and also robbed us of domestic animals like chickens, goats and cows,” Siama told South Sudan in Focus.

‘Charles’ tells of violence

A 60-year-old Morsak village resident who prefers to be identified only as “Charles” for fear of reprisals, said he saw four bodies on the ground. He also said gunmen set the entire village on fire.

“Once they reach a house they shoot bullets inside the house. The soldiers tied down one of our elderly people, a 70-year-old brother and threatened to kill him. They set our houses and food granaries on fire, Charles told South Sudan in Focus.

He said he spent four days in the bush, eventually arriving on foot in Yei. “Some people were shot dead and even my own son was injured on the leg,” Charles added.

Hillary Luate Adeba, Bishop of the Yei Diocese of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, who is from Otogo County, condemned the violence, saying it violates the heart of the revitalized peace agreement.

“The whole of South of Yei is in danger. People are fleeing. A number of forces are engaged in serious fighting in the area and its only Yei now which is bleeding,” Adeba told South Sudan in Focus.

Call for cease-fire

Bishop Adeba urged all sides to immediately stop fighting in Yei.

Obed Taban, Deputy Chairman of the Yei River State Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, said hundreds of civilians who arrived on the outskirts of Yei town Friday are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

“We have more than 200 IDPs [Internally Displaced Persons] and more are still coming and we are calling on the humanitarian partners to assist the IDPs with food, medicines and non-food items because these people have nothing,” Taban told VOA.

Government troops control urban areas

Most Yei River State villages are under the control of either the SPLA-IO or National Salvation Front rebel forces. More urban areas including administrative centers are controlled by government forces.

SPLA-IO deputy military spokesman Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel accused the National Salvation Front of committing atrocities against civilians.

“We know that the areas around Otogo are under the control of NAS forces under the command of General Thomas Cirilo. The SPLA-IO is not responsible,” Gabriel told VOA.

NAS spokesman Samuel Suba Manasseh denies his group mistreated any civilians in areas under their control.

“It’s a crime for any National Salvation soldiers mistreating civilians and it’s also against the laws of NAS. We are not part of looting and harassing civilians,” Manasseh told South Sudan in Focus.

Military denies looting

South Sudan army spokesman Brigadier General Santo Domic denied knowledge of government forces looting villages in Otogo.

“I don’t expect the SSPDF [South Sudan Army] forces to loot villages in Otogo County because these are government forces mandated to protect the civil population,” Domic told VOA.He called such accusations “negative propaganda” against the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces. 

NAS leader Cirillo rejected the revitalized peace agreement signed in September by President Salva Kiir, SPLA-IO leader Riek Machar, and other opposition leaders.
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Rare Tiger Kills Prospective Mate in London at First Meeting

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For 10 days, the London Zoo kept its newly arrived male Sumatran tiger, Asim, in a separate enclosure from Melati, the female tiger who was supposed to become his mate. 

 

Zoologists gave them time to get used to each other’s presence and smells, and waited for what they felt would be the right time to let them get together. On Friday, they put the two tigers into the same enclosure — and Asim killed Melati as shocked handlers tried in vain to intervene. 

 

It was a tragic end to hopes that the two would eventually breed as part of a Europe-wide tiger conservation program for the endangered Sumatran subspecies. 

 

“Everyone here at ZSL London Zoo is devastated by the loss of Melati and we are heartbroken by this turn of events,” the zoo said in a statement. 

 

It said the focus now is “caring for Asim as we get through this difficult event.” 

 

The zoo said its experts had been carefully monitoring the tigers’ reactions to each other since Asim arrived 10 days ago and had seen “positive signs” that indicated the two should be put together. 

 

“Their introduction began as predicted, but quickly escalated into a more aggressive interaction,” the zoo said. 

 

Contingency plans called for handlers to use loud noises, flares and alarms to try to distract the tigers, but that didn’t work. They did manage to put Asim, 7, back in a separate paddock, but by that time Melati, 10, was already dead. 

 

Asim’s arrival at the zoo last week had been trumpeted in a press release showing him on the prowl and describing him as a “strapping Sumatran tiger.” 

 

The organization Tigers in Crisis says there are estimated to be only 500 to 600 Sumatran tigers in the wild.
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US Military Airstrikes Target Al-Shabab in Somalia

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The U.S. military says it launched two precision airstrikes against the al-Shabab terrorist group in Somalia this week, killing 15 militants.

A statement released Friday by U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, said the strikes took place Wednesday and Thursday in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region. Military officials say no civilians were killed.

Word of the strikes comes one day after former Somali defense minister General Abdulkadir Ali Dini said al-Shabab cannot be defeated through war alone. Dini said the army cannot defeat al-Shabab without the help of the Somali people and politicians.

“The military is doing its part. It keeps losing top generals and soldiers in the war against the militants, but they lack the actual support of Somali people and committed politicians,” Dini said in an interview with VOA.

Dini was responding to a comment from a top U.S. military general who hinted that the continued U.S. air campaigns against al-Shabab were unlikely to yield much without support from the local army.

“At the end of the day, these strikes are not going to defeat al-Shabab,” the U.S. military’s Africa Command head, Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington.

“But the bottom line is the Somali National Army needs to grow, it needs to step up, and it needs to take responsibility for their own security,” he said.

Since early 2017, the U.S. has increased the number of strikes it conducts in Somalia.

According to Somali military officials, the U.S. hit the militants about 35 times in 2017, compared to 47 times last year and about a dozen times so far this year.

In one strike last month, Africa Command said it killed 52 Somali militants.

In December, the U.S. military said it had killed 62 al-Shabab militants in six airstrikes in the Horn of Africa nation. Waldhauser questioned how effective the air campaign can be.

“We know that [the airstrikes] are causing problems; we know that they are deterring. It is an open question as to how much,” he said.

Push for talks

Separately, Somali Security Minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed said in an interview with VOA that fighting the militants, coupled with U.S. airstrikes, can never lead to the group’s ultimate elimination. Al-Shabab has been fighting to overthrow the Somali government and impose a strict version of Sharia, or Islamic law.

“We know the group has long been spreading a poisonous ideology in the minds of the young, the mentally retarded and the susceptible Somalis. To effectively eliminate this would require the start of talks with the group’s leaders,” said Mohamed. “Only war cannot defeat al-Shabab.”

As the security minister in the government of former president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Mohamed was among top government officials and advisers who started unsuccessful behind-the-scenes talks with al-Shabab’s leadership.

“During my time as security minister, I helped the start of talks with al-Shabab but my government left office while we were in the early stages of the communication with the group. Now, I think is the right time to resume,” Mohamed said.

Mohamed says starting talks does not mean giving up the fight against the insurgents as long as they keep terrorizing and carrying out attacks, but that testing an approach of negotiating with them has always been possible.

“You know there are signs of progress and hope created by the recent peace talks between the United States and the Taliban. If that is possible, I think the current Somali government can set the stage for a negotiation with al-Shabab,” Mohamed said, drawing a comparison to the Afghan Taliban.

The military front

More than 20,000 African troops under the African Union Mission (AMISOM) and thousands of Somali army and pro-government militias, supported by U.S. airstrikes, have been trying to remove thousands of al-Shabab fighters and assassins from Somalia, but all these efforts have not stopped the groups’ threat in Somalia and beyond.

Last Monday, in a powerful car bomb explosion at a shopping mall in the capital, Mogadishu, the group killed at least 11 people, including a top military official.

The same day al-Shabab gunmen shot and killed the manager of a Dubai-owned port in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region.

Last month, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on the DusitD2 hotel and office complex in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, leaving at least 21 people dead. Al-Shabab has been linked to previous attacks in Kenya. Al-Shabab has targeted Kenya in retribution for Kenya sending troops to Somalia.
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Nigeria’s Health Care Spending Lags Behind Abuja Declaration

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In 2001, the government of Nigeria, along with all African Union countries, pledged to spend 15 percent of its annual budget on health care. But the country has never come close to reaching that goal.

The result is that up to 70 percent of medical spending in Nigeria is out of pocket, forcing many with sudden health problems into debt or poverty.

Ajayi Taiwo is one of those people. Taiwo was involved in a car accident a year ago that injured his right leg and pelvis three weeks before his wedding.

Today, he’s still recovering.

“I actually spent like two … close to two months in the hospital and all the resources we had gathered together for the wedding to make it good actually went into hospital bills,” he said.

Discounts promised, not granted

The government hospital where Taiwo was taken would not grant him discounts promised under Nigeria’s national health care plan.

So he had to sell his car and other valuables to pay for care.

“Imagine — I went to a government hospital and I was paying heavily as if I was in a private hospital,” he said.

​Health care pledge

The 2001 health care pledge made by Nigeria and its fellow African Union countries is called the Abuja Declaration.

But 18 years later, Nigeria’s highest-ever budget share for health care was just 7 percent. Last year, it dropped to less than 4 percent.

The impact is that 70 percent of hospital spending in Nigeria is out-of-pocket, which pushes Nigerians like Taiwo into debt or poverty.

“Having to pay out of pocket is a huge, devastating effect on any family,” said Elijah Miner, a consultant surgeon. “I mean you’ve got to look out for food first for the family, school fees, and other things, just basic things to live and that’s why you find out that a lot of people that end up in the hospital come only when it is late simply because they don’t have the funds.”

Out-of-pocket costs

Nneka Orji is a financial officer in Nigeria’s Ministry of Health. She said the government is partnering with international and private affiliates to make health care more affordable.

“Our out-of-pocket expenditure was estimated at over 70 percent and even the estimate we have for 2017 is even higher,” she said. “So our goal is to use this strategy from the basket funding and making sure with basic minimum package of care to reduce the out-of-pocket expenditure.”

But until Nigeria dramatically increases its health care budget, patients like Taiwo likely face a struggle to stay physically and financially healthy.
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France Keeps Pressure on Italy in Historic EU Dispute

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France’s pro-EU government and Italy’s populist leaders sparred anew Friday, as business giants from both countries appealed for calm amid the neighbors’ biggest diplomatic spat since World War II.

France said the stunning recall of its ambassador to Italy was a temporary move — but an important signal to its historical ally not to meddle in internal French affairs.

In Italy, the deputy prime minister who’s the focus of French anger stood his ground, renewing criticism of France’s foreign policy.

France and Italy are founding members of the European Union, born from the ashes of World War II, and their unusual dispute is rippling around the continent at a time of growing tensions between nationalist and pro-EU forces.

French officials said Friday that this week’s recall of French Ambassador Christian Masset was prompted by months of “unfounded attacks” from Italian government members Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini, who have criticized French President Emmanuel Macron’s economic and migration policies.

Yellow vest meeting

But the main trigger for the crisis appeared to be Di Maio’s meeting in a Paris suburb this week with members of the yellow vests, a French anti-government movement seeking seats in the European Parliament.

French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said the visit violated “the most elementary diplomacy” because it was unannounced. Referring to Italy’s populist leaders, he criticized a “nationalist leprosy” eating away at Europe’s unity and said EU members should “behave better toward partners.”

A participant in the meeting, French activist Marc Doyer, told The Associated Press that it was initiated by Di Maio’s populist 5-Star movement and aimed at sharing advice on how to build a “citizens’ movement.”

Doyer said it provided useful technical and other guidance to potential yellow vest candidates and their supporters, and called the diplomat spat an overreaction.

“It’s a political game by certain people,” he said. “Free movement exists in Europe, and the meeting didn’t cost the French taxpayer anything.”

Di Maio said he had done nothing wrong by meeting with the yellow vest protesters without informing the French government.

 A borderless Europe “shouldn’t just be about allowing free circulation of merchandise and people, but also the free circulation of political forces that have a European outlook,” he said in a Facebook video while visiting Abruzzo.

Di Maio again blamed France for policies in African countries that he said had impeded their growth and fueled the flight of economic migrants to Europe. He also implicitly blamed Paris for the chaos in Libya that has led to years of instability and growth of migrant smuggling networks following France’s involvement in the NATO-led operation in 2011 that ousted former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from power.

Italian Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli, meanwhile, offered France’s yellow vest movement technical advice on launching a version of the 5-Star movement’s online portal, which allows registered party members to vote on policy decisions and candidates.

“If useful, we can offer them a hand and do political activities in service of the French people,” Toninelli said, according to the ANSA news agency.

As the diplomatic spat simmered, a French yellow vest activist known for his extremist views held a gathering Friday in the Italian city of Sanremo.

Economic fears

The standoff was clearly sending jitters through Europe’s business world, given that the two countries are top trading partners and powerhouses of the EU economy. A pressing concern in Italy is the future of struggling national carrier Alitalia, amid rumored interest by Air France in some form of partnership.

Italian opposition leaders seized on a report Friday in business daily Il Sole 24 Ore that the French carrier had cooled on a deal as a result of the standoff. Di Maio, who is also Italy’s economic development minister, pushed back.

“I’ve been following the Alitalia dossier for months. Air France’s enthusiasm hasn’t cooled now,” he said.

The Italian business lobby Confindustria and its French counterpart Medef wrote to their respective leaders calling for “constructive dialogue” to resolve the dispute, which they warned could threaten Europe’s global standing.

“It’s necessary that the two historic protagonists of the process of integration don’t split, but reconfirm their elements of unity,” the presidents of the two groups wrote Macron and Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte. “Europe is an economic giant and we have to work to make it become a political giant as well.”

The two business leaders — Vincenzo Boccia of Confindustria and Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux of Medef — confirmed plans for a joint meeting later this month in Paris.

French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll told the AP that the ambassador recall “is an unprecedented gesture toward a European state that is aimed at making clear that there are things that are not done between neighboring countries, friends and partners within the European Union.”
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British Actor Albert Finney Dies at 82

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Albert Finney, one of the most respected and versatile actors of his generation and the star of films as diverse as “Tom Jones” and “Skyfall,” has died. He was 82.

From his early days as a strikingly handsome and magnetic screen presence to his closing acts as a brilliant character actor, Finney was a British treasure known for charismatic work on both stage and screen.

Finney’s family said Friday that he “passed away peacefully after a short illness with those closest to him by his side.” He died Thursday from a chest infection at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, a cancer treatment center.

Finney burst to international fame in 1963 in the title role of “Tom Jones,” playing a lusty, humorous rogue who captivated audience with his charming, devil-may-care antics.

He excelled in many other roles, including “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning”, a 1960 drama that was part of the “angry young man” film trend.

Finney was a rare star who managed to avoid the Hollywood limelight despite more than five decades of worldwide fame. He was known for skipping awards ceremonies, even when he was nominated for an Oscar.

“Tom Jones” gained him the first of five Oscar nominations. Other nominations followed for “Murder on the Orient Express,” ″The Dresser,” ″Under the Volcano” and “Erin Brockovich.” Each time he fell short.

In later years he brought authority to bid-budget and high-grossing action movies, including the James Bond thriller “Skyfall” and two of the Bourne films. He also won hearts as Daddy Warbucks in “Annie.”

He played an array of roles, including Winston Churchill, Pope John Paul II, a southern American lawyer, and an Irish gangster. There was no “Albert Finney”-type character that he returned to again and again.

In one of his final roles, as the gruff Scotsman, Kincade, in “Skyfall,” he shared significant screen time with Daniel Craig as Bond and Judi Dench as M, turning the film’s final scenes into a master class of character acting.

“The world has lost a giant,” Craig said.

Although Finney rarely discussed his personal life, he said in 2012 that he had been treated for kidney cancer for five years.

He also explained why he had not attended the Academy Awards in Los Angeles even when he was nominated for the film world’s top prize.

“It seems silly to go over there and beg for an award,” he said.

The son of a bookmaker, Finney was born May 9, 1936, and grew up in northern England on the outskirts of Manchester. He took to the stage at an early age, doing a number of school plays and — despite his lack of connections and his working-class roots — earning a place at London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

He credited the headmaster of his local school, Eric Simms, for recommending that he attend the renowned drama school.

“He’s the reason I am an actor,” Finney said in 2012.

Finney made his first professional turn at 19 and appeared in several TV movies.

Soon, some critics were hailing him as “the next Laurence Olivier” — a commanding presence who would light up the British stage. In London, Finney excelled both in Shakespeare’s plays and in more contemporary offerings.

Still, the young man seemed determined not to pursue conventional Hollywood stardom. After an extensive screen test, he turned down the chance to play the title role in director David Lean’s epic “Lawrence of Arabia,” clearing the way for fellow RADA graduate Peter O’Toole to take what became a career-defining role.

But stardom came to Finney anyway in “Tom Jones”.

That was the role that introduced Finney to American audiences, and few would forget the sensual, blue-eyed leading man who helped the film win a Best Picture Oscar. Finney also earned his first Best Actor nomination for his efforts and the smash hit turned him into a Hollywood leading man.

Finney had the good fortune to receive a healthy percentage of the profits from the surprise hit, giving him financial security while he was still in his 20s.

“This is a man from very humble origins who became rich when he was very young,” said Quentin Falk, author of an unauthorized biography of Finney. “It brought him a lot of side benefits. He’s a man who likes to live as well as to act. He enjoys his fine wine and cigars. He’s his own man. I find that rather admirable.”

The actor maintained a healthy skepticism about the British establishment and turned down a knighthood when it was offered, declining to become Sir Albert.

“Maybe people in America think being a ‘Sir’ is a big deal,” he said. “But I think we should all be misters together. I think the ‘Sir’ thing slightly perpetuates one of our diseases in England, which is snobbery.”

He told The Associated Press in 2000 that he would rather be a “mister” than a “Sir.”

Instead of cashing in by taking lucrative film roles after “Tom Jones,” Finney took a long sabbatical, traveling slowly through the United States, Mexico and the Pacific islands, then returned to the London stage to act in Shakespeare productions and other plays. He won wide acclaim before returning to film in 1967 to co-star with Audrey Hepburn in “Two for the Road.”

This was to be a familiar pattern, with Finney alternating between film work and stage productions in London and New York.

Finney tackled Charles Dickens in “Scrooge” in 1970, then played Agatha Christie’s sophisticated sleuth Hercule Poirot in “Murder on the Orient Express” — earning his second Best Actor nomination— and even played a werewolf hunter in the cult film “Wolfen” in 1981.

In 1983, he was reunited with his peer from the “angry young man” movement, Tom Courtenay, in “The Dresser,” a film that garnered both Academy Award nominations.

Finney was nominated again for his role as a self-destructive alcoholic in director John Huston’s 1984 film “Under the Volcano.”

Even during this extraordinary run of great roles, Finney’s life was not chronicled in People or other magazines, although the British press was fascinated with his marriage to the sultry French film star Anouk Aimee.

He played in a series of smaller, independent films for a number of years before returning to prominence in 2000 as a southern lawyer in the film “Erin Brockovich,” which starred Julia Roberts. The film helped introduce Finney to a new generation of moviegoers, and the chemistry between the aging lawyer and his young, aggressive assistant earned him yet another Oscar nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actor.

His work also helped propel Roberts to her first Best Actress Oscar. Still, Finney declined to attend the Academy Awards ceremony — possibly damaging his chances at future wins by snubbing Hollywood’s elite.

Finney also tried his hand at directing and producing and played a vital role in sustaining British theater.

The Old Vic theater said his “performances in plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov and other iconic playwrights throughout the ’60s, ‘70s and ’80s stand apart as some of the greatest in our 200-year history.”

Finney is survived by his third wife, Pene Delmage, son Simon and two grandchildren. Funeral arrangements weren’t immediately known.

 
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Border Officer Shoots Driver; Arizona Port of Entry Closes

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The mayor of Nogales, Arizona, says a port of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border is temporarily closed after a customs officer shot and killed a southbound driver who refused to stop. 

Mayor Arturo Garino tells the Arizona Daily Star that he was told the shooting took place after the truck tried to run over the officer Thursday night.

The truck’s momentum then carried it onto the Mexican side of the buffer zone between the two countries.

Officers of the Mexican equivalent of U.S. Customs and Border Protection reportedly surrounded the truck and discovered the driver dead.

Mexican authorities told the Nogales International newspaper that two men were in the truck and the passenger was arrested.
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Border Officer Shoots Driver; Arizona Port of Entry Closes

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The mayor of Nogales, Arizona, says a port of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border is temporarily closed after a customs officer shot and killed a southbound driver who refused to stop. 

Mayor Arturo Garino tells the Arizona Daily Star that he was told the shooting took place after the truck tried to run over the officer Thursday night.

The truck’s momentum then carried it onto the Mexican side of the buffer zone between the two countries.

Officers of the Mexican equivalent of U.S. Customs and Border Protection reportedly surrounded the truck and discovered the driver dead.

Mexican authorities told the Nogales International newspaper that two men were in the truck and the passenger was arrested.
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Aide: Salvadoran President-Elect to Assess Relationship with China

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Salvadoran President-elect Nayib Bukele will assess whether the country should maintain diplomatic relations with China, a member of his team said on

Thursday, less than a year after the outgoing government broke ties with Taiwan.

During the campaign, Bukele, who emerged victorious at the polls as an outsider candidate on Sunday, was critical of the benefits that El Salvador received after establishing diplomatic relations with China.

Federico Anliker, a close member of the Bukele team and secretary general of his New Ideas party, said the incoming administration would investigate why the outgoing government forged ties with China.

“With the issue of China, China-Taiwan relations, we have to study them and put them in the balance – what is best for the nation, not what is best for a political party, as the (outgoing administration) did,” Anliker told local media on Thursday “We were not consulted, nor did they give us the reasons (for establishing) relations with China. Now we have to investigate in detail,” he continued.

In August, El Salvador broke ties with Taiwan to establish relations with China, following the Dominican Republic and Panama. China later offered El Salvador about $150 million for social projects and 3,000 tons of rice to feed thousands of Salvadorans struck by a drought.

The White House warned in August that China was luring countries with incentives that “facilitate economic dependence and domination, not partnership.”

Anliker also said that Bukele, a 37-year-old former mayor of the capital, expressed his support for Juan Guaido, who proclaimed himself Venezuela’s legitimate head of state in January.

Bukele “would not be willing to support a totalitarian government that represses its people and disrespects human rights,” he said, referring to the administration of President Nicolas Maduro.
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Aide: Salvadoran President-Elect to Assess Relationship with China

ITasLeave a comment

Salvadoran President-elect Nayib Bukele will assess whether the country should maintain diplomatic relations with China, a member of his team said on

Thursday, less than a year after the outgoing government broke ties with Taiwan.

During the campaign, Bukele, who emerged victorious at the polls as an outsider candidate on Sunday, was critical of the benefits that El Salvador received after establishing diplomatic relations with China.

Federico Anliker, a close member of the Bukele team and secretary general of his New Ideas party, said the incoming administration would investigate why the outgoing government forged ties with China.

“With the issue of China, China-Taiwan relations, we have to study them and put them in the balance – what is best for the nation, not what is best for a political party, as the (outgoing administration) did,” Anliker told local media on Thursday “We were not consulted, nor did they give us the reasons (for establishing) relations with China. Now we have to investigate in detail,” he continued.

In August, El Salvador broke ties with Taiwan to establish relations with China, following the Dominican Republic and Panama. China later offered El Salvador about $150 million for social projects and 3,000 tons of rice to feed thousands of Salvadorans struck by a drought.

The White House warned in August that China was luring countries with incentives that “facilitate economic dependence and domination, not partnership.”

Anliker also said that Bukele, a 37-year-old former mayor of the capital, expressed his support for Juan Guaido, who proclaimed himself Venezuela’s legitimate head of state in January.

Bukele “would not be willing to support a totalitarian government that represses its people and disrespects human rights,” he said, referring to the administration of President Nicolas Maduro.
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Court Allows Execution of Muslim Inmate Without Imam Present

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected claims from a Muslim inmate who said his religious rights were being violated, clearing the way for the lethal injection to go forward Thursday night.

In a 5-4 decision, justices vacated a stay issued by a lower court that had been blocking the execution of Dominique Ray, 42. Later Thursday night, Ray was pronounced dead of a lethal injection at the state prison in Atmore.

Ray argued Alabama’s execution procedure favors Christian inmates because a Christian chaplain employed by the prison typically remains in the execution chamber during a lethal injection, but the state would not let his imam be present.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent that the dissenting justice considered the decision to let the execution go forward “profoundly wrong.”

Attorneys for the state said Ray had ample opportunity to visit with his imam before his scheduled execution, that only prison employees are allowed in the chamber for security reasons, and that the imam can visit him before he’s led to the execution chamber and witness the execution from an adjoining room.

Prison system spokesman Bob Horton said Ray was visited by his imam both Wednesday and Thursday and that Ray again renewed a request to have the adviser present, the request that had been denied.

Other states generally allow spiritual advisers to accompany condemned inmates up to the execution chamber but not into it, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which studies capital punishment in the United States.

Durham did not know of any other state where the execution protocol calls for a Christian chaplain to be present in the execution chamber.

Ray was sentenced to death for the slaying of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville. The girl disappeared from her Selma home in July 1995, and her decomposing body was found in a cotton field a month later.

Ray was convicted in 1999 after another man, Marcus Owden, confessed to his role in the crime and implicated Ray. Owden told police that they had picked the girl up for a night out on the town and then raped her. Owden said that Ray cut the girl’s throat. Owden pleaded guilty to murder, testified against Ray and is serving a life sentence without parole.

A jury recommended the death penalty for Ray by an 11-1 vote.

Ray’s attorneys had also asked in legal filings to stay the execution on other grounds. Lawyers say it was not disclosed to the defense team that records from a state psychiatric facility suggested Owden suffered from schizophrenia and delusions.

The Supreme Court also rejected that claim Thursday.
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Court Allows Execution of Muslim Inmate Without Imam Present

ITamLeave a comment

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected claims from a Muslim inmate who said his religious rights were being violated, clearing the way for the lethal injection to go forward Thursday night.

In a 5-4 decision, justices vacated a stay issued by a lower court that had been blocking the execution of Dominique Ray, 42. Later Thursday night, Ray was pronounced dead of a lethal injection at the state prison in Atmore.

Ray argued Alabama’s execution procedure favors Christian inmates because a Christian chaplain employed by the prison typically remains in the execution chamber during a lethal injection, but the state would not let his imam be present.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent that the dissenting justice considered the decision to let the execution go forward “profoundly wrong.”

Attorneys for the state said Ray had ample opportunity to visit with his imam before his scheduled execution, that only prison employees are allowed in the chamber for security reasons, and that the imam can visit him before he’s led to the execution chamber and witness the execution from an adjoining room.

Prison system spokesman Bob Horton said Ray was visited by his imam both Wednesday and Thursday and that Ray again renewed a request to have the adviser present, the request that had been denied.

Other states generally allow spiritual advisers to accompany condemned inmates up to the execution chamber but not into it, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which studies capital punishment in the United States.

Durham did not know of any other state where the execution protocol calls for a Christian chaplain to be present in the execution chamber.

Ray was sentenced to death for the slaying of 15-year-old Tiffany Harville. The girl disappeared from her Selma home in July 1995, and her decomposing body was found in a cotton field a month later.

Ray was convicted in 1999 after another man, Marcus Owden, confessed to his role in the crime and implicated Ray. Owden told police that they had picked the girl up for a night out on the town and then raped her. Owden said that Ray cut the girl’s throat. Owden pleaded guilty to murder, testified against Ray and is serving a life sentence without parole.

A jury recommended the death penalty for Ray by an 11-1 vote.

Ray’s attorneys had also asked in legal filings to stay the execution on other grounds. Lawyers say it was not disclosed to the defense team that records from a state psychiatric facility suggested Owden suffered from schizophrenia and delusions.

The Supreme Court also rejected that claim Thursday.
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Thai King’s Sister a Candidate for Prime Minister

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Thailand’s royalty made an unprecedented move into politics Friday when the sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn was declared a prime ministerial candidate for March 24 elections, registration papers showed.

The nomination of Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi, 67, the elder sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, promised to upend Thailand’s already turbulent politics because it breaks the long-standing tradition of Thai royalty staying out of politics.

Princess Ubolratana will run as a candidate for a party loyal to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra. One of her leading opponents will be Prayuth Chan-ocha, the leader of Thailand’s military junta, who also announced his candidacy Friday.

Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932, but the royal family has wielded great influence and commanded the devotion of millions.

Populists vs. establishment

The election is shaping up as a battle between Thaksin’s populists and their allies and the royalist-military establishment. However, the nomination of a member of the royal family by the pro-Thaksin Thai Raksa Chart party could change that dynamic.

Thai Raksa Chart is an offshoot of the Pheu Thai Party, formed by Thaksin loyalists and the core leadership of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), or “red shirts” group, as a strategy to help Pheu Thai win votes.

The simmering conflict between the Bangkok-centered elites and the more rural-based populists has resulted in street protests, military coups, and violent clashes for almost 15 years.

“The party has nominated the princess as its sole candidate,” Thai Raksa Chart Party leader Preechapol Pongpanich told reporters after registering his party’s candidate at the Election Commission.

“She is knowledgeable and is highly suitable. I believe there will be no legal problems in terms of her qualification, but we have to wait for the Election Commission to endorse her candidacy,” he said.

The Election Commission is required to endorse all candidates by next Friday.

Reuters could not independently confirm whether Princess Ubolratana’s nomination had the approval of the palace.

Prayuth accepted his nomination from the Palang Pracharat Party in an official statement.

“I am not aiming to extending my power but I am doing this for the benefit for the country and the people,” he said.

There was no mention of the princess’s nomination in Prayuth’s statement.

​Europe-born, US educated

Princess Ubolratana, the oldest daughter of King Bhumibol, was born in Lausanne in 1951. She studied mathematics and biochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Princess Ubolratana relinquished her royal titles in 1972 when she married an American, a fellow MIT student Peter Jensen. She lived in the United States for more than 26 years before they divorced in 1998.

She returned permanently to Thailand in 2001, performing royal duties but never regaining her full royal titles. She is referred to as “Tunkramom Ying,” which means “Daughter to the Queen Regent,” and is treated by officials as a member of the royal family.

Princess Ubolratana is known for her “To be Number One” philanthropy campaign, which aims to help young people stay away from drugs, as well as starring in several soap operas and movies.

An avid social media user, she recently posted videos eating street food and another complaining about pollution in Bangkok.
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