Weekend-5-16

News | world at a glance This week
Donald Trump vows to answer
North Korea nuclear threats
with ‘fire and fury’
Last week, Donald Trump vowed to respond to
North Korea with “fire and fury” if it makes any
more threats to attack the United States.
Trump’s comments came after Pyongyang
threatened “physical” retaliation for new
United Nations sanctions – and on a day
when fresh evidence emerged that the North
Koreans have overcome one of the last major
technical obstacles to being able to hit the
US or western Europe with nuclear-armed
missiles.
“North Korea best not make any
more threats to the United States,”
Trump told journalists at his club
in Bedminster, New Jersey. “They
will be met with fire and the fury
like the world has never seen.”
Experts on North Korea
have warned that aggressive
rhetoric could backfire on Trump,
convincing Kim Jong-un that his
regime is in imminent jeopardy
and triggering what he sees as a
pre-emptive attack.
“It is dangerous and reckless and
counterproductive for Donald Trump to
threaten the annihilation of North Korea,” said
Daryl Kimball, the head of the Washingtonbased
Arms Control Association. “What we
need is a dialogue to reduce tension and avoid
catastrophic miscalculation. We are currently
on the road to a conflict and we have to get to
the off-ramp.”
Photo: AFP
Iranian president’s cabinet cuts
Guard from defence ministry
After decisively winning re-election almost three
months ago, Iran’s president on last Tuesday
proposed a new Cabinet for his second term
that cuts out the hard-line Revolutionary Guard
from controlling the Defense Ministry for the
first time in nearly 25 years.
However, Hassan Rouhani’s Cabinet for
now also fails to include women and his
pick for the Justice Ministry is on a European
Union sanctions list over human rights abuse
allegations.
The Cabinet selection shows Rouhani, a
cleric whose stances are moderate compared
to others in the Islamic Republic, remains
pragmatic about how far he can push his
administration that is under the ultimate
control of Supreme Leader Ayatollah.
Photo: AFP
Local
Khaleda gets
permanent
bail in Zia
Orphanage
graft case
The High Court has granted permanent
bail to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia
in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption
case.
The bench of Justice M Enayetur
Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim
passed the order on Wednesday after
holding the final hearing on a ruling
issued by the High Court in 2008.
The court in 2008 issued a rule
asking the government to explain why
the BNP chief should not be granted
regular bail in the case.
The court said if Khaleda misuses
the bail, the trial court concerned may
scrap her bail.
The Anti-Corruption Commission
(ACC) filed the case in 2008 against
six people, including Khaleda and
her eldest son Tarique Rahman, for
allegedly misusing Tk2.1 crore from the
funds of the Zia Orphanage Trust.
In addition, in 2011, the ACC
accused the BNP chief and three others
of misappropriating Tk3.15 crore from
the Zia Charitable Trust Fund.
The orphanage case is under trial at
the Dhaka Special Judges Court 3. •
News: Dhaka Tribune
‘El Chapo’ moves to hire top-flight NY mafia defender
Drug kingpin
Joaquin “El Chapo”
Guzman wants to
dump his US public
defenders for a
quartet of top-flight
criminal defense
lawyers, including
attorneys who got an infamous New York
mafia boss out of prison.
Guzman, one of the world’s most notorious
criminals who twice escaped
prison in his native Mexico, has
moved to hire Jeffrey Lichtman,
Marc Fernich, Eduardo Balarezo
and William Purpura, three of the
lawyers confirmed to AFP.
But there is a sticking point:
the quartet want a guarantee that
US prosecutors will not seize their legal fees
as part of the $14 billion forfeiture they are
seeking of Guzman’s alleged drug profits.
That issue will be discussed at the next court
hearing scheduled August 14, which Fernich
said the private lawyers would attend only as
observers.
“I’ll represent him along with the other three
provided this fee issue is resolved. I expect that
to happen,” Fernich told AFP.
“We are confident we see him vindicated
provided all these preliminary wrangling works
out, we’ll fight the case very hard,” he said.
Photo: AFP
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WEEKEND TRIBUNE | FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2017