17-01-2019

INTERNATIONAL THUrSDAy,
7
JANUJAry 17, 2019
New caravan of Honduran migrants
makes first border crossing
The latest caravan of Honduran
migrants hoping to reach the U.S. has
crossed peacefully into Guatemala,
under the watchful eyes of about 200
Guatemalan police and soldiers.
About 500 people, including dozens of
children, lined up to show their documents
to a first line of unarmed security
personnel at the Agua Caliente border
crossing Tuesday night. Riot police
formed a second line to contain any possible
disturbance, reports UNB.
Edilberto Hernandez, a former police
officer, stood with his wife and four children
to cross into Guatemala. After losing
his job, he could find only low-paid
construction work, and he decided to
travel with his whole family to the United
States.
"We are going out of necessity,
because of the poverty," Hernandez said.
The fate that awaits them at the Mexico-U.S.
border is uncertain. The previous
caravans that were seized upon last
year by U.S. President Donald Trump in
the run-up to the 2018 midterm election
have quietly dwindled, with many having
gone home to Central America or put
down roots in Mexico.
Despite the hard-line immigration
rhetoric by the Trump administration,
many others - nearly half, according to
U.S. Border Patrol arrest records - have
sought to enter the U.S. illegally.
About 6,000 Central Americans
reached Tijuana in November amid conflict
on both sides of the border over
their presence in this Mexican city across
from San Diego. As of Monday, fewer
than 700 migrants remained at a former
outdoor concert venue in Tijuana that
the Mexican government set up as a
shelter to house the immigrants.
Where have they all gone?
The U.S. Border Patrol has made
about 2,600 caravan-related arrests in
its San Diego sector, spokesman Theron
Francisco said, indicating that nearly
half have crossed into the U.S. illegally.
Families are typically released with a
notice to appear in immigration court.
Mexican officials say about 1,300 caravan
members have returned to Central
America. Mexico has issued humanitarian
visas to about 2,900 others, many of
whom are now working legally there
with visas.
US assessment raises concerns
over China attacking Taiwan
Amid increasing tensions
with Beijing, the Pentagon
on Tuesday released a new
report that lays out U.S. concerns
about China's growing
military might, underscoring
worries about a possible
attack against Taiwan,
reports UNB.
Speaking to reporters, a
senior defense intelligence
official said the key concern
is that as China upgrades its
military equipment and
technology and reforms how
it trains and develops troops,
it becomes more confident in
its ability to wage a regional
conflict. And Beijing's leaders
have made it clear that
reasserting sovereignty over
Taiwan is their top priority.
The official added, however,
that although China could
easily fire missiles at Taiwan,
it doesn't yet have the military
capability to successfully
invade the self-governing
island, which split from
mainland China amid civil
war in 1949. The official
spoke on condition of
anonymity in order to provide
more detail on intelligence
findings in the report,
which was written by the
Defense Intelligence Agency.
Its release comes just a
week after Chinese President
Xi Jinping called on his People's
Liberation Army to better
prepare for combat. China
has warned the U.S.
against further upgrading
military ties with Taiwan and
has threatened to use force
against the island to assert
its claim of sovereignty.
Under President Donald
Trump, the U.S. has taken
incremental moves to bolster
ties with the island, including
renewed arms sales and
upgraded contacts between
officials.
U.S.-China tensions have
become increasingly frayed
on the military and economic
fronts over the past
year. Trump imposed tariff
increases of up to 25 percent
on $250 billion of Chinese
imports over complaints
Beijing steals or
pressures companies to
hand over technology.
Venezuela's opposition outlines
roadmap for power transfer
Venezuela's opposition-controlled congress
has declared President Nicolas Maduro "illegitimate,"
moving a step closer to implementing
a plan to challenge the socialist
leader by declaring a caretaker government
and calling early elections, reports UNB.
A resolution adopted Tuesday accuses
Maduro of "usurping" power and says his
administration's acts will no longer carry legal
authority. Another resolution seeks to pry the
military's loyalty away from Maduro by offering
protection to members of the armed forces
who support any transitional government.
"This is a historic accord," said National
Assembly President Juan Guaido, who in less
than two weeks on the job has managed to revitalize
the often out-maneuvered opposition.
However, though weakened by
Venezuela's economic collapse, Maduro so
far has retained the support of the generals
and other government institutions, including
the courts, which previously ruled actions by
the National Assembly invalid.
In invoking an article of the constitution
about the transfer of power, lawmakers
promised to hold early elections if and when
Maduro steps aside, immediately drawing
support from foreign capitals.
In Washington, Sen. Marco Rubio, an influential
voice on U.S. policy toward Latin America,
said it was time for the Trump administration
to recognize Guaido as interim president -
a title that Guaido has not claimed so far.
Vice President Mike Pence called Guaido
and said the U.S. strongly supports his decision
to "declare the country's presidency
vacant."
Tensions in the oil-rich nation have been rising
since Maduro took the oath of office Jan. 10
to begin a second, six-year term that many foreign
governments considered illegitimate
because most popular opposition parties were
banned from running in the May presidential
election and leading opposition politicians
were jailed or driven into exile.
Guaido said last week that he is ready to
step into the presidency temporarily and call
for new elections, but only if he sees support
from the military and common Venezuelans
in nationwide street demonstrations set for
later this month.
The resolution adopted Tuesday laying out
a roadmap for a political transition led by the
National Assembly came amid a frenzy of
legislative activity. Among other measures
approved was the one aimed at weakening
military support for the president.
Maduro has cultivated a stronghold within
the military by appointing generals to powerful
government posts as Venezuela collapsed
into a historic economic and political crisis,
creating steep challenges for the anti-
Maduro politicians.
"It's not going to be simple after 20 years of
repression," Guaido said about the military.
Diego Moya-Ocampos, a Venezuela analyst
with the London-based consulting firm
IHS Global Insight, said the military would
be a key player behind the scenes to drive any
regime change. The opposition is offering the
armed forces incentives to break away rather
than continue supporting Maduro, he said.
Malaysia says it
won't host any
more events
involving Israel
Malaysia's foreign minister
says the government will not
budge over a ban on Israeli
athletes in a para swimming
competition and has decided
that the country will not host
any events in the future
involving Israel, reports UNB.
Malaysia, a strong supporter
of the Palestinian
plight, is among the predominantly
Muslim countries
that do not have diplomatic
relations with Israel.
The government has said
Israeli swimmers cannot
join the competition in July
that serves as a qualifying
event for the 2020 Tokyo
Paralympics.
Foreign Minister Saifuddin
Abdullah said Wednesday
that the Cabinet
affirmed last week that no
Israeli delegates can enter
Malaysia for sporting or other
events. He said the Cabinet
has also decided not to
host any more events involving
Israel "to reflect the government's
firm stance over
the Israeli issue."
Australian prime
minister backs
security treaty
with Vanuatu
Australia's prime minister
has brushed off Vanuatu's
resistance to a bilateral security
treaty after a meeting in
the South Pacific island
nation that comes amid concerns
about growing Chinese
influence in the region,
reports UNB.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison
on Tuesday became the
only Australian leader to visit
Vanuatu apart from Prime
Minister Bob Hawke in 1990.
But Hawke was in the capital
Port Vila to attend the Pacific
Islands Forum, and not for a
bilateral meeting.
The Vanuatu Daily Post
reported Tuesday that Vanuatu
Foreign Minister Ralph
Regenvanu said his government
colleagues "haven't
responded positively yet" to
Australia's proposal for a
bilateral treaty.
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds up his fist to greet members of the Constitutional Assembly next to Assembly
President Diosdado Cabello who starts a special session for Maduro's annual address to the nation, inside the National
Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 14, 2019.
Photo : AP
Attorney General nominee William Barr testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in
Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019.
Photo : AP
Trump's attorney general
nominee : 'I will not be bullied'
Vowing "I will not be bullied,"
President Donald
Trump's nominee for attorney
general asserted independence
from the White
House on Tuesday, saying
he believed that Russia had
tried to interfere in the
2016 presidential election,
that the special counsel
investigation shadowing
Trump is not a witch hunt
and that his predecessor
was right to recuse himself
from the probe, reports
UNB.
The comments by
William Barr at his Senate
confirmation hearing
pointedly departed from
Trump's own views and
underscored Barr's efforts
to reassure Democrats that
he will not be a loyalist to a
president who has
appeared to demand it
from law enforcement. He
also repeatedly sought to
assuage concerns that he
might disturb or upend
special counsel Robert
Mueller's investigation as it
reaches its final stages.
Some Democrats are
concerned about that very
possibility, citing a memo
Barr wrote to the Justice
Department before his
nomination in which he
criticized Mueller's investigation
for the way it was
presumably looking into
whether Trump had
obstructed justice.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of
California, top Democrat
on the Senate Judiciary
Committee, told Barr the
memo showed "a determined
effort, I thought, to
undermine Bob Mueller."
The nominee told senators
he was merely trying to
advise Justice Department
officials against "stretching
the statute beyond what
was intended" to conclude
the president had obstructed
justice.
Though Barr said an
attorney general should
work in concert with an
administration's policy
goals, he broke from some
Trump talking points,
including the mantra that
the Russia probe is a witch
hunt, and said he frowned
on "Lock Her Up" calls for
Hillary Clinton. Trump has
equivocated on Russian
meddling in the 2016 election
and assailed and
pushed out his first attorney
general, Jeff Sessions,
Iran satellite fails to reach
orbit in US-criticized launch
An Iranian satellite-carrying
rocket blasted off into space
Tuesday, but scientists failed
to put the device into orbit in
a launch criticized by the
United States as helping the
Islamic Republic further
develop its ballistic missile
program, reports UNB.
After the launch, Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo repeated
his allegation that Iran's
space program could help it
develop a missile capable of
carrying a nuclear weapon to
the mainland U.S., criticism
that comes amid the Trump
administration's maximalist
approach against Tehran
after withdrawing from the
nuclear deal.
Iran, which long has said it
does not seek nuclear
weapons, maintains its satellite
launches and rocket tests
do not have a military component.
Tehran also says they
don't violate a United Nations
resolution that only "called
upon" it not to conduct such
tests.
The rocket carrying the
Payam satellite failed to reach
the "necessary speed" in the
third stage of its launch,
Telecommunications Minister
Mohammad Javad Azari
Jahromi said.
Jahromi said the rocket had
successfully passed its first
and second stages before
developing problems in the
third. That suggests something
went wrong after the
rocket pushed the satellite out
of the Earth's atmosphere. He
did not elaborate on what
caused the failure, but promised
that Iranian scientists
would continue their work.
Iran had said that it plans to
send two nonmilitary satellites,
Payam and Doosti, into
orbit. The Payam, which
means "message" in Farsi,
was an imagery satellite that
Iranian officials said would
help with farming and other
activities.
It's unclear how the failure
of the Payam will affect the
launch timing for the Doosti,
which means "friendship."
Jahromi wrote on Twitter
that "Doosti is waiting for
orbit," without elaborating.
Tuesday's launch took place
at Imam Khomeini Space
Center in Iran's Semnan
province, a facility under the
control of the country's
Defense Ministry, Jahromi
said. Satellite images published
last week and first
reported by CNN showed
activity at the launch site. Given
the facility's launching corridor,
the satellite likely fell in
the Indian Ocean.
Iranian state television
aired footage of its reporter
narrating the launch of the
Simorgh rocket, shouting
over its roar that it sent "a
message of the pride, selfconfidence
and willpower of
Iranian youth to the world!"
for recusing because of his
work with the Trump campaign.
Barr stated without hesitation
that it was in the
public interest for Mueller
to finish his investigation
into whether the Trump
campaign coordinated
with the Kremlin to sway
the presidential election.
He said he would resist any
order by Trump to fire
Mueller without cause and
called it "unimaginable"
that Mueller would do anything
to require his termination.
"I believe the Russians
interfered or attempted to
interfere with the election,
and I think we have to get
to the bottom of it," Barr
said during the nine-hour
hearing.
In this frame grab from Iranian state TV, a video, a rocket carrying a Payam satellite is launched at Imam Khomeini Space Center,
a facility under the control of the country's Defense Ministry, in Semnan province, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. Photo : AP
Experts call for cracking
down on illegal disposal
of e-waste in China
Experts have called for efforts
to streamline China's collection
system of e-waste and
crack down on illegal disposal
of unwanted household appliances,
the China Daily reported
Wednesday, reports UNB.
A large quantity of electronic
waste in China is collected
by small businesses before
being sold and dismantled
illegally by unqualified companies
that spend little on pollution
control, said the report.
The existence of such trade
link is criticized by experts for
making the cost of recycling e-
waste by licensed recyclers too
high and leaving the companies
who are willing to treat the waste
properly much lower profit margins
than illegal recyclers.
Yu Keli, secretary-general
of the electronic products
division of the China
National Resources Recycling
Association, suggested
setting up public collection
points where families could
leave their home appliances
to be sent directly to licensed
recyclers, according to the
report.