‘We proved that Iran lied to the International Atomic Energy Agency with thousands of documents we obtained from Iran's archives,’ says Yossi Cohen
TOKYO -- Japan's national police chief said Thursday he will resign to take responsibility over the fatal shooting of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a campaign speech last month.
National Police Agency Chief Itaru Nakamura's announcement came as his agency released a report on how it failed to protect Abe's life on July 8 when he was assassinated in Nara in western Japan.
The police report found holes in Abe's police protection that allowed the attacker to shoot him from behind.
Nakamura said he took the former prime minister's death seriously and that he submitted his resignation to the National Public Safety Commission earlier Thursday.
“In order to fundamentally reexamine guarding and never to let this happen, we need to have a new system,” Nakamura told a news conference as he announced his intention to step down.
Nakamura did not say when his resignation would be official. Japanese media reported that his resignation is expected to be approved at Friday's Cabinet meeting.
The alleged gunman, Tetsuya Yamagami, was arrested at the scene and is currently under mental evaluation until late November. Yamagami told police that he targeted Abe because of the former leader's link to the Unification Church, which he hated.
Abe sent a video message last year to a group affiliated with the church, which experts say may have infuriated the shooting suspect.
Abe's family paid tribute to him in a private Buddhist ritual Thursday marking the 49th day of his assassination.
In Nara, prefectural police chief Tomoaki Onizuka also expressed his intention to step down over Abe's assassination.
The church, which was founded in South Korea in 1954 and came to Japan a decade later, has built close ties with a host of conservative lawmakers, many of them members of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party on their shared interests of anti-communism.
Since the 1980s, the church has faced accusations of problematic recruiting and religious sales in Japan, and the governing party’s church ties have sent support ratings of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet into a nosedive even after its recent shuffle.
#Bhupendra #Chaudhary #BJP #Chief #Sources
https://www.globalcourant.com/bhupendra-chaudhary-likely-to-be-up-bjp-chief-say-sources/?feed_id=15391&_unique_id=6306b7263de55
‘Humanity’s future is in our hands,’ says Antonio Guterres
A former speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives and his chief of staff were indicted on Tuesday on corruption charges, according to the Justice Department.
The charges allege that former speaker and current State Rep. Glen Casada and his former chief of staff Cade Cothren created a company and a fake persona to receive state funds.
The indictment alleges that Casada and Cothren said the political consulting business they actually owned and profited from was run by a "Matthew Phoenix," but in reality there was no Matthew Phoenix and the men were profiting by diverting state funds to the business.
Casada, a Republican, said earlier this year he would not seek reelection, had resigned from House leadership in August 2019.
The Justice Department alleges the state mailer program was at the center of the corruption. The program allowed $3,000 to be used for sending constituent mail and said any other expenses could be offset by campaign funds.
"Casada and Individual 4 would and did receive kickbacks from Cothren in exchange for using their positions as members of the Tennessee House of Representatives to perform official acts, including pressuring the Tennessee House Speaker's Office and other State officials to approve Phoenix Solutions as a Mailer Program vendor and to disburse State funds to Phoenix Solutions," the indictment said.
Another Tennessee state lawmaker was charged in March with similar crimes, according to DOJ.
They are also charged with bribery and kickbacks concerning programs receiving federal funds, honest services wire fraud; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The scheme, DOJ said, also involved other state representatives but they were not named nor charged in court documents, and the scheme went on for almost three years, according to court documents.
Both men were arrested by the FBI at their houses Tuesday morning, the Justice Department said in a release.
In 2020, these companies and Phoenix Solutions received approximately $51,947 from the State in payments associated with the mailer program, DOJ alleges.
The money laundering charges carry a 20-year prison sentence if those indicted are found guilty and the public corruption and bribery charges carry 10-year sentences.
Casada has not returned ABC News request for comment and there was no lawyer listed on the court docket for Cothren.
Source
https://www.globalcourant.com/former-tennessee-house-speaker-chief-of-staff-indicted-on-corruption-charges/?feed_id=14859&_unique_id=63052704ebc17
Fast News
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
North Korea, Russia-backed separatists to develop 'bilateral cooperation'
North Korea and the Russian-backed separatist Donetsk region of Ukraine will develop "equally beneficial bilateral cooperation", Donetsk separatist head Denis Pushilin has said in a letter to Kim Jong-un, North Korean state media reported.
In July, North Korea recognised the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics in eastern Ukraine's Donbass region, as independent states.
Pushilin wrote a letter to congratulate Kim on the August 15 Korean liberation day, state news agency KCNA reported, two days after reporting a similar message from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Kim.
"The people of the Donbas region, too, are fighting to regain their freedom and justice of history today just as the Korean people did 77 years ago," the report cited Pushilin's letter as saying.
For live updates from Tuesday (August 16), click here
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu paid a visit to President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday.
During the meeting, the TDP chief said his party extended “unconditional support” to Murmu in the presidential elections and congratulated her on the victory, according to a statement from the party.
Naidu is in the national capital to attend the Azadi Ka Amrith Mahotsav, a 75-week grand celebration launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mark 75 years of India’s Independence.
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The BJP has been taking fire from the Opposition over the soaring prices of food, fuel and other commodities. The latest to join the chorus of opprobrium is All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal, who slammed the ruling party’s leaders for their seeming apathy to the common people’s suffering.
Ajmal first trained his guns on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, saying, “India's money is with FM. How will she know how much a person spends to buy?”
He then took a swipe at ministers and MPs from the saffron party for being apparently clueless about how rising prices were affecting the populace, calling on their wives to bring them up to speed. He also had a word of warning for the BJP.
“No inflation for any minister. BJP MPs should ask their wives how're they running the kitchen. Government should take note otherwise inflation will eat up their government in 2024,” the AIUDF chief said.
#WATCH | Guwahati:AIUDF chief says, "...India's money is with FM. How will she know how much a person spends to buy? No inflation for any Min. BJP MPs should ask their wives how're they running the kitchen. Govt should take note otherwise inflation will eat up their Govt in 2024" pic.twitter.com/B1Tk4IChwZ
— ANI (@ANI) August 6, 2022
Opposition parties have targeted the BJP-led Centre on skyrocketing inflation in recent months. Leading the attack is the Congress, whose leaders hit the streets on Friday in a nation-wide protest against price rise and unemployment .
While Congress leaders in Delhi had planned to gherao the prime minister's residence and a protest march to Rashtrapati Bhavan before being rounded up and detained, party workers across the country staged protests and dharnas outside Raj Bhavans.
Wearing black clothes, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi led the charge in Parliament where party MPs took out a protest march and were detained by the police at Vijay Chowk while they were on their way to Rashtrapati Bhavan. Priyanka Gandhi led at the AICC headquarters here, where hundreds were detained by the police amid dramatic standoffs.
While several BJP leaders called the protests an attempt to save the Gandhi family from the Enforcement Directorate probe against them, Home Minister Amit Shah linked the protest in black clothes to the party's "appeasement" politics to convey its opposition to the Ram temple foundation laying by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5, 2020.
Shah said the Congress was using issues like ED action and price rise only as excuses.
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ISLAMABAD: Former chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal on Wednesday challenged the inquiry commission’s proceedings in the court over sexual harassment allegations filed against him.
Complaints against the former NAB chief were filed by Tayyaba Gul and women who approached the missing person commission back when he was heading the commission.
Iqbal’s request for an immediate stay order to halt Lahore High Court’s inquiry has been rejected.
Earlier, the former NAB chief — as the head of the missing person commission — also challenged his summoning by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the Islamabad High Court, following which the IHC issued a stay order.
On August 1, he also challenged the PAC’s decision of limiting his position as the chairman of the missing person's commission.
The petition argued that the minutes of the PAC’s meeting on July 7 should be declared "illegal" and that the committee be restrained from taking disciplinary action.
It should be noted that the federal government, last month, issued a notification announcing the formation of an inquiry commission to investigate sexual harassment allegations levelled at the former NAB chief and others.
The commission is investigating allegations of “sexual offences including assault, harassment, outraging and insulting modesty, misdemeanour, misconduct, misuse and abuse of authority” made by the complainant against the alleged offenders.
As geopolitical tensions reach new highs, and some governments are spending billions on nuclear weapons in a false bid for peace and security, countries must uphold the nearly 80-year norm against the use of nuclear weapons, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in New York on Monday.
The UN chief was speaking at the opening of the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which runs through 26 August.
Mr. Guterres highlighted some of the current challenges to global peace and security, with the world under greater stress due to the climate crisis, stark inequalities, conflicts and human rights violations, as well as the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Disarmament not disunity
He said the meeting is taking place amid these challenges, and at a time of nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War.
"Geopolitical tensions are reaching new highs. Competition is trumping co-operation and collaboration. Distrust has replaced dialogue and disunity has replaced disarmament. States are seeking false security in stockpiling and spending hundreds of billions of dollars on doomsday weapons that have no place on our planet," he said.
Currently, almost 13,000 nuclear weapons are now being held in arsenals around the world, he added.
"All this at a time when the risks of proliferation are growing and guardrails to prevent escalation are weakening. And when crises -- with nuclear undertones -- are festering, From the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula. To the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and to many other factors around the world."
He said today, humanity was "just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation."
A new path
The Secretary-General underlined the importance of the non-proliferation treaty, saying it is needed "as much as ever", while the review meeting provides an opportunity "to put humanity on a new path towards a world free of nuclear weapons."
He outlined five areas for action, starting with reinforcing and reaffirming the norm against the use of nuclear weapons, which requires steadfast commitment from all parties to the treaty.
"We need to strengthen all avenues of dialogue and transparency. Peace cannot take hold in an absence of trust and mutual respect," he said.
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Countries also must "work relentlessly" towards the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, which begins with new commitment to shrink their numbers.
This will also mean reinforcing multilateral agreements and frameworks on disarmament and non-proliferation, which includes the important work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Address 'simmering tensions'
For his third point, Mr. Guterres focused on the need to address the "simmering tensions" in the Middle East and Asia.
"By adding the threat of nuclear weapons to enduring conflicts, these regions are edging towards catastrophe. We need to redouble our support for dialogue and negotiation to ease tensions and forge new bonds of trust in regions that have seen too little," he said.
The Secretary-General also called for promoting the peaceful use of nuclear technology, such as for medical purposes, as a catalyst for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Finally, he urged governments to fulfill all outstanding commitments in the treaty, "and keep it fit-for-purpose in these trying times."
Citing Russia's attacks on Ukraine and tensions on the Korean peninsula and in the Middle East, Guterres said he feared that crises "with nuclear undertones" could escalate.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday targeted National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, saying that he should tell everyone who is spreading religious bigotry in the country. “We were expecting that NSA should tell everyone who are these ‘some elements’ who are spreading bigotry. Why is he mincing words? He should tell,” Owaisi told reporters here today.
Doval on Saturday urged leaders of various faiths to counter the radical forces trying to create animosity in the name of religion and ideology that adversely affects the country and has international ramifications.
“Some people try to create animosity in the name of religion that adversely affects the entire country and also has ramifications internationally,” Doval said at the conference held in the backdrop of a number of incidents of religious discord in the country.
Everyone should raise their voice against religious bigotry, the NSA said at an interfaith conference – organised by the All India Sufi Sajjadanashin Council – which passed a resolution advocating a ban on organisations like Popular Front of India (PFI) for pursuing a “divisive agenda” and indulging in “anti-national activities”.
However, Owaisi did not answer a question on whether the PFI should be banned in the country. The PFI, a radical Islamic outfit, has been on the radar of security agencies over its suspected role in several incidents of riots in the country.
When asked that he is considered the hardliner in the country, Owaisi quipped, “In India, we are the only hardliners and all others are pure.” Owaisi was here to take part in an event. Talking about the political crisis in Sri Lanka, he said the situation was created as the Sri Lankan government hid the unemployment and price rise from people of the country.
“Data should be revealed. We expect that such a situation does not arise in India,” he said. He also alleged that the executive is making efforts to weaken the legislature in the Parliament because of which debates have reduced. In the Monsoon session, 14 bills were introduced in the Parliament and passed in a few minutes. Parliament sittings are held for 60-65 days in a year so in such a case how will the public issues will be raised, he added.
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