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Kamis, 04 Juli 2019

Eva Kor, Holocaust survivor, dies peacefully at age 85 - Fox News

FILE - In this April 21, 2015, file photo, Auschwitz survivor Eva Kor sits in a courtroom in Lueneburg, northern Germany. Kor, who championed forgiveness even for those who carried out the Holocaust atrocities, died Thursday morning, July 4, 2019, in Krakow, Poland. (Julian Stratenschulte/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Eva Kor, a Holocaust survivor who founded the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Educational Center in Indiana, died peacefully on Thursday during her annual trip to Poland. She was 85.

Kor, a Jewish native of Romania, was sent to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944, where most of her family was killed.

Kor and her twin sister, Miriam Mozes Zeiger, survived but were subjected to inhumane medical experiments by Nazi doctor Josef Mengele before they were rescued in 1945.

LIBERAL SITE RIPS HOLOCAUST MUSEUM FOR ITS 'DREADFUL' INTERVENTION IN 'CONCENTRATION CAMPS' DEBATE

Zeiger died in June 1993.

A longtime resident of Terre Haute, Indiana, Kor preached forgiveness, even to the Nazis who tortured her and her sister.

She spent the past 40 years sharing her story with students, teachers, doctors, senators, historians and civic groups both nationally and internationally.

In 1995, Kor opened the CANDLES museum to prevent prejudice and hatred through education about the Holocaust. In 2003, the museum was destroyed by an arsonist. Kor vowed to rebuild and, with the public's help, reopened the museum in 2005.

"Eva Kor has touched hundreds of thousands of people over her 85 years through her message of overcoming tragedy, finding forgiveness, and healing," the CANDLES museum said in a statement. "We hope Eva's story continues to change the lives of those who hear it for many years to come."

Museum officials said the center will be closed until Tuesday in honor of Kor's memory.

In 2017, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb awarded Kor the Sachem Award, the state's highest honor.

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Holcomb tweeted Thursday that "the world just lost a giant."

"Everywhere she went, Eva brought light into darkness & provided comfort to those in pain, unlike anyone we've ever met. From her against all odds survival as a young girl in Auschwitz to her peace-spreading message based from home in Terre Haute, Indiana, her relentless and optimistic example inspired the world. Her angelic spirit will live on in the countless souls she saved from ongoing confusion and torment," Holcomb tweeted.

A public memorial service will be planned.

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https://www.foxnews.com/us/eva-kor-holocaust-survivor-dies-peacefully-at-age-85

2019-07-04 17:27:39Z
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Hong Kong Police Make First Wave of Protest Arrests - Wall Street Journal

Graffiti and umbrellas are seen outside the main chamber of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong on July 3. Photo: anthony wallace/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Chuin-Wei Yap

The Wall Street Journal

Biography
@YapCW

Updated July 4, 2019 12:56 pm ET

HONG KONG—Police arrested and charged a dozen protesters suspected of involvement in antigovernment clashes and widened a hunt for others who joined a rampage through the city’s legislature.

The arrests signal that the government is pressing a newfound advantage, after it was caught off-guard by a wave of popular rallies that scotched its attempt to drive through an unpopular extradition law. Officials were forced to suspend the bill, which would have moved the semiautonomous city closer within Beijing’s legal jurisdiction. The concession emboldened younger activists to challenge the government more strongly.

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But Monday’s violent storming of the legislature, broadcast blow by blow on live television, shocked swaths of the city. Though many still say they understand that protesters were driven to frustration by the government’s intransigence, the mayhem handed an opening to Hong Kong’s government to take a tougher approach.

Beijing on Tuesday voiced its displeasure with the protests, calling the occupation of the legislature a challenge to the political arrangement that gives Hong Kong its limited autonomy—a suggestion that China would directly intervene if events spiral beyond Hong Kong’s control.

Police said Thursday that the 12 people who were arrested range in age from 14 to 36. They were charged with offenses including possession of offensive weapons, unlawful assembly and assaulting and obstructing a police officer. The charges relate to a confrontation between hundreds of protesters and police outside a flag-raising ceremony Monday morning to commemorate Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule from the British in 1997.

The charges against the 12 people relate to a confrontation between protesters and police outside a flag-raising ceremony Monday. Photo: tyrone siu/Reuters

Hong Kong’s handling of the unrest, and the Chinese government’s tightening grip on the city, have fueled a diplomatic spat between Beijing and London.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, one of two candidates to become the next prime minister, earlier this week called on Beijing not to use the protests as a “pretext for repression,” and urged the Chinese government to honor a 1984 agreement between the two countries to uphold the city’s autonomy.

“He seems to be basking in the faded glory of British colonialism,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a media briefing Wednesday. “The U.K. considers itself as a guardian, which is nothing but a delusion.”

The barbs continued as China’s ambassador to London, Liu Xiaoming, called a press conference to extend Beijing’s criticism of Mr. Hunt’s comments. In response, Britain’s Foreign Office summoned Mr. Liu for a dressing down.

The Chinese government has for years regarded the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration as “a historic document without realistic meaning,” state-run Xinhua News Agency said.

Two weeks ago in Hong Kong, police took an almost entirely hands-off approach as thousands of mostly young protesters surrounded and barricaded its headquarters, pelting the building with eggs and defacing its walls.

On Wednesday, police said officers had collected a large amount of evidence from the legislature building and were preparing to track down protesters involved in the storming of the Legislative Council on Monday.

“We will follow up on all illegal and violent acts,” the police statement said.

Protesters are planning another march on Sunday in a shopping area in Hong Kong frequented by mainland Chinese tourists, aimed at raising awareness among Chinese people of the recent events in Hong Kong.

—Max Colchester in London and Yoko Kubota in Beijing contributed to this article.

Write to Chuin-Wei Yap at chuin-wei.yap@wsj.com

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-police-make-first-wave-of-arrests-after-protests-11562240165

2019-07-04 16:56:00Z
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Britain seizes tanker suspected of carrying oil to Syria, which could exacerbate Iran tensions - NBC News

LONDON — British Royal Marines seized an oil tanker in Gibraltar on Thursday accused of bringing oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions, a dramatic step that could escalate confrontation between the West and Iran.

The Grace 1 tanker was impounded in the British territory at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea after sailing around Africa from the Middle East.

Shipping data reviewed by Reuters suggests it had been loaded with Iranian oil off the coast of Iran, although its documents say the oil is from neighboring Iraq.

The authorities in Gibraltar made no reference to the source of the oil when they seized it under the authority of European sanctions against Syria that have been in place for years.

But the likelihood that the cargo was Iranian drew a link between the incident and a new U.S. effort to halt all global sales of Iranian crude, which Tehran has described as an illegal "economic war" against it.

European countries have tried to stay neutral in that confrontation, which saw the United States call off air strikes against Iran just minutes before impact last month, and Tehran amass stocks of enriched uranium banned under a 2015 nuclear deal.

In a statement, the Gibraltar government said it had reasonable grounds to believe that the Grace 1 was carrying its shipment of crude oil to the Baniyas refinery in Syria.

"That refinery is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria," Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said. "With my consent, our port and law enforcement agencies sought the assistance of the Royal Marines in carrying out this operation."

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May welcomed Gibraltar's move, though the incident could also signal some tensions within Europe.

July 3, 201901:29

Spain, which challenges British ownership of Gibraltar, said the action was prompted by a U.S. request to Britain and appeared to have taken place in Spanish waters. Britain's Foreign Office did not respond to a request for comment.

July 3, 201901:29

While Europe has banned oil shipments to Syria since 2011, it had never seized a tanker at sea.

"This is the first time that the EU has done something so public and so aggressive. I imagine it was also coordinated in some manner with the U.S. given that NATO member forces have been involved," said Matthew Oresman, a partner with law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman who advises firms on sanctions.

"This is likely to have been meant as a signal to Syria and Iran — as well as the U.S. — that Europe takes sanctions enforcement seriously and that the EU can also respond to Iranian brinkmanship related to ongoing nuclear negotiations."

Iran has long been supplying its allies in Syria with oil despite such sanctions.

But U.S. sanctions have been tightened sharply since May, effectively forcing Iran off of mainstream crude markets, making it desperate for alternative ways to sell oil and more reliant on its tanker fleet to store supplies it cannot sell. The sanctions have also choked off Tehran's Syrian allies, causing fuel shortages in government-controlled areas.

Ship mapping records from data firm Refinitiv show that in the latest case the Grace 1 sailed to the Mediterranean around the southern tip of Africa, instead of via Egypt's Suez Canal. The 300,000-tonne Panamanian-flagged tanker is registered as being managed by Singapore-based IShips Management Pte Ltd. Reuters was unable to establish contact with them for comment.

It was documented as loading fuel oil in the Iraqi port of Basra in December, though Basra did not list it as being in port and its tracking system was switched off. The tanker then reappeared on tracking maps near Iran's port of Bandar Assalyeh, fully loaded.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/britain-seizes-tanker-suspected-carrying-oil-syria-which-could-exacerbate-n1026601

2019-07-04 15:36:00Z
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Gibraltar Seizes Syria-Bound Tanker Thought to Be Carrying Iranian Oil - The New York Times

LONDON — The authorities in Gibraltar on Thursday detained a supertanker that they said was carrying crude oil to Syria, a violation of European Union sanctions against Syria.

Spain said the vessel had been detained at the request of the United States, and Iran summoned the British ambassador over what a Foreign Ministry spokesman called an “illegal” seizure. American and British officials had no immediate response on Thursday.

Shipping experts said that the tanker, the Grace 1, appeared to be carrying Iranian cargo in the Strait of Gibraltar, in an apparent attempt to circumvent United States sanctions imposed by President Trump to choke off Iran’s exports of oil and petrochemical products.

Companies that monitor international shipping say that the vessel turned off its electronic tracking devices as it sailed into Iranian waters, then turned them on again after leaving — a tactic often used to evade the sanctions, though ships can still be followed through satellite photography.

[Read about other ships vanishing in plain sight to evade sanctions on Iran.]

The government of Gibraltar, a British territory contested by Spain, declined to comment on the cargo’s origin, but addressed its destination.

“We have reason to believe that the Grace 1 was carrying its shipment of crude oil to the Banyas Refinery in Syria,” Fabian Picardo, chief minister of Gibraltar, said in a statement. “That refinery is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria.”

Spain’s acting foreign minister, Josep Borrell, told Spanish news media that the oil tanker had been seized following “a request from the United States to the United Kingdom.”

Mr. Borrell, who is set to take over as the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said that the Spanish government had been kept informed about the seizure, and would study whether it violated its territorial water claims. Spain does not recognize Britain’s sovereignty over Gibraltar, which dates to a 1713 treaty.

“We’re looking at which way this affects our sovereignty, in as far as it took place in waters whose sovereignty we understand to belong to Spain,” Mr. Borrell said, according to the Europa Press news agency and other news reports.

A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Sayed Abbas Mousavi, said in a post on Twitter, that Britain’s ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, had been summoned to the Iranian Embassy over the seizure of the vessel.

The British Foreign Office had no immediate response on Thursday afternoon. The United States National Security Council also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Samir Madani, a co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, which follows maritime traffic using satellite data, said the ship was anchored near the Iranian oil terminal at Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf in mid-April. Later, he said, it sat deep in the water, indicating that it was carrying oil from Iran.

The tanker, which exceeds the size limits for the Suez Canal, sailed around Africa to reach the Mediterranean, ending up in Gibraltar for unexplained reasons.

“For some odd reason they decided to go to Gibraltar,” Mr. Madani said.

Various shipping websites list the tanker as a 300,000-ton vessel more than 1,000 feet long, built in the 1990s and flying the flag of Panama.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/04/world/middleeast/oil-tanker-gibraltar-syria-iran.html

2019-07-04 14:27:00Z
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Gibraltar Seizes Syria-Bound Tanker Thought to Be Carrying Iranian Oil - The New York Times

LONDON — The authorities in Gibraltar on Thursday detained a supertanker that they said was carrying crude oil to Syria, a violation of European Union sanctions against Syria.

The government of Gibraltar, a British territory contested by Spain, declined to comment on the cargo’s origin, but addressed its destination.

Spain’s acting foreign minister, Josep Borrell, told Spanish news media that the oil tanker had been seized following “a request from the United States to the United Kingdom.”

The British Foreign Office had no immediate response on Thursday afternoon. The United States National Security Council also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The tanker, which exceeds the size limits for the Suez Canal, sailed around Africa to reach the Mediterranean, ending up in Gibraltar for unexplained reasons.

“For some odd reason they decided to go to Gibraltar,” Mr. Madani said.

Various shipping websites list the tanker as a 300,000-ton vessel more than 1,000 feet long, built in the 1990s and flying the flag of Panama.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/04/world/middleeast/oil-tanker-gibraltar-syria-iran.html

2019-07-04 14:26:15Z
CAIiEJW47lTVCk5QmAkD6qdfdlQqFwgEKg8IACoHCAowjuuKAzCWrzwwt4QY

Gibraltar Detains Syria-Bound Tanker Thought to Be Carrying Iranian Oil - The New York Times

LONDON — The authorities in Gibraltar on Thursday detained a supertanker that they said was carrying crude oil to Syria, in violation of European Union sanctions against Syria.

Shipping experts said that the tanker, the Grace 1, appeared to be carrying Iranian cargo, in an apparent attempt to circumvent United States sanctions imposed by President Trump to choke off Iran’s exports of oil and petrochemical products.

The government of Gibraltar, a British territory, declined to comment on the cargo’s origin, but addressed its destination.

Spain’s acting foreign minister, Josep Borrell, told Spanish news media that the oil tanker had been seized following “a request from the United States to the United Kingdom.”

The tanker, which exceeds the size limits for the Suez Canal, sailed around Africa to reach the Mediterranean, ending up in Gibraltar for unexplained reasons.

“For some odd reason they decided to go to Gibraltar,” Mr. Madani said.

Various shipping websites list the tanker as a 300,000-ton vessel more than 1,000 feet long, built in the 1990s and flying the flag of Panama.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/04/world/middleeast/oil-tanker-gibraltar-syria-iran.html

2019-07-04 12:19:03Z
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Alek Sigley: Why Sweden helped free Australian student in N Korea - BBC News

When Australian student Alek Sigley went missing in North Korea last week, Canberra turned to a country more than 15,000km (9,320 miles) away for help.

The Scandinavian nation of Sweden has a long history of acting as diplomatic intermediary in the isolated dictatorship - a so-called "protecting power" for several Western nations.

On Thursday, it emerged that negotiations to free the 29-year-old had been successful. It's still unclear why he was detained.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison thanked Sweden for its help, expressing his "deepest gratitude to the Swedish authorities for their invaluable assistance."

Australia, like most Western nations, doesn't have its own embassy in the closed-off country. But Sweden does and has for nearly 50 years.

In fact, it became first Western country to establish formal diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1973. The UK, in comparison, first sent an ambassador to North Korea only in 2002.

Negotiating the release of Mr Sigley - who studies Korean literature at Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang - is not the first time Sweden has helped other countries with tricky diplomatic affairs.

It has in the past represented British interests in Iran when relations with Tehran have broken down, including in 1989 when Iran's supreme leader issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill the novelist Salman Rushdie.

A history of neutrality

Stockholm's special role is based on a long tradition of neutrality. This dates back to the early 19th Century, when Sweden took the position that it was best to be free of military alliances in peacetime so it could stay neutral if war broke out.

That meant that during the Cold War between the communist eastern and capitalist western blocs, Sweden tried to take a neutral middle position.

It similarly took a neutral position on the Korean peninsula. At the end of the Korean War in 1953, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission - comprised of Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and Czechoslovakia - was set up to oversee the armistice that ended the Korean war.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, North Korea expelled the Polish and Czechoslovakian observers in the 1990s.

"[But] the Swiss and Swedes [were] still there. This [caused] both countries to take a greater role in Korea than otherwise," Fyodor Tertitskiy, an expert on North Korea, told the BBC.

Prisoner releases

Sweden's role as an intermediary with Pyongyang has included handling consular affairs for the United States.

"Sweden has agreed with the US to represent the consular interest of [its] nationals in the DPRK," former deputy head of mission at the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang Martina Aberg Somogyi told specialist North Korea site NK News last year.

"If it comes to our attention that a US national is in need of support we will offer this to the best of our ability and work as hard we can to resolve that situation."

Washington - like Canberra - has no North Korean embassy or consulate and Sweden acts as what is known in diplomatic parlance as a "protecting power".

Ahead of the landmark Trump-Kim summit in Singapore in 2018, North Korea's foreign minister even flew to Sweden for talks.

Sweden has also often helped with the release of US citizens held by the North.

The most high-profile recent case was that of US student Otto Warmbier, who was jailed in North Korea in 2016 after being accused of stealing a propaganda sign during an organised tour.

He spent 17 months in detention, and later died days after he was returned to the US in a coma.

Ms Somogyi said helping foreign citizens had "definitely been some of the most challenging work that me and my colleagues have engaged in on a professional but also personal level".

Diplomatic life in Pyongyang

Sweden's role in North Korea is not limited to helping Westerners in distress. It also performs other functions, such as following up on Swedish humanitarian assistance to North Korea and issuing visas to North Korean residents travelling to Europe's Schengen area.

There are currently two Swedish diplomats based full-time in Pyongyang.

But those who have worked in the embassy say that there is still a lack of mutual understanding between North Koreans and Swedes.

"New initiatives and ideas are always met with deep suspicion," Swedish diplomat August Borg told NK News in 2015.

"Even if we just want to visit a project that Sweden is financing, preparations need to be made a long time ahead."

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48864807

2019-07-04 12:12:10Z
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Kamis, 04 Juli 2019

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A history of neutrality

Prisoner releases

Diplomatic life in Pyongyang