Iran calls for 'firm' response after Iraqi protesters storm and torch consulate - CNN

The Iranian statement comes amid ongoing demonstrations in Iraq against government corruption, and a rejection of Iranian involvement in the country's affairs.

On Thursday, 13 protesters were killed in the city of Nasariyah with 75 people injured, a security official and a medic told CNN on condition of anonymity, as they are not authorized to speak to the media. Authorities imposed a curfew on Nasariyah, which lies more than 200 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi expressed "hatred" for the rioters who stormed and torched the consulate on Wednesday. Mousavi called on the Iraqi government to deal with the "perpetrators of the attack responsibly, firmly and effectively," according to an Iranian foreign affairs ministry statement released on Thursday.

Iran's diplomatic staff evacuated the consulate before the attack, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said Thursday. This is the second attack on an Iranian embassy in Iraq after its office in the Shia holy city of Karbala was attacked last month.

More than 300 people have been killed and 15,000 injured in Iraq since the start of anti-government protests on October 1.

Protests have erupted in Baghdad and in several Shiite provinces in the south over unemployment, alleged government corruption and a lack of basic services.

Following the deadly government crackdown, however, protesters have demanded the government to step down and hold early elections under direct supervision of the United Nations, activists told CNN.

Many Iraqis blame the current political parties in power for their economic hardship. The scale of the protests, believed to be the biggest since the fall of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003, took the government by surprise.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi agreed to resign on October 31 after weeks of anti-government protests.

Besides using lethal force, officials have imposed curfews and internet blackouts in attempts to quash the protests. The government said it only shoots when attacked, but demonstrators have disputed that.

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2019-11-28 13:56:00Z
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Iran calls for 'firm' response after Iraqi protesters storm and torch consulate - CNN

The Iranian statement comes amid ongoing demonstrations in Iraq against government corruption, and a rejection of Iranian involvement in the country's affairs.

On Thursday, 13 protesters were killed in the city of Nasariyah with 75 people injured, a security official and a medic told CNN on condition of anonymity, as they are not authorized to speak to the media. Authorities imposed a curfew on Nasariyah, which lies more than 200 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi expressed "hatred" for the rioters who stormed and torched the consulate on Wednesday. Mousavi called on the Iraqi government to deal with the "perpetrators of the attack responsibly, firmly and effectively," according to an Iranian foreign affairs ministry statement released on Thursday.

Iran's diplomatic staff evacuated the consulate before the attack, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said Thursday. This is the second attack on an Iranian embassy in Iraq after its office in the Shia holy city of Karbala was attacked last month.

More than 300 people have been killed and 15,000 injured in Iraq since the start of anti-government protests on October 1.

Protests have erupted in Baghdad and in several Shiite provinces in the south over unemployment, alleged government corruption and a lack of basic services. Following the deadly government crackdown, however, protesters have demanded the government to step down and hold early elections under direct supervision of the United Nations, activists told CNN.

Many Iraqis blame the current political parties in power for their economic hardship. The scale of the protests, believed to be the biggest since the fall of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003, took the government by surprise.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi agreed to resign on October 31 after weeks of anti-government protests.

Besides using lethal forces, officials have imposing curfews and internet blackouts in attempts to quash the protests. The government said it only shoots when attacked, but demonstrators have disputed that.

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2019-11-28 12:11:00Z
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North Korea launches short-range projectiles toward Japan, South Korea says - CBS This Morning

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2019-11-28 12:27:01Z
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Protesters celebrate a victory after Trump signs Hong Kong human rights act - CNN

Trump signed an act in support of the protest movement despite a potential backlash from Beijing that could derail delicate US-China trade talks, after it was passed almost unanimously by both houses of Congress.

Anti-government protesters in the semi-autonomous Chinese city have long campaigned in favor of the bill -- which would permit Washington to impose sanctions or even suspend Hong Kong's special trading status over rights violations. Trump's decision to sign the act gives the movement a second major symbolic victory in a matter of days.

On Sunday, pro-democracy candidates scored a landslide victory in district council elections, framed as a de-facto referendum on the protest movement, which began in June in opposition to a controversial extradition bill but has grown to include demands for greater democratic freedoms and inquiries into alleged police brutality.

Activists and pro-democracy politicians in the city celebrated online after Trump signed the bill, with former lawmaker Nathan Law calling it a "timely Thanksgiving present."

Shortly after the bill was signed into law, China's Foreign Ministry accused the US of "bullying behavior," "disregarding the facts" and "publicly supporting violent criminals."

"We urge the United States not to insist on going down this path, or China would firmly strike back and the United States would have to bear all consequences," the statement read.

The Chinese government also summoned the US envoy to China, Ambassador Terry Branstad, to "lodge solemn representation and strong protest" over the measure.

There are concerns that Beijing and Washington's disagreement over Hong Kong could affect trade negotiations between China and the US, as the two sides previously appeared to be nearing the initial stages of a deal. Asian markets dropped slightly after Trump signed the bill, a sign that investors may be worried about how the law could affect talks.

While the unrest in Hong Kong began with peaceful mass marches, as the movement has dragged on, protests have gotten increasingly violent, and the last two weeks saw several universities occupied by demonstrators.

The most intense standoff -- between police and protesters around the centrally located campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) -- appears to be coming to an end.

A government "safety team" entered the campus Thursday to begin cleaning up, likely to be a painstaking process because of the hundreds of unused petrol bombs scattered around the school's grounds.

What happens next?

Though the Hong Kong legislation was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in Washington, it's unlikely to have any immediate, tangible effect.

The main bill that Trump signed into law, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, requires the State Department to annually review whether the city is "sufficiently autonomous" to justify its special trading status with the US.

If it is found not to be, the law could result in Washington withdrawing that status, which would be a massive blow to Hong Kong's economy.

The bill also lays out a process for the President to impose sanctions and travel restrictions on those who are found to be knowingly responsible for arbitrary detention, torture and forced confession of any individual in Hong Kong, or other violations of internationally recognized human rights in the Asian financial hub.

There is no indication however that Trump intends to enact any of the powers in the act anytime soon, and in a statement, the White House said it would only enforce parts of the law because "certain provisions of the Act would interfere with the exercise of the President's constitutional authority to state the foreign policy of the United States."

There is also concern that any change to the US-Hong Kong trade relationship could disproportionately affect average Hong Kongers, rather than Beijing or the city's leaders.

The US is Hong Kong's second biggest partner in terms of total trade, according to figures from the Hong Kong government. Washington exported $50 billion worth of goods and services to the territory in 2018, US figures show.

Susan Thornton, who served as the State Department's top Asia diplomat early in the Trump administration, said in an interview last month that she worried the legislation could end up "punishing exactly the wrong people."

A companion piece of legislation passed by Trump bans the export of certain crowd control items to Hong Kong, like tear gas and rubber bullets -- gear that the city could also buy from mainland China.

Hong Kong police have fired around 10,000 rounds of tear gas and about 4,800 rubber bullets during the months of unrest, the city's security minister John Lee said Wednesday. He added that more than 5,800 people have been arrested since June in relation to the protests.

In a statement after Trump signed the bills into law, the Hong Kong government said they were "unreasonable" and would "send an erroneous signal to protesters, which is not conducive to alleviating the situation in Hong Kong."

Both Beijing and Hong Kong accused Washington of intervening in the city's and China's internal affairs.

Sen. Marco Rubio, who authored the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, has previously denied that charge.

"Our treatment of Hong Kong is an internal matter. It's a matter of our own public policy," Rubio said in an interview with CNBC. "We have a right to change our law."

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2019-11-28 11:52:00Z
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Iraq security forces kill protesters in Nasiriya, army deploys - Al Jazeera English

Baghdad, Iraq - At least 14 people have been killed after security forces used live ammunition and tear gas canisters to disperse anti-government protesters in the southern city of Nasiriya, medical sources and witnesses told Al Jazeera.

Authorities in the capital Baghdad dispatched troops to southern Iraq, which has seen massive protests for weeks, to "restore order" there, the military said in a statement on Thursday.

More:

Security sources told Al Jazeera that at least 120 others were wounded in the crackdown on protests in Nasiriya on Thursday, a day after the Iranian consulate was set on fire in Shia holy city of Najaf.

Several of the wounded are believed to be in critical condition. Medical sources, however, have told Al Jazeera that the death toll has gone up to 18 but it has yet to be confirmed by officials.

The raid on the Iranian consulate was the strongest expression of anti-Iranian sentiment by Iraqi protesters, who have taken to the streets in Baghdad and Iraq's mainly Shia south since early October.

More than 360 people have been killed and more than 15,000 wounded so far, according to an AFP news agency tally.

Southern Iraq and Baghdad have been gripped by an escalating wave of anti-government demonstrations demanding an overhaul of the ruling system, seen as corrupt, sectarian and inefficient.

Iran demands action

Responding to the attack on its consulate in Najaf, Iran demanded that Iraq take decisive action against "aggressors" behind the arson attack.

The foreign ministry spokesperson, Abbas Mousavi, quoted by state news agency IRNA, condemned the attack and "demanded decisive, effective and responsible action... against destructive agents and aggressors".

"Iran has officially communicated its disgust to the Iraq ambassador in Tehran," he said.

The Najaf consulate was set ablaze late on Wednesday after anti-government protesters moved away from the centre of the city and into side streets near the consulate, two witnesses told Al Jazeera.

"The protesters were holding a demonstration in central Najaf when a group started to close off main roads and set the tires of police cars ablaze.

"The security forces responded using tear gas and sound bombs to disperse the protesters who ran towards the Iranian embassy," a witness told Al Jazeera.

"The protesters were angered by the security forces trying to disperse the demonstration. They started burning tires near the consulate and eventually set the consulate ablaze, minutes after the consulate staff evacuated the building," said the source.

As the consulate is near the home of the leading Iraqi Shia authority Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, locals moved to surround his home in an attempt to protect it from being targeted, witnesses told Al Jazeera.

Responding to the incidents, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a commander in the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces - Hashd al-Shaabi - an umbrella group of Iraq's mostly Shia militias, warned in a statement on Wednesday that the group would take action against any protesters who target al-Sistani.

"We will cut their hands off," he warned in a statement share in Iraqi media.

Message to Iran

The incident is the second of its kind this month, after Iraqi protesters attacked the Iranian consulate in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala on November 4.

Three people were shot dead after security forces opened fire on the demonstrators who tried to climb the consulate walls, demanding that Iran stop interfering in Iraq's internal affairs.

Commenting on the developments, Iraqi analyst Jasim Moussawi told Al Jazeera that protesters setting the consulate ablaze was an attempt to tarnish historical relations between Tehran and Baghdad.

"Those who are responsible for setting fire to the Iranian consulate in Najaf have the same message as those who did it in Karbala.

"Their message is a warning to against the intervention of Iran in Iraq's internal affairs, said Moussawi, adding that he expects the incidents will push the security forces and government to use more force to quell protests.

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2019-11-28 09:31:00Z
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North Korea fires unidentified projectile, South Korea says - CNN

If confirmed to be a missile test, it would be Pyongyang's 13th missile test since May.

The uptick in weapons testing comes amid increasing friction between North Korea and its main adversaries, South Korea and the United States. Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have been at an impasse for weeks, and North Korea recently stated it is no longer interested in holding talks with the US.

Thursday's launch took place on Thanksgiving morning in the US, and the symbolism might be significant. North Korea has previously conducted missile tests on important American holidays. Its first successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) came on July 4 -- US Independence Day -- in 2017. North Korean state media went on to call that launch part of a "package of gifts" for "American bastards."

It also comes almost exactly two years after North Korea test-fired its Hwasong-15 ICBM, which analysts believe could target much of the United States with a nuclear warhead.

Those launches preceded the flurry of summit diplomacy between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump.

But nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington have essentially been on ice since early October, when the two sides met in Stockholm. That ended abruptly and without any agreement, and North Korea would go on to conduct two missile tests later that month.

Washington and Seoul postponed military drills scheduled for mid-November in an attempt to convince North Korea to return to the negotiating table, but Pyongyang rebuffed those efforts and went ahead with its own drills.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper called North Korea's response "disappointing," but said he did not "regret trying to take the high road, if you will, and keep the door open for peace and diplomacy if we can move the ball forward."

However, the clock could be ticking. North Korean leader Kim said in an important policy speech in April that he would give the Trump administration until the end of the year to change its negotiating strategy. It is unclear how serious that deadline is.

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2019-11-28 09:09:00Z
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North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile, Seoul says - Fox News

SEOUL -- South Korea says North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile.

A brief statement Thursday from Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff gave no further details, such as what kind of projectile was launched and where it landed. In the past, such reports by South Korea about North Korean launches have turned out to be test launches of missiles and artillery pieces.

The reported launch came three days after North Korea said its troops performed artillery drills near its disputed sea boundary with South Korea.

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U.S.-led diplomacy on ending the North Korean nuclear crisis has remained stalled for months.

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2019-11-28 08:59:05Z
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