SaturdaY 05•03 •2016
WORLD
THE MORUNG EXPRESS
9
NKorea leader tells military to be ‘ready’ to use nuke weapons SEOUL, March 4 (rEUtErS): North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his country to be ready to use its nuclear weapons at any time and the military to be in “preemptive attack” mode in the face of growing threats from its enemies, state media said on Friday. The comments, carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency, marked a further escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula after the U.N. Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on the isolated state for its nuclear programme. North Korea, known for belligerent rhetoric, has previously threatened preemptive attacks on its enemies, including South Korea and the United States. Military experts doubt it has yet developed the capability to fire a long-range missile with a miniaturised warhead to deliver a nuclear weapon as far as the United States. Kim made the comments as he supervised military exercises involving newly developed rocket launchers, KCNA reported. It did not mention the date
of the drills but said the new weapons had South Korea within range. South Korea’s defence ministry said on Thursday the North launched several projectiles off its coast into the sea, up to 150 km (90 miles) away, an apparent response to the U.N. sanctions. Kim said North Korea should “bolster up (its) nuclear force both in quality and quantity” and stressed “the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defence always on standby so as to be fired any moment,” KCNA quoted him as saying. “Now is the time for us to convert our mode of military counteraction toward the enemies into a pre-emptive attack one in every aspect.” Kim criticised South Korean President Park Geun-hye in his first direct published mention of her by name for acting “in league with the U.S. scoundrels,” adding, “her hysteria will precipitate only her ruin in the long run,” KCNA said. A spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles rela-
tions with the North, said Kim’s comments were not helpful and may have been intended for the domestic audience, to boost morale in the face of the new U.N. sanctions. Responding to the report, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said, “We urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions and instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that given the sensitive and complex situation on the Korean peninsula, China hoped the parties would maintain restraint, and “be careful in their words and actions, and not take any actions that would exacerbate tensions in this situation”. The latest U.N. sanctions, drafted by the United States and China, the North’s main ally, punish the isolated country following its fourth nuclear test, in January, as well as last month’s satellite launch, which the United States and others say was really a
US urges North Korea to refrain from provocations
test of ballistic missile technology. Later on Friday, North Korea rejected the Security Council resolution as a “criminal act” masterminded by the United States and vowed to continue boosting its nuclear deterrent and move forward on the path to become a “satellite superpower”. “Our response will involve the full use of various means and tools including a strong and ruthless physical response,” KCNA quoted an unnamed government spokesman as saying. POSSIBLE ENGINE TEST EYED South Korea and the U.S. militaries are set to formally begin talks on Friday on deployment of the advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system with the U.S. military in the South. China and Russia oppose the deployment of THAAD, which has powerful radar capable of penetrating deep into their countries, but South Korea and the United States have said it is needed in
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during a ceremony to award party and state commendations to nuclear scientists, technicians, soldier-builders, workers and officials for their contribution to what North Korea said was a successful hydrogen bomb test, at the meeting hall of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in this undated photo released January 13. (REUTERS Photo)
response to the heightened missile threat from the North. Johns Hopkins University’s 38 North project, which monitors North Korea, said recent commercial satellite imagery showed new activity in the isolated country, including a convoy of trucks at its satellite launch station that could be preparations for a rocket-engine test.
The site on the North’s west coast is the upgraded rocket station where it launched a long-range rocket on Feb. 7 that put an object into space, but was condemned by the Security Council as violation of past resolutions that ban the use of ballistic missile technology by the North. On Thursday, South Korean President Park repeat-
WaShingtOn, March 4 (rEUtErS): The U.S. Defense Department has responded to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s order for his country to be ready to use nuclear weapons “at any time” by saying that Pyongyang should “refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions.” “We are aware of the reports, and are closely monitoring the situation on the Korean Peninsula in coordination with our regional allies,” said Commander Bill Urban, a Pentagon spokesman. “We urge North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions and instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments.”
ed a warning to the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions and said she would work to “end tyranny” by its leader. They were the toughe s t- e v e r c o m m e n t s against Pyongyang by Park, whose recent hard line against the North is a shift from her earlier policy of “trustpolitik” that focused on trying to engage in dialogue.
North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun, the official daily newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party, on Friday carried three pages of a report and photographs of leader Kim supervising the rocket launch drills. It also ran a full-page commentary insulting Park as “a wicked woman who does everything evil against the compatriots in the North.”
Eating broccoli thrice a Long campaigns to blame for UN registered 99 sex crime week lowers liver cancer risk rise of extremist politicians allegations against its staff in 2015 nEW YOrk, March 4 (ianS): Consuming broccoli three to five times per week may lower the risk of liver cancer and also prevent the development of fatty liver, finds a new study. According to researchers, including broccoli in the diet may protect against liver cancer and aid in countering the development of fatty liver or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) which can cause liver malfunctioning and lead to liver cancer with a high mortality rate. “The normal stor y about broccoli and health is that it can protect against a number of different cancers. But nobody had looked at liver cancer,” said Elizabeth Jeffery from the University of Illinois, US. “We decided that liver cancer needed to be studied particularly because of the obesity epidemic in the US. It is already in the literature that obesity enhances the risk for liver cancer and this is particularly true for men,” Jeffery added. Previous research suggests that broccoli, a brassica vegetable containing bioactive compounds, may impede the accumulation of fat in the liver and protect against NAFLD in mice. Researchers wanted to find out the
impact of feeding broccoli to mice with a known liver cancer-causing carcinogen. They studied four groups of mice, some of which were on a control diet or the Westernised diet and some were given or not given broccoli. “We called this a Westernised-style diet in the study because we wanted to model how so many of us are eating today,” Jeffery says. The findings showed that in mice on the Westernised diet both the number of cancer nodules and the size of the cancer nodules increased in the liver. But when broccoli was added to the diet, the number of nodules decreased, but the size was not affected. The researchers found that the Westernised diet did increase fatty liver, but the broccoli protected against it. Broccoli stopped too much uptake of fat into the liver by decreasing the uptake and increasing the output of lipid from the liver. Adding broccoli to the diet of the mice did not make them “thin” or affect their body weight, but it did bring the liver under control, ultimately making them healthier, Jeffery noted.
nEW YOrk, March 4 (ianS): Longer campaign cycles, filled with numerous televised debates and constant news reporting and social media coverage, are to blame for the rise of extremist politicians, says a new study. Longer campaigns, which offer voters more information on the candidates via 24-hour news coverage and social media, turn voters’ attention more toward a candidate’s character -- such as trustworthiness and how he or she delivers speeches and exchanges debate barbs -- and away from his or her stance on policy, the findings showed. The findings were published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. “Our research shows real impact associated with longer, more informative campaigns, and perhaps a reason why we are seeing candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders doing so well within their parties this late in the game,” said Raphael Boleslavsky, assistant professor of economics at the University of Miami in the US. “Candidates base their platforms on how to capture the majority of voters relative to their opponent so our research suggests that extremism is likely something we will see more as campaign cycles continue to get longer and longer,” Boleslavsky noted. According to the researchers, a shorter campaign cycle with less time for media saturation might allow voters to experience a greater balance of a candidate’s policy positions and character. This would lead to better informed voters because of more attention on policy issues. Further, increasing the number of debates in an election cycle, according to the study, decreases the incentive for politicians to run on moderate platforms. For this study, the authors developed a mathematical model of an election in which parties nominate candidates with policy preferences ahead of a campaign that produces information about their overall characteristics independent of policy. The mathematical model used the tools of game theory, which allowed researchers to describe strategic situations and understand strategic incentives in a mathematically rigorous way. They then solved the equations generated by the model, resulting in a robust prediction about the level of political extremism that political parties select, and how this level of extremism changes with the length of the political campaign.
UnitED natiOnS, March 4 (rEUtErS): There were 99 new allegations of sexual exploitation or sexual abuse against United Nations staff members across the U.N. system last year, a sharp increase from the 80 allegations in 2014, according to a new U.N. report. The majority of those allegations - 69 in all - involved personnel in 10 peacekeeping missions, the report said. The military and police personnel accused of sexual crimes while serving for the United Nations involved some 21 countries, most of them African. The report by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon does not identify the nationalities of the 30 U.N. staff members accused of sexual abuse or exploitation who were not working for peacekeeping missions. The report, an advance copy of which was obtained by Reuters, came in response to a new U.N. “name and shame” policy for U.N. peacekeepers implemented after a series of allegations of rape and sexual abuse by international troops in Central African Republic (CAR). Most of the allegations involved peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, seven in all, serving in CAR. There were also allegations against several European countries and Canada. There were allegations against troops and police from Burundi, Germany, Ghana, Senegal, Madagascar,
Rwanda, Congo Republic, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Tanzania, Slovakia, Niger, Moldova, Togo, South Africa, Morocco, Benin, Nigeria and Gabon. In addition to CAR, the allegations involved peacekeeping missions in places like Haiti, Mali, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ivory Coast. The report includes recommendations for member states to make it easier to identify suspected perpetrators and prosecute them. It calls for the U.N. General Assembly and troop contributing countries to allow prosecutions inside the countries where the alleged crimes took place and creation of a DNA registry of all peacekeepers. One of the problems, human rights groups say, is that it is currently up to U.N. troop-contributing countries to prosecute their soldiers accused of abuse. When such prosecutions happen, the groups say, they often take place quietly and it is difficult to follow up on the results and punishments, if any. In December an independent review panel accused the United Nations and its agencies of grossly mishandling numerous allegations of child sexual abuse by foreign troops in CAR in 2013 and 2014. The idea of prosecutions in theater would likely be unpopular among U.N. troop-contributing countries, U.N. diplomats and officials say, though they suggest it is an idea worth pursuing as a deterrent.
Rivals rip Trump but promise support if he is the nominee DEtrOit, March 4 (rEUtErS): Chief rivals to U.S. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump assailed him for shifting positions on the issues at a debate, but said in the end they would reluctantly support him if he were their party’s nominee. Under questioning by Fox News Channel moderators on Thursday, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich made the promise despite efforts by party elders to build an anti-Trump coalition of Republican voters to pick someone other than the incendiary New York billionaire. Hours earlier 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney in a speech blasted Trump, a former reality TV show host, as an unelectable fraud whose nomination would ensure victory for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. Tempers escalated quickly at the two-hour debate and, as in previous encounters, the battle descended into schoolyard taunts between Trump, Rubio and Cruz with accusations of lying and even a reference to
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump shows off the size of his hands as rivals Marco Rubio (L), Ted Cruz (2nd R) and John Kasich (R) look on at the start of the U.S. Republican presidential candidates debate in Detroit, Michigan on March 3. (REUTERS
male genitalia. While Trump’s three rivals followed party dogma, insisting they would set aside their concerns and rally around the ultimate nominee, they said they did so reluctantly if Trump were to emerge as the candidate for the general election. “Sometimes he makes it a
little bit hard,” said Kasich, 63. Trump, asked if he would support the Republican nominee if it was someone other than him, seemed startled by the question given the momentum behind him, but eventually said, “Yes I will.” Trump, 69, defended himself from Romney’s blistering rebuke and called
Romney a failed candidate. SHIFTING POSITIONS With the Florida and Ohio primary votes looming on March 15 as make-or-break for the anti-Trump forces, Trump provided some ammunition to his critics. Trump shrugged when
questioned Trump’s immigration policy and his use of foreign workers at his exclusive Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Cruz demanded Trump release an audiotape of an off-the-record session he had with New York Times editorial writers on Jan. 5. Cruz and others have suggested that in the session Trump might have been more flexible on immigration than in public statements insisting he would build a wall between the United States and Mexico and deport 11 million illegal immigrants. Trump refused to release the tape but said he would be flexible, for instance, on the height of the wall. He also abruptly changed his position on foreign workers, saying more of them who are highly skilled should be allowed to remain in the United States. Rubio pressed Trump on the foreign workers he has imported to work at his Palm Beach resort, jobs he said could go to Americans. Trump said the workers were for a short November-to-March season. “People don’t want a shortIMMIGRATION, FOREIGN term job,” Trump said. “So we WORKERS Rubio, 44, and Cruz, 45, bring people in and we send
presented with videotaped evidence from the moderators that he had shifted positions on the Iraq war, immigration and whether to admit refugees from the Syrian civil war. “You have to show a degree of flexibility,” he said. Both Rubio and Cruz pounced. “I hope we don’t see yoga on this stage,” Cruz said. Replied Rubio: “Well, he’s very flexible so you never know.” It remained to be seen whether the debate would prove to be damaging to Trump. The runaway front-runner to date has been immune from criticism that other politicians normally face, for instance, over flip-flopping on issues. While Trump saw the greatest number of overall mentions on social media site Twitter, an analysis showed that 63 percent of the tweets expressing an opinion on him were negative, according to social media analytics firm Brandwatch which separated objective tweets from opinionated tweets in its analysis.
people out.” ‘GIVE ME A BREAK’ Rubio asked Trump why he does not bring his clothing-making operations to the United States from China and Mexico if he is so interested in bringing jobs home, a central tenet of his unconventional campaign. “This little guy has lied so much about my record,” Trump said in response to Rubio, adding that he had begun bringing some clothing operations home from overseas. But Rubio persisted: “The answer is he’s not going to do it ... The reason he makes it in China and Mexico is because he can make more money on it.” Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly, who famously clashed with Trump at the first Republican debate last August, generated a fresh exchange in pressing Trump to explain his involvement with Trump University, a now-defunct online education company that has faced lawsuits from people who feel they paid out money for Trump U and got nothing in return. “Give me a break,” said Trump. “Let’s see what happens in court.”