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World
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2017 Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor
NASA astronaut returns to Earth
IN BRIEF US agents close Russian trade mission MOSCOW―US federal agents inspected a Russian trade mission in Washington to confirm its closure on Saturday, despite a furious diplomatic protest from Moscow. The United States and Russia are in the grip of a diplomatic dispute, and the trade representative’s office is part of a group of properties Washington has ordered closed. Russian officials were forewarned of the inspection and, according to a report in Foreign Policy magazine, lit a fire on Friday apparently to burn documents at the facility. “Today, Russian Embassy personnel, together with State Department officials, walked through three properties in San Francisco, New York and Washington, DC that the Russian government is required to close,” a State Department official said. “These inspections were carried out to secure and protect the facilities and to confirm the Russian government had vacated the premises,” he said, adding that all three are now closed. On Saturday, US agents could be seen on the grounds of the Washington mansion, which served as both the home and office of the Russian trade representative. It has been owned by Moscow since the Soviet era. The US State Department official said Washington had fully complied with its duties under the Vienna Convention in preserving the security of foreign missions, but in Moscow the Russian foreign ministry was furious even before the inspection began. The ministry summoned acting US mission head Anthony Godfrey and gave him a “note of protest over the intention of the American authorities to conduct a search.” Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reported that the search began in the presence of Russian officials. AFP
Istanbul closer to arms deal with Russia ISTANBUL―Turkey and Russia are inching towards an accord for the first major Turkish weapons purchase from Moscow, troubling Ankara’s allies in NATO even though the deal may not ultimately materialize. According to Turkish and Russian officials, all preparations have been made for the purchase of a sophisticated S-400 missile defense system, Ankara’s most significant accord with a nonNATO supplier. But despite confident proclamations, the deal has yet to be officially inked. Analysts remain skeptical over whether Turkey will ever take delivery of the surface-to-air missile defense batteries. Some argue the message sent to the West matters more than the actual acquisition. The Pentagon has already sounded alarm, saying bluntly that “generally it’s a good idea” for NATO allies to buy inter-operable equipment. But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan boasted that “God willing we will see the S-400s in our country”. Erdogan has argued that Turkey’s fellow NATO member and occasional regional foe Greece has Russian-made S-300 batteries on its southern island of Crete, originally bought by Cyprus in the late 1990s but passed on to Greece to prevent escalation on the divided island. Dmitry Shugaev, the head of Russia’s militarytechnical cooperation agency, told the Kommersant daily that the deal was “almost done” with just some “subtleties” to solve. The United States “may be indignant but Turkey is an independent state and can decide itself,” he said. AFP
BRICS SUMMIT. Chinese People’s Liberation Army honor guard prepare for Brazil’s President Michel Temer’s arrival at the Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport to attend the BRICS Summit in Xiamen in China’s Fujian province on September 3, 2017. The BRICS Summit, involving Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will run from September 3 to 5. AFP
WASHINGTON―A record-shattering NASA astronaut touched down to Earth on Sunday, finishing a 288-day mission that put her over the top as the American who has spent the most cumulative amount of time in space. Peggy Whitson, 57, is also the oldest female astronaut in the history of space exploration, was the first female International Space Station commander, and holds the record for number of spacewalks (10) by a woman. The biochemist completed a mission at the International Space Station that began in November 2016, covering 122.2 million miles (196.7 million kilometers) and 4,623 orbits of Earth. She and crewmates Jack Fischer of NASA and Fyodor Yurchikhin of Russian space agency Roscosmos landed in Kazakhstan at 7:31 am local time Sunday (0121 GMT) in a Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft. Whitson has racked up 665 days in space in her career, more than any other American astronaut. She is eighth on the all-time space endurance list, NASA said. Her colleague Jack “2Fish” Fischer, 43, went into space as a rookie but has won over space-watchers with his boundless enthusiasm during his four-and-ahalf months aboard the ISS. He likened the feeling of his spacewalk with Whitson in May―the 200th ISS spacewalk-to a “ginormous fondue pot, bubbling over with piping hot awesomesauce.” “Heading home soon… I hope I infected a few of you with my passion for space. Never stop learning and growing. I dare you to dream!” he tweeted Friday. AFP
With H-bomb, Kim wields absolute power
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EOUL―North Korean leader Kim JongUn ranks among the world’s youngest heads of state, but has some of its most powerful weapons at his disposal.
Sunday’s test of what appeared to be a powerful, fullfledged thermonuclear bomb, marked yet another watershed in Kim’s relentless drive as leader to turn the North into a credible―and feared―nucleararmed state. In the process, he has simply shrugged off international warnings and economic sanctions, as well as bellicose threats from US President Donald Trump of possible military strikes if he persists. When he took over from his late father Kim Jong-Il nearly six years ago, the younger Kim was in his late 20s, considered untested, vulnerable and likely to be manipulated by senior figures. But he swiftly proved his mettle in dealing harshly― sometimes brutally―with any sign of dissent, even at the highest levels, while maintaining an aggressively provocative stance with the global community. In 2013 he had influential uncle and mentor, Jang Song-
Thaek, executed for treason, while he was also believed to be behind the dramatic assassination of his exiled half-brother Kim Jong-Nam in Malaysia earlier this year. He has even shown he is willing to alienate the North’s sole major ally China with his unstinting efforts to advance the country’s nuclear and missile programs in the face of Beijing’s clear opposition―and has still not visited his neighbor to pay his respects to leader Xi Jinping. After his father’s death, the young Kim was expected to initially rely on a coterie of powerful aides. But that expected tutelage was short-lived as Kim started to remove any potential challenges to his authority by executing Jang. Other purges of high-ranking officials followed and last year Kim had himself appointed chairman of a new supreme governing commission, underlining his absolute control over
every aspect of state policy. Kim Jong-Un was born to his father’s third wife, Japan-born ethnic-Korean dancer Ko YongHi, who is believed to have died of breast cancer in 2004. He was sent to school in Switzerland, where he was looked after by his maternal aunt Ko YongSuk and her husband. School staff and friends, who were reportedly unaware that he was a member of North Korea’s ruling family, remembered him as a shy boy who liked skiing and Hollywood tough guy JeanClaude Van Damme. In an interview with the Washington Post, Ko Yong-Suk―who defected to the US in 1998―described Kim as short-tempered and lacking in tolerance. He was also basketball mad, according to Ko, and even slept with a basketball. Former Chicago Bull Dennis Rodman, who has visited Pyongyang several times, is one of the few Westerners ever known to have met Kim in recent times. Kim knew from his eighth birthday that he would become North Korea’s leader, but he only entered the public eye in 2008 when his father suffered a stroke and Pyongyang revved up plans for the nation’s second dynastic succession. AFP
North Korea test rocks parts of China BEIJING―North Korea’s nuclear test Sunday was widely felt in northeast China and rocked some cities for as long as eight seconds, according to reports and accounts on social media. The tremor was felt as far away as the city of Changchun around 400 km northwest of the North’s test site at Punggye-ri, according to state broadcaster CCTV. In the small city of Yanji, some 20 km from the border, some people reported the shaking was so intense that they fled their homes. Jiemiao Cangxin, a commentator on the Chinese microblog Weibo, said his building swayed
so much that “I put my underpants on and I just ran, and when I reached the first floor I can say I wasn’t the only one running away with just my underpants on!” “In Yanji, we felt the shaking for ten seconds,” said Weibo user Buziranshaonv. “I was lying down and sleeping when the tremor woke me up. At first, I thought it was a dream,” said another. The test, North Korea’s sixth, was substantially larger than previous ones, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale according to US monitors. That would make it between five to six times larger than Pyongyang’s previous effort
in September last year, according to South Korea’s weather agency. The North called it a test of a hydrogen bomb which was a “perfect success”. Reports of the explosion also provoked widespread concern further away in China, with many commentators speculating about the timing of the event―just hours before Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to open a summit of BRICs nations in southern China. “An earthquake happened in North Korea, everyone thinks at once it is a nuclear test,” said one user, cheekily adding “is it a form of greetings for the summit in Xiamen?” AFP
SIXTH NUKE TEST ‘ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE.’ Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks at his official residence in Tokyo on September 3, 2017, following North Korea’s possible nuclear test. Abe said a sixth nuclear test by Pyongyang would be “absolutely unacceptable after a 6.3 magnitude explosion in the North indicated a new detonation. AFP
Japan princess announces engagement
ENGAGEMENT. Princess Mako, the eldest daughter of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, and her fiancee Kei Komuro take part in a press conference to announce their engagement at the Akasaka East Residence in Tokyo on September 3, 2017. Emperor Akihito’s eldest granddaughter Princess Mako and her fiance--a commoner--announced their engagement that will cost the princess her royal status. AFP
TOKYO―Japan’s Princess Mako and her fiancé―a commoner―announced their engagement Sunday, a match that will cost the princess her royal status, according to a law that highlights the male-dominated nature of Japan’s monarchy. Like all female imperial family members, Mako, who is Emperor Akihito’s eldest granddaughter, forfeits her status upon marriage to a commoner under a controversial tradition. The law does not apply to royal males. But at a televised press conference held to announce her engagement, she told the nation that she felt “really happy”. “I was aware since my childhood that I’ll leave a royal status once I marry,” she said. “While I worked to help the emperor and fulfill duties as a royal family member as much as I can, I’ve been cherishing my own life.” Her fiancé, Kei Komuro, a telegenic 25-year-old who works at a law firm and once won a tourism promotion contest to be crowned “Prince of the Sea”, said he had
proposed to her more than three years ago. He described Mako as someone who quietly watches over him “like the moon”. The princess said his smile was “like the sun.” The announcement had originally been planned for July but the couple decided to postpone it out of consideration for a southern region hit by heavy rains and flooding in the month. An official of the Imperial Household Agency said their wedding will take place after the summer of 2018. Mako, 25, is the eldest daughter of Prince Akishino, Akihito’s second son. The law removing her royal status upon marriage does not apply to male royals, with Akihito and both his sons wedded to commoners, who are now part of the monarchy. The news of the engagement has intensified a debate on whether the law should be changed so women born into the imperial family can continue in their royal roles.
That could help increase the number of potential male heirs to a monarchy that does not allow females to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne. Traditionalists, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, strenuously oppose such changes, even though Japan has occasionally been ruled by female sovereigns in past centuries. In June, the parliament enacted legislation to allow Akihito, 83, to step down in favour of Naruhito, his eldest son. Emperor Akihito’s retirement will be the first imperial abdication in more than two centuries. That will put his younger brother Akishino next in line, followed by Hisahito, Akishino’s son. But after that there are no more eligible males, meaning the centuries-old succession would be broken if Hisahito fails to have a son in the future. Some have suggested returning royal status to families who were stripped of it under a sweeping reform during the US occupation of Japan after World War II. AFP