Senin, 30 Januari 2017

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New commercial satellite imagery indicates North Korea has resumed operation of a reactor at its main nuclear site used to produce plutonium for its nuclear weapons program, a U.S. think tank said on Friday.

Washington’s 38 North North Korea monitoring project said previous analysis from Jan. 18 showed signs that North Korea was preparing to restart the reactor at Yongbyon, having unloaded spent fuel rods for reprocessing to produce additional plutonium for its nuclear weapons stockpile.
“Imagery from January 22 shows a water plume (most probably warm) originating from the cooling water outlet of the reactor, an indication that the reactor is very likely operating,” it said in a report.
It said it was impossible to estimate at what power level the reactor was running, “although it may be considerable.” A 38 North Korea report last week said operations at the reactor had been suspended since late 2015.
North Korea has maintained its nuclear and missile programs in violation of repeated rounds of international sanctions.
News of the apparent reactor restart comes at a time of rising concern about North Korea’s weapons programs, which could present the new administration of U.S. President Donald Trump with its first major crisis.
A report by leading U.S.-based nuclear expert Siegfried Hecker published by 38 North last September estimated North Korea had stockpiles of 32 to 54 kg (70 to 119 pounds) of plutonium, enough for 6 to 8 bombs, and had the capacity to produce 6 kg, or approximately one bomb’s worth, per year.
North Korea also produces highly enriched uranium for atomic bombs and would have sufficient fissile material for approximately 20 bombs by the end of last year, and the capacity to produce seven more a year, that report said.
In a New Year speech, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country was close to test launching an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and state media has said a launch could come at any time.
Trump’s defense secretary plans to visit Japan and South Korea next week and shared concerns about North Korea are expected to top his agenda.
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Minggu, 29 Januari 2017

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) – A former long-time mayor of Pennsylvania’s capital was sentenced to two years of probation on Friday after pleading guilty on charges related to the theft of artifacts purchased with public funds for a museum that was never built in the city.

Stephen Reed, a collector of American West memorabilia who served as the mayor of Harrisburg for 28 years, was given no jail time in a case that initially included nearly 500 charges.
He pleaded guilty earlier this week to 20 counts of receiving stolen historical items that had been intended for a Museum of the American West that he championed as a tourist draw for his financially strapped city. In his defense, Reed said he mistakenly took home some artifacts that did not belong to him.
In handing down the sentence in Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas, Judge Kevin Hess praised the 67-year-old Reed for his long service to the city.
Hess said he was imposing no jail time because Reed had taken full responsibility for his actions, and said it was “far from certain” Reed would have been convicted if he went to trial.
Reed “revitalized the city of Harrisburg in ways that are obvious to anyone who looks out of this courthouse,” Hess said.
After the sentencing, Reed said he was relieved the ordeal was over. “I will focus on a significant health challenge I face,” said Reed, who is being treated for prostate cancer.
The judge previously threw out many of the most serious charges, including siphoning money from city and school district bond issues, because of the statue of limitations.
Reed may apply to end the probation as soon as he pays a $2,000 fine and the costs of prosecution.
Prosecutor Rebecca Franz said “justice was achieved” by the verdict.
But Harrisburg’s current mayor, Eric Papenfuse decried the sentence, attributing many of the city’s financial problems to Reed. Harrisburg in 2011 filed for bankruptcy, but was put into receivership after the case was thrown out.
After the hearing, Papenfuse said his predecessor should have received two to five years in prison because of damage he did to the city in the museum case and other matters, including a failed incinerator retrofit project. 
Reed claims more than 1,800 artifacts seized from his home during the investigation rightfully belong to him, and he has asked the court to return them.
A hearing on his motion is scheduled in March.
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The presidents of the United States and Mexico spoke by phone on Friday after relations between the neighboring countries frayed further over Donald Trump’s border wall plan, with the U.S. leader calling the talk friendly but still demanding reworked trade and other ties.

The call between Trump and Enrique Pena Nieto came a day after the Mexican president scrapped a meeting set for next week at the White House over Trump’s demand that Mexico pay for a multibillion-dollar wall along the lengthy southern U.S. border with Mexico. Mexico insists it will not pay for it.
Both countries issued statements saying Trump and Pena Nieto recognized their clear differences of opinion on the payment demand, and agreed to settle the matter as part of a broader discussion on all aspects of the two nations’ relationship.
Financial markets took news of the call as a sign that the crisis in U.S-Mexican relations just days after Trump took office had eased. Mexico’s peso rose on the news.
Mexico’s government statement said Trump and Pena Nieto agreed not to talk publicly for now about payment for the wall. The White House did not immediately clarify whether Trump had agreed not to publicly discuss how the wall would be paid for.
During a joint news conference at the White House with visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May after the call, Trump did not mention the wall even as he spoke expansively about U.S. relations with Mexico.
“As you know, Mexico – with the United States – has out-negotiated us and beat us to a pulp through our past leaders. They’ve made us look foolish,” Trump told the news conference.
“We have a trade deficit of $60 billion with Mexico. On top of that, the border is soft and weak, drugs are pouring in,” added Trump, who during the U.S. presidential campaign accused Mexico of sending rapists and other criminals into the United States.
The United States had a $58.8 billion trade deficit with its southern neighbor in the 11 months ending last November.
Trump called his hour long talk with Pena Nieto “very, very friendly,” said he has a “very good relationship” with him and expressed “great respect for Mexico.” Mexico and the White House both called the meeting productive and constructive.
Nevertheless, Trump showed no signs of backing off pledges to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada and slap high tariffs on American companies that have moved jobs south of the border.
Mexico sends 80 percent of its exports to the United States, and about half of Mexico’s foreign direct investment over the past two decades has come from its northern neighbor.
‘FAIR RELATIONSHIP’
“We are going to be working on a fair relationship and a new relationship” with Mexico, Trump told the news conference with May. “But the United States cannot continue to lose vast amounts of business, vast amounts of companies and millions and millions of people losing their jobs. That won’t happen with me.”
Trump said the United States will renegotiate trade deals and other aspects of America’s relationship with Mexico, adding, “And in the end I think it will be good for both countries.”
U.S. congressional leaders said on Thursday they would take up legislation to provide $12 billion to $15 billion to pay for the wall.
Trump, who has insisted that Mexico will reimburse the United States for the entire cost, signed a directive on Wednesday for the wall to proceed, part of a package of measures aimed at curbing illegal immigration.
The wall plan has angered Mexicans, and Trump’s policies toward Mexico have put Pena Nieto on the defensive.
The Republican president views the wall, a major promise during his election campaign, as part of a package of measures to curb illegal immigration. Mexico has long insisted it will not heed Trump’s demands to pay for the construction project.
On Thursday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer sent the Mexican peso falling when he told reporters that Trump wanted a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to pay for the wall.
Spicer gave few details, but his comments resembled an existing idea, known as a border adjustment tax, that the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives is considering as part of a broad tax overhaul.
Trump said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Friday that there were options besides an import tax that could be “much more positive” for both countries.
The White House said Friday’s call also covered “the importance of the friendship between the two nations, and the need for the two nations to work together to stop drug cartels, drug trafficking and illegal guns and arms sales.” Mexico’s government said the U.S. trade deficit also came up.
In Mexico City, billionaire Mexican businessman Carlos Slim said a united Mexico was ready to help the government negotiate with Trump and called on all political parties to support Pena Nieto in his discussions with the U.S. president.
In a rare news conference by the generally media-shy mogul, Slim said Mexico needed to negotiate from a position of strength, noting that Trump, who he called a “great negotiator,” represented a major change in how politics will be conducted.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland in Washington and Christine Murray and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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Sabtu, 28 Januari 2017

Ealier this week, The Washington Examiner exposed a senior agent at the Secret Service for writing on her personal Facebook account that she would not do her job. Kelly O’Grady, an agent, posted public condemnations of President Trump throughout his campaign. In one particular post, she claimed she would not want to “take a bullet” for the president.
O’Grady tried to explain the post by saying she viewed his presidential candidacy as a “disaster” for the country. O’Grady, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Denver district, oversees coordination with Washington-based advance teams for all presidential trips or trips made by his Trump administration officials.

Despite her senior security role, O’Grady complained to her Facebook followers, sparking at least one complaint to the office. Americans were particularly outraged about her claim that she would rather endure “jail time” than “take a bullet” for Trump. She also claimed his presidency would be a “disaster” for America.
Though the post in question did not mention Trump by name, it made clear references to him. O’Grady also noted that she was having trouble following the Hatch Act, which bans executive branch staff from engaging in political activities.
“But this world has changed and I have changed,” she noted. “And I would take jail time over a bullet or an endorsement for what I believe to be a disaster to this country and the strong and amazing women and minorities who reside here. Hatch Act be damned. I am with Her.”
19.35 No comments » by Unknown

Jumat, 27 Januari 2017

President Donald Trump on Friday put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily barred visitors from Syria and some other Muslim-majority countries, saying the moves would help protect Americans from terrorist attacks.

Civil rights groups condemned the measures as discriminatory.
“I’m establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America. Don’t want them here,” Trump said earlier on Friday at the Pentagon.
“We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people,” he said.
The order suspends the Syrian refugee program until further notice, and will eventually give priority to minority religious groups fleeing persecution. Trump said in an interview with a Christian news outlet the exception would help Syrian Christians fleeing the civil war there.
His order had been expected to include a directive about setting up “safe zones” for Syrian refugees inside the country, but no such language was included.
The measure limits entry for at least 90 days from Syria and other Muslim-majority countries, but did not list the countries by name.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association said it would ban entry from nationals of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.
Trump had promised the measures – called “extreme vetting” – during last year’s election campaign, saying they would prevent militants from entering the United States from abroad.
The move was immediately condemned by Democrats, civil rights groups and aid groups such as Oxfam and others.
“President Trump has cloaked what is a discriminatory ban against nationals of Muslim countries under the banner of national security,” said Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Chen said the order will “severely cripple” the U.S. refugee program, leaving desperate people in danger.
“This policy does not make us safer. It shows weakness and withdraws our nation from the position as global leader when so many refugees urgently need protection,” Chen said.
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson in Washington and Mica Rosenberg in New York; Additional reporting by Eric Beech, Mohammad Zargham, Dan Levine, Michelle Nichols, Julia Edwards Ainsley; Writing by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Grant McCool and Leslie Adler)
18.40 No comments » by Unknown
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