We spoke with Americans on their hopes for the U.S. in 2018. Here’s what they had to say.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CfEWSe
There are barely any traces of fire on the apartment building's facade, no puddles of water on the ground, and only a handful of onlookers. On Friday, only two fire trucks, their lights still flashing, hinted at the drama that had unfolded the evening before in the Bronx.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Eho5M3
A North Korean nuclear scientist deported back to his home country after defecting to China has reportedly committed suicide in his prison cell hours before he was due to be interrogated. The defector, who is in his 50s, was a lead researcher in the physics centre of the State Academy of Sciences in Pyongyang. He was identified by Radio Free Asia as Hyun Cheol-huh, although it is not known if this was his real name. A source in North Hamgyong province told RFA that he was forced back on November 17 and placed in solitary confinement at the state security department in Sinuiju city, where he consumed poison. “He died before he could be questioned about the reasons for his escape, who had helped him and what his route had been,” he said. Mr Hyun is said to have taken leave from his job “because he was showing signs of anxiety over his research projects,” added the source. “Suddenly, he visited relatives near the border without letting his family know and without carrying valid documents for travel. And when he learned that the authorities were looking for him, he simply disappeared.” Reports have suggested that Mr Hyun had attempted to join up with other defectors and that the Chinese were unaware of his true identity when they were tipped off by North Korean intelligence. Despite building evidence of human rights atrocities, there has been a reported surge in deportations back to the North from China, the most common escape route for defectors. On Friday the Daily NK reported that North Korean border forces have been ordered shoot defectors trying to escape, even if they have already entered Chinese territory, or face the firing squad themselves. The crackdown followed the high profile defection of Oh Chong-song, a young soldier whose daring dash for freedom was caught on camera and broadcast around the world. The orders state that “the entire border region should now be considered the front-line of defence” and be turned into an “impenetrable fortress.” The draconian measures come at great human cost. Last month North Korean defector, Taewon Lee, 29, made a heartbroken plea for international help to save his wife and young child from being deported back after they were caught by the Chinese en route to join him in Seoul. Despite desperately lobbying South Korea’s foreign ministry for help, he discovered late last month that they had been forced back to the North. Little is known of their fate, but in an earlier interview with the Telegraph, Mr Lee was clear about his fears for their wellbeing if they were returned. “They will definitely be sent to a prison camp. In the worst case, they will be killed,” he said.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2liQRUM
By Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Kidnappers in Ukraine have released an employee at a United Kingdom-registered cryptocurrency exchange after getting more than $1 million in bitcoins as ransom, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister told Reuters on Friday. Pavel Lerner, a leading analyst and blockchain expert, was abducted by unknown masked people on Dec. 26, according to a statement by his company, EXMO Finance, on its website. "This is the first such case in Ukraine linked to bitcoins," Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, said in a phone text message.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Cm6S5Z
Nepal has banned solo climbers from scaling its mountains, including Mount Everest, in a bid to reduce accidents, an official said Saturday. The cabinet late Thursday endorsed a revision to the Himalayan nation's mountaineering regulations, banning solo climbers from its mountains -- one of a string of measures being flagged ahead of the 2018 spring climbing season. "The changes have barred solo expeditions, which were allowed before," Maheshwor Neupane, secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, told AFP.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2lnSCjo
By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that he expected to see a larger U.S. civilian presence in Syria, including contractors and diplomats, as the fight against Islamic State militants nears its end and the focus turns toward rebuilding and ensuring the militants do not return. The United States has about 2,000 troops in Syria fighting Islamic State. Mattis' comments are likely to anger Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has previously called U.S. troops "illegal invader" forces.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CnxNi5
At least 12 people have died and several more critically injured in fire at an apartment block in the Bronx in New York City. Four children were among the dead, in "the worst fire tragedy in at least a quarter of a century", the city's mayor Bill de Blasio wrote on Twitter. New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro described the tragedy as “historic in its magnitude”.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2DwKjIH
Clashes pitting mainly jihadist and rebel fighters against regime forces backed by Russian warplanes killed at 66 people on the edge of Syria's northwestern Idlib province, a monitor said Friday. Among the victims were at least 19 civilians killed by air strikes, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the casualties were over 24 hours of fighting in an area straddling Idlib and Hama provinces. The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, said seven children were among the civilian victims.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2CkL22E
Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's pardon of his predecessor Alberto Fujimori is an appalling "slap in the face" for his victims and a major setback for the rule of law, a group of U.N. human rights experts said on Thursday. "A humanitarian pardon has been granted to someone convicted of serious crimes after a fair trial, whose guilt is not in question and who does not meet the legal requirements for a pardon,” they said in a statement.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines http://ift.tt/2Cm3Cp2