VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis on Thursday received an invitation to visit North Korea and the pontiff indicated he would consider making what would be a landmark trip to a nation known for severe restrictions on religious practice, according to South Korean officials. South Korean President Moon Jae-in relayed the invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the pope verbally during a 35-minute meeting in the Vatican.
Any visit would be the first by a pope to the reclusive state which does not allow priests to be permanently stationed there. There is little information on how many of its citizens are Catholic, or how they practice their faith.
North Korea’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion as long as it does not undermine the state.
But beyond a handful of state-controlled places of worship — including a Catholic church in the capital of Pyongyang — no open religious activity is allowed and the authorities have repeatedly jailed foreign missionaries.
Kim told Moon, a Catholic, of his wish to meet the pontiff during a meeting last month and the South Korean leader announced before the trip that he would be relaying a message.
According to the president’s office, Francis expressed his strong support for efforts to bring peace to the Korean peninsula. Moon’s office quoted the pope as telling Moon: “Do not stop, move forward. Do not be afraid.”
Asked if Kim should send a formal invitation, Moon’s office quoted the pope as responding to Moon: “your message is already sufficient but it would be good for him to send a formal invitation.”
“I will definitely answer if I get the invitation, and I can go,” the president’s office quoted the pope as saying.
A meeting with Pope Francis would be the latest in a string of major diplomatic meetings for Kim Jong Un this year.
The two Koreas have held three summits this year. Kim also held an unprecedented summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June, where the leaders promised to work toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
The pope is expected to visit neighboring Japan next year and the proposed North Korea visit comes as China improves relations with the Holy See.
A deal signed in September gives the Vatican a long-sought say in the choice of bishops in China, and for the first time, Beijing allowed two bishops to attend a Vatican meeting, where they invited the pope to visit China.
A Vatican statement made no mention of the verbal invitation from North Korea’s Kim.
It spoke only of “the promotion of dialogue and reconciliation between Koreans” and “the common commitment to fostering all useful initiatives to overcome the tensions that still exist in the Korean Peninsula, in order to usher in a new season of peace and development.”
Any trip to the North, however brief, could be contentious for the pope, given what the United Nations says is a record of gross and systematic human rights abuses.
Aides close to the pope have said he is open to taking what they call first steps in places where the Church has been persecuted in the hope that the situation could improve.
Church officials estimate that North Korea had a Catholic community of about 55,000 just before the 1950-53 Korean War.
Religious agencies have estimated the number remaining from the few hundreds to about 4,000.
Priests from the South occasionally visit, usually accompanying aid deliveries or humanitarian projects.
Pope Francis gets invite to North Korea, may consider landmark trip
Pope Francis gets invite to North Korea, may consider landmark trip
- Any visit would be the first by a pope to the reclusive state which does not allow priests to be permanently stationed there
- North Korea’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion as long as it does not undermine the state
NATO condemns Russian ‘malign activities’ on its territory
- The incidents “are part of an intensifying campaign of activities” Russia is carrying out across the Euro-Atlantic area
- NATO allies “express their deep concern over Russia’s hybrid actions, which constitute a threat to allied security“
BRUSSELS: NATO on Thursday condemned Russian “malign activities” on its territory, saying actions like disinformation, sabotage, violence and cyber interference threatened the alliance’s security.
The incidents “are part of an intensifying campaign of activities” Russia is carrying out across the Euro-Atlantic area and NATO allies “express their deep concern over Russia’s hybrid actions, which constitute a threat to allied security,” NATO said in a statement.
Authorities in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Britain have recently investigated and charged people in connection with “hostile state activity.”
NATO said allies would work together to deter and defend against the hybrid actions and that they would remain steadfast in supporting Ukraine as it struggles to fend off Russia’s invasion, now in its third year.
Last month, a 20-year-old British man was charged with masterminding an arson plot against a Ukrainian-linked target in London. Moscow’s ambassador Andrey Kelin dismissed claims of links to Russia as “absurd” and “unfounded.”
In late March, Czech authorities said they had busted a Moscow-financed network that spread Russian propaganda and wielded influence across Europe, including in the European Parliament.
Israeli private eye arrested in UK over alleged hacking for US PR firm
- An initial attempt to extradite Amit Forlit to the United Sates was thrown out by a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday
- Forlit was arrested under an Interpol red notice at London’s Heathrow Airport
LONDON: An Israeli private investigator wanted by the United States was arrested in London over allegations that he carried out a cyberespionage campaign on behalf of an unidentified American PR firm, a London court heard on Thursday.
An initial attempt to extradite Amit Forlit to the United Sates was thrown out by a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday on a legal technicality.
Amy Labram, a lawyer representing the United States, had told the court that Forlit “is accused of engaging in a hack for hire scheme.”
Labram said that the US allegations include that an unnamed Washington-based PR and lobbying firm paid one of Forlit’s companies 16 million pounds ($20 million) “to gather intelligence relating to the Argentinian debt crisis.”
Forlit was arrested under an Interpol red notice at London’s Heathrow Airport as he was trying to board a flight to Israel, according to the USauthorities.
Forlit is wanted in the US on three charges: one count of conspiracy to commit computer hacking, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud.
A judge ruled that the attempt to extradite Forlit by the United States could not continue as he was not produced at court within the timeframe required under British extradition law.
“He was not produced at court as soon as practicable and the consequences of that ... he must – I have no discretion – he must be discharged,” Judge Michael Snow ruled.
Forlit and his lawyer did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The Federal Bureau of Investigation did not immediately return a message.
Forlit has separately been accused of computer hacking in New York by aviation executive Farhad Azima. Azima, whose emails were stolen and used against him in a 2020 trial in London, is suing Forlit and others in federal court in Manhattan.
Forlit has previously acknowledged retrieving Azima’s emails but has denied hacking, telling Reuters he innocently stumbled across the messages “on the web.”
Death toll jumps to at least 48 as a search continues in southern China highway collapse
- One side of four-lane highway in Meizhou city gave way after a month of heavy rains
- Twenty-three vehicles fell down a steep slope, some sending up flames as they caught fire
BEIJING: The death toll from a collapsed highway in southeastern China climbed to 48 on Thursday as searchers dug for a second day through a treacherous and mountainous area.
One side of the four-lane highway in the city of Meizhou gave way about 2 a.m. on Wednesday after a month of heavy rains in Guangdong province. Twenty-three vehicles fell down a steep slope, some sending up flames as they caught fire. Construction cranes were used to lift out the burnt-out and mutilated vehicles.
Officials in Meizhou said three other people were unidentified, pending DNA testing. It wasn’t immediately clear if they had died, which would bring the death toll to 51. Another 30 people had non-life-threatening injuries.
The search was still ongoing, Meizhou city Mayor Wang Hui said at a late-afternoon news conference. No foreigners have been found among the victims, he said.
Search work has been hampered by rain and land and gravel sliding down the slope. The disaster left a curving earth-colored gash in the otherwise verdant forest landscape. Excavators dug out a wider area on the slope.
“Because some of the vehicles involved caught fire, the difficulty of the rescue operation has increased,” said Wen Yongdeng, the Communist Party secretary for the Meizhou emergency management bureau.
“Most of the vehicles were buried in soil during the collapse, with a large volume of soil covering them,” he said.
He added that the prolonged heavy rainfall has saturated soil in the area, “making it prone to secondary disasters during the rescue process.”
Over 56 centimeters (22 inches) of rain has fallen in the past four weeks in the county where the roadway collapsed, more than four times as much as last year. Some villages in Meizhou flooded in early April, and the city has seen more rain in recent days.
Parts of Guangdong province have seen record rains and flooding in the past two weeks, as well as hail. A tornado killed five people in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, during rain and hail storms last weekend.
The highway section collapsed on the first day of a five-day May Day holiday, when many Chinese are traveling at home and abroad.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping said that all of China’s regions should improve their monitoring and early warning measures and investigate any risks to ensure the safety of the public and social stability, state broadcaster CCTV said.
UK Veteran’s Minister Mercer to risk jail over Afghanistan inquiry
- Friends suggest minister will refuse to hand over identities of whistleblowers over fears for their well-being
- Mercer faces potential 52-week jail term, which would cost him his role as a minister and MP
LONDON: UK Veteran’s Minister Johnny Mercer will risk prison by not revealing the identities of whistleblowers to an inquiry investigating the killings of innocent people in Afghanistan.
The Times reported that friends of the MP had suggested he would rather be a “man of integrity” over the matter ahead of a deadline to hand the names to the inquiry, chaired by Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, next week.
Mercer has already given evidence to the inquiry, which is investigating allegations of extrajudicial killings and cover-ups by UK Special Forces between 2010 and 2013.
Appearing in February, he said a Special Forces soldier told him that in 2017 he was asked to carry a weapon to plant on an unarmed civilian to make them seem like an enemy combatant. He refused to reveal the source and others out of fear for their safety, with suggestions that some may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and could be mentally vulnerable.
Haddon-Cave gave Mercer until April 5 to reveal the names, which was later extended. Failure to comply, he was warned, could result in a year-long prison term, which would cost him his job as a minister and his position as an MP. He could also face a fine.
One friend of the MP told The Times: “The inquiry doesn’t seem to realise that nothing will destroy their authority more than putting the veterans’ minister in the dock — the one man the military community trusts.
“If they do this, no one from the military community will want to co-operate with the inquiry. They seem to think Mercer will fold under the pressure and they will get their way. But he won’t. He will go down as a man of integrity and the inquiry will lose all support.”
Former Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said Mercer should reveal the identities of his sources.
“I admire Johnny enormously for the way that he has done politics under his own rules with an incredible sense of mission … He is a remarkable man but on this particular point I think for him, for his family and actually for the credibility of the inquiry I think he does need to disclose these names,” Heappey said.
On Friday, the inquiry will examine the Ministry of Defence’s failure to provide evidence to it on time. It is still waiting to hear from senior officials, including former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
It has also heard allegations that Gen. Gwen Jenkins, future national security advisor and former Special Boat Service head, locked away a report into claims of extrajudicial killings instead of passing it to military police.
Mercer also suggested during the inquiry, which began in December 2022, that the next head of the UK Army Lt. Gen. Sir Roly Walker had given “unbelievable” testimony over claims that Special Air Service personnel had killed unarmed Afghans.
An investigation by The Times, meanwhile, has suggested that former members of specialist Afghan Army units CF 333 and ATF 444 could provide crucial witness testimony to the inquiry but that their subsequent relocation from Afghanistan was overseen by MoD officials in a potential conflict of interest.
Many had their asylum claims to come to the UK rejected, a decision now under review.
Arrests made at protests against UK arms sales to Israel
- Police in London, Glasgow called to deal with demonstrations
- ‘Protesters must stay within the law,’ Metropolitan Police says
LONDON: Police in London said they made three arrests at demonstrations held on Wednesday to protest against the sale of UK arms to Israel.
Protesters gathered outside the offices of the Department for Business and Trade in central London and more than 1,000 workers and trade unionists held protests at sites linked to BAE Systems across the UK.
“We are policing a protest in Admiralty Place and Horse Guards Parade,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
“Officers have made three arrests after protesters blocked access to a building. Protesters must stay within the law.”
Police Scotland also confirmed its officers were called to a site in Glasgow to deal with protesters on Wednesday.
Members of Workers for a Free Palestine said the group was “escalating its tactics” by targeting BAE Systems cities and the British government department on the same day, the Independent reported.
“Our movement forced the issue of an arms embargo onto the table and polling shows the majority of the British public want to see arms sales to Israel banned, yet the government and also the Labour Party continue to ignore the will of the people,” a WFP protester named Tania, who took to the streets in London, told the newspaper.
“The government has sought to play down the scale of its arms supplies to Israel but the reality is UK arms and military support play a vital role in the Israeli war machine and evidence that three British aid workers were killed by a drone partly produced in the UK shows the extent of British complicity in Israel’s genocide,” she said.
Another protester, named Jamie, who was demonstrating in Glasgow, said: “Our fundamental aim is for the UK government to introduce an arms embargo. It’s the morally right thing to do.
“It’s vital that action is taken. It’s been almost seven months of death and destruction in Palestine and the idea that that is being committed by weapons that are being produced in our neighborhoods is horrifying.
“Our long-term goal is an arms embargo from the government but our short-term aim here today is to just disrupt business as usual for BAE, to disrupt the manufacture, to cost them time, cost them money and slow down the trade of weapons to Israel.”
BAE Systems said it respected people’s “right to protest peacefully” and that its arms exports complied with regulations.
“The ongoing violence in the Middle East is having a devastating impact on civilians in the region and we hope the parties involved find a way to end the violence as soon as possible,” it said.
“We operate under the tightest regulation and comply fully with all applicable defense export controls, which are subject to ongoing assessment.”
