North Korea has started to dismantle its nuclear test site, which it had pledged to close down after the inter-Korean summit on April 27, according to media reports on Tuesday.

“Commercial satellite imagery from May 7 provided the first definitive evidence that dismantlement of the test site was already well underway,” Efe news agency reported citing the 38 North website report that published and analysed satellite images of the site.

Pyongyang had announced it would publicly dismantle its Punggye-ri nuclear facility between May 23 and 25 by destroying the tunnels in the complex with explosions, blocking entrances and removing observation areas, research centres, and security structures.

According to the report, many key operational support buildings have been razed since their last analysis.

Some of the rails and mining carts used for excavation of the tunnels in the complex have also been dismantled and other small buildings have been removed.

During the summit, Pyongyang had pledged to work for a complete denuclearisation of the peninsula, having promised to stop its weapons tests earlier.

The commitments came ahead of a summit to be held between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the US President Donald Trump to discuss a possible end to Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

North Korea has carried out six underground nuclear tests–including the last and most powerful one in September 2017–at the Punggye-ri site.

A number of analysts have doubted North Korea’s commitment to the denuclearisation, citing the example of 2008, when Pyongyang publicly dismantled parts of its uranium reprocessing plant but kept developing its nuclear programme.

A petition was submitted in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday to register a treason case against ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif following his controversial remarks on 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The petition, filed by political party Pakistan Awaami Tehreek’s (PAT) Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, stated that Sharif’s statement was against national security and state institutions. “Nawaz Sharif’s statement is tantamount to treason. Instructions should be given to register a treason case against him,” it said.

Federal Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal was also mentioned as a respondent in the petition apart from Sharif, the Express Tribune reported.

The former Prime Minister during an interview to Dawn on May 12 had admitted that “militant organisations were active in Pakistan” and “such terror strikes (26/11) could have been prevented”. At least 166 Indians and foreigners were killed in the bloodbath.

“Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me,” he had said, in a clear reference to the Mumbai killings blamed on 10 Pakistani terrorists. One of them was caught and hanged.

“We have isolated ourselves. Despite sacrifices, our narrative is not being accepted. Afghanistan’s narrative is being accepted, but ours is not. We must look into it,” he added.

Later, Sharif faced a volley of criticism for his remarks. Opposition parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), launched a broadside against him, calling him a “security threat”.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz stalwart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the former Interior Minister, did not endorse Sharif’s statement. He held India responsible for the delay in the trial of the Mumbai attack suspects.

Following this, a National Security Committee was also held to discuss Sharif’s “misleading” statement.

The top brass of military leadership, including Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat and Director General Inter-Services Intelligence Lt. Gen. Naveed Mukhtar attended the meeting, held at the Prime Minister House.

Over 8,000 people were affected as heavy rains caused flash floods in Sri Lanka’s Galle and Kalutara districts, the Disaster Management Centre said on Monday.

Several people were evacuated from their homes due to the heavy downpour on Sunday but as the rains ceased by Monday morning, the situation was normalising, Disaster Management Centre’s spokesperson Pradeep Kodippilli was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

He said no casualties or damages were reported but those living in low areas were urged to be vigilant. More rains were expected on Monday night.

Sri Lanka’s Meteorological Department said showers or thundershowers would occur over most provinces of the island country by Monday evening.

Heavy falls was also expected at some places, particularly in Central, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Uva and Western provinces and in Polonnaruwa and Vauniya districts.

The monsoons, which hit Sri Lanka in May 2017, caused heavy flooding and landslides in several districts resulting in over 200 deaths while thousands were displaced.

Seven people were found dead on Friday at a rural property in Western Australia (WA), police said.

The bodies of four children and three adults were discovered in the town of Osmington, 280km south of state capital Perth, reports the BBC.

The cause of death is not ascertained but the police have confirmed that two firearms were found at the scene.

“The bodies of two adults were located outside (and) five bodies were located inside a building on the rural property,” said WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson.

If confirmed to be a mass shooting, it would be Australia’s worst since a massacre in Tasmania claimed the lives of 35 people in 1996.

Dawson said the police would launch a large-scale investigation, and were contacting relatives of the victims.

Osmington is a sparsely populated town about 20km from Margaret River, a popular tourism area.

US President Donald Trump will meet North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12. The two leaders will try to make it a very special moment for World Peace.

In a tweet Trump said, the highly anticipated meeting will discuss the denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula.

His tweet came hours after three American nationals of South Korean-origin returned home after North Korea released them.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Israeli air strikes against what it says were Iranian targets in Syria draw global calls to avoid further escalation.
The United Nations, Russia, France, Germany and Britain have urged Israel and Iran to avoid any further escalation after Israel carried out air raids against what it said were Iranian targets in Syria.

Israel said the bombardment on Thursday was in retaliation for Iranian rocket fire on its positions in the occupied Golan Heights. There were no Israeli casualties.

Iran made no comment about the rocket fire.

The raids come after weeks of rising tensions and followed US President Donald Trump’s decision on Tuesday to withdraw from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a move Israel had long advocated.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for an “immediate halt to all hostile acts” in a statement.

He urged the Security Council to remain actively aware of the situation and “shoulder its responsibilities” under the UN Charter.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was also quick to call for restraint. He said the Israeli raids were “very alarming development” and called on both Israel and Iran to avoid provoking each other.

All issues “should be solved through dialogue”, he added.

Both Russia and Iran have intervened in war-torn Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

Israel has long warned it will not accept Iran entrenching itself militarily in Syria.

In recent years, it has been suspected of carrying out air strikes on installations manned by Syrian, Iranian, and allied Lebanese fighters across Syria.

What are the ramifications of US exiting Iran nuclear deal?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday Iran had “crossed a red line” and the resulting bombardment “was a consequence”.

‘Provocative attack’
Iran does not want “new tensions” in the Middle East, President Hassan Rouhani told German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday.

“Iran has always sought to reduce tensions in the region, trying to strengthen security and stability,” Rouhani told Merkel in a telephone call, according to a statement on the website of Iran’s presidency.

The White House also condemned Iran’s “provocative attack” in a statement, with press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying Iran has deployed into Syria “offensive rocket and missile systems aimed at Israel”.

That deployment “is an unacceptable and highly dangerous development for the entire Middle East”, she said.

Germany and Britain joined the US in denouncing the rocket fire they also said came from Iran, while France reiterated its “unwavering support for Israel’s security”.

Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, following a meeting in Aachen, Germany on Thursday, called for “level-headedness and de-escalation in the region”.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Iran must refrain from “further actions that will only lead to increased instability”, and called on Russia to press the Syrian government to work for a broader political statement.

Meanwhile, in a rare move for an Arab country, Bahrain backed Israel’s right to “defend itself” after the air raids.

Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa wrote on Twitter that so long as Iran uses its forces and missiles to try and destabilise the region, “it is the right of any country in the region, including Israel, to defend itself by destroying sources of danger.”

Bahrain is a close ally of Saudi Arabia and the two countries, whose foreign policies are often in lockstep, view Iran as the chief threat to the region.

Spectre of major confrontation
Outside observers see a dangerous game of brinkmanship.

“The rules of the game are worked out by trial and error, by push and shove. The pushing and shoving has become more intense,” said Heiko Wimmen of the International Crisis Group. “We are getting closer to the brink.”

It was only a matter of time before Iran pushed back, said Wimmen.

“The point will come with these actions where the Iranians will say, ‘We have to push back forcefully, we have to establish deterrence against the Israelis if we want to stay in Syria,'” said Wimmen.

Israel, too, may feel emboldened by US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“Israel has been chomping at the bit to take a big bite out of Iran’s forces in Syria,” said Nicholas Heras of the Center for a New American Security.

Netanyahu sees that decision as a “green light to go after Iran in Syria, the consequences be damned”, said Heras.

“The Israelis believe they are facing a nightmare scenario right now where Iran is on the march in Syria with the intention to start a war that will end Israel.”

Aljazeera

Earlier this month, Iraqi journalist Muntadher al-Zaidi – who shot to prominence in 2008 when he hurled a shoe at George W Bush and called the former US president “a dog” – announced his candidacy for the May 12 parliamentary elections.

“I want to lock up all the thieves who’ve robbed Iraq of its wealth,” he told Al Jazeera, explaining that he plans to pass a law that would see “corrupt politicians held to account”.

The nomination of Zaidi with the Sairoon Coalition – an alliance between the Sadirst Movement and the Iraqi Communist Party – was celebrated by his supporters. But it was not received with the same level of enthusiasm among the wider Iraqi public as his “farewell kiss [to Bush] from the Iraqi people” 10 years ago.

The Sairoon Coalition led by Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is one of the five main Shia factions running in the election for a new parliament.

While many parties have taken the opportunity to emphasise a unified, cross-sectarian national identity in the run-up to the vote, Iraq remains plagued by divisions along sectarian and ethnic lines.

With a large number of Iraqi journalists contesting the upcoming elections, the first since the defeat of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL also known as ISIS), observers fear that the lines between independent journalism and politics in Iraq are becoming increasingly blurred.

According to Iraq’s High Electoral Commission, there has been a record number of journalists and media personalities entering the electoral fray.

“We don’t know the exact number for journalists running in the election, but they are definitely in the tens. The numbers are visibly larger than in previous votes, said Hazem Al-Radinee, a member of the high board of electoral commissioners.

The Israeli army said on Thursday it hit dozens of Iranian military targets in Syria overnight, accusing Tehran of launching rocket and missile attack towards its forces in the occupied Golan Heights.

“The (Israeli military) has struck dozens of Iranian military targets in Syria,” Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus told journalists.

He said they targeted intelligence, logistics, storage and vehicles as well as the origin of the rockets.

A Syrian radar installation was destroyed in the attack, Syrian state news agency SANA cited a military source as saying.

“This is the first time that Israel has directly accused Iran of attacking it from within Syrian territory since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011,” Al Jazeera correspondent Harry Fawcett said from Jerusalem.
It [Israeli military] also said that some of those attacking forces were met by Syrian anti-aircraft systems and that resulted in Syrian military targets being struck as well.

“The question is whether that will be a deterrent or whether it could invite further escalation from the other side now that these things are in train, accidental escalation towards further conflict is always a possibility.”

‘Destabilise the entire region’
Israel was accused of attacking an airbase near Homs province in April. In February, an Israeli F-16 fighter jet was shot down by the Syrian military while targeting what it called Iranian sites responsible for launching a drone into the occupied Golan Heights.

Israel has carried out more than a dozen strikes inside Syria in the past one year.

The two countries are still technically at war, although the border remained largely quiet for decades until 2011, when the Syrian conflict broke out.

Israeli military spokesman Conricus said that the Russians were informed prior to the attack. It is one of the largest Israeli military operations in recent years and the biggest against Iranian targets.

Moscow and Tehran are close allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has presided over a civil war for the past seven years. Over half a million Syrians have died and nearly half of the prewar population displaced.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Beirut, said that the move has created concerns in neighboring Lebanon after Lebanese army said that the country’s airspace was violated by Israeli fighter jets.

“Israel has been saying in the past that the Syrian government is paving the way for Iran and Hezbollah [a Lebanese Shia militia] to maintain strong military presence in the [occupied] Golan Heights not far from the border with Israel.

Ahelbarra said that any confrontation between Israel and Iran could trigger a reaction from Hezbollah [that backs President Assad].

“If that happens, then you might end up with a situation where you have different frontlines, different battlefields happening at the same time, which could further destabilise the entire region.”

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has scored a historic victory in the country’s general elections.

When he takes power, 92-year old Mahathir will be the oldest prime minister in the world. The swearing-in ceremony is likely to be held on Thursday (May 10).

The election commission said Mahathir’s opposition alliance has won 115 seats, over the threshold of 112 seats needed to form a government.

Mahathir defeated the governing Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has been in power for more than 60 years. BN coalition won 79 seats with just a few left to count.

The victory capped a dramatic political comeback for Mahathir, who previously ruled the country for 22 years, and came out of retirement to take on Prime Minister Najib Razak after the leader became embroiled in a massive corruption scandal.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

Canada has always been silent when Israel decides to kill as many Palestinians as it wants to, for any reason.

That one word has defined Canada’s response to the summary execution and maiming of hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza lately by Israeli thugs, otherwise known as soldiers, perched comfortably behind makeshift hills meters away in Israel.

Canada remains silent while Israeli snipers continue to murder Palestinian children. Canada remains silent while Israeli snipers continue to shoot Palestinian children in the head and legs with “butterfly” bullets – meant to kill instantly and disfigure irrevocably – for waving Palestinian flags on what remains of Palestinian soil.

Canada remains silent while Israeli snipers continue to execute Palestinian journalists wearing vests marked “PRESS” as they record droves of Palestinians being wantonly murdered and maimed again and again and again.

Canada remains silent while Israeli snipers continue to target and gas thousands of Palestinian children, women and men for defending their dignity, sovereignty, and humanity during peaceful demonstrations on Palestinian soil since the Great March of Return began on March 30.

Like their predecessors, Trudeau and Freeland believe that Israel has the “right” to kill as many Palestinians as it wants to, whenever it wants to, for whatever reason it wants to, for as long as it wants to.

Though shameful, Canada’s silence isn’t surprising. Canada has always been silent when Israel decides, yet again, to kill as many Palestinians as it wants to, at any time, for any reason.

What is slightly surprising, however, is the belief among many so-called “progressives” that a government led by a Liberal prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and a Liberal foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, would think and act differently with regard to Canada’s steadfast support for Israel’s “right” to kill as many Palestinians as it wants to, at any time, for any reason.

On this lethal score, there is no difference between Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland and any other past Canadian prime minister or foreign minister.

Like their predecessors, Trudeau and Freeland believe that Israel has the “right” to kill as many Palestinians as it wants to, whenever it wants to, for any reason it wants to, for as long as it wants to.

These same deluded “progressives” believe, of course, that a Trudeau-led Canada is fundamentally different from a Donald Trump-led America. Canada, unlike America, they say, respects and protects human rights, territorial integrity and international law.

Fools. When it comes to the execution, maiming and gassing of unarmed Palestinian children, women and men on Palestinian soil by Israeli snipers, Justin Trudeau is a clone of Donald Trump and Chrystia Freeland is a cliche-spouting facsimile of US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

Recently, Pompeo told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in effect to keep killing as many Palestinians as he wants to, at any time, for any reason. “We believe the Israelis have the right to defend themselves, and we’re fully supportive of that,” Pompeo said in Amman, Jordan on April 30.

(Pompeo parroted Barack Obama, who, as the Democrats’ “hope and change” presidential candidate, reassured Israel in May 2008 that: “As president, I will do everything in my power to help Israel protect itself from these and other threats. I will make sure that Israel can defend itself from any attack, whether it comes from as close as Gaza or far as Teheran.”)

The Liberal Party of Canada used precisely the same recycled rhetoric and rationale to condone Israel’s invasion of Gaza and the slaughter of more than 500 Palestinian children. “Israel has the right to defend itself and its people,” Trudeau said via a cryptic press release in July 2014.

Hence, Canada’s silence today.

But Freeland’s loquacious streak on Twitter has revealed a breathtaking hypocrisy and sanctimony that I didn’t think even wily, ambitious politicians like Canada’s perpetually effervescent foreign minister, were capable of.

Here’s Freeland on World Press Freedom Day reminding her followers that, before she became a politician, she was a long-time journalist in Canada and abroad.

“As a former journalist and as Minister of Foreign Affairs, I will use every opportunity to raise concerns regarding violations of freedom of expression,” she wrote on May 3.

In her tweet, Freeland linked to a Global Affairs Canada press release issued under her name that reads in part: “In too many places, members of the media face constant and unacceptable threats. The numbers don’t lie: last year 75 were killed, 81 were imprisoned, and one person is still missing. These attacks weaken democracy, silence the voices of the oppressed, and undermine public trust. We categorically condemn anyone who in any way intimidates and harasses journalists working in defence of the truth.”

Attached to Freeland’s statement is a map that highlights in black the places around the globe where journalists have been killed, threatened, imprisoned, silenced, intimidated and harassed for doing their job.

In Freeland’s map, none of the “places” where Palestinian journalists have been killed, threatened, imprisoned, silenced, intimidated or harassed by Israel for doing their job “in defence of the truth” are painted black.

As a result, Freeland has never seized the “opportunity” to “categorically condemn” Israel’s “injustices” since her ministry’s map makes plain that Israel hasn’t killed, threatened, imprisoned, silenced, intimidated or harassed Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

The historical record, however, is as bloody, as it is damning and clear. As many as 11 Palestinian journalists killed during the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2014. Netanyahu’s smear of Al Jazeera and his brazen attempts in 2017 to shutter and, by extension, silence, the news agency’s Jerusalem bureau. The murders by Israeli snipers of Ahmad Abu Hussein, a 24-year-old photojournalist who was shot in the abdomen on April 15 or Yaser Murtaja, a 30-year-old journalist, husband and father who was also shot in the abdomen and succumbed to his injuries on April 7.

Freeland has said and done nothing about the executions of her erstwhile colleagues in Gaza not only because that’s what Canada’s de rigueur foreign policy vis-a-vis Israel demands, but because the ex-journalist likely isn’t inclined to scuttle her barely camouflaged designs eventually to succeed her dauphin boss.

To win the crown, Freeland knows it’s political suicide to offend or alienate the same institutional and corporate interests – inside and outside the establishment media – that habitually and unquestionably side with Israel in every way, on every count, and that helped propel Trudeau into office.

So, while Freeland is silent in the face of the flagrant brutality visited upon so many innocent Palestinians by Israeli soldiers, on May 2 she leapt at the “opportunity” to demand on Twitter that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “withdraw” his “deeply offensive” remarks made in a bizarre address last week to the Palestinian National Council about the Holocaust (Abbas has since apologised).

It’s no mystery why Freeland finds a foul, historically illiterate speech “deeply offensive,” but not the murder of kite-flying Palestinian kids.

In her cynical calculus, the right of Palestinians – young or old – to march together peacefully to reclaim their stolen lands without being grievously injured or killed will always be trumped by Israel’s “right” to defend itself.

Still, Freeland’s transparent, self-serving hypocrisy and silence are not only contemptible, but anathema to any self-respecting “journalist.”