(WASHINGTON) — A planned missile launch by North Korea would be “an unmistakable slap in the face” for those arguing against more sanctions in response to its recent nuclear test, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said Tuesday.
Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel’s comments appeared to be directed at China, the North only major ally. He was speaking after North Korea notified international organizations that it plans to launch an observation satellite into space between Feb. 8 and Feb. 25.
He said a launch that uses ballistic missile technology would be another violation of a U.N. ban and strengthens the argument for the international community to impose “real consequences” on North Korea for destabilizing behavior.
The U.S. has been pushing for the imposition of sanctions following its Jan. 6 nuclear test. China, the North’s main trading partner and source of economic assistance, has condemned that test, but is more reluctant to impose sanctions. Beijing has traditionally be concerned that putting the squeeze on its unpredictable neighbor could destabilize it.
Secretary of State John Kerry sparred with his Chinese counterpart on the issue in Beijing last week, and discussions are continuing among U.N. Security Council members on how to respond to the actions by North Korea, which already faces sanctions under multiple resolutions imposed since 2006 when the North conducted its first nuclear test.
“We share the view that there needs to be consequences to North Korea for its defiance and for its threatening behaviors. Our diplomats are in deep discussion in New York about how to tighten sanctions, how to respond to violations,” Russel told reporters.
“But I would say that yet another violation by the DPRK of the U.N. Security Council resolution, coming on the heels of its nuclear test, would be an unmistakable slap in face to those who argue that you just need to show patience and dialogue with the North Koreans but not sanctions,” he said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
District Judge Craig Long told WNEP he took action because more and more people were turning up for hearings at his Columbia County court in their PJs.
He said the sign is directed at those who have to appear at the Catawissa Township court, rather than those who are just stopping by to pay fines or get paperwork.
Judge Long told WNEP: "We have a growing problem of people not dressing appropriately for court.
"I just put it out there as a reminder of the code of conduct that should be followed when appearing in court.
"Just like if you're going to church, you should dress appropriately."
Judge Long told the ABC affiliate he had been planning to post the sign for a while and it finally went up last week.
Japan's Aegis-equipped destroyers have set to sea off the west coast ahead of the North's launch [Itsuo Inouye/AP]
Japan vowed on Wednesday to shoot down any missiles or rockets fired over its territory after North Korea announced plans to launch a satellite in the coming days.
"Today the defence minister issued an order" to destroy any projectiles if "confirmed that it will fall on Japanese territory", the defence ministry said in a statement.
North Korea on Tuesday informed international organisations of its plans to launch an Earth observation satellite on a rocket between February 8-25. Last month, North Korea announced it tested a hydrogen bomb - the reclusive country's fourth nuclear test.
Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett said Japan's defence systems were being mobilised for the North's launch, noting Aegis-equipped destroyers were set to sea off Japan's west coast.
"Japan's military has been put on alert. Japan is saying it will - if any parts of this rocket come down in various stages in Japanese territory - they will shoot them down if necessary," Fawcett reported.
South Korea, meanwhile, said Pyongyang will pay a "severe price" if it goes ahead with what the international community sees as a long-range missile test.
In Seoul, the presidential office said North Korea should immediately call off the planned launch, which is a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
South Korean and US officials said North Korea's move would threaten regional security and violate UN Security Council resolutions that ban the country from engaging in any ballistic missile activities.
"We warn that if North Korea proceeds with a long-range rocket launch, the international society will ensure that the North pays searing consequences ... as it would constitute a grave threat to the Korean peninsula, the region, and the world," South Korean official Cho Tae-yong said in televised remarks.
In Washington, Daniel Russel, the top American diplomat for East Asia, said the US was tracking reports of the North's planned launch.
He said it would strengthen the argument for the international community to impose "real consequences" on North Korea for destabilising behavior.
North Korea has spent decades trying to develop nuclear weapons along with a missile capable of striking the mainland United States.
North Korea's last long-range rocket launch in December 2012 was seen as having successfully put the country's first satellite into orbit after a string of failures.
Ride-hailing company Uber has a new logo—and it requires an explanation.
In short, it’s inspired by the “bit” and the “atom,” both building blocks of technology and the world, Uber explains on its newly redesigned website.
With its new logo, Uber says it wants to better represent the company it is now. Uber began as a way to summon private black cars, and had a red magnet as a logo at the time. Four years ago, it switched to the black logo with a “U” to match its new “everyone’s private driver” motto. And today, it provides various transportation services for people, as well as delivery of everything from kittens to burritos.
“This updated design reflects where we’ve been, and where we’re headed. The Uber you know isn’t changing, our brand is just catching up to who we already were,” explains Uber, referring to the company’s expansion into logistics through its UberRush service.
The company will also move from having one brand to serve its global enterprise, to an individual look for each of its 65 countries, with tailored colors and patterns, illustrations, and photos, Uber told Wired. The idea is to create more flexibility in the brand.
To go along with the new logo and redesign, Uber also released a video to explain—in poetic language of grandiose visions—the meaning behind its new logo.
“Most of us don’t think about bits or atoms much, if ever,” the video’s voiceover says, hinting at how deeply Uber thought about its new logo. To be fair, Uber is far from the first company to have come up with a new brand and accompanying explainer video, and certainly won’t be the last.
“We leave no bit or atom unturned to create create industries that serve people—and not the other way around,” the video concludes in a vague, but dramatic fashion.
Facebook wants to build a News Feed full of stories you actually want to read.
The company announced in a blog post Monday that it will starting putting greater emphasis on human assessments of what constitutes a “good” Facebook post, rather than just relying on straightforward engagement metrics such as Likes and clicks.
The change is a long time coming for Facebook, which began paying a handful of its users to rate the quality of their own News Feeds on a daily basis back in 2014. This group, dubbed the feed quality panel, now numbers more than 1,000 and is selected to be representative of the platform’s U.S. user base.
By analyzing the way these users rate posts on a one-to-five scale, Facebook found out that there were some posts that users wanted to see at the top of their feeds that they didn’t necessarily want to Like—someone mourning the loss of a loved one, for instance. Conversely, there are other posts that attract a lot of engagement but end up frustrating users. Think news stories with deceptive headlines and other clickbait.
Ideally, Facebook wants to populate users’ feeds with stories that both spur engagement and leave users satisfied.
“News Feed will begin to look at both the probability that you would want to see the story at the top of your feed and the probability that you will like, comment on, click or share a story,” the company explained in the blog post. “We will rank stories higher in feed which we think people might take action on, andwhich people might want to see near the top of their News Feed.”
Facebook is in the midst of an ongoing effort to make the News Feed more “fundamentally human,” in the words of Chief Product Officer Chris Cox. Incorporating the sentiments of actual people into rankings to augment the cold calculus of an algorithm can help achieve that goal. Giving users the opportunity to communicate through a wider variety of human emotions on the platform will also help — in the next few weeks the company is rolling out an expansion of the Like button that will let users express more specific emotions instead, such as anger, sadness or love.
Chloe Goins, the former model who alleged Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at a Playboy Mansion party in 2008 has abandoned her civil lawsuit against the comedian, PEOPLE confirms.
Federal court records in California show the attorney for Goins, 25, filed a voluntary dismissal of her’ lawsuit today, as Cosby entered court in Pennsylvania to face an unrelated charge of aggravated indecent assault on another woman in 2004.
Meanwhile, in a separate case tied to an alleged encounter at the Playboy Mansion, Cosby on Tuesday was ordered to give a second deposition in a civil lawsuit filed by Judy Huth, who said she was 15 in 1974 when she claims Cosby sexually assaulted her at the mansion. Huth’s attorney, Gloria Allred, first deposed Cosby in October 2015.
Cosby and his representatives have consistently denied all allegations of sexual assault or misconduct made against him by more than 50 women.
Goins had alleged that when she was 18, she attended a party at the mansion and felt dizzy and sick to her stomach after being given a drink by Cosby. She claims he then escorted her to a room, where she lost consciousness and awoke with her clothes off to find Cosby biting one of her toes and with her breasts “wet and sticky, as if someone had been licking them.”
On Jan. 6, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office announced that it found no evidence to warrant criminal charges in Goins’ account. Neither Cosby nor Goins was spotted in exterior video footage of the Aug. 9, 2008 event at the mansion; investigators further found evidence that Cosby was in New York that weekend, and his name had not appeared on any guest lists for events held at the mansion that summer.
Goins’ request to have her civil lawsuit dismissed “without prejudice” preserves her ability to re-file the case at a later date. She filed the suit last October.
Cosby is confronting allegations in Pennsylvania made by Andrea Constand, the former director of operations for the Temple University women’s basketball team, who says that Cosby sexually assaulted her at his house in January 2004 after giving her pills that knocked her out.
Cosby’s defense argues that he was promised immunity – and therefore should face no criminal prosecution in Montgomery County – after he agreed to cooperate in a civil lawsuit filed against him by Constand by giving a deposition in which he admitted to offering Quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with.
phone I have a picture I took in Libya on 20 October 2011. It shows a young man in a blue shirt and a New York Yankees baseball cap. He's smiling, being carried on the shoulders of his comrades through the town of Sirte.
These men are rebel fighters from Misrata. Col Gaddafi has just been captured and killed. In the photo you can see them passing among themselves a golden pistol.
It was Gaddafi's personal handgun. In that moment it became a totem - a symbol of the rebels' victory, and of a transfer of power in a new Libya.
Just over four years later, the country is in turmoil. Rival governments - backed by their own militias - are vying for control. Libya is fragmenting along ideological and geographical lines - east versus west, Islamist versus secularist.
The group that calls itself Islamic State is exploiting the power vacuum and has taken control of Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte.
Amid this turmoil, I've returned to Misrata. Two-hundred kilometres east of Tripoli, the city now functions as a semi-independent city state. I'm looking for the man with the golden gun. I want to know what has become of him and the other fighters who captured Gaddafi.
My first visit is to an old contact - Anwar Suwan. He was a key figure in Misrata during the revolution. When Gaddafi was killed, fighters brought his body to Anwar, and Anwar put the corpse on public display in a large refrigerated meat locker.
Anwar's base is still much as it was during those heady days - a collection of semi-furnished shipping containers on a strip of land near the coast, overlooking the Mediterranean.
We arrive at night. It's raining and bitterly cold. There's been a power cut, so we huddle round the coals of a brazier in the dark, drinking hot, sweet tea.
"The situation is not good," says Anwar, as we look at old photographs and remember happier days.
"They cut off the head of the snake, Gaddafi. But now there are hundreds of snakes replacing him. We are still fighting for the same thing - to find a just ruler for Libya. But everyone wants to rule. There are guns everywhere. What a situation!"
Find out more
Gabriel Gatehouse's report The Hunt for the Golden Gun is broadcast on Newsnight on Wednesday 3 February at 22:30 GMT on BBC Two
A longer version will air on Our Worldfrom 20:30 GMT on Friday 5 February on BBC orld
I tell Anwar I'm looking for one specific gun: Gaddafi's golden pistol.
He mentions the name Omran Shabaan - one of the fighters who captured Gaddafi. In some of the shaky footage of that event, filmed on the mobile phones of the rebels, Shabaan can be heard trying to stop the mob from killing Gaddafi.
Another man who was there that day, Ayman Almani, shows me the footage he shot - never played in public before before. It shows the dictator's final moments more clearly than ever - he can be seen bleeding and pleading.
He deserved it," says Ayman, looking back on it now. "Islam teaches us not to mistreat a prisoner, not to bear a grudge. But the people got carried away in the stampede and no-one could stop them."
Omran Shabaan became a hero. He was photographed with the golden gun, and came to personify the hope that Libyans could heal their wounds after months of bitter fighting. It was not to be.
In 2012, Shabaan himself was captured by Gaddafi loyalists in the town of Bani Walid. They beat him and tortured him. By the time the Misratans negotiated his release it was too late. He died of his injuries in a French hospital.
Anwar Suwan tells me he thinks Shabaan may have had the gun with him when he was taken. Perhaps the gun was now back in the hands of Gaddafi loyalists?
Then I show him and his comrades my picture of the man in the baseball cap.
Mohammed Elbibi," someone recognises him. That was indeed the name I had used in the report I filed to London on that day back in 2011.
Anwar says he doesn't know what has become of Mohammed. But he promises to find out.
Another contact, who also handled the gun, thinks the pistol is still in the city, but he doesn't know who has it.
Finally, I get hold of a phone number for Mohammed Elbibi and he agrees to meet me in his home in the centre of the city.
We sit down and I show him the picture of himself with the golden gun.
"I remember," he smiles. "I was 17 years old!"
He tells me he had nothing to do with the lynching of Gaddafi. He simply found the colonel's gun lying on the ground near the place where he was caught. But, in the confusion of the moment, and seeing him with the gun, the other rebels thought it was Mohammed who had killed him. He became the accidental hero of the revolution.
"What about the gun?" I ask him. It turns out he still has it. He shows it to me - it's a 9mm Browning handgun, gold-plated and decorated with an elaborate floral pattern.
It appears to have been a gift - Mohammed believes from one of Gaddafi's sons - on the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of the revolution that brought him to power. Almost exactly 10 years later, pictures of Mohammed Elbibi brandishing that same pistol would signal the final end to the Gaddafi era.
But Mohammed is wary of his trophy. There are still Gaddafi loyalists out there, and he has received death threats.
"Please tell the world it was not me who killed Gaddafi," he says.
Did he imagine that, nearly five years later, Libya would still be at war with itself?
"I did not," he says. "I am really sad about that. When I see Libyans killing Libyans, it's too bad. Everybody wants to be like Gaddafi."
More from the Magazine
Gaddafi's golden gun bears the words "Made in Belgium" - an engraving that points to another story. Three years ago, arms experts spotted a single advanced Belgian rifle in the hands of militants in Gaza. But how had a group listed by the EU and the US as a terrorist organisation obtained the weapon? Arms expert Nic Jenzen-Jones and the BBC's Thomas Martienssen tracked its journey and traced it back to a 12m euro shipment of Belgian arms to Libya agreed in 2008.
