North Korea:
US needs to build our trust, and
sanctions lower it
UNITED NATIONS — North Korea needs more trust in the U.S. and their developing relationship before it will get rid of its nuclear weapons, Pyongyang’s top diplomat said Saturday as an envoy from another of the international community’s biggest worries — Syria — demanded that the U.S., France and Turkey withdraw their troops from his civil-war-wracked country.
More than three months after a June summit in Singapore between the U.S. and North Korean leaders, Ri Yong Ho told world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly that the North doesn’t see a “corresponding response” from the U.S. to North Korea’s early disarmament moves. Instead, he noted, the U.S. is continuing sanctions aimed at keeping up pressure.
“The perception that sanctions can bring us on our knees is a pipe dream of the people who are ignorant of us,” he said, adding that the continued sanctions are “deepening our mistrust” and deadlocking the current diplomacy.
“Without any trust in the U.S., there will be no confidence in our national security, and under such circumstances there is no way we will unilaterally disarm ourselves first,” Ri said, adding that the North’s commitment to disarming is “solid and firm,” but that trust is crucial.
Washington is wary of easing sanctions or agreeing to another of the North’s priorities — a declaration ending the Korean War — without Pyongyang first making significant disarmament moves.
Syria FM: Victory over ‘terrorism’ is near, US must leave
UNITED NATIONS — Declaring that victory over “terrorism” is almost at hand after more than seven years of civil war, Syria’s foreign minister took to the world stage Saturday and demanded that “occupation” forces from the U.S., France and Turkey leave the country immediately.
Walid al-Moallem told the General Assembly’s high-level meeting that the situation on the ground “is more stable and secure thanks to combatting terrorism” and “all conditions are now present for the voluntary return of refugees.”
Syrian government forces, backed by Russia and Iran, have retaken most of the territory rebels seized during the war that has killed over 400,000 people and driven millions from their homes. President Bashar Assad’s government refers to all armed opposition and rebel groups fighting Syrian forces as “terrorists,” not just Islamic State or al-Qaida militants.
Last week, Russia and Turkey agreed to a deal which stopped an imminent Syrian government offensive to retake the last major rebel stronghold in the northern province of Idlib. It calls for setting up a demilitarized zone around Idlib to separate government forces from rebels, including those from the al-Qaida-linked group formerly known as the Nusra Front.
“We hope that when the agreement is implemented, the Nusra Front and other terrorists will be eradicated, thus eliminating the last remnants of terrorism in Syria,” al-Moallem said.
FBI contacts Kavanaugh Yale classmate in its investigation
WASHINGTON — The FBI has contacted Deborah Ramirez, who’s accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct when he was a Yale student, as part of the bureau’s investigation of the Supreme Court nominee, her attorney said Saturday.
Ramirez’s lawyer, John Clune, said agents want to interview her and she has agreed to cooperate. Ramirez has said Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party in the early 1980s when they were Yale students.
President Donald Trump ordered the FBI on Friday to reopen Kavanaugh’s background investigation after several women accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
Senate leaders agreed to delay a final vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination to allow for a one-week FBI investigation. The Senate Judiciary Committee has said the probe should be limited to “current credible allegations” against Kavanaugh and be finished by next Friday.
Leaving the hearing Friday, Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said it was his understanding there would be an FBI investigation of “the outstanding allegations, the three of them,” but Republicans have not said whether that was their understanding as well.
From wire sources
Indonesia tsunami death toll nears 400, expected to rise
PALU, Indonesia — Residents too afraid to sleep indoors camped out in the darkness Saturday while victims recounted harrowing stories of being separated from their loved ones a day after a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that unleashed waves as high as 20 feet, killing hundreds on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
The official death toll stood at 384, with all the fatalities coming in the hard-hit city of Palu, but it was expected to rise once rescuers reached surrounding coastal areas, said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. He said others were unaccounted for, without giving an estimate. The nearby cities of Donggala and Mamuju were also ravaged, but little information was available due to damaged roads and disrupted telecommunications.
Nugroho said “tens to hundreds” of people were taking part in a beach festival in Palu when the tsunami struck at dusk on Friday. Their fate was unknown.
Hundreds of people were injured and hospitals, damaged by the magnitude 7.5 quake, were overwhelmed.
Some of the injured, including Dwi Haris, who suffered a broken back and shoulder, rested outside Palu’s Army Hospital, where patients were being treated outdoors due to continuing strong aftershocks. Tears filled his eyes as he recounted feeling the violent earthquake shake the fifth-floor hotel room he shared with his wife and daughter.
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Tens of thousands say ‘Not him’ to leading Brazil candidate
SAO PAULO — Tens of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets Saturday in protest against the presidential front-runner, a far-right congressman whose campaign has exposed and deepened divisions in Latin America’s largest country.
The protests came the same day that Jair Bolsonaro was discharged from a Sao Paulo hospital where he received treatment after being stabbed during a campaign rally on Sept. 6. On Saturday evening, after flying home to Rio, he tweeted that there was “no better feeling” than to be close to his family.
In Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, people flooded avenues and squares to sing, dance and shout “Not him!” — the rallying cry of groups who are trying to prevent Bolsonaro from taking office in October elections.
“We’re saying to those people who are undecided: Not him,” said Selia Figueiredo, a 43-year-old banker in Sao Paulo, who said she worried for her rights as a gay woman if Bolsonaro were to win. They can vote “for anyone else, but not him.”
In the heart of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, leftist presidential candidate Guilherme Boulos and his running mate Sonia Guajajara led the march, while people beat drums and waved gay pride flags and banners that denounced Bolsonaro, who is known for offensive comments about gays, women and black people.
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Legendary Chicago blues guitarist Otis Rush dies at 84
CHICAGO — Legendary Chicago blues guitarist Otis Rush, whose passionate, jazz-influenced sound influenced generations of musicians, has died. He was 84.
His longtime manager Rick Bates says Rush died Saturday of complications from a stroke suffered in 2003.
Rush was a key architect of the Chicago “West Side Sound” in the 1950s and 1960s. His first recording in 1956 on Cobra Records, “I Can’t Quit You Baby” reached No. 6 on the Billboard R&B Charts and catapulted him to fame.
He won a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Recording in 1999 for “Any Place I’m Going.” Rush was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1984.
