Tehran, Iran –– Iran’s influential Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday it doesn’t fear a possible war with the United States and claimed that America hasn’t grown in power in recent years — the latest tough talk from Tehran amid escalating regional tensions and a crisis with Washington.
“The enemy is not more powerful than before,” said the Guard spokesman, Gen. Ramazan Sharif.Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif appeared unimpressed with Japan’s offer to mediate in the crisis, saying Mr. Trump should make his intentions clear about any talks with Iran through actions, not words.
Zarif accused the Trump administration of “hurting the Iranian people & causing tension in the region” with the sanctions, and added that “actions – not words – will show whether or not that’s @realDonaldTrump’s intent.”Trump says U.S. not seeking regime change in IranIn Japan on Monday, President Trump said he’d back Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to open a communication with Iran. “I do believe Iran would like to talk and if they’d like to talk, we’ll talk also,” he said.Iran has said it has no interest in negotiations with Washington following Mr. Trump’s pullout from the nuclear deal and the re-imposing of sanctions on Iran.However, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, tempered his minister’s remarks by saying that Iran would “wait and see” before deciding on any offers of negotiations.Tensions between Washington and Tehran soared recently over America deploying an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf over a still-unexplained threat it perceives from Tehran. The U.S. also plans to send 900 additional troops to the Mideast and extend the stay of another 600 as tens of thousands of others also are on the ground across the region.The crisis takes root in President Trump’s withdrawal last year of the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that capped Iran’s uranium enrichment activities in return to lifting sanctions. Washington subsequently re-imposed sanctions on Iran, sending its economy into freefall.Mr. Trump has argued that the deal failed to sufficiently curb Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons or halt its support for militias throughout the Middle East that the U.S. says destabilize the region, as well as address the issue of Tehran’s missiles, which can reach both U.S. regional bases and Israel.
Speaking at a press conference in Tehran, Sharif said the Guard doesn’t “support engaging in any war” while at the same time it doesn’t “fear the occurrence of a war.””We have enough readiness to defend the country,” he said, adding that Iran has boosted its military power over the past 30 years.
Bayer’s public relations headaches over its mammoth takeover of Monsanto intensified Tuesday, as a scandal about “watch lists” of pro- or anti-pesticides figures kept by the U.S. group snowballed across Europe. The German group said the lists covered politicians, journalists and others across seven European countries and in Brussels.
Bayer’s admission adds to the company’s woes that have piled up since it acquired Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018 — one of the largest in German corporate history — which has also lumbered it with a massive burden of health-related lawsuits.The Leverkusen-based group said Tuesday that PR agency FleishmanHillard “drew up lists of stakeholders in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and United Kingdom, as well as regarding stakeholders related to EU institutions” on Monsanto’s behalf.
Bayer promised transparency over the lists earlier this month, after a French television channel revealed the existence in France of files on prominent backers and opponents of pesticides and genetically modified crops.”The lists primarily include journalists, politicians and other interest groups,” the company said. Elected officials and media in France and beyond immediately cried foul over the affair, prompting Bayer to apologize.AFP has filed a complaint with a French regulatory body, the Commission Nationale Informatique et Libertes, because some of its journalists were on the list.Bayer said Tuesday it had hired law firm Sidley Austin to investigate the lists and to determine whether they extended to other countries.Its lawyers will also contact the individuals named to inform them what data FleishmanHillard collected on them, Bayer said, starting “no later than” May 31.Meanwhile, the Leverkusen-based group said it would suspend the agency’s PR work and that it “is examining the contractual options for a possible exit as soon as possible” in other areas, although marketing projects would be upheld.
Ongoing glyphosate battleThe debacle over the watch lists is just one area where Bayer management is struggling to put out a number of different legal and public relations fires, diverting attention away from efforts to turn the combined pharmaceutical and agrochemicals group of Bayer-Monsanto into a global player. Along with Monsanto’s arsenal of genetically modified crops, the German company has also acquired its business with herbicide glyphosate.Many of the engineered seeds are designed to be resistant to the weedkiller, giving the combined technologies blockbuster sales potential.But despite intensive scientific study and the approval of regulatory authorities worldwide, doubts have remained in the public’s mind about the safety of glyphosate for humans, as well as for vital pollinating insects like bees.Bayer now faces around 13,400 lawsuits in the U.S. from plaintiffs alleging their illnesses, including many cancers, had been caused by glyphosate-containing Monsanto weedkillers, such as the flagship product, Roundup.Three juries have so far ordered Monsanto to pay sufferers massive compensation, with the latest award for $2 billion to a couple in California.Bayer is appealing the cases and stands by its position that “regulatory authorities around the world consider glyphosate-based herbicides as safe when used as directed.”
In the first case lost by Monsanto in California, school groundskeeper Dewayne “Lee” Johnson was ultimately awarded $78.5 million. Johnson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014 and regularly spraying a high-concentration version of Roundup known as Ranger Pro as part of his job from 2012 to 2016.A California federal court jury awarded more than $80 million to Edwin Hardeman, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgekin’s lymphoma in 2015. Hardeman had used Roundup for more than 25 years on his Sonoma property.Shareholders proved largely unconvinced by the management’s strategy at the group’s annual general meeting last month, with 55.5 percent voting against the board.
More than 1,200 Jewish Holocaust victims were laid to rest in Belarus on Wednesday after their remains were discovered in a mass grave under a construction site. Builders unearthed the Nazi-era mass grave while constructing a housing development earlier this year in an area that served as a Jewish ghetto from 1941 to 1942.
Soldiers exhumed the bodies of 1,214 people killed during the Nazi occupation. The remains were moved to a cemetery in the town of Brest. The town was part of Poland before World War II, and Belarus, which was occupied by the Nazis during the war, became part of the Soviet Union.In a somber ceremony, 120 blue caskets embossed with the Star of David were buried side-by-side in a local cemetery. A rabbi led a funeral service attended by 300 people, including Israel’s ambassador to Belarus. “The soul goes up to heaven through this process, so it was very important for the Jewish community that it was all done with Jewish custom,” Ambassador Alon Shoham said.Belarusian troops performed a gun salute and members of the community took turns covering the blue coffins with the earth.
When the bodies were first discovered, soldiers found skulls with bullet holes, suggesting the victims were killed execution style. They also unearthed personal items like leather shoes.Local Jewish community leader Regina Simonenko criticized authorities for rushing to bury the remains instead of conducting DNA tests to establish their identities, the Associated Press reported.”We were told that DNA tests are expensive and take a long time,” Simonenko told The AP.Simonenko, who attended the funeral, said she had “mixed feelings” about the discovery. She said she was shaken by horrible event, but that it served to remind new generations of what happened. “If we don’t remember, then things like this can happen again.”
Toronto — The Golden State Warriors aren’t letting go of the NBA title just yet.
Stephen Curry scored 31 points, Klay Thompson added 26 and they led a season-saving surge that gave the Warriors a 106-105 victory over the Toronto Raptors Monday night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
The two-time defending champion Warriors showed true grit, writes CBS Sports’ Jack Maloney.
The “Splash Brothers” — Curry and Thompson — combined for three straight 3-pointers in the closing minutes after Toronto had taken a six-point lead with under 3-1/2 minutes remaining in front of a raucous, red-shirted crowd.
“They’re amazing. They’re amazing competitors, great shooters,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
The Warriors lost Kevin Durant barely a quarter after getting him back from injury but got the win, cutting Toronto’s lead to 3-2 and sending the series back to Oracle Arena for Game 6 on Thursday.
Kawhi Leonard scored 26 points for the Raptors but couldn’t get the final shot, which went to Kyle Lowry and was blocked by Draymond Green.
The Warriors were minutes away from their title reign ending, having lost Durant and a 14-point lead during an emotionally exhausting game. They had controlled Leonard for three quarters, but he scored 10 straight Toronto points in the fourth and the Raptors were close to their first championship and a celebration that would have stretched coast to coast in Canada.
But even after everything the Warriors had lost, they still had two of the best perimeter shooters in the world on the floor. Thompson hit a 3, and Curry followed with one to tie it at 103. Golden State got it back to Thompson and the Raptors lost sight of him just long enough for the tiebreaking shot with 57 seconds to go.
Toronto cut it to one when Kyle Lowry was credited with a basket and the Raptors got a final chance when DeMarcus Cousins was called for an illegal screen. Leonard had the ball but the Warriors forced him to pass and it ended up in the corner to Lowry, who was way off as the buzzer sounded.
Cousins had 14 points for the Warriors and Green finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Golden State is the only team to lose a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals, when Cleveland came back to win in 2016.
Now the Warriors have a chance to pull off the feat themselves, but it became more difficult after Durant limped off in the second quarter after he had missed the previous nine games with a strained right calf.
He was attempting to dribble past Serge Ibaka early in the second quarter when he suddenly came to a stop, lost the ball and limped sideways before grabbing at his lower right calf as he fell to the court.
Fans at first cheered but then, spurred in part by some Raptors players, chanted “KD! KD!” as he was helped to the locker room area joined by Curry, Andre Iguodala and General Manager Bob Myers.
Durant left the arena on crutches.
He has an injured right Achilles, a massive blow for the perennial All-Star and two-time NBA Finals MVP who is three weeks away from free agency and now may be facing a long rehabilitation process.
Myers was teary when he gave reporters the news after the game. An MRI will be performed Tuesday to determine the severity, but Durant’s season is clearly over and his recovery will likely take several months if the Achilles is indeed torn.
“He’s one of the most misunderstood people,” Myers said. “He’s a good teammate, he’s a good person, it’s not fair. I’m lucky to know him. I don’t have all the information on what really the extent of what it all means until we get a MRI, but the people that worked with him and cleared him are good people, they’re good people.”
Myers said Durant’s first injury of this postseason was a calf injury, as the Warriors have insisted throughout. Myers also said he is willing to accept the blame for the decision to play Durant in Game 5.
“I don’t believe there’s anybody to blame, but I understand in this world and if you have to, you can blame me,” Myers said. “I run our basketball operations department. And to tell you something about Kevin Durant: Kevin Durant loves to play basketball, and the people that questioned whether he wanted to get back to this team were wrong.”
The Warriors were initially OK without him because Cousins – who returned from injury himself in this series – came off the bench to score their next seven points before feeding Green for a layup that gave them a 48-37 lead. It got as high as 13 on Curry’s four-point play, and Golden State led 62-56 at halftime.
But eventually it would come down to Curry and Thompson, who both logged more than 41 minutes and will have to be ready to go again Thursday in what will be the final game in Oracle Arena.
Lowry had 18 points and Marc Gasol scored 17 for the Raptors, who were trying to give Canada its first championship in one of the traditional major sports since the Blue Jays won the World Series in 1993.
Fans had been waiting through on-and-off rain all day – some since Sunday – to watch at one of the outdoor watch parties that have popped up in and around Toronto. The crowd inside the arena that included hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky and former Raptors star Vince Carter thought it would witness history as Leonard powered past his defenders repeatedly in the fourth quarter.
But the Raptors needed one more basket, and the only way the local fans can see them win in person is if it goes the full seven games and Toronto wins it at home on Sunday.
The 40th birthday of Ironman was always going to be a special race, and so it proved with the Kona debut of Javier Gomez, course records broken, emotional stories of redemption and some heavyweights showdowns between the world’s greatest long-course athletes.
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Grabbing the headlines in the men’s elite event was Patrick Lange, who broke the Ali’i Drive finish line tape in 7:52:39 to become the Ironman World Champion for the second time. Following the German home was Belgium’s Bart Aernouts in second and David McNamee of Scotland, who ran in his way to third in 8:01:09.
Brit Joe Skipper would come home in seventh, while Javier Gomez was 11th on debut in Hawaii. Tim Don, after his horrific bike crash just over a year ago, crossed the line in 36th in tear-jerking scenes.
BRIT EXPECTIONS
Not since the multiple Ironman world champ Chrissie Wellington went toe-to-toe with Julie Dibens, Rachel Joyce and Leanda Cave in 2011 have British elite athletes received some much focus in Kona (head here for the women’s report featuring Lucy Charles).
In the men’s race, Scotland’s David McNamee was hoping to go even better than in 2017, when his third-placed finish was the best British male placing in Kona history. East Anglia’s Joe Skipper – second behind Jan Frodeno at Challenge Roth in 2016 – was also vying for his first top 10 finish in Hawaii, and there was the emotional appearance of Tim Don in the starting field, following a severe crash ahead of the 2017 edition of Hawaii.
Elsewhere on the starting pontoon was the five-time ITU World Champion, Javier Gomez, making his Kona racing debut, the reigning champion Patrick Lange, former winner Sebastian Kienle, and a Jan Frodeno-shaped hole after the two-time Kona champ pulled out ahead of the race.
In relatively cool and calm conditions for Kona, the men’s event saw Aussie athlete Josh Amberger first out of the water, closely followed by France’s Denis Chevrot. Gomez came out in 5th after 47:46mins and David McNamee was in 13th, 1:52mins down after a time of 49:31mins. Don would exit Kailua Bay in 50:34, 20th pro man overall
Some big names were already 2-3mins in arrears, including the reigning champion Patrick Lange and 2014 winner Sebastian Kienle. The 2017 second-place finisher and uber-biker Lionel Sanders was a further 3mins back.
.@JoshAmberger is in the lead and nearing the swim exit. #IMWC
Tune in to catch all the action from the @rokasports Swim Course via NBC Sports (US) and https://t.co/DRAL10Rxpg (Global). pic.twitter.com/sSGEq4Of2g
— IRONMAN Triathlon (@IRONMANtri) October 13, 2018
Onto the bike, and the major early news was that Kienle had suffered a puncture and was riding with a replacement wheel. But the German star had moved up to 14th by halfway through the 180km bike leg, with the field being led by biking powerhouses Andrew Starykowicz (USA) and Australia’s Cameron Wurf. Gomez was in ninth, Lange tenth, while the Brits of McNamee, Skipper, Don and Will Clarke were riding in proximity to each other in around 20th place.
Approaching transition two and Wurf’s bike course record of 4:12:54 from 2017 was in jeopardy, and the Australian would once again enter the Hawaii record books after a 4:09:36 split.
#IMWC @cameronwurf has come off the bike with the lead and established a new course record of 4:09:36! pic.twitter.com/koj3J5Y9Ee
— IRONMANLive (@IRONMANLive) October 13, 2018
Lange would enter T2 around 6mins back, with Gomez 8mins behind, and both in serious contention to see their run prowess move them to the front of the race. Kienle, meanwhile, would quit in T2.
THE 8HR BARRIER
With the 40 years of Ironman in Hawaii being celebrated in the build-up to the race, it was apt that major landmarks in the sport’s history would be broken in 2018. And that was the men’s course record and the magical eight hour barrier in Hawaii, a time that had eluded such greats as Mark Allen, Dave Scott, Craig Alexander and Jan Frodeno in Kona history.
#IMWC pic.twitter.com/a7KdM06IsT
— IRONMAN Triathlon (@IRONMANtri) October 14, 2018
Lange, who we interviewed earlier in the year about the sub-8hr record, moved to second almost instantly and was in control of the chase group on Cameron Wurf. He made the pass after 15km and gave Wurf a classy fist bump on the way, before taking off at 6min/mile pace to deliver a 2:41:32 marathon run that kicked the course record into touch. His 7:52:39 finish time was nearly 10mins faster than his 2017 course record of 8:01:40, and was scarily only his sixth-ever full Ironman race.
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Aernouts was next home in 7:56:41 to become the second man to dip under 8hrs in Hawaii, while McNamee was third in 8:01:09, which itself was the third-fastest Hawaii time in history. Skipper was seventh in 8:05:54.
With about a month to go until the two-night event, WWE has revealed the on-sale date for WrestleMania 37 tickets.
A limited number of WrestleMania 37 tickets will go on sale next Tuesday (March 16) at 10 a.m. Eastern time. WWE has also opened up registration to be notified about a WrestleMania 37 ticket pre-sale.
WrestleMania 37 is taking place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on Saturday, April 10 and Sunday, April 11. Tickets will be available via Ticketmaster, with single-day tickets and two-day combo tickets both available.
WWE noted that single-day WrestleMania 37 tickets will range from $35 to $2,500, with all tickets also subject to service charges and facility fees.
This will be the first WWE event with ticketed fans since March of last year. WWE hasn’t announced how many fans will be in attendance, but Dave Meltzer reported in January that the plan appeared to be to have 30,000 people in the building each night.
“WWE is coordinating with local partners and government officials regarding safety protocols for WrestleMania and will share details in the coming weeks. Information on additional WrestleMania Week events is forthcoming,” WWE wrote.
“Back In Business” is being used as the tagline for this year’s WrestleMania. WrestleMania 36 was originally supposed to take place at Raymond James Stadium last year, but the show was moved to the WWE Performance Center and changed to a two-night event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
WWE has announced that WrestleMania 38 will be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Sunday, April 3, 2022. WrestleMania 39 will take place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Sunday, April 2, 2023.
The debut of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal was a hit with viewers as last night’s AEW Dynamite averaged 934,000 viewers on TNT. That number is up 12.4 percent from last week.
Last night’s NXT averaged 692,000 viewers on the USA Network, down 5.7 percent from the previous week.
The demo numbers told a very interesting story. Despite the huge win in overall viewers, Dynamite was actually down 5.7 percent from last week in the 18-49 demo, drawing a 0.33 rating. Dynamite finished sixth on cable in that category.
NXT was up 11.1 percent from last week in the 18-49 demo, finishing 19th on cable with a 0.20 rating. That’s among the highest NXT has ever finished on the cable charts.
The combined wrestling audience of 1.626 million viewers was the highest since December 9 of last year and up 3.9 percent from last week.
Dynamite did not lose a single major demo category, including winning in people over 50 with a 0.38 rating to NXT’s 0.32. The closest categories were females 12-34 — where both shows tied with a .08 rating — and women 18-49. Dynamite had a slim advantage of 0.17 to 0.16 in that category.
The best demo for Dynamite was men 18-49. It finished second on cable with a 0.49 rating, only trailing the late NBA game.
Year-over-year, Dynamite was up 3.1 percent in viewers but down 5.7 percent in 18-49. NXT was down 3.6 percent in viewers and down 13 percent in 18-49.
Here’s a look at the last 10 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 ratings for both shows:
The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup starts Friday, June 7 and continues through the World Cup Final on July 7. This year’s tournament will take place across the cities of France, six hours ahead of the Eastern Time zone in the United States. The 2019 games kick-off from Paris, with France hosting South Korea.
How to watch: Live stream and TV channels Fox has the Women’s World Cup broadcast rights in the U.S. All English language matches will be broadcast on Fox, FS1 and FS2. Telemundo and Universo will be broadcasting the matches in Spanish. All the channels are available online using fuboTV, where you can sign up for a free trial.What: FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019Where: FranceDate: Friday, June, 7, 2019TV channels: Fox, FS1, FS2 (English)TV channels: Telemundo, Universo (Spanish)Online stream: fuboTV — start a free trial 2019 Women’s World Cup group stage game schedule Here’s the full schedule for the group stage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019, including how to watch each match on TV. All times are Eastern.
The knockout stage begins on June 22, providing a two-day break after the group stage. The knockout stage begins with 16 teams in a single-elimination style tournament. Friday, June 7 France vs. South Korea, 3 p.m. | Paris (FS1) Saturday, June 8 Germany vs. China, 9 a.m. | Rennes (FS1)Spain vs. South Africa, 12 p.m. | Le Havre (Fox)Norway vs. Nigeria, 3 p.m. | Reims (Fox) Sunday, June 9 Australia vs. Italy, 7 a.m. | Valenciennes (FS1)Brazil vs. Jamaica, 9:30 a.m. | Grenoble (FS1)England vs. Scotland, 12 p.m. | Nice (Fox) Monday, June 10 Argentina vs. Japan, 12 p.m. | Paris (FS1)Canada vs. Cameroon, 3 p.m. | Montpellier (FS1) Tuesday, June 11 New Zealand vs. Netherlands, 9 a.m. | Le Havre (FS1)Chile vs. Sweden, 12 p.m. | Rennes (FS1)United States vs. Thailand, 3 p.m. | Reims (Fox) Wednesday June 12 Nigeria vs. South Korea, 9 a.m | Grenoble (FS1)Germany vs. Spain, 12 p.m. | Valenciennes (Fox)France vs. Norway, 3 p.m. | Nice (Fox) Thursday, June 13 Australia vs. Brazil, 12 p.m. | Montpellier (Fox)South Africa vs. China, 3 p.m. | Paris (Fox) Friday, June 14 Japan vs. Scotland, 9 a.m. | Rennes (FS1)Jamaica vs. Italy, 12 p.m. | Reims (Fox)England vs. Argentina, 3 p.m. | Le Havre (Fox) Saturday, June 15 Netherlands vs. Cameroon, 9 a.m. | Valenciennes (Fox)Canada vs. New Zealand, 3 p.m. | Grenoble (FS2) Sunday, June 16 Sweden vs. Thailand, 9 a.m. | Nice (FS1)United States vs. Chile, 12 p.m. | Paris (Fox) Monday, June 17 South Africa vs. Germany, 12 p.m. | Montpellier (Fox)China vs. Spain, 12 p.m. | Le Havre (FS1) Nigeria vs. France, 3 p.m. | Rennes (Fox) South Korea vs. Norway, 3 p.m. | Reims (Fox) Tuesday, June 18 Jamaica vs. Australia, 3 p.m | Grenoble (FS2) Italy vs. Brazil 3 p.m. | Valenciennes (FS1) Wednesday, June 19 Japan vs. England, 3 p.m. | Nice (FS1) Scotland vs. Argentina, 3 p.m. | Paris (FS2) Thursday, June 20 Netherlands vs. Canada, 12 p.m. | Reims (Fox)Cameroon vs. New Zealand, 12 p.m. | Montpellier (FS1) United States vs. Sweden, 3 p.m. | Le Havre (Fox) Thailand vs. Chile, 3 p.m. | Rennes (FS1)
Tokyo — Japanese women are saying, “No,” to high heels in what’s been dubbed the #KuToo movement, a play on the words for “shoes” and “agony” and an allusion to the #MeToo hashtag. The #MeToo movement has not caught on in Japan, where speaking out often draws criticism rather than sympathy, even from other women.
“This is about gender discrimination,” Yumi Ishikawa, 32, an actress and writer, who started the movement, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. “It’s the view that appearances are more important for women at work than for men.”It is a view not shared, apparently, by Japan’s government.
Earlier this week, Ishikawa handed the labor ministry a petition that she began online, protesting many companies’ requirements that their female staff wear pumps and heels. The petition had collected 18,856 signatures.But when asked about the petition in a parliamentary committee hearing on Wednesday, Takumi Nemoto, the minister of labor, appeared to defend heels-on-the-job.”It is socially accepted as something that falls within the realm of being occupationally necessary and appropriate,” he told the lawmakers.Employees’ health and safety need to be protected, but work is varied, said Nemoto, who oversees the country’s workplace reforms.The debate over heels began in January with tweets by Ishikawa about her frustration over being required to wear 2-inch heels for her part-time job as a receptionist at a funeral parlor.”I like my job right now but wearing pumps is really so hard,” one of her tweets said. “Of course, if you want to wear them, please go ahead.”Japanese laws guarantee gender equality, but critics like Ishikawa have long complained such ideals aren’t playing out in real life.
Men in Japan are, of course, not required to wear heels, though many do wear business suits, crisply ironed dress shirts and ties. For hotter summer months, many offices have an official “cool” short-sleeves, no tie dress code. Many Japanese also take off their street shoes and wear slippers or sandals while inside their offices.Japan ranked 110th in the latest World Economic Forum ranking on gender equality, which benchmarks 149 nations on the treatment of women, such as educational attainment and health hazards.Women elsewhere, including the U.S., Canada and Europe, have also protested dress and makeup requirements and having to wear heels. The red carpet at Cannes, infamous for its strict dress code, has seen celebrities walking barefoot in defiance.Ishikawa said she hoped to win over fashion designers to make more comfortable footwear that’s acceptable as formal wear.She sees the #KuToo movement as a way to raise awareness about sexism.”Shoes are so everyday,” she said. “People can more directly see the issues of people’s dignity and rights, and so shoes may lead to a better world.”
United Nations — North Korea has violated sanctions by importing more oil than is permitted by the United Nations, by using illicit ship-to-ship transfers on the high seas, the U.S. tells the U.N. in a new still-unpublished report, obtained by CBS News. The report, along with 28 images, was submitted to the U.N. sanctions committee on Tuesday, and Security Council members have been told that they have until next Tuesday, June 18 at 3 p.m. to submit any changes.
What is most unusual for one of the many annual and mid-term reports on North Korea’s sanctions violations, this report, submitted by the U.S., is supported by 25 other countries, including Western powers, as well as Japan and South Korea, and calls for action by the Security Council.The U.S. Mission to the U.N. submitted the report to the chair of the U.N. sanctions committee, Germany’s Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, with a letter dated June 11, 2019, and signed by 24 nations, including the U.S., France and Germany, along with a note from the chair stating that the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom also co-sponsored the letter.
The note by the chair of the sanctions committee to Security Council members says that the report details “observations of illicit imports of refined petroleum by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [or DPRK, the official name of North Korea], which combined with the reported imports, would result in the aggregate amount of refined petroleum imported into the DPRK exceeding the cap of 500,000 barrels,” established under a 2017 U.N. Security Council resolution.In the report, the U.S. and Japan documented at least eight instances of illicit, sanctions-busting transfers and the graphs show satellite images of several of these. One diplomat said that some of the language in the graphs may need to be changed to conform to the name of the seas in which the vessels were located.The letter from the United States Mission to the U.N. to the chair of the sanctions committee suggests three actions:Inform all 193 U.N. member states and the general public that North Korea has breached the annual quota and order an “immediate halt to all transfers of such products.”Update the website to show that the 2019 quota for refined petroleum imports has been filled.Call on all nations to “immediately exercise enhanced vigilance” to prevent North Korea from procuring additional refined petroleum products and “prevent illicit ship-to-ship transfers.””The United States and its partners remain gravely concerned about the degree of U.N. Security Council resolution violations that are occurring,” the U.S. cover letter states.North Korea has long flouted U.N. sanctions, but enforcement has become tougher every year.Hagar Hajjar Chemali, a former spokesperson at the U.S. Treasury Department and U.S. Mission to the U.N. told CBS News North Korea has sophisticated sanctions evasion tactics to circumvent international sanctions. “It doesn’t mean the sanctions aren’t having an effect, but it does mean that the North Korean regime is good at finding workarounds through illicit ship-to-ship transfers, deceptive business practices, joint ventures, and exporting North Korean labor, among other means,” Chemali said, adding that the most important element of sanctions is their enforcement.
The context of the report is a stalemate in negotiations that has occurred since the second Trump-Kim summit, in Hanoi, failed to produce an agreement on denuclearization. In addition, the U.S. seized a North Korean cargo ship for violating international sanctions, after North Korea fired short-range missiles for the second time in a week.This week, President Trump reported he received a “beautiful” letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but declined Wednesday to discuss its contents.