The head of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog has called on North Korea to allow inspectors back in to monitor its nuclear program.

Speaking at a board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency Thursday, Director General Yukiya Amano noted that Pyongyang had in September talked about denuclearization measures including the “permanent dismantlement of the nuclear facilities in Yongbyon,” a reactor where it produces plutonium.

Amano said there has been activity observed at Yongbyon, but “without access the agency cannot confirm the nature and purpose of these activities.”

At a news conference later Thursday, he said he couldn’t elaborate on when exactly the activity was observed.

Inspectors expelled

IAEA inspectors were expelled from North Korea in 2009, but Amano said the agency continues to prepare for their possible re-admittance.

“The agency continues to enhance its readiness to play an essential role in verifying (North Korea’s) nuclear program if a political agreement is reached among countries concerned,” he said. “I again call upon (North Korea) to comply fully with its obligations under relevant resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and of the IAEA board, to cooperate promptly with the agency and to resolve all outstanding issues.”

Iran continues to comply

On the other hand, Amano told board members that Iran continues to abide by the deal reached in 2015 with major world powers aimed at preventing Tehran from building atomic weapons in exchange for economic incentives.

He reiterated the agency’s findings in a report distributed to member states earlier this month that “Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.”

The issue has grown more complicated since the U.S. withdrew unilaterally in May from the deal and then re-imposed sanctions. Iran’s economy has been struggling since and its currency has plummeted in value.

The other signatories to the deal — Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China — are continuing to try to make it work.

Amano stressed that “it is essential that Iran continues to fully implement” its commitments.

In its full report, the IAEA said its inspectors continue to have access to all sites in Iran that it needs to visit and that inspectors confirmed Iran has kept within limits of heavy water and low-enriched uranium stockpiles.

“The agency continues to verify the nondiversion of nuclear material declared by Iran under its safeguards agreement,” Amano said. “Evaluations regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran continue.”
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A Russian official says the country’s top domestic security agency has thwarted a series of attacks on schools in the wake of last month’s shooting-and-bomb attack by a teenager on a school in Crimea. 

An 18-year-old student went on a rampage at his vocational school in the city of Kerch on Oct. 17, killing 20 and injuring more than 50 before killing himself. His motives remained unclear, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn parallels to shooting attacks in the U.S. 

Sergei Yegorov, a deputy department chief at the Federal Security Service, told lawmakers in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that the agency prevented “a whole series of attacks on schools.” He didn’t elaborate. 

Asked whether any of those attempts were linked to international terrorism, Yegorov said they weren’t. 
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Iran has not declared all its chemical weapons capabilities to the global chemical warfare watchdog in The Hague, in breach of international agreements, the U.S. ambassador to the organization said Thursday.

Ambassador Kenneth Ward told the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that Iran has failed to declare a production facility for the filling of aerial bombs and maintains a program to obtain banned toxic munitions.

“The United States has had long-standing concerns that Iran maintains a chemical-weapons program that it failed to declare to the OPCW,” Ward said.

“The United States is also concerned that Iran is pursuing central nervous system-acting chemicals for offensive purposes,” he added.

There was no immediate reaction from Iran to Ward’s remarks, which add to tensions with Washington over Iran’s nuclear program, terrorism and the war in Syria.

Ward said Iran had failed to declare the transfer of chemical weapons to Libya in the 1980s, even after Libya declared them to the OPCW in 2011.

He cited the discovery of chemical-filled artillery projectiles, mortars and aerial bombs of Iranian origin as proof that Iran did not fully disclose its capabilities.

Ward’s allegations come amid growing pressure on Iran from President Donald Trump, who has withdrawn from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and introduced several rounds of unilateral U.S. sanctions.

In a separate development Thursday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Iran is implementing its side of the deal with major powers.

Germany, France and Britain have been trying to prevent a collapse of the deal, under which international sanctions against Tehran were lifted in exchange for strict limits being placed on Iran’s nuclear activities.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP.
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Denmark has suspended future approvals of weapons and military equipment exports to Saudi Arabia in response to the killing of a dissident Saudi journalist and the kingdom’s role in the conflict in Yemen, the Danish Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Germany has suspended issuing future weapons export licenses and has moved to halt all arms sales, while France said Monday said it will decide soon on sanctions over Khashoggi’s killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month.

Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s biggest weapons importers. It heads a military coalition fighting in a civil war in Yemen in which tens of thousands of people have died and caused a major humanitarian catastrophe.

“With the continued deterioration of the already terrible situation in Yemen and the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, we are now in a new situation,” said Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen in a statement.

Denmark issued 10 such approvals last year, according to the ministry. Already given approvals will not be suspended, a spokesman said.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday praised Saudi Arabia for helping to lower oil prices but pressure intensified for the United States to impose tougher sanctions on its Middle East ally over Khashoggi’s killing.
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Igor Korobov, head of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, which has been accused of meddling in U.S. elections, has died in Moscow. He was 62.

The Defense Ministry said Thursday in a statement that Korobov, who led the GRU since 2016, died Wednesday of “a lengthy and grave illness,” a usual Russian euphemism for cancer. His predecessor had died two years earlier, at 58.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu offered condolences to Korobov’s family but did not immediately name his successor.

Accusations against GRU

The United States and its allies have accused the GRU of hacking the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, orchestrating the March nerve agent attack on a Russian ex-spy in Britain, and disrupting anti-doping efforts in world sports. Russian authorities have rejected the accusations, calling them part of a Western smear campaign.

This has been a tough year for the GRU, which has faced a series of exposures that revealed its inner workings.

Agents identified

In September, British intelligence released surveillance images of GRU agents accused of the nerve agent attack on former GRU officer and British double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury. The investigative group Bellingcat and the Russian site The Insider quickly exposed the agents’ real names, and media outlets including The Associated Press were able to confirm their real identities.

Dutch authorities also have recently identified four alleged GRU agents who tried to hack the world’s chemical weapons watchdog from a hotel parking lot.

Putin visited the GRU headquarters earlier this month to congratulate the agency on its centenary, praising the agency for its professionalism.
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Poland’s parliament passed legislation Wednesday to reinstate Supreme Court judges who were recently forced to retire, a step that could significantly ease a standoff with the European Union.

For the EU, which is facing a string of crises, including Brexit and Italy’s debt, it was a rare victory in its struggle to preserve democracy in a region where illiberal populism has been on the rise, a trend led by Hungary.

Wednesday’s development comes a month after the EU’s court ordered Poland to immediately suspend the lowering of the retirement age for Supreme Court judges, which had forced about two dozen of them off the bench.

The forced retirement of the judges was widely seen as an attempt by the ruling populist party, Law and Justice, to stack the court with loyalists, and it was condemned internationally as a blow to democratic standards.

Poland has been in a standoff with the EU for three years over attempts by Law and Justice, under the leadership of powerful party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to impose control over the court system.

Many legal experts said that the forced retirement of the Supreme Court judges, including the chief justice, violated Poland’s constitution. That, along with the broader overhaul of the justice system, has raised serious concerns over rule of law in the young democracy, with the EU saying the changes erode the independence of the judicial branch of government.

Wednesday’s legislative initiative — which noted that it was introduced to comply with the EU court ruling — marks one of the first significant steps by Poland to meet EU demands.

“We know very well that in politics effectiveness matters and that sometimes you have to take one step back to take two steps forward,” said Stanislaw Piotrowicz, a ruling party lawmaker and one of the key architects of the judicial overhaul, in an interview with the wPolityce.pl portal.

Zselyke Csaky, an expert on Central Europe with Freedom House, called it a “significant” step and a sign by the ruling party of “common sense,” though she also said on Twitter that “the full damage to rule of law and legal certainty will be much harder to remedy.”

The Polish government, in power since 2015, has been forced to climb down before. Earlier this year it softened a Holocaust speech law that made it a crime to attribute co-responsibility in the Holocaust to the Polish nation and which sparked a major diplomatic dispute with Israel. It also dropped draft legislation in 2016 that would have tightened the already restrictive abortion law after massive street protests by women wearing black.

But it is an almost unheard-of concession to the EU, which the government often says has no right to meddle in its internal affairs.

Under the amendment passed Wednesday to the new law on the Supreme Court, the judges who were forced to retire early will have the choice of returning to their duties. The law had lowered the retirement age from 70 to 65, and any judge who wished to remain had to request the consent of the president.

The party introduced the amended legislation to the parliament Wednesday and it was passed quickly by the lower house. It goes next to the Senate and also needs the president’s signature, but since both are aligned with the party, these steps are all but certain to happen.

The party’s reversal comes after local elections last month that showed Law and Justice winning the most seats in regional assemblies but losing badly in mayoral races in the cities and even mid-size towns. The results suggested the party’s conflicts with the EU — which is extremely popular among voters — have cost it votes among urban, middle-class voters.

It also comes as the party, which has a strong anti-corruption profile, finds itself mired in corruption allegations. Last week the head of the state financial authorities resigned over allegations he had solicited a bribe of millions of dollars from a billionaire who heads two troubled banks.
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Interpol is the world’s largest global police organization, consisting of 194 member countries.

The group was officially created in 1923 as the International Criminal Police Commission, but became known as Interpol in 1956.

 

The idea for the organization was broached in 1914 at the first International Criminal Police Congress in Monaco. Law enforcement officials from 24 countries met there to discuss policing procedures and techniques and centralized international criminal records.

The organization says it has developed high-tech infrastructure to help “meet the growing challenges of fighting crime in the 21st century.”

Red Notices

One such tool at Interpol’s disposal is the Red Notice, a request to “locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition.”

Red Notices, which alert police departments around the world, are issued by the General Secretariat on behalf of a member country or an international tribunal.

The notices raise the visibility of cases, allowing law enforcement authorities to identify criminals and suspects and share information.

For example, a country searching for a terrorist or other criminal outside its borders can issue a notice to alert police in other countries and seek arrests.

The secretary-general, currently German police official Juergen Stock, runs Interpol’s operations.

The group also has a president who is not as directly involved in operations, instead devoting much of his time to general oversight and presiding over the group’s general assembly and executive committee.

New chief

Member nations elected South Korea’s Kim Jong Yang as Interpol’s new president on Wednesday. He defeated Russia’s Alexander Prokopchuk amid U.S.-led warnings the Kremlin would try to leverage the position to hunt down political opponents and fugitive dissidents.

Interpol’s charter says the organization cannot be used for political reasons.

 
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British Prime Minister Theresa May appears to have held off a bid to oust her by rebels in her Conservative party who oppose a Brexit deal she is finalizing with the European Union. But her exit plan faces further threats as a group of EU nations demand further concessions from Britain.

Spain is threatening to sink the Brexit deal over the status of Gibraltar, the headland on Spain’s south coast dominated by a high limestone ridge known as the Rock, which was ceded to the British in 1713.

As May headed Wednesday to Brussels for a meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission’s president, Madrid warned it would block the Brexit withdrawal agreement unless issues over Gibraltar’s future are clarified.

Spain wants the draft Brexit deal to make clear future talks about Gibraltar’s status would be in “separate negotiations” between London and Madrid and not part of a deal between Britain and the European Union. Spain fears the Brexit deal will legally confirm Gibraltar is part of Britain.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says neither the 585-page draft divorce deal nor the accompanying political declaration about a possible future free trade agreement makes clear Gibraltar’s future is to be decided bilaterally.

“It should be negotiated between Spain and the UK. As it stands, the [Spanish] government will vote against the Brexit agreement,” he said.

The subject of Gibraltar has long been an emotional issue for both countries. Spain has claimed sovereignty over Gibraltar. Last year, former British Conservative leader Michael Howard suggested a dispute over the headland could provoke a war between Britain and Spain.

The veto threat has prompted outrage in London with accusations the Spanish government is trying to blackmail Britain. As far as the British are concerned, Spain’s foreign minister, Josep Borrell, has gone out of his way to stoke Scottish nationalism. He announced Tuesday that Madrid is reversing its traditional opposition to Scotland being readmitted to the EU, if in the future it should declare independence.

By dropping its opposition, Spain handed a propaganda coup to Scottish nationalists. It was quickly seized by their leader, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is eager to lead Scotland out of Britain. She said it “demolished” the “scare story” British Conservatives push that if Scotland should declare independence, it would never be allowed to join the EU.

EU officials say they believe the Gibraltar issue can be solved before EU leaders sign the withdrawal agreement at a summit on Sunday. The deal would see Britain remaining in the EU customs union, which addresses imports and exports, for an indefinite period while a free trade deal is negotiated over the next few years.

Few observers believe the deal will win the approval of the British parliament next month when lawmakers are scheduled to vote on it formally, as all opposition parties have formally come out against it.

May is banking on securing a House of Commons majority for her deal by daring lawmakers across the political spectrum to let a “no-deal Brexit” go ahead. Crashing out of the bloc without a deal would likely trigger a recession, leaving behind bankrupt businesses and ruined livelihoods, say analysts.

Fishing rights

Aside from Spain, the agreement has been criticized by France, the Netherlands and Portugal. The three countries want fishing rights in British waters to be included, if not in the divorce deal, then at least in the political declaration setting the parameters for a possible future free trade deal.

Several EU governments are also dissatisfied because they believe the deal gives Britain a competitive advantage by not tying it closely enough to EU regulations, workers’ rights, and environmental standards, potentially lowering the production costs of British goods. If they manage to ensure there will be no competitive advantage, it will cause May further difficulties in selling the withdrawal agreement in the British parliament.

May leads a minority government and relies on the votes of a dozen Northern Ireland lawmakers, who deeply oppose the divorce deal as well. To demonstrate their power, twice this week they have withheld their support in important budget votes.
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The year-long Kosovo War — the final in a series of Balkan wars in the 1990s — has left in its wake simmering ethnic tensions and complexities. In this first in a series of reports, Jamie Dettmer has the story of a Serbian Orthodox church that is a flashpoint for the region’s lingering tensions.
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Interpol is in danger of being politicized by Russia as the organization chooses a new president, according to Kremlin critics. 

A senior Russian police official is one of only two candidates put forward for the role of president of the organization, which coordinates police forces across the globe, in a vote scheduled Wednesday in Dubai. The winner of the election will replace Chinese national Meng Hongwei, who was detained in Beijing in September over corruption allegations. 

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that the United States was supporting Kim Jong Yang of South Korea to lead the international police agency Interpol, pitting Washington against the Kremlin’s candidate, Maj. Gen.  Aleksandr Prokopchuk. 

 

Prokopchuk, who heads Russia’s national Interpol Bureau, is widely seen as the favorite to be elected president of the organization. Critics say in recent years Russia has abused Interpol’s so-called “red notice” system of international arrest warrants to pursue its political enemies. 

Among those targeted have been Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled Russian businessman, and financier Bill Browder, the subject of six red notice requests by Russia, all of them thrown out by Interpol. The two men held a news conference Tuesday in London to highlight their concerns. 

“This is a perfect way for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to basically breathe the fear of God into all of his enemies, so that they know that they can’t even escape Russia if one of his guys is at the head of Interpol,” Browder told reporters. “The Interpol constitution has very specific rules, which forbid countries who are serial abusers from using the system. We intend to begin a legal process to have Russia suspended from their use of Interpol.” 

As chief executive of Hermitage Capital Management in Russia, Browder uncovered $230 million in tax fraud allegedly carried out by senior Russian officials. 

Browder’s investigating lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was arrested and beaten to death in police custody in 2009. Russian courts later convicted Magnitsky posthumously, and Browder in absentia, of stealing the money. Browder strongly denies the charges. 

This week, Russian prosecutors opened a new investigation into Browder, claiming he was involved in Magnitsky’s death and pledging to request another Interpol arrest warrant. 

“This hypothesis is highly likely to be true because Magnitsky was one of the closest accomplices of Browder in the crimes committed earlier,” said Mikhail Alexandrov, a spokesman for the Russian prosecutor general. 

Browder says the false accusation underscores the need to stop Russia from abusing Interpol. 

He was instrumental in campaigning for the United States to adopt the Magnitsky Act, which enables the withholding of visas and the freezing of assets of human rights offenders. Several Russians have been sanctioned under the act, and Browder says Putin is rattled. 

“He wants to stop me from advocating for Magnitsky Acts around the world,” Browder said Tuesday. “It was his government that ordered a terrorist attack in the U.K. using chemical weapons in Salisbury. It was his government that shot down MH17 [a Malaysian Airlines flight], killing 298 innocent individuals. It was his government that cheated and hacked in elections in the United States and Europe. And to put his representative in charge of the most important international crime-fighting organization is like putting the mafia in charge.” 

Moscow denies involvement in those crimes. 

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has written to Interpol to warn against the appointment of Prokopchuk, describing it as “akin to putting a fox in charge of a henhouse.” Ukraine and Lithuania have threatened to quit the organization if he is appointed. 

Interpol told VOA the president is democratically elected by its members, adding that the role does not involve the day-to-day running of the organization. Interpol did not respond directly to accusations of abuse of its red notice system by the Kremlin. 
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Interpol, the body that coordinates police forces across the globe, is in danger of being politicized by Russia, say prominent Kremlin critics. A senior Russian police official is one of only two candidates put forward for the role of president of the organization in a vote scheduled Wednesday in Dubai. Opponents say the Kremlin is abusing Interpol’s arrest warrants to pursue political enemies, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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