Iraqi mourners try to storm US Embassy after airstrikes - ABC News

Dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters have broken into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad after smashing a door and storming inside, prompting tear gas and sounds of gunfire

By

QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press

December 31, 2019, 10:12 AM

4 min read

BAGHDAD -- Dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday after smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area, prompting tear gas and sounds of gunfire.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw flames rising from inside the compound and at least three U.S. soldiers on the roof of the main building inside embassy. It was not clear what caused the fire at the reception area near the parking lot of the compound. A man on a loudspeaker urged the mob not to enter the compound, saying: “The message was delivered.”

Smoke from the tear gas rose in the area, and at least three of the protesters appeared to have difficulties breathing.

The gate that was smashed was a side-entrance, one used by cars to enter the embassy compound. Hundreds of protesters had pushed about 5 meters (16 feet) into a corridor that leads to the main building but the protesters were still about 200 meters (yards) away from it.

It wasn't immediately known whether the embassy staff had remained inside the main building.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's previous story is below.

Hundreds of angry supporters of an Iraqi Shiite militia smashed security cameras on the wall around the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, rattled the main gate and set on fire three empty trailers used by the guards on Tuesday. The embassy attack followed deadly U.S. airstrikes this week that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq.

Shouting “Down, Down USA,” the crowd tried to push inside the embassy grounds, hurling water and stones over its walls. They raised yellow militia flags and taunted the embassy's security staff who remained behind the glass windows in the gates' reception area. They sprayed graffiti on the wall and windows in red in support of the Kataeb Hezbollah militia: “Closed in the name of the resistance.”

Hundreds of angry protesters, some in militia uniforms, set up tents outside the embassy. As tempers rose, the mob set fire to three trailers used by security guards along the embassy wall.

No one was immediately reported hurt in the rampage and security staff had withdrawn to inside the embassy earlier, soon after protesters gathered outside.

The U.S. military carried out the strikes on Sunday against the Kataeb Hezbollah militia, calling it retaliation for last week's killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it blamed on the group.

The U.S. attack — the largest targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned militia in recent years — and the subsequent calls by the militia for retaliation, represent a new escalation in the proxy war between the U.S. and Iran playing out in the Middle East.

Tuesday's attempted embassy storming took place after mourners and supporters held funerals for the militia fighters killed in a Baghdad neighborhood, after which they marched on to the heavily fortified Green Zone and kept walking till they reached the sprawling U.S. Embassy there.

AP journalists then saw the crowd as they tried to scale the walls of the embassy, in what appeared to be an attempt to storm it, shouting “Down, down USA!” and “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday's strikes send the message that the U.S. will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardize American lives.

The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia had vowed Monday to retaliate for the U.S. military strikes. The attack and vows for revenge raised concerns of new attacks that could threaten American interests in the region.

The U.S. attack also outraged both the militias and the Iraqi government, which said it will reconsider its relationship with the U.S.-led coalition — the first time it has said it will do so since an agreement was struck to keep some U.S. troops in the country. It called the attack a “flagrant violation" of its sovereignty.

In a partly televised meeting Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi told Cabinet members that he had tried to stop the U.S. operation “but there was insistence" from American officials.

The U.S. military said "precision defensive strikes" were conducted against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq and Syria. The group, which is a separate force from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operates under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran.

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2019-12-31 08:41:51Z
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Carlos Ghosn: Ex-Nissan boss flees Japan for Lebanon - The - The Washington Post

Issei Kato Reuters Former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn in Tokyo on April 25, 2019. Ghosn said he had escaped “injustice” in Japan, where he faced accusations of financial misconduct, and is now in Lebanon.

TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn, the former boss of the Nissan-Renault car alliance, said on Tuesday he had left Japan where he was awaiting trial on charges of financial misconduct and arrived in Lebanon.

It was not clear how Ghosn, who is of Lebanese descent and holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian citizenship, had departed Japan. The 65-year-old was released on bail in Tokyo in April but placed under close surveillance and ordered to surrender his passports.

“I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold,” Ghosn said in a statement.

“I have not fled justice — I have escaped injustice and political persecution. I can now finally communicate freely with the media, and look forward to starting next week.”

One of Ghosn’s Japanese lawyers said they were still holding his Lebanese, French and Brazilian passports, as required by the terms of his bail, and called his actions “inexcusable.”

“We don’t know any more than has been reported,” Junichiro Hironaka told reporters, in remarks broadcast by NHK. “It was like a bolt from the blue. We are surprised and puzzled.”

Ghosn’s treatment since his arrest in November 2018 has thrown an unflattering spotlight on Japan’s justice system, and prompted concerns in boardrooms around the world. Sympathy was high among the general public in Lebanon, and its government had complained publicly about Ghosn’s humiliating treatment behind bars.

Ghosn, one of the world’s most successful and charismatic auto executives, was accused of financial misconduct and underreporting his income. But his initial 23-day detention was extended to 108 days as prosecutors rearrested him several times while he was still behind bars, a common tactic used in Japan to extract confessions and widely criticized as amounting to “hostage justice.”

[Former Nissan, Renault boss Carlos Ghosn rearrested on fresh charges in Japan]

He was released in March, then rearrested again in April just after announcing plans to hold a news conference, before finally being granted bail under strict conditions, including that he not speak to his wife. Writing in The Washington Post in April, Carole Ghosn said her husband had been kept in solitary confinement, with the lights on around the clock, and subjected to interrogation at all hours of the night and day without access to his lawyers.

The case prompted questions about whether a Japanese executive would have faced the same treatment, and why Ghosn and U.S. citizen Greg Kelly were the only Nissan board members arrested, when the company’s Japanese executives should also have known about Ghosn’s compensation arrangements.

Mark Lennihan

AP

Carlos Ghosn at the New York International Auto Show in April 2015.

Ghosn and his lawyers say the allegations were trumped up as part of a conspiracy among Nissan, government officials and prosecutors to oust Ghosn and block his plans to force through a closer merger between the Japanese automaker and its alliance partner, Renault.

Equally, though, there have been concerns raised about Ghosn’s management.

In dismissing Ghosn in 2018, Nissan said its investigations revealed misconduct ranging from understating his salary to transferring $5 million of company funds to an account in which he had an interest.

Renault, initially supportive of its former boss, announced in April after an internal investigation that it had found evidence of “questionable and concealed practices and violations of the group’s ethical principles.” At the time, Renault said it would halt Ghosn’s pension and reserved the right to bring action against him in the courts.

[Japanese court grants bail to former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn after nearly four months in jail]

Ghosn earned a reputation as one of the auto industry’s top executives after turning around the fortunes of Renault and Nissan and bringing the two companies together in a three-way alliance with Mitsubishi.

But his efforts to forge closer links between Renault and Nissan ran into opposition from within the Japanese company, and many experts say that may have been a factor in his downfall.

His reputation for streamlining Renault’s operations won him the nickname “Le Cost Killer,” while his success in turning Nissan around from near bankruptcy earned him the moniker “Mr. Fix It.” His efforts made him enormously popular in Japan, with blanket media coverage and even a manga comic produced about his life. However, his lavish lifestyle and relatively high pay were sources of controversy.

Inevitably, there was intense speculation about how Ghosn could have left the country without the authorities’ knowledge.

Japanese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Keisuke Suzuki visited Beirut earlier this month where he met with the Lebanese president and foreign minister.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was still “looking into the matter to ascertain the status of affairs” and could not comment at the moment. A senior official told NHK that the ministry was not aware of Ghosn’s departure.

“Had we known about it prior to his departure, we would have reported that to the legal authorities,” the official was quoted as saying.

Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan, and given public support for Ghosn there it is unlikely any attempt to extradite him would be successful.

Akiko Kashiwagi contributed to this report.

simon.denyer@washpost.com

Read more

Former Nissan, Renault boss Carlos Ghosn rearrested on fresh charges in Japan

Japanese court grants bail to former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn after nearly four months in jail

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2019-12-31 07:09:00Z
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Australia fires: 4000 people trapped on beach in Mallacoota as wildfires rage - CNN

Early in the morning, about 4,000 residents and visitors were forced to leave their homes and vacation accommodation in Mallacoota, in the state of Victoria, authorities said.

The town activated its emergency siren warning of the imminent fire threat and residents headed to the seaside, following an evacuation plan previously outlined in community meetings.

"There's no way in or out," Mallacoota resident Jason Selmes told CNN after evacuating his home.

Thick smoke from the fires turned the morning sky pitch black. As the day wore on, the sky lightened to a bright orange, and the blazes began spreading through the town. Photographs from the ground showed homes burning and an approaching fire line.

Some people sought shelter in the sea. Ida Dempsey and her family were visiting from Melbourne, and evacuated to their boat, mooring about 200 meters (about 656 feet) from shore.

Three emergency strike teams were at the beach with the residents, and emergency services set up medical centers and safe evacuation locations, according to state agency Victoria Emergency.

Conditions became milder later in the afternoon, after a dangerous wind change bypassed the town. Country Fire Authority Chief Steve Warrington said it was "relatively good news," and that evacuees had cheered upon hearing the announcement.

Some people are now returning to their homes, while others remain on the beach. There are "a number of houses" believed to be destroyed or damaged, Warrington said.

However, the situation remains "dynamic and dangerous," and Warrington said there is still an emergency warning in place. A number of fires remain burning in the town and across the state that could spread across the East Gippsland region where Mallacoota is located. Warrington warned residents to stay aware of further alerts, and added that state authorities were still discussing potential evacuations.

Victoria Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said some communities in the state remain isolated, and food packs and other supplies are being organized for transport. Emergency crews are still working to determine the extent of damage by air, but suggest significant property loss across the East Gippsland region, he said.

Four people remain unaccounted for in Victoria with a "very real fear for their safety," state Premier Daniel Andrews said on Tuesday. He did not provide any further information on identities or exact locations.

Located in the far eastern corner of Victoria, East Gippsland is home to about 80,000 people, who are scattered across remote villages and towns. The region is popular with tourists, who go to see wildlife and hike in the national parks.

There is a nationwide fire crisis

As of Monday, there are more than 10 fires in the East Gippsland region alone, including three large ones that have been burning for more than a month, according to Victoria Emergency. Many of the fires were started on Sunday by dry lightning, and rapidly spread due to strong winds and hot, dry weather.

On Sunday, Victoria authorities urged residents and vacationers to evacuate, warning that "it is not possible to provide support and aid to all the visitors" in the area.

Weather conditions are expected to improve in the next 24 hours -- meaning cooler temperatures and lower winds -- but will worsen again by the end of the week, bringing dangerous fire conditions, according to CNN meteorologists.

Fires have devastated parts of Australia for months. Across Victoria, 70 new fires started on Monday, of which more than 20 are still active. In the neighboring state of New South Wales (NSW), there are more than 100 fires burning on Tuesday, of which 60 are yet to be contained.

The death toll has been slowly climbing. Two people were found dead Tuesday in the NSW town of Cobargo, with a third person still unaccounted for. On Monday, a 28-year-old volunteer firefighter died in NSW after strong winds rolled his truck over. Earlier in December, two other NSW volunteer firefighters died after their vehicle hit a tree during firefighting operations.

More than 900 homes have been destroyed in NSW since the start of the fire season, and that number will likely increase as firefighters struggle to contain the massive fires.

In Batemans Bay, NSW, hundreds of families were also evacuating their homes on Tuesday under an eerie orange sky. "It was like we were in hell," vacationer Zoe Simmons told CNN. "We were all covered in ash."

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warned there are thousands of people along the coast taking refuge with "a long, difficult, dangerous night ahead." He said that the fires on Tuesday spread faster and further than previously predicted, adding: "it's been a truly awful day."

NSW and Victoria are some of the hardest-hit locations, but there have been fires occurring in every state across Australia as weather conditions worsen.

State and federal authorities have activated emergency resources and deployed thousands of firefighters since the fire season began in early September. The Australian Defence Force has sent assistance to multiple states, including air force aircraft and army personnel. The United States, Canada, and New Zealand have also sent additional firefighters to help.

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2019-12-31 06:47:00Z
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Chinese scientist who claimed to create gene-edited babies sentenced to 3 years in prison - The Washington Post

On Monday, he was convicted of “illegal medical practice,” sentenced to three years in prison and fined about $430,000, according to the news agency Xinhua. Two collaborators, Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou, were also convicted and received prison sentences and fines.

The court found the three were not qualified to work as doctors and violated China’s regulations with experiments that were “in the pursuit of personal fame and gain” and “disrupted medical order."

Scientists have been testing an array of powerful biotechnology tools to fix genetic diseases in adults, but they have long drawn a clear moral line between curing genetic diseases in adults and editing and implanting human embryos, since those changes and any unanticipated ones could be inherited by future generations — in essence altering the human species.

He’s experiment was also criticized because it appeared to have failed to meet basic ethical principles intended to protect human subjects who participate in research. Even scientists who maintain that gene editing may one day be safely used to create babies noted that because of the many safe ways to prevent the transmission of HIV, there is no reason to edit the genomes of healthy babies.

He, a former associate professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology, has been under investigation in China. Several international scientific bodies, including the World Health Organization, have been meeting over the past year to create standards and a framework for oversight of the fast-moving science. Several U.S. universities have also looked into whether scientists who knew about He’s experiment were involved.

Stanford University cleared its scientists, including He’s former academic adviser, Stephen Quake, finding that Quake and others did not participate in the research and had expressed “serious concerns to Dr. He about his work.” Rice University has been investigating bioengineering professor Michael Deem, who was listed as a co-author on a paper submitted to scientific journals reporting on the experiment, according to Technology Review.

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2019-12-30 15:27:00Z
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Greta Thunberg: 'I wouldn't have wasted my time' talking to Trump about climate change - NBC News

LONDON — Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg said on Monday that talking to U.S. President Donald Trump at a United Nations summit on global warming would have been a waste of time since he would not have paid any attention.

In an interview with BBC radio's Today program, for which she was the guest editor on Monday, Thunberg also said she regarded personal attacks on her as funny and that she hoped to go back to having a normal life.

A video of the 16-year-old Swedish campaigner giving Trump what media described as a "death stare" at a U.N. climate summit in New York in September went viral on social media. Trump has questioned climate science and is pulling the United States out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on global warming.

Asked what she would have said to the president if they had spoken, Thunberg said: "Honestly, I don't think I would have said anything because obviously he's not listening to scientists and experts, so why would he listen to me?"

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"So I probably wouldn't have said anything, I wouldn't have wasted my time," she said.

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This month Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called Thunberg "a brat." Trump has said on Twitter she needs to work on her anger management problem.

"Those attacks are just funny because they obviously don't mean anything," she said. "I guess of course it means something — they are terrified of young people bringing change which they don't want — but that is just proof that we are actually doing something and that they see us as some kind of threat."

Thunberg came to world attention when she began a grassroots campaign at age 15 by skipping school every Friday to demonstrate outside the Swedish parliament. The protests have inspired millions of young people to take action against climate change.

Dec. 15, 201906:48

Praise from David Attenborough

Thunberg, who was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2019, said becoming an activist had helped rescue her from the depression she had previously been suffering.

She also spoke in Monday's BBC program with veteran British broadcaster David Attenborough, telling him how his nature documentaries had inspired her.

"You have aroused the world," the 93-year-old Attenborough told Thunberg in reply, adding that she had achieved things "that many of us who have been working on the issue for 20 years have failed to do."

Her father Svante Thunberg, also interviewed for the BBC program, said she had dealt very well with "the fake news, all the things that people try to fabricate about her, the hate that that generates" while in the global media limelight.

"Quite frankly, I don't know how she does it, but she laughs most of the time. She finds it hilarious," he said.

The teenager rejoined activists outside the Swedish parliament this month after four months of overseas trips to attend climate conferences in New York and Madrid.

"I hope I won't have to sit outside the Swedish parliament for long. I hope I don't have to be a climate activist anymore," she said on Monday, adding she was looking forward to returning to school in August.

"I just want to be just as everyone else. I want to educate myself and be just like a normal teenager."

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2019-12-30 14:57:00Z
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calls for "offensive measures" - CBS This Morning

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2019-12-30 13:23:16Z
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North Korea: Kim Jong Un urges party to take "offensive measures" to ensure country's sovereignty, security - CBS News

One day away from a deadline set by North Korea to soften sanctions against its nuclear program, leader Kim Jong Un urged members of his party to "take positive and offensive measures for fully ensuring the sovereignty and security of the country." North Korea had warned of a "Christmas gift" for the U.S. if the easing of sanctions didn't happen, and they claim they've had two successful missile-related tests this month.

Kim Jong Un was center stage at the Workers' Party meeting, a rare event in North Korea. It was called because Kim is thinking of taking the country on a different course, reports CBS News' Barry Petersen. 
 
In recent years he has been downplaying the military in favor of boosting the emerging middle class by getting more consumer goods into the country, but after summits with President Trump did not ease economic sanctions, the war of words escalated. One North Korean official called Mr. Trump a "heedless and erratic old man."
 
There is a real worry that Kim will go back to the days of nuclear brinkmanship and long range ballistic missile launches – a move already drawing fire from the president's national security adviser who said the U.S. would take appropriate military or economic action.

South Koreans are so afraid Mr. Trump may pull out U.S. troops in some future deal with Kim that the U.S. ambassador made front page news Monday with reassurances that America's military is there to stay.

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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2019-12-30 13:08:00Z
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