The US says it is considering what
part it will play on the UN's Human Rights Council, highlighting what it
calls a "biased" stance on Israel.
UN ambassador Nikki Haley said
it was "hard to accept" that resolutions had been passed against
Israel, a US ally, but none were considered on Venezuela.
She also said not enough had been done to criticise Iran, a "country with an abysmal human rights record".
Mrs Haley was making her first address to the council in Geneva.
"The
United States is looking carefully at this council and our
participation in it. We see some areas for significant strengthening,"
she said.
"Being a member of this council is a privilege and no
country who is a human rights violator should be allowed a seat at the
table.
"It's hard to accept that this council has never considered
a resolution on Venezuela and yet it adopted five biased resolutions,
in March, against a single country, Israel. It is essential that this
council address its chronic anti-Israel bias if it is to have any
credibility."
Venezuela has been in political turmoil for month and dozens of protesters have been killed.
'Anti-Israel circus'
Criticism of the 47-member council was repeated on the Twitter feed of the US mission to the UN on Tuesday.
The
council is able only to order investigations and record criticism of
countries it judges to have violated human rights, but it acts as a
crucial diplomatic tool.
In recent months, it has issued resolutions on human rights in North Korea, Haiti and Myanmar, among other countries.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously called the body "an
anti-Israel circus which attacks the only democracy in the Middle East
and ignores the blatant violations of Iran, Syria and North Korea
And in 2013, Israel ended its working relationship with the group after it decided to investigate Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Mrs
Haley's comments came after an opening address in Geneva by UN human
rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein calling on Israel to withdraw from
territories it captured in the 1967 war. He condemned what he called "a half-century of deep suffering under an occupation imposed by military force".
What is the UN Human Rights Council?
Created in 2006 to replace the UN's
Human Rights Commission, which was widely discredited for electing
member states with questionable track records on human rights
All of the 47 members are elected for three-year terms
The council aims to shine a spotlight
on rights abuses by adopting resolutions, but has faced similar
criticism to the commission
US President George W Bush boycotted the council but the decision was reversed under President Barack Obama
Israel has occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem
and the Syrian Golan Heights since the war, 50 years ago this week. The
UN also considers the Gaza Strip, which Israel pulled its troops and
settlers out of in 2005, as part of occupied Palestinian territory. Israel
and the Palestinians blame each other for the failure to resolve the
final status of the occupied territories after years of on-off peace
talks. In an opinion article for the Washington Post last
Friday, Mrs Haley called for a change in the procedure in electing new
members to the council, saying that "the presence of multiple human
rights-violating countries on the Human Rights Council has damaged both
the reputation of the council and the cause of human rights". Among the current members is the key US ally, Saudi Arabia, which has been accused of rights violations, and whose accession to the group in 2013 was criticised.
SOURCE - BBC NEWS
Melania Trump in black at the Vatican. Why?
Melania Trump arrived at the Vatican
on Wednesday morning the picture of modesty: a knee-length black dress,
arms covered and a black veil over her hair.
Her choice of outfit
- in particular, the elegant veil - did not go unnoticed by those
keeping a close eye on the First Lady during her husband's first
overseas tour as president.
Among them was the BBC's North America editor, Jon Sopel.
"Interesting
micro point," he tweeted. "Melania Trump wears head covering for
meeting with @Pontifex - but not when she was in Saudi Arabia."
But
BBC's David Willey in Rome was unsurprised. There is a strict protocol
to be followed when meeting the Pope, which the White House will have
been told about.
A quick glance at the Vatican website lays out some of the rules:
modest dress, with your shoulders covered, for those attending a Papal
Audience - especially if indoors.
"It goes from deep lace
mantillas to just a black veil," he explained. "When the Queen went to
see the Pope when she was younger, she dressed up like the Spanish
infanta."
There was an outcry when Cherie Blair, the wife of Britain's
then-prime minister, wore white in 2006 - but less so when Camilla,
Duchess of Cornwall, wore a pale gold suit, and went without a head
covering, in April this year.
"Things have become more relaxed over the last few years there are no hard and fast rules," a Vatican spokesman told The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Despite
this relaxing of the rules, however, Mrs Trump has stuck firmly to
tradition. This could be because she is believed to be a Roman Catholic,
as suggested by her request for Pope Francis to bless her Rosary beads
during the visit.
It should be noted that her stepdaughter Ivanka -
who also decided against covering her head in Saudi Arabia - is not
Catholic, having converted to Judaism, but still chose to wear a veil
while at the Vatican.
Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, did not wear black on a visit to the Vatican in April 2017
Mr Willey was particularly impressed with Mrs Trump's choice of outfit, however.
"To
my eyes, what Mrs Trump wore was perfect. She was rather elegantly
dressed, and totally in keeping with the event," he said. "The Trump
party [as a whole] observed normal protocol and dress."
Image copyrightEPAImage caption
The White House said it was told about the dress protocol by the Vatican
But why the change from Saudi Arabia? Well, female
foreign dignitaries are not required to cover their heads when they
visit the kingdom - only Saudi nationals are.
What's more, while
the Vatican had spoken of a dress protocol to Mrs Trump's office at the
White House, no such requests had been made by Saudi Arabia, her
communications director Stephanie Grisham told CNN.
SOURCE :- BBC NEWS
Melbourne siege a 'terrorist incident'
Australian police are treating as a "terrorist incident" a Melbourne siege in which a gunman was killed.
Heavily
armed officers arrived at an apartment building on Monday after reports
of an explosion and found one man already dead in the foyer.
Another man, Yacqub Khayre, was armed with a shotgun and holding a woman inside the building against her will.
Khayre, 29, called a broadcaster during the siege to say he was acting in the name of the Islamic State (IS) group.
A
news outlet for the group claimed it had carried out the attack, but
police said there was no evidence of it co-ordinating with Khayre.
Three
police officers suffered injuries after Khayre engaged them in a
firefight in which he was shot dead. The hostage was rescued unharmed.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the victim who
died, a building employee, was "in the wrong place at the wrong time".
Gunman known to police
Authorities
were investigating whether Khayre, a Somali-born Australian citizen,
may have lured officers to the wealthy suburb of Brighton with the aim
of confronting them.
Mr Ashton said comments Khayre made referencing IS and al-Qaeda had prompted the terrorism investigation.
"We do not yet know if this was something he was really planning
or whether it was just an ad hoc decision that he has made just to go
off tap like this," Mr Ashton said.
"They (IS) always tend to jump up and claim responsibility every time something happens," Mr Ashton said.
He said Khayre had been acquitted over a foiled plot to attack a Sydney army barracks in 2009.
He
had "a long criminal history" and was on parole after being released
from jail on a separate offence last year, Mr Ashton said.
The gunman had arranged to meet the woman through an escort service before taking her hostage, he said.
Residents alarmed
Neighbours and people in the area described hearing loud gunfire at the scene.
"Everyone just panicked," one witness, Luke Fourniotis, told the Herald Sun.
"I
started running but I didn't know where the shots were coming from so I
had this thought: 'Are they shooting at us?' My heart was in my
throat."
Nearby resident Graeme Hisgrove said heavily armed police officers went through his backyard during the operation.
"We were just in the front room of the house and all the rapid fire
started, so we all hit the deck on the floor and just didn't know what
was going on," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
On
Tuesday, police raided a house reportedly shared by Khayre and his
mother, seizing computers, other electronic devices and books.
Anger over parole
Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull said the case raised "grave concerns" about the parole system which he said would be addressed.
"How was this man on parole? He had a long record of violence. A very long record of violence," Mr Turnbull said.
"These
are important issues and Australians need to be assured that people who
are a threat to their safety are not being released on parole."
Mr Turnbull said Australia's official terror threat level would remain at "probable".
Last month, an Australian coroner criticised a decision which allowed bail to a gunman behind Sydney's deadly cafe siege in 2014.
SOURCE :- BBC NEWS
Qatar flight ban begins as Gulf crisis grows
Egypt is closing its airspace to
Qatari planes in a growing diplomatic row, with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
expected to do the same on Tuesday.
Several countries have cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism in the Gulf region.
Qatari nationals in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been given two weeks to leave.
Qatar denies backing militants and its foreign minister has called for "a dialogue of openness and honesty".
Egypt said it was closing off its airspace to Qatar from 04:00 GMT on Tuesday "until further notice".
Travel disruption is expected as the airport in Doha, Qatar's capital, is a major hub for international flight connections.
Airlines affected will include Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates.
When avoiding the massive neighbour to the west, Saudi Arabia, Qatari
planes will inevitably have to take longer routes leading to longer
flight times.
But Qatar's Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin
Abdulrahman al-Thani, told broadcaster Al Jazeera the country would
"still have access to the world through international sea lanes and
international airspace".
An anonymous Somali official told AP news
agency at least 15 Qatar Airways flights had used Somalia's airspace on
Monday, many more than on a normal day.
Who has done what?
The
states who joined the move against Qatar, a tiny but gas-rich
peninsula, on Monday include some of the biggest powers in the Arab
world.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE closed all transport ties by air, land and sea to Qatar.
They
gave all Qatari visitors and residents two weeks to leave their
territory, and banned their citizens from travelling to Qatar.
The UAE and Egypt expelled Qatari diplomats, giving them 48 hours to leave.
Saudi Arabia closed down a local office of Al Jazeera but said
Qatari citizens would still be allowed to take part in the annual Hajj
pilgrimage to Mecca.
Egypt, Yemen, Libya's eastern-based government and the Maldives later followed suit in severing diplomatic ties.
In
a country reliant on imported food, residents began to stockpile. AFP
news agency said queues in one shop were 25 people deep.
How the economy may be hit: Analysis by the BBC's Andrew Walker
This small state is dependent on imported food.
A
substantial amount of it is transported across the border from Saudi
Arabia, which is being closed. That is also an important route for
construction materials - needed for the energy industry and for the
preparations for the 2022 football world cup.
Qatar's exports are
dominated by oil and gas. They are mostly seaborne, so should not be
immediately hit, but the general economic disruption could have an
impact if the dispute drags on.
That possibility pushed the price
of crude oil higher, but only briefly. Qatar is a member of the
exporters' group Opec and the dispute could yet undermine the
organisation's efforts to raise prices by restricting production.
While
the severing of ties was sudden, it has not come out of the blue, as
tensions have been building for years, and particularly in recent weeks.
Broadly, two key factors drove Monday's decision: Qatar's ties to Islamist groups, and to Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival.
Wealthy
individuals in Qatar are believed to have made donations and the
government has given money and weapons to hardline Islamist groups in
Syria.
The Financial Times also reports that Gulf allies were angry that Qatar paid a $1bn (£773m) ransom to jihadists and Iranian security officials after Qatari nationals were kidnapped in Iraq and Syria.
Analysts
also say the timing of the diplomatic withdrawal, two weeks after a
visit to Riyadh by US President Donald Trump, is crucial.
Mr Trump's speech in Saudi Arabia, in which he blamed Iran
for instability in the Middle East and urged Muslim countries to take
the lead in combating radicalisation, is likely to have emboldened Gulf
allies to act against Qatar.
In the same week as Mr Trump's speech, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE blocked Qatari news sites,
including Al Jazeera. Comments purportedly by Qatari Emir, Sheikh Tamim
bin Hamad al-Thani, criticising Saudi Arabia had appeared on Qatari
state media.
The government in Doha dismissed the comments as fake, attributing the report to a "shameful cybercrime".
What has been the reaction?
Qatar,
which is due to host the football World Cup in 2022, said the decision
would "not affect the normal lives of citizens and residents".
Iran, Turkey and the US have called on all sides to resolve their differences. Kuwait has offered to mediate talks.
Sudan's
foreign ministry also called for dialogue and said the country was
"fully ready to undertake all efforts in order to achieve calm and
reconciliation that would help serve the interests of the people of the
region".
Qatar's stock market closed down 7.27% on Monday.
BBC NEWS
Marawi siege: Philippine militants 'stockpiled food and weapons'
Islamist militants who have overrun parts of the Philippine city of Marawi have prepared for a long siege, officials said.
Security forces have been trying to flush out the gunmen since they attacked the city two weeks ago.
The militants are hiding in tunnels and basements with stockpiles of food and weapons, military officials said.
The conflict has killed at least 170 people, including 20 civilians, and more than 180,000 residents have fled.
Hundreds of civilians are believed to still be trapped with few supplies.
The government, which has been conducting airstrikes, had earlier claimed it had "made gains" in the battle, but has yet to fully retake the city.
Senior military officials told reporters that they believed the
militants were hiding in an extensive network of underground shelters,
built years ago.
"There are underground tunnels and basements that
even a 500-pounder (bomb) cannot destroy," said Maj Gen Carlito Galvez,
head of the military command in the Western Mindanao region.
Government and military estimates on the number of militants left in Marawi have ranged from 40 to 200.
In other developments:
The Philippine government has denied claims that its soldiers were looting Marawi,
saying that troops had handed in more than 79m Philippine pesos (£1.2m,
$1.6m) in cash and cheques found in a house used by militants.
President Rodrigo Duterte has
increased the bounties for top militant leaders Isnilon Hapilon and the
Maute brothers, with a total of 27.4m pesos now offered for their
"neutralisation". The US is offering a separate $5m bounty for Hapilon.
The US is supplying weapons, including
machine guns and grenade launchers, to the Philippines which has said
they will go to soldiers fighting in Marawi.
Officials had said that foreign nationals were among the militants in Marawi, but the list of countries now includes Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Yemen, India and Chechnya.
The militants were also apparently well-prepared for a possible
siege, and had placed supplies in mosques and religious schools - which
are off-limits for air strikes - days before seizing the city, said
officials.
Military spokesman Lt Col Jo-ar Herrera told AFP news agency that
these buildings contained at least a month's worth of food, as well as
weapons such as machine guns.
The gunman had also collected
ammunition and provisions from the city after ransacking Marawi's jail
and armouries, said presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella who was quoted
in The Philippine Inquirer.
When
the conflict first broke out, officials had said fighters from the
Maute group, linked to the so-called Islamic State, stormed the city
after an attempt by Philippine troops to capture Hapilon.
The Maute group is named after founders and leaders Abdullah and Omar Maute.
BBC NEWS
Apple reveals HomePod smart speaker
Apple has announced a voice-activated loudspeaker powered by its virtual assistant Siri.
Like
devices by Amazon and Google, Apple's HomePod speaker can respond to
questions and control smart home gadgets such as lights.
Analysts
say Apple has been slow to improve its Siri virtual assistant and launch
a smart speaker, after Amazon launched its Echo in 2014.
The company has pitched HomePod first and foremost as a music player.
"Apple
being very clever by launching its Siri speaker as a music speaker
that's smart, because Siri isn't great," said Tom Warren from the
technology news site The Verge.
"Interesting that home assistant was the last feature they talked
about. Focusing on music is smart, main use case for smart speakers,"
said Ben Bajarin, of the Creative Strategies consultancy.
The announcement was made at the tech giant's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California.
"It's
a logical step for Apple, to ensure that they don't miss the
opportunity to get a smart device right in the centre of people's
homes," said Ben Wood, an industry analyst at CCS Insight.
"There has been a huge amount of hype around Amazon Echo and Google Home, but we are really at the start of this technology.
"This does a great job of extending the tentacles of Apple services."
Analysis - Dave Lee, BBC North America technology reporter, at WWDC
At more than double the cost of Amazon's Echo, the HomePod is a typical Apple move.
The company is once again banking on its reputation as a creator of intuitive, luxury products that justify a hefty price tag.
What's
interesting about Apple's approach here is that the company has
positioned HomePod as a music device first and foremost, a big contrast
to the approach of Google which touted its Home speaker as a day-to-day
assistant for many aspects of your life.
So - a cynic might say Apple has just launched the world's most-hyped bluetooth speaker - not much imagination there.
But
let's face it, before AI and machine learning really matures, most home
assistant devices are essentially voice-controlled speakers, and so
Apple dedicating its effort into making it sound great is probably a
smart move.
Then again, you might wonder if its "smart"
capabilities are being downplayed due to Siri just not being as advanced
as its competitors.
Mixed reality
Tools that let app designers add virtual objects to a real-world view from the phone's camera, in real time, were also revealed.
The mobile game Pokemon Go is a well-known example of mixed-reality technology in action.
Apple said the new ARkit would make use of the dual-lens camera on
the iPhone 7 Plus, making the integration of virtual objects and the
real world more realistic.
"By truly enabling all modern iPhones
to become augmented reality platforms, Apple will have the largest
potential reach for AR development day one," said Mr Bajarin.
However, he questioned the practicality of augmented reality on a smartphone.
"The benefit to a headset or glasses in these demos is not having to hold the device up thus arms getting tired," he said.
Safety in the car
Apple
also announced the next version of its mobile operating system - iOS 11
- which will include a new setting for people who use their iPhone in
the car.
In January, the company was sued by a US couple whose daughter was killed by a driver allegedly using FaceTime on his iPhone.
The
new driving mode silences notifications, turns the phone's display off,
and can automatically reply to messages to warn friends that you are
driving.
Samsung is testing a similar feature for its Android-powered phones.
Apple also announced:
a deal bringing the Amazon Prime Video streaming service to the Apple TV set-top box
an update to its Safari web browser, which will now stop websites from tracking visitors and stop videos playing automatically
speed upgrades to its iMac and Macbook
range of computers, plus a new iMac Pro which the company says is the
most powerful Mac ever made
BBC NEWS
London attack: Goodwill and planning got NHS through
The NHS puts lots of effort into
planning for a major incident - whether it is a terrorist attack, a
cyber-attack, an outbreak of infectious disease or simply a major power
cut.
But what the past few months have shown is that the dedication and goodwill of staff play a vital role.
After
both the Westminster Bridge and Manchester concert attacks, hospitals
ended up turning away doctors, nurses and other staff who were
volunteering to come in.
The actions of Dr Malik Ramadhan,
divisional director of emergency care and trauma at the Royal London
Hospital, where 12 of the London Bridge and Borough Market victims were
taken, are a perfect illustration of this.
Multiple casualties
Dr Ramadhan had finished his shift and was cycling home over Tower Bridge at the time of Saturday night's attacks.
"I
was completely oblivious," he says, "and as I got to the Old Kent Road a
large number of police vehicles came whizzing past, more than I've seen
before, and I thought that's a bit unusual.
"Given what's been happening, I thought I had better go back to work."
Dr Ramadhan got back to the hospital and was told it had been put on a major incident alert and to expect multiple casualties.
Clearing beds
"We don't get told specifics," he says.
"We get told something really bad has happened, and we have a plan to prepare for something really bad."
The team started clearing beds, contacting on-call staff and messaging colleagues to see who might be able to come in and help.
"By the time patients arrived, we had fully staffed resuscitation bays to receive each of the patients," Dr Ramadhan says.
"The 12 were all very badly injured. The people who were stabbed had been stabbed with the clear intent to kill."
Dr Ramadhan says the injured were badly shocked - startled to the point where they could not speak.
But hospital staff were prepared.
Staying sober
"People are ready," he says.
"The major trauma system in London has been preparing itself for something to happen."
Dr
Ramadhan says off-duty doctors who might normally go out on a Saturday
night have been staying sober in case they are needed.
"Doctors like myself who might have been going to Borough after a night in work [are not]," he says.
First decisions
"As Saturday night is testament, we had a lot of people who were completely sober and ready to help the public."
NHS
England chief executive Simon Stevens says the weekend's attack once
again shows the NHS is "ready and able to respond to such attacks thanks
to the professionalism and bravery of our staff".
One of the first decisions senior managers need to make is just how many staff are needed.
An
incident on a Saturday night - when staffing is at its lowest -
requires many more being brought in than an incident in the middle of
the day during the week.
Emergency services
For
example, at the time of the attack the Royal London Hospital had just
one operating theatre open, but that quickly became five.
But a single hospital is just one part of the jigsaw when it comes to major incidents.
The victims of the London Bridge attack were treated at five hospitals.
They
came under the control of the Gold Command system, whereby senior
officers from the emergency services take strategic control of incidents
from a control centre.
Each hospital has its own contingency
plans in place - in fact they were asked to review these just over a
week ago after the Manchester attack.
With three terror incidents and a cyber-attack in just three months, the NHS must be primed for any eventuality.
