Iraq security forces kill protesters in Nasiriya, army deploys - Al Jazeera English

Baghdad, Iraq - At least 14 people have been killed after security forces used live ammunition and tear gas canisters to disperse anti-government protesters in the southern city of Nasiriya, medical sources and witnesses told Al Jazeera.

Authorities in the capital Baghdad dispatched troops to southern Iraq, which has seen massive protests for weeks, to "restore order" there, the military said in a statement on Thursday.

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Security sources told Al Jazeera that at least 120 others were wounded in the crackdown on protests in Nasiriya on Thursday, a day after the Iranian consulate was set on fire in Shia holy city of Najaf.

Several of the wounded are believed to be in critical condition. Medical sources, however, have told Al Jazeera that the death toll has gone up to 18 but it has yet to be confirmed by officials.

The raid on the Iranian consulate was the strongest expression of anti-Iranian sentiment by Iraqi protesters, who have taken to the streets in Baghdad and Iraq's mainly Shia south since early October.

More than 360 people have been killed and more than 15,000 wounded so far, according to an AFP news agency tally.

Southern Iraq and Baghdad have been gripped by an escalating wave of anti-government demonstrations demanding an overhaul of the ruling system, seen as corrupt, sectarian and inefficient.

Iran demands action

Responding to the attack on its consulate in Najaf, Iran demanded that Iraq take decisive action against "aggressors" behind the arson attack.

The foreign ministry spokesperson, Abbas Mousavi, quoted by state news agency IRNA, condemned the attack and "demanded decisive, effective and responsible action... against destructive agents and aggressors".

"Iran has officially communicated its disgust to the Iraq ambassador in Tehran," he said.

The Najaf consulate was set ablaze late on Wednesday after anti-government protesters moved away from the centre of the city and into side streets near the consulate, two witnesses told Al Jazeera.

"The protesters were holding a demonstration in central Najaf when a group started to close off main roads and set the tires of police cars ablaze.

"The security forces responded using tear gas and sound bombs to disperse the protesters who ran towards the Iranian embassy," a witness told Al Jazeera.

"The protesters were angered by the security forces trying to disperse the demonstration. They started burning tires near the consulate and eventually set the consulate ablaze, minutes after the consulate staff evacuated the building," said the source.

As the consulate is near the home of the leading Iraqi Shia authority Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, locals moved to surround his home in an attempt to protect it from being targeted, witnesses told Al Jazeera.

Responding to the incidents, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a commander in the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces - Hashd al-Shaabi - an umbrella group of Iraq's mostly Shia militias, warned in a statement on Wednesday that the group would take action against any protesters who target al-Sistani.

"We will cut their hands off," he warned in a statement share in Iraqi media.

Message to Iran

The incident is the second of its kind this month, after Iraqi protesters attacked the Iranian consulate in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala on November 4.

Three people were shot dead after security forces opened fire on the demonstrators who tried to climb the consulate walls, demanding that Iran stop interfering in Iraq's internal affairs.

Commenting on the developments, Iraqi analyst Jasim Moussawi told Al Jazeera that protesters setting the consulate ablaze was an attempt to tarnish historical relations between Tehran and Baghdad.

"Those who are responsible for setting fire to the Iranian consulate in Najaf have the same message as those who did it in Karbala.

"Their message is a warning to against the intervention of Iran in Iraq's internal affairs, said Moussawi, adding that he expects the incidents will push the security forces and government to use more force to quell protests.

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2019-11-28 09:31:00Z
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North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile, Seoul says - Fox News

SEOUL -- South Korea says North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile.

A brief statement Thursday from Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff gave no further details, such as what kind of projectile was launched and where it landed. In the past, such reports by South Korea about North Korean launches have turned out to be test launches of missiles and artillery pieces.

The reported launch came three days after North Korea said its troops performed artillery drills near its disputed sea boundary with South Korea.

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U.S.-led diplomacy on ending the North Korean nuclear crisis has remained stalled for months.

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2019-11-28 08:59:05Z
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North Korea fires unidentified projectile, South Korea military says - CNBC

People watch a TV broadcast showing file footage for a news report on North Korea firing two projectiles, possibly missiles, into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan, in Seoul, South Korea, October 31, 2019.

Heo Ran | Reuters

North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile, South Korea's office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Thursday.

There were no further details from the South Korean military. Japan's Coastguard said North Korea has launched what appears to be a missile.

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2019-11-28 08:14:00Z
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Hong Kong protesters praise Trump, Congress for law; Beijing calls move sinister - Fox News

Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong cheered President Trump and members of Congress for passing two laws that support the months-long uprising that has crippled the city while Beijing's anger over the legislation was on full display, calling the move a "nakedly hegemonic act" before summoning the top American diplomat in the country in protest.

The protests in Hong Kong started in June in response to, in part, an extradition bill that would have sent alleged criminals to China to stand trial. The bill never went forward, but the protests remained and only grew in size and violence since June.

PROTEST LEADER SPEAKS OUT AGAINST BEIJING 

Trump signed the bills, which were approved by near-unanimous consent in the House and Senate, even as he expressed some concerns about complicating the effort to work out a trade deal with China's President Xi Jinping.

Up until Wednesday's announcement, Trump did not indicate whether or not he would sign the bill. Secretary of  State Mike Pompeo refused to answer a reporter's question about the president's leanings as recent as Tuesday.

The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which was sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., requires that the U.S. conducts yearly reviews into Hong Kong’s autonomy from Beijing. If ever found unsatisfactory, the city's special status for U.S. trading could be tossed.

"I signed these bills out of respect for President Xi, China, and the people of Hong Kong," Trump said in a statement. "They are being enacted in the hope that Leaders and Representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long term peace and prosperity for all."

The statement did little to calm Beijing. The Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement that the bill will only "strengthen the resolve of the Chinese people, including the Hong Kong people, and raise the sinister intentions and hegemonic nature of the U.S."

The statement continued, "The US side ignored facts, turned black to white, and blatantly gave encouragement to violent criminals who smashed and burned, harmed innocent city residents, trampled on the rule of law and endangered social order."

The statement, which was obtained by Reuters, said the U.S. plot "is doomed" and threatened vague "countermeasures."

The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office called the U.S. the "largest black hand causing chaos in Hong Kong."

Carrie Lam's administration said it "strongly opposes and regrets" the laws, according to London’s Independent newspaper. Her office said "Democracy is alive and well" there and pointed to the recent elections that overwhelmingly favored antigovernment candidates.

Protesters, however, cheered the bill and, according to the New York Times, see the measure as a warning to Beijing and Hong Kong.

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"I hope it can act as a warning to Hong Kong and Beijing officials, pro-Beijing people and the police," Nelson Lam, 32, told the Times. "I think if they know that what they do may lead to sanctions, then they will become restrained when dealing with protests. We just want our autonomy back. We are not their foe."

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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2019-11-28 07:19:58Z
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Seven Islamist militants to be hanged for roles in Bangladesh terror attack that left American, 21 others dead - Fox News

Seven Islamist militants are set to be hanged in Bangladesh for their roles in a 2016 terror attack that left 22 people, including one American, dead.

The siege on a café in Dhaka was carried out by five men who shot and hacked diners to death with machetes while taking others hostage. Following a 12-hour standoff, Bangladesh’s army stormed in and killed all five assailants. Thirteen hostages were rescued, but 22 people died during the attack, including an American, nine Italians and seven Japanese citizens, according to the BBC.

"The court gave them the highest punishment," Golam Sarwar Khan, a prosecutor, is reported to have said to the media Wednesday after the sentences were announced.

Police escort a member of a banned militant group after he was sentenced to death for an attack on a cafe that killed more than 20 people in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2016. (AP)

AT LEAST SEVEN KILLED IN BANGLADESH GAS EXPLOSION

Bangladesh has accused a local militant group of being behind the attack and those on trial were suspected of supplying the attackers with machetes and assault rifles, in addition to helping them plan the siege, the BBC reported.

The lawyer of those sentenced to death said he would appeal their punishment. Some of the men, the AFP said, shouted “Allahu Akbar” as they were led to a police van outside of the courtroom Wednesday.

Eight other militants connected to the attack reportedly were killed in government raids in the months afterward.

Members of the militant group shout slogans from inside a police van after their sentence was announced Wednesday. (AP)

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Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2016 called the café attack “an extremely heinous act.”

"What kind of Muslims are these people? They don't have any religion,” she said during a televised address, according to the BBC.

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2019-11-27 13:30:19Z
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'Proof NHS at risk under US trade deal' - Labour - BBC News

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Labour says it has evidence the NHS would be at risk under a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

At a press conference in London, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he had a 451-page dossier showing talks had taken place on drug pricing and NHS access.

He warned it could lead to the health service paying more for drugs and "runaway privatisation".

The Tories accused Mr Corbyn of lying and said the NHS was not at risk under a future trade deal.

In the Conservative manifesto, published at the weekend, the party explicitly stated neither the price paid for drugs nor the services provided would be "on the table".

Idea of NHS being up for sale will be furiously disputed

This is going to be furiously disputed throughout the day.

Jeremy Corbyn doesn't provide evidence ministers have agreed the health service should be part of a trade deal with US.

But details of discussions about the demands of US pharmaceutical companies will still be motivating for Labour voters worried about the NHS.

"Not for sale," has been the biggest mantra at Labour events, even though the Tories have always furiously denied the NHS is in any way "up for sale".

It's clear US drug companies want access to UK markets - Labour suggests the UK has agreed they could extend the patents on some medicines, which could cost the NHS more, for example.

But whether any UK government would ever do a deal that made medicines much more expensive for the NHS, and therefore the taxpayer, which would be massively costly for the government and probably prove deeply unpopular, is a big political question.

Labour released uncensored government documents covering six rounds of negotiations - taking place in Washington and London from July 2017 to July this year.

They are preparatory meetings ahead of formal trade talks, and appear to provide more detail on meetings Channel Four Dispatches programme reported on earlier this year.

As well as the pharmaceutical industry, the talks covered others including agriculture and issues such as climate change.

The documents show the US are interested in discussing drug pricing, mainly by extending patents that stop cheaper generic medicines being used.

The US pays two-and-a-half times more for drugs than the NHS does.

One document sees the UK official talking about the talks being helpful in determining the areas the US may want to discuss, while acknowledging the UK would have objections.

Mr Corbyn said they showed talks were at a "very advanced stage" and gave the lie to Boris Johnson's claims that the NHS would not be part of any trade talks.

"The uncensored documents leave Boris Johnson's denials in absolute tatters," he told a news conference in London.

"We have now got evidence that under Boris Johnson the NHS is on the table and will be up for sale.

"He tried to cover it up in a secret agenda and today it has been exposed."

The claim that the NHS would form part of a free-trade deal with the US under the Tories has been one of the Labour's key attack lines in the General Election campaign.

It has been vehemently denied by the Conservatives, with Mr Johnson denouncing the claim as "an absolute invention" and "completely untrue" when he clashed with Mr Corbyn in the first TV debate.

Reacting to Mr Corbyn's latest claims, International Development Secretary Liz Truss said it was simply a stunt.

"Jeremy Corbyn is getting desperate and is out and out lying about what the documents contain.

"People should not believe what he says."

And Mr Johnson said the claims were "total nonsense".

"This is continually brought up by the Labour party as a diversionary tactic from the difficulties they are encountering."

He said he could give an "absolute cast iron guarantee" the NHS would not be on the table.

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2019-11-27 12:34:09Z
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Jeremy Corbyn reveals 'evidence' the UK's NHS is part of US trade talks - CNN International

The Labour leader held up the documents during a speech in Westminster, which he said covered six rounds of talks in both Washington and London from July 2017 up until "just a few months ago."

"We are talking here about secret talks for a deal with Donald Trump after Brexit," Corbyn said.

He said said this deal "could lead to runaway privatization of our health service."

Johnson has previously denied that the NHS would be part of any US-UK trade negotiations and that his government would continue to fund it.

On November 19, speaking in a televised head-to-head debate with Corbyn he said: "There are no circumstance whatever in which this government or any Conservative government will put the NHS on the table in any trade negotiation. Our NHS will never be for sale."

And on Wednesday, Johnson repeated on Twitter: "Our NHS will not be on the table for any trade negotiations. We're protecting and strengthening our NHS with more investment and an Australian style, points-based immigration system."

However, Corbyn says the uncensored documents -- totaling 451 pages -- are evidence of the Prime Minister's "secret agenda" and "leave Boris Johnson's denials in absolute tatters."

"Now we know the truth when Johnson says 'Get Brexit Done,' it's a fraud on the British people."

NHS workers -- including some in uniform and even one wearing a stethoscope -- handed out the unredacted documents to journalists in the room.

Corbyn said the documents prove that "this election is now a fight for the survival of our National Health Service."

"Labour will never, ever treat our NHS as a bargaining chip in trade talks with anybody," the opposition Labour leader told the crowd at the press conference. "We will never let Donald Trump get his hands on our NHS. Because our NHS is not for sale."

Corbyn added that the documents also show that negotiations were ongoing to open the NHS up to American pharmaceutical companies -- potentially leading to a rise in UK drug prices.

"Lives will be put at risk as a result of this," he added.

The Labour leader urged Johnson to "come clean on what the Conservatives' sell-out plan for our NHS is."

CNN's Martin Goillandeau and Sarah Dean contributed reporting.

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2019-11-27 11:21:45Z
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