World News Briefs For Tuesday, 24 December 2019
Hello Australia!! - Saudi Arabia claims it has done something about Jamal Khashogghi's murder - French strikers storm through a line of cops - The unhappy Christmas card allegedly from a Chinese prison - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:
Saudi Arabia claims it has sentenced five men to death for the gruesome murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashogghi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey last year. Three other suspects got 24 year prison terms. Saudi Arabia's investigation of the murder of Khashogghi, a prominent dissident employed by the Washington Post, has been shrouded in secrecy, as was the trial. None of the evidence presented to the Saudi courts has been made public, nor have the identities of the "suspects" been revealed.
Satellite images show new construction at a factory near Pyongyang, where North Korea is believed to be developing and manufacturing vehicles used as mobile launchers for long-range ballistic missiles. Experts on East Asian security are considering this a big event, especially since Pyongyang has ominously promised a "Christmas gift" for the US after months of stalled negotiations aimed at getting North Korea to give up its nuclear program. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has already issued a warning of "longer-range missile test launches prior to the end of 2019, or in the early part of 2020" from North Korea.
Striking rail workers pushed back police at the Gare de Lyon Metro station in Paris, on the 19th day of France's protests against President Emmanuel Macron's proposed pension cuts. The station is an important transfer for holiday goers en route to the Alps for ski vacations. Hundreds of trade unionists and strikers gathered outside the state as speaker vowed to keep the demonstrations going through Christmas and New Year's. When they tried to enter the station, the cops' body armor and shields were no match for the solidarity of the workers who poured through the gates and drove police back across a fenced-in barrier.
India's Congress Party has won elections in Jharkhand state, dealing a setback to the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It's the second straight state election that has gone poorly for the BJP, and could go a long way towards emboldening protesters against Modi's new law to ease the path to citizenship for several undocumented immigrants as long as they are not Muslim. Modi banned protests, but they're happening anyway. Opponents of the law are taking their case to the Supreme Court next month.
At least 16 inmates were killed in a riot at El Porvenir Prison in Honduras, this coming two days after another 18 were killed in a disturbance at another jail. Honduran prisons are notoriously overcrowded, rife with gang activity, and short-staffed.
A Chinese printing company is denying using forced labor, after a little girl in the UK opened a Christmas Card that contained a plea for help from someone who claimed to be among a group of prisoners "forced to work against our will". A spokesperson told the Chinese nationalis Global Times newspaper, "We only became aware of this when some foreign media contacted us. We have never done such a thing," and asked, "Why did they include our company's name?" The prisoners allegedly came from Qingpu prison in Shanghai, which is believed to hold some 170 foreign men as inmates.