ISTANBUL:  The Turkish fiancee of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said Friday she hoped pressure from the US Congress would encourage the Trump adminstration to take a tougher stance on the killing. Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, was killed on October 2 by Saudi agents during a visit to his country’s consulate in Istanbul to obtain paperwork ahead of his wedding to Hatice Cengiz. During a press conference in Istanbul for a book on Khashoggi’s life, Cengiz left the door open to a meeting with US President Donald Trump if certain conditions were met.
The book, titled “Jamal Khashoggi: his life, his fight, his secrets”, was written by Turkish journalists Mehmet Akif Ersoy and Sinan Onus with testimony from Cengiz. An English version will be published next week.
In the book, Cengiz shares her memories and papers detailing the life of former Saudi insider turned critic Khashoggi “who was a journalist for you, but a man for me”.  In December, Cengiz rejected an invitation from Trump.
But on Friday, she said “a visit to the United States could take place in March”. She hoped the US leader would have a change of “attitude” and “follow the case closely”.
“I have hope, not necessarily regarding Trump, but about the fact that the new Congress will follow this case more closely,” she said, struggling with tears as she spoke.
Special UN rapporteur, Agnes Callamard, said Thursday after a visit to Turkey that Khashoggi’s killing had been “planned and perpetrated” by Saudi officials. Khashoggi had written critical pieces on the Riyadh administration in the Post.
Trump faces a Friday deadline set by Congress to determine if Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of Khashoggi.
His murder was met with international outrage and considerably hurt the image of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is accused of having ordered the killing.
While Riyadh denies any involvement of Prince Mohammed, the crown prince has been implicated in the murder by American senators based on the CIA’s conclusions.
But the Trump administration has said there is no irrefutable evidence of Prince Mohammed’s involvement, and has stressed the importance of the strategic partnership between Washington and Riyadh.
Cengiz refused to comment on the accusations against the crown prince, saying only that she awaited the completion of Turkey’s investigation.
However she denounced the fact that Khashoggi’s remains still had not been found.

TEHRAN: Iran announced the “successful test” of a new cruise missile with a range of over 1,350 kilometres on Saturday, coinciding with celebrations for the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution. “The test of the Hoveizeh cruise missile was carried out successfully at a range of 1,200 kilometres (840 miles) and accurately hit the set target,” Defence Minister Amir Hatami said, quoted on state television which broadcast footage of its launch.
“It can be ready in the shortest possible time and flies at a very low altitude,” he said.

Hatami described the Hoveizeh as the “long arm of the Islamic Republic of Iran” in defending itself. It is part of the Soumar group of cruise missile, first unveiled in 2015 with a range of 700 kilometres, according to the minister.
The Hoveizeh unveiling was part of an arms exhibition titled “40 years of defensive achievements” held in Tehran.
Friday marked the beginning of 10 days of celebrations of the Islamic revolution that ousted the pro-Western shah.
Iran has voluntarily limited the range of its missiles to 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles), sufficient to reach Israel and Western bases in the Middle East.

But Washington and its allies have accused Tehran of pursuing enhanced missile capabilities that also threaten Europe. Iran has “no intention of increasing the range” of its missiles, the country’s Supreme National Security Council secretary, Admiral Ali Shamkhani, said Tuesday.

(Agencies)

CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visited the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) here on Friday, where he called for strengthening intelligence and preventive work. “We must improve and strengthen intelligence systems, the intelligence of the Bolivarian National Guard is extraordinary; on that base we must expand the preventative intelligence,” Maduro said.
He affirmed that intelligence should be used to confront terrorism, coups and crime in all forms.
“Who wins the intelligence area, wins the battle of security, peace,” he stressed. “The Bolivarian National Armed Forces is the backbone of the integrity and unity of the nation, and the Bolivarian National Guard as a component is the central element for the guarantee of national peace,” said the president.
Venezuela’s GNB is part of its armed forces and can serve as gendarmerie, civil defense force or reserve force.
Maduro also said the GNB makes a great contribution to peace in the country and is the “guardian of co-existence and sovereignty, if there is peace in the republic, there will be sovereignty.” Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez accompanied the president on his visit, during which some 2,000 GNB commandos demonstrated their military capabilities. Since the beginning of the week, Maduro has visited the country’s main military bases as part of preparations for the military exercises to be held on Feb. 10-15.

(Agencies)

UNITED NATIONS: At least 34 United Nations and associated personnel — 26 peacekeepers and eight civilians — were killed in malicious attacks in the line of duty in 2018, said a UN spokesperson Thursday.
The 2018 casualty rate was among the lowest of the last five years and was less than half the number recorded in 2017, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said at a regular press briefing, citing a report from the UN Staff Union.

In 2018, the peacekeeping mission in Mali suffered the greatest loss of life, with 11 peacekeepers killed. It was followed by the missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 8 peacekeepers were killed. In the Central African Republic, 7 peacekeepers were killed, according to the report.

Since 2012, at least 344 United Nations and associated personnel have died in malicious and deliberate attacks, it said.President of the UN Staff Union Bibi Sherifa Khan said: “United Nations staff work in some of the world’s most dangerous places. Any cut in the budget of peacekeeping operations increases the dangers for staff members and risk jeopardizing the goals and objectives of the organization.”

The union president added: “When the United Nations sends its staff to work in conflict zones, it must ensure, along with member states, that the necessary resources are provided and that those who attack our colleagues are brought to justice.”

(Agencies)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington is willing to discuss “many actions” to improve ties and entice Pyongyang to give up nuclear weapons, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea said on Thursday, but set out an extensive list of demands for the North, including a full disclosure of its weapons program.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets with the delegation that had visited the United States, in Pyongyang, North Korea in this photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 23, 2019. In a speech at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, envoy Stephen Biegun did not elaborate on what concessions the United States might make, but said the “corresponding measures” demanded by North Korea would be the subject of talks next week.

Biegun will arrive in Seoul on Sunday for meetings with South Korean officials, before holding talks with North Korean negotiators.

“From our side, we are prepared to discuss many actions that could help build trust between our two countries and advance further progress in parallel on the Singapore summit objectives of transforming relations, establishing a permanent peace regime on the peninsula, and complete denuclearization,” he said.

Biegun’s comment referred to the unprecedented meeting last June between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in the wealthy Asian city-state.

Trump hailed “tremendous progress” in his dealings with the North Korea and told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that the date and location of a second summit with Kim would be announced “early next week” and probably during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

North Korea has complained that the United States has done little to reciprocate for its actions so far to dismantle some weapons facilities and freeze its weapons testing. It has repeatedly urged a lifting of punishing U.S.-led sanctions and also a formal end to the war, as well as security guarantees.

In his most detailed public remarks on his approach to North Korea after five months in his role, Biegun said the United States had told the North it was prepared to pursue commitments made in Singapore “simultaneously and in parallel” and had already eased rules on delivery of humanitarian aid to it.

Still, he outlined a long list of demands North Korea would eventually need to meet, such as allowing expert access and monitoring mechanisms of nuclear and missile sites.

It would have to “ultimately ensure removal or destruction of stockpiles of fissile material, weapons, missiles, launchers and other weapons of mass destruction,” he added. Pyongyang has rejected making an itemized declaration of its weapons programs for decades.

“MORE WORK AHEAD”
Biegun said Kim committed, during an October visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to the dismantling and destruction of plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities.

The information from Biegun goes further than remarks by Pompeo himself after his trip and beyond any public statement by Pyongyang.

While Biegun conceded there was “more work ahead of us than behind us,” Trump appeared upbeat about the prospects for a second summit with Kim.

“They very much want the meeting,” Trump said in his Oval Office remarks. “And I think they really want to do something, and we’ll see.”

On Wednesday, Pompeo said North Korea had agreed the summit would be held at the end of February and it would be “some place in Asia.”

Last June’s Singapore summit produced a vague commitment by Kim to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, where U.S. troops have been stationed in the South since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Still, Pyongyang has yet to take concrete steps in that direction, in Washington’s view, and the director of U.S. national intelligence, Dan Coats, told Congress on Tuesday it was unlikely to give up all its nuclear weapons and has continued activity inconsistent with pledges to denuclearize.

The State Department said Biegun’s trip to South Korea on Feb. 3 will include talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol “to discuss next steps to advance our objective of the final fully verified denuclearization of North Korea and steps to make further progress on all the commitments the two leaders made in Singapore.”

TRANSFORMING RELATIONS
Responding to questions, Biegun said the United States would not lift sanctions until North Korean denuclearization was complete, but added: “We did not say we will not do anything until you do everything.”

Venezuela’s Guaido says police visited his home
Biegun said both he and Trump were convinced it was time to move past 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula, but stopped short of suggesting the summit could yield an end-of-war declaration North Korea has been seeking.

However, he added: “If we are doing the right thing on nuclear weapons, it makes it a lot more conceivable that there would be a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”

But he cautioned, “These things are going to move haltingly along different courses.”

Biegun admitted that the United States and North Korea did not have an agreed definition of denuclearization, but was blunt about U.S. expectations and said Trump had made clear he expected “significant and verifiable progress on denuclearization” to emerge from the next summit.

“Before the process of denuclearization can be final, we must have a complete understanding of the full extent of the North Korean WMD and missile programs through a comprehensive declaration,” Biegun said in his speech.

Biegun said the details would have to be tackled in working-level talks to establish conditions “to fundamentally transform the U.S.-North Korean relations and establish peace on the Korean peninsula.”

He pledged that once North Korea was denuclearized the United States was prepared to explore with it, and other countries, the best way to mobilize investment there.

Biegun said the past 25 years of talks showed the possibility of failure was great, and stressed, “We need to have contingencies if the diplomatic process fails – which we do.”

(REUTERS)