Síntesis informativa - 31 de julio 2019
THE NEW YORK TIMES
U.S.-China Trade Talks End With No Deal in Sight
American and Chinese negotiators finished talks on Wednesday with little progress toward ending a trade war that has shaken the world’s economic confidence and rattled markets.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Robert E. Lighthizer, the Trump administration’s top trade negotiator, were seen leaving trade talks on Wednesday, the Chinese state news media said.
Both sides “conducted frank, efficient and constructive in-depth exchanges on major issues of common interest in the economic and trade field,” said a statement late in the day that was released by CCTV, China’s state broadcaster.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/business/economy/us-china-trade-talks.html
Afghan and U.S. Forces Blamed for Killing More Civilians This Year Than Taliban Have
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan security forces and their American-led international allies have killed more civilians so far this year than the Taliban have, the United Nations said in a report on Tuesday, once again raising alarm that ordinary Afghans are bearing the brunt of an increasingly deadly 18-year war.
In the first six months of the year, the conflict killed nearly 1,400 civilians and wounded about 2,400 more. Afghan forces and their allies caused 52 percent of the civilian deaths compared with 39 percent attributable to militants — mostly the Taliban, but also the Islamic State. The figures do not total 100 percent because responsibility for some deaths could not be definitively established.
The higher civilian death toll caused by Afghan and American forces comes from their greater reliance on airstrikes, which are particularly deadly for civilians. The United Nations said airstrikes resulted in 363 civilian deaths and 156 civilian injuries.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/world/asia/afghanistan-civilian-casualties.html
North Korea Fires Short-Range Missiles, Its 2nd Test in Less Than a Week
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Wednesday, the South Korean military said, the North’s second weapons test in less than a week.
The missiles were launched from near Wonsan, a coastal town east of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, the South Korean military said in a brief statement. They flew 155 miles to the northeast, reaching a height of 18 miles, before splashing into the sea, it said.
South Korean officials declined to offer further details, pending analysis of flight and other data together with their United States allies.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/world/asia/north-korea-projectiles.html
U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees Faces Accusations of Misconduct
JERUSALEM — The United Nations agency responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees, already struggling with funding cuts, is bracing for fallout after a highly critical internal ethics report was leaked to international news outlets this week detailing claims of serious mismanagement and misconduct.
The confidential report by the agency’s ethics office, based in Amman, Jordan, alleged that members of an “inner circle” in the top management of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency engaged in “abuses of authority for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives,” according to Al Jazeera, which first exposed the report on Monday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/world/middleeast/un-palestinian-agency-misconduct.html
Huawei’s Sales Jump Despite Trump’s Blacklisting
BEIJING — A little over two months after Huawei’s chief executive began comparing his embattled company to a bullet-riddled fighter plane, the Chinese tech giant said its sales for January through June grew by nearly a quarter from a year earlier, a sign that the Trump administration’s clampdown has hardly brought the company crashing to the ground.
“Neither production nor shipment has been interrupted, not for one single day,” Liang Hua, the chairman of Huawei’s board of directors, said on Tuesday at the company’s headquarters in the southern city of Shenzhen. “No matter how many difficulties we might face, we remain confident in the company’s future development.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/technology/huawei-trump.html
Toby Walsh, A.I. Expert, Is Racing to Stop the Killer Robots
Toby Walsh, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, is one of Australia’s leading experts on artificial intelligence. He and other experts have released a report outlining the promises, and ethical pitfalls, of the country’s embrace of A.I.
Recently, Dr. Walsh, 55, has been working with the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a coalition of scientists and human rights leaders seeking to halt the development of autonomous robotic weapons.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/science/autonomous-weapons-artificial-intelligence.html
THE GUARDIAN
North Korea fires two short-range ballistic missiles, South says
North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast less than a week after a similar test launch, the South Korean military’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said.
The latest launches on Wednesday were from the Hodo peninsula on North Korea’s east coast, the same area from where last week’s were conducted, the JCS said in a statement. It said it was monitoring the situation in case of additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/30/north-korea-unidentified-projectiles-fired-south-korea
AL JAZEERA
North Korea fires two ballistic missiles as South Korea bristles
Two projectiles flew about 250km as Pyongyang intensifies pressure on the US to start up new denuclearisation talks.
North Korea conducted its second weapons test in less than a week on Wednesday, firing two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast in a move observers say could be aimed at boosting pressure on the United States to set up new denuclearisation talks.
He added Pyongyang may be expressing its displeasure over planned joint military exercises between the US and South Korea in the coming month.
How will Boris Johnson handle the tanker row with Iran?
The new British PM could fall in line behind Trump or surprise by demonstrating diplomatic prowess.
Gavin O'Toole.- Experts fear Boris Johnson, the new prime minster, will fall in behind US President Donald Trump's hostile US stance towards Tehran, despite an opportunity for Britain to forge an influential position as a broker following its withdrawal from the European Union.
Relations between the UK and Iran plummeted when the British Royal Navy seized Grace 1, an Iranian tanker, near Gibraltar on suspicion that it was breaching EU sanctions by carrying oil destined for Syria.
The new British PM is faced with a choice of aligning with Trump - with whom he wishes to agree upon a rapid post-Brexit trade deal - or living up to the Brexit vision he has presented in public of a reinvigorated "global Britain".
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/boris-johnson-handle-tanker-row-iran-190730150041762.html
Iran threatens to reduce nuclear deal commitments further
Foreign Minister Zarif also offers to hold talks with rival Saudi Arabia, and tells US' Pompeo not to come to Tehran.
Iran has threatened to cut its commitments under the international nuclear deal further unless European partners move to protect it from US sanctions by ensuring it can sell oil and receive income.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also told state television on Wednesday that Iran was ready to negotiate with arch rival Saudi Arabia, and said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was not welcome in Tehran.
AL MAYADEEN
Ratifica Cuba su política de tolerancia cero frente a la trata de personas
En el caso cubano, existe un plan de acción nacional para la prevención y enfrentamiento a la trata de personas y la protección a las víctimas, el cual comprende el período 2017-2020.
El Estado cubano es signatario de instrumentos jurídicos que guardan relación con la trata de personas tales como la Convención de Naciones Unidas contra la Delincuencia Organizada Transnacional; el Protocolo para Prevenir, Reprimir y Sancionar la Trata de Personas, especialmente mujeres y niños; entre otros.
Washington está convencido de la permanencia de Al-Assad, afirma ex embajador de EE.UU. en Siria
El ex embajador de Estados Unidos en Damasco, Robert Ford, confirmó que Washington está convencido de que el presidente sirio, Bashar al-Assad, seguirá al frente del país hasta las próximas elecciones.
Enfatizó que "las fuerzas estadounidenses permanecerán en el área de al-Tanf en la frontera entre Siria e Irak para evitar que Irán y Siria se comuniquen a través de ella".
UE: No somos parte de las conversaciones sobre el envío de fuerzas navales al Golfo
La Unión Europea reiteró su llamado al respeto de la libertad de navegación marítima en el Golfo, y señaló que no forma parte de las conversaciones llevadas a cabo entre los Estados Unidos y algunos países sobre el despliegue de las fuerzas navales en el Golfo Pérsico.
Alemania rechazó una solicitud de Estados Unidos para participar en sus planes para asegurar la navegación marítima en el Golfo y el Estrecho de Ormuz.
