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PM: Iranian ship seized near the coast of Socotra

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The Yemeni government announced that it had seized an Iranian ship carrying 19 sailors off the coast of the Socotra archipelago, east of the country. He explained that “the ship was caught by fishermen on the island of Abdul Kuri, one of the islands of Socotra archipelago”. According to Saba News Agency, Yemen’s Council of Ministers held a meeting chaired by bin Daghr in the city of Aden where the seizure of the ship and the investigation into its cargo and source of supply were discussed. The news coincided with renewed accusations against Iran of transferring weapons to its Houthi militia allies across the Yemeni coasts, and the announcement by the US administration of the government’s support to meet these challenges. There was no immediate comment from the Iranian authorities on the seizure of the ship on Saturday.

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Yemen: Saleh’s party threatens to break partnership with Houthis

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Deposed Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s political party has formally warned that they will end their partnership with the Houthi militias. In their statement, the General People’s Congress party in Sanaa accused their Houthi partners of persecuting and insulting their leaders and members. The letter, authored by the party’s Secretary-General Aref al-Zouka, was sent to the Houthi political council and described that they are being de facto ruled by their coup detat partners. Al-Zouka added that journalists and politicians loyal to them are being harassed by Houthi militiamen describing the actions as “terrorist acts” and “irresponsible”. The letter further added that there is a clear indication of a lack of desire from the Houthi’s to continue the partnership. The Secretary-General enclosed a list of 44 members of the Houthi militia and its journalists who were attacking Saleh and the leaders of his party. He stressed that these elements can not dare to write and publish without the approval of their supreme leadership. Members of the deposed party expressed their rejection of a sham or decorative partnership with the Houthis, in their first official threat to withdraw from the alliance since conflict between the two allies erupted with armed clashes in central Sanaa in August. Sources in the General People’s Congress, said that there is strong pressure on Saleh from party leaders to break the alliance with the Houthis after the increasing attacks and violations.

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‘UAE on the verge of splitting Yemen in two’

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After a tumultuous marriage of more than 27 years, South Yemen appears to be edging closer to divorcing the north in a move politically and financially sponsored by the oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the southern coastal city of Aden, unified Yemen’s familiar flag of three horizontal bars has all but vanished, replaced by the former Communist nation’s emblem of a red star within a sky-blue chevron, while pictures of Emirati royals adorn the hallways of government buildings and ministries. Military units once loyal to the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi are also distinctly absent. Instead, local militias and Yemeni soldiers are flanked by Emirati troops – tasked with guarding key installations and protecting Aidarous al-Zubaidi – the UAE’s ‘man in the south’ and leader of the southern secessionist movement. Perceived by some as the only credible rival to Hadi, the 50-year-old militia leader set out his vision for the region on Friday saying an independence referendum would be “held soon.” Speaking to a raucous crowd of southerners hungry for secession, he announced the formation of a new 303-member parliament, a body analysts say will be administered under his presidency.

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Tillerson heads back to deal with Gulf crisis

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The United States will again try to resolve a Gulf crisis that Washington has alternatively fueled or tried to soothe, as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson heads back to the region.
The top US diplomat did not himself hold out much hope of an immediate breakthrough in the stand-off between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but the trip may clarify the issues at stake.
“I do not have a lot of expectations for it being resolved anytime soon,” Tillerson admitted on Thursday, in an interview with the Bloomberg news agency. “There seems to be a real unwillingness on the part of some of the parties to want to engage.” Nevertheless, President Donald Trump’s chief envoy is to leave Washington this weekend for Saudi Arabia and from there head on to Qatar, to talk through a breakdown in ties. Trump, having initially exacerbated the split by siding with Riyadh and denouncing Qatar for supporting terrorism at a “high level,” has predicted the conflict will be resolved. Tillerson, a former chief executive of energy giant ExxonMobil, knows the region well, having dealt with its royal rulers while negotiating oil and gas deals. But the latest diplomatic spat is a tricky one, pitching US allies against one another even as Washington is trying to coordinate opposition to Iran and to Islamist violence.

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Smugglers prep to capitalize on skyrocketing price of sanctioned fish

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The price of North Korean seafood for sale in China’s Yanji City has spiked recently due to coordinated sanctions from the international community against the regime. Since United Nations Security Resolution 2371 came into effect on August 15th, North Korean seafood sales have slumped in China’s markets. “At the beginning of this year, pollock was selling for about 8 yuan apiece, but the price has nearly doubled to about 15 yuan since the sanctions,” said an inside source in China during a telephone conversation with Daily NK on October 13. “It’s risen to practically the cost of gold, so most people won’t consider buying it. Before the implementation of the sanctions, North Korean pollack was relatively cheap. Some Chinese merchants expanded their procurement at that point. They waited for the sanctions to go into effect so they could take advantage of the scarcity by selling at a higher price and increasing their profit margins,” the source said. A separate source in China close to North Korean affairs told Daily NK that some smugglers are freezing as much fish as they can get their hands on. They anticipate that the sanctions will loosen up in future, and are making the appropriate preparations.

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Xi Jinping’s leadership reshuffle revealed: meet the pair poised to become two of China’s most powerful men

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President Xi Jinping’s trusted ally Li Zhanshu stands a good chance of becoming chairman of China’s parliament while Communist Party organisation chief Zhao Leji is likely to head its corruption watchdog, sources have told the South China Morning Post. Li is widely expected to be elevated to the Politburo Standing Committee – the ruling party’s top echelon of power – on Wednesday, a day after the party’s 19th national congress closes in Beijing. Most observers had predicted he would succeed Wang Qishan as anti-corruption. “Li Zhanshu will succeed Zhang Dejiang”, a source familiar with the situation said, adding that Zhao would also be promoted into the Politburo Standing Committee and was likely to succeed Wang Qishan in leading anti- corruption work. The moves were confirmed separately by another source. Li was one of the key officials who accompanied Xi to Hong Kong in July for celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of its return to Chinese sovereignty. Professor Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said Xi had clearly spelled out political directions for Hong Kong during that visit. “Whoever takes over from Zhang Dejiang will only be an implementer”, he said. “I believe Xi will continue to watch over Hong Kong affairs. But given the strong ties between Xi and Li, if Li takes charge of Hong Kong affairs, he will understand the president’s thinking better than others”.

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France urges China and EU to unite to protect Paris climate deal

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China and the European Union should set aside differences on trade and strengthen cooperation on climate change to “act as a shield” to protect the landmark Paris climate accord, France’s environment minister said. In an interview, French Minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transition Nicolas Hulot also urged China to step up its efforts towards a greener economy and take a lead role alongside France to implement the international climate accord reached in the French capital two years ago and now under threat from the US’ withdrawal. “It is China and the EU that have taken the leadership role on climate issues and they have to continue to play the leadership role in the implementation of the Paris Agreement … And if they coordinate they will be able to cover much larger areas,” he said during a brief trip to Hong Kong on Monday. The EU and China failed to agree an official climate statement during a bilateral summit in June over a long-standing trade spat, underlining their tense relationship and casting a shadow over their commitments to fighting global warming together in the absence of the US. Hulot said France and China held their first senior official dialogue on the low-carbon economy in June and companies from both countries were teaming up on various projects related to energy efficiency, sustainable cities, the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, carbon markets and green financing. The minister said the US’ retreat from the Paris deal was not a catastrophe even though it dealt a heavy blow to the global effort on climate change and had caused difficulties for poor countries most vulnerable to global warming. In response to comments by senior White House officials who said the US might reconsider its stance on the Paris agreement if other countries agreed to accommodate Washington’s concerns over economic costs and energy security, Hulot said the Paris deal was not renegotiable.

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Why Spain is right to defend its democracy in face of Catalonia crisis

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According to the Dublin-based lawyer Isabel Foley there is the need to defend the Spanish constitution for several reasons. In her dissertation the Lawyer express her point of view through different points. Beginning with the recognition of the excessive violence of the police during the referendum, she recognizes also that this violence has been used by the separatists themselves to show a picture of Spain as an Authoritarian country. The second point of her dissertation regards the Constitution, defined as a “democratic document negotiated in 1978”, and in this part she explains the Constitution itself and that there is not a dictatorship in the Country. The article shows also, at point 3 and 4, two other main points. The first one regards the prohibition of secession, according to constitution, and the second one illustrates how the same Constitution of Spain gives a great autonomy to Catalonia and to its Parliament. The last two points emphasize how the Constitution can’t be “torn up by the illegal and seditious acts of a tiny minority of its people – a minority too of the people whom the Catalan separatists purport to represent.” and that the parties have to dialogue between each other, but, at the same time, the Central Government has the duty to protect the unity of Spain.

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Small quake registered in North Korea near nuclear test site

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The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a small earthquake in an area of North Korea where previous nuclear tests have been carried out. The USGS said the magnitude 2.9 quake occurred about 13 miles northeast of Sungjibaegam, North Korea. It added that the quake was recorded “in the area of the previous North Korean Nuclear tests”. The USGS noted, “The event has earthquake like characteristics, however, we cannot conclusively confirm at this time the nature (natural or human-made) of the event. The depth is poorly constrained and has been held to 5 km (3 miles) by the seismologist”. The USGS further added that the Air Force Technical Applications Center is the only organization in the federal government whose mission is to detect and report technical data from foreign nuclear explosions. Earlier last month, on September 23, a magnitude 3.4 earthquake was registered under Mt. Mantap, an area of North Korea where earthquakes do not normally occur. Later, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and UC Santa Cruz released a joint report that concluded that tunnels in the test site collapsed after the quake.

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North Korea claims it will not agree to nuclear deal

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In a statement issued on Russian state-run media, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said that as long as the United States keeps applying pressure, it won’t agree to any deal. He said that U.S. President Donald Trump has “lit the fuse of war” with his “belligerent and insane statement” at the United Nations General Assembly. Yong-ho add, that North Korea has “nearly achieved the final point on the way to our ultimate goal, to achieving a real balance of force with the United States. Our nuclear weapons will never be a subject matter of negotiations as long as the United States’ policy of pressure on the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] has not been uprooted once and for all”. The North Korean Foreign Minister emphasized that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s warning for the United States to “act sensibly and stop troubling us” if it does not want to face a strike by the regime, adding that the United States will not “go unpunished”. The report noted that Kim Jong Un is said to have emphasized at the 7th Congress of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party that nuclear weapons are necessary for “protecting the destiny and sovereignty of our motherland from American nuclear threats”. Yong-ho said that it is Washington’s “turn to pay” and that the North Korean military servicemen and people “insistently demand that final scores be settled with the Americans only with a hail of fire, and not with words. Russian President Vladimir Putin “also acknowledged that the North Koreans will never give up nuclear weapons, even if they eat the grass, and stressed that the sanctions and the military hysteria won’t bring anything good”. He further added that North Korea sees “no prospect for improving the inter-Korean relations” as long as Seoul continues to resort to sanctions and a pressure campaign in line with the United States

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