North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for tougher discipline within the army and appointed new chiefs of the navy and the air force as he chaired an enlarged meeting of the central military commission, state media reported on Thursday.

The gathering took place at the ruling party’s headquarters on Wednesday.

“The meeting referred to a series of shortcomings revealed in the military and political activities and moral life of KPA (Korean People’s Army) commanding officers, and mainly discussed the issue of thoroughly establishing the revolutionary moral discipline within the KPA,” the KCNA news agency reported.

Kim stated that discipline was vital to the very existence of the KPA, noting the need to boost “education and control” in order to ensure that commanding officers have the proper political consciousness and moral convictions.

The central military commission appointed Kim Song Gil as navy commander and promoted him to vice-admiral. Kim Chung Il was appointed as air and anti-air force chief and promoted to lieutenant general.

The news agency did not specify their previous positions, just calling them “comrades.” According to South Korean news outlets, these people are unknown to the media and can be considered “new faces.”

Several dozen commanding officers have also been promoted to lieutenant general and major general.

South Korean media stressed that the promotions were given to young commanders, not the “mature” military leadership, in what may be a “generational change” to get rid of corruption in the army and improve morale and discipline.

Media outlets also suggest that the reshuffle of the air force and navy command is related to the strengthening of border security after the 2020 incident when a South Korean fisheries official who accidentally swam into North Korea’s waters was shot dead by the military. (Sputnik/NAN)

President Joe Biden has revoked former President Donald Trump’s order that limited the number of new work visas for temporary foreign workers in the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The suspension of entry imposed in Proclamation 10014… does not advance the interests of the United States.

“To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here,” Biden said in the order provided by the White House on Wednesday.

In June 2020, Trump signed a proclamation that suspended certain categories of non-immigrant work visas as part of an effort to revive the U.S. economy amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The list includes H-1B visas for work in high-tech industries and a range of others for low-skill workers, interns, teachers, and company transfers. (Sputnik/NAN)

Facebook Inc on Wednesday pledged to invest at least 1 billion dollars in the news industry over the next three years, days after a high-profile stand-off with the Australian government over paying news outlets for content.

The social network’s commitment to the news industry follows Google’s 1 billion dollars investment in 2020, as technology giants come under scrutiny over their business model as well as the proliferation of misinformation on their platform.

Facebook on Tuesday restored Australian news pages, ending an unprecedented week-long blackout after wringing concessions from the government over a proposed law that will require tech giants to pay traditional media companies for their content.

The brief blackout shocked the global news industry, which has already seen its business model upended by the tech giants.

In a blog detailing its version of the showdown, Facebook said the news ban was related to a “fundamental misunderstanding” of the relationship between the company and news publishers.

It also acknowledged that some non-news content got inadvertently blocked when it banned all news content.

Facebook said on Wednesday it had already invested 600 million dollars in the news industry since 2018.

The social media company added it was in active negotiations with news publishers in Germany and France for a deal to pay for content for its news product, where users can find headlines and stories next to a personalised news feed. (Xinhua/NAN)

The  Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has postponed its eighth international seminar from June 2021 to June 2022 over the COVID-19 pandemic, OPEC said on Wednesday.

“The Seminar, originally scheduled for  June 16 to June 17  will now be held on  June 29 to June 30, 2022 at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, Austria,“ the press release read.

According to the statement, the postponement comes as travel restrictions remain in place in many countries and lockdown measures complicated the planning of major international events.

“Though this was not an easy decision to make, our utmost priority is the safety and health of all participants.

“We look forward to building on our past achievements and holding an even more successful Seminar again in 2022, “ OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said, as quoted in the press release.

The list of seminar participants regularly includes ministers of OPEC member states and those participating in the OPEC+ oil output cuts deal, heads of international organisations, chief executives of national, international oil companies, as well as other industry leaders, academics, analysts, energy experts and journalists. (Sputnik/NAN)

Italy has requested a detailed report from the United Nations (UN) and the World Food Programme (WFP) security protocols of a terrorist attack on its motorcade in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Unidentified militants had on Monday attacked the motorcade and killed the Italian ambassador to the country, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said in his address to the parliament on Wednesday.

The WFP motorcade was traveling in the DR Congo’s North Kivu province to visit a feeding program in a school in the town of Rutshuru, killing Italian Ambassador Luca Attanasio, Italian policeman Vittorio Iacovacci and the WFP driver Mustafa Milambo.

“I asked the WFP in Rome and the United Nations, directly Secretary-General (Anotino) Guterres, to provide a detailed report on the attack on the World Food Programme,” Di Maio said.

The foreign minister added that he instructed Italian diplomats to follow through on information gathering.

He explained that the Italian embassy in the DR Congo is equipped with two armored cars with which the ambassador had traveled for missions around the country, always accompanied by at least one Italian security officer.

The location he was going to on Monday, however, was about 1,500 miles away, therefore the ambassador and the security officer relied on the protocol of the UN and first traveled on a plane belonging to the UN Stabilisation Mission in the DR Congo and then were accompanied by a WFP convoy.

Di Maio added that on the day of the tragedy, he had a phone conversation with the DR Congo foreign minister, who assured him of full cooperation with the Italian judiciary and an intention to quickly investigate and bring those responsible to justice.

Investigations are also underway by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rome.

The bodies of the ambassador and the security officer have already been taken back to Rome where autopsies will be carried out on Wednesday.

Di Maio said a state funeral will be organised.

Two Malian soldiers were killed and seven others wounded in an ambush attack in central Mali, where jihadists are particularly active, the national military said on Wednesday.

“The act took place on the RN6 [main road between the capital of Bamako and the Sevare town in central Mali] about 32 km north-east of Sevare.

“The provisional assessment of FAMa (Armed Malian Forces) side is 02 dead and 07 wounded.

“The injured were evacuated to the Somino Dolo regional hospital in Sevare,” the armed forces tweeted.

Military reinforcements have been deployed to the scene of the attack, it added in a separate tweet.

Mali has been mired in a security crisis since the 2012 Islamist insurgency in the country’s north.

The Malian army, supported by the French military and the G5 Sahel bloc, of which Mali is a member, are regularly targeted by terrorists, as are humanitarian workers in the country. (Sputnik/NAN)

A Trump-appointed U.S. judge has granted Texas’ request for a preliminary injunction to block President Joe Biden’s 100-day pause on deporting illegal immigrants, a ruling shows.

U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton granted the request in Tuesday’s ruling, as posted by Washington Post reporter Maria Sacchetti on Twitter.

“The State of Texas moves for a preliminary injunction to enjoin the United States (the ‘Government’) from executing a 100-day pause on the removal of aliens already subject to a final Order of Removal,” Tipton said.

In late January, Tipton granted a temporary restraining order sought by Texas to block Biden’s freeze on deportations of illegal immigrants, arguing that the move violates the law.

The temporary restraining order was later extended for 14 days until Feb. 23. (Sputnik/NAN)

Tuition
The UK government says it will allot a £700 million ($991 million) package to an education recovery plan aimed at helping children catch up with learning and development missed during the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced this on Wednesday via a statement..

“When schools re-open and face to face education resumes on 8 March, our next priority will be ensuring no child is left behind as a result of the learning they have lost over the past year,” Johnson said.

The catch-up will focus on an expansion of one-to-one and small group tutoring programs and include asking secondary schools to make provisions for running summer classes for those pupils who need them the most.

“Our package of measures will deliver vital support to the children and young people who need it most, making sure everyone has the same opportunity to fulfill their potential no matter their background,” Education Secretary Gavin Williamson was also quoted as saying.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, schools have been closed for the most part of the past 12 months except for vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers.

On Monday, Johnson announced the roadmap out of the COVID-19 lockdown in England and stressed that getting children back in has been the government‘s top priority. (Sputnik/NAN)

Warning
EU border protection agency Frontex’s investigation into pushback allegations is not progressing quickly enough for European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson.

“I’m a bit concerned why this is taking so much time to clarify,” the Swedish EU official told dpa on Wednesday, saying “It’s a bit strange.’’

There are a number of deficiencies in the agency’s workings, such as in its recruitment of new employees or its internal notification procedure for potential breaches of fundamental rights, she said.

These shortcomings had to be addressed immediately, and that is the responsibility of the agency’s executive director, Fabrice Leggeri, Johansson said.

“He has to show that he has his house in order,’’ she stressed.

The agency has been in hot water after a recent investigation by several media outlets showed that Frontex had been involved in multiple pushback incidents.

Pushing migrants back to their ports of origin or into international waters is illegal under international and EU law.

Several EU bodies are investigating the allegations.

On Tuesday, a European Parliament working group began investigating possible violations of fundamental rights.

Leggeri himself sees no misconduct on the part of his agency.

An internal Frontex working group already investigated 13 cases of alleged pushbacks on behalf of the management board.

According to the January report, no Frontex misconduct was found in eight cases, though five others are to be investigated further.

The final report is due by Friday. (dpa/NAN)