News in Brief
SEOUL (Reuters) -- North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho has been replaced, Seoul-based NK News reported on Saturday. Ri’s replacement has not been identified but Pyongyang is set to reveal his successor about next Thursday, the report said, citing unnamed sources. South Korea’s unification ministry, which is in charge of North Korea affairs, has said that any change in Ri’s status should be assessed cautiously. Born in 1956, Ri is the son of Ri Myong Je, former deputy director of the Organization and Guidance Department (OGD), a body within the ruling Workers’ Party that oversees the appointment of management positions within the state, according to the South Korean unification ministry. His father was also an editor at the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state media body that publishes Pyongyang’s propaganda statements. A fluent English speaker who studied at Pyongyang’s prestigious University of Foreign Languages, Ri has for years held a number of high-level posts dealing with the West.
***
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- Four Los Angeles-area schoolteachers who were doused with jet fuel dumped by a Delta Air Lines plane in the minutes before it made an emergency landing sued the airline on Friday, accusing the flight crew of negligence. The plaintiffs say the pilot of the Delta Flight 89, which took off from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Tuesday bound for Shanghai, failed to follow proper procedures in dumping thousands of pounds of fuel over a densely populated area at relatively low altitude. A Delta spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and seeks unspecified damages. Dozens of children and teachers at Park Avenue Elementary School in suburban Cudahy were showered with jet fuel released by the plane as it circled back toward LAX minutes after reporting an engine problem following takeoff.
***
LONDON (AP) — The British government has announced plans for special events on the night of Jan. 31 when the country officially leaves the European Union but the country’s treasury chief has admitted that some UK business sectors will suffer as a result. Sajid Javid told the Financial Times in an interview Saturday that Britain’s regulations will not be aligned with the EU in the future and that those changes may hurt some businesses. Currently the EU is Britain’s largest trading partner. "There will not be alignment, we will not be a rule-taker, we will not be in the single market and we will not be in the customs union — and we will do this by the end of the year,” he said, referring to a deadline at the end of 2020 for conclusion of what are expected to be contentious trade talks with the then-27 member EU. Britain will officially leave the EU bloc on the night of Jan. 31, even though it will keep following EU rules for an 11-month transition period. It will be the first nation ever to leave the bloc. The British government plans to mark the occasion with a series of upbeat events.
***
TUNIS (MEE) -- A Tunisian MP and former presidential candidate has been urged to resign after referring to Tunisians with dual citizenship as "bastards” and "scum,” and for advocating that dual nationals be ejected from parliament. Safi Said, an independent MP, made the remarks during a vote of confidence in the government of Prime Minister Habib Jemli on January 10. While they failed to register in the busy chamber, his comments quickly drew scorn on social media, with the veteran MP coming under fire from both his parliamentary peers and notable academics. Former MP Karima Souid, who holds both French and Tunisian nationality, accused Said of "promoting divide and estrangement”. Sociologist Vincent Geisser described Safi Said’s comments as "gross” and said that dual nationals had played a "key role” in upholding Tunisia’s image abroad.
***
BEIJING (AFP) -- The true scale of the outbreak of a mysterious SARS-like virus in China is likely far bigger than officially reported, scientists have warned, as countries ramp up measures to prevent the disease from spreading. Fears that the virus will spread are growing ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of Chinese move around the country and many others host or visit extended family members living overseas. Authorities in China say two people have died and at least 45 have been infected, with the outbreak centered around a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan, a city of 11 million inhabitants that serves as a major transport hub. But a paper published Friday by scientists with the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College in London said the number of cases in the city was likely closer to 1,700. The researchers said their estimate was largely based on the fact that cases had been reported overseas –- two in Thailand and one in Japan.
***
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- Four Los Angeles-area schoolteachers who were doused with jet fuel dumped by a Delta Air Lines plane in the minutes before it made an emergency landing sued the airline on Friday, accusing the flight crew of negligence. The plaintiffs say the pilot of the Delta Flight 89, which took off from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Tuesday bound for Shanghai, failed to follow proper procedures in dumping thousands of pounds of fuel over a densely populated area at relatively low altitude. A Delta spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and seeks unspecified damages. Dozens of children and teachers at Park Avenue Elementary School in suburban Cudahy were showered with jet fuel released by the plane as it circled back toward LAX minutes after reporting an engine problem following takeoff.
***
LONDON (AP) — The British government has announced plans for special events on the night of Jan. 31 when the country officially leaves the European Union but the country’s treasury chief has admitted that some UK business sectors will suffer as a result. Sajid Javid told the Financial Times in an interview Saturday that Britain’s regulations will not be aligned with the EU in the future and that those changes may hurt some businesses. Currently the EU is Britain’s largest trading partner. "There will not be alignment, we will not be a rule-taker, we will not be in the single market and we will not be in the customs union — and we will do this by the end of the year,” he said, referring to a deadline at the end of 2020 for conclusion of what are expected to be contentious trade talks with the then-27 member EU. Britain will officially leave the EU bloc on the night of Jan. 31, even though it will keep following EU rules for an 11-month transition period. It will be the first nation ever to leave the bloc. The British government plans to mark the occasion with a series of upbeat events.
***
TUNIS (MEE) -- A Tunisian MP and former presidential candidate has been urged to resign after referring to Tunisians with dual citizenship as "bastards” and "scum,” and for advocating that dual nationals be ejected from parliament. Safi Said, an independent MP, made the remarks during a vote of confidence in the government of Prime Minister Habib Jemli on January 10. While they failed to register in the busy chamber, his comments quickly drew scorn on social media, with the veteran MP coming under fire from both his parliamentary peers and notable academics. Former MP Karima Souid, who holds both French and Tunisian nationality, accused Said of "promoting divide and estrangement”. Sociologist Vincent Geisser described Safi Said’s comments as "gross” and said that dual nationals had played a "key role” in upholding Tunisia’s image abroad.
***
BEIJING (AFP) -- The true scale of the outbreak of a mysterious SARS-like virus in China is likely far bigger than officially reported, scientists have warned, as countries ramp up measures to prevent the disease from spreading. Fears that the virus will spread are growing ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, when hundreds of millions of Chinese move around the country and many others host or visit extended family members living overseas. Authorities in China say two people have died and at least 45 have been infected, with the outbreak centered around a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan, a city of 11 million inhabitants that serves as a major transport hub. But a paper published Friday by scientists with the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College in London said the number of cases in the city was likely closer to 1,700. The researchers said their estimate was largely based on the fact that cases had been reported overseas –- two in Thailand and one in Japan.