No long-range missiles, North Korea military parade features floats and flowers
PYONGYANG (Reuters) – With no long-range missiles on display, North Korea staged a military parade on Sunday focused on peace and economic development, filled with colored balloons and flowers to mark the 70th anniversary of the country’s founding.
A sea of spectators watched the parade as tens of thousands goose-stepping soldiers and columns of tanks drove past a review stand where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took the salute.
Unlike in previous years, there were no inter-continental missiles on display. And there were no nuclear tests to mark the day, as has happened in each of the last two years.
North Korea routinely uses major holidays to showcase its military capabilities and the latest developments in missile technology.
But that has been dropped this year, underlining Kim’s stated aim for denuclearizing the Korean peninsula and his recent meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and summits with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis told newly ordained bishops Saturday that they must reject all forms of abuse and work in communion to fight the clerical culture that has fueled the sex abuse and cover-up scandal rocking his papacy.
Francis cited his recent letter about combatting abuse during an audience with 74 new bishops from 34 developing countries. The bishops were in Rome for training this week.
Their seminar took place during a crisis for the pope: A lone archbishop has alleged Francis covered up for a now-former US cardinal who was accused of sexually molesting children and adult seminarians.
Francis has ignored calls from clergy and ordinary faithful to respond directly to the claims, saying there were times when “silence and prayer” were the best response.
However, the pontiff spoke in a general way about the Catholic Church’s abuse scandal to the new bishops.
ATLANTA (AP) — The US East Coast could be hit with a powerful hurricane next week as Tropical Storm Florence continues to strengthen as it moves toward the mainland, forecasters said Saturday.
Florence is expected to become a major hurricane by Monday, the National Hurricane Center said, adding that “a rapid intensification” is forecast to begin Sunday.
The storm is forecast to become a “major hurricane” Monday, travel between Bermuda and the Bahamas on Tuesday and Wednesday before approaching the southeastern US coast on Thursday, the Miami-based weather center said.
Officials in the Carolinas warned residents to prepare and to brace for
The theme for the celebrations this year was unifying the Korean peninsula, divided since the 1950-53 Korean War. Floats on unification passed by a throng of North Koreans waving unified Korea flags.
“All Koreans should join forces to accomplish Many of them hail from dioceses where mishandled clerical abuse cases haven’t erupted publicly like it has in the United States, Europe and parts of Latin America.
“Just say no to abuse — of power, conscience or any type,” Francis said, adding that to do so the bishops must reject the clerical culture that often places clergy on a pedestal and which Francis himself has blamed for fueling the scandal.
Francis also told the new bishops they are there to serve their flocks, and must work in communion with the church, not as lone actors.
“The bishop can’t have all the gifts — the complete set of charisms — even though some think they do, poor things,” Francis said. The church, he said, needs unity of bishops “not lone actors working outside the impact.
Governors in both South Carolina and Virginia declared a state of emergency Saturday to give their states time to prepare for the possible arrival of the storm. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster emphasized that there’s no way to know yet when and where the storm will hit land, or when evacuations might be called.
On Friday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency and urged residents to use the weekend to prepare for the possibility of a natural disaster.
“We are entering the peak of hurricane season and we know well the unpredictability and power of these storms,” Cooper said. unification in our generation. Unification is the only way Koreans can survive,” said an editorial in North Korea’s party newspaper Rodong Sinmun.
Kim and Moon will meet in Pyongyang on Sept. 18-20 for the third time this year and discuss “practical measures” chorus, conducting their own personal battles.”
It was perhaps an indirect swipe at Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who broke with centuries of Vatican protocol and pontifical secret to name names and denounce two decades of cover-up by top Vatican bishops, cardinals and popes of the misconduct by ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The US Navy is making preparations this weekend for its ships in the Hampton towards denuclearization, officials in Seoul have said.
Kim was seen laughing and holding hands up with a Chinese special envoy as he oversaw the festivities at Pyongyang’s main Kim Il Sung square on a clear autumn day. Kim waved to the crowd before leaving but did not make any public remarks.
North Korea has invited a large group of foreign journalists to cover a military parade and other events to mark the 70th anniversary of its founding.
That includes iconic mass games that Pyongyang is organizing for the first time in five years, a huge, nationalist pageant performed by up to 100,000 people in one of the world’s largest stadiums.
Earlier on Sunday, Kim visited the mausoleum where his grandfather, the country’s founder, and his father lie in state, according to state media.
A concert on Saturday night attended by the titular head of state, Kim Yong Nam, and foreign delegations featured little in the way of martial messaging or images, with only a few shadowy American bombers shown briefly in footage of the 1950-1953 Korean War. Roads area to leave port. The US Fleet Forces Command said in a news release Saturday that the ships will get ready in anticipation of getting under way Monday to avoid storm damage.
Adm. Christopher Grady said in a statement that the decision was based on Florence’s current track, which indicates the area could see strong sustained winds and storm surges.