Closing the consulate
Employees remove the U.S. flag from outside the American consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Saturday. Russia ordered the consulate closed in its tit-for-tat diplomatic war with Western countries over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent in Great Britain. In Washington, Russian diplomats and their families likewise climbed aboard buses and left their embassy there as part of the U.S. punishment of the Russians, who the West blames for the poisoning.
Security Council slaps more sanctions on North Korea
The United Nations Security Council announced new measures against North Korea, blacklisting 27 ships, 21 shipping companies and one individual accused of helping the North evade previous sanctions.
The move increases pressure on the North ahead of planned summit meetings between its leader, Kim Jong Un, and the presidents of South Korea and the United States.
The oil tankers and cargo ships on the list, announced Friday, were banned from ports worldwide or would have their assets frozen, and the shipping companies will face an asset freeze. Most of those named also had been blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury last month.
Soldier from Texas was killed by IED in Syria
The American service member killed last week by a roadside bomb in northern Syria was a 36-year-old Army soldier from Texas, the Defense Department said Saturday.
Master Sgt. Johnathan J. Dunbar, of Austin, died Friday as a result of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol in Manbij, Syria, not far from the border with Turkey. A Briton also was killed and five other people wounded in Thursday’s bombing.
Dunbar was assigned to the headquarters of U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He joined the Army in 2005 and had
deployed three times to Afghanistan and Iraq. He was given three Bronze Stars.
The “headquarters” designation for soldiers assigned to the command has been linked to the Army’s secretive Delta Force counterterrorism unit.
Judge: Pregnant immigrant teens have right to abortion
A federal court in Washington has told the Trump administration that the government can’t interfere with the ability of pregnant immigrant teens being held in federal custody to obtain abortions.
Judge Tanya Chutkan issued the order late Friday. It temporarily bars the government from “interfering with or obstructing”
Putin spokesman denigrates Weinstein’s accusers
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says the sexual harassment complaints against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein were made by actresses who were effectively “prostitutes.”
Dmitry Peskov said “they earned hundreds of millions of dollars, and after 10 years they say that Weinstein is bad,” according to Russian news reports. He said “none of them went to the police, did not say ‘Weinstein raped me.’ No! (they) wanted to earn $10 million.”
He went on to say “What’s the name of a woman who slept with a man for $10 million? Maybe, I’m speaking crudely, she’s called a prostitute.”
The comments came Thursday while Peskov was speaking about female journalists’ claims of harassment against Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the foreign relations committee in Russia’s lower house of parliament.