North Korea increasing executions of top political officers amid sanctions strain, US general says

January 30, 2018 WORLD No Comments

North Korea is stepping up its execution of top political officers to prevent the regime from deteriorating under immense pressure caused by international sanctions, a U.S. general said after recent reports suggested that a key member of Kim Jong Un’s inner circle was reported executed by death squad.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the top U.S. commander in South Korea, said the political figures Kim Jong Un is ordering killed have been accused of corruption.

“We’re seeing some increase in executions, mostly against political officers who are in military units, for corruption,” Brooks said. “[The executions] are really about trying to clamp down as much as possible on something that might be deteriorating and keeping it from deteriorating too quickly.”

KIM JONG UN'S TOP AIDE EXECUTED BY NORTH KOREAN DEATH SQUAD, REPORTS SUGGEST

The general’s comments come after rumors swirled that Hwang Pyong-so, a vice marshal who held the most senior position in North Korea’s military, was reportedly expelled and “punished” for “impure attitude.” Hwang hasn’t been seen in public since Oct. 13. South Korea’s spy agency first reported in mid-March the top aide and his deputy, Kim Won-hong, were killed out of Kim’s circle, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Kim Won-hong was reportedly sentenced to one of North Korea’s prison camps. As for Hwang, many of Kim Jong Un’s recent actions indicate the man whom the dictator has trusted for about a decade was executed -- possibly by the infamous firing squad that also killed Kim’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek.

KIM JONG UN'S EX, NORTH KOREA'S GIRL BAND LEADER APPEARS AT OLYMPIC MEETING DESPITE GRUESOME EXECUTION RUMORS

Brooks also told the Wall Street Journal that North Koreans are defecting via routes that were rare before, such as crossing the Demilitarized Zone. At least two North Korean soldiers have defected through the Joint Security Area in in less than a year — an event that was rarely seen in previous years.

The mounting international sanctions against North Korea since its sixth nuclear test in September have reportedly caused strain in North Korea. The regime’s military scaled back its annual winter military exercises this year. However, the analysts said the scale back doesn’t indicate North Korea’s military capabilities have diminished. 

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How to enter Setup Utility or the Boot Menu on my system How to access my system BIOS

January 30, 2018 TECHNOLOGY No Comments

Affected Configurations

The above symptom is associated with, but not limited to, the following systems:

• IdeaPad

Affected systems:

• IdeaPad 100

Applies to

• Microsoft Windows 8.1

Solution

While powered-off, press Novo button to select the device you want the computer starts from.
You should be able to locate the button on the computer left-side.

Press the Novo button and then select BIOS Setup.

 

The F1 or F2 prompt on startup only appears from a true cold boot.  The user can force the system to do a true shutdown by accessing the Windows Start Screen, clicking on Power Options, then pressing and holding the Shift key while selecting Shut down.

Lenovo-branded products:

1. Press the power button.
2. Immediately press Fn + F2 to access the BIOS

It is also possible to access these features from within Windows 8.1.

To enter Setup Utility:

1. Open the Charm Bar by pressing Windows Key + C
2. Click on Settings
3. Click on Change PC Settings
4. Click on Update and Recovery
   
5. Click on Recovery
6. Click on Advanced Startup > Restart Now
   
7. Click on Troubleshoot
   
8. Click on Advanced Options
   
9. Click on UEFI Firmware Settings
   
10. Click on Restart

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Military defeat of ISIS can be 'measured in weeks,' top US general says

January 29, 2018 WORLD No Comments

The military defeat of ISIS could be just 'weeks' away, a top U.S. military official said Monday -- a stunning development given the terror group once boasted the infrastructure to control an expanse of territory in Syria and Iraq where 10 million people lived.

U.S. Central Command General Joseph Votel made the comment during a speech to Jordan’s National Defense School on Monday, according to a tweet posted by Defense One.

“The timeline for the military defeat of ISIS can now be measured in weeks,” Votel said, though he cautioned there is still “very tough fighting” going on in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.

As Fox News reported, the terrorist group has lost 98 percent of the land it once held -- with half of ISIS' so-called “caliphate” having been recaptured since President Trump took office.

The gains that led to Votel's rosy assessment came after changes in the rules of engagement, instituted over the last year.

A U.S. Air Force F-16 fuels up before a mission to support Operation Inherent Resolve over Iraq and Syria air space.  (Reuters)

“The rules of engagement under the Obama administration were onerous. I mean what are we doing having individual target determination being conducted in the White House, which in some cases adds weeks and weeks,” retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the former head of U.S. Air Force intelligence, told Fox News. “The limitations that were put on actually resulted in greater civilian casualties.”

What comes after ISIS has been wiped out is another story, and whether a wide-ranging Syria peace deal can happen soon in Geneva is no sure thing. Votel noted some of the country’s woes predate ISIS’s reign of terror.

“I think we are probably a ways away from this,” Votel said at the event in Jordan. “As we defeat ISIS, many of the underlying tensions that have always existed in Syria are coming back to the forefront...makes pursuit of political solution not impossible but...complicated.”

Although ISIS has been mostly defeated in Iraq and Syria, it continues to harness the power of social media to call on followers around the world to conduct terror attacks in its name against U.S. and Western targets.

American officials have warned previously that a complete defeat of ISIS worldwide won’t happen anytime soon.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report. 

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FA Cup: Iheanacho breaks Nigerian’s scoring record [See Top Ten]

January 29, 2018 SPORTS No Comments

Leicester City striker, Kelechi Iheanacho has broken former Nigeria international, Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s goal record in the FA Cup.

Iheanacho scored twice in Leicester City’s 5-1 thrashing of Peterborough on Saturday.

In doing so, the 21-year-old broke a record previously held by Aiyegbeni, as he took his tally in the prestigious competition to 9 goals in 9 appearances.

Aiyegbeni notched 8 goals in 20 appearances in the FA Cup wearing the jerseys of Reading, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth.

While it took the retired Nigeria international ten years to score eight goals in the FA Cup, Iheanacho became Nigeria’s leading scorer in the FA Cup after only two years.

Below are Nigeria’s top ten scorers in the FA Cup:

1. Kelechi Iheanacho – 9 goals, 9 matches

2. Yakubu Aiyegbeni – 8 goals, 20 matches

3. Victor Moses – 6 goals, 29 matches

4. Nwankwo Kanu – 6 goals, 24 matches

5. Victor Anichebe – 4 goals, 21 matches

6. Danny Shittu- 4 goals, 12 matches

7. Emmanuel Emenike – 4 goals, 6 matches

8) Kayode Odejayi – 3 goals, 26 matches

9. Obi Mikel – 3 goals, 32 matches

10. Victor Obinna, 3 goals, 3 matches

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BBNAIJA: Meet 20 housemates for 2018

January 29, 2018 ENTERTAINMENT No Comments

The #BigBrotherNaija 2018 kicked off Sunday night with twenty housemates battling for the winning prize of N45 million as announced earlier by the organiser, M-Net West Africa

The housemates numbering would be staying at the Big Brother House for the next eleven weeks to entertain TV viewers across Africa and beyond.

At the launch, Popular media personality, and host of the show, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu ushered the housemates into the#BigBrotherNaija house with the edition themed: “Double Wahala.”‎

Ebuka, will also be announcing the evictees week after week till the show ends.

Here are the housemates that will make you stay glued to your TV screen all through the 11 weeks:

1. Vanessa Williams AKA Vandora, Edo State

2. Nina Chinonso, 21.

3.Kelvin Burle aka K-Brule , 23

4. Teddy A, 29

5.Adedayo adewunmi, AKA Dee, Comedian

6.Alexandria, AKA 22

7.Princess Onyejekwe, 25

8. Miracle Igbekwe, 20, Pilot and model

9. Ahneeka, 25 years old, TV presenter

10. BamBam born in lagos, 28 years old, freelancer in acting and singing

11. Ricco Swavey, 25

12. Bitto Brian, 26

13. Ifu Ennanda, Actress, Business broker

14. Leo, 25 years old, calls himself corporate hustler with a retail company

15. Khloe aka KokobyKhloe 24 years old, a fashion designer

16. Angel is 31 years old, filmmaker.

17. Anto.

18. Tobi.

18. Cee-c.

20. Omololu Adetokunbo AKA Lolu.

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BBNaija: Big Brother announces change in eviction process

January 29, 2018 ENTERTAINMENT No Comments

The management of Big brother has announced a change in the weekly eviction process.

The housemates of BBNaija third edition will be divided into peers on Wednesday.

According to the host of the reality show, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, each housemate will be evicted with their peers and saved likewise.

Ebuka announced this on Sunday at the premiere show.

The #BigBrotherNaija 2018 tagged Double Wahala kicked off Sunday nnight with twenty housemates battling for the winning prize of N45 million as announced earlier by the organiser, M-Net West Africa‎.

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BBNaija: Six housemates asked to vacate

January 29, 2018 ENTERTAINMENT No Comments

Six housemates of Big Brother Naija 3 have been asked to vacate the house.

While housemates were eating, Big brother announced that the housemates who picked numbers without a bed space should pack their bags.

It seems the first eviction in the Big Brother Naija 3 ‘Double Wahala’ has began.

The development has already set the house in disarray.

However, the six housemates were taken to a different room, away from the other housemates and asked to wait for further instructions.

The #BigBrotherNaija 2018 tagged Double Wahala kicked off Sunday night with twenty housemates battling for the winning prize of N45 million

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Vegas mogul Steve Wynn accused of forcing manicurist to have sex with him, decades of sexual misconduct

January 26, 2018 WORLD No Comments

Steve Wynn, Chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 3, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake - RC17C03E8160

Las Vegas business mogul Steve Wynn is being accused of sexual harassment and assault by several former employees at his Wynn properties.

In a detailed reported in the Wall Street Journal, more than 150 people spoke about the 74-year-old business man and dozens accused Wynn of being sexually inappropriate. 

The most egregious of the allegations comes from a manicurist who claims Wynn forced her to have sex with him in 2005. According to her account, after giving Wynn a manicure, she said he pressured her to remove her clothes and to lie down on a massage table in his private suite. The manicurist said she told Wynn that she was married and didn’t want to have sex, but she did as she was told. 

After the encounter, the women filed a detailed report with the hotel’s supervisor and the casino mogul later settled a lawsuit over the incident, reportedly paying the woman $7.5 million dollars.

Wynn denied that he has been sexually inappropriate. 

“The idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous," he told The Journal. “We find ourselves in a world where people can make allegations, regardless of the truth, and a person is left with the choice of weathering insulting publicity or engaging in multi-year lawsuits. It is deplorable for anyone to find themselves in this situation.”

But a former massage therapist, who worked at the Wynn Las Vegas years ago, said that the hotel owner would book multiple private message appointments with her in his office suite, where he would intentionally adjust his towel to expose himself. During one appointment Wynn reportedly told her of the towel “just get this thing off of me.”

During another session with Wynn, the former employee said she was instructed her to massage his penis to climax. The woman said she felt obligated to do so because he was her boss. She said at the end of each hour-long massage session, she was paid $1,000 in cash – the same rate she had always been paid for the massages.

According to the Journal, some former employees admitted that they would enter fake appointments in their books to help other workers avoid Wynn’s inappropriate requests. 

“Everybody was petrified,” said Jorgen Nielsen, a former artistic director at one of the hotel salon.

Nielsen explained that he, along with others, tried to report Wynn’s behaviors to high-level company executives, but “nobody was there to help us.”

The Journal reported many of the people the newspaper interviewed were nervous when speaking about Wynn's behavior for the fear of potentially damaging future job opportunities in Vegas.  

Currently, Wynn is engaged in a messy split from his wife, Elaine Wynn, a co-founder of Wynn Resorts and ex-board member.

Elaine Wynn is currently involved in a messy split from Steve Wynn.  (Reuters)

She has claimed her husband “recklessly exposed the company and other directors to liability” while making the settlement with the manicurist back in 2005 and not notifying the board.

According to the Journal, Wynn’s wife said she discovered the settlement in 2009.

Wynn blamed his ex for the influx of allegations stating, “the instigation of these accusations is the continued work of my ex-wife Elaine Wynn, with whom I am involved in a terrible and nasty lawsuit in which she is seeking a revised divorce settlement.” 

In addition to building the luxury Wynn and Encore resorts on the strip, Wynn also built the Mirage, Treasure Island, and the Bellagio.

Wynn is also someone President Trump has called "great friend" and following the election Wynn was named the Republican National Committee’s finance chairman.

You can find Morgan M. Evans on Twitter @themizfactor.

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Argentina police raid naval base in missing submarine case

January 26, 2018 WORLD No Comments

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina –  Federal police officers have raided naval bases and other buildings in Argentina as part of an investigation into the disappearance of a submarine with 44 crewmembers.

Friday's raids were ordered by Federal Judge Marta Yanez.

She tells local TN television that she wants to review documents focused on the condition of the vessel before it began its journey. She also says that she wants to look into possible faults in the midlife refit of the submarine.

A blast occurred near the time and place where the ARA San Juan went missing Nov. 15. Argentina gave up hope of finding survivors, but the navy has continued searching for the vessel.

The sub was commissioned in the mid-80's and was most recently refitted between 2008 and 2014.

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Grim reminders of a war in Vietnam, a generation later

January 26, 2018 WORLD No Comments

HANOI, Vietnam –  It's been over for 40-plus years, the war that Americans simply call Vietnam but the Vietnamese refer to as their Resistance War Against America.

Yet it lingers in so many ways, as was apparent this week when Defense Secretary Jim Mattis dropped in for a couple of days of defense diplomacy with a former enemy. Although he never served in Vietnam and had not previously visited the country, Mattis has said he learned from a lot of Marines who did.

In his meeting with Vietnamese government leaders, Mattis' focus was on a peaceful future. Not the bloody past.

Still, the legacy of the conflict that divided America and ultimately unified Vietnam confronted Mattis almost immediately after his arrival on Wednesday as he visited a U.S. office that oversees the search for remains of American servicemen still missing from the war.

More than 1,200 Americans are unaccounted for in Vietnam and 350 more are missing in Laos, Cambodia and China, according to the Pentagon's POW-MIA Accounting Agency. That accounting effort, decades in the making and dependent on cooperation from Hanoi, is likely to continue for decades.

Later, while talking to his Vietnamese counterpart, Mattis was presented with photo identification cards of two U.S. servicemen from the war. Details weren't made public.

More than 58,000 U.S. service members were killed in the war, including more than 1,200 in Cambodia and Laos.

Estimates of the number of Vietnamese killed vary widely, from about 2 million to nearly twice that. For the Vietnamese, the war was a continuation of their fight for independence from French colonial masters. And it was quickly followed by a border war with China in 1979. The country reunified and remains communist, although it has opened up to foreign investment. Hanoi is a bustling, vibrant capital city.

Among Vietnam's other reminders of the war: environmental damage and unexploded mines. Vietnamese still suffer from the effects of herbicides, including Agent Orange, sprayed by U.S. forces to defoliate the countryside.

"We're still remediating the effects of the war," Mattis told reporters Thursday as he flew out of the country. The U.S. government has helped clean up contamination from bases American forces used before completing their withdrawal in 1975. Last year the U.S. and Vietnam finished the first phase of dioxin cleanup at Danang airport.

Remarkably, given this history, Vietnam indicated during Mattis's visit that it may permit a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to make a port visit in March — something that has never happened in the postwar period.

Just down the street from the hotel where Mattis stayed is Hoa Lo prison, known to the Americans who spent part of the war there as the Hanoi Hilton. Inside are dark reminders of the suffering, the sacrifice and the shackles — not just of the Americans held there but also Vietnamese imprisoned in earlier decades by the French.

One of those American prisoners was John McCain, shot down on a bombing mission over Hanoi in 1967, before the U.S. anti-war movement was in full swing. Along the lake from which a badly injured McCain was recovered by his captors stands a concrete marker depicting the captured pilot and noting that his Navy plane was one of several shot down that day.

Mattis' motorcade drove by the McCain marker as the Pentagon boss made his way to a lakeside pagoda to show his respect for Vietnamese culture. He told the monk there that he enjoyed the serene setting.

"Beautiful. Peaceful. It makes you think more deeply," Mattis said.

By coincidence, Mattis' visit came just days before the Vietnamese marked the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive. That series of assaults by the North Vietnamese was timed to coincide with Tet, the Lunar New Year holiday, on Jan. 31, 1968. Militarily it was a failure, but the offensive marked a turning point in the war because it punctured American hopes of certain and swift victory. After Tet, the U.S. began to focus less on how to win and more on how to get out.

Even with past hostilities in mind, Mattis said his visit made clear that Americans and Vietnamese have shared interests that in some cases predate the Vietnam War.

"Neither of us liked being colonized," he said.

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4 Spanish tourists assaulted in Senegal, police say

January 26, 2018 WORLD No Comments

DAKAR, Senegal –  Authorities say several Spanish tourists were sexually assaulted and robbed while vacationing in southern Senegal's restive Casamance region.

State media reported Friday that the assailants raped women in the group, citing a police official. The armed men also made off with thousands of euros in cash.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry says its consulate in Dakar is in contact with the four Spaniards.

Charles Dia Thiam, the commander of the gendarmerie in Ziguinchor, said the attack was under investigation and declined to elaborate on the case.

Casamance was once a top tourist destination in peaceful Senegal, though sporadic violence by separatist rebels has dramatically hurt business over the past two decades.

Earlier this year, a group of 14 people were gunned down while searching for firewood in the region.

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South Korea hospital blaze kills dozens, first responders faced with wall of smoke

January 26, 2018 WORLD No Comments

Firefighters work as smoke billows from a hospital in Miryang, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 26, 2018.  (Kim Dong-mi/Yonhap via AP)

Eyewitness accounts of the fire that engulfed a South Korean hospital and nursing home early Friday—which killed at least 37 people and injured more than 100 others—revealed the chaos of rescue efforts as firefighters fought against the spreading smoke and flames.

The fire started on the first floor of Sejong Hospital’s emergency room and by the time firefighters arrived the whole first floor had been engulfed, forcing them to rescue the trapped patients through the second-story windows, said Choi Man-wu, a fire official in the city of Miryang.

Videos posted on social media showed patients going through extreme lengths to escape the blaze, with one patient gripping a rope that dangled from a helicopter, and another crawling out of a window and down a ladder, the Bangkok Post reported.

Fire at a South Korean hospital left dozens dead.  (AP)

Local TV networks showed video of heavy black smoke rising out of the hospital and engulfing its entire structure.

“There was so much smoke that it was hard for people to approach (the building),” a bystander told a local TV station. “Even from 10 meters away, it was frightening.”

The Korea Herald reported reactions to the incident from social media.

The 37 dead were from the hospital’s general ward, while the 94 elderly patients being cared for in the nursing ward were safely evacuated, with some being carried out on the backs of firefighters, Choi said.

Most of the deaths appeared to be due to suffocation, with only one suffering burns, said an official at the National Fire Agency. Officials were working on identifying the dead, he said.

"There was so much smoke that it was hard for people to approach (the building),” a bystander told a local TV station.  (AP)

A hospital official said three medical staff members died: an on-duty emergency room doctor, a nurse and a nurse assistant.

The fire was extinguished before it could reach the third floor. The cause of the fire wasn’t immediately known.

In a televised briefing Friday afternoon, the head of the foundation that operates the hospital, Son Kyung-cheol said the hospital did not have sprinklers installed as it was not legally required.

Most of the deaths appeared to be due to suffocation, with only one suffering burns, said an official at the National Fire Agency.  (AP)

President Moon Jae-in called an emergency meeting with his senior advisers and expressed regret over the blaze. He ordered officials to investigate the exact cause of the fire and work out measures to prevent future fires, according to his spokesman Park Su-hyun.

The incident at Sejong Hospital was the most recent in a string of deadly fires, calling into question the country’s safety measures.

In late December, 29 people were killed in a building fire in central Seoul, which was the country's deadliest blaze over the past decade before the hospital fire. Last weekend, a fire at a Seoul motel killed six people, and police arrested a man who allegedly set it ablaze in anger because he had been denied a room for being heavily drunk.

In 2014, a fire set by an 81-year-old dementia patient killed 21 at another hospital for the elderly.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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