DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

“They are using food as a weapon,” a senior aid official told CNN. “No official travel authorization has been granted to humanitarian partners to implement activities outside of Sittwe township since November 2023,” a senior aid official told CNN. The UN aid officials made clear in their meetings, which have not been previously reported, that the status quo is unacceptable, the sources said. A World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Maungdaw was looted and burned in June, depriving that community of urgently needed food aid. A senior UN aid official in Myanmar blamed the funding shortfall in part on international apathy.

Persons: CNN — Khin Mar Cho, Soldiers, Byine Phyu, Khin Mar Cho, ” Khin Mar Cho, “, —, ”, Myint Kyaw, Sen, Min Aung, Mohammed, ” Mohammed, Shayna Bauchner, we’ve, OCHA, Sai Aung, Rakhine —, Ejaz, Jamila, Bangladesh Azim Khan Ronnie, Buthidaung, drenching, ” Jamila, ULA, ” Sajjad Mohammad Sajid Organizations: CNN, United Nations, Arakan Army, AA, UN, Myanmar’s Ministry of Information, AFP, Getty, Partners Relief, Development, Human Rights, ” Aid, SAC, Administration Council, Food, UN Office, Humanitarian Affairs, UN Security Council, European Union, Aid, Human Rights Watch, Solent, Myanmar, Development Coordination, United League of, Programme, Junta Locations: Myanmar, Byine, Rakhine, Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar’s, Yangon, “, Sai, AFP, China, Buthidaung, Bangladesh, Cox’s Bazar, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh Tanbirul Miraj Ripon, Kutupalong, Tanbirul Miraj Ripon, Arakan, Maungdaw, ULA, Gaza, Ukraine

☆ Sudan at a ‘breaking point’ as civil war rages, UN agency says
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-12 | by ( Michael Mitsanas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Sudan is at a “breaking point,” a United Nations agency said Monday, as a growing number of people need food, water, shelter and medical care in a country devastated by intensifying war. “We are at breaking point, a catastrophic, cataclysmic breaking point,” he added. Earlier this month, the UN-backed Famine Review Committee said at least one refugee camp in Sudan’s Darfur region is experiencing famine, which the agency has only declared twice in Sudan’s history. “This was the only safe route for humanitarian aid to reach Central & (South) Darfur,” the agency said Monday in a post on X. “We’ve had extensive engagement with the SAF,” Tom Perriello, the US special envoy for Sudan, told reporters Monday, according to the news agency.

Persons: ” Othman Belbeisi, “ We’ve, Tom Perriello, ” Organizations: CNN, United, Sudanese Armed Forces, SAF, Rapid Support Forces, UN, International Organization for Migration, Food, IOM, US, AP Locations: Sudan, United Nations, East, Africa, Sudan’s Darfur, ”, Darfur, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Saudi, Jeddah

☆ Myanmar junta leader assumes presidential powers as president takes ‘sick leave,’ state media reports
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-22 | by ( Michael Mitsanas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —General Min Aung Hlaing, leader of Myanmar’s military junta, became the country’s interim president on Monday after figurehead leader Myint Swe was placed on medical leave, state media reported. “The Interim President’s Office has sent a letter to the State Administration Council Office notifying it to delegate the responsibilities,” government broadcaster MRTV said Monday, referring to the junta council that governs Myanmar, which is chaired by Hlaing. On Friday, the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar reported that 73-year-old Swe has been suffering from “psychomotor retardation” and “malnutrition” since early 2023. The junta first promised to hold elections within two years after seizing power – a deadline that has been repeatedly extended. At least 18.6 million people in Myanmar today need urgent humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Persons: Min Aung Hlaing, Myint Swe, “, MRTV, Hlaing, —, Nobel, Aung, Kyi —, Tom Andrews Organizations: CNN, Interim, Administration, Office, “, Pro Tem, Administration Council, Information, UN, Rights, United Nations Office, Humanitarian Affairs Locations: Myanmar

CNN —A prominent North Korea expert and former CIA analyst has been indicted by a New York grand jury on charges of secretly working for the South Korean government in exchange for designer goods, Michelin star meals and $37,000 for a fund that she controlled. The indictment alleges Terry acted as a “valuable source” of information for the South Korean government. She has authored reports for both American and South Korean news outlets. South Korea is a key US ally in the Asia-Pacific, though Terry’s indictment is not the first case of alleged collusion to test the two countries’ friendship. Internal Pentagon documents leaked last year described, in remarkable detail, private conversations between two senior South Korean national security officials, whom the US had allegedly wiretapped.

Persons: Sue Mi Terry, ”, “, Terry, Louis Vuitton, Iva Zorić, ” Zorić, Antony Blinken, Lee Wolosky, ” Wolosky, emptively, George W, Bush, Barack Obama Organizations: CNN, CIA, New, South Korean, Michelin, US National Security Council, ROK, South, Council, Foreign Relations, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, Foreign, Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, East, FBI, Oceanic, National Security Council, Pentagon Locations: North Korea, New York, Republic of Korea, ROK, Korean, Korea, South Korea, United States, Seoul, Japan, Asia

☆ North Korean balloons ‘presumed’ to be carrying waste seen in South Korea as tensions flare
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Gawon Bae | Michael Mitsanas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Seoul CNN —North Korean balloons “presumed” to be carrying waste were spotted in South Korea on Monday, reigniting a tit-for-tat exchange as tensions on the Korean Peninsula continue to heighten. On Thursday, a South Korean advocacy group flew 20 large balloons carrying thousands of anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets and USB sticks with South Korean entertainment toward North Korea. The balloons also carried damaged clothes from a South Korean brand, signaling “hostility towards South Korean goods,” as well as clothes with imitations of Disney characters, according to the ministry. In the meantime, a US Navy aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea over the weekend ahead of trilateral exercises with South Korea and Japan in the waters near the peninsula. US and South Korean officials signed a new memorandum of understanding on diplomatic intelligence sharing and analysis on Monday, according to South Korea’s foreign ministry.

Persons: Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, North, ”, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong, Kristina Kormilitsyna, Kim Organizations: Seoul CNN —, Korea’s, Chiefs, Staff, South, North, US Navy, Korean, ROK, DPRK, United Nations, Northeast Locations: Seoul, South Korea, Gyeonggi Province, Seoul’s, Korean, North Korea, ”, Pyongyang, Japan, Russia, United States, DPRK, Northeast Asia, Europe

☆ Putin arrives in North Korea for first visit in 24 years as anti-West alignment deepens
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-18 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | Anna Chernova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Following his visit to North Korea, Putin is scheduled to travel to Hanoi in a display of Communist-governed Vietnam’s ties to Russia that is likely to rankle the United States. Putin’s trip to North Korea will have a “very eventful” agenda, his aide Yuri Ushakov said during a press conference Monday. One image was of a grandstand being constructed on the eastern side of Kim Il Sung Square, the site where all major parades in North Korea are held. Putin arrives in North Korea on Tuesday, June 18. But Russia’s apparent increasing reliance on North Korea and rising frictions with the West appear to have shifted that dynamic.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Putin, Kim, Yuri Ushakov, Ushakov, Kim Il, John Kirby, Biden, wasn’t “, ’ Kim, ” Kim, ”, Volodymyr Zelensky, Putin’s, Defense Lloyd Austin, “, ” Putin, Kim Jong Il, Xi Jinping, Michael Mitsanas, Katharina Krebs, Mariya Knight, Yoonjung Seo, Betsy Klein, Paul P, Murphy Organizations: CNN, TASS, Putin, Planet Labs, Maxar Technologies, US, North Korean, North, South Korea’s, Chiefs of Staff, West, Ukrainian, Kyiv, NATO, Ukraine, Defense, Kremlin, United Nations Security, UN Locations: North Korea, Pyongyang, Ukraine, Korean, Korea, Hanoi, Russia, United States, Asia, Moscow, North, Zarubinreporter, South Korea, South, Russia’s, Eurasia, Italy, Kyiv, Russian, Vietnam, Beijing, China, Iran, South Africa, Brazil

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to China in the coming weeks for talks, two U.S. officials told NBC News on Tuesday. The news comes after a previously planned trip was postponed following the discovery of a Chinese spy balloon flying over the United States. U.S. officials did not provide additional details on the timing of Blinken's rescheduled trip, which was first reported by Bloomberg. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping previously met in November in Bali, Indonesia, where they agreed that Blinken would visit China to follow up on the discussions. A Chinese government representative defended its actions, saying Monday that "China always respects the right of navigation."

Persons: Antony Blinken, Blinken, Wang Yi, Ned Price, Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, John Kirby, Biden Organizations: American Israel Public Affairs, NBC, U.S, Bloomberg, ., State Department, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Security, U.S . Locations: Washington , DC, China, United States, . American, South Carolina, Singapore, Bali , Indonesia, Taiwan, Bali, American, Beijing

☆ South Korea's LGBTQ community confronts crushing headwinds in fight for equality
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Michael Mitsanas | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

NBC News spoke with South Korean lawmakers, human rights organizations and dozens of LGBTQ South Koreans in three of the country’s largest cities: Seoul, Daegu and Busan. Most say a bill that would outlaw discrimination against all minority groups — including the LGBTQ community — is the critical first step toward legal equality. The documentary filmmaker turned progressive lawmaker calls herself an advocate for this country’s LGBTQ community. This, he added, “includes South Korea.”While support for a comprehensive nondiscrimination bill is strong in South Korea, Jang concedes that the odds of one passing, at least in the near future, are slim. The country’s conservative president and People Power Party oppose a comprehensive nondiscrimination bill, while the left-leaning Democratic Party has expressed lukewarm support.

Search resuls for: "Michael Mitsanas"

8 mentions found