Colombia denies UN claims of 20,000 bodies at Bogota airport

Colombia denies UN claims of 20,000 bodies at Bogota airport
Colombian authorities on Friday denied a United Nations report claiming that the bodies of 20,000 people who were forcibly disappeared over decades of conflict were being kept at Bogota airport. (X/@visionsichuan)
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Updated 07 December 2024
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Colombia denies UN claims of 20,000 bodies at Bogota airport

Colombia denies UN claims of 20,000 bodies at Bogota airport
  • Bogota Mayor Carlos Fernando Galan denied the report
  • The UN said its report was based on information it had received from local authorities

BOGOTA: Colombian authorities on Friday denied a United Nations report claiming that the bodies of 20,000 people who were forcibly disappeared over decades of conflict were being kept at Bogota airport.
On Thursday, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances stated that “thousands of unidentified bodies lie in poorly managed cemeteries or storage facilities,” citing “a hangar at Bogota airport where around 20,000 unidentified bodies are currently stored.”
Bogota Mayor Carlos Fernando Galan denied the report, which followed a visit by a UN delegation to Colombia, and asked the UN to substantiate its claims.
Isabelita Mercado, senior adviser on peace and reconciliation at Bogota town hall, told the W station the city’s cemeteries held the bodies of around 5,500 unidentified missing people or people who had been identified but whose bodies have not been claimed.
The UN said its report was based on information it had received from local authorities but didn’t say which ones.
A press officer did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.
The Search Unit for Persons Reported Missing, which is in charge of locating and identifying the thousands of people who disappeared over the course of six decades of conflict, said it had “no information” on the existence of a “site of forensic interest” near the airport.
The organization has counted more than 104,000 people who went missing during the conflict between security forces, guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug cartels which began in the 1960s.
The biggest guerrilla group, FARC, laid down arms after signing a peace deal in 2016 but a handful of armed groups remain active in the country.


Pakistan ex-PM Khan’s party holds talks with government ahead of ruling in graft case

Pakistan ex-PM Khan’s party holds talks with government ahead of ruling in graft case
Updated 15 sec ago
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Pakistan ex-PM Khan’s party holds talks with government ahead of ruling in graft case

Pakistan ex-PM Khan’s party holds talks with government ahead of ruling in graft case
The verdict in the graft case due on Friday is the largest that Khan faces in terms of financial impropriety
The case is linked to the Al-Qadir Trust that Khan and his wife set up while he was in office

ISLAMABAD: The party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday held formal reconciliatory talks with the government, aimed at cooling political instability in the 241-million South Asian nation, both sides said.
The talks come a day ahead of a crucial court ruling in a land corruption case against the 72-year-old former cricket star-turned-politician.
The verdict in the graft case due on Friday is the largest that Khan faces in terms of financial impropriety, involving possible bribes of land in return for a 190-million-British-pound favor to a real estate tycoon.
The case is linked to the Al-Qadir Trust that Khan and his wife set up while he was in office. Prosecutors say it was a front for Khan to receive land as a bribe from a real estate developer. Khan’s party says the land was not for personal gain but was a spiritual educational institution.
Khan’s removal from office in 2022 stoked the instability, which has worsened with his party leading violent protests to urge his release, and threatens an economic recovery under a $7 billion IMF bailout.
“We have presented our demands to the government,” Khan’s aide Omar Ayub, who is leading his side in the talks, told reporters. The government agreed to party leaders’ meeting with Khan in jail, which should be done without any monitoring, he said.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s demands mainly include setting up two judicial commissions to probe into the events which led to his arrest in August 2023, and the violent protest rallies, including one on May 9, 2023, when his supporters rampaged through military offices and installations.
Speaker of the parliament Ayaz Sadiq who is facilitating both the parties said he had received the PTI’s list of demands.
“We will respond to the demands within seven working days,” said Iran Siddique, lead negotiator from the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Novo Nordisk, other companies meet Danish prime minister following Trump’s Greenland threat

Novo Nordisk, other companies meet Danish prime minister following Trump’s Greenland threat
Updated 15 min 45 sec ago
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Novo Nordisk, other companies meet Danish prime minister following Trump’s Greenland threat

Novo Nordisk, other companies meet Danish prime minister following Trump’s Greenland threat
  • Frederiksen summoned business leaders after speaking on Wednesday with US President-elect Donald Trump
  • The Danish leader said Trump had not retracted his threats of economic coercion during the 45-minute phone conversation

COPENHAGEN: The CEO of obesity drugmaker Novo Nordisk and heads of other Danish companies met on Thursday with Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to discuss preparations for a possible trade conflict with the United States over Greenland.
Frederiksen summoned business leaders after speaking on Wednesday with US President-elect Donald Trump, who last week refused to rule out military or economic action to take control of Greenland, which is strategically important to Washington.
Trump has suggested he would impose tariffs on Danish goods if it resists his offer to buy the vast Arctic island, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
The Danish leader said Trump had not retracted his threats of economic coercion during the 45-minute phone conversation, in which she told him it was up to Greenland to decide its future and offered to do more to strengthen security in the Arctic.
“We don’t want to have any kind of conflict with the Americans in the trade area, but of course we are working with the companies, with the business organizations and with our European colleagues,” Frederiksen told journalists.
She said she had informed Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede ahead of the phone call with Trump, and that she had also spoken to Egede right afterwards.
“We’re not preparing for specific things we don’t know yet, but it has been hinted at from the US side that there may unfortunately be a situation where we work less together than we do today,” she added.

DISCUSSIONS WITH BUSINESS LEADERS
Frederiksen said she had emphasized in her conversation with Trump that Danish companies contribute to growth and jobs in the United States and that the EU and the US have a common interest in increased trade.
The CEO of Danish obesity and diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk, Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, will participate in the meeting, the company said on Thursday.
Novo, which competes with US drugmaker Eli Lilly in the fast-growing weight-loss drug market, makes the main active ingredient — semaglutide — in its popular obesity and diabetes injections Wegovy and Ozempic in Denmark, and exports it to the United States.
In the first nine months of 2024, Novo’s US sales totalled 115 billion Danish crowns ($15.86 billion), of which obesity drug Wegovy accounted for 31.1 billion.
Other participants in the meeting include CEOs of jewelry maker Pandora, toymaker Lego, brewer Carlsberg , wind turbine maker Vestas and offshore wind farm developer Orsted, the companies said.
Shipping group Maersk said its executives were traveling and would not participate.


Tanker seized by Finland over ripped cables won’t face cargo sanctions probe

Tanker seized by Finland over ripped cables won’t face cargo sanctions probe
Updated 16 January 2025
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Tanker seized by Finland over ripped cables won’t face cargo sanctions probe

Tanker seized by Finland over ripped cables won’t face cargo sanctions probe
  • Police seized the tanker last month on suspicion of damaging a Finnish-Estonian power line and four telecoms cables
  • Police have said nine crew members are suspects in a criminal investigation

HELSINKI: The Eagle S tanker seized by Finnish authorities on suspicion of ripping up subsea cables will not face a separate criminal investigation into whether its fuel cargo violates sanctions imposed on Russia, the Customs Office said on Thursday.
Police seized the tanker last month on suspicion of damaging a Finnish-Estonian power line and four telecoms cables.
The Customs Office believes the Eagle S is part of a shadow fleet of tankers used to circumvent sanctions on Russian oil, and has impounded its cargo of unleaded petrol and diesel.
“The cargo of the ship will remain detained by Finnish Customs for the time being,” it said in a statement.
Police have said nine crew members are suspects in a criminal investigation into possible sabotage of the subsea cables.
The ship’s cargo is subject to sanctions imposed against Russia by the European Union, and thus barred from importation into Finland. But because the vessel entered Finnish territorial waters at the request of Finnish authorities, the crew cannot be considered to have intentionally violated those sanctions, the Customs Office said.
A lawyer representing the ship’s owner, Caravela LLC FZ, has said the ship’s alleged damage to undersea equipment happened outside of Finland’s territorial waters and therefore Helsinki lacked jurisdiction to intervene.
Baltic Sea nations are on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The NATO military alliance in response plans to boost its presence in the region.


Ukraine confirms attack on oil depot in western Russia

Ukraine confirms attack on oil depot in western Russia
Updated 16 January 2025
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Ukraine confirms attack on oil depot in western Russia

Ukraine confirms attack on oil depot in western Russia
  • The attack is the latest aerial assault by Ukraine to target Russian energy sites
  • “Ukrainian Defense Forces hit the Liskinska oil depot,” the Ukrainian General Staff said

KYIV: Ukraine confirmed Thursday that its forces had struck an oil depot in western Russia, where officials had said earlier that Kyiv’s drones had sparked a blaze in the Voronezh region bordering Ukraine.
The attack is the latest aerial assault by Ukraine to target Russian energy sites and military facilities in a campaign that has escalated this week.
“Ukrainian Defense Forces hit the Liskinska oil depot,” the Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement, claiming that “a large-scale fire broke out at the facility.”
It added that three drones had struck the storage facilities, which it claimed was used by the Russian army.
The governor of the Voronezh region had said earlier that several drones “sparked a fire at an oil depot.”
Governor Alexander Gusev said Voronezh was attacked by more than 10 drones, with most striking a depot in the Liskinsky district.
He said that there were no casualties and that reinforcement firefighters had been dispatched to put out the blaze.
Videos posted by witnesses showed a substantial blaze.
Kyiv said earlier this week that it had carried out its largest aerial attack of the war on Russian army factories and energy hubs hundreds of kilometers from the front line.
Russia responded with a mass missile and drone attack that primarily targeted Ukrainian energy facilities in the west of the country.


India succeeds in historic space docking mission

India succeeds in historic space docking mission
Updated 16 January 2025
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India succeeds in historic space docking mission

India succeeds in historic space docking mission
  • Only the US, Russia, and China have docked in space before
  • India approves setting up of third launchpad for space missions

NEW DELHI: India became on Thursday the fourth country to achieve docking in space by joining two small aircraft, a feat that cements its place as a global space power.

Space docking is the connecting of two spacecraft in orbit. It requires precise navigation and control and is crucial for space missions that involve transferring astronauts or cargo, conducting repairs, or refueling.

The Indian Space Research Organization launched its docking mission on Dec. 30 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota island off the Bay of Bengal.

Codenamed the Space Docking Experiment, or SpaDeX, the mission involved deploying two small spacecraft, each weighing about 220 kg, into an orbit approximately 470 km above Earth.

The ISRO announced the program’s success on Thursday morning.

“A historic moment ... Docking initiated with precision, leading to successful spacecraft capture. Retraction completed smoothly, followed by rigidisation for stability. Docking successfully completed,” it said on X.

“India became the 4th country to achieve successful space docking.”

Only the US, Russia and China have previously docked in space. The US marked its first successful docking with the Gemini 8 mission performed by astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott in 1966. Russia joined the race with the success of its Soyuz 11 mission in 1969, and China with Shenzhou 8 in 2011.

Joining the exclusive group brings India closer to its plan to build a modular space station, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, by 2035.

“If you want to have a research station in orbit, or if you want to go to the moon, land, and come back, you need to have a mechanism by which one entity is revolving and another entity can come and attach to it in orbit. That is called docking,” said Syed Maqbool Ahmed, a former ISRO scientist who was part of the Chandrayaan program — the Indian Lunar Exploration Program.

“Docking is so highly complex, extremely complex ... you are trying to very precisely manage going to an object which is there in the orbit and your speed is 25,000 kph. The other object is also going at the same speed.”

SpaDeX was a crucial step toward establishing a space station and also keeping up with India’s key rival, China.

“China has already put up its hardware. China’s space station is all active, working. Their astronauts are going to the space station and coming back. India would love to do the same thing,” Ahmed told Arab News.

“So much of talent is there in India ... The ambition of building a space station is always there and I think the project is going with full steam. This is a simple stepping stone for that mission. It is just great. A lot of hurdles are overcome.”

Space docking adds to India’s exploration status, following the successful launch of Aditya-L1 in 2023 — the country’s first solar observation mission, and the world’s second after the US Parker Solar Probe in 2021.

Also in 2023, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 moon rover made history by landing on the lunar surface, making India the first country to land near the south pole and the fourth to land on the planet — after the US, the Soviet Union, and China.

The projects are key features of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to establish India as a superpower.

For the past few years the government has been creating the environment and long-term investment for the industry to flourish and involve the private sector as well. In October, it approved a $116 million venture capital fund to support space sector-focused startups.

As Modi congratulated the ISRO on the successful SpaDeX mission, he said on X it was a “significant stepping stone for India’s ambitious space missions in the years to come.”

Hours later, the Indian government approved the construction of a third launchpad in Satish Dhawan Space Center to be completed in four years at a cost of $460 million.

“The Project will boost the Indian Space ecosystem by enabling higher launch frequencies and the national capacity to undertake human spaceflight & space exploration missions,” the Cabinet said in a statement.

“It will be realized with maximum industry participation fully utilizing ISRO’s experience in establishing the earlier launch pads and maximally sharing the existing launch complex facilities.”