World
UN renews mandate for human rights mission in Venezuela
![UN renews mandate for human rights mission in Venezuela UN renews mandate for human rights mission in Venezuela](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-06-08T172237Z_1750637337_RC2TNU949YM3_RTRMADP_3_TURKEY-VENEZUELA.jpg?resize=1920,1440)
Human rights teams welcome two-year extension of UN mission, which Caracas condemns as ‘designed for interventionism’.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has renewed the mandate of its fact-finding mission in Venezuela, an initiative Caracas considers an aggressive device for interfering in home issues.
The mandate to increase the Worldwide Impartial Truth-Discovering Mission for Venezuela (FFM) for 2 extra years was accredited by 19 votes to 5 in opposition to and 23 abstentions throughout a Council session in Geneva on Friday.
The UN mission was first created in 2019 to look into alleged human rights violations within the nation.
These opposed had been Cuba, Bolivia, China, Eritrea and Venezuela itself, whose consultant to the Council, Ambassador Hector Fixed Rosales, dubbed the decision “hostile”.
Venezuelan International Minister Carlos Faria mentioned on Twitter that the FFM’s extension was “a brand new assault in opposition to Venezuela”.
The mission “is designed for interventionism and for the falsification of actuality. This fee is a political instrument for essentially the most brazen defamation on problems with human rights“, he added.
In September, the mission’s third report discovered that state intelligence companies beneath President Nicolas Maduro’s helm had suppressed the opposition by arbitrary detentions and torture that amounted to crimes in opposition to humanity.
The intelligence companies “made use of sexual and gender-based violence to torture and humiliate their detainees” since a minimum of 2014 and “the violations and crimes … proceed to at the present time”, the report mentioned.
The Venezuelan authorities responded that the report’s accusations had been “false and unfounded”.
Venezuela is a “democratic and social state, based mostly on the rule of legislation and justice, which is dedicated to the promotion, respect and safety of human rights”, the federal government mentioned.
Human rights teams welcomed the FFM’s extension.
“Amnesty Worldwide welcomes the renewal of the Truth-Discovering Mission on #Venezuela as an indication of help for the numerous victims of grave human rights violations which have been, and proceed to be, dedicated within the nation” mentioned @ErikaGuevaraR https://t.co/udCjIQYFJw
— amnestypress (@amnestypress) October 7, 2022
The renewal is a “signal of help for the numerous victims of grave human rights violations which have been, and proceed to be, dedicated within the nation,” Amnesty Worldwide’s Americas Director Erika Guevara Rosas mentioned on Twitter.
Human Rights Watch known as the FFM’s extension “extraordinarily essential” and mentioned it performs “an early warning function within the lead-up to the 2024 presidential elections”.
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World
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un reportedly ordered dozens of officials executed after deadly floods
![North Korea’s Kim Jong Un reportedly ordered dozens of officials executed after deadly floods North Korea’s Kim Jong Un reportedly ordered dozens of officials executed after deadly floods](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/09/Kim-Jong-Un.png)
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un may have ordered at least 30 government officials to be executed after the devastating floods over the summer that killed thousands, according to a new report from South Korea.
The South’s TV Chosun reported Tuesday that North Korean authorities sentenced between 20 and 30 people to capital punishment last month for their failure to stop the deadly flooding.
An official was quoted as telling the outlet, “Twenty to 30 cadres in the flood-stricken area were executed at the same time late last month.”
While it’s difficult to know the details given the North’s extreme secrecy, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has reported that Kim ordered authorities to “strictly punish” the officials after catastrophic floods hit the Chagang Province, near the border with China, in July.
FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP WITH KIM JONG UN IS ‘NOT A BAD THING,’ TRUMP SAYS
North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un during a press conference, June 19, 2024, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Contributor/Getty Images)
North Korean state media reported that heavy rains in late July left more than 4,000 homes as well as numerous other public buildings, structures, roads and railways flooded in the northwestern city of Sinuiju and the neighboring town of Uiju.
Kim blamed public officials who had neglected disaster prevention for causing “the casualty that cannot be allowed.”
![Kim Jong-un speaking](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/07/1200/675/kim_jong-un.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivers a speech during a meeting of Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea held from June 28 until July 1, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
The North has rebuffed offers of aid from China, Russia and even South Korea, with whom tensions remain at all-time highs.
Kim made a two-day tour of Uiju in early August to meet flood victims and discuss recovery efforts. While touring there, Kim was quoted by KCNA as accusing the South of exaggerating the extent of the damage from the floods, decrying it as a “smear campaign” and a “grave provocation” against his government.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Back to school: France tests smartphone ban in 200 middle schools
![Back to school: France tests smartphone ban in 200 middle schools Back to school: France tests smartphone ban in 200 middle schools](https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/08/70/13/48/1200x675_cmsv2_ce150975-40a1-51e1-8559-9f9a3c92d2b4-8701348.jpg)
If all goes well, the ban will be expanded to include all schools across the country.
Nearly 200 middle schools in France began testing a “digital break” this week —a complete ban on cell phones in the classroom. The aim is to reduce screen time and combat cyberbullying, a move welcomed by both school staff and students.
If the trial proves successful, the ban will be implemented in all schools starting January 2025.
At Claudine Hermann Middle School in the southern suburbs of Paris, students start their morning by handing in their mobile phones.
“It gets students used to being without their phones all day and teaching them to live differently even during recess instead of always being on their phones,” said Fabien Leroux, a school supervisor.
Victor, an 11-year-old student, said, “We’re here to have fun, so there’s no point in having a phone.”
Halima, another sixth-grade student, agreed, saying, “I think it’s a very good idea because phones can be distracting during lessons. It’s better not to have them in front of us during class.”
The mobile phones are stored in five heavy-duty briefcases throughout the school day. The middle school invested in these briefcases, each costing €300, with all expenses covered out of pocket. The State does not contribute to funding this test ban, leaving the financial burden to the country’s departments responsible for funding middle schools, some of which consider it too heavy.
François Sauvadet, president of the Association of Departments of France, estimates that if the ban were to be implemented nationwide, it could cost the country’s 7,000 middle schools around €125 million in new equipment, according to domestic media reports.
However, France’s outgoing Education Minister, Nicole Belloubet, disagrees. During a visit to Claudine Hermann Middle School on Tuesday, she said, “The financial costs seem fairly modest to me. The briefcases chosen by this school to store mobile phones cost about 60 euros each and were paid out of their own funds.”
“But of course, I wouldn’t want there to be any misunderstanding with the Association of Departments of France. I will contact them again if there needs to be any clarifications,” Belloubet explained in an interview with Euronews.
As a new government has yet to be formed following the early parliamentary elections called by President Emmanuel Macron, the caretaker administration is managing day-to-day affairs. The decision on whether this ban should be expanded nationwide next year will be decided by the future education minister.
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