War monitors say an airstrike on a rebel training camp in northwestern Syria on Monday killed more than 50 Turkish-backed fighters and wounded at least 90. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria, put the number killed at 78, while a Syrian opposition spokesman had the number of fatalities closer to 50.  The observatory, along with Syrian opposition groups, say the airstrike was carried out by Russia, a Syrian government ally. The strike targeted a military training camp for one of Syria’s largest opposition groups, Failaq al-Sham, in Jabal al-Dweila in northwestern Idlib province — the last rebel enclave in Syria. The observatory said rescue missions to find survivors were still under way. Youssef Hammoud, a spokesman for Failaq al-Sham, said leaders of the camp were among those killed in the airstrike. The camp is near the border with Turkey. Naji al-Mustafa, a spokesman for Turkish-backed Syrian rebel group National Front for Liberation, told The Associated Press they will respond to the attack. He called the airstrike a “crime” by Russia and threatened to target government and Russian posts. Turkey and Russia brokered a truce in Idlib earlier this year to halt a government offensive that displaced hundreds of thousands of people. But the truce remained shaky. Turkey has long supported Syrian rebel forces in Syria. Russia has negotiated with Ankara to deploy observation teams in the rebel enclave to monitor the truce. Last week, Turkish troops evacuated one of their largest military bases in the area, which was surrounded by Syrian government troops for months. Syrian opposition fighters said it was part of Turkey’s redeployment of forces in the shrinking enclave.  
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We get a glimpse into Chinese Americans’ views on politics and visit a church that welcomes the LGBTQ community.   
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Actress Keely Cat-Wells has an impressive Hollywood resume. She also has a disability that might have discouraged someone less determined from pursuing a career in acting and advocacy. VOA’s Genia Dulot has the story
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Asian markets are mixed Monday as investors appear to be reacting with uncertainty over the resurgence of COVID-19 across Europe and the United States. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index ended its trading session down 22 points, but unchanged percentage-wise. The S&P/ASX index in Australia lost 0.1%.  South Korea’s KOSPI index dropped 0.7. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.5%. Taiwan’s TSEC index was up 10 points, but was unchanged percentage-wise.   In late afternoon trading, Shanghai’s Composite index was 0.8% lower, and Mumbai’s Sensex was down one percent. In commodities trading, gold was selling at $1,898.20, down 0.3%.  U.S. crude oil is selling at $38.90 per barrel, down 2.3%, and Brent crude is selling at $40.83 per barrel, down 2.2%.   All three major U.S. indices are trending negatively in futures trading.   
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A third cease-fire in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh seems to have collapsed Monday, again failing to end four weeks of fighting over the disputed territory. Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of violating the US-brokered truce shortly after it entered into force at 8:00 am (0400 GMT) local time. Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Armenian forces had shelled villages in the Terter and Lachin regions in “gross violation” of the truce. For its part, Armenia’s defense ministry used similar language, saying Azerbaijani forces had “grossly violated” the cease-fire with artillery fire along various parts of the line of contact. The U.S. State Department and the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia announced the latest “humanitarian cease-fire” in a joint statement Sunday. U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter saying: “Congratulations to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who just agreed to adhere to a cease fire effective at midnight. Many lives will be saved.” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet also Sunday that the U.S. facilitated “an intensive negotiation” and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov “have committed to implement and abide by the ceasefire.”  
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Newly formed Tropical Storm Zeta strengthened Sunday in the western Caribbean and will probably become a hurricane before hitting Mexico’s resort-dotted Yucatan Peninsula and the U.S. Gulf Coast in coming days.Zeta was the earliest named 27th Atlantic storm recorded in an already historic hurricane season.The system was centered about 275 miles (445 kilometers) southeast of Cozumel island early Sunday evening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.The storm was nearly stationary, though forecasters said it was likely to shear the northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula or westernmost Cuba by late Monday or early Tuesday and then close in on the U.S. Gulf Coast by Wednesday, but could weaken by then.The storm had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph), and forecasters said Zeta was expected to intensify into a hurricane Monday.Officials in Quintana Roo state, the location of Cancun and other resorts, said they were watching the storm. They reported nearly 60,000 tourists in the state as of midweek. The state government said 71 shelters were being readied for tourists or residents who might need them.The government is still handing out aid, including sheet roofing, to Yucatan residents hit by Hurricane Delta and Tropical Storm Gamma earlier this month.Zeta may dawdle in the western Caribbean for another day or so, trapped between two strong high pressure systems to the east and west. It can’t move north or south because nothing is moving there either, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.“It just has to sit and wait for a day or so,” McNoldy said. “It just needs anything to move.”When a storm gets stuck, it can unload dangerous downpours over one place, which causes flooding when a storm is over or near land. That happened in 2017 over Houston with Harvey, when more than 60 inches (150 centimeters) of rain fell and 2019 over the Bahamas with a Category 5 Dorian, which was the worst-case scenario of a stationary storm, said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.While Zeta was over open ocean Sunday, Jamaica and Honduras were getting heavy rains because the system is so large and South Florida was under a flood watch, McNoldy said.But once Zeta eventually gets moving, it won’t be stalling over landfall, Klotzbach said.The Hurricane Center said Zeta could bring 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain to parts of the Caribbean and Mexico as well as Florida and the Keys before drenching parts of the central Gulf Coast by Wednesday.A 2018 study said storms, especially in the Atlantic basin, are slowing down and stalling more. Atlantic storms that made landfall moved 2.9 mph (4.7 kph) slower than 60 years ago, the study found. Study author James Kossin, a government climate scientist, said the trend has signs of human-caused climate change.Zeta is also in a dangerous place to stall. The western Caribbean is “where storms can cook” and rapidly intensify because of the deep, warm waters, like 2005’s Wilma, Klotzbach said. However, the National Hurricane Center was not forecasting rapid intensification for Zeta.The lack of steering currents also meant wide spread of possible landfalls when Zeta eventually heads north to the Gulf Coast. The hurricane center said it could make landfall anywhere from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards urged his state’s citizens to monitor the storm, and the state activated its Crisis Action Team.On Sunday, a hurricane warning was called for the Yucatan Peninsula from Tulum to Rio Lagartos, including Cancun and Cozumel, while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Pinar del Rio, Cuba.Zeta broke the record of the previous earliest 27th Atlantic named storm that formed Nov. 29, 2005, according to Klotzbach.This year’s season has so many storms that the hurricane center has turned to the Greek alphabet after running out of official names.Zeta is the furthest into the Greek alphabet the Atlantic season has gone. There was also a Tropical Storm Zeta in 2005, but that year had 28 storms because meteorologists later went back and found they missed one, which then became a “unnamed named storm,” Klotzbach said.Additionally, Hurricane Epsilon was moving quickly through the northern portion of the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters said it would become a post-tropical cyclone later Sunday. Large ocean swells generated by the hurricane could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along U.S. East Coast and Atlantic Canada during the next couple of days.
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Amid a year of contagion and turmoil, Chileans turned out Sunday to vote on whether to draft a new constitution for their nation to replace guiding principles imposed four decades ago under a military dictatorship, and early returns gave the “yes” forces a big lead.The country’s conservative government agreed with the center-left opposition to allow the plebiscite after the outbreak of vast street protests that erupted a year ago in frustration over inequality in pensions, education and health care in what has long been one of South America’s most developed nations.The Electoral Service said Sunday evening that of the first 1.3 million ballots counted, 77.5% favored a new charter and less than 22.5% were opposed. Among the 60,000 Chileans living abroad who voted in 65 nations, the vote was 86% for a new constitution and 13% against, officials said. About 15 million Chileans were eligible to vote.Recent polls indicated heavy backing for a new constitution despite opposition from conservative groups., and center-right President Sebastián Piñera said after voting that he assumed the measure would be approved.“I believe the immense majority of Chileans want to change, modify our constitution,” he said.If the measure is approved, a special convention would begin drafting a new constitution that would be submitted to voters in mid-2022.Chile’s current constitution was drafted by the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and was sent to voters at a time where political parties had been banned and the country was subject to heavy censorship.It was approved by a 66%-30% margin in a 1980 plebiscite, but critics say many voters were cowed into acceptance by a regime that had arrested, tortured and killed thousands of suspected leftist opponents following the overthrow of an elected socialist government.“I think that many people went to vote out of fear,” said political scientist Claudio Fuentes, who wrote a book about that plebiscite titled, “The Fraud.”“The current constitution has a flaw of origin, which is that it was created during the military dictatorship in an undemocratic process,” said Monica Salinero, a 40-year-old sociologist who supports drafting a new charter.The free-market principles embodied in that document led to a booming economy that continued after the return to democracy in 1990, but not all Chileans shared.A minority was able to take advantage of good, privatized education, health and social security services, while others were forced to rely on sometimes meager public alternatives. Public pensions for the poorest are just over $200 a month, roughly half the minimum wage.Luisa Fuentes Rivera, a 59-year-old food vendor, said hopes that “with a new constitution we will have better work, health, pensions and a better quality of life for older people, and a better education.”But historian Felipe Navarrete warned, “It’s important to say that the constitution won’t resolve the concrete problems. It will determine which state we want to solve the problems.”Claudia Heiss, head of the political science department at the University of Chile, said it would send a signal about people’s desires for change, and for a sort of politics that would “allow greater inclusion of sectors that have been marginalized from politics.”Conservative groups fear the revamp could go too far, and endanger parts of the constitution that have helped the country prosper.“The people have demonstrated saying they want better pensions, better health, better education. and the response of the political class” is a process that won’t solve the problems and will open a period of uncertainty,” said Felipe Lyon, 28-year-old lawyer and spokesman for the group “No, Thanks” that opposes the change.The decision to allow the vote came after hundreds of thousands of Chileans repeatedly took to the streets in protests that often turned violent.The vote was initially scheduled for April, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has killed some 13,800 Chileans, with more than 500,000 people infected by the new coronavirus.Officials trying to ensure voters felt safe barred infected persons or those close to them from the polls, and long lines formed at voting places. Voters had to wear masks — dipping them only briefly for identification purposes — and brought their own pencils.The manner of drafting a new constitution was also on the ballot. Voters were choosing between a body of 155 citizens who would be elected just for that purpose in April, or a somewhat larger convention split equally between elected delegates and members of Congress.
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At least 100 people were held following violent weekend anti-government protests in the Angolan capital Luanda, a senior government official announced Sunday.Anti-riot police fired tear gas and beat protesters to break up the demonstrations that attracted around 2,000 people.Protesters set up barricades along the roads using skips, boulders, tree trunks and burning tires.Others set a national flag ablaze, an AFP photographer saw.Dozens of protesters, including journalists covering the demonstrations, were arrested. Salvador Rodrigues, an official with the interior ministry, said on state television that 103 people, including politicians from the largest opposition UNITA party, were in detention.They were due to appear in court on Monday.Rodrigues said six police officers were injured during the protests.He also said a police motorcycle, a car, an ambulance and fire engine were damaged or burnt during the protests that occurred in a working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of the oceanside capital Luanda.The demonstrations were staged to demand a new date for local government elections that were supposed to happen this year but have been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Protesters also demanded jobs and better living conditions.In a statement on Sunday, the main opposition UNITA accused police of using excessive force to quell the protests and demanded the “unconditional release” of all the arrested people.UNITA “denounces and condemns the arrest and beating of demonstrators by the national police, which caused chaos on the street.”   Saturday’s protests were the latest show of disenchantment towards the government by Angolans in recent months.
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Protesters march through Minsk, Belarus, as opposition leaders threaten a national strike if longtime President Alexander Lukashenko does not resign by midnight, Sunday, October 25.  Police in Belarus used stun grenades Sunday to disperse protesters. News reports say than 100,000 protesters were in the streets of Minsk Sunday – the 11th in a row of demonstrations against Lukashenko’s contested victory in August presidential elections. Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled the country for her safety since the August election, has called for a national strike if Lukashenko does not resign by midnight. Lukashenko has indicated he will ignore the ultimatum. At least two people were injured by police in Sunday’s protests, according to RFE/RL. Sixty people were arrested, according to Belarusian rights group Vesna. Lukashenko maintains he won the poll in a landslide — garnering 80% of all ballots — despite widespread claims at home and abroad that the vote was heavily rigged to keep him in power. He has been in office for 26 years. Public anger has grown over the crackdown in the wake of the protests that have seen more than 7,500 arrests and police violence against demonstrators. https://www.voanews.com/europe/belarus-police-use-stun-grenades-disperse-protests 
 
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With the coronavirus surging in the United States again, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows declared Sunday that the country is “not going to control the pandemic.”But Meadows told CNN, “We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas.”In a contentious interview with television anchor Jake Tapper, Meadows defended President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic in the U.S. nine days ahead of Trump’s re-election bid on Nov. 3 against Democratic challenger Joe Biden.”Where we’re at today, we’re much better off. The president has done it all,” Meadows claimed, while contending that Biden “would lock everyone down.”  Supporters watch a video as President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, Oct. 25, 2020, in Londonderry, N.H.Biden, leading Trump in national and state-by-state polling in key battleground states, has assailed Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, saying that he has proven himself incapable of controlling the outbreak.  Biden’s running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris, told reporters at a campaign stop in Michigan that Meadows’s comments showed the Trump administration is “admitting defeat.”  “We are breaking records of the number of people that are contracting a deadly virus, and this administration fails to take personal responsibility or responsibility in terms of leading the nation through this dangerous, dangerous and deadly mass casualty event,” she said. “And that’s why they have forfeited their right to a second term in office.”The U.S. has now recorded a world-leading total of nearly 225,000 deaths and almost 8.6 million infections, according to Johns Hopkins University. Most worrisome is the sharp increase in the number of new cases, up by 32% to more than 68,000 a day in the last week and to nearly 84,000 on Saturday.Numerous Trump administration officials have been inconsistent regarding advice from government health experts to wear masks and socially distance themselves from other people. Late Saturday, officials announced that Marc Short, the chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence, and a handful of other Pence aides have contracted the virus.Trump is in the midst of daily campaign political rallies where few of his supporters wear masks, often only those seated in several rows of raised seats behind Trump within sight of television cameras but not those crowded in front of the president.Meadows said the Trump campaign passes out face masks at rallies but does not mandate wearing them.”It’s a free society,” Meadows said, leaving mask-wearing up to individuals. Trump rarely is seen in public wearing a mask, although Biden frequently does and often campaigns in front of small groups of supporters or virtually.Where Trump, Biden Differ on COVID as Cases ResurgeDemocratic Party presidential nominee vows, if elected, to mandate mask-wearing on all interstate transportation Meadows said the U.S. isn’t going to get the pandemic under control “because it is a contagious virus just like the flu.” But he said the Trump administration is “making efforts to contain it.”  “What we need to do is make sure that we have the proper mitigation factors, whether it’s therapies or vaccines or treatments to make sure that people don’t die from this,” Meadows said.Pence continues to campaign and both he and second lady Karen Pence tested negative for coronavirus on Sunday, the White House said, despite his frequent close proximity to Short.”I spoke to the vice president last night at midnight and I can tell you that what he is doing is wearing a mask, socially distancing and when he goes up to speak he will take the mask off and (later) put it back on,” Meadows said.He said that Pence would continue with travel plans because he is “essential personnel.”  “I’m not saying he is not campaigning,” Meadows said. “I’m saying that is only part of what he is doing and as we look at that, ‘essential personnel,’ whether it’s the vice president of the United States or anyone else, has to continue on.”Pence is traveling Sunday to the battleground state of North Carolina for a rally and plans to campaign in other states this week.
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Police in Belarus used stun grenades Sunday to disperse protesters, who after months of demonstrations, have threatened a national strike if longtime President Alexander Lukashenko does not resign by midnight.News reports say than 100,000 protesters were in the streets of Minsk Sunday – the 11th in a row of demonstrations against Lukashenko’s contested victory in August presidential elections.Video posted on RFE/RL showed police using stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse crowds as they marched to the Independence Palace in the capital, carrying the white and red flags that have come to symbolize the opposition movement.Agencies: Belarus and Russia Will Respond to External Threats, Lukashenko Tells Pompeo Lukashenko had sought to mend fences with the West in recent yearsOpposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled the country for her safety since the August election, has called for a national strike if Lukashenko does not resign by midnight.Lukashenko has indicated he will ignore the ultimatum.At least two people were injured by police in Sunday’s protests, according to RFE/RL. Sixty people were arrested, according to Belarusian rights group Vesna.Lukashenko maintains he won the poll in a landslide — garnering 80% of all ballots — despite widespread claims at home and abroad that the vote was heavily rigged to keep him in power. He has been in office for 26 years.Public anger has grown over the crackdown in the wake of the protests that have seen more than 7,500 arrests and police violence against demonstrators.Hundreds have emerged from police custody with bruises and tales of torture at the hands of Lukashenko’s security agents.Lukashenko has said the protests are encouraged and supported by the West and accused NATO of moving forces near Belarusian borders. The alliance has denied the accusations.
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Pope Francis on Sunday named 13 new cardinals, including Washington D.C. Archbishop Wilton Gregory, who would become the first Black U.S. prelate to earn the coveted red hat.In a surprise announcement from his studio window to faithful standing below in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said the churchmen would be elevated to a cardinal’s rank in a ceremony on Nov. 28.Other new cardinals include an Italian who is the long-time papal preacher at the Vatican, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, a Franciscan friar; the Kigali, Rwanda, Archbishop Antoine Kambanda; the Capiz, Philippines, Archbishop Jose Feurte Advincula, and the Santiago, Chile, Archbishop Celestino Aos Braco. Another Franciscan who was tapped is Friar Mauro Gambetti, in charge of the Sacred Convent in Assisi. The pope, when elected in 2013, chose St. Francis of Assisi as his namesake saint. Earlier this month, the pontiff journeyed to that hill town in Umbria to sign an encyclical, or important church teaching document, about brotherhood.In a reflection of the pope’s stress on helping those in need, Francis also named the former director of the Rome Catholic charity, Caritas, the Rev. Enrico Feroci, to be a cardinal.Wilton, 73, was picked by Francis to lead the prestigious diocese in the U.S. capital last year. The prelate has his pulse on factions in the U.S. Catholic Church, which has both strong conservative and liberal veins since he served three times as the head of the U.S. Conference of Bishops.Nine of the new cardinals are younger than 80, and thus eligible to elect the next pontiff in a secret conclave. Some cardinals head powerful Vatican offices, and pontiffs frequently turn to cardinals for advice.No details were immediately given by the Vatican about the concistory, as the formal ceremony to make the churchmen cardinals is known, especially in view of travel restrictions involving many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.As he has in other groups of cardinals he tapped in his papacy, Francis in this selection reflected the global nature of the Catholic Church and his flock of 1.2 billion Catholics.Others named cardinals include a Maltese prelate, Monsignor Mario Grech; Monsignor Marcello Semeraro, an Italian serving as prefect of the Vatican office which runs the saint-making process; Bishop Cornelius Sim, a Brunei native who serves as apostolic vicar of Brunei; the Italian archbishop of Siena and nearby towns in Tuscany, Augusto Lojudice; the retired bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, Monsignor Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel; and an Italian former Vatican diplomat, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi.Churchmen over 80 who are named cardinals are chosen to honor their life of service to the church. Those in this batch too old to vote in a conclave are Cantalamessa, Tomasi, Feroci and Arizmendi Esquivel. 
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Chileans will vote on Sunday on whether they want the country’s Pinochet-era constitution torn up and replaced by a fresh charter drafted by citizens, a key demand in protests that erupted last year.The fiery anti-government protests over inequality and elitism in one of Latin America’s most advanced economies broke out last fall and resumed with the easing of coronavirus lockdowns.Voters have 12 hours beginning at 8 a.m. (1100 GMT) to cast their ballot.Citizens can decide whether to approve or reject a new constitution and whether it should be drafted by a specially elected citizens’ body, made up half of women and half of men, and indigenous representatives, or a mix of citizens and lawmakers.Opinion polls suggest a new charter will be approved by a significant margin. All eligible Chileans from the country’s population of 18 million are automatically registered to vote, but voting is optional.People with COVID-19 have been told to stay away from voting stations on threat of arrest and prosecution.Control points have been set up at least 20 meters (22 yards) from polling place entrances where officials will conduct identity spot checks to ensure people are not on the quarantine list.”The right to vote of an infected subject puts at risk the right to health of thousands of people,” Attorney General Jorge Abbott told regional staff in an email.Soldiers, ubiquitous on Chilean streets since the declaration of a state of emergency during the protests last year and again with the outbreak of COVID-19 in March, will oversee the process inside polling stations while police will guard outside.The current constitution was drafted by dictator Augusto Pinochet’s close adviser Jaime Guzman in 1980, and has only been tweaked by successive governments to reduce military and executive power. 
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Australian researchers are investigating how gender stereotypes can make female sports coaches feel like “imposters” and cost them elite jobs. Funded by the International Olympic Committee, the University of Newcastle in New South Wales study will investigate why women made up only 11% of accredited coaches at the Rio Games in 2016.Researchers in Australia believe that, in general, sports have a culture that marginalizes female coaches. It enforces stereotypes and can be corrosive, causing talented individuals to doubt their skills and themselves. Previous research has found that women appointed to high-level coaching positions have been derided by media and fans.Heather Douglas, a psychology lecturer at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, is working on the study to help the International Olympic Committee increase the number of women in elite coaching positions.She said it is a problem that goes far beyond professional sports.“This feeling of inauthenticity comes along with a fear of failure and of being exposed as a fraud,” Douglas said. “Imposter feelings are created by being in a situation where we think we do not deserve to be. This could be a woman in sport, in science or in engineering. It could be an ethnic minority student at university or even a man in nursing. Imposter feelings often come along with depression and anxiety. In workplace settings, it has been associated with hesitant career planning, impaired job performance, lower job satisfaction and a higher incidence of workplace burnout.”The Australian research first will involve participants in community sports, then high-performance Olympic-level female coaches from all continents. The aim is to determine the factors causing women to leave coaching.Australia has done much to encourage women and girls to participate in sports.Rugby, cricket and Australian Rules Football all have successful elite competitions for women. Arguably, the Matildas, the national women’s soccer team, are the most popular athletes in Australia, which will co-host the 2023 World Cup with New Zealand.Female sport may be booming, but attitudes in sections of society have not caught up. Women appointed as referees in men’s football and rugby matches here complain of sexism and online trolling.
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An international treaty to ban nuclear weapons has been ratified by 50 United Nations member countries, the world body said Saturday.With Honduras being the 50th nation to ratify it, the historic document enters into force in 90 days, on Jan. 22.In a statement U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres commended the efforts of the 50 countries and of civil society’s anti-nuclear activists for such “instrumental work.”The treaty is the culmination of a worldwide movement “to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons,” Guterres said in the statement issued by U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, adding it “is a tribute to the survivors of nuclear explosions and tests, many of whom advocated for this treaty.”The movement had been strongly opposed by the United States and other major nuclear powers.The treaty “represents a meaningful commitment towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons, which remains the highest disarmament priority of the United Nations,” Dujarric quoted Guterres as stating.The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross saluted the treaty, saying in a statement “today is a victory for humanity, and a promise of a safer future.”Since the 75th anniversary of the nuclear attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August, several countries, including Nigeria, Malaysia, Ireland, Malta and Tuvalu, have ratified the treaty.
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Lee Kun-hee, the ailing Samsung Electronics chairman who transformed the small television maker into a global giant of consumer electronics, has died. He was 78.A Samsung statement said Lee died Sunday with his family members, including his son and de facto company chief Lee Jae-yong, by his side.Lee Kun-hee had been hospitalized since May 2014 after suffering a heart attack, and the younger Lee has run Samsung, the biggest company in South Korea.“All of us at Samsung will cherish his memory and are grateful for the journey we shared with him,” the Samsung statement said. “Our deepest sympathies are with his family, relatives and those nearest. His legacy will be everlasting.”Lee Kun-hee inherited control from his father and during his nearly 30 years of leadership, Samsung Electronics Co. became a global brand and the world’s largest maker of smartphones, televisions and memory chips. Samsung sells Galaxy phones while also making the screens and microchips that power its rivals, Apple’s iPhones and Google Android phones.Samsung helped make the nation’s economy, Asia’s fourth largest. Its businesses encompass shipbuilding, life insurance, construction, hotels, amusement park operation and more. Samsung Electronics alone accounts for 20% of the market capital on South Korea’s main stock market.Lee leaves behind immense wealth, with Forbes estimating his fortune at $16 billion as of January 2017.His death comes during a complex time for Samsung.A stern, terse leaderWhen he was hospitalized, Samsung’s once-lucrative mobile business faced threats from upstart makers in China and other emerging markets. Pressure was high to innovate its traditionally strong hardware business, to reform a stifling hierarchical culture and to improve its corporate governance and transparency.Samsung was ensnared in the 2016-17 corruption scandal that led to then-President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment and imprisonment. Its executives, including the younger Lee, were investigated by prosecutors who believed Samsung executives bribed Park to secure the government’s backing for a smooth leadership transition from father to son.In a previous scandal, Lee Kun-hee was convicted in 2008 for illegal share dealings, tax evasion and bribery designed to pass his wealth and corporate control to his three children.The late Lee was a stern, terse leader who focused on big-picture strategies, leaving details and daily management to executives.His near-absolute authority allowed the company to make bold decisions in the fast-changing technology industry, such as shelling out billions to build new production lines for memory chips and display panels even as the 2008 global financial crisis unfolded.Those risky moves fueled Samsung’s rise.Lee was born Jan. 9, 1942, in the southeastern city of Daegu during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. His father Lee Byung-chull had founded an export business there in 1938 and following the 1950-53 Korean War, he rebuilt the company into an electronics and home appliance manufacturer and the country’s first major trading company.Lee Byung-chull was often called one of the fathers of modern industrial South Korea. Lee Kun-hee was the third son and his inheritance of his father’s businesses bucked the tradition of family wealth going to the eldest. One of Lee Kun-hee’s brothers sued for a bigger part of Samsung but lost the case.When Lee Kun-hee inherited control from his father in 1987, Samsung was relying on Japanese technology to produce TVs and was making its first steps into exporting microwaves and refrigerators.The company was expanding its semiconductor factories after entering the business in 1974 by acquiring a near-bankrupt firm.‘Let’s change everything’A decisive moment came in 1993. Lee Kun-hee made sweeping changes to Samsung after a two-month trip abroad convinced him the company needed to improve the quality of its products.In a speech to Samsung executives, he famously urged, “Let’s change everything except our wives and children.”Not all his moves succeeded.A notable failure was the group’s expansion into the auto industry in the 1990s, in part driven by Lee Kun-hee’s passion for luxury cars. Samsung later sold near-bankrupt Samsung Motor to Renault. The company also was frequently criticized for disrespecting labor rights. Cancer cases among workers at its semiconductor factories were ignored for years.In 2020, Lee Jae-yong declared heredity transfers at Samsung would end, promising the management rights he inherited wouldn’t pass to his children. He also said Samsung would stop suppressing employee attempts to organize unions, although labor activists questioned his sincerity.South Koreans are both proud of Samsung’s global success and concerned the company and Lee family are above the law and influence over almost every corner of society.Critics particularly note how Lee Kun-hee’s only son gained immense wealth through unlisted shares of Samsung firms that later went public.In 2007, a former company lawyer accused Samsung of wrongdoing in a book that became a best seller in South Korea. Lee Kun-hee was subsequently indicted on tax evasion and other charges.Lee resigned as chairman of Samsung Electronics and was convicted and sentenced to a suspended three-year prison term. He received a presidential pardon in 2009 and returned to Samsung’s management in 2010.
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