Police seek motive in attack on envoy
SEOUL, South Korea – Police on Friday investigated the motive of the anti-U.S. activist they say slashed the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, as questions turned to whether security was neglected.
The attack Thursday on Mark Lippert, which prompted rival North Korea to gloat about “knife slashes of justice,” left deep gashes on his face and hand.
Seoul Central District Court granted a police request for the formal arrest of the suspect, Kim Ki-jong, 55, who could face charges including attempted murder, assaulting a foreign envoy, obstruction and violating a controversial law that bans praise or assistance for North Korea, police officials said.
Police searched Kim’s offices and house and seized hundreds of documents, books and computer files. Police also obtained Kim’s telecommunication and financial transaction records to help investigate how the attack was planned and whether others were involved, police officials said.
Official: Women still don’t have equality
UNITED NATIONS – The head of the United Nations agency promoting equality for women is lamenting that a girl born today will be an 81-year-old grandmother before she has the same chance as a man to be CEO of a company – and she will have to wait until she’s 50-years-old to have an equal chance to lead a country.
Twenty years after 189 countries adopted a blueprint to achieve equality for women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said in an interview with The Associated Press that not a single country has reached gender parity and equality.
The executive director of UN Women spoke ahead of International Women’s Day on Friday and next week’s meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women. The commission will review the 150-page platform for action to achieve equality that was adopted at the groundbreaking women’s conference in Beijing in 1995.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said, there are fewer than 20 female heads of state and government, and the number of women lawmakers has increased from 11 percent to just 22 percent in the last two decades.
Militants accused of sacking city
BAGHDAD – Islamic State extremists trucked away statues as they damaged the irreplaceable remains of an ancient Assyrian capital, a local resident and a top UN official told The Associated Press Friday.
Nimrud, a nearly 3,000-year-old city in present-day Iraq, included monumental statues of winged bulls, bearded horsemen and other winged figures, all symbols of an ancient Mesopotamian empire in the cradle of Western civilization.
The discovery that extremists removed some statues before using heavy equipment to destroy much of the site Thursday was cold comfort as outrage spread over the extremists’ latest effort to erase history.
Associated Press
