AP, Mosul, Iraq
The price Mosul’s residents paid in blood to see their city freed was between 9,000 and 11,000 dead, a civilian casualty rate nearly 10 times higher than what has been previously reported. The number killed in the 9-month battle to liberate the city from the Islamic State marauders has not been acknowledged by the U.S.-led coalition, the Iraqi government or the self-styled caliphate.
But Mosul’s gravediggers, its morgue workers and the volunteers who retrieve bodies from the city’s rubble are keeping count.
Trump to visit Britain in Feb
Reuters, London
President Donald Trump plans to visit Britain in February to open the new U.S. embassy in London but will not meet Queen Elizabeth, the Daily Mail newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Trump’s planned visit to Britain has proved controversial since Prime Minister Theresa May invited him for a state visit, which typically involves lavish pageantry and events hosted by the queen.
However nearly 2 million people have signed a petition saying Trump should not be invited because it “would cause embarrassment” to the queen, and protests could be expected to greet the U.S. leader.
S Korea seeks US military drill delay for Olympics
AFP, Seoul
South Korean President Moon Jae-In has proposed delaying annual joint military exercises with the US in an attempt to ease tensions with the nuclear-armed North during next year’s Winter Olympics.
Moon’s comments were the first confirmation that Seoul is seeking to postpone the annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle drills, which usually start in late February or early March and run until the end of April.South Korea will host the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang from February 9-25 next year, with the Paralympics scheduled to begin on March 9.
American escapes Indonesian jail
AP, Bali, Indonesia
An American man who was recaptured after escaping from an overcrowded prison on the Indonesian resort island of Bali said Wednesday he fled because of extortion by other inmates.
Christian Beasley escaped with compatriot Paul Anthony Hoffman during heavy rain on Dec. 10 from the Kerobokan penitentiary in Bali’s provincial capital by sawing through a ceiling and then climbing over a 6-meter (20-foot) -high wall behind the prison.
Iran ‘strongly denies’ arming Yemen rebels
AFP, Tehran
Tehran strongly denied on Wednesday that it had supplied weapons to Yemeni rebels which they used in attacks on its archfoe Saudi Arabia as alleged by both Riyadh and Washington.
“We have no arms link with Yemen,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told the ISNA news agency.
after Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted a rebel missile over Riyadh on Tuesday that it suggested was “Iranian-manufactured”.
