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Overnight News Digest January 1, 2023 [1]

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Date: 2023-01-01

NPR

A U.N. official met with a Taliban leader over a ban on women working for NGOs

KABUL, Afghanistan — A senior U.N. official in Afghanistan met on Sunday the deputy prime minister of the Taliban-led government to discuss a ban on women working for nongovernmental groups that Afghan authorities have announced in a series of measures rolling back women's rights. The decision by the Taliban government to bar women from NGO work has prompted major international aid agencies to suspend operations in the country. The ban has raised fears that people will be deprived of food, education, healthcare and other critical services, as over half of Afghanistan's population needs urgent humanitarian assistance. Aid agencies have warned the ban will have catastrophic consequences and "hundreds and thousands" of Afghans will die because of the Taliban decision.

The Guardian

Faint hopes that Taliban will relax ban on NGO women after UN condemnationFaint hopes exist that the Taliban may relax its ban on all women working for the non-governmental aid agencies in Afghanistan after the UN security council condemned the ban in a rare show of unanimity. Almost all the large NGO aid agencies operating in Afghanistan have suspended almost all their work while talks continue to persuade the Taliban to rescind or clarify their decision. Tens of thousands of aid workers – many of them the chief breadwinners for the household – have been told to stay at home during the suspension, as the UN seeks to persuade the Taliban of the consequences for ordinary people in Afghanistan. The aid agencies say under Afghanistan’s customs they cannot provide vital services to women in Afghanistan such as health advice without female staff or doctors.

The sabres are being rattled:

The Guardian

Kim Jong-un vows to ‘exponentially’ increase nuclear warhead production

Kim Jong-un has vowed to ramp up the production of nuclear warheads and build a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), while singling out South Korea as his country’s “undoubted enemy”, North Korean state media reported on Sunday. In a sign of deepening animosity towards the US, South Korea and Japan, Kim called for an “exponential increase” in the regime’s nuclear arsenal during an address at a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ party that ended on Saturday. The leader’s statement was released hours after North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards its eastern waters, starting 2023 as it had ended the previous year, when it conducted a record number of weapons tests.“The currently established situation calls for our country doubling down our efforts to strengthen our military power overwhelmingly to safeguard our sovereignty, safety and basic national interest to cope with the dangerous military moves by the US and other hostile forces that target us,” Kim said, according to the official KCNA news agency.

Reuters

Yoon says South Korea, U.S. discussing exercises using nuclear assets

SEOUL, Jan 2 (Reuters) - South Korea and the United States are discussing possible joint planning and exercises using U.S. nuclear assets in the face of North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said in a newspaper interview. The Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted Yoon as saying the joint planning and exercises would be aimed at a more effective implementation of the U.S. "extended deterrence.” The term means the ability of the U.S. military, particularly its nuclear forces, to deter attacks on U.S. allies. "The nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but planning, information sharing, exercises and training should be jointly conducted by South Korea and the United States," Yoon said, adding Washington is also "quite positive" about the idea. Yoon's remarks come a day after North Korean state media reported that its leader Kim Jong Un called for developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and an "exponential increase" of the country's nuclear arsenal to counter U.S.-led threats amid flaring tension between the rival Koreas.

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